Chapter 17
Maggie’s arms stretched out as she woke to the glistening sun overhead.
Beneath her, the sand moved and melded to fit her frame, providing the perfect cushion for sleeping.
The sun had already rested its gaze against her skin for some time.
She could tell from the heat simmering on her, that the sun on her skin would result in a strawberry red color before fading into a delicate shade of bronze.
She began to roll to the side, opening her eyes.
A staggeringly handsome face was peering back at her.
With the same sort of sleepiness haunting his eyes that she felt, Peter Pan lazily laid across the sand while facing her.
His short hair tousled at the top, probably from tossing and turning, with a handful of white specks of sand spotted throughout it.
A tired smile spread across his lips, small wrinkles beginning to crinkle around his soft eyes.
Everything about him was handsome beyond belief.
Maggie sometimes believed that she stared into the eyes of the very man she spent years day dreaming about, the partner she had imagined to have been by her side, the person she knew she would never ever come across in reality.
But there he was, and he was waiting for her.
Maggie started to reach for him without thinking.
Her fingers dragged along the side of his face, following the lines his cheeks made before striking down to his sharp jaw.
The entire time, Peter’s silvery eyes remained hooked on her, warm patches of breath fanning her hand as she curved around his nostrils.
Maggie could hardly help herself as a smile began to beam across her face.
How could she not? Looking upon him and his handsome face, all of that right in front of her, was enough to make her happy.
Waking up on the beach with the sun overhead and the birds singing in the distance was like a dream, something that remained out of Maggie’s hands for a long time.
Sleeping on the beach.
Maggie shot up from her relaxed position within an instant.
Sand fell from her clothes and hair but she could hardly care.
The events of the night before were finally rushing back to her and it was far too much to simply ignore it.
The Bogdin had bitten her, although the fairies handled the poison in an instant, and Maggie was walking around like nothing had ever happened.
Then, Peter flew off in the distance, with the Bogdin in his arms towards a dark and shadowy island.
Maggie stayed awake for as long as she could, but she couldn’t remember when she actually fell asleep.
It wasn’t for hours, that much she was sure of.
Maggie turned to look down at Peter. Despite her shooting up, he didn’t move from his slumped position in the sand. “How long have you been there?” she asked.
Covering his mouth as he released a long yawn, Peter shrugged his shoulders absentmindedly. “I came back to see you sleeping on the beach,” he explained. “I thought about waking you and bringing you back to the treehouse, but you looked…”
“I looked like what?”
“Well,” Peter paused before meeting her eyes, “You looked far too sweet for me to disturb you, so I thought I’d simply sleep beside you instead.”
Maggie watched him with widening eyes. No one had ever told her she looked too sweet to wake up.
Instantly, another memory of the night before flashed across her memory.
It was the moment after the Bogdin had bitten her, and Peter came to her side when she called.
He appeared in an instant, looking over her wound and holding her with the intensity of a broken heart.
It was so much to process but now, as she looked over his easy going demeanor, Maggie believed that Peter never thought her to have been in grave danger.
No, he’d seen the fairies immediately tending to her, there was only the predicament of what to do with the beast himself, with an unbeatable rage growing within the King.
She blushed at the idea of Peter dealing with the beast for her.
Despite it all, she couldn’t feel anything other than happiness.
It seemed that the problem with the Everything Plants had been handled.
All that was left was for the fairies to call it their home again, and let the plants work their magic.
Maggie did what she needed to do, but now there was a handsome King watching her, and she had no idea what she could possibly manage to say.
“What happened with the Bogdin?” she settled on asking.
Peter nodded as he leaned against his hands, looking up at the cloudless sky. “There’s this place beyond Neverland,” he explained, his voice sounding oddly haunted. “It is quite like the opposite of everything that Neverland stands for. The epitome of darkness.”
“I didn’t think a place like that could exist,” Maggie said.
Peter smirked. “There is always some darkness within the light, Magpie. You can’t have one without the other. Anyways, it is known as the Whispering Isle. It is where I brought the Bogdin last night.”
“Really?”
He shrugged. “There’s no place for him here. Honestly,” he looked away, his confident expression faltering, “I should’ve gotten rid of him long ago. I guess seeing him hurt you just made me realize that there was no saving him.”
“Don’t act like this is your fault,” Maggie whispered. “You never could have known that the creature might lead to the Everything Plant being hurt, or fairies being eaten.”
“The King of Neverland should know those things.” Peter did not meet her eye, his gaze remaining stuck on the sky above. “Risked a lot of things last night.”
Maggie pressed her lips together. She reached forward and grabbed a hold of his hand, letting her fingers intertwine with his own. When she met his stare, he watched her with a deep intensity. “I hope you know how grateful I am,” she said. “Everything you’ve done for me. I am beyond grateful.”
Peter watched her closely, his eyes snapping across her face before landing back on her eyes, a smirk beginning to curve around his lip. “For everything?”
“Everything,” Maggie replied with a shrug.
Peter pushed himself up, his grin growing more and more. “So,” he drawled, “even for kidnapping you?”
With an eye roll, Maggie tossed some sand in his direction and turned away.
Her smile was still there, though. How could she fight it, when she was beyond happy to see Peter alongside her?
How could she function, knowing that he went above and beyond for her?
No one had ever done something like that for her before, like seeking justice or sending away someone because she had been hurt.
It was hard to swallow, even more tough to believe.
To know that she was worthy of it, to be valued and appreciated in such a way, it was almost enough to bring a flood of tears to her eyes.
“Why so quiet, Magpie?”
She looked back over her shoulder at him. “Everything’s been solved, hasn’t it?”
His eyes narrowed slightly. “It has.”
“So what’s left?”
“Telling the fairies, I suppose,” Peter replied with a shrug. “And waiting to see what happens to the plant.”
Maggie pressed her lips together but could not find the words to say.
Peter sat up fully within the silence, until he was directly beside her. His shadow draped across her like a blanket. “You’ll be going home soon,” he said quietly, his voice husky and deep.
There wasn’t one bit of her that could look into Peter’s eyes.
The realization of everything being concluded washed over her like a tidal wave.
In the back of her mind, there was that familiar voice, squeaking on and on about how she’d get another chance at her dream, at a real life within the human world.
At the same time, her heart screamed an entirely different thing.
There was the ever present fear of being caught using magic another time, and expelled from another time she was close to calling home.
She’d need to earn trust all over again, find friends all over again, fit in all over again.
There’d only be Sunny, and perhaps that would be enough.
Finally, Maggie managed to meet his gaze.
He never once looked away, just waited for her to be able to do the same.
Her smile was small and hardly believable, but she let it cross her mouth anyways.
Everything within her was torn in half, not sure at all what it was that she truly wanted.
So, instead of saying anything that truly meant anything, Maggie could only utter one thing.
“Yes.”