Chapter 4: Believe in the Unbelievable
"Crystal..."
My eyes open. I'm laying on some dried grass. I sit up to look around. I'm in a forest covered in fog. I'm dressed in a dark cloak. Eerie sounds surround me. The trees are all barren, various shades of black and they reach out towards me like skinny arms and long clawed fingers. The fog swirls around me, making it hard for me to see my surroundings and I can't tell if this is real or not. The entire scene is something out of a horror movie and it sends a chill up my spine.
"Crystal..." I hear again.
"Who's there?!" I call into the thick fog. I try to light up my hands, make the orb that follows me around, but nothing happens. I concentrate hard, but still nothing. I'm also unarmed. My stomach drops, I feel helpless.
"Crystal..."
"WHO'S THERE?!" I shout.
Some of the fog parts like a curtain. A shape materializes in between two trees.
"Crystal please help us..." I hear. I see Mary Margret behind me. She's wearing a blood red dress, there appear to be shackled chains around her wrists as if she is a prisoner. The dress is very revealing and she wears heavy makeup, making her almost clown-like and paler than she already is. I realize that she's some kind of slave, made up to look appealing, but she just looks ugly.
"Snow!" I shout.
"Crystal please..." Snow whimpers. I watch in horror as she begins to cry blood from her eyes. The streaks of red run down her pale face. It's something out of a gory horror movie.
I start to run towards her when she vanishes in a puff of red smoke.
"SNOW!" I yell. Tears flooding my eyes, I feel so helpless.
"Crystal, help us..." I hear behind me.
Between another two trees, I see Regina, she surrounded by darkness that is strangling her. She too looks very pale and helpless, almost skeleton like. She doesn't cry blood, her voice becomes fainter as the coal black darkness strangles her, like tentacles of pure evil.
"Regina!" I scream. "Regina!"
Once again, she vanishes before I can reach her.
"Crystal..."
I turn again to see Hook, deathly pale, looking like a zombie, even his blue eyes are completely white. He walks limply, almost like he's being forced to do so. He's as skinny as ever. He dissolves into the fog like the others.
"Killian!" I yell out to him
"Crystal," I see Belle, clutching what should be Gideon, my step-brother. Belle is dressed in a dark robe, her hair and eyes match the shade. She doesn't look human anymore, more demonic or even rodent-like. A small pale face sticks out from the blankets she's holding. The head does and 180 rotation like in The Exorcist and Gideon's eyes match Belle's.
"Join us, Crystal," they say in unison. Their voices have deepened by several octaves.
"Belle!" I shout. Belle and Gideon are suddenly pulled into the ground in the blink of an eye.
"Crystal..." I see David. He's fighting some unknown force to reach me, slowly, like every step is a fight for his life. He's skinny and dressed in rags like he's been through hell and back. His hand reaches forward to touch me as if I'm his savior. "Crystal, you have to help us."
"Where are you?" I shout. I reach out to touch him and he crumbles to dust before me.
Tears are flooding down my face as I'm alone in the fog again. A howl cuts through the night, chilling me to the bone. I look forward. My breath catches in my throat.
I begin to see yellow eyes approaching from the fog. A pair of red eyes materializes from all the yellow. I can see that it is human shaped.
Emma steps forward from the fog. I gasp, wanting to scream, but it's caught in my throat.
Emma's hair is jet black, her skin deathly pale, except for her lips. She looks like a twisted version of her mother. She's dressed in a black leather dress that looks like it was made of spider webbing, it literally looks like it's moving. But her most distinguishing feature are her eyes. Her eyes are glowing a dark red, like the very last time I saw her. They seem to rip right into my soul and I'm overwhelmed with guilt. I didn't save her back in Storybrooke and now she's Filtiarn's slave. She will do anything he wishes.
"Hello, Crystal..." Emma says in a voice that is not her own. It sounds like someone is controlling her, like a puppet. Her voice sends more shivers up my spine.
