The Haunted Mansion
By Taylor Moore
(This story is a semi sequel to Jack and Jill)
When Henry ventures into the forest, he finds more than he bargained for when he enters the haunted mansion to save a girl, unware of the creeps that lurk inside, including the infamous owner of the mansion.
One evening in Storybrooke, Maine, there was a sinister gust in the midst. The leaves in the street swirled up in the wind and fell near the door of Granny's diner.
Up in the loft, the Charmings gathered in their home. Mary Margaret watched baby Neal, and Henry was playing a game on his Nintendo 3DS, as Emma stood at the counter looking a missing person's file.
Do you have to bring that here?" Mary Margaret saw the file.
"I can't just leave this at the office. This girl is missing and I'm not going to leave this behind just because the day is over. She'll still be missing if I leave the file behind." Sheriff Emma Swan explained.
"Any leads?" David asked her.
"It's not there are any new villains in town. The Wicked Witch is locked up, Gold turned over a new leaf, Maleficent is happy with her daughter. Not one can come into town so I have nothing." Emma sighed.
"I wouldn't worry about it too much," David said, "She could have just run away. She's done that before, according to her file."
"And if she did, we still have to find her," Emma urged. "She's been gone for over 24 hours. She could be in danger."
"What danger? Storybrooke is safe these days." David assured her.
Baby Neal started to cry, so Mary Margaret went to check on her son, who was almost a year old.
"It's almost Halloween. I doubt the safety will last," Emma mentioned.
"I'm sure this girl is alright," David was confident.
Henry got a text from Pippi, and turned off his game. He got up and said, "I'm going to the Sorcerer's house. Pippi saw something in the library."
"Alright, Kid," Emma said to her fifteen year old son. "Back by 8," she asked.
He nodded as he put on his jacket and scarf.
He met Pippi in the Sorcerer's secret library, where Pippi had taken several books down off the shelf.
"What's going on?" he wondered.
"I was looking at all these books," a girl, his age with firy and wild red hair said, "seeing how there are multiple storybooks that intertwine with ours. There is Arendale, Frankenstein, and I finally found the Narnia storybook. The real story," Pippi touched the book. There was a picture of a lamppost on the cover.
"Okay…" Henry listened.
"I was looking for my story and Jill's, when I came across this book, "she showed him a book with a blank black and white cover. "It's about the land without color." She sat on the table in the room.
"Where Dr. Whale is from," Henry noted.
"Frankenstein, yeah. It's also where Dorothy is from Oz. I have looked at this book several times. Okay, so like 3 times. And this time, a new story appeared."
"What story?"
She turned to the page and showed him the image of a pale creature with fangs and a long black cape.
"Dracula?"
She nodded.
"Okay, so Dracula existed in the many lands here. Why do you look so worried?"
"Because it wasn't there before. It just showed up today. And it's the day before Halloween. It seems a pic peculiar, don't you think?" Pippi closed the book.
"Maybe you just don't remember seeing that story in there. And don't worry about Halloween. It's not like we celebrate it here. What are we gonna do, dress up as ourselves?"
"I'm being serious, Henry," she got up off the table.
"Don't worry about it, Pippi," He rubbed his hand on her arm.
"Fine," she folded her arms, "But if we all get bit by a vampire because we didn't collect garlic, I'm blaming you."
"I can live with that," he smiled.
Henry left the mayor's Mansion the next morning, putting the straps o his backpack around his shoulder. Regina made him and invited over Roland and Robin from the camp. Roland, a five year old boy, had never had pancakes before, and he loved them! Or maybe it was the syrup he loved, since he poured it all over his four large pancakes.
Roland was on Kindergarten now. Henry walked with him to school every day. The two boys walked over to Archie's place, and met up with Pippi, Archie's sort of sister.
A few months ago, Pippi landed in Storybrooke, via magic bean, along with her friend Jill. They came from the Enchanted Forest, where they lived in a shoe with Jack, an old woman, and four kids. Jill made a deal with the dark one and that's when everything went south. Their shoe was burned, and the children fled. The two preteens were trapped underground, in the corner of the land that was immune to the dark curses. They stayed trapped there for the 28 years where time stood still, and for the next curse in the land, that lasted a year. Pippi and Jill were finally rescued by Mulan, who was looking for others in the land. She told them about the curses and how this corner of the land is immune. Mulan was in this corner when the next curse hit (Snow's curse).
The worst part of it all was that Jack died.
Jill and Pippi stayed at Granny's, while trying to find Jill's brother. Pippi got a job as a teacher's assistant at the elementary school, where she still works and started dating Henry. Jill found her brother, who treated her unjustly. Then, Pippi found out she had a brother, Archie, and he welcomed her into his home. Jill was alone.
Jill started acting out and stole from Good's shop. She used this item to go to another realm, and Pippi went after her. When Pippi are, she discovered how time had passed and Jill had become a villain. Pippi tried to save her, but in the end, Jill died.
Pippi came back to Storybrooke, where she belongs, and told everyone what happened. She brought back a pet too: A big flying horse named Strawberry!
Pippi and Henry walked at each end, with Roland in the middle. Pippi stopped when she saw a missing person's flyer on telephone pole. Henry gave her a look, telling her name t to worry Roland, so they continued walking.
Pippi kissed Henry on the cheek before going to her class, after dropping off Roland.
She was distracted all morning by that flyer. That all went away when a boy in the class walked up to her said, "I lost a tooth," the 8 year old boy showed her. "Timothy hit me and it fell out," he laughed, showing his bloody gum.
Pippi send him to the restroom to clean up. "I'll just kick off the blood," the boy said. "Ew, no," Pippi advised, as she walked him to the restroom. Outside the boy's restroom thought of the storybook, and her eyes widened.
After school, Pippi and Henry walked together. Roland was already home, because he gets out of school earlier.
"It was nice of Mrs. Williams to give us candy today. And have us watch a movie instead of taking notes," Henry stated.
"Chocolate frogs. She's a real Harry Potter fan." Pippi replied.
"The movie was pretty interesting too." Henry said.
"It was Sleepy Hollow." Pippi pointed out.
"Johnny Depp. You can't go wrong with him in movie." Henry defended.
"Henry," Pippi looked at him, "I think there is seriously something wrong here."
He turned his body to block her, just as the wind picked up in his direction, pulling his scarf off his neck. He turned back to go after it. He got close to retrieving his scarf, then the wind got harsher.
Pippi followed him. "Maybe you should just let it go," she suggested, running after him.
"That scarf is from my mom. She made it for me when I was six," he told her.
"Oh, that's why the scarf looks too small for you," she said back.
He followed his scarf between two small buildings, and into the woods. Pippi followed, sighing and glaring at Henry. "We could just tell Robin to find your scarf."
"We don't have to. It's right up there," Henry started running after it.
The two teenagers ran closer to the scarf, leading them into an eerie mist.
"Henry, we should go," Pippi advised.
"Pippi, please," he was annoyed.
The mist turned into a fog, which grew thicker by the second. Pippi and Hnery held hands, until a minute later, when the fog cleared. Several feet in front of them, was a large old mansion.