“So you think we will? Get an audience with him, I mean.”
He waded back into the cell, retreating against the back wall. Peter pulled her along with him, making sure to put as much space between her and the bars as possible. “I’m sure we will,” he replied. “The King of Atlantis might be stubborn and hot-headed, but it doesn’t mean he doesn’t have the poise andrespect that leaders normally do. He’ll give us time to defend ourselves.” Peter’s voice lowered, a dower look over taking his normally optimistic expression. “Eventually.”
Maggie took a spot on the wall beside him. “You’re nervous, aren’t you?”
“What?” Peter chuckled and waved her off, careful to keep his eyes fixed on a spot where she couldn’t outrightly see the truth within them. “Don’t worry about me, Magpie. I’ll find a way to get us out of here.”
For a moment, she only watched him. Silence took over the cell for the first time since they had been thrown in – a much needed reprieve for the lingering guards and her voice, Maggie believed. If Peter knew Maggie well enough to know how much she really wanted the King’s good favor about her food, she knew him enough to catch him in a bit of a bluff. There was the slightest quiver in his voice that gave way to the truth. After all their adventures and mishaps, even close encounters with dangerous pirates capable of inflicting great harm, Maggie had never once seen the King of Neverland succumb to something as human as fear.
That is, until that very moment.
Maggie couldn’t deny how nervous she already was, but to know that it was inflicting her partner gave her just enough strength to keep it under wraps as much as she could. She reached for him, tucking one arm around his own until they were side by side. The chill she'd felt from the frightening cell bars and murky waters was slowly penetrated by Peter’s undeniable warmth. When the guards found them in front of the Treasure Room, Maggie and Peter were taken far deeper than they had ever been before. The waters deeper than any mortal creature could survive, and it was only Selina’s magical bubbles that kept them safe from the depths. The cells were incredibly dark and foggy from the thick water. The guards were guided by themagical blue torches they carried, their light not at all what Maggie was used to.
Her heart raced as she remembered her predicament. The last thing she needed was to pull Peter deeper into his fears by indulging in her own. Peter risked his life for her time and time again – he deserved everything she could give.
Maggie turned to face him. “What do you think will happen, Peter?”
As if he was caught in a deep trance, Peter blinked a few times and twitched before he came fully to. He glanced at her, his smile only pulling halfway across his face. “Well, as the King of Neverland, Neptune won’t have much power to keep me here. He calls the waters that surround my realm home, after all. Neverland and Atlantis survive through cooperation.”
“That’s it?”
“No,” Peter quickly added. “I’m sure grouchy old Neptune is taking his time trying to come up with a good price for me to pay. There’s no denying that he’s an expensive man.”
Maggie pressed her lips together. “I couldn’t help but notice that you were very specific.”
“What?”
“You said ‘as the King of Neverland,’” Maggie clarified. “As in, not me or us. Just you.”
Peter’s face was tinted an unusual shade of white. He pulled his arm out of her grasp to stand in front of her, his wide frame blocking out the dark corridor in front of their shadowy cell. He gripped her shoulders with a strength that was meant to be reassuring, but it only frightened her further about the words he was about to speak into existence.
“I don’t know what King Neptune plans to do about you, Maggie,” Peter finally said.
Maggie exhaled shakily. “Alright. What does that mean exactly?”
“You’re quite the enigma, aren’t you? There’s no denying that the King loved your food,” he explained. “But he’s a stubborn and harsh man. Jewels and prizes well earned mean more to him than a good meal. And there’s nothing keeping you protected royally, like my standing as King.”
If any of that was supposed to make her feel better, it surely didn’t. In her efforts to keep her rising fear masked confidently, Maggie felt the walls beginning to crumble. Whatever bravery she put on before faded like the summer breeze at the turn of the season. It drifted along the wind until she forgot it had been there in the first place, suddenly and all at once. There was only Peter’s grip over her shaking hands that kept her grounded, kept her locked within their cold and damp prison cell.
“Maggie.”
Her eyes raised. She couldn’t recall hearing his voice come across in such a way before. It was like a bark, but not at all aggressive. It was sure, it was firm, it was loud and echoing. It passed through her growing uncertainty until it reached her quivering heart, returning it to a regular beat in the matter of moments.
“I promise you,” he continued, his eyes striking her with an unbelievable intensity, “that no one will harm you. I do not care if it is every merman in all of Atlantis standing in my way, or the King himself. You and I are walking out of here with the statue when this is all over.”
Maggie held his stare. “How?”
“I-I don’t know yet,” he murmured as noise came from outside of the cell. “But I will.”
The cell clanked as the door swung open. A pair of guards hovered in front of the threshold, their spears already pointed.
“Come along, you two,” one guard grumbled. “His Majesty King Neptune is ready to receive you know.”
The guards led them back through the Palace. They came upon an arched doorway after no time, where the floor was leagues beneath their feet. It led into a great spherical room, where the ceiling opened up to show the deeply blue waters of the ocean above. Large creatures swam overhead, a few StarWhales catching Maggie’s eye as their bright light passed them by. A tall throne was erected from the floor, reaching high above until it became an ornately golden seat. On either side of it were two chairs in the shapes of seashells, mimicking the color of the Princess that sat inside it. Selina sat on the King’s right, her expression tight and on edge. Coralyn was on the left shoulder, chewing nervously on her painted fingernails.
Directly in the middle, rising from the throne to meet them straight on, was the famed King Neptune.
The King wasn’t at all what she was expecting to find. Where most descriptions made him out to be a scrawny old man without a kind thought in his entire body, Maggie looked upon a handsome man that was nothing of the sort. Well, perhaps hestilllacked a kind bone, but that was besides the point. There was no denying that King Neptune was quite the looker. Silver hair that reminded Maggie of the coral that hugged the seafloor rolled down the King’s shoulders in waves. Delicate skin that was tinted the slightest shade of blue gave way to an emerald tail, one that was far longer than any of the other merpeople Maggie had come across. He wore a white beard to match, one that was decorated with sparkling rubies and pale seashells.
