Run Little Lost Girl

The Final Chapter

When she pulled back, her gaze flickered to her collarbone and she gasped and squealed like an excited toddler when she saw what was hanging there.

"What?" Mia asked, worried. Her hand immediately flew up to her neck and felt something small resting there.

"Go look in the mirror," Anna told her and gave her a sly, teasing smile.

Mia walked over to Anna's vanity and stared into the round mirror. When she looked at the spot where Anna had pointed, she saw a silver thimble hung by a matching silver chain around her neck.

⋆✶

Mia's mom came to pick her up and Mia got into her car, wondering if she should tell her what had happened. But she didn't even know if she knew her dad was Merlin, so she thought best to wait.

It felt weird when she finally made it back inside her house, a place she'd been trying so hard to get back to for a long time. The excitement didn't hit her as hard as she was expecting. Instead she felt like she was in a daze, like any moment she'd wake up with Thomas's face hovering over hers and telling her breakfast was ready.

When leaving Neverland, Mia had been fully prepared to find the police to be looking for her and her mom to be a wreck, thinking her only daughter had been missing for an entire month without a trace. She was happy that it didn't turn out that way. But that meant that the only thing different was herself and that didn't quite sit with her right either.

When she had made it to her room and dropped her sleepover bag with all her necessities on the floor, that's when everything hit her and she collapsed onto her bed.

She hadn't had the chance to register all that had happened before she was transported home from Neverland. But now that she had the time to, everything seemed... overwhelming.

Her hand reached up instinctively and mindlessly touched Pan's thimble, wondering if he missed her too—if he felt just as out of place in his own home now. She thought about the Lost Boys, Rumpelstiltskin, and her father who turned out to be a warlock she'd read about in stories. She thought about Thomas and instantly felt guilty when she wondered about his reaction to her and Pan kissing, knowing it couldn't have been anything positive.

Her thoughts were put on hold at the sound of the doorbell ringing. Mia shot up and ran downstairs just in time to see her mom opening the front door.

Her mom gasps and her hands covered her mouth in shock while tears filled her eyes. Mia didn't have to see who it was to know who was standing at the door, and she smiled from ear to ear out of pure happiness not just for herself but for the woman who had sacrificed so much for her.

"Abigail," Merlin whispered in relief and pulled her into his chest as she sobbed.

Mia's dad was dressed in a new black suit and tie, his dark hair gelled back nicely, and he was now cleanly shaven. In his hand was a bouquet of red roses, her mom's favorite.

The sight warmed Mia's heart and she decided her parents needed space and time to be alone.

After her mom had sobbed into his chest, murmuring about how much she'd missed him, they sat on the couch in the living room and started arguing. Mia crept down the stairs somehow without making a sound and crouched down on the landing to eavesdrop without being noticed.

Their conversation was full of her mom swatting Mia's dad's chest and questioning where he'd been. After he finished telling her everything—from the moment he had left to the present—that's when her mom finally called for Mia to come down stairs.