"Emma..." I gasp, I can hardly get the words out.
"Would you like to meet my pack..." she says with an evil grin.
The yellow eyes move forward, coming from the fog. I know immediately that it's the wolves, except they are much bigger, their teeth larger and sharper than knives. Foam dribbling out of their mouths.
I try to run, but something has me rooted in place. The wolves eyes begin to surround me. I try to step backward. I gasp in horror, the lead wolf is Mason.
"Mason?" I squeak out. I try to light up my hands, but I'm powerless here, in this spooky forest.
Mason's eyes are yellow, unlike his usual blue in his wolf form, just like when the pack forced him to attack Storybrooke and mainly me...
Mason snarls, he coils back, prepared to pounce.
"Mason!" I gasp. "Mason please." Tears are burning my eyes, I am at the mercy of my fiance, the man I love.
He lashes forward. His teeth go around my throat and pierce my flesh.
...
I jolt awake. My head is throbbing badly and I'm sweating buckets. It takes me a moment to realize where I am again. What was the sleeping bag is practically a rumpled mess on the floor
I sigh, it was just a dream. I run my fingers through my matted hair. I stop at my face, which is sticky and wet, meaning I've been crying as well. I hurry to the bathroom down the hall and drink some water from the faucet. I splash some cold water on my face and I look at myself in the bathroom mirror.
I look like I just fought my way through a tornado. My eyes are bloodshot from crying, my hair matted from sweat. I look just like I did when I gave birth.
"Stupid powers!" I mumble to myself.
I feel nothing but guilt. It's because of me the curse was completed, it's because of me that everyone I love is trapped in some kind of wolf made hell. My fiancé, my children, my family, my friends... It's just me and Henry, alone...in the land without magic.
I take a quick shower and borrow some of Alisa's clothes to wear, since everything we have disappeared when the curse was cast.
I start walking into the living room and see the TV on. Henry sits on the couch with a bowl of cereal in his lap. He's watching some crime show. I see black circles under his eyes, indicating that he didn't sleep well either. He doesn't look up at me.
"Morning Henry," I say gently.
Henry looks at me glumly before going back to the TV.
"Morning," he mumbles.
I continue through to the kitchen. Alisa's there, looking like she's about to go off to work.
"Morning," she says cheerfully. The happiness in her voice almost makes me sick, but then again, she didn't just lose everyone she loved in a puff of smoke.
"Morning," I respond.
"Sleep well last night?"
I give Alisa a look and raise my eyebrow. If she can't tell by my disheveled appearance and the bloodshot eyes, she has to be dumber than a bag of rocks not to notice. I know she's trying to remain positive, but it's hard to do that considering the circumstances.
"Raymond had to go to court early, but I was supposed to have the day off to help you guys, but they really need me at the office so..."
I hear the volume go up in the living room, trying to drown out our talking.
"Has he...Has he said anything this morning?" I ask.
"Not really," Alisa sighs. "I offered to make him breakfast, but he just said he'd rather have cereal. He's been in front of the TV ever since."
"He's mad..." I sigh.
"No, he's not," Alisa says.
"He is, he's also scared and feeling helpless."
"I can imagine," Alisa whispers.
"I'd be more worried than ever after what I saw last night." I groan.
"What'd you see?"
"All of our loved ones in various states of torture. Snow White dressed like a slave, Captain Hook as a zombie, Belle, and her son as something out of The Exorcist and Emma Swan as the master of a wolf army."
"Gawd," Alisa gasps. "That sounds bizarre and scary."
"More distressing to see my fiancé among them and he lashed forward to rip my throat out."
Alisa just stares at me stunned and a little disgusted. She goes over and puts her arms around me in a hug.
"You'll find a way to fix this," she says.
"How can you be sure of that?" I nearly snap at her. I sigh. "Sorry Lisa..."
"It's okay, I know you're under a lot of pressure in god knows how many ways, but you're strong. You always have been, I have faith in you. You never give up on those you love, even if you want to."
