Page 37 of Dark Shadows and Mermaid Lore

The King of Neverland released a heavy, obnoxious sigh. “Alright, alright,” he muttered. “I left out one thing, but I don’t think it matters. Honestly, we should just –”

Maggie’s hand snapped up. “You owe me an explanation, Pan.”

Something flashed across his face, the corner of his lip tugging into a smirk. “You’re quite fun when you’re angry, Magpie.”

“This isn’t even angry,” she muttered with an eyeroll, biting back her laugh. “Go on, King of Neverland. What haven’t you told me?”

Peter sighed as he leaned against the bark of a sturdy tree. “For as long as I have been King of Neverland, there has been a magical artifact that has always been kept amongst the Everything Plants.”

“An artifact?” Maggie murmured.

Peter waved it off. “Look, it really doesn’t matter anymore.”

“Why?”

“The pirates took it,” he muttered. “I like to boast that Hook and his crew aren’t all that, but every once and a while, they manage to slip beneath our noses. The artifact was under our care when Hook took it for himself.”

Maggie stepped closer to him, reaching up to cup her palm to the side of his face. “You’re a great king, but no one is perfect,” she said. She gave him a light tap before pulling back. She started to walk away from the plants, back in the direction of the treehouse, when Peter ran up behind her, snatching onto her wrist.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“Well, we need a plan, don’t we?”

Peter frowned. “A plan for what?”

“For finding the artifact, of course!”

He tugged on her hand until she was forced to step back closer to him. “I don’t want to have anything to do with the pirates, Maggie,” he said. It wasn’t often that Peter allowed himself to be serious, but Maggie was beginning to hear it twinge at the edges of his voice. “We shouldn’t push the peace we’ve had after that big fight.”

“Those plants are important, Peter,” she insisted. “Neverland needs them.”

He tilted his head as he watched her, an amused smirk pulling across his face. “You know,” Peter drawled slowly, “it might not be theworstthing if you stayed.”

“Peter –”

“If you stayed and taught us all how to cook.”

The words hung in the air, carrying the same heaviness of the weighted storm that thundered off in the distance. Maggie only stared, watching him intently. What was there for her to say? She begged for the Everything Plants to remain unfixed, to remain unflowering, to keep Neverland away from its precious fruit, away from survival. The guilt strung up within her as her selfishness grew. Maggie needed to face the facts: Neverland wouldn’t always be there for her. Peter Pan was only an escape from the reality she had always known, the reality that was currently waiting for her.

Maggie opened her mouth but there was nothing but air coming out from between her lips. What was there for her to say?

I don’t want to leave, but I have to.

You’re everything I’ve wanted, everything I’ve looked for, but I can’t have you.

I can’t have any of this.

Peter sighed as the silence carried on. Tucking his hands in his front pockets, he kept his eyes focused on the storm lingering in the distance. “It’ll be hard, you know.”

“What will be?”

“Getting the artifact back, of course.”

Maggie’s eyes widened. “So you’ll do it?”

“How can I ever say no to you?”

And maybe he was teasing, or trying to lighten the mood, but there was something behind his blue eyes that told Maggie he spoke more than the simple truth. He spokehistruth. Walking towards him, Maggie wrapped her arm around his own, keeping their contact as much as possible. He felt so withdrawn then, so far away from her, that she hardly recognized where she was. Now that they were back together, a smile touching his face once more, Maggie leaned back into the warmth she had grown to enjoy so much.

“I’m up for the challenge,” Peter said. “As long as you are.”

Maggie looked up at him. Not too long ago, she believed she wouldn’t have been ready for anything. Getting out of bed was harder than anything else. Facing the world that never wanted to see her succeed was damning enough to keep her head low and withdrawn. But if there was one thing that Neverland had taught her, it was that everything and anything was possible, no matter the circumstances. Magic could be wielded by anyone, love could be born in the darkest of places, and the brightest of smiles sometimes carried the hardest truths. If there was one thing she knew, it was that she was ready for more than anything.

Maggie Hart was ready for the world. And for another adventure in Neverland.