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Chapter Sixteen

Peter

Present Day

I hurried through the wet jungle, back to the lagoon where the pixies were, that next morning.

While I wanted to help those lost boys, I also wanted to make sure I understood exactly what the pixies wanted from me before I went about the island.

The lost boys had set me up with a tent, and I fell asleep quickly without speaking much to them that first night.

I would return and glean from them what I could, but I could not waste any of my time.

Once I reached the lagoon, I saw that the pixies were fluttering around.

It all appeared so different in the sunlight, compared to the moonlight–still magical and still an incredible sight to behold, just different.

The tropical florals were brighter in the sunlight, more enchanting than in the moonlight.

Gwen would love the colors. However lovely a scene it may have appeared–it was not.

It was a horrid scene because I was taken there away from Gwen.

As soon as I stepped into their view, they all hummed.

“Peter! Peter! Peter!”

“This Captain Hook? Who is he?” I asked, placing my hands on my waist.

“Bad, bad. Stole, stole, stole us,” the pixies chimed, swarming around me. “Stole pixie near Walden. Stole magical creature—”

I cursed under my breath. “Where is this blasted pirate?”

“Shark Cove! Shark Cove! Peter protects us! Peter keeps us safe!”

“So, that is why I am here? To get rid of this pirate and save the lost boys and the pixie that he stole?”

“Help! Help!”

“If I get rid of this pirate, will my debt, then, be paid? I want to hear you confirm it.”

There was a pause, then sounds of chimes that I could not understand, before a large group of pixies swarmed over to me.

“You kill Hook. Kill Hook–You’re free! Free! Debt paid! Debt paid!”

I did not wish to kill anyone . But if he was as villainous as he was made out to be, perhaps, that is what needed to be done .

If I was going to approach a pirate, there were some things I would need.

“Is there a ship or a boat, somewhere, that I can use? I need to be able to find him.”

“Fly! You can fly! Fly!” they all chimed, swirling around me in a glitter of gold.

I coughed as their golden dust got into my mouth, and I brushed some of it from my hair.

“You can fly!” they chimed again, pushing me forward. There was a rock formation to the left of the lagoon, and without being able to stop them, they prodded me up to the top of that rather high cliff area.

“If you kill me, I cannot help you!” I screamed, trying to grasp onto the pixies to keep myself from falling from such a height, even though there was water below.

Before I knew what was happening, I was falling; the surrounding pixies were calling out to “fly”–as if I had such an ability. They had flown me there, and when I was rescuing Gwen, they had also carried me to the lagoon, but I had never flown, myself

The water was cool as I reached it. I pulled myself up, gasping for breath.

“What in all of Terra!?” I shouted, swimming out of the lagoon and to the rock’s edge.

“You fly! Learn, fly!” they chimed around me.

“I cannot fly. I am human.”

“All you need—Need—Need pixie dust! Pixie dust!”

“Obviously, that is not what I need, as you covered me in it before dropping me from the cliff,” I grumbled.

“Believe, believe! Happy thoughts. Have happy, happy thoughts, Peter! Fly, fly with happy, happy thoughts!”

“This is madness. It is better for me to just build a crude boat.”

“Shark kill, kill, kill!”

I lay back in the sand beside the lagoon. My body warmed in the sunlight.

“Have humans ever flown before with pixie dust?” I asked, watching the excited pixies dance above me.

“Yes! Yes! Peter flies! Happy thoughts. Happy, believe, Fly!”

“At least, I know if I fall from that cliff, I will not die,” I said, sitting up. I shook my head, and water sprayed everywhere, and a few pixies dove away from the spray, though a few dropped down a bit after being hit by the water. I did not feel the least bit bad about it.

“Okay, I will try.” I stood up and made my way back to the small cliff.

The pixies sprinkled their pixie dust over me again.

I closed my eyes at the cliff’s edge, and before I could gather any “good thoughts” and come to “believe,” they shoved me off.

I failed again, landing painfully on my back with a smack then sinking under the water. That hurt.

“Ancients! Stop pushing me off!” I spat as I stepped from out of the lagoon, clothes dripping, hair falling into my eyes. They were silent, but I swear they found it hilarious. I walked back up to the cliff and held up my hands.

“Do not push me,” I said, then turned around toward the lagoon.

I closed my eyes. A happy thought? The first thing that popped into my mind was Gwen—her beautiful smile that first time we met. She had been so shy. I spent weeks trying to get her to talk with me, but all she would do was blush and read directly from the book, day after day.

My feet fell out from under me, and I was, again, in the water.

Blast these ridiculous pixies!

If they continued to push me from the cliff before I was ready to jump, I would never fly. I would need to be clear about my happy thought before I climbed up to that ledge again. I sat on the bank to think.

Once Gwen started to have conversations with me, not just reading to me, I realized she was not only stunningly beautiful, but kind, sweet, and gentle, too.

She was beautiful inside and out. Of course, I had no idea I had fallen in love with her, but I had.

I smiled as I thought about our long discussions over the years.

How long had we spent together? How I could not have known of my own feelings confused me, but I, eventually, understood them.

I remembered our first kiss; seeing her safe brought me joy—and suddenly, a dam broke inside me, some sort of wall I had put up in front of my heart. I pulled her into my arms, and I kissed her. I kissed her, and she kissed me back.

But it was our second kiss that was just ours, and that I treasured even more.

I remembered it–and became lost in the memory

One Month Before Present Day

“Gwen,” I said as I took her by the hand and led her behind a thick grouping of trees.