I want to roll my eyes, but instead, tears roll down my cheeks.
"I know a lot of this is beyond my understanding and I definitely don't know how magic works, but I know how you work. You never gave up when you wanted to cure Mason, you never gave up when you wanted to give custody back to Tiana and Naveen, you never gave up when you gave birth to your twins, and you won't here either. You remember saying that when you've lost hope you've lost everything...?"
I nod and wipe some the tears from my eyes. I embrace Alisa, I know what she's saying is mostly just a pep talk, but a lot of what she's saying is true. I don't give up to help those I love. I can't give up on them now, especially when they need me the most.
"Thanks, Lis, you're the best friend anyone could have."
"I know that," she says with a small grin. She then looks at the clock on the wall. "Okay, I need to go before the best friend gets fired."
"Okay, see you later," I say.
I watch my best friend go across the room to the door, grabbing her phone and purse as she goes. She opens the door, gives me one last smile before exiting and closing the door.
I grab a glass of juice from the fridge and I stand at the doorway to the living room, watching Henry. I can tell he's ignoring me, which to me feels a little immature. He's practically an adult now, but I know deep down he feels like a scared little kid. the scared little kid who took the risk of going to find his birth mother in hopes of breaking a curse. The kid who put everything on the line to protect his family. The kid who had the courage to re-write the stories we know.
Where was that courage now? He can't sulk here forever and for all we know, his family might be dying somewhere in the Enchanted Forest.
I turn back and finish my juice.
I toss Henry his coat.
"Come on," I say. "We're going for a walk."
...
We walk down 5th Avenue together, watching the people go by. It's still taking some getting used to with the crowds of people and the traffic in the streets. It honestly makes me miss Storybrooke even more. The quiet surroundings were perfect for a family to live in peace and allow the world to remain mysterious.
I will admit that the fresh air is allowing me to clear my head a little bit, but the images of last night still haunt me. Henry doesn't look me the entire. I can feel his anger radiating off of him. I just don't know what to do, we're in the middle of a place that can't help us find a fantastical where werewolves, pirates, princesses and fairies exist.
We stop in front of the library with the stone lions in front of it. If I remember correctly, Regina told me that this is where Henry and Violet went to find answers about removing magic permanently from the world. Seems almost ironic now. But we have to start somewhere for answers
"Shall we go in?" I ask.
Henry shrugs.
I walk up the stairs and Henry reluctantly follows.
Inside, it's quiet...very quiet. People are milling about, some of them I recognize as university students, preparing for finals. This place also holds some memories for me, it's the place where I first met Mason.
I decide to go back to where we first met, despite how much it may hurt. We climb to the second level and walk amongst the aisles and aisles of books. I go to the fantasy section where I was searching for books for the kids. I begin trailing my finger along the shelves of books, hoping that my magic will activate, give us something to work with here.
I come across another Once Upon a Time book and open it. The stories inside are a bit different, some are unusual, like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I keep turning the pages until I find a familiar face. It's Emma and Hook, dancing at a ball. I can't remember which story that's from. I can feel myself tearing up slightly, and then I remember the images in my nightmare. I slam it shut and try to find Henry.
Henry stares at the glass care where the replica of The Holy Grail once was. It wasn't that long ago that he was here in this library, with his girlfriend, trying to destroy all magic because it was hurting those he loved, but now it seems like magic has taken its revenge, destroying everything he loved and hurting him.
I try to put my arm around him, but he turns and walks away. I decide to check out the book because it could be helpful, but without Henry's quill, there's nothing we can do.
...
I buy Henry a slice of pizza, but I'm too nervous to eat anything.
Suddenly, I hear voices. They are tiny and faded whispers. At first, I think my dad's voice has come back to haunt me again, convincing me to evil stuff again. I shut my eyes and try to block out the sounds of New York.
The voices become a little bit louder
"Crystal where are you...?" Henry starts.
