Phone calls had been coming in to the Sheriff's Department for a couple of days now, but until today, Emma had mostly been ignoring them, dismissing them as harmless pranks as Halloween neared. Call after call had been pretty much the same:
"What's going on at the old mansion?"
"What's with all of the weird lights at the Sorcerer's mansion?"
"Can someone please find out what these weird lights are at the abandoned mansion?"
Creepy mansion, creepy unexplained lights — or in other words, just your average occurrence here in Storybrooke — and the Sorcerer's mansion certainly wasn't on Emma's list of favorite places for a multitude of reasons. She wasn't particularly keen on returning to that house, so she'd managed to put off investigating the reported lights as long as she could.
That was until tonight.
Tonight, she'd received a call from a worried mother who reported that her teenaged son and a couple of his friends had ventured into the mansion to launch their own ill-advised investigation of the ghosts that most of the town now believed inhabited the vacant building. Emma didn't believe the reports of ghosts but she very personally knew of the many hazards one might encounter in that damned house — portals to god-knows-where, giant man-eating spiders, and rooms which sometimes had entrances but no exit. There might have been a lot of supernatural goings-on in that mansion, but until she knew otherwise, she'd had no indication that the house was haunted.
Those kids had probably just gotten lost in the labyrinthian corridors or accidentally got themselves locked into a room they shouldn't have entered, Emma thought to herself, blaming all of those ghost and demon hunting television shows for this. Who would have thought it a good idea to make any fool believe that you could go hunting supernatural beings in any spooky, abandoned building in your neighborhood? It was reckless and incredibly dangerous to enter these old buildings without proper safety equipment, but deep down, there was part of her that understood. There was definitely a high that came from facing the unknown and conquering your fears, just the sort of uninhibited behavior that too many teens craved, often leading to impulsive, irrational decisions like heading into the scariest building in town. Hell, Emma herself had been exactly that type of teen, already an accomplished thief long before she'd met Neal.
She certainly wasn't going to head out there alone though, not after her prior experiences in that house, so she roused Killian out of bed with a twinge of guilt as he'd put in a twelve hour day yesterday and hadn't gotten home until after eight. He'd probably just fallen into a nice, deep sleep when she'd called, but at least he wasn't the only one she'd awakened at this hour. She'd also recruited her father, needing the extra manpower to search through the mansion as quickly as possible, preferably without drawing too much attention. She'd already had two near-death experiences in that cursed mansion as well as an extremely awkward and ultimately fruitless search through the Underworld's version of the same building (while being scrutinized at every turn by her very judgemental, very deceased future brother-in-law—a situation she'd never imagined herself being faced with) but no matter what, she wasn't going in there alone.
She may live in a town where strange occurrences were just everyday business, but ghosts? Emma was still a skeptic when it came to spooks and spectres, so if someone had tried to tell her that before the night was over she'd be talking to one, she likely would have thought that person insane.
And this night was still young.
It was about 1:30AM on that chilly, October morning when David pulled his pickup truck into the drive fronting the huge, empty home known simply to Storybrooke residents as the Sorcerer's mansion. No one had lived here since the death of the Apprentice yet magically, the house didn't appear to be near as run down as it should have been for all of its years of disrepair. Officially, it was off-limits to the public with "No Trespassing" signs posted all over the grounds, but obviously, the missing teens they sought hadn't heeded those warnings. He could see that Emma and a bedraggled-looking Killian were already waiting at the front gate, so as he turned off the truck's engine, David secured his service weapon into his shoulder holster before reaching beneath the seat for his flashlight and pocketing it, quite certain the light would be necessary but hoping his weapon wouldn't be. Why exactly had he agreed to this?
"So, remind me again why we're out here at this ungodly hour?" David asked his daughter, failing to stifle a yawn in the process.
"We're looking for three teens — two sixteen-year-old boys and a seventeen-year-old girl from Storybrooke High," Emma replied. "The mother of one of the boys, Tyler Sprat, called tonight when her son didn't return home by midnight as promised. She couldn't be 100% certain about what he'd been up to, but she said that he and his friends have been talking for a few days about coming out here to this mansion to conduct their own investigation into the mysterious lights that townspeople have been reporting. Because they're such experts in the paranormal…"
"It's almost Halloween," David reminded her. "Kids are out there looking for a good scare, and low and behold, Storybrooke has its own proverbial haunted house."
