Chapter 19
An angry storm lingered on Neverland’s horizon.
It had already swept over the island only a few hours before.
The clouds were caught along the western mountains, breaking up into a series of relentless thunderstorms before being pulled by the ocean breeze.
The raging storm followed the current out into the rowdy seas, growing to greater heights the further it went.
Though it didn’t do much damage to the island itself, besides a few knocked over trees and a mess, Neverland’s familiar beach carried a haphazard look to it.
Maggie dug her bare feet into the sand as she looked at the distant storm.
There was something undeniably beautiful about a dangerous thunderstorm.
The blue of heavy clouds, filled to the brim with tons of rain droplets, was unlike anything else.
The seas didn’t even look like that shade of blue.
When lightning struck, it was silent for a moment, streaking across the sky in a flash of white brilliance, before the thunder followed swiftly afterwards.
Sparks would fly as the sky’s drums rippled down the island, the onslaught of rain quickly coming next.
The pelting rain was cold to the touch, and nice against her skin.
Even then, when it was looming in the distance, Maggie was entranced. To stand within it would transport her to an entirely different land, one where everything was streaked grey and blue and green.
Behind her, Peter kicked up another hunk of dirt. It rolled down until it mingled with the sand, and landed at her heel. Maggie breathed a sigh and turned around, wrapping her thin shawl tightly across her torso.
The Everything Plant was not getting any better.
Two weeks had passed since the mermaid’s cove was free of any dams, and the moon coral had returned to their former bliss.
Nothing was stopping the island’s natural water source from regularly filling the Everything Plant’s with all the nutrients it needed to survive.
Despite the change, nothing looked any different with the flowers themselves.
The berries were not being produced on the vines, though everything else looked rather fine.
Maggie had left him alone for a few minutes.
Neverland’s King even needs to let out some steam sometimes, even if it was just in a few kicks to the undisturbed ground below.
But they waited long enough, and there was obviously something else going on that they were missing.
Maggie stood alongside him, overlooking the rows of Everything Plants.
“I don’t understand,” Peter breathed. “What haven’t we done?”
Maggie crossed her arms. “Are you sure you’ve told me everything, Peter?”
He whipped around and produced a childishly offended expression. “Sure,” he drawled. “Like this means that I must’ve left something out.”
Maggie couldn’t stop herself from blurting out with laughter.
Peter gave her an angry look, his brow furrowed together in a charming way.
She covered her mouth but it could hardly subsidize the giggles.
A part of her was strangely satisfied. They had planned on visiting the Everything Plant exactly two weeks after removing the dam in the cove.
While Maggie knew the day was always coming, she was dreading it all along.
It almost was like her send off date, like she would’ve never returned to the treehouse after going to see the plants on the beach.
It was a ludicrous idea that wouldn’t have happened either way, but it frightened her all the same.
The wish she made clung to her throughout it all, and it ended up coming true.
She should’ve been upset.
Right?
Beside her, Peter was staring at the Everything Plant with frustration painted across his face.
Maggie couldn’t deny how perplexed she was.
All that they had done so far should’ve been enough to bring the plant back to its full health, but had failed to do so thus far.
She was confused, but that didn’t mean she was angry.
In fact, she was strangely pleased. The universe listened to her pleas, and she was stuck in Neverland for longer than expected.
Not that it was what she wanted, or needed, for that matter.
Shaking her head, Maggie yanked herself out of her thoughts and approached the plants, hearing Peter’s quiet steps close behind her.
“We’ve had good weather,” she thought aloud, “minus the storm we just had. But there aren't any fruit on the beach, or any sprouts that were ruined by the rain, so I don’t think it hurt them.”
Peter snapped his fingers at her. “Maybe the water isn’t all back to normal! Maybe it’s –”
“I’ve been checking it every other day,” Maggie interjected. “You know that. There’s nothing wrong with the water. In fact, healing the moon coral only seemed to strengthen the ocean and her inhabitants, not the opposite.”
His face scrunched up as he looked away.
“Peter,” Maggie drawled, her hands pointedly on her hips, “Why do I get the feeling that you’ve been leaving some sort of information out?”
He pressed his lips together and avoided her stare.
