“That’s right, my lady,” Captain Hook growled, his face contorted dangerously. The anger was unmistakable, the edges of his clothes seared from the flames. “It isn’t quite that easy to be rid of me.”
The pirate yanked down and Maggie rushed back to the ship’s hard surface. She landed with a thud, colliding with the damp and creaking wood. She rolled around, meeting his angry gaze once more. Before, when Maggie thought that this would have been an adventure, she wished she could have seen herself at that very moment.
How can I get out of this mess?
12
There were a lot of things Maggie had done in her life that she wasn’t entirely proud of. She ran from more things than she wanted to, she left behind lives she would always miss. The dreams she craved were ones she was bound to never have. The wishes she made couldn’t come true, not with her luck. Maggie grew used to regretting things, to wishing for something else, to looking upon a shooting star with an open heart. It was like she was born begging for a different life, one that didn’t make her work so hard to feel happy with it. Things never did come easy, but she grew used to telling herself that it was what made it all worth it.
But there, as Maggie laid on the floor of Captain Hook’s ship, waiting for him to lash out with his revenge, pride only touched her. For the first time in her life, regret did not seep into every thought. There was no second guessing. There were no more chances, no do-overs. She was finally doing something for herself, on her own, and proved to be more brave than she ever realized. Perhaps she wouldn’t be the heroine she had always read about, but in her story, she was just as important at that.
Hook let out a frustrated shout before grabbing her by the arm. He yanked her onto her feet, ignoring the sharp yell shesounded in his ear. Locking an arm tightly around her waist, Hook gripped her against his side, until her hands were forced to flatten against his chest. Up close, Maggie saw how his shirt was unbuttoned near the collar, revealing dark and wispy hairs along his chest. It was odd, she realized, to recognize someone as villainous as him as also a human being.
“Do you see what you’ve done, pet?” Hook snarled in her ear, pointing toward the smoldering cabin below the ship’s wheel.
“No, actually,” Maggie muttered. “Looks rather the same to me.”
Hook grappled with her until she was forced to face him. “There is nobody in all of Neverland who dares to touch my ship!” He leaned in close, the anger practically radiating off him in hot waves. “You show up andruin it!”
“It’s only a ship,” Maggie spoke through gritted teeth as she tried to pull herself out of his tight hold.
Hook shook her, eyes wild. “Only a ship? Is thatreallywhat you just said?” He thrusted a finger toward the smoking cabin. “There is only oneJolly Roger,pet, and there will only everbeoneJolly Roger!”
“You put lives at risk! In town!” Maggie’s voice echoed across the ship, across the ocean even. It was almost unrecognizable in her own ears. “Did you honestly expect me to sit and watch while you and your fighting hurts the townspeople? Not all of us are as selfish asyou!”
For a brief moment, Hook was silent. His mouth was held open, jaw slack and ajar as he watched her. The words seemed to linger in his eyes before the anger returned, and he was holding her against him like she was a prisoner and he was her jail cell. Somehow she poked through his walls and shell, but it was put back up within an instant. There was no convincing the captain of anything other than the ways of piracy.
“So, what, you’re Peter Pan’s secret weapon?” Hook sneered. “His dutiful cook and weapon? Sent to badger in my ear and ruin my prized possessions?”
“I amnothis anything,” Maggie muttered.
Noises were beginning to come from below deck, where there was an entryway to a staircase nearby. Hook approached it expectantly, dragging Maggie along with him and not daring to let his grip loosen. Holding her frighteningly close to his side, Hook leaned over to murmur in her ear, the words echoing in her head long after he had uttered them.
“Maybe you’re right, and that is why no one has come to save you.”
It struck her far harder than she wanted it to. The struggle left her for a split second as the logic tried to overwhelm her. Peter and his Lost Boys found their fights to be a form of entertainment, their way of a good time. Why would they stop to consider where she might be, when they only expect to see her safely tucked away in the treehouse? Was she, in the end, only their cook? The girl Peter Pan stole to feed his hungry island?
No.
Maggie straightened, her hands tightening over Hook’s iron-clad grip.
I write my own story. I am writing my own story.
Perhaps she wasn’t the heroine of the stories she remembered, but that didn’t have to be a bad thing. Sure she was brought to Neverland for her cooking skills… where’s the shame in it? Unlike so many people on the human lands, Maggie used her natural born talents to feed an island full of living beings, to give them pieces of her heart, to inject love and happiness into a small fraction of their days. It was not like fairy dust, it was not even like any sort of magic she had ever known. Maggie’s pride grew as large as theJolly Roger,as large as the island itself. She was gifted in a way Hook would never understand.
“You’re wrong,” Maggie whispered.
Pirates who were lingering below deck were climbing up, running frantically to their captain. Hook waved his free hand wildly, barking orders and demanding buckets of water be brought.
The captain’s gaze barely landed on her. “What?”
“You may not think so,” Maggie said, “but I am important.”
Hook lowered his head, dark eyes landing on her own.
Her lip curled upwards. “Peter will come for me, and you’re going to lose.”
“Is that so, pet?”
