“To heal the Everything Plant’s, Magpie.” Peter tilted his head at her. “The last thing that’s keeping you from going back to the human lands.”
Her lips parted, the words trapped behind her teeth.
Peter flashed a stunning, life-altering grin. “Is it so bad to admit I don’t want to let you go just yet?” The grin widened. “Or ever?”
Everything hummed beneath Maggie’s skin. There wasn’t a time before in her life that she could remember being brought to a similar feeling. It was as though the walls were collapsing in on her, despite being outside. But at the same time, a feeling that was once so suffocating quickly grew into a burning flame in the center of her very being. The flames simmered and smoldered until they roared with passion and truth anddesire.
Maggie hardly knew what she was thinking anymore.
“I – uhm, I’m –” Maggie shook her head again, blinking until the world stopped spinning all around her. She laughed, the sound more like a breath stopping in the back of her throat. “You trained me to use a sword, Peter. If there’s anyone who can handle the pirates, it’s me.”
Something deflated in him, but he kept up the grin. “And?”
“A-And I’m sure that there’s something we can negotiate with them,” Maggie continued.
Peter let his hands course up her arms, catching a few strands of hair around his long fingers. “And?”
“Peter,” she murmured, ignoring the quiver in her voice. “What do you want me to say?”
“Tell me you haven’t given it any more thought, and I won’t believe you,” Peter said. His hold over her loosened until he could hold her around the waist. “You’re avoiding what I really want to talk about, Maggie.”
“Is that so wrong?” she blurted.
Peter sighed. “Maggie.”
If a stormcloud could have rolled over them, Maggie wouldn’t have minded. There was a storm raging in her mind, another jostling her heart. Thunder crashed into her thoughts as lightning set them all ablaze. Everything she had been telling herself, the responsibility she had carried for her entire life, fought against what stood in front of her. More than that – it fought against the island itself, everything it was already givingher. It fought the Lost Boys and their handsome King. It fought the connection she fostered with Hazel, with the fairies, with even the pirates.
There wasn’t a linear thought in her mind.
“Peter,” Maggie said again, drawing in a breath to calm the blush rising to her cheeks. It didn’t take much to melt her, and his questions were more than enough to whittle her into a blubbering mess. “Tell me what you would have me do. Stay here, on the island? Live with you and the Lost Boys forever?”
“Why not?”
I was kidding,she wanted to say, but there wasn’t enough air in the entire world to get her lungs to work ever again. Not an ounce of humor dared touch Peter’s face. He was entirely serious about every word. Maggie stared up at him as though she were made of stone, unflinching and enamoured.
Peter touched her cheek. “Why not, Maggie Hart?” His gentle touch caressed her skin. “I like you. I want to be around you. I wantyouto be aroundme.” Peter beamed sheepishly, his own cheeks beginning to glow their own shade of scarlet. “We’re good for each other, Magpie. Even a blind man could see it.”
His confidence was almost staggering. Maggie only wished to one day be able to wield it herself, with the ease Peter always did. But even as much as his confidence shocked her, it was hardly enough. Logic and common sense lived as prominently in Maggie’s mind as love and magic did. There was a way certain things were done, a way that Maggie always had assumed would happen for her. Sure there were things that were always bound to change, but falling in love? Courting someone before settling down?
It all meant something to Maggie, even if she wasn’t entirely sure what exactly.
“There’s a certain way to do these things, Peter,” she finally said, her voice quiet and shy. “We’ve only known each other for a few months. Don’t you think talking about forever is a bit soon?”
“Maybe for some people.”
“Not you?”
Peter smiled, his eyes kind. “Neverland is about dreams being answered, Maggie Hart. Forallthose who dwell on the island.”
She frowned. “I-I know that.”
“So?”
Maggie blinked, thrown for another loop. “So what?”
His laugh was carried by the wind until it almost ruffled all the Everything Plant leaves. “What would you do then?”
“You mean with a –” she leaned forward, her voice dropping to a whisper “ –partner?”
