Peter Pan and the Lost

Maple

She woke up surrounded by the smells of fish and algae. Her dark hair stuck to the round edges of her face and scattered over the rocks. Her legs ached in a satisfying way. She gathered herself at the edge of a lagoon, the blue-green water steaming into the shape that smoke does over fire. As she groggily stood up on the rocks, she could see shapes in the water, like ones dolphins make near the surface. As she took in the world around her, she had a feeling that it wasn't Earth anymore. It definitely wasn't Florida.

As she climbed up the rocks to get a closer look, she noticed the shadow of a high cliff overlooking the lagoon. A trickling stream fell off the edge like a child into their father's arms. The cliff had apparently lost rocks over the years, so she stepped on the huge rocks protruding from the underside.

She was still wearing her bathing suit, a one-piece with her favorite shades of pink and yellow mixed with violet sprouting out from the middle. She felt rather uncomfortable after wearing it for what seemingly felt like days. She vaguely remembered her trip with her Aunt Bertha to Kensington Garden's pond, where she loved to swim. Yet her Aunt had brought someone new along and didn't want to spend time with her that much. Somehow she found a new island in the center of the pond inhabited by birds, including tiny flamingoes...

Which she now realized had grown so tall, their heads were covered by the clouds! Their enormous pink feathers blew in the winds above as pillar-like legs moved in the water, their backs carrying a body of water that swayed with each step.

They were lagoons, on top of flamingoes! But that's not possible...

She stared upwards until she heard another voice call to her-

"Maple! What are you waiting for? The water is fine!"

Turning down in surprise, she saw a girl waiting for her at the mouth of the lagoon, someone older than her with a beautiful shell in her hair. Her eyes were wide and blue, with sharp cheekbones that gave room for gills and slits for where a nose should be. Her pale hands webbed hands were folded in front of her.

She knew it was a mermaid, and that it knew her name. Then she remembered thinking that the island could use a mermaid or two, or three. Suddenly, she saw two other equally gracefull mermaids jump through the water in glee, as if they had returned hom from a long trip away. She looked down at the mermaid waiting for her and grinned as she proceeded to jump over her into the water below.

The lagoon had bathed in sunlight enough to make the water perfectly warm. She swam up for a breath as the other mermaids surrounded her in friendly circles. Maple knew that mermaids were always known for being dangerous, but in this case, she was the reason they existed. She had seen them hatch from their unprotected eggs and led them to the sea. They even considered her royalty amongst their kind, as they never saw a human before. How many human girls would reject the offer to become a mermaid princess? Surely Maple wouldn't turn that down. She even gave them names; Flipper, Marlin, Silverfin, Azure and Sirena (a word she learned from her teacher).

So she joined them on their underwater adventures for the day, forgetting all about Bertha and her whiny boyfriend Johanns. They found underwater caves and played underwater tag. They flew with the fish, her new friends helping her swim faster than she ever though she could, her legs pumping with their powerful tails. Now she remembered why her legs hurt. A mermaid held her shoulders as they streaked across the waters of Neverland, in what could only feel like a dream. Only when they suddenly stopped did she wake up; the fact that she didn't have a stopping system like the mermaids caused her to skip on the water's surface like a smooth stone.

"Oh no! Maple!"

Flipper dived down after her, but she couldn't find her. Only Azure had the idea to look up at the shoreline, the place their domain ended.

Maple looked up in a furious daze, forcing her brain to stop moving. She stood up and took in her surroundings again, this time with the light of the sun constantly smacking her eyes shut. After shooing it away with her hand, she finally took in the warm sand curling around her toes, the breeze churning the leaves of the palm and oak trees and the neverending stretch of beach covering the island like the cover of a beautiful picture book.

She never expected to see other humans here, yet there they came. Two of them and a third flying-

A person was flying?! She had never seen that before.

Then the flying one sped at her at top speed, a sword glinting in the light.

She knew what it was like to see someone wield a weapon at her. It never ended well.

"Maple!! Come back to the water! Now!"

Dolphin crawled up to the shore, her powerful arms pulling like a sea turtle. She heeded her advice without second guessing. She was safely in the water in time to seek cover amongst the mermaids.

It's never been documented what a mermaid looks like when in danger, but when their favorite human is threatened, they don't swim away quietly.

They snarled at pitches only a crocodile could match in ferocity. Their mouths extended downward, exposing many rows of ripping teeth. Their eyes expanded as their gills inflated to double their size. Their tails found a balance in the water, standing on the water itself to a frightening 6 feet above.

Yet Peter stood his ground, facing them with the Glider poised in his favourite form; sword extended in his left hand, with his right petting air behind the ear. Lively, Buckeye and Foxtail stopped running and stared at the spectacle only a few feet in front of them. Only Lively could speak through the standoff.

"What are you? Some kind of fish?"

Madeline turned directly toward her, massive blue eyes meeting hers.

"We are neither, human! We are Mermaids, denizens of Neverland and ruled by the gentle and talented Maple! You touch her and you'll suffer a slow death beneath the depths!"

Lively contemplated those words aloud, in her typical fashion.

"So you're mermaids. Got it. But who's Maple?"

"The girl you just scared into the water!"

Maple raced up to the surface gasping for air. Her fear compressed her lungs and didn't allow enough air to get in. Lively ignored Azure as she talked to the girl.

"Oy, Maple, right? Can you get your friends to stop trying to attack Peter? He didn't mean to do that."

She waded in the blue water, surrounded by her aquatic bodyguards, the advantage in her favour.

"And why should I do that? You'll just kill me when my guard is down."

The mermaids hissed in unison. Lively stepped back while motioning to Buckeye to step in. By the time he could gain composure, the mermaids whisked her away, the biggest one carrying her on its dorsal fin.

They all stared in unison as the mermaids sunk beneath the blue waters, their splashing turning to waves at their feet.

"Why did you do that for?! How could you not tell that she was a grown up?" Lively stormed up to her mentor, blood rushing to her cheeks as sand covered her feet with each step.

He just shrugged his freckled shoulders, the sunlight illuminating a halo of red around his head.

"She was so far away. How was I supposed to know?" He turned away and started building a castle out of the sand, Buckeye and Foxtail joining him soon afterwards. He was about to put the tiles on the roof when he noticed that she wasn't helping. She just stood there, her usually animated arms tightly folded against her chest.

"What's wrong, Lively? Why don't you join us? There's still a water closet to build."

She never understood how he worked like that, going from one task to another without caring about what just happened. As she forgot about the whole ordeal and helped build the chimney, she never saw the boy watching from the other side of the islet, with a crocodile not too far behind him.