He nodded at this. “One more thing, Ms. Swan,” he said.
“Okay.”
“Things are about to change,” he said, “again. You’ll get your truth. But there’s another piece of information you need to have.”
“Are we talking about Kathryn again?”
Sidney shook his head. “No,” he said. “We’re talking about skeleton keys.”
Emma raised her eyebrows.
“I’m listening,” she said.
“There is a set,” Sydney said. “Regina has them. They open every door in this town.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“I know,” he said, “but that doesn’t mean it’s not true.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
Sidney sighed, looked back at the table. “I don’t know, Ms. Swan. I’m conflicted.”
“About what?”
“About a lot of things,” he said. “I’ll see you soon.”
• • •
Mary Margaret had had almost no time to think since she’d been out of jail, and she spent the day after the party cleaning up, resting, and doing her best to process what the last few days had been like. David was on her mind. Of course. The way he’d so glibly betrayed her, the way he was always balking. She had shown him so much faith, so many times. She’d given him so much trust. And what had he given her in return? Hesitation. Doubt. Suspicion. She knew she would have to talk to him, but she didn’t know when it would be, or what she would say.
David forced the issue, however, by showing up on the sidewalk outside of her apartment that evening.
She came out at dusk, and he went to her before she could close the door.
She had almost no reaction when she saw him. She felt empty, looking at his face.
“Go away,” she said finally.
“I have to talk to you.”
“So talk,” she said impatiently. She began to dig in her bag.
“I need to apologize.”
“Yes, you do.”
“I get it,” David said. “I didn’t believe you and I should have believed you.”
Mary Margaret exhaled and stopped digging in her purse. The words came easily, actually. The message was so simple.
“I will never forget that moment,” she said. “When the world blows you backward, and the one person you thought would be there to catch you is gone.”
“I’m so sorry,” David said.
“You should have believed me,” Mary Margaret said. “I don’t care how the evidence looked.”
“I’m human,” he said. “It was a good setup. I made a bad mistake. I didn’t have faith.”
Mary Margaret shook her head and looked past David, up at the clock tower in the center of town. “Sometimes I think there are forces trying to keep us apart.”
“What kind of forces?” David asked.
“I don’t know,” she said, shrugging. There were people she could name, yes, but maybe that was too easy? A story she was imposing on a relationship that just didn’t work? “All I know is that every time we get close, something seems to poison us. We have good moments. I don’t want them to be replaced with bad moments. That feeling.”
“But, Mary Margaret,” he said. “I—I love you.”
But the words were not powerful. They didn’t mean what they could have meant.
“I know,” Mary Margaret said. “And that’s what makes it so sad.”
• • •
Emma was exhausted. She’d spent the last few days just on the cusp of some kind of insight—incredibly close to seeing the truth, but frustratingly unable to get to it. Nothing about the heart in the box made sense anymore, save for one explanation. Regina. She didn’t understand motive and she didn’t understand means. But she understood the person.
It was about four o’clock when Regina herself walked into the station. Emma was surprised to see her, and was even more surprised to hear what she had to say:
“You’re about to receive a major break in your case,” Regina said, “but before you do, I want you to understand all of the circumstances that led up to this.”
“I can’t wait.”
Regina nodded. Emma couldn’t believe it. So many months of conflict with this woman, and now, here she was, turning herself in. She didn’t trust it, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t delighted.
“Sidney,” Regina called, turning toward the door. “You can come in now.”
Emma’s delight turned to confusion as she watched Sidney Glass, head down, come into the room. Regina waited for him with an outstretched arm, as though she were a mother bringing her son to the neighbor’s house to apologize.
“Okay, Sidney,” she said to him. “Tell the sheriff what you told me.”
Sidney looked up, sheepishly.
What in the hell is going on? thought Emma.
“I did it,” Sidney said.
Emma waited.
She looked at Regina, back at Sidney. “You did what?” she said.
