Their faces lit up one by one. It was Peter’s expression that caught her in the end, his smile no longer teasing or the start of a joke. It was sincere, it was meaningful, it meant something she was not yet ready to dive into.
Peter cleared his throat and retrieved a vial from around his neck. Popping the small cork keeping the contents within, Peter swirled the bottle as the powdery substance within began to glow and shimmer.
“You can do all sorts of things with Fairy Dust,” Peter explained as she hovered across the air to her. “Whatever you need to do or – most importantly – wherever you need to go. You thought that flying was fun?” Peter sprinkled it over Maggie’s head. “Just you wait, Magpie.”
The moment the dust settled over her, a burst of energy rippled through Maggie’s body. Her eyes widened as she stared up at Peter, his expression reflecting her own. Her chest rose and fell drastically, the ripples in her summer dress gracefully swishing with the gentle breeze.
“Now what?” she breathed.
“Now,” Peter placed his hands on her shoulders, carefully turning her around until her back pressed against the hard center of his chest. The breath hitched in her throat at the contact, her hammering heart practically melting against his touch. “Youfly.”
Peter gave her a push and she shot out like a bullet.
The Fairy Dust sent sparks along every inch of her skin, filling her with an energy she had never felt before. The world became a sporadic series of colors as she raced back toward the island. The feeling of the air against her skin, the sweet tropical smells of the island filling her system, the sound of her Lost Boys and their handsome King eagerly following behind – all of it filled her with a greater euphoria than she had ever known.
The town came into view next. Maggie flew as low as she could, skidding over umbrellas and walking crowds of mingling fairies. Most of the people she saw rang familiar with her, their names coming to mind almost instantly. Many of them came to her restaurant, and almost all of them made sure to spend time talking with her whenever they did. As she flew by, hardly able to slow down, they simply waved hello, giving her shouts of greeting and bellowing laughs.
“Hello, up there!” A blonde haired woman with a sharp and spikey pixie haircut waved her arms over her head as she shouted. Rainbow colored wings were stretched out behind her, shreds of sunlight falling onto it before sending a kaleidoscope of colors against the ground.
Maggie managed a wave, her shout coming out like a faraway bellow. “Hello, Vespera!”
The Queen of Fairies waved eagerly, her laughter following Maggie as she swooped back toward the sky. Behind her, the Lost Boys and Peter lingered, their ability to control the Fairy Dust far greater than Maggie’s. Not that she was ready to stop any time soon – if anything, she was just getting started!
Elated and unstoppable, Maggie soared back over the open sea. She headed toward the waves, dipping her fingers into the warm water before splashing herself with it. The water coated her skin refreshingly as the sun beat down on her overhead. Shouts echoed from behind her but Maggie could hardly listen to them. The open world was ahead, and there was far more leftfor her to explore. What hadn’t she seen of Neverland? What lies in the far depths of the oceans? Why couldn’t she travel farther than –
Arms tightly wound around her torso before she spun out of control. There was a sharp whistle, followed by a cannonball soaring through the air, slamming into the spot she had been flying at just a moment before. As dizziness and nausea began to grab a hold of her, the spinning came to a stop, and she peeled her eyes open.
“Are you alright, Maggie?”
She peered up to see Peter’s worried expression blocking the sun. His blonde hair rested around his head like a halo, and for a moment, Maggie was under the impression that she had been dreaming all along.
“W-What happened?” she murmured, her hands pressed flat against Peter’s hard chest. “I could’ve sworn I saw –”
“Cannonball!”
Peter was shooting through the air before she could finish her sentence. The Lost Boys formed around them in a defensive position, tightly surrounding their King as they flew back toward the mainland. Maggie clutched Peter’s chest, her eyes just able to peer out over his shoulder. In the distance, lingering in the sea where they had been, was a dark and shadowy pirate ship. Smoke curled from the deck, no doubt from where they mercilessly fired their cannons. A white skull with ominous crossbones stared at her from the pirate ship’s masted flag.
They flew all the way back to the treehouse, not daring to stop until their feet had touched the golden wood of the patio. Peter gently rested Maggie on her feet, his arm lingering around her waist before slipping away inconspicuously.
Almost immediately, the sound of a cat’s quiet chirps filled the room. Sunny, sun-kissed and fluffy, trotted toward Maggie with a happily raised tail. The large feline leapt into heroutstretched arms the moment he had a chance, nuzzling his cold nose against her neck before his purrs calmed her erratic and spooked heartbeat.
“What happened back there?” Maggie finally asked.
The Lost Boys glanced at each other before eyeing their King.
“Pirates,” Peter replied stiffly. “Simply the end to our fun, that’s all.”
Maggie’s eyes narrowed, getting the sense that there was more to be said about their violent adversaries. “Why?” she blurted, not entirely thinking. “I thought you were the King of Neverland. Isn't there more fun to be had, pirates or not?”
Where she thought Peter might’ve scolded her or grown annoyed, he simply gave her a toothy smile. One by one, the Lost Boys cracked similar grins, their expressions lopsided and goofy. They swarmed her playfully, draping arms across her shoulder and scratching Sunny’s chin lovingly.
“What’s so funny?” Maggie snapped, her cheeks growing pink with embarrassment.
“Nothing,” Peter replied with a shrug. “You’re just sounding more and more like a Lost Boy with each passing day.”
Maggie matched their smirks and laughed. The question surrounding the pirates continued but it simply slipped away at that moment, allowing her to simply bask in the joyous company she found in King Peter and his Lost Boys.
2
