Chapter 5
Maggie
“It’s heavy.”
Maggie thought she knew what a real sword felt like after her first run in with Captain Hook and his crew of pirates.
According to the Lost Boys, the sword nabbed before running off to fight was the dullest piece in their entire collection.
It would’ve snapped after a single swipe, so she was lucky no real combat happened with Hook.
Maggie didn’t let it deter the one heroic moment she managed to have, but it made the sword she held in her hands now feel like something entirely otherworldly.
The steel blade flashed in the light, glittering with an undeniable danger.
Maggie gripped it at the hilt, the leather bound handle bending against her palm.
Though she tended to whip her wooden sword around with one hand, it felt almost impossible to hold her real sword with such casualness.
It felt almost disrespectful, though she knew the blade had no sense of feelings of its own.
Maggie stopped the thoughts before they grew loud enough to deter her and sheathed the blade at her hip.
The weight was unusual at first before it quickly grew into something she thought had always been there.
“Only the best steel blades are,” Peter replied. His own trusty weapon – Ripcord, he lovingly called it – rested at his back, long and sturdy like his own frame. “Vespera sent her best fairy dust collector to loan us some. Are you ready?”
“To fly or to face Captain Hook?”
Peter grinned, the excited silhouettes of the Lost Boys looming like trusty shadows behind him. “Both, I suppose,” he replied. “Well? Are you?”
He was teasing – that much she could tell from the amused twitch in his brow.
But there was no denying that he was trying to feel her out just as much.
He searched for a reason to believe that she couldn’t do it.
That they could change their minds or she could stay behind. She was only more determined to do so.
“I’m ready,” she said.
The Lost Boys whooped as they approached, gathering in a tight line as the fairy came by with a jar of glittering dust. She let handfuls fall over each of them, the shower tickling and pecking at Meggie’s exposed skin.
One by one they lifted off the front porch of the treehouse, hovering in the air before taking flight above the arching treetops.
Peter effortlessly led the way, streaking off across the island with the speed of a hummingbird.
Maggie kept up the best she could, surprised with the energy she was still capable of exerting, despite her age and lack of athletic activities.
The Lost Boys fell around her in the same vein as geese, slicing through the sky in the shape of an arrow.
Down below, they left behind Cricket Hollow and the fairy huts, the bustling marketplace and merchant stands.
Gone was their treehouse and the beach, where the Everything Plants were left waiting.
They went beyond the mermaid’s cove, and Maggie managed to spot a few colorful tails streaking below the ocean’s rowdy surface.
Before they had left, Dash had come back from speaking with an informant.
Apparently he had a friend who claimed to have once been a member of Hook’s crew.
Once he heard that they were trying to get something back from them, the informant approached Dash eagerly.
Hook was being careful in where he docked his precious Jolly Roger.
Anywhere too obvious might enable a retaliation – just what Peter wanted.
The informant reported that Hook finally made an anchor in Crocodile Waters, a cove that led directly into the ocean.
It wasn’t visited by many, and according to Peter, even he didn’t like going there.
Maggie would always be impressed with how well the Lost Boys and their King could formulate a plan. Even if they weren’t quick to share it with Maggie, leaving her a bit at a loss, Maggie was satisfied enough by their own confidence.
Crocodile Waters was more inland than Maggie expected it to be.
They flew to the opposite side of the island, leaving them silent in the air for quite some time.
But the cove itself wasn’t too close to the ocean.
Hook must’ve made his ship course through narrow rivers to make it to the safety of the cove.
At the center of the round body of water was the Jolly Roger.
It sat undisturbed, a slight trail of smoke curling in the air above it.
Even from a distance, Maggie could make out the haphazard job that had been done to clean up Hook’s burnt cabin.
“Can you imagine how many crocodiles live here?” Dash asked as they hovered a few miles above the cove.
Peter chuckled to himself as he kept an eye on the ship. “Why don’t we drop a few on port to remind our favorite pirate captain?”
“But that would ruin all of our fun,” Twitch drawled next. “Hook’ll forget we were ever there the moment he sees one!”
Laughter ensued throughout their small party.
“Wait a second,” Maggie called out. “Are you saying that Hook has a fear of crocodiles?” She shrugged as they all nodded in response. “Then why bother hiding here? Seems like too big of a risk if they’re all around.”
Peter laid back as if he were lounging against the air.
“Crocodile Waters might be dangerous for even the pirates,” he explained, “but that’s sort of the point.
There’s caves all around the cove, but there isn’t a soul brave enough to try and venture inside them.
The perfect place for the pirates to hide their treasure. ”
“And don’t forget that the cove is practically impossible to reach on foot,” Dusty added in a quiet voice. “I tried once, but there’s no way. We can get here from flying, but not everyone on Neverland can do that.”
Dash shook his head. “You guys are forgetting the most important reason.” He got Maggie’s attention and waggled his brow. “No one wants these pirates around. The only place they can go where they won’t be tossed out is Crocodile Waters. The inhabitants happen to welcome their presence.”
Peter led the way closer to the pirate ship, careful to linger in the long shadows.
Maggie’s anxieties grew the further they went.
There was little she knew of their plan after all, and the closer they came, the easier it was for her to remember that.
She reached and tugged on the back of Peter’s shirt before he went too far ahead.
“Won’t you do me a favor and explain the plan again?” she asked.
Peter shrugged, like it was an obvious thing. “We’ll try to negotiate, but if that isn’t getting us anywhere, we’ll come back at nightfall and steal the thing when no one expects it.”
The Lost Boys let out sounds of agreeance all around her.
It sounded simple enough. Besides, she doubted it would get past negotiations.
