When Peter first asked her to take Wendy in, Lily thought it was clever, like the maxim about keeping enemies closer than friends. And Lily could never think of Wendy as anything but an enemy, no matter how civil they were or how well they worked together. She felt important, handed the ability to keep Wendy out of trouble.
Out of trouble meant away from Peter. That part Lily liked the best.
Until the day Wendy asked an idle question about Jack and his Wolf friend. Wendy always had a tendency to ask too many questions It was obvious the separation from the Lost Boys broke her heart, and controlling the flow of information gave Lily no end of amusement.
"They seem to be getting on OK. The Wolf even brings a couple of his friends sometimes." Lily made a grand gesture with a spatula before turning her attention back to the pancakes.
"He's bringing other Wolves with him?" Wendy asked, looking startled. "He certainly gets around."
"Oh, I don't think the others are there for the same purpose," Lily said with a shrug, "but you know how Wolves are. Underfoot and annoying."
"Yeah." Wendy paused to sip her coffee, contemplating her mug. "So how long has Peter been negotiating with the Wolves, anyway? You'd think they were too unstable for actual responsibility."
The pancakes nearly burned, but Lily managed to save them with some grace. Wendy appeared too deep in her thoughts to notice. "I-I don't really know that sort of thing. You were always the one who was in on that, not me." Lily's laugh sounded too high, too nervous. How long had Wendy been asking questions for this purpose? How long had she been piecing together more than Lily intended?
A corner of Wendy's mouth lifted as she met Lily's eyes. "I know. I still am."
Lily never saw another sign of Wendy's devious intentions or interests in the goings-on of the Lost Boys, and then she went to the Vigils, where Lily couldn't keep an eye on her. Lily tried to warn Peter, pleading with him not to trust Wendy, that she was up to something. No one else noticed the way Wendy would look at Peter when he talked plans and deals and ideas through, the look that bespoke the deep hatred she carried, tempered now with the kind of sly malice Peter might've been proud of.
No one would listen, especially not Peter. And Wendy never stuck a toe out of line, excepting that Wolf mess, but even that seemed to be nothing more than childish aggression to make a name for her Vigils.
And the more Lily saw of the Vigils, the more she noticed that look in the eyes of the other Vigil leader, Spots, and their lieutenants. A cold knot of fear lodged in her belly. The Vigils were up to something, and it was Wendy's doing.
One night after a War Council, Lily followed Wendy out onto the streets. She wished for a moment that she'd been friendly to Wendy at least a little, that she might've earned the confidence of the girl who was trying to rip Lily's life apart. The same girl who'd made it possible to have that life at all.
Lily promised herself that she'd fight Wendy before she'd let these things be taken away from her.
Wendy stopped at the railing near a construction site. "What do you want, Tiger Lily?"
"What are you up to? What's your angle?" Lily crossed her arms and stood a few wary steps away from the Vigil leader. "I know you've got one."
Wendy considered her for a moment, hair almost black in the night, piercings glittering with industrial yellow light. "Ever wonder what Peter will do when Hook tightens his grip? Ever wonder who he'll choose?"
"Choose?" Lily echoed, caught off guard.
"Whether he'll keep the ones he loves or the ones that can protect him, who he'll keep till the bitter end." Her face was serious, devoid of mockery. "Can you say with any certainty who he'll save to sacrifice at the end, after everyone else is gone?"
"Of course I can," Lily snapped, annoyed that Wendy's questions ignored hers. Annoyed that the questions were so unsettling.
The other girl smiled a little. "I used to think I could, too." The smile turned predatory, a toothy grin that made Lily shiver. "I've changed my mind though. After all, who says it's his choice anyway. I just hope you know where you stand."
"I know where I stand. I just hope you know where you do," Lily hissed.
Wendy sighed. "I'm sorry you hate me so much. I wish it didn't have to be this way. So I'll give you one piece of advice, one word of honest, straight truth advice. Don't make the mistake that it will end here. Keep looking forward, for yourself if for no one else. And if that means making your heart a stone, or hating everyone you once knew, then do it." She gave another crooked smile. "It's probably the only thing we'll have in common."
Lily stood by herself for a long time, unable to see what answer Wendy had given her other than more questions, each more dangerous than the last.
Lily would grow to hate her for that, especially when she found out the answers. The answer to Wendy's plans, the answer to Wendy's questions about Peter, the solution one and the same. She'd hate Wendy for the answer Peter gave in the end.
Most of all, she hated Wendy for giving her that hate. She nursed it as she turned her back on Neverland. She carried it with her when she left that city and started over.