"There are plenty of weird things happening in this town every single day, Dad, but ghosts?" Emma looked at him skeptically as they ascended the steps to the front door of the huge home. "I'd think we'd have known by now if there were ghosts haunting Storybrooke, don't you?"
"Perhaps," David sighed.
"It's far more likely to be bloody squatters trying to move into the biggest house in Storybrooke without anyone noticing or more nosy adolescents sneaking around the property," Killian chimed in. "Now, how about we go locate this trio so we can all get out of the cold and back to bed?"
"I'm in full agreement with the pirate on this one," David chuckled. "Anyone know if this place has any electricity?"
"Not that I'm aware of," Emma stated, holding up her flashlight. "Got one?" David grinned and patted his jacket pocket to indicate that yes, he had grabbed his flashlight. If only he had a portable, battery operated heater to go with it…
Impatient to get their search started, Killian raised the lantern that hung from his hook, illuminating the padlock resting in his palm, the same padlock that had once secured the chains on the front gate. "This lock was cut open by someone who wanted to gain access to the property," he said as he swept the light across the mansion's front door. "This appears to be intact so they likely didn't enter here. Perhaps the back entrance?"
"Right now, I'm not concerned with how they got inside," Emma responded as she waved her hand across the deadbolt, her magic easily unlocking it as she pushed the door open. "C'mon…" She could already feel the hair at the nape of her neck pricking up as she crossed the threshold. Her gut filled with unease, instinct telling her to turn around, but she continued. Tonight, her job came first.
The mansion's cavernous entry hall welcomed them coldly as they stepped through the doorframe, inciting shivers from each of its new occupants. All three took a moment to survey their surroundings, eager to proceed but not so rash as to venture off without a plan. They remained silent for a few moments, exploring the reach of their flashlights as they listened for any telltale sounds of trapped teenagers but hearing none. If those teens were still inside this house somewhere, they had to be deeper within the mansion's walls.
"Tyler?" Emma shouted the name of the boy whose mother had implored her to be in this place at this hour. Getting no response, she called out the other boy's name. "Aiden?" Still nothing save for the echo of her own voice. "Angie?" Not even the chirp of a cricket or skitter of a mouse across the marble floor. Just eerie silence and the sound of her own heartbeat pounding in her ear. "Okay, as much as I hate to do this, I think we're going to have to split up. There's just too much house to explore and we don't have the slightest idea which way these kids went. Cell phones don't really work well in here so we'll have to use the two-way radios on our tactical channel. This place can be a goddamned maze so try to pay attention to your path so we don't have to end up searching for each other too."
"Alright, and we regroup back here in an hour if we haven't found anything?" David suggested.
"Aye," Killian agreed. "If we're unable to locate them in an hour, we may need to recruit additional assistance."
"I'll take the corridor to the right," David stated and Killian followed with an offer to take the second floor.
"Guess that means that I'm heading back toward the kitchen and the dining hall," Emma conceded. At least those were two areas of the mansion she hadn't yet experienced and hopefully wouldn't become the setting for a third frightening encounter with her own mortality.
Each set off to investigate their chosen section of the mansion, Emma's gut still nagging at her with lingering fear that perhaps they shouldn't have separated but if they hadn't, they wouldn't be able to search as much of the sprawling real estate. It was nearly 2AM and Emma could certainly rattle off a multitude of things she'd much rather be doing right now, but this was part of her duty as Storybrooke's Sheriff. She'd already made up her mind that as soon as this search was over, she was going to enact a protection spell around this whole damned building so no one else would be tempted to wander inside.
