There was no denying it: she wanted him to stay.
But what would she say? Maggie knew there was nothing to be embarrassed about, but she couldn’t imagine actually saying the words. The silence lingered and Peter placed a fleeting kiss on her temple.
“Goodnight, Maggie Hart.”
As her bedroom door shut behind him, his distant steps echoing down the hall until they disappeared all together, Maggie slid against the wooden walls, clutching at her chest and trying to remember what it felt like to breathe without him.
5
Maggie
“It’sheavy.”
Maggie thought she knew what a real sword felt like after her first run in with Captain Hook and his crew of pirates. According to the Lost Boys, the sword nabbed before running off to fight was the dullest piece in their entire collection. It would’ve snapped after a single swipe, so she was lucky no real combat happened with Hook. Maggie didn’t let it deter the one heroic moment she managed to have, but it made the sword she held in her hands now feel like something entirely otherworldly.
The steel blade flashed in the light, glittering with an undeniable danger. Maggie gripped it at the hilt, the leather bound handle bending against her palm. Though she tended to whip her wooden sword around with one hand, it felt almost impossible to hold her real sword with such casualness. It felt almost disrespectful, though she knew the blade had no sense of feelings of its own. Maggie stopped the thoughts before they grew loud enough to deter her and sheathed the blade at her hip. The weight was unusual at first before it quickly grew into something she thought had always been there.
“Only the best steel blades are,” Peter replied. His own trusty weapon –Ripcord,he lovingly called it – rested at his back, long and sturdy like his own frame. “Vespera sent her best fairy dust collector to loan us some. Are you ready?”
“To fly or to face Captain Hook?”
Peter grinned, the excited silhouettes of the Lost Boys looming like trusty shadows behind him. “Both, I suppose,” he replied. “Well? Are you?”
He was teasing – that much she could tell from the amused twitch in his brow. But there was no denying that he was trying to feel her out just as much. He searched for a reason to believe that she couldn’t do it. That they could change their minds or she could stay behind. She was only more determined to do so.
“I’m ready,” she said.
The Lost Boys whooped as they approached, gathering in a tight line as the fairy came by with a jar of glittering dust. She let handfuls fall over each of them, the shower tickling and pecking at Meggie’s exposed skin. One by one they lifted off the front porch of the treehouse, hovering in the air before taking flight above the arching treetops.
Peter effortlessly led the way, streaking off across the island with the speed of a hummingbird. Maggie kept up the best she could, surprised with the energy she was still capable of exerting, despite her age and lack of athletic activities. The Lost Boys fell around her in the same vein as geese, slicing through the sky in the shape of an arrow. Down below, they left behind Cricket Hollow and the fairy huts, the bustling marketplace and merchant stands. Gone was their treehouse and the beach, where the Everything Plants were left waiting. They went beyond the mermaid’s cove, and Maggie managed to spot a few colorful tails streaking below the ocean’s rowdy surface.
Before they had left, Dash had come back from speaking with an informant. Apparently he had a friend who claimed to haveonce been a member of Hook’s crew. Once he heard that they were trying to get something back from them, the informant approached Dash eagerly. Hook was being careful in where he docked his preciousJolly Roger.Anywhere too obvious might enable a retaliation – just what Peter wanted. The informant reported that Hook finally made an anchor in Crocodile Waters, a cove that led directly into the ocean. It wasn’t visited by many, and according to Peter, even he didn’t like going there.
Maggie would always be impressed with how well the Lost Boys and their King could formulate a plan. Even if they weren’t quick to share it with Maggie, leaving her a bit at a loss, Maggie was satisfied enough by their own confidence.
Crocodile Waters was more inland than Maggie expected it to be. They flew to the opposite side of the island, leaving them silent in the air for quite some time. But the cove itself wasn’t too close to the ocean. Hook must’ve made his ship course through narrow rivers to make it to the safety of the cove. At the center of the round body of water was theJolly Roger.It sat undisturbed, a slight trail of smoke curling in the air above it. Even from a distance, Maggie could make out the haphazard job that had been done to clean up Hook’s burnt cabin.
“Can you imagine how many crocodiles live here?” Dash asked as they hovered a few miles above the cove.
Peter chuckled to himself as he kept an eye on the ship. “Why don’t we drop a few on port to remind our favorite pirate captain?”
“But that would ruin all of our fun,” Twitch drawled next. “Hook’ll forget we were ever there the moment he sees one!”
Laughter ensued throughout their small party.
“Wait a second,” Maggie called out. “Are you saying that Hook has a fear of crocodiles?” She shrugged as they all nodded in response. “Then why bother hiding here? Seems like too big of a risk if they’re all around.”
Peter laid back as if he were lounging against the air. “Crocodile Waters might be dangerous for even the pirates,” he explained, “but that’s sort of the point. There’s caves all around the cove, but there isn’t a soul brave enough to try and venture inside them. The perfect place for the pirates to hide their treasure.”
“And don’t forget that the cove is practically impossible to reach on foot,” Dusty added in a quiet voice. “I tried once, but there’s no way. We can get here from flying, but not everyone on Neverland can do that.”
Dash shook his head. “You guys are forgetting the most important reason.” He got Maggie’s attention and waggled his brow. “No one wants these pirates around. The only place they can go where they won’t be tossed out is Crocodile Waters. The inhabitants happen towelcometheir presence.”
Peter led the way closer to the pirate ship, careful to linger in the long shadows. Maggie’s anxieties grew the further they went. There was little she knew of their plan after all, and the closer they came, the easier it was for her to remember that. She reached and tugged on the back of Peter’s shirt before he went too far ahead.
“Won’t you do me a favor and explain the plan again?” she asked.
Peter shrugged, like it was an obvious thing. “We’ll try to negotiate, but if that isn’t getting us anywhere, we’ll come back at nightfall and steal the thing when no one expects it.”