I had never fully realized my feelings for that remarkable woman.

However at that very moment, it was as if a dam holding back my feelings collapsed and all the feelings I had suppressed for all those years flooded to the surface.

We had just rescued the children from the pixies, and I had assured Gwen that my brother would be returning to the island to sail us back home.

She was incredibly surprised to discover that I had found my brother at long last.

The small clearing shone in the moonlight, and I could see the brightness in her eyes.

“I do not want you to swoon in front of others, so we need to work on this slowly.” My hands were shaking with an excitement I had never known before.

I took her shoulders in my hands, moving my hands slowly down her back, pushing her into my arms. Her body pressed against mine felt like the most right thing in all the kingdoms. What could be more right than holding Gwen in my arms?

“You are safe,” I whispered into her hair. My chin created an invisible trail down her cheek. I moved my hands to cup her face–her beautiful, precious face. Her eyes looked at me–shining like a beacon, calling me to her.

Have I really never noticed this before? What an utter fool .

“Peter?” she whispered.

“Gwen, I–” I paused, unsure what to say, but knowing what I wanted.

“Are you—?” she began to ask, but I cut her off when my lips pressed against hers. I could wait no longer.

“I want to tell you a story with my lips pressed against yours,” I whispered against her mouth.

“Oh, I–I would like to hear that,” her entire body shivered against mine.

“You would?” I asked, caressing my lips softly against hers, teasing her. How marvelous it felt. She was so warm–so soft, and there she was with me, letting me kiss her. Kiss the lips of my storyteller, my Gwen.

“Peter—”

I grinned. How delicious it was to finally hear my name from those lips—how long I had waited! I had been so caught up in saving her from the pixies that I had not fully revelled in it.

“I love my name on your lips,” I said, moving away for only a moment.

She frowned. “Kiss me, Peter,” she whispered.

And because I was obedient to the woman who held my heart, I obliged.

She melted into me, her cheeks darkening. Gwen was not kissing me back, however. She was my proper lady, and I knew that just kissing was pushing her limits, but she was safe with me.

“You can kiss me back, Gwen,” I said, pulling away for a moment, moving some of her golden hair from her face, then caressing her flushed cheeks. I leaned down and kissed her there, where they were blooming pink. “You kissed me before.”

“That–was–”

“The most wonderful thing to happen in all the kingdoms?” I asked, kissing her cheek softly near her mouth.

“It seems, Peter, that I–I am afraid,” she said, pulling away and ducking her head.

“Do not be afraid, darling.” I took her hands in mine and pulled her back to me. “I shall teach you not to think so much and just do–as you did before.” I pressed my lips to hers again and coaxed her to move her lips with mine.

“I barely kissed you at all, really, Peter. I do not know what to do. ”

“It is like a dance. You know how to dance?” I asked slowly against her mouth.

“Dancing?”

“Yes, I know your mother has taught you all the steps, right?”

“Yes, I know them,” she whispered sweetly.

“So, there are steps here also, when kissing.” I pressed and moved my lips against hers, asking her to join in the dance. I wrapped my arms around her waist, holding her up.

“I am nervous, Peter, you are the prince, and I am a lady–and what is happening—?”

“Think of it as the next adventure that we are experiencing together.”

“But there is no book to reference.”

I stepped back and took her hand in mine. Perhaps, it was too much all at once. I did not want to pressure her if she was not ready. We were safe. I kissed her palm, and she shivered. Tingles raced through me as well, and I smiled.

“We are writing our own story, and what will Gwendolyn Darling do when the Prince of Walden, who is a fool for not acting sooner, begs to kiss you?”

“I’ll say ‘yes.’” She bit her lip, her cheeks still blooming for me.

“And when I ask you to kiss me back?”

“I’ll say, ‘I am timid, but I shall try.’”

I grinned and stood with my arms outstretched.

“I am yours, Gwen. Come get me,” I smirked, and she giggled and stepped closer to me; then she placed her hands on my chest, trailing heat in their wake as she moved them upward and around my neck, pulling me down to her.

Our eyes met, and I saw the light in her, which I loved.

“Peter,” she whispered against my mouth, and I was certain, at that moment, that there had never been a sound so splendid in all the kingdoms as her lips speaking my name.

I held back, waiting for her to do as she wished.

She smiled and pressed her lips against mine, and her lips moved, and I felt her let go, unraveling all the lessons she’d been taught about propriety from her mother–all the rules she had always followed.

All the ways she had held herself back–she let them all go–for me.

There was nothing more precious to me, and I would spend my entire life working to remain worthy of her trust.

“That, Gwendolyn Darling, was the happiest moment of my life,” I said as we pulled away from each other.

“Not when you rescued me?”

“Well, yes, that was important because you were then safe, and our first kiss was also something I will never forget, so I guess, this is one of the three happiest moments–tied for first. Thank you for such a gift,” I said, touching her cheek.

“What a privilege it is to kiss you, to love you, and to have your affection in return. ”

“You love me?” she asked with a gasp.

“I love you, and I believe I have loved you since you first knocked so timidly on my door.”

“I love you, Peter, with all that I am,” she said back.

Present Day

I opened my eyes, holding that memory within my heart and mind.

I made my way back up to the small cliff quickly, and I stood there at the ledge as the pixies sprinkled pixie dust over me once again. Then, I pictured Gwen, my heart alight with joy, and I stepped off the cliff.

And–I did not fall.

With Gwen in my heart, and a little bit of pixie dust, I could fly.