She found her way into the formal dining hall first, passing under the collonaded archway into the room with a soaring, vaulted ceiling that held two cobwebbed crystal chandeliers. The room was still furnished with a ridiculously long wooden table with sturdy, intricately carved legs and at least twenty similarly carved matching chairs. Sweeping her flashlight around the hall, she spied a series of silver candelabras still holding what appeared to be useful candles, but when she attempted to light those same candles with a flick of her wrist, nothing happened. It seemed a bit odd that not a single candle would light with her magic, but perhaps they were too old or maybe the wicks were damaged, so she stepped up to the sideboard to examine them closer. The candles, while used, seemed to be in good shape other than being a tad dusty. She dug through her jacket pocket to find the lighter she carried for emergencies and times when magic might fail her and, after a couple of flicks, got it to ignite. Then, she brought the flame to the nearest candle's wick, which lit almost immediately.
Needless to say, the candles weren't the problem. This place might not be haunted but it sure was cursed. How unsurprising for Storybrooke, she thought as she lit the three other candles in the same sterling silver holder, then turned her flashlight off to conserve its battery. The four, ten inch long, taper candles were much brighter than her flashlight's narrow beam, illuminating a much larger area. Granted, they threw off some very creepy shadows, but all things considered, Emma felt it was a fair trade-off.
Confident that the dining room was not occupied, Emma pressed onward towards the set of double swinging doors at the far end of the hall, one of which seemed to be propped open although she couldn't see with what. Reaching that end of the room, she could now see that it was being held by a heavy iron doorstop that kept it ajar. Nothing supernatural here, she chuckled to herself as she stepped into an empty, approximately eight foot by eight foot square room that served as buffer between the elegant formal dining room and what would have been the noisy kitchen. She didn't linger long there as the room was too small and too bare to be of any concern, passing through the next set of swinging doors into the kitchen itself.
Upon entering, she took note of a series of doors that exited off of the sizeable kitchen. One was presumably a pantry, while another appeared to be an entrance to the butler's quarters, which she knew was attached to the rear of the mansion. Killian had informed her that the butler's quarters had been the Apprentice's dwelling back when he was confessing his culpability in the whole Sorcerer's Hat fiasco, which prompted a tiny twinge of regret on Emma's part as she'd nearly forgotten how much guilt he still harbored over the actions Gold had forced upon him. She knew this mansion wasn't exactly going to spawn happy memories for Killian either.
"Anybody in here?" Emma shouted as she yanked open the louvered door to the pantry which was surprisingly still lined with canned goods, some of which might have dated back to the disco era. Finding no persons inside, she closed that door and moved to tug open the handle of the huge walk in refrigerator room, which was only slightly smaller than the one at Granny's restaurant. She breathed a welcome sigh of relief to find the cooler thankfully empty.
Emma took a brief glance down at the illuminated dial of her watch before opening the third door to discover that only fifteen minutes had passed since she'd left her husband and her father in the vestibule, although it had honestly felt far longer. She still had plenty of time to investigate the butler's quarters before their agreed upon regroup time so onto the next door she went, completely unaware that behind the swinging doors, all of the candles in the dining hall that she'd previously attempted to light with her magic were now fully ablaze.
Had she returned back the way she'd entered, she might have witnessed the dark shadow that swept across the length of the table, dousing each candle one by one as it passed, plunging the hall back into darkness. But Emma hadn't any indication that either phenomena had occurred as she was already continuing her search into the narrow corridor that connected the butler's quarters to the main house, her mind already wondering if either her father or Killian was having better luck finding those kids.
Above her, Killian allowed the lantern dangling from his hook to lead the way as he began his search of the second floor's many rooms. He couldn't see all of the individual doors, but based on the ones that were within the reach of the lantern's light and from information Emma had provided from her last visit, he surmised there were at least six bed chambers and three or four baths. He suspected that it would be much like what he'd seen of the first level previously—some rooms furnished and others vacant.
When he'd reached the landing at the top of the curving staircase, he'd turned to the left, making his way cautiously to the end of the hallway with intent to explore each of the rooms in sequence so he would be less likely to skip any. He was now positioned directly in front of the first door, and as he reached out to turn the handle, he raised the lantern to illuminate his way. He pushed the door open slowly, feeling the weight of his trusty cutlass at his hip should anything appear that would threaten him, but he found naught. Peering inside, he spied only dust and cobwebs hanging from the ceiling, and the room was bare of furnishings.
