Meriel looked up, running her hands along the wall of the pit. Finn was sitting at her feet, with his arms wrapped around his knees.
"What are you trying to do?" he asked crossly.
"I'm looking for a weak rock," she answered, pushing and prodding. "And trying to use my magic."
"You've tried before," he reminded her. "You're too young, remember? Rumplestiltskin said so."
"At least I'm trying!"
"I tried," Finn protested. "I almost got out, too!"
"Until you fell on me!" Meriel said. "And if I can find a loose rock or two, maybe you can climb better. You could help, you know."
"Do you think they're looking for us?" Finn's eyes were large in his slender face, and Meriel knew she had the same fear in her eyes.
"Absolutely." She sank down on the stone floor next to him. "We just have to wait while they figure out where to look."
"We don't even know where we are," Finn said forlornly. "How will they?"
"They'll use magic," Meriel said. "I just wish we had a way to send a signal or something. And they've got us underground. Kai can't find us underground."
Finn shot her a scathing look. "Your imaginary friend isn't going to help us, Meriel."
She sighed heavily, laying her face against the stone wall. "No, I suppose not," she said. "He won't know where we are, either. Not while we're in here."
"Who do you think took us?" Finn asked. "The banshee?"
"It had to be. Who else would dare?"
"Papa's going to kill her," Finn said fiercely.
"Not if Mama gets her first."
"Shhh," Finn cautioned, pointing up at the opening. "Look," he whispered.
A pale green glow pulsed within the room, and Meriel stood up with a determined squaring of her shoulders.
"Hey!" she shouted. "You'd better let us out!"
The glow got brighter, and Meriel couldn't help but step back, putting herself against the wall. She tried to push Finn behind her, but he'd have none of it, pushing around her to add his own voice to hers.
"They're going to kill you when they find you!" he shouted.
The banshee's face appeared, then the glow became nearly blinding as she hovered a moment, then began to descend into the pit. She came to rest across from them.
"One moment," she said softly, and then she closed her eyes, pulling the light into herself, leaving only a softly muted glow. "I brought food. Are you hungry?"
"Why are you keeping us?" Meriel demanded. "You'd better turn us loose."
"Are you here to kill us?" Finn asked.
Meriel rolled her eyes at her brother. "If she were going to kill us, she wouldn't bother feeding us, would she?"
"Maybe she's going to torture us first."
"Finn!"
"Well, she could."
"Don't give her ideas! Honestly, you are so stupid sometimes!"
"You're not my boss, Meriel." Finn gave her a shove, and Meriel shoved back.
"Get off!"
"You get off!"
"Children." The banshee's voice was calmness itself, and Meriel could swear it carried a hint of a smile. "I'll leave the food," she said. "If you'd like more, you only need ask."
She began to ascend again, and Meriel reached out, but her hand closed around nothingness instead of an arm.
"Wait," she said.
The banshee looked down at her, then dropped back down again. "You cannot touch me," she said. "I am not of your plane of existence. I am...other."
"Please," Meriel said. "Why have you brought us here? Why did you take us?"
"It was not for myself," the banshee answered. "I am enslaved through dark magic to the one who keeps you. I must do her bidding as long as she holds me."
"Can you help us?" Finn asked. "Get us out of here?"
"Alas, I cannot." She really did sound sad. Meriel actually felt a little sorry for her.
"How did you become a banshee?" she asked.
"Did the witch kill you?" Finn asked excitedly. "Are you a ghost?"
The banshee shook her head. "No, I am very much alive. Just banished to exist in different realms simultaneously. I cannot live fully in either."
"Do you have a name?" asked Meriel.
"Aibelle," she said, inclining her head slightly.
"I'm Meriel and this is Finn. Our parents are Princess Emma and Sir Killian of the Enchanted Forest."
"And you're in real trouble if they find you," Finn warned her. "They're going to rip that witch apart!"
"You should hope that they never meet her," Aibelle said sadly. "She has done many terrible things, and I have done many terrible things at her behest."
"Is she going to kill us, then?" Meriel asked. "Please, you must know a way out."
"I do not know what she intends for you," Aibelle replied. "But it cannot be good. If she's taken you and told me to leave you alive, it is because she seeks someone else. She will use you to draw them out when she is ready."
"I'm thirsty," Finn complained, reaching for the bundle of food Aibelle had set down.
"I'll fetch some water," she said. "There is a stream not far from here."
"A stream?" Meriel reached out for her arm again, then remembered and stopped herself. "Does the stream lead out to the sea?"
