Chapter 11
“Silence is not your ally here, my lady.”
Maggie’s face scrunched up. Minutes had passed since the pirate entered the study.
She couldn’t will herself to utter a word, her eyes frantically snapping around the room in desperation.
There had to be a way out of the mess she just found herself in.
But there weren't any Lost Boys to jump in the way of danger, no King to whisk her off to safety.
There was only Maggie and the pirate.
There were only their swords, pointed directly at the other.
His head tilted as he looked her up and down.
Scruff covered the pirate’s chin and cheeks, colored a rusty brown.
Disgruntled hair that lacked a comb fell across his face in a rugged way – in a way that might’ve been considered handsome, though Maggie was ignoring the thought as much as she could.
He wouldn’t stop giving her that smirk, a look that made her skin crawl.
“Well I’m curious now,” the pirate murmured. “Who are you?”
Maggie lifted her chin, teeth gritted. “I could ask you the same question.”
“Ah,” the pirate cooed. “The lady speaks.” A brilliant smile flashed across his face.
“Don’t tease me now, my lady. All of Neverland knows who I am.
” He took a slow stride forward, the sword never once lowering.
“But I have not had the honor of meeting you. Now,” he paused, one brow crooked, “what is that lovely name?”
The adrenaline was shifting into something else.
Maggie was quickly running out of options.
The pirate in front of her was growing bolder, testing her boundaries.
He crept closer and closer with every passing minute.
But Maggie was beginning to get the sense that the pirate in front of her had some similar qualities of the rest of Neverland’s inhabitants, one who never minded a game or two.
“How about a game?” Maggie asked.
The pirate’s brow shot up. “I’m listening.”
“You say everyone on Neverland knows who you are,” she said, ignoring the tremble that was lingering in her voice. She shrugged as he pressed closer. “I don’t.”
The words struck his confidence for a split second. “Don’t lie, my lady.”
“It isn’t a lie at all,” she continued. Maggie began to move in a circle, rounding the room. The pirate followed her pattern, just as she predicted. “Tell me who you are, why everyone on Neverland should know you, and I just might do the same.”
The pirate tilted his head and clicked his teeth together. “No can do, my lady. Doesn’t sound like a fair trade at all. And if there’s anything I know –” he wiggled his brow, teeth glinting as his grin broadened “ – it’s what makes a fair trade.”
Maggie’s frustration was almost as high as her anxiety.
The curiosity was there, she could see it in the pirate’s eyes.
He fancied himself a good riddle, to have knowledge that someone else didn’t have, to know just a pinch more than the person next to him.
To Maggie, it was as clear as day, but she was running out of ways to use it.
The pirate only needed to catch the bait.
The pirate paused in his path and raised the sword higher. “I don’t believe it,” he murmured. “You truly don’t know who I am?”
Maggie raised a brow. “Why is that so hard to believe?”
“There isn’t a soul in Neverland who doesn’t know me!”
He sure is an arrogant one.
“I bet that deal is sounding a bit better now, isn’t it?” she mused.
The pirate’s mask was cracking. He couldn’t help himself. “Fine,” he snapped, as though it had been his plan all along. “You have a deal, my lady.”
He resumed his path, following in a circle around the room.
Maggie continued on ahead of him, never once moving her eyes away from him.
The pirate seemed to have a knack for theatrics, and the last thing Maggie needed to do was be caught unprepared.
Besides, there was a way out somewhere, just waiting for her.
“I hope you are excited, my lady,” he teased.
Maggie scoffed. “Whatever for?”
“You don’t know it yet,” he said, “but you’re sparring with the most feared pirate in Neverland’s history. I captain the most powerful, the most feared, the most relished crew.”
“Captain?”
The pirate’s smirk grew as he dipped into a deep bow. “Captain Hook, my lady.” He slowly rose, eyes suck on her. “At your service.”
Maggie’s attention was pulled back to him.
A silence so deep swallowed the room whole.
Fear behind a word, behind a name, was something Maggie had never experienced before.
That is, until that very moment. A chill raced down her back as it settled, the realization that the danger was far more imminent than it had once seemed.
As Captain Hook straightened, Maggie’s eyes snapped to something in one of the corners she was approaching. An oil lantern sat on a squat table against the back corner of the study, beside the front doors, burning with a flickering light.
“So,” Hook said.
Maggie’s brow furrowed, the sword trembling. “So?”
“Your end of the deal, my lady.” Hook started to move again, inching nearer. “Now you know my name, but I would prefer to know yours.” He jabbed with the blade, pulling a flinch out of her. “And just what you might be doing on my ship!”
“P-Perhaps you were right,” Maggie blurted. “And the deal wasn’t fair at all.”
He shook his head and waggled the sword playfully. “Not so fast, fair maiden. Maybe I was patient with you before, but I am quickly losing interest in it.” Hook sneered and stepped closer, no longer circling like a preying vulture. “Pray you tell me before it all goes out the window.”
Maggie’s breathing was ragged and uncertain.
The lie rested on her tongue but she could hardly get it out.
It wasn’t like there was a reason not to do it, the man was a terrible pirate, after all.
But suddenly, Maggie felt like she had been wearing a mask all along, one that was quickly beginning to crumble with every passing second.
The power she once carried, the determination to seek out adventure, to save the townspeople, all of it was fading.
Eventually, she’d simply only be the girl who didn’t belong there, the girl who never should have come in the first place.
The hesitation went on for far too long. Maggie opened her mouth to speak, finally meeting the captain’s eye.