He suppressed a little shudder at the sight of the cobwebs, reminded of Emma's tale of the huge spider that had trapped her in this house and would have killed her had the crocodile not intervened. Ironic that the first time Emma had been lured to this house by the crocodile, it had been in an attempt to rob her of her magic and trap her inside that damnable hat, and the second time, when it had been his son, Gideon, who'd tricked Emma into coming here, Gold had been the one to rescue her, apparently not wanting his son to join the family business of evil. She'd assured him that the spider had been destroyed when she'd relayed her tale to him after rescuing him from the Lost Boys in Neverland, but Killian wasn't about to be careless. Who knew if any of its relatives might still be lurking within these halls?
He'd now moved on to the next room, finding a relatively small bathroom which took little time to determine was vacant. The third was a second bedroom, vacant like the first although slightly larger with a gaudy floral paper peeling from its walls. It was as he entered the fourth room that he found something to be very different. It wasn't really the room itself, even though this room was spartanly furnished with a canopied bed and an upholstered arm chair pressed against the wall. No, that wasn't it, he thought. There was something else that was making his skin crawl. Something in the atmosphere surrounding him had changed—colder, darker than the other rooms as even the flickering light from his lantern barely reached the opposite wall.
Yet despite the ominous air, there were no people to be found in there. He dismissed his unsettled mind to be mere fatigue, his weary brain simply playing tricks on him. Backing into the hallway, Killian tugged the chamber door closed, beginning to doubt whether the missing adolescents were in this mansion at all.
And he might have actually believed that if he hadn't heard the voices—faint, but distinct. He could make out at least two unique intonations that were not those of either Emma or David. Someone else was here, but he couldn't quite make out where the sounds were originating. They almost seemed to be coming from behind him, but he knew he'd already searched and cleared those rooms so perhaps they were above? Was there an attic or some sort of loft above them? If so, how was it accessed? There would need to be another staircase or perhaps a ladder nearby but so far, he'd seen none.
"Who's there?" Killian called to the voices, hoping they might be able to hear his voice as he heard theirs. "I'm with the Sheriff's Department. You don't need to be afraid…" He paused to listen, still hearing the distant chatter, but no direct replies so it seemed plausible that the speakers weren't able to hear him. Undaunted by the lack of a response, Killian revised his search plan to hunt for a way to reach the home's upper level. Perhaps there was a stairwell hidden in one of the remaining rooms or a ladder that drew down from the ceiling. He also began to contemplate reasons why the voices might not reply to him, wondering if there might be some interference preventing their response or maybe that same interference prevented his words from reaching them. He certainly knew of such places in Neverland - spots where sounds could travel in one direction, but not the other. It seemed possible that such phenomena existed within this mansion as well.
"If you can hear me, we're coming to find you," Killian stated in a loud voice, his promise not exactly shouted, but with sufficient volume that his assurance should carry to the floor above. He just needed to find a way to get up there.
Downstairs, yet a fair distance from the wing that Emma was investigating, David was discovering that his chosen section of the mansion contained some of the largest rooms, including the formal living room, the grand hall, and the library. He was familiar with the library from their quest a while back to locate the Author, and he knew it contained dozens of blank story books just like Henry's. He'd never officially visited the grand hall, although he'd traversed the Underworld version which honestly, seemed far less creepy within that realm than the version he was currently standing in. He knew from Emma and Hook's stories the horrors she'd been subjected to within these walls—nearly being tricked into Gold's magic-sucking hat and nearly becoming dinner for a super-sized arachnid. He'd also heard tales of weird portals popping up like the magical wardrobe to Arendelle, and somewhere in this mansion was the portal Gideon had used to bring the Black Fairy into their realm.
He absolutely understood Emma's apprehension at returning to this house, but they'd barely discussed Hook's experiences in this cursed place. Gold had ripped out his heart and forced him to be a puppet, carrying out the Dark One's unspeakable requests to trap both the Apprentice and the fairies inside the same miserable hat that had failed to siphon Emma's powers. And of course there was the Underworld, where Hook's own brother had betrayed them by stealing the pages containing Hades' story, dropping them into the well and nearly dooming all of them. This case had to be extremely difficult for both of them, so David tried his best to remain positive that they'd find the kids quickly and get the hell out of here as soon as humanly possible.