“I—I kidnapped Kathryn,” he said. “I held her in the basement of an abandoned summer home by the lake. I bribed a lab tech to get me the heart from the hospital and used the same person to doctor the lab results.”
Emma was stunned. She had nothing to say.
“And the other thing,” Regina said, prompting him again.
“I borrowed some skeleton keys from Regina and planted the knife in your apartment.”
“My keys,” Regina said, shaking her head. “I can’t help but feel personally violated about that part.”
Emma finally found her voice. “And you want me to believe that you did this… for what reason?” There was no way it was true. She reflected on seeing Sidney the other morning at the diner. There was something between these two. Whether it was unrequited love, a financial arrangement, whatever. There was something.
“My plan was to be the one who rescued her,” he said flatly. “That way I would have a big story I could use to get back in at the paper. Write a novel, turn it into a movie.” He shrugged. Did she see a grin on his face then? “It was my way to get famous, I guess. It was dumb. It was—I know it sounds crazy.”
“Oh, I don’t know about crazy,” Emma said. “False. It sounds false to me.”
“I have maps to the house. Downstairs in the basement you’ll find chains and everything. Lots of fingerprints, evidence everywhere.” He was tearing up now.
“Can I talk to you?” Emma said to Regina. Emma stood. “Sidney, you stay in here.”
She walked out of the office, and Regina followed. After closing the door, she turned to the mayor, arms crossed, and said, “That was the biggest load of crap I’ve ever heard.”
“I’m sure that’s not true,” Regina said.
“That poor man. I know you’re behind this, and I understand that you own this game, and him, and you’ve got a rigged system in place. But I am about to start playing a different game entirely, Regina. And it’s one you’re going to lose.”
Regina opened her mouth to respond, but Emma was riled up now, and she cut her off.
“All I care about is my kid, Regina. That’s it. I don’t care what happens to you and I don’t care what happens to me. You are a sociopath. You tried to take away someone I love, and now I’m going to take away someone you love.”
Regina took a step backward. Emma had the satisfaction of seeing her understand. Regina reached up and took hold of a charm around her neck, began to twist it. She’s scared, Emma thought.
“I’m taking back my son, Regina,” Emma said, “and there’s nothing you can do.”
CHAPTER 15
THE STRANGER
It was the day Mary Margaret was to return to work. That morning, Emma was surprised when August stopped by the apartment to install a new, intimidating-looking deadbolt on the door. Henry had apparently suggested it; the two of them had been spending time together. And despite his mysterious entry into town, and the way he had of grinning at her whenever she said anything, the man was
growing on her. She also thought it wasn’t the worst idea in the world to have a better lock. The incident with the planted knife was still weighing on her.
Emma’s next step—she’d decided last night, after her confrontation with Regina—was to hire Gold to build a custody case against Regina. With the resolution to Kathryn’s disappearance came a little more clarity. Emma was here for Henry, and she was here to raise him right. Henry living in Regina’s home just didn’t make sense anymore. The woman was evil. There was no other way to say it.
“Are you ready?” Mary Margaret asked. “To take care of him? If you win?”
Emma looked at her, didn’t answer. Instead she turned to the door.
“It looks like it belongs in a castle,” Emma said, looking at the enormous lock once August was finished installing it. He looked proudly at the door, then nodded.
“No one is getting in this place,” he said.
Just then, Henry’s voice squawked to life on Emma’s walkie-talkie. “Code red! Code red! Operation Cobra emergency!” he yelled.
“What is it?” Emma said into the walkie-talkie.
“Meet me at the sheriff’s station!” Henry cried.
Emma raised an eyebrow and looked at Mary Margaret. “Duty calls,” Mary Margaret said. “Good luck.”
August left with Emma, and when they were outside, he asked if it would be okay if he came along. Emma, hurrying down the sidewalk, gave him a funny look. “Why?” she said.
“I thought you didn’t believe in any of that Operation Cobra stuff,” he said, struggling to keep up with her. More of the limp. She’d seen it a few times already. She wasn’t sure what to make of it.