Aibelle shook her head. "I cannot tell you where you are. The witch has forbidden it. I cannot let you out, either."
"But you can tell me if the stream goes to the sea, can't you?" Meriel pressed. "You don't have to tell me how far away we are."
"I suppose that would not go against her command," she said. "Yes. The stream runs to the sea."
Meriel reached up around her neck and pulled off the necklace she wore. She pooled it into her hand, holding it out to the banshee.
"Take this," she said. "And drop it in the water. That's all you have to do."
Aibelle looked down at the delicate, swirled shell on the woven cord curiously. "It will sink. Or wash down to the sea. Even if your family were to find it, they would find it far from here."
"So there's no danger of you going against the witch's command," Meriel said with a smile. "There's no way my family will know it came from the stream, right?"
"Don't be stupid, Meriel," Finn said. "She's right. No one will find it except for the fish."
"Hush, Finn." She turned back to Aibelle. "Will you do it."
"I will. And I will return with water for you both." She held out her hand, and Meriel dropped the necklace down into it. Aibelle's palm pulsed brightly, but held the necklance. "Are you warm enough?" she asked.
"I'm all right," Finn said. "Meriel?"
"Yes, I'm fine. Now go!" Meriel tried not to snap, but her impatience made it hard. "Go on, we're fine."
Aibelle began to rise, but she paused a moment. "I am sorry," she said softly. "I would help you if I could."
She continued up and out, and Meriel watched her go, adding under her breath, "You just did."
###
"There's got to be someplace else!" Emma fumed. "Someplace we haven't thought of yet!"
"Calm down, love. We'll go over it again." Killian rubbed a soothing hand on her back, but she shook him off.
"I can't just...just sit here! It's been two days!"
"I know. I know it has." Killian's jaw tightened.
"Emma - if the banshee were going to...to kill them, she would have just done it," Snow reached across the table to cover Emma's hand with her own. "We're going to figure this out."
"Damn right, we are," David said, striding into the room with Belle and Regina.
"Did you find anything we can use?" Emma asked Belle.
"Possibly," Belle said, dropping a book on the table. "This particular banshee is relatively new. That is - she hasn't got a history of hundreds of years behind her. That means she's most likely indentured to a very powerful witch or sorcerer. For that to have happened, a deal had to have been made."
"A deal?" Emma asked "Sounds like Rumple was involved?"
"Sadly, no," Regina said. "He didn't make the deal but whoever sent the banshee must have had some serious power behind them."
"And to turn someone into a banshee, there were some serious qualifiers," Belle continued, her finger sliding down the page as she read. "The intended victim had to possess a voice that was gifted by a fairy."
"Can that happen?" Snow asked.
"Fairy Godmothers," Regina supplied. "They usually provide a gift at the child's birth. Beauty or health or strength - or even a beautiful voice, if they're in the mood. You can't just trade a fairy gift away."
Exactly," Belle went on. "The gift must be traded for a life," Belle went on. "Once the deal is struck, the victim's voice belongs to the witch or wizard, enslaving the victim to the sorcerer or witch for seven centuries - or until the witch or sorcerer dies."
"And the voice becomes an instrument of darkness," Regina added. "In this case, the person behind this banshee could have used her to kill us all."
"Instead she used her to knock us out and take Finn and Meriel," David said. "Why?"
"And why was she singing a warning the night before? Why warn us at all?"
"If we could find out who she used to be, we might get some insight," David said. "Henry and Rumple are chasing the legend down."
"We don't have time to chase bloody legends," Killian said, slamming his hands on the table and standing up. "Those are our children out there!"
"Killian's right," Emma bit out. "We need to start looking. There can't be that many sorcerers with that kind of power."
"Emma?" Brenna walked hesitantly into the hall. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but you'll want to see this."
She held her hand out, and in it was Meriel's shell necklace.
"It floated by the dock, right by Killian's ship," she said. "I was fishing with Roland and it was just suddenly there."
"She could have dropped it - as a clue," Emma said. "Leaving us a trail."
"They're on the water," Killian said, taking the necklace. "Yes!"
"Regina, can you trace them?" Emma asked.
Regina nodded. "I can trace them."
"How do we free them from a banshee?" Snow asked.
"Maybe we need to free the banshee," Emma said, stuffing a dagger down into her boot. "And I have a good idea where to start with that."
"Let's go," Killian said. "Let's get our children."
"We will," Emma said. "But first we've got a stop to make. We need to see Blue."