I'm walking along the street as if in a trance. I want to know where the voices are coming from. I've only ever heard them once before, they were guiding me to Storybrooke for the first time. I'm walking against the flow of people, they glare at me angrily, doing their best to avoid me. I want to create a shield around me to protect me as I walk, but I don't know how strong my powers are, or want to arouse suspicion.
I keep walking as the voices become stronger. I can hear Henry's frantic footsteps as he tries to catch up to me, but all other noises have ceased around me. I focus on the voices. I cut through an alleyway and even hop over a fence.
The voices bring me to a large windowed shop. There's a neon sign in front of it claiming Mr. Morrible's House of Antiques. Its slogan says, Believe in the Unbelievable. It immediately reminds me of my dad's shop only tackier. Most likely filled with useless junk and old magic tricks. But clearly, something is activating my limited magic.
I open the shop and the bell ominously rings. The place is piled high with...you guessed it, junk. Shelves and shelve of old dusty books line against one wall and there are aisles upon aisles of what is most likely junk. An old spinning wheel, a pair of wooden shoes, a printing press. But it seems that everything in here has magical potential. The voices are practically a choir, so many sounds. I can feel my hands warming up eagerly. I'm so caught up in the voices that I hardly hear the ringing of the bell as Henry catches up to me.
"Crystal what the hell?" Henry snaps, angry at me for running off like that. "What's wrong with you?!" I can tell his anger has increased even more now that it looks like I ditched him.
"Listen, something in here is activating my magic," I whisper. "This may be what we need to help the others."
Henry's eyes go wide and then he frowns. He looks around. Clearly, he only sees junk, but then again, what have we got to lose at this point?
"Good afternoon," a voice says behind us, making both of us jump.
An elderly man with large, thick spectacles that make him look like an owl stands behind us. He has wild white hair and a thick mustache that curls around his chapped lips. He's dressed in an old, wrinkly white shirt with a brown leather vest, along with gray pants with holes in them and small brown boots. He has some sort of contraption on his head.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you, it's not that often that I get visitors. Are you interested in the unbelievable?"
I really want to roll my eyes, we are unbelievable.
"Yes..." I answer. "We seek to find the truth."
The man winks behind his thick glasses.
"Everyone who comes here always leaves with an answer."
"Are you... Mr. Morrible?" I ask.
"I am what I am, not what I'm not," he answers cryptically.
Henry rolls his eyes and tries to shift away from this weird man. He starts to wander around the shop. But I'm interested in this man. I let my vision take over, it's a little fuzzy since most of my power was drained, but I see a gray cloud, swirling, like a fog in his dim lighted body. I see his heart is bright red, beating weirdly.
"May we have a look around?" I ask.
Morrible grins. "See what you want," Morrible says. "But look no further than you have to."
I begin to wander the aisles, the voices whispering every which way. I begin picking things off shelves and examining them. A glass eye, a telescope made of copper, a leather bound scroll. The only thing is...I can't see any visions like I could in my dad's shop, but the voices are still strong.
"Guide me," I whisper under my breath. I want to make sure Morrible isn't listening in.
I begin to hear more sounds. These ones a lot stronger than before.
Find what you most desire. it says. Find...
I walk along to the back wall, there are boxes of all shapes and sizes, stacked higher than anyone can possibly reach. My hand begins to glow again.
I look around frantically, making sure no one can see the purple. I guide my hand along the boxes.
I run my hand over the top them. The voice gets louder.
Come... Find us... Find those you love... Seek what you most desire...
I come to the very end of the line of boxes. Sitting on a table by itself is a box made of copper. There are strange engravings all over it. Some look like ancient runes, others like scribbles made by a five-year-old. I hear the voice inside.
Find us...
I put my hand over it, waiting for my magic to work, but nothing happens. I try unlocking it by hand, but nothing happens. There's no keyhole or latch. I concentrate really hard, maybe I can force the box open. The voice is practically screaming at me to free whatever it is inside, but I still can't open it.
