Chapter 14
On the western point of Neverland, an old fable whispered over campfires foretold that an underground community of goblins lived and prospered.
Goblins weren’t unusual to be seen across the island.
They never pressed into town and avoided the beach at all costs.
Only nighttime saw their faces, and those with adventurous spirits could uncover them in the dark trenches of midnight.
According to Peter, the underground system stretched beneath the entire island, giving the goblins an untold amount of space to live and grow.
Maggie’s hand tightened around Peter’s as they pressed further toward the rocky cliffside of Neverland’s island.
Short mountains stood on the western point, with a series of winding caves opening up within the stone.
Only a handful of the caves actually led to the underground system, while the others were used as booby traps.
Maggie’s fear quieted when Peter insisted on knowing which was the right cave, but there was something that remained nervous within her.
She looked up at him, unsurprised at the confident expression he wore.
There was a leather pack on his back, one that jingled and creaked as they walked.
Maggie wasn’t entirely sure what he insisted on carrying, but she knew she’d figure it out eventually.
“This is the last piece to our puzzle,” Peter said as he confidently strode forward. “Once we’ve got the carved copper eye, we’ll be off to Hazel’s again.”
“And she’ll craft the potion?”
He nodded. “Hazel’s always a great help. The potion will be finished in no time, and the moon coral will be back to normal.” Though the words he spoke were inherently positive, there was a crass edge to his voice, one that almost betrayed his true feelings.
Pretending that she didn’t notice it, Maggie let her mind focus on the witch instead. “I don’t suppose I ever expected Hazel to be so nice to us,” she murmured. “Or to help us without expecting something in return.”
He raised a brow. “Whatever for? Hazel’s a doll.”
“Perhaps you’d understand better if you spent more time in the human world,” Maggie replied.
“Really?” Peter frowned thoughtfully.
“I grew up only hearing dreadful things about witches,” Maggie explained. “They were things to fear, things to avoid. Anything magical, really, but there was something harshly poignant about witchcraft.”
Peter listened attentively, his surprise not at all sugar coated.
“It’s quite a different story in Neverland,” he mused.
“Witches like Hazel are like you and I in the barest sense of the term. People, plus some magic. And, like you and I, there are good people and there are bad people. Hazel, regardless of magic or not, happens to be especially kind and empathetic, after all she’s been through. ”
Effortlessly, Maggie’s curiosity piqued.
They were diving deeper into the mountainous region, the road underfoot rocky and sharpened.
She clutched Peter’s hand as he easily scaled the mountain side, keeping one arm hooked around her at all times.
His words kept her mind off of what was at present, and how a sudden cliffside loomed dangerously to their right side.
“What has she been through?” Maggie asked.
Peter glanced over at her, the words pausing in the back of his throat.
“Oh,” she murmured. “Don’t feel pressured to tell me, Peter. It is her story, after all.”
He remained quiet for a few more minutes, only lifting her over a rough patch of jagged stone. When he placed her down in front of him, on solid rock, Peter’s hands lingered on her curved hips, his grip growing warm over her skin. His eyes searched Maggie as though the answer lied within her face.
With a deep sigh, Peter pulled his hands away and reclaimed his grip over her hand. “A long time ago, Hazel once had a daughter.”
“A daughter?”
Peter nodded slowly. “A baby,” he continued.
“In Neverland, you see. There was one day, as the story goes, that Hazel and her child took a rowboat out into the sea. Not far at all, only as far as she safely could go, but the currents…well, the currents are strong enough to pull a pirate ship out into the depths. You can only imagine how easily it might capture a flimsy rowboat.”
He barely reached the climax of the story, and Maggie’s breath was already caught in the back of her throat. Anticipation grabbed her heart with a steely grip as she waited with bated breath for him to continue the tale.
“It wasn’t long until a storm met them in the far reaches of the ocean,” Peter murmured.
“The island was too far to even see. For Hazel and her baby, no help was coming.” A shadow passed over his face.
“The storm overtook them and the boat capsized. As far as I know, Hazel managed to right the boat and get the baby back on it. Unfortunately for Hazel, she wasn’t strong enough to get herself back on the boat.
So, Hazel was dragged one way, and Hazel was dragged the other… ”
Maggie raised a hand to her lips. “But the baby –”
“No one knows what happened to her or the boat. The storm passed on, and the current pulled Hazel until she washed back up on Neverland’s shore. The only difference –” his expression was grave “ – she was all by herself.”
A sadness far heavier than Maggie expected washed over her.
She imagined the emotion to be like the waves themselves, to have overtaken her just as it pulled the boat upside down.