“Peter!” Maggie pinched at his side, tickling his sensitive spots until he whipped around, his face a beat red. “You totally were! What is it?”
The King of Neverland released a heavy, obnoxious sigh. “Alright, alright,” he muttered. “I left out one thing, but I don’t think it matters. Honestly, we should just –”
Maggie’s hand snapped up. “You owe me an explanation, Pan.”
Something flashed across his face, the corner of his lip tugging into a smirk. “You’re quite fun when you’re angry, Magpie.”
“This isn’t even angry,” she muttered with an eyeroll, biting back her laugh. “Go on, King of Neverland. What haven’t you told me?”
Peter sighed as he leaned against the bark of a sturdy tree. “For as long as I have been King of Neverland, there has been a magical artifact that has always been kept amongst the Everything Plants.”
“An artifact?” Maggie murmured.
Peter waved it off. “Look, it really doesn’t matter anymore.”
“Why?”
“The pirates took it,” he muttered. “I like to boast that Hook and his crew aren’t all that, but every once and a while, they manage to slip beneath our noses. The artifact was under our care when Hook took it for himself.”
Maggie stepped closer to him, reaching up to cup her palm to the side of his face.
“You’re a great king, but no one is perfect,” she said.
She gave him a light tap before pulling back.
She started to walk away from the plants, back in the direction of the treehouse, when Peter ran up behind her, snatching onto her wrist.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“Well, we need a plan, don’t we?”
Peter frowned. “A plan for what?”
“For finding the artifact, of course!”
He tugged on her hand until she was forced to step back closer to him.
“I don’t want to have anything to do with the pirates, Maggie,” he said.
It wasn’t often that Peter allowed himself to be serious, but Maggie was beginning to hear it twinge at the edges of his voice.
“We shouldn’t push the peace we’ve had after that big fight. ”
“Those plants are important, Peter,” she insisted. “Neverland needs them.”
He tilted his head as he watched her, an amused smirk pulling across his face. “You know,” Peter drawled slowly, “it might not be the worst thing if you stayed.”
“Peter –”
“If you stayed and taught us all how to cook.”
The words hung in the air, carrying the same heaviness of the weighted storm that thundered off in the distance.
Maggie only stared, watching him intently.
What was there for her to say? She begged for the Everything Plants to remain unfixed, to remain unflowering, to keep Neverland away from its precious fruit, away from survival.
The guilt strung up within her as her selfishness grew.
Maggie needed to face the facts: Neverland wouldn’t always be there for her.
Peter Pan was only an escape from the reality she had always known, the reality that was currently waiting for her.
Maggie opened her mouth but there was nothing but air coming out from between her lips. What was there for her to say?
I don’t want to leave, but I have to.
You’re everything I’ve wanted, everything I’ve looked for, but I can’t have you.
I can’t have any of this.
Peter sighed as the silence carried on. Tucking his hands in his front pockets, he kept his eyes focused on the storm lingering in the distance. “It’ll be hard, you know.”
“What will be?”
“Getting the artifact back, of course.”
Maggie’s eyes widened. “So you’ll do it?”
“How can I ever say no to you?”
And maybe he was teasing, or trying to lighten the mood, but there was something behind his blue eyes that told Maggie he spoke more than the simple truth.
He spoke his truth. Walking towards him, Maggie wrapped her arm around his own, keeping their contact as much as possible.
He felt so withdrawn then, so far away from her, that she hardly recognized where she was.
Now that they were back together, a smile touching his face once more, Maggie leaned back into the warmth she had grown to enjoy so much.
“I’m up for the challenge,” Peter said. “As long as you are.”
Maggie looked up at him. Not too long ago, she believed she wouldn’t have been ready for anything.
Getting out of bed was harder than anything else.
Facing the world that never wanted to see her succeed was damning enough to keep her head low and withdrawn.
But if there was one thing that Neverland had taught her, it was that everything and anything was possible, no matter the circumstances.
Magic could be wielded by anyone, love could be born in the darkest of places, and the brightest of smiles sometimes carried the hardest truths.
If there was one thing she knew, it was that she was ready for more than anything.
Maggie Hart was ready for the world. And for another adventure in Neverland.