Chapter One - A Strange Case

Sam looked out the window of the 24 hour diner that Dean and him had stopped for lunch. He turned back to the computer screen with a sigh; he rubbed his eyes and went back to scanning the article that he was currently on. He looked across the booth table at his brother Dean, and smirked when he saw that Dean was entirely too engrossed in his burger while the paper sat in front of him on the same page that it had been on for the last 30 min. Sam turned his head, determined to find a case.

About 30 minutes later Sam startled back to reality and away from the police reports that he had been studying when he heard Dean's ringtone of the opening of "Smoke on the Water". He glared at Dean as he realized that Dean had been sleeping on the back headrest of the booth. Dean looked at the caller ID and then raised the phone to his ear with the last of the sleep leaving his eyes, "Ya?" Dean asked and Sam saw confusion flicker and then turn to interest in his eyes. "Sammy and I will check it out" He promised and then before Sam could catch his attention he turned to watch the retreating form of the waitress with an appraising look on his face.

"Dean! Focus!" Sam snapped as he lost patience with his brother and his antics. "Who was that on the phone?" Dean looked back with a faint look of annoyance on his face.

"Calm down Sammy. It was Bobby. He called to have us check out a small town in Maine that might be cursed" he announce slightly annoyed. He proceeded to open a map on the table and his eyes scanned the state of Maine.

Sam looked expectantly at Dean and then shook his head at his brother's obscurity. "And... what did he say about it? Why did he think that we needed to check it out?"

"Huh?" Dean replied in confusion and looked up at Sam after he had found what he was looking for on the map.

"Dean, why does he want us to check out... a stretch of highway in Maine?" Sam inquired after leaning over the table to see what Dean was pointing at. "What does he want us to look for? There's nothing there" Sam said as he began to pack up his laptop.

"Well he said that there have been accidents all along that stretch of highway for the past 28 years. All of the victims were sober and all report seeing a wolf right before they crashed. Although why seeing a wolf in Maine is significant at all. But when the scene is examined afterward there were no signs of a wolf anywhere." Dean said.

"Well wolves are largely solitary creatures. They will not interfere with or attack a human unless provoked or sick. I've never heard of anything like this before. Give me a sec and then we will get back on the road."

"Whatever," Dean mumbled and resumed his nap on the back of the booth. Sam shot a glare at his brother before he returned his laptop to the table. He opened a google search and began looking up phantom wolves. Sam sorted through article after article and what appeared to be a school mascot called the phantom wolves, only to collect a few that might have been plausible. He leaned across the table and shook Dean awake. Dean awoke with a start and looked around in confusion before comprehension dawned in his eyes. He turned to Sam and asked, "Do you have something Sammy?"

"I don't know," Sam said staring at his computer screen with confusion and slight frustration, "I'm going to need some more info. from Bobby, but I found some legends that might fit," Sam rolled up his sleeves and leaned on the table. He hunched over and peered at the computer screen. "There is a legend of a wolf that died in an attempt to protect a Japanese princess whom she had befriended, but when the wolf failed and died herself, the legend leads us to believe that the wolf's spirit now wanders around keeping other young girls safe from the same fate," Sam continued with his finger trailing on the screen. "Um... there are multiple records of ghost dogs hanging around cemeteries and old Indian burial grounds as a dead person's spirit. Several apparitions of dog-like creatures with things such as a lion's head. But it is almost always near a cemetery or an Indian burial ground. Nothing fits!" Sam exclaimed in frustration and then shut his laptop with more force than strictly necessary. "Not like it should anyway. These legends are all about cemeteries and ancient Indian burial grounds. We don't have enough information on this random stretch of highway in Maine"

Dean looked thoughtful and leaned forward toward Sam in interest, "Cemeteries? Indian burial grounds? It might be that there is someone buried there," Sam's eyes widened as he considered the possibility, all of his earlier annoyance toward his brother vanishing. "I'll call Bobby and see if there were any deaths in the area 28 years ago that could have resulted in a phantom wolf," he said as he sat back in the booth and flipped open his cell phone to call for information. Sam packed up his laptop for the second time in 30 minutes and was taking care of the bill when he heard Dean say hello to Bobby. They exchanged information with a small pause which Sam assumed for Bobby to look up some information. It was over in about 5 minutes and Dean followed Sam to the Impala. As soon as they were seated in the car, Sam turned to Dean as his brother recounted the conversation between him and Bobby. "He said that there was one disappearance a couple of days before the wolf sightings started. The vic's name was John Pyper-Ferguson and it was his son that filed the disappearance. The son claimed that there was a town called Storybrooke, and that the mayor had taken his father hostage. But since there was no town called Storybrooke or even a town there, the police wrote it off as a delusion. The man's body was never found but he was presumed dead." Dean pulled out of the diner's parking lot and followed the small road toward the highway.

