Neverland

and with your hand in my hand, I am closer now to finding Neverland

My Dearest Little Bird,

I realized why my shadow was acting funny. The Shadow is still gaining power, and it wants me for some reason. So I'm going back to Neverland and hopefully it'll follow me. I may not see you again, Jennie, but if anything I promise to be at your wedding. Just know that I love you and I'm sorry for the trouble I caused.

Yours forever,
Lisa

Jennie read the letter over and over, pacing in her room. Stray acorns rolled around the room as she kicked some of the outliers in her pacing.

"What does it say?"

Jennie vaguely heard Jisoo talking to her, but the noise inside her head drowned her out. Lisa was leaving. Again. She was leaving like she said she wouldn't. Was she already gone? How could she make her stay? How?

"Jennie."

The firmness of Jisoo's voice cut through the static and Jennie turned to look at her.

"She's leaving," Jennie said, shoving the letter towards Jisoo. "She's going back to Neverland."

"By herself? No way," Jisoo took the letter and scanned it, lips curling into a snarl of frustration. "How do we get to her?"

"Do you remember how to get there? To Neverland?" Jennie asked.

"Second star to the right-"

"-And straight on to morning, yes. But which direction did you guys usually go?" Jennie began to pace again. "She can't fly so she must be trying to go on foot right?"

"Yeah, okay. Um...I don't remember," Jisoo clenched her hand in a fist in front of her face out of frustration.

"You don't remember?" Jennie said.

"I only remember forest! There's forest everywhere! Why didn't I put a tracker on that fucker?"

"Okay, well I'll go North, you go South, she couldn't have gotten that far," Jennie said. "And just...we'll call each other when we find her."

"Okay," Jisoo breathed as she kicked an acorn to the side. "This acorn thing is weird by the way."

They walked back outside and Jennie took off towards the North of the Homestead and Jisoo went the other direction. Jennie's heart fluttered around her ribs like a frightened bird in a cage, and her stomach turned with each step.

What if she was too late?

What if Lisa was gone? Again.

What if-

"Focus, Jennie." She shook her head, trying to slow her brain. Her eyes turned towards the ground, looking for any sign that Lisa had gone this way. When she was dating Kai, he'd tried to drag her hunting enough times that she knew the basics of tracking. She certainly wasn't an expert but she liked to think she could find the trail of a very tall, slightly clumsy woman.

Jennie didn't know what she was going to do if- when she found Lisa. Make her stay? Somehow? Why? There was nothing she could offer her, nothing she could give. Making her stay would be purely selfish, especially if she had to go back to defeat the Shadow.

The trees began to get thicker, the ground covered with more foliage and fallen branches impeding her steps. She was about to turn back around and head a different direction when she saw a strange clearing through the trees. Stepping over a large pile of debris, Jennie fought her way to the clearing, where a set of stone stairs spiraled up into nowhere. At the top was an arch where a door would be, but it just opened to air and a sheer drop.