“Yes, Maggie.” Peter’s grin was infectious.
“Well,” she drawled, pulling out of his grasp to walk around the plants, entirely aware of how his eyes were clinging to her figure, “I’d expect to date first, you know? To get to know one another over alongperiod of time. Marrying, once the time was right. Moving in together.” She shrugged sheepishly. “You know?”
There was no denying that Peter listened when she spoke. His short nods and head tilts telling Maggie more than any words ever could. For a moment – for just asplit second– Maggie wondered what it would be like to be Peter Pan’s wife. What would that even mean? A life of untold adventure? A life that always kept her moving, always on her feet?
Happiness?
Peter nodded as he approached her, gently taking her hand in his once more. With a slight mischievous twinkle in his eye, he raised her fingers to his lips, leaving a phantom kiss against her skin. The contact seared through her and she gasped.
“If you really think you’re ready,” Peter said, “I will take you to see the pirates tomorrow.”
Maggie jerked back. “W-What?”
“The pirates, Magpie.” He gave her a lazy, casual smile, slightly swaying her hand through the air between them. “Remember?”
No one else on the planet was capable of throwing her for a loop. At least, not in the way Peter Pan managed to do on multiple occasions. He effortlessly changed the subject, acting so nonchalant and at ease. Maggie wasn’t uncomfortable, of course, but with the previous topic hot on her mind, she was sure that they would’ve been discussing it for some time. Something was going on behind Peter’s gorgeous eyes, but she knew that there was no point in trying to uncover it. The King of Neverland was as stubborn as he was courageous.
Maggie sighed and let her shoulders fall, impersonating the same ease he wore so well. Even if it was a sudden change in conversation, Maggie was glad to hear it. She’d been waiting in anticipation to meet with the pirates, even if her first encounter with their mysterious captain wasn’t entirely a good one.
“I remember, Peter,” she finally said. “Tomorrow, then. Youareserious, right?”
Peter laughed sweetly. “‘Course I am.” His eyes twinkled mischievously again. “When am I not?”
Maggie bit back a scoff as she let him lead her out of the maze of Everything Plants, and back toward Cricket Hollow. The sun was beginning to rise high in the sky, and there wasn’t a cloud in sight to block its way. In the distance, the marketplace came steadily to life, a blur of colors from fairy wings hovering in the air. What would life be like, she wondered, after Neverland? She hadn’t quite imagined it, after all that time.
What would it be like to wander through the human lands, without an ounce of magic in sight? She would be forced toreturn to the hiding state she hated so much, only allowed to use her abilities in the shadowy night. Discretion would be her middle name as she searched foranothernew start,anothernew home,anotherbakery. But wasn’t that the point of living? To work for it, to strive for it, to push for it? There would always be a wall, but it was human to climb over it.
Maggie was lost in thought when she realized they were already over the bridge, already nearing the sound of a busy early afternoon. It took only a few simple words for her life to be turned upside. Everything she thought she wanted hung up in the air, disappearing, as though she never wanted it in the first place. But Maggie was just as stubborn as the next, and she wouldn’t be giving up on her dreams that easily.
Her eyes clung to the back of Peter’s head.
If he wanted her, he would just have to prove it.
Maggie tightened her hand around his own.
Game on, King of Neverland.
4
Maggie
When you are ready, you will know.
Maggie’s foot tapped impatiently against the floor as she stared at the unmoving potion bottle. It sat on the top of her dresser, the emerald liquid sloshing each time her toes sharply smacked against the creaking wood. The potion was unanswering, simply staring back at her with a prideful gaze.
Of course the potion didn’thaveany eyes to look at her with, but there was something about it. Perhaps it was Hazel’s warning as she left it in her hand. It wasn’t going anywhere, so what was the hurry? There would come a time when she would truly need it, but how was she even supposed to know? The answer eluded her then, just as it did when Hazel first said the words. To know that the memories she never knew she had rested only a few feet away from her was hard to stomach. Her instinct wanted to devour the potion the moment she had it in her possession. They werehermemories, after all. Why shouldn’t she know them?
At the same time, she remembered how the first taste of it felt. When the goblin revealed the flash of memories, Maggie hardly felt like herself. It was as though she stepped into anotherbody, another life, another existence. Everything she thought she knew left in a split second, ripped out from underneath her feet.
Maggie shuddered.
Experiencing that again needed confidence behind it.Thatwas what Hazel meant. Letting out a frustrated groan, Maggie strode toward the bottle and pushed it behind the jewelry box Dusty had carved for her. The bottle was only slightly obscured from her vision, and it wasn’t like she couldreallyforget it was there.
Knock, knock, knock!
Maggie jolted away from the dresser.Relax, you’re not doing anything wrong.In the corner of the room, tightly curled away in the window’s reading nook, Sunny stretched his paws out as he yawned. The fur shot out from around his neck like a lion’s mighty mane, catching the shreds of moonlight as it streamed in, then his stance shifted as he relaxed once more.
As she went to the door, Sunny followed close at her heels.
