STORYBROOKE OF THE FUTURE: 21 HOURS BEFORE

"What the hell'd you do?" Talon screamed. He wheeled around looking from one blank face to the next.

Rowe stiffened, his shoulders hunching. Talon's accusation had broken his shock. "Me? Why'd you assume this is my fault?"

Mel let go of her mother's wrist and narrowed her eyes in Rowe's direction. "Because you do stupid things with your magic when you're bored and this has you written all over it."

Rowe sneered. "Well sorry to disappoint you mate, but this wasn't me."

"Sure," Talon said. He pointed at his parents. "This is exactly what your idea of a funny joke looks like. Wake them up!"

"Why would I do this to everyone? Are you mad? They'd time warp me to Wonderland or something."

Talon banged his fist against the nearest bench. "Wake them up, Rowe!"

"I can't," Rowe yelled. He was nose to nose with Talon.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm not powerful enough to do this, okay. I don't have enough magic."

"Took your mom's pixie dust again," Melody accused.

"Pfft," Rowe said, backing away from a fuming Talon and rounding on Mel. Sometimes the goody-goody dating, dream team drove him mental. "You think pixie dust did this? Uh-uh, this is something really dark."

"Dark like what?" Talon growled.

Stupid question, Rowe thought. It's not like they were hiding ogres and evil fairies in the Storybrooke forests. "Like something that came from outside of Storybrooke."

Mel let out a tiny gasp. "Through the portal? You think something got past the dwarves that shouldn't have?"

"I don't know, it's just a theory," Rowe said. He looked around at the town hall. His mom had collapsed against the bench she had been seated in. If this magic had spread all over town, and he had a feeling it had, then his dad was probably out cold on his ship, if the rum hadn't knocked him out first.

"Is your mom okay?" he finally asked Talon. Snow had hit her head against the podium when she collapsed. Charming had rushed to catch her but the enchantment had hit him at that same moment and their bodies collided before hitting the ground.

"I think so," Talon said. "But we won't know until they wake up, right?"

"When will that be," Melody asked. She had just finished threading her parent's fingers together. If she wasn't so creeped out she might have taken a picture. They looked sort of sweet slumped against each other.

"How the hell am I supposed to know," Rowe said.

"Okay, snappy," Melody bit back. "Keep your wings on."

Rowe raised an eyebrow. "Seriously, you want me to start with the fish comments?"

"Enough," Talon said. He had just finished cycling through his phone contacts. "I can't get a hold of McKenzie or Skye. We need to go find them."

"And where exactly do you think they'll be," Rowe said.

"Where everybody goes when there's a problem," Talon said, like it was obvious. "Granny's."

Thank gods," Skye said, hearing the bell ding. She dropped her fork back in the pie tin. It was the last of the lemon-meringue. She was stress eating and she knew she shouldn't do that. She had a lactose intolerance and she didn't have any of her pills with her, but she didn't care if the whipped crème made her sick. She felt like she was going insane, so she was going to eat the pie, dammit, because it was the only thing that made sense. "I was getting tired of talking to my mom and having her not respond," she said to the shadow that stood in the doorway. "This takes the silent treatment to a whole new level."

McKenzie looked shaken as she stepped inside, followed by Kai and a crying Addie.

"Where's your mom?" Skye asked, rushing around the counter. The three of them looked like they had just seen a pink unicorn fall out of the sky and, in Addie's case especially, get hit by a bus.

"Parked on top of a garbage can on Main Street," McKenzie said.

Skye gasped. "You're kidding."

Kai shook his head. "I wish."

"Is everyone okay?" Skye said, pulling McKenzie into a booth. They were all free, there was no one but them in the diner, but she still chose their favourite, the one in the back corner where friendships were cemented and crushes were spied on. It was the best spot in the whole diner for eavesdropping and sharing secrets over hamburgers.

McKenzie slumped down next to Skye and rubbed her face with both hands. "Ugh, I think so. I don't know. They're asleep, maybe, sorta." She looked at her sister and sighed. "Addie, please stop crying. I can't think when you're like this."

