"I don't understand" she says, holding a print out from the computer. "I couldn't find it on a single map, I can't find a single reference to Storybrooke, Maine anywhere, related to anything".
Neal looks up from his book, "Maybe that's a part of the-"
"What? Curse?" Emma shakes her head, "I still can't even wrap my head around any of this, none of it is normal".
"Normal ended for me the day I fell in that damn portal, and I doubt it was ever the same as your normal. It doesn't matter. We go on vacation, we find a place to stay. We check it out, if it genuinely seems-"
"Cursed".
"We figure out what to do. If it's just a normal sleepy little town, we have a boring week, then come home and continue our lives".
Emma sits down beside him. "Magic. Fifteen years ago I would have laughed in your face if you told me magic was real. I still kind of feel like laughing in someone's face".
"I'm just wondering how we're going to explain all of this to Henry. He's got a normal life here. This week is fine, but how can we just uproot him?"
"Guess we will cross that bridge when we come to it".
Henry, was, at the moment, supposed to be asleep. Lights out was nine-thirty on a school night, and Dad had said tonight too because they had to leave that morning. But he had snuck a flashlight from under his bed and had open in his lap a large, ornate book of stories.
The next morning, Neal's carrying the last bag to the car when he stops and looks around the apartment.
"All these years, you would think we would have accumulated more stuff".
Emma comes up behind him holding the keys. "Stuff's overrated. At least it means if this curse thing actually works out- oh my God did I actually just say that? Forget I said anything".
They rock paper scissors for the driver (Emma wins), and flip for the music (Neal wins).
Henry's already in the backseat, reading a book when Emma climbs into the driver's seat.
"You OK back there kid?"
"I'm fine mom".
Emma turns back, Henry's never been good with long car rides.
"ETA says twenty-two hours" Neal says beside her, "Think we can drive it straight through?"
"We'll see when it gets dark. If there's a motel around we'll stay the night, or if the area seems safe we'll sleep in the car. Otherwise, we can just swap and continue."
Henry doesn't cause a problem, he's too absorbed in his book, and the decision ends up being made for them. When they cross the state line into New Jersey, it's raining heavily, and Emma's starting to get tired. So they find a Super 8.
Henry's never been in a motel before. He breaks himself away from his book to explore, excitedly reporting that the basket in the bathroom has coffee and tea and hot chocolate.
After Henry falls asleep, Neal tells Emma.
"Happy birthday by the way."
Emma's sitting on the bed with her knees tucked up to her chest.
"Twenty-eight. I never could have thought I would end up somewhere like this".
The next day, when they finally cross into Maine, Henry finally asks.
"Why are we even going here? I've never heard of this place before".
"Your mom grew up in Maine, she wanted to see if it had changed any".
Emma snorts. True she had lived in Maine until she was old enough to run away, but the state had made no impact on her whatsoever.
"We wanted to go somewhere quiet. And if some of my unfinished business can be quieted, that would be all the better".
It's going to be a can of worms if the whole curse thing ends up being true. Unfinished business, that's a laugh.
When they further away from the bigger cities in the south of the state, Henry's drifted off in the backseat.
Neal stares at the map on his phone.
"Are you sure we're on the right road?"
"It's not on the map, it's not on any map, the internet had nothing. I had to try to figure it out based on the signs in a couple of the postcards."
"The internet's never heard of it? It must be magical."
"Either that or it's stuff 50 years ago".
About three quarters of an hour later, Emma catches a glimpse of a sign out the window.
"There! I saw it- Storybrooke Maine".
Just then, a small white figure crosses into the road, forcing Emma to swerve. She comes to a stop on the side of the road, breathing hard. Henry jolts awake in the backseat, murmuring,
"What happened?"
"Nothing" Emma says, glancing over her shoulder. The figure is still behind them, a large gray-white wolf. Wait- how would she know a wolf if she saw one? But it's a wolf- she knows this deep in her bones.
"Just a dog in the road. It's OK, Henry you can go back to sleep again if you want to, but we should almost be there."
He doesn't though, almost seeming eager.
Neal whispers to her when she turns back on to the road.
"Pretty dramatic entrance, whatever this place is".
"It's just an animal. I doubt it stays out here to scare everyone on this road".
It then occurs to Emma that she hasn't seen another car in over an hour.
Slowly the woods give way, and buildings start. First comes a field with a wooden structure that looks like a stable to Emma. After that, a couple of industrial warehouses, and signs that point to the docks.
"We're closer to the coast that I thought, most of that part of Maine is pretty populated."
Then come the houses, and that's when Emma starts noticing odd things. All the houses are small, and they don't look like tract houses. They all have little details- decorative siding, unusual roofs. Lawn ornaments decorate perfectly clipped lawns, the occasional sign is printed in pastel colors with floral font. There's an errant bicycle on one street corner, but somehow even it seems perfectly imperfect.
"This whole place looks like it's off of one of those postcards" Neal comments when they turn onto Main Street.
The strangeness contiues onto Main Street. Despite the modern-looking cars, the shopfronts look like they could be straight off of Main Street at Disneyland.
"Have you seen a single chain store?" Emma asks.
"Not a one. No fast food places either."
At one crossroads, there's even a clocktower. Emma's only seen those in pictures.
Neal sticks his head out the window.
"The clock looks like it's stopped, what time is it?"
Emma slips out her cell phone. "It's seven oh three. " She still has service out here somehow, which amazes her.
"We should stop for dinner, that'll give us time to ask about places to stay."
Eventually, Emma drives past a greasy spoon looking place, called "Grannys". She parks in an empty place out front. And they all climb out.
"Henry, leave the book in the car or you'll end up forgetting it".