I suddenly see legible writing, it seems to have appeared magically.
What is it you most desire? it reads.
I lean down and whisper.
"To bring my family home..."
There is a series of clicks on the inside and the lid springs open. What's inside is a compass. A golden compass.
"Ah..." the man says, scaring me half to death. I turn to see Morrible talking to Henry at the front counter. He's holding Henry's hand out like he's reading his palm. "I sense great sadness. You both come here looking for assistance, to find those you love."
"How did you...?" Henry gasps. The blood has drained from his face and he takes a step back, yanking his hand away. The man smiles once more behind his glasses.
"I can see what most people can't. You write the tales of a believer."
My breath catches in my throat. Did he just say what I think he did?
"And you, my child, a name of clarity, possess a great power that only the darkest can see."
My heart pounds in my chest. I clutch the compass tightly. Clearly, this man is magical, he must be from the Enchanted Forest or something rather close to it. I feel a spark of hope ignites inside me.
"W-what are you?" I whisper.
The man squints at me and then looks at what I've got in my hand. His eyes go wide and it's his turn to gasp.
"Only in my thousands of years have three people been able to open that box."
He rushes over to me. He examines me through his glasses and takes my free hand.
"Shaken in spirit, Rumpel is his name." He traces my palm with his old and crooked fingers.
"What are you?" I repeat.
"What I am is not important, what you desire is. A great loss you both have suffered and now you seek some answers... a solution."
Morrible nods to the compass.
"That there my dear, is a rare antique compass. Forged by the rock from the moon, combined with the gold of the North Star, only very few have been able to use it to its full potential. It was once allegedly owned by Blackbeard the pirate. It is said to guide the possessor to what they most desire."
"How'd it end up here?" I ask.
"Magic works in mysterious ways as I'm sure you're aware. When a great quest is upon it, it will appear to those in need."
I look at the compass in great detail. There are constellations carved on the golden cover. I open the inside and see that it is indeed no ordinary compass. There are markings of many different kinds along the circumference and the compass spins in random directions. The only distinguishable feature of it is the arrow, spinning around. There is a crescent moon along the top of the lid.
"What does it do?" I ask.
"What I can tell you is that it will bring you to what you most desire, it also provides a link between to worlds."
"A LINK!" Henry gasps. He races over and grabs the compass from me. "Take us to the Enchanted Forest!" he practically yells.
He shuts his eyes and waits for something to happen. Nothing.
"It is not that kind of link, it will allow communication to whom you most desire," Morrible says.
"It's like a cell phone?" I ask.
"In a way."
"How do we get it to work?" Henry asks impatiently. "We need to find our families."
"You must work by the light of the moon, allow it's rays to fall upon it, I will tell you the words to say to activate its magic. Then say the name of whom you wish to speak and allow it to do the rest."
My heart pounds excitedly. This is the key to contacting the others, finding the others, rescuing them! I can tell Henry is excited too, tears in his eyes and I see a smile form on his face.
"How much for it?" I ask.
"You need not money to find what you most desire, that my dear, has not price," Morrible says. He then leans down and whispers the words I need to say into my ear.
I look at him, tears in my eyes. I lean forward and hug him tightly. Henry does the same.
"Thank you, thank you," I sob happily. "You likely just saved an entire kingdom."
"And I will save much more," Morrible says. "Go forth my children, remember to love is your true guide." I see his spectacles begin to glow hypnotically.
Suddenly, Henry and I are outside on the street. The compass in Henry's hand, but the shop with the neon sign is gone. Vanished, nothing but a brick wall in between to old apartments.
Henry and I look at each other, we are a little spooked, but honestly, we've seen worse.
We look down at the compass and then at each other.
Henry leans forward and hugs me tightly.
"I'm sorry," he whispers.
"It's okay," I say back. "We have that hope back. That spark, now we need to ignite it."
