The moment Maggie allowed Peter to pull her through the water, the warmth dissipated. There was a new sort of cold taking over her, one that was just as tight, just as sure as the sunlight’s heat. It was a delicate embrace, one that only grew stronger the further they dove through the ocean. The first few feet were exactly what she expected: expanding out for lengthsshe could never imagine, an empty blue just staring back at her. It wasn’t until Peter straightened toward the ocean floor, diving deeper, that they passed through the facade, and entered into the true Kingdom of the Sea.
Life lingered in every available spot. Fish that were as small as Maggie’s pinky and as large as a pirate’s ship cruised by in small schools. Mammals that Maggie had no names for passed her by casually, as though they didn’t even notice her. Mermaids, who had lives Maggie couldn’t even imagine, swam alongside the sea creatures as they mingled and chattered. Some carried satchels at their hips, others wore thin fabrics sewn with delicate strands of seaweed over their sun-kissed chests. Colors of all shades lit up the ocean floor, not at all like the dull emptiness Maggie expected to find.
Coral, much more than only the moon coral, stretched along the ocean floor. Most were colored shades of pink, orange, and red, the different tones lighting up like autumn-touched tree-tops. Maggie hardly noticed that she no longer held onto Peter’s hand as she coursed closer to the series of coral, her hands unable to stop themselves from touching the rugged branches. Each texture, each touch, each sense lit up Maggie’s curiosity. She wanted to know everything that there was to know about Neverland’s ocean, to study it from one side to the other, to take pieces of the botany back to press into her journals. Knowledge untouched, knowledge unexplored, knowledge just waiting to be understood.
Maggie whipped around to face Peter, the water pulling her clothes around like she was weightless.
“Look at you,” Peter said, his voice only slightly muffled by the Breathable. “I’ve never seen a more beautiful smile.”
And, for once, Maggie could hardly linger in her embarrassment. She simply laughed, simply looked around another time, simply explored some more. She swam in front ofthe row of coral, lazily trailing behind a school of shimmering fish, before she came across the brilliantly silver moon coral.
It mingled with the other pieces of coral along the stretch of it, but there was one spot in particular where most of it grew. Tall branches stretched high above their heads, and poked out to the surface, where they were only moments ago. Unlike the rest of the coral, the moon coral was not full of unmistakable color. It was, instead, entirely silver, as though it had been plucked from the depths of a mountain, not the bottom of the ocean. The stray fragments of light that managed to reach the sea floor lit up the moon coral ominously, giving Maggie the impression that there was an immense natural power living within the organism.
Maggie swam around the coral a few times, her eyes looking at something new each time she went around. Everything looked as it should be, or at least what Maggiebelievedit should be. She was beginning to flounder, to grow concerned at her own lack of knowledge, when something dark and ashy caught her eye.
Near the bottom of the moon coral, where the roots dove deep into the sea floor, a darkness was beginning to grow along some of the stems of the coral. Maggie couldn’t recall seeing it anywhere else on the vegetation, and swam nearer. Following her gut instinct, Maggie reached for one of the stems, using her fingers to gently pry off a small piece of it. Storing the specimen securely in her pocket, Maggie dove her arms through the water and swam back up to Peter.
“Found something?” he asked.
She shrugged. “Maybe. My gut says so.”
“So you’re finished?”
Maggie raised a brow. “I wouldn’t call it finished at all, but maybe I’d say I have a definite lead. There is more coral to investigate, but there’s something dark growing along the roots of the coral. It’s a little –”
“Though I quite like it when you ramble,” Peter cooed in the middle of her sentence, stealing her breath away when he took his hand gently within her own, “I think you’d benefit from some exploring.”
“Exploring?” Maggie shook her head, even though he was already pulling her along. “There’s more to do, isn’t there?”
“Down here?” he asked.
She paused. There wasn’t anything else out-of-the-ordinary with the coral. “Maybe not, but–”
“Well, if we need to come back, we can. Can’t we? But right now, I want to show you… well, everything.”
Maggie couldn’t stop herself from smiling. It was weird logic, but it was logic all the same. Holding back her laugh, Maggie allowed herself to be pulled by the King of Neverland, knowing entirely that it was what she had wanted all along. The first time Maggie coursed through the waves it was on her own accord. She led her own way, scaling along the corals and touching them as she went. But now, with Peter in control, he swam as effortlessly as the mermaids. His hold over her hand was firm and reassuring, never once loosening. The rounded shore of the cove came into view as he followed the natural shape of the beach without breaking the surface. Maggie’s eyes touched every surface as they went, holding onto the plethora of shells and rocks on the floor that glimmered beneath the sun’s gaze.
Peter began to swim away from the cove, gaining speed as they crashed into the deepening depths of the neverending ocean. Mermaids went to and fro on either side of them, pausing in their treks to throw a friendly wave in the King of Neverland’s direction. Peter, despite being fully involved in his swimming, never failed to greet them all back.
The further they went, the more unusual creatures began to appear in the darkness of the waves. Large whales with innumerable stars tattooed all over their body coursed throughthe ocean, lighting the way through the darkest reaches. The stars shone with light as bright as the moon, igniting a path in front of them and helping the other sea life along the way.
Peter eyed her over his shoulder. “You haven’t seen anything yet, Magpie!”
He shot forward with an unthinkable speed, pulling Maggie along behind him. Turtles that were the size of small islands lazily floated along the water, tall trees and thick vegetation growing along their shells. They barely paid them any mind as they passed. Maggie’s fingers dragged along the thick turtle skin, the grooves and age sending a shiver down her spine. Riding alongside the turtles were brilliantly golden seahorses, though they weren’t at all what seahorses normally were. Those steeds were only steeds, exactly like what one might expect on the surface, except they were golden and galloping along the waves.
Maggie was reaching for one of the seahorse’s manes when Peter began to pull her in the opposite direction, telling her it was time to go. She looked over her shoulder at the wildlife disappearing into the distance as Peter led them all the way back, past the mermaid’s cove and past the moon coral. The next thing she knew, there was coarse grass beneath her wet feet, the Breathable popping and disappearing into the lingering water that dripped from her hair.
Despite being back on land, Maggie couldn’t stop herself from exclaiming in joy. Everything she had seen lingered on the tip of her tongue, pulling our sharp laughs from between her lips. She ran around the shore, curving around Peter as his gaze followed her. She didn’t stop until she was breathless, her back leaning against the thick, rough bark of an old tree.
“Why did we have to stop?” she finally asked between taking down gulps of fresh air. “I bet there’s so much more.”
“Oh, there is,” Peter replied as he slowly walked toward her. “But those Breathables only last for so long, and I doubted itwould be as fun when we’re stuck in the ocean, miles away from the shore.”
Maggie laughed, for she could hardly care. At what other point in her life did she ever see such beautiful, wondrous things? There was nothing like it in the human lands, and without Peter coming into her life, she doubted she would have ever experienced it. Pushing herself off the tree, Maggie forgot herself and pelted forward. Her arms launched around his neck, grasping him in a tight embrace. Maggie breathed him in for a moment, lost in his natural musk and lingering salty scent from the sea.
“Thank you,” she murmured in his ear.
His voice was quiet but clear. “What for?”