Sam was deep in thought Maybe this man's death was traumatic and it caused a phantom wolf to appear? Or maybe this man's spirit is now haunting the sight of his death and/or burial in the form of a wolf? Nothing added up. He had never heard of anything like this before. He turned to Dean and mused out loud, "I guess we'll just have to see when we get there.

"I guess so," Dean agreed as he turned up the volume on the tape he was listening to and stuck out his middle finger to Sam when he saw him rolling his eyes. Sam turned to look out the window and wondered about what might await them on that distant stretch of highway in Maine.

Emma surveyed the disaster that was now her life. It had been scarcely a week since the curse had been broken and the town was still recovering. Loved ones were trying to find one another and general mayhem of all sorts was occurring. The main question was that why were they not transported back to the Enchanted Forest when the curse was broken? Emma, sitting back in her chair, put her hands over her eyes and inwardly sighed. What else could happen that would end up damaging her calm? On top of everything, why did Gold have to bring back magic? It only complicated her life more. Why had she ever thought that she could be shariff. It was in times such as these that she missed Graham. Suddenly sad as well as tired Emma bent over and rested her head on her hands on the cluttered desk. Emma's head lifted as she heard footsteps in the entryway. "What now?" she said before she fully saw that it was David standing in the doorway. Her mind temporarily froze, David but also her father. When was her life going to get less complicated? Ever since Henry showed up at her apartment... She calmed herself to take on a more civilised tone, "What happened?"

"Does something have to be wrong?" David asked as he walked into the room. Emma did not know how she had doubted that David was Prince Charming. He carried himself with a certain confidence that only one who knew some form of combat did. And the look in his eyes said that he was a natural born leader. She could not help but make some comparisons with herself when she saw either of her parents. Looking at David now, she saw some similarities: she had her father's blonde hair, and their eyes were not the same shade of blue, but almost. She shook her head and came back to reality to catch his next words, "I was just coming to see how you were doing." She sighed and then regretted it when she saw David's brows furrow and his eyes narrow in concern.

She hurried to soothe him by responding, "I'm fine David, just a little stressed thats all." She could see that it did not appease him as much as she was hoping for he still looked worried. "Really, we have more important things to worry about," she said and then turned her head back to the pile of paperwork that she needed to fill out and then the even larger stack of questions from the people of Storybrooke. She picked up her pen and pulled the first sheet off the stack of paperwork and figured that it was mind numbing work enough for her not to have to think hard upon.

"Let me help you with that," David announced and he took the top half or so of the stack. Emma was careful to not make eye contact. Things had not died down enough that her parents and her had had that awkward conversation, and Emma was going to avoid it for as long as humanly possible. Lucky for her that her father seemed to be of the same school of thought. They worked quietly for about two hours when finally Emma could not stand the elephant in the room any longer.

"I'm going to go get something to eat," David looked like he was about to come to, but upon seeing the look in Emma's face he wisely thought better of it and settled back into his chair. Emma swiped her red leather jacket off of the coat rack next to the doorway on the way out. She opted to walk to Granny's instead of driving. It was not that long of a distance and she was feeling up for some extra alone time anyway. Her mind wandered as she walked and she almost did not hear or see Henry until he was right next to her.

"Are you okay?" He asked her, and she let the smile that she was feeling in response to seeing him show on her face. He looked into her face for a moment as if gauging if she was telling the truth or not. After a couple of seconds where Emma tried to look as fine as possible, Henry nodded to himself and let his eyes wander the street. Occasionally someone would pass by and give a small nod or wave and then they would continue on. Each time that that happened Henry looked slightly pleased with himself and Emma had to stop herself from laughing. He was just so pleased with himself for knowing the truth the entire time and the rest of the town being clueless. He could not help but let it go to his head every now and then. Emma put her arm around her biological son and steered him into Granny's. They chose a booth near the door and then settled in when they saw Ruby hold up her index finger in a sign of "just one moment". Emma nodded her understanding and then turned to look at Henry. They engaged in meaningless conversation until Ruby had the time to swing by their table. The rest of the day seemed to pass without another disaster and for that Emma was grateful. She had a small sense of foreboding as she was brushing her teeth that night. She wondered what it could possibly mean. She leaned closer to the mirror to try to attempt to glean some information from her wary eyes, but as one would think she found nothing. She sighed and leaned back, running a hand through her hair. Whatever will happen will happen; there is no use worrying about it now she thought to herself as she was pulling the covers back. Her vision was already fading to black as she lay her head on the pillow.