“I don’t,” she said, “but it’s a way to connect with Henry.”
August nodded. “You know that a custody battle with Regina isn’t going to do anything, right?” he said.
“You came over to install a lock, not give advice.”
“You need to look at the big picture, Emma,” he said. “That’s the only way you’ll understand what you’re up against with Regina.”
“Yeah, new guy? How’s that?”
“It’s not something I can tell you,” August said. “Take the day off. Let me show you.”
“What will you do?” she asked. “Take me on a magical mystery tour?”
“No,” he said. “Not at all. But I’ll ask you to take a leap of faith.”
“Yeah? Are we going to go drink some more water?”
“No. Something serious this time. Something important.”
Emma stopped walking, and he did, too.
“Who are you?” she said. “Really?”
“Just a concerned citizen.”
“Right, August. Right.”
They didn’t speak the rest of the way. Emma was over his cryptic comments and would have preferred him to simply come clean and tell her what he knew. Because he did know something. At this point it was tedious.
When they reached the sheriff’s office, they found Henry at Emma’s desk. He had his book in front of him and was studying it carefully.
“What’s the emergency?” Emma said to him.
“There’s a new story in the book!” he cried.
Emma went over, looked at it. “How is that possible?”
“Somebody must have added it while it was lost,” Henry said. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s somebody trying to tell us more about the curse.”
“What’s the new story about?” Emma asked.
Henry looked at August, then looked back at the book. “Pinocchio,” he said. “It’s about Pinocchio. But it’s not done.”
“Come on, Henry,” Emma said. “I’ll walk you to school.” She gave August her best “time for you to go” look and helped Henry gather his things. “You can tell me about it on the way.”
• • •
“August is Pinocchio,” Henry said. “Isn’t it totally obvious to you?”
“Um,” said Emma. “No.”
“Why do you think he’s limping?”
“Because his leg hurts?”
“No,” Henry said, shaking his head. “He’s limping because he’s turning back into wood. Now that he’s stuck in a world where there’s no magic.”
Emma nodded. “That’s right. We’re in the land without magic.”
“Right,” Henry said. “So he’s in trouble.”
He explained the basics of Pinocchio’s story, and it all sounded familiar to Emma—marionette, Geppetto, whale, et cetera—until Henry got to the part where the Blue Fairy asked Geppetto to design a magical portal wardrobe to evade the Evil Queen’s curse.
“Hold on,” Emma said. “This story joins up with the other stories?”
“Of course, they all do,” Henry said. “And they needed Geppetto to help make the wardrobe that would save you and save Snow White and protect the two of you from the curse. But Geppetto snuck Pinocchio inside right before you to get him to safety, too. He made Pinocchio promise to take care of you.”
“I see,” Emma said. “Just little baby Emma and little baby Pinocchio.”
“I think he was a little older than you.”
Emma sighed. “Sure, kid,” she said, patting him on the shoulder. “I have noticed a couple gray streaks. You’re right.”
• • •
Emma dropped him off and headed back to work, taking a moment to smile at Mary Margaret. Mary Margaret smiled back, and as she left, she said to Henry, “Did you have a nice walk with Emma?”
“She never believes any of my stories,” he said. “But yeah.”
Mary Margaret nodded, trying to think of something to say to Henry to ease his mind about his book. She felt guilty for being the one who gave it to him, but he got so much joy out of it. She didn’t know if it was better or worse that he had it.
“Oh crap,” Henry said, looking through his backpack. He looked up at Mary Margaret. “I forgot my lunch at home.”
Great, Mary Margaret thought.
“No problem,” she said. “We don’t start for fifteen minutes. Let me have the office call your mom.” She sent him inside, and Mary Margaret waited outside, fantasizing about all the angry things she might say to Regina.
The mayor approached the school a few minutes before the first bell rang. Mary Margaret watched her coming.
