The view of Neverland in the raw morning light stole her breath.
She wished Lyle could see it.
Her apartment was across from the big building she had been in the night before—Julie had called it Kensington Hall. Vines climbed the aged red brick, as if nature was slowly reclaiming the structure. In the center of each of the five levels was a window twice as tall as the others. A bronze railing had been attached around the perimeter of the sloping roof, and a black door had been cut into the highest point where she imagined another window should be.
Between the big building and her apartment stretched a manicured lawn with a crushed yellow stone walkway connecting the two. In the center of the walkway, a fountain with a rooster on top bubbled in the early autumn sun. A second walkway running perpendicular to the first connected a small chapel on the left to a second stately house similar to the apartment on the right.
The buildings she could see had all been built using the same red brick, with contrasting decorative gold bricks framing the windows and corners.
There was a knock on her bedroom door, and Vivienne twisted toward where the noise had originated. “Hello?” she called, wondering how this person had gotten in.
A teenaged girl with dark, glossy curls and perfectly sculpted cheekbones poked her head into the room. She gave a small, energetic wave from the doorway. “Good morning, roommate! I’m Emily.”
Roommate? Julie had failed to mention that she had to live with someone.
“I’m Vivienne.” She crossed her arms, hiding the state of her soft, hole-ridden cotton T-shirt. It was a far cry from the cute matching ensemble with lace edges that Emily wore.
“Vivienne.” Emily tapped her pink nails against the doorframe. “It’s kind of long, isn’t it? Do you have any nicknames, or do you prefer just Vivienne?” She spoke so fast it made Vivienne’s head spin.
“Just Vivienne.” Lyle was the only one allowed to call her anything else.
Emily’s hand steadied. “I suppose it’s too pretty to hack into a nickname.”
“Thanks? Um…what time is it?” She was having trouble keeping up.
“I dunno. Eight maybe?”
Vivienne groaned and fell back against the warm mattress with a thump. She wasn’t sure what time she had fallen asleep last night, but it had been late.
“I’ve been awake since six waiting for you to wake up,” Emily went on, skipping into the room. “I’ve had two cups of coffee already. Or was it three? I can’t remember.” She hummed to herself and patted Vivienne’s clothes on the desk.
Vivienne had always had more luck being friends with the boys at school, so she didn’t have high hopes for getting close to Emily. But if they were going to live together, she was determined to try. She offered her a tentative smile. “Sorry. I’m not really a morning person.”
“Oh, it’s fine. Most PAN are the same cuz we’re only allowed to fly off campus at night. I guess I’m the exception.” Emily bounced her way back to the door. “I’ll go away so you can wake up. If you’re hungry in a bit, maybe we can grab breakfast together?”
Vivienne gave her a thumbs-up and stretched once more before swinging her legs over the edge of the bed. They were only allowed to fly at night. Emily had been so blasé when she had said it.
The small private bathroom had been stocked with generic shampoos and crisp white towels that smelled like they had come straight from a warm dryer. Her cheek looked worse than it had yesterday; the scrapes were oozing and red, the bruise more pronounced.
After a stinging shower, she found a hair dryer in the otherwise empty desk drawer, then got ready to explore Neverland.
Hanging in the closet was a pair of dark tights, a gray T-shirt, and a black hooded sweatshirt. The material was like nothing she had felt before; it was rubbery like neoprene on the outside but had the softness and warmth of fleece on the inside. Somehow, despite the layers, the garment was not bulky or heavy.
She traced the emblem embroidered on the left side of the sweatshirt, over the heart. Similar to the Kensington letterhead on her acceptance letter, a golden rooster lifted its beak toward a pair of stars.
Vivienne dressed in her Kensington gear and ventured into the common area. The living space had a small gray sectional and a rustic coffee table. Next to the TV was a floor-to-ceiling window. It reminded her of the ones in the center of Kensington Hall.
Then she noticed a handle behind the curtain. Not a window. A door.
A glass door that had nothing but air on the other side.
She pressed her hand against the cold pane to check the three-story drop. A small silver keypad had been attached to the exterior wall beside the door.
It would be a long time before she felt comfortable using that as an exit.
Emily came bounding down the hall wearing the same outfit as Vivienne. “I have something for you.” She held out a white tube. “It’s antibiotic ointment. For your face.”
“Thanks. I fell down a few days ago.”
“I wasn’t going to ask.”
“Really?” Everyone else had.
“I figured you’d tell me if you wanted to.”
Maybe she and Emily could be close after all. Vivienne brought the ointment to the mirror and smeared it on her raw cheek. It stung at first, then went numb.
“Are you hungry?” Emily asked when she gave back the tube. “Because I am starving.”
Vivienne rubbed her growling stomach. “I could eat.”
“Want to get food at The Glass House?”
“Is it far?”
“No way! It’s right downstairs.” Emily grabbed Vivienne’s hand and hauled her toward the front door.
Out in the hall, frames had been attached to the greenish-blue walls. She had noticed them the night before—there were so many, it was hard not to. But she had been too tired to inspect them.
They were all of the same place: a field with low stone fences and a single tree. Some were black and white, and others were in color and taken in different seasons.
“What’s with these?” She pointed to one of the shots taken in the height of autumn. The tree looked like it was on fire with brilliant orange, yellow, and red leaves.
Emily touched a black and white one with snow sticking to the tree’s barren branches. “One of the lost boys is really into photography. I can’t remember which one.”
Between the photographs, Vivienne counted three more doors identical to theirs. Did one of them belong to Deacon? “Does everyone live on campus?”
“Only until our training is finished. Pam has her own apartment on this level.” Emily pointed to the end of the hall. “Adam and Cole room together on the ground floor. And Max has the second floor to himself at the moment.”
“How long have you been in Never—at Kensington?” Emily knew too much for someone who had just arrived.
“It’s okay to call it Neverland.” Emily flipped her hair over her shoulders. “I do it sometimes too. And to answer your question, I got here last week.”
“I still can’t get my head around the fact that Neverland exists.”
“I’m pretty used to the idea now.” Emily inclined her head toward a window. The sky beyond was a crisp, cloudless blue. “Once you see it during the day, it’ll feel more real—crazy, but real.”