He'd volunteered to take this wing to spare them some of that unease, even though it was a lot of territory to cover alone. He quickly discovered that most of the rooms on this end of the building exited from a marble-tiled corridor, some with exquisite collonaded entry archways and others with doors that appeared simple in comparison. There was a lot to search in a short amount of time and he was well aware that so much here was illusion. He needed to keep his wits about him to avoid falling into any of the mansion's many traps.
He'd begun his exploration at the first room off of the entry vestibule, the parlor. This room looked nearly identical to the version he'd seen in the Underworld—decorated with several dust-covered settees and at least half a dozen stiff, wing-back armchairs. A heavy framed mirror hung on the wall to his left, thankfully completely obscured with cobwebs so he couldn't see his own reflection, only the light from his flashlight bouncing back at him. Opposite the mirror was a large oil painting, also coated with webbing and dust so David couldn't make out its subject. It wasn't a very large room and David didn't notice anything moving or anyone speaking so he considered this one to be a bust and headed through the arched entry into the formal living room next door.
This vast, sparsely furnished room had a far more impersonal air than the parlor. There wasn't much in here aside from a couple of uncomfortable-looking sofas and a pair of even more uncomfortable-looking, ornately carved wooden armchairs. Above his head hung a once spectacular crystal chandelier, which now served only as a resting place for even more cobwebs. As he strolled further into the room, the beam of David's flashlight illuminated a giant stone fireplace that took up the entire far wall of the living room, and there was a curious reflection from something atop the mantle. Upon closer inspection, David discovered it to be a video camera, but there was something a little different about it. It wasn't the standard type that he and Snow had used to record their son's milestones, but he couldn't quite identify what made it unique. He suspected it had been left behind by the three snooping teens since the pulsating red light atop it led him to believe it was still actively recording.
At least it was his first, valid clue that the teens had been here, David thought as he decided to leave the camera where it sat, intending to interrogate the kids about it once they'd been located or at least show it to Emma after they'd regrouped should they not find Tyler Sprat and friends within the allotted hour. She'd been exposed to far more modern electronic technology than he had, so perhaps she'd be familiar with this particular type of camera. Aside from that curious piece of modern technology, he saw little of note here though, so David exited out through the living room's second archway toward the grand hall.
His intent had been to investigate the predominantly vacant grand hall, which reminded David a little of the ballroom in their castle back in the Enchanted Forest, but he didn't have much time to explore the hall before an odd noise drew his attention back to the living room. A loud whoosh of a fire roaring to life stopped him in his tracks and a flicker of light from a flame beckoned him. He spun around and hurried back beneath the arched entryway to find no fire. Only a single, tiny red ember glowed from beyond the hearth, yet the faint odor of smoke lingered in the air.
What the hell was going on? David thought to himself. A fireplace couldn't just mysteriously come alive and then extinguish itself in a matter of seconds, could it? For a few moments, David remained extremely flustered. He didn't doubt what he'd heard, but how would the flames of the roaring fire dissipate so quickly? Now he was beginning to wonder if Emma and Hook were experiencing similar mind games courtesy of this house. He thought for a second about contacting them on the radio to ask if they'd encountered anything weird, but honestly, what good would it do? Everything they'd ever experienced inside this house was weird.
Spurred on by the fire he wasn't going to believe was imaginary, David decided to give the living room a more detailed inspection. Something was definitely off about this room and it wasn't just the fireplace. Everything within the reach of his flashlight beam came under scrutiny, which led him to notice an imperfect seam in the Baroque-inspired wallpaper covering the room's south wall. There was a slight gap in the pattern and the swirls of color simply didn't line up properly. With all of the meticulous detail found within these mansion walls, why was this wallpaper put up with such an obvious mistake? In daylight, or beneath a fully illuminated chandelier, the flaw would be highly noticeable...
Unless it wasn't actually an error?