“You…” he said with widening eyes. “You’re her, aren’t you?”
Maggie only needed a few more steps, and she’d be close enough to snatch up the oil lantern. That could be her ticket out of there. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she murmured, still inching away.
Hook advanced quicker than she thought he would. Within an instant he was in the middle of the room, in front of the wooden desk. The tip of his blade pointed threateningly close to Maggie’s torso. “You’re the baker,” he murmured.
Maggie froze. “I –”
“Every man on my crew complains about how rubbish our food is,” Hook said, “while the rest of the island have the best food they’ve ever had.”
Flattery touched her for a fleeting moment. Though he was Neverland’s greatest adversary, there was something about being so well known that Maggie was recognized aboard a notorious pirate ship. She almost couldn’t believe it.
Hook smirked. “I’m right, aren’t I?”
“Yes,” Maggie replied through gritted teeth. “Why should it matter to you?”
“Well isn’t it curious that the King of Neverland’s pet has miraculously appeared in my private study? Aboard my ship?”
Maggie huffed and backed away from him, her leg hitting the table. Behind her, the oil lamp rattled. “I am no one’s pet.”
“Right, right,” he snapped. “You’re just their cook.”
Her heart raced. Where is this conversation going? Maybe it was good that he knew. The entire island knew about Maggie and the restaurant, even his own pirates wanted to visit it.
Hook, surprisingly, sheathed his blade.
“W-What’re you doing?” Maggie asked, one hand hesitating as she reached for the lamp.
“Well, my lady,” he began with a loud, exasperated sigh, “knowing what I know now, I suppose there isn’t a good enough reason to kill you. Not if you were just sneaking aboard.”
She almost laughed. “You’re kidding.”
“Haven’t you heard, my lady?” Hook stretched his arms out. “I am quite the gentleman, after all. In fact,” he stepped closer, “I’ll be so kind as to keep you right here.”
“W-What?”
Hook placed a hand over his chest. “I am a good captain, my lady. My men would like your food at hand, and now, I can supply.” A sinister smirk stretched across his face. “Hold still, pet.”
The pirate captain lunged toward her.
Within the nick of time, Maggie snatched the oil lamp and dove out the way. Careful not to spill it, she straightened at the center of the room, holding the lamp high above her head. Hook met the wall with outstretched hands, releasing a frustrated grunt before he whipped around exuberantly.
“Why you –” Hook’s eyes locked in on the lamp.
Maggie tilted her head. “Go on, captain,” she murmured. “I wouldn’t want to stop you in your monologue.”
His dark eyes glanced between the lamp and Maggie, entirely calculating.
Effortlessly, his demeanor changed. Gone was the teasing and the mocking, the playful amusements.
It was replaced with a kind man, a gentler man.
He eased himself off the wall, hands extended to her like a long lost friend.
And as Maggie met his gaze, she waited to see where this act might go.
Hook’s brow furrowed handsomely, a sincere smile curving along his lips. “We got off on the wrong foot, my lady,” he cooed.
“Did we?”
“I meant it when I said it, you know.”
Maggie raised a brow, her hold over the lamp loosening. “What?”
“I’m a gentleman,” Hook replied in a soft voice, his eyes snapping up.
“I believe we ought to be friends, my lady. Whatever is Peter Pan doing, hiding you away, keeping you all to himself?” The pirate slowly stepped closer.
“Up in that tree house. Don’t you long for adventure?
To be free?” Hook tilted his head and flashed a charming smile.
“We can talk all about it, my lady, if you only –”
He was reaching his arm up, acting as though she couldn’t see him, only inches away from taking the lamp right out of her fingers.
Maggie could hardly believe him. Sure, he could act well enough, but what did he know?
The first time she ever felt free was alongside Peter Pan and the Lost Boys.
What Hook referred to was a life of danger, a life of violence.
She shook her head, catching his eye. Perhaps, she hoped, that it was fear that she saw dancing across his gaze.
“If I only what?” Maggie whispered as she peered up at him. “Put it down, pet?”
Hook’s eyes widened, a word caught on his lips.
Maggie stepped backward and slammed the oil lamp down on the floor.
She lunged the moment it left her fingers, leaping for the door before the lamp had a chance to implode.
Flames licked at the bottom of her feet as she crashed through the wooden door, escaping at the very last second.
The heat followed her out, swallowing up the boat effortlessly.
She took a quick look over her shoulder, but there was only a mess of chaos.
The captain’s quarters were no longer recognizable as the orange flames grew.
She caught a glimpse of the windows through the splintered door, but there was only a splash of blue on the other side.
I’m safe, she thought to herself as she turned back around.
Reaching her arms up, Maggie felt the rush of lingering fairy dust come to life beneath her skin.
It sparked and surged to her feet, pulling her off the ground within a moment.
Relief strung through Maggie’s chest as she began to hover.
Soon she’d be back with her friends, back with Peter, and with an outrageous story to tell.
Maggie was reaching six feet off the ground, about to soar toward the island’s shore, when a fiery hot hand wrapped around her ankle.
Maggie whipped her head around. “No – !”
“That’s right, my lady,” Captain Hook growled, his face contorted dangerously. The anger was unmistakable, the edges of his clothes seared from the flames. “It isn’t quite that easy to be rid of me.”
The pirate yanked down and Maggie rushed back to the ship’s hard surface.
She landed with a thud, colliding with the damp and creaking wood.
She rolled around, meeting his angry gaze once more.
Before, when Maggie thought that this would have been an adventure, she wished she could have seen herself at that very moment.
How can I get out of this mess?