Wendy's Wish

Prologue

This book is dedicated to J.M.Barrie and to Peter and Wendy (wherever they may find themselves)

∞

All stories have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Or so they say. The truth is that endings are rare. We may think that the last words, the last act, the final wave is the end but it almost never is.

Consider Wendy. Yes, that Wendy. The very first Wendy. The one who fell in love with Peter Pan and followed him to Neverland without so much as a thought for her parents whose three children all disappeared in the space of a single night.

Do you think that Wendy's story ended when she finally decided to be a good daughter and return to her home and her heart-broken parents?

If that is what you think, then you are mistaken. You see, Wendy was in love, and love will keep a story growing and glowing, winding and weaving, twisting and turning in vines of gold and leaves of silver.

It doesn't matter how many times you try to close the door on a love story, if you open it even just the tiniest crack, the story will find its way out and, before you know it, a new garden will have sprung up once again.

Whether or not you venture inside is entirely up to you. You decide whether you want to climb up to the tree house hidden in the very top branches of the old oak, or go sit by the willow and dangle your feet in the star-glittered stream, or run through the fields of flowers that sway in the sunshine and breeze, or lie on your back and watch dragon clouds race each other in the deep blue sky.

You alone decide if you want to go further, to that dark corner, overgrown by a tangle of vines where a strange, creaking sound can be heard.

But remember, dear reader, before you pull the leaves aside, that stories will take us places—places we might never have heard of, places we may never return from. So set off on this journey if you wish, but do so with your eyes wide open.