Why couldn’t they come up with a way to work it all out over easy discourse?
It was only a statue, and Maggie doubted the pirates needed it that bad.
There had to have been something they wanted more, or something they’d rather take instead.
Maggie was prepared to haggle her way out of anything – as long as they were willing to listen to her speak.
“Sounds like a plan,” Maggie said.
A smile beamed across Peter’s face. With the sun barreling down high above their heads, Peter made a straight shot for the pirate’s boat.
The Jolly Roger was quiet as they neared.
Food was being cooked somewhere below deck, and the sound of quiet chatter could be heard beneath their feet.
Obscured by the masts and wide sails, one pirate stood at the lookout, though Maggie wasn’t sure if it was entirely the right job for him, if he hadn’t even seen them approach.
The moment they began to hover over the creaking deck, Dash stuck his thumb out towards the scorched captain’s cabin.
The ornate wooden doors barely hung onto the hinges.
Dark and ashy marks stretched out from the wide room, reaching for the rest of the cabin as though it had talons.
Peter snorted at the mess. “Looks like Maggie sure left a scar across Hook’s ship!”
“Oi!”
Pirates without their trusted hats and belted blades began to peer out from the stairwell that led below deck.
They retreated for only a split second, just to return with their sharpened weapons, roaring for a fight.
The pirates were quickly met with the Lost Boys unsheathing their own blades, Peter releasing a holler before streaking into the air once more.
Maggie started to speak. “Wait! We didn’t come to –”
And an all out brawl started.
The pirates rushed to Peter and his Lost Boys, flailing their arms wildly as the men took to the sky.
A few burdened with peg legs wobbled over to the unmanned cannons, quickly lighting a torch and arming their devastating weapon with heavy iron balls.
Maggie watched it unfold from the side of the deck, her feet just barely grazing the railing.
Blades shrieked through the sky in front of her, and yet it seemed like they all forgot she was even there.
And it was more than obvious that Peter and the Lost Boys forgot why they were really there in the first place!
Maggie shoved her arms through the sky as though she swam through rowdy waves. She glided forward, hovering between the pirates' aimed cannonball and the Lost Boys’ pointed blades.
“Stop!” she shouted.
Everything – even the rolling waves – came to a sudden stop.
Maggie glided closer to the pirates. They hesitated, their weapons trembling the closer she came. She could’ve sworn one of them was muttering ‘flaming witch’ under their breath as she neared but chose quickly to ignore it.
“We haven’t come to fight,” she said to them. “We’ve come to strike a deal.”
The splintered doors that barely clung to their hinges whipped out in front of the captain’s scorched chambers.
Captain Hook sauntered toward her, one hand pointedly resting over his blade’s ruby studded hilt.
Dark eyes stuck to Maggie, his distaste not at all unavoidable.
Someone holds grudges, she thought to herself.
He spared a moment to eye Peter and his Lost Boys, his expression only glowering further.
The rest of the pirates protectively surrounded their captain, still aiming their blades upwards.
Hook crossed his arms over his maroon and leather outfit. “Tell me, my lady. What sort of deal would I ever consider making with the likes of you?”
She tilted her head. “Harsh much?”
The captain strode forward with an aggressive determination, his head entirely angled up at Maggie, never once breaking eye contact. “Not nearly harsh enough, my lady.”
Peter was upon her in an instant, his presence like a warm ray of sunshine lighting up the right side of her body.
The touch of his fingers lingering on the small of her back as he passed was enough to fill her with adrenaline, to bring the hope back to her.
After all, Maggie Hart was hardly ever alone in her endeavors.
The King of Neverland looked over the deck of the ship before his steely eyes landed on something in particular.
A statue the length of Maggie’s forearm stood on a wooden shelf against the wall of the Jolly Roger’s deck.
It was a simply made statue, one that was no doubt a piece of art.
A few jewels stood out along the mermaid’s forehead, like a crown.
Peter nodded his chin toward it, and Hook followed his gaze before realizing a loud and obnoxious huff.
Maggie lowered herself to the deck, landing with a soft creak in the floor.
Before the rest of the Lost Boys followed, one pirate who smelt faintly of an unpleasant citrus snatched her by the arm.
He jerked her toward the rest of the pirates, giving the rest the opportunity to reach at her with their own grubby hands.
“Hey!” Maggie snapped herself out of his grasp. “Haven’t you heard of a thing called manners? How rude of you! I’ve already made it sure and certain that we aren’t here for a fight, haven’t I?”
Silence passed through the crowd of pirates.
A deeply red blush erupted across the pirate’s tanned cheeks as he backed away, sheepishly muttering quiet apologies under his breath.
Maggie raised a brow. In an instant, they were whipped by a scold or two.
They must’ve had good mothers, Maggie decided.
“What’s the matter with you lot?” Hook stepped back to face his crew. “Since when do we listen to a –”
“Now, now, Captain Sir.” The pirate scolded him with a waggling finger. “We aren’t lacking manners, no sir.”
While the captain was left gobsmacked, Maggie grabbed his attention once more. “We need the statue, Hook,” she said. “I don’t know why you’d bother taking it in the first place, but we would be glad to take it off your –”
“No.”
Maggie blinked. “W-What?”
“No,” he repeated with a drawl, the corner of his mouth tugging up into a mocking smirk. “Did you get that, my lady, or are you not used to anyone refusing you?”
Low laughter spread through the pirates as Peter and the Lost Boys surrounded her. She didn’t need to look into their faces to know they all shared a singular thought: now, we steal it. They weren’t buying one second of negotiating, and as far as Hook’s crew was concerned, neither were they.
Maggie wasn’t one to readily take no for an answer.