“I see that you’re back,” Regina said to her.
“Yes,” she said. “Imagine that.”
Regina showed no reaction to this, and after a moment of studying Mary Margaret, she said, “Miss Blanchard, is there some kind of problem?”
“Not anymore,” she said. “Although someone did go to a lot of trouble to make it look like I did something horrible. But they failed.” She smiled curtly. “So I’m fine.”
“Are you insinuating something?”
“Yes,” Mary Margaret said. “I am. But I forgive you. Even if you can’t admit what you did—I forgive you anyway.” She shook her head, frustrated at Regina’s implacable gaze. “Your life must be filled with such incredible loneliness if your only joy comes from destroying everyone else’s happiness. It’s so sad, Mayor Mills, because despite what you think—it won’t make you happy. It’s simply going to leave a giant hole in your heart.”
Mary Margaret thought she saw something—some flicker—behind Regina’s eyes. But it soon disappeared.
“Have a nice day, Miss Blanchard,” Regina finally said. “I’ll see you again soon, I’m sure.”
She left just as the bell started to ring.
• • •
Emma went straight to Mr. Gold’s pawnshop after she left the school. She was intent on following through with her plan to get custody of Henry once and for all. She was scared that it would disrupt his life, and she knew that Regina would put up a fight, but there was something about the way she’d acted last night—perhaps she’d let slip a part of the façade and showed, for a moment, her truest colors?—that made it no longer possible to delay. There was one lawyer in town she knew could win against Regina, even
though she didn’t trust him. She had few options.
Inside the shop, Mr. Gold was behind his desk, looking through some papers. “Ah,” he said, seeing her come in. “Ms. Swan.”
“I have to save him, Gold,” Emma said. “I have to get Henry away from Regina.”
He nodded thoughtfully.
“I must admit,” he said, “your intentions are admirable. Removing Henry from her custody after what we’ve seen her do to Mary Margaret does seem like the best course of action.” He nodded to himself. “However,” he added, “I can’t take the case.”
This was not what Emma was expecting to hear.
“How can you say that?” she said. “You know what Regina did.”
“Yes, but we can’t prove it,” he said. “I’m sorry, Ms. Swan, but I’ve made up my mind,” he said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m just about to leave.”
Emma put a hand down on the desk in front of him. “Change your mind,” she said.
“I know how to pick my battles,” he responded. “This is not one we can win.”
“Why are you suddenly scared of her?”
“I’m not scared. I’m afraid I’m simply not the person who can help you beat Regina. This time.”
She was furious, but there was always something with Gold—always a trick. The way he was smiling, she realized he was implying that somebody else would help. Somebody, perhaps, better suited.
And then she saw it.
“I guess you’re not,” she said.
• • •
She went straight to the inn, asked Granny for the room number, and was soon pounding on August’s door. She heard some movement inside, and after a minute, he opened it. Emma’s first thought: He looks haggard.
“Take it easy, take it easy,” he said. “Is everything okay?”
“No,” she said. “It’s not. I’m just about out of options.”
“Just about?” he said, cocking his head.
“You said that if I want to beat Regina, I have to see the big picture. Do you remember?”
He nodded.
“Well. I need to see the big picture.” A little grin crept across August’s face. “Show it to me.”
“Okay,” he said. “I will.”
They took his motorcycle. Soon they were tearing down the road out of Storybrooke, Emma holding his waist, her helmeted head pressing against his leather jacket. As they crossed the town line and headed toward the interstate, Emma realized that this was the first time she’d been out of Storybrooke since the night she’d arrived with Henry. How was it possible that her world had been so overturned? That her life had become something else entirely? Henry’s warnings about leaving Storybrooke rang through her head, but she discounted them. She didn’t know where they were going, but August apparently had a destination in mind. Fifteen minutes later they were cruising at eighty back toward Boston, August expertly weaving past the slower vehicles. What was it about this man? He knew something. She knew he knew something. Whatever it was, she was about to find out.