To be barely born and already succumbed to one of nature’s most deadly accomplices pulled a shiver out of Maggie’s spine.
What did the baby see as her mother drifted away?
Could the baby even know how much her mother loved her, how she already sacrificed her own safety for her?
The thoughts ran amok in Maggie’s head, growing so loud that she lost her footing and tripped over some loose rock.
Peter snatched her elbow before she had the chance to fall.
“So, that was it? The baby was just gone?” Maggie asked, surprised as to how desperate her voice sounded, as if the information was vital.
“In all likelihood.”
“Why do I get the feeling that you don’t believe that?” Maggie asked, her brow raised skeptically.
“Nothing gets by you, does it?” His lip pulled up into a charming, crooked smile. “Well, the baby would grow up to be a powerful witch, especially with someone like Hazel as her mother, no matter where she ended up.”
The words hung in the air as Peter jogged ahead.
The cliffside came sharply to their right, but parallel to it was a long line of caves.
The openings were like tall mouths, each exhaling gusts of cold air as they passed them by.
An unforgettable darkness lay within the caves, and sounds echoed from the deepest depths.
Peter remained quiet as he eyed the openings, careful not to pass through any of the thresholds until he was absolutely certain.
Maggie wanted to step over Hazel’s story like it was simply a story, but it wouldn’t loosen its hold over her subconscious.
The words hovered over her like a cloud, echoing faintly and never leaving.
She could almost imagine it: a torrential storm approaching over the horizon, a baby wailing for her mother, and a love so strong it was capable of saving lives.
Perhaps that was the most magical piece of it all, that Hazel’s unforgetting and unwavering devotion to her only blood was strong enough to keep them all alive, even if it meant being separated.
Why does it matter so much? Maggie shook her head until it rattled as she followed close behind Peter. There were far more important things at hand than a story from far too long ago.
“Peter,” she called out.
The King of Neverland held out his hand, silencing her in a split second.
He nodded his chin toward one of the cave openings, one that had a crackling sound coming from the dark depths.
Maggie inched close to Peter’s heel, grasping onto his hand like a lost child.
Though she was embarrassed, Peter only intertwined their fingers and drew her as close to her side as possible.
“This is it,” he whispered.
Maggie gulped. “How can you be so sure? It’s just…dark!”
He grinned as he looked over his shoulder at her. “Have a little faith, Magpie.”
Peter led the way into the dark. The cave was eerily cold and ominously quiet as they reached the end of it, where a single torch held an undying fire beside a wooden door.
The air pushed the wood and made it creak, though it wasn’t until Peter rapped his knuckles against the frame that real noise stirred from behind it.
A latch at the center of the door snapped open, revealing a set of pale colored eyes and green-tinged skin.
“Who goes there?” a voice bellowed.
Peter leaned forward. “It is the King of Neverland,” he announced. “And a friend.”
The eyes narrowed. “And why have you come to our caves?”
“We wish to make a deal with the goblins.”
Maggie watched as the eyes held onto them closely, inspecting every inch of them before the voice released a guttural sound of approval.
The small latch snapped shut, and gentle steps could be heard on the other side.
A series of latches and locks were opened and removed, the entire process dragging on for a few awkwardly quiet minutes.
“About the baby,” Maggie whispered. “Are you sure you don’t know what happened to her?”
Peter looked down. “Huh?”
“Hazel’s daughter! Is it possible that the daughter of a powerful witch could just be…lost like that?”
He laughed lightly. “Why’s it got you so transfixed?
” Before she could come up with an answer that she didn’t have, Peter shrugged his shoulders and sighed with an unavoidable heaviness.
“There’s no good answer, Maggie. No one knows and there is no way of knowing anything more than what I’ve already told you. ”
Maggie frowned as her brow furrowed tightly.
The answer hardly felt like enough. Despite Peter giving all the information he had, Maggie couldn’t help but wonder what it was that he didn’t know, and why the missing knowledge tempted her in such a poignant way.
She took a deep breath, unable to hide her insatiable hunger for more.
“But –”
The door swung open.
A short and squat figure who carried the eyes of the previous speaker stood in front of them.
The goblin only had pale green skin, with even paler eyes to match.
Wispy grey hairs spiked up at the top of his round head, though there were only a handful of them.
Clothes that couldn’t cover his belly barely held onto his roundish figure, though the goblin didn’t seem to mind.
“Welcome,” the goblin proclaimed, “King of Neverland and guest, to the goblin tunnels!” The creature side-stepped and brandished a short arm into the darkness of the caves.
Peter walked over the threshold, tugging a hesitant Maggie to follow close behind. The door swung close behind them, the final exhale of fresh air following along with them.