Remembering many of the funhouse features they'd encountered during their search here for the imprisoned Author, David now suspected that this could be an entrance to a hidden chamber or passageway. He ran his index finger along the gap, confirming that there were indeed two separate panels here, but if this was a doorway, how did one open it? He didn't feel any latch or switch within the gap, so he pressed his weight against the panel to see if it would snap back to him, but when that didn't work, he started grabbing anything nearby to see if there was some hidden trip. What might be out of place that could be the trigger? He moved wall sconces and slid furniture but nothing was working until he flopped down on the fireplace hearth to think and his hand found an anomaly.
Out of all of the hundreds of individual stones composing the fireplace, he brushed against one that didn't feel right. It was smoother, flatter and more rectangular than those around it, something a casual glance might not have revealed but this drew his curiosity immediately. He pressed the palm of his hand against the stone, hoping this might be the hidden trip for the door, but pushing it did nothing so he had to give it a little more attention. He ran his fingertips around its edges and noted the lack of mortar holding it in place. This stone was definitely placed here for a reason, but why hadn't he found a latch or switch? He finally grasped the stone and decided to try removing it in hopes that the door's trigger lay behind, but as soon as he tugged on it, he felt a vibration beneath his feet. A quick glance over to the bordering wall brought a smile to his face as the panels separated right along that seam, one of them sliding out of sight to reveal a gaping opening that seemed to be about five foot tall and two feet across.
So, there was another secret passageway in this damned house, David sighed, but before he could get back to his feet to explore the newly opened doorway, there was one more surprise for him—a hand emerging from the darkness and grasping the wall at the entrance. Instinctively, David's fingers inched toward his weapon, ready to draw it in his defense should the need arise, but the eerie hand was soon followed by a face that was hardly a frightening one. It was instead the anxiety-ridden face of young Angie Taylor who took a tentative step from the concealed passageway, eyes darting back and forth furtively until she spied the familiar form of David Nolan.
"Sheriff Nolan!" she exclaimed, practically leaping into a stunned David's arms and embracing him tightly. He could feel her trembling against his shoulder, but as her two companions made their way out of the passage, she took a step back from David and made an attempt to regain her composure. "I'm so happy to see you - to see anyone other than these two idiots - to be honest."
David took a brief visual inspection of the three teens. All three appeared unharmed, but clearly shaken by their experiences. The flashlights the boys were carrying were going dim as their batteries gave out and all David could think of to ask was the obvious question. "What the hell were you three doing back there?"
"We were just exploring, Sheriff," one of the boys replied sheepishly. "We just wanted to try to find out who or what was causing the lights we've been seeing for the past few days. We started chasing strange sounds and unexplained shadows so we set up our infrared camera on the fireplace after Aiden recorded some weird temperature changes to see if we could record some of these paranormal things we were finding. He must have bumped something because that door suddenly opened up…"
"And you couldn't resist going inside," David completed the boy's statement. "Pretty reckless thing to do - wandering into a hidden room in a house you already believed to be haunted without knowing if there was a way out?" He felt a strong need to scold them for their stupidity. "Hell, just coming into this old place was incredibly damned reckless! You're all lucky that Tyler's mom was worried about you and had at least some idea as to where you might be or you'd all still be trapped in there!"
"I know," Angie sighed apologetically. "I told them we shouldn't go in there, but the boys insisted and I wasn't about to stay out here alone. We didn't think that we'd get trapped in there though. There's no latch on the other side of the door and while it leads into the library next door, that door was stuck so we couldn't get out of there either."
"You could have ended up suffocating in that little hallway," David reminded them, intending to make the teens squirm as much as possible. "If I hadn't stumbled onto that trip myself…"
"We stayed in the library since it was a bigger space," Tyler explained. "We didn't go back into the passageway until we heard voices."
"Why weren't you shouting for help if you heard us?" David wondered.
"We were," Aiden insisted. "We'd heard someone shouting what sounded like our names a little while ago, but you couldn't hear us shouting back?"
"Can a room be soundproof in only one direction?" Tyler asked. "How would that even be possible?"
"It's because there are a lot of dangerous rooms and corridors in this mansion," David stated. "I really don't know what any of you were thinking, but right now, it's time to get out of here. Go get your camera while I let Emma and Hook know that I found you." David unclipped the two-way radio from his belt and dialed up the proper channel, eager to reconnect with his daughter and son-in-law so everyone could get the hell out of this creepy old mansion.