The girl's blonde pigtails were unravelling. She had snot and tear stains all over her face, but Skye didn't even know where to start. Apparently McKenzie didn't either, so they were both glad when Kai took Addie's hand and pulled her towards the kitchen. "C'mon," he said. "I know where Granny keeps the popsicles."

Skye watched him walk to the kitchen door with Addie in tow. Something warm fluttered in her chest, hovering near the base of her throat. "He's sort of awesome sometimes, huh?" she said.

"Focus, Skye." McKenzie said, knowing exactly where her friend's brain had momentarily wandered off to. "We have a bigger problem on our hands than your rebound crushes."

"Yeah, like—"

Addie screamed and Skye was pretty sure it split the glass covering the display case. "My ears are bleeding," she muttered. McKenzie leaned around her.

Kai was hurrying back around the counter with a wailing Addie attached to his hip. "Thanks for the heads up," he growled.

Skye arched a brow. "Huh?"

Kai picked Addie up and placed her on the table between the booth seats. He tried to cover her ears but Addie was flailing so much it didn't work. "Oh, by the way my mom's passed out behind the counter like a corpse would have been a nice warning," he hissed.

"I figured it was just assumed," Skye said gesturing around, "with everything that's just happened."

"Yeah, maybe for me. Not the ten year old," Kai muttered.

"Right," Skye said, shooting him an apologetic smile. "Mom and Granny are behind the counter."

Addie was in hysterics now, hiccups breaking up her sobs.

"Well, you still have the popsicles to look forward to," McKenzie said, squeezing her sister's hand.

Addie hiccupped again.

"Not really," Kai said. "The freezer's empty."

"Oh right." Skye snapped her fingers. "I was supposed to pick some up last week."

McKenzie rolled her eyes. "Okay then, so we have no popsicles, no pie left by the looks of the counter. Our parents have checked out and we owe someone a new trash can." She stared at the ceiling and wished it would just fall down and hit her in the head. "Can this day possibly get any worse?"

Just then the door opened and in walked Rowe. He smirked in McKenzie's direction. "Swan," he said. "Fancy meeting you here."

McKenzie closed her eyes and Skye rubbed her arm. "I think it just got worse."

"That's Swan-Mills to you," Talon said, elbowing Rowe as he passed. "And don't you forget it again."

Talon, Rowe and Melody crowded into the booth with the rest of the kids and began relaying their stories.

Addie had settled down greatly when Talon arrived and was now only sniffling quietly into Mel's shirt.

"Your mom's are okay, though?" Talon asked again. "I feel weird about leaving them in a car abandoned in the middle of the road."

"It's not like anything's going to happen to them," Rowe said. "If you haven't noticed, almost everyone's checked out. Everyone except the second generations that is."

"The what?" McKenzie asked.

Rowe gestured between them. "You know, everyone born to the one's affected by the last curse."

"Yeah," Skye said. "It's only the ones who were affected by the previous curses that have fallen asleep."

"So what does that mean?" Mel asked. She was holding Addie on her lap, whispering soothing words in her ear. Talon leaned over and put an arm around her shoulders.

No one said anything.

"We can't do this," McKenzie blurted finally.

"Do what?" Kai said.

"This. Us," McKenzie stammered. "We don't know what's going on and we definitely can't fix it ourselves."

"Let's get Henry," Addie said.

"We can't," Talon told her. "You're mom's protective enchantments are still up. We checked on the way here. No one gets in or out past the town line without her disabling them first."

"Maybe we just wait then," Skye said. "Maybe they'll wake up on their own."

"Yep, cause that seems logical." Rowe rolled his eyes and decided he would have to be the one to lay everything out on the table. "Look, whoever did this has a reason and the longer we wait to wake our parents up the more time we are giving said person to do whatever it is they have planned."

"So what are you saying," Talon asked.

"I'm saying if we are going to do anything it needs to be now."

"And what do you propose?"

"If I knew that, Talon, then I wouldn't be sitting here, would I?"

The group fell into an uncomfortable silence. It was slowly dawning on them that they didn't have the