He slowed her down playfully. “Would thatreallybe so bad?”
Before Maggie could come up with some reason to argue with him, the Princesses paused in front of a tall familiar door. The golden walls glinted and shone with their brilliance as Selina took toward unlocking the door, the multitude of rubies and emeralds shimmering against her skin.
“Hurry!” Coralyn whispered. “Inside!”
Right after each other, the group of four tumbled into the dimly lit treasure room. The doors collapsed shut behind them, the light diminishing immediately. Everything about the room was haphazard.
Tall columns of stacked coins and jewels reached high into the domed ceiling. Layers of ancient tomes and books were stacked like stairs on the floor, following the rising heaps of untold treasures. All sorts of coins glinted in Maggie’s eyes like a slurry of stars in the sky. Torches on the walls glowing with an otherworldly blue flame danced as they swam by, as though there was air pushing it to and fro.
Maggie carefully swam between stacks of locked wooden treasure chests. “How are we supposed to find one statue in the middle of all this?”
Coralyn’s blue head poked out from a tall mountain of golden coins. “Don’t tell me you thoughtthiswas it?”
“You mean,” Maggie murmured, eyes widening, “there’smore?”
Selina was on the opposite side of the room, holding the edge of a scarlet colored curtain that hung from the tall ceiling. Maggie caught a glimpse of what lay on the other side, her eyes narrowing as she saw flashes of emerald green and sky blue.
“Don’t worry, Maggie Hart,” Selina called out. “Finding your statue will be a lot easier than it seems.”
With Peter close to her side, Maggie swam to the other end of the room, allowing the King of Neverland to lead her through the mysterious curtain.
No matter how many weeks or months Maggie spent in Neverland, there were things still capable of outrightly surprising her. Within King Neptune’s Treasure Room lay a secret cove, where the world above the waves met the mystical wonders below. A wide courtyard took up most of the space, with underwater wildlife taking up every corner possible. Vines stretched over the stone walls, trees with canopy-like leaves studded the corners and center, forming an invisible symbol. Flora houses colors that were unseen by any human lit up the ground – suddenly, there was hardly a need for jewels or expensive gold to make the room magical and expensive. The natural beauty magic managed to capture within the murky sea was more than enough.
Maggie swam through the courtyard, almost trying to walk on the floor out of pure habit. “How wonderful,” she whispered.
Podiums stood in a circle at the center of the courtyard. Each spot showcased another particular treasure, one that wouldn’t take so kindly to being stored away amongst thousands of gold coins and various jewels. Peter neared a particular long sword with a glittering handle, not at all like the ones the Lost Boys wielded back on land. The blade itself curved near the end, making the sharp tip pointed and far more dramatic.
Another podium carried golden statues while the one beside it showed off a luxurious painting of a nude woman standingon top of an open sea shell. The treasure grew visceral beside those, where a fossilized dragon skull was poised to let a flurry of flames roll out from between its snapping jaws. Maggie swam further through the courtyard, her eye catching onto a tall ship that was stored away around a corner. There was a powerful aura radiating off it, one that pulsed its way into Maggie’s heart.
“There!” Peter pointed across the center of the courtyard, his aim landing on a podium that was obscured by one of the various paintings.
Maggie followed his direction and left the other marvels behind, her eyes widening as it landed on their prize. The pirate statue sat beneath a particularly bright patch of sunlight, somehow managing to pierce through miles upon miles of ocean waves. It was just as Hook described it: an authoritative looking pirate with a leather patch and an unmistakable parrot upon his shoulder. And though Hook mentioned it to be much lighter than it seemed, Maggie hesitated. The thing looked to be made of pure stone, through and through, and the height wasn’t anything to scoff at, either.
She grasped it by the waist and jerked the statue forward, gasping as to how the light work of art skidded through the waters. “Well, I’ll be,” she muttered. “It’s as light as a feather!”
“Come on!” Selina waited by the red curtain, already waving a hand frantically at them. Coralyn remained in the first room, keeping an eye on the door. “I don’t know how much longer we will have.”
With the statue in one hand and Peter’s firm grasp in the other, Maggie swam across the courtyard to meet the Princesses. They shot through the treasure room, carefully ducking and weaving around the maze of gold coins and wooden chests. As Coralyn opened the front door, Maggie burst over the threshold, filled with an empowerment like never before.
“Uh-oh,” Maggie breathed, coming to a firm halt.
A trio of angry guards dressed in iron armor stood poised outside the treasure room, their spears at the ready.
She raised her shoulders. “I don’t suppose any of you had the chance to try my lunch?”
Silent stares answered her.
“Right.”
13
Maggie
In all of Maggie’s forty three years of living, not once – not ever before – was she thrown into a jail cell. She was used to hiding from the law when it came to magic, but never did she allow herself to be foolish enough to actually get caught. Running was easier than Maggie realized, and it kept her free from chains for a long,longtime.
Her hands clasped down around the iron bars of the cell. The material was shockingly cold but she couldn’t bring herself to pull away. “Please,” she called out for the tenth time. “This has been a m-misunderstanding! Let us out and –”
Peter’s warm hand curled around her bicep, gently tugging her away from the bars. “You ought to stop doing that, Magpie,” he said in her ear. “The next thing you know, your voice will be gone before we even have a chance to speak to the King.”