The diner is old fashioned too- but not in a "retro 50's" way either. But it's also full of people, blessedly ordinary looking people. It's dinner time, and since Emma hadn't seen another restaurant this whole time, this might be where most of the town comes.
Emma was just starting to feel better about the whole situation, when everyone in the place stops and looks at them when they enter. It makes her skin crawl, rarely has people paying attention to her meant any good. She jumps a little when the waitress- a young woman with two dark red-streaked ponytails and heavy makeup approaches them and asks with an almost overly-cheery smile, "Table to three". Neal ends up being the one to stay "yes please".
The waitress leads them to an empty booth by the window. "You guys from out of town?"
"Yes, Florida" Emma replies. The woman's name tag reads "Ruby".
"Always wanted to see Florida. I'll have to apologize for the third degree, and the audience" she says, gesturing at one of the men at the bar, still staring. "Step off Leroy .We don't get many travellers through here".
She hands them their menus and says "Take your time".
Neal glances around again. "Can't say I expected to be on stage here".
Emma opens the menu "This place is so strange. I haven't seen prices this low in years"."
"Mom, can I check my email on your phone?" Henry, who's been oddly quiet this whole time, asks.
"Sure" she says, reaching into her pocket. "Wait, my battery's low, can you wait?"
"Can I use yours Dad?"
"I left mine in the car". Neal replies. Henry gets pleady eyes, so Neal reaches into his pocket and gives him the keys "It should be in the glove compartment".
"Do you miss everyone that much already kid?" Emma asks.
Henry nods. "Tiana said she'd email me if I missed anything at school".
"It's only been two days".
"Lots could have happened in two days! Maybe Mrs. Henderson's wig finally blew off, or someone finally figured out what the mystery meat is!".
"Go ahead" Emma says fondly, clapping him on the shoulder. "But if you take too long, I'm going to order for you".
Not too long after Henry leaves, a woman with short, dark hair in a severely, but perfectly, cut gray suit. The atmosphere in the diner changes, and Emma feels her blood go cold when the woman approaches their booth. She has a wide, and vaguely fake looking smile on her face. It doesn't look like Ruby's did- Ruby's seemed to hide a fountain of curiosity. This woman's seems like it might hide fangs.
"I heard that there were some travellers come to see out lovely little town, and I just had to see for myself."
She extends her hand to have both of them shake it.
"I'm Regina Mills, I'm the mayor of Storybrooke".
She sits herself down on the edge of the booth. Emma tries not to shrink away from her.
"Can't say we get many tourists through these parts, might I ask what has brought you here?"
Emma suddenly has a frog in her throat, which doesn't go away until Neal speaks up first,
"Just a family vacation. We're from a fairly big city, and wanted to go somewhere quiet, get away from it all a bit".
"I grew up in this part of Maine, and haven't been back here in years. We just kind of drove around until somewhere caught our eyes, and neither of us had ever seen a town so...quaint, so when we drove in we thought it would be perfect for a week or two".
"Well I'm sure you'll fine our town friendly and enjoyable. The Fall Festival is next Friday. I would like to personally invite you, as I feel it would be the perfect way to top off your vacation before you leave and return to your nomal lives".
And with that she stands up and leaves. Emma heaves a sigh, and she watches as Neal's posture softens.
He asks, "Is it just me or did that feel like-"
"A theat?" Emma replies. "Yep."
"Why would the mayor bother herself with a couple of tourists?"
"I don't know". Emma says, "But something was definitely off about her. She was picking her words very carefully. Whatever is going on here, I have no doubt she's in the thick of it".
Ruby then approaches the table to take their orders.
Neal cranes his neck to look behind him. "What's taking Henry so long?"
What was taking so long, was he was only telling a half-truth about wanting to check his email. True, he did miss his friends terribly, but something had been bothering him since they had walked into the diner.
Opening the car door, he leaned into the back seat to retrieve his book. He flipped through a couple of the pages and stared at the end pictures.
He was right, the waitress looked exactly like the drawing of Little Red Ridng Hood. A couple more flips. The old woman he had glimpsed in the kitchen was a dead ringer for the girl's Granny. The man at the bar could have been a twin for one of the Seven Dwarves. He slams the book shut. There as a weird separate chapter at the end, he'll have to finish and do some more investigation.
"You need to leave", a voice says behind him. He jumps, and spins around. The voice belongs to a girl, a bit older than him with long dark hair.
"What did you say?"
"You and your family, you need to leave soon. "
Henry's confused. "We're just on vacation, we should be going home by the end of next week".
The girl shakes her head. "That might be too long, you might not be able to".
"What are you talking about? Why couldn't we leave?"
"It's this town, it's cursed".
Henry's ears perk up. A curse? That sounds like something out of the book, something which could mean a great adventure.
She continues. "No one leaves. No one else came here either, save me, until today. Just leave, as soon as you can".
Her eyes are dark, with circles under them, suddenly seeming to Henry very old. "Leave or you'll end up like me".
She jerks her head towards the diner, and says "I have to go" and then leaves.
"Wait" Henry calls after her, "What's your name?"
She turns over her shoulder and says, resignedly. "Lily".
And she's gone as quickly as she came.
Henry shakes his head, not entirely sure what had just happened. He then retrieves his dad's phone, shuts and locks the car door, and goes to rejoin his parents.
A block away, Lily jumps into the backseat of another car as fast as she can, buckles herself in, and pulls out her homework. She does all this just fast enough before she sees Mayor Mills turn back to the street.
The mayor unlocks her car door and gets in. She glances into the back seat, saying, "Time to go home now Lily".
She responds, her heart still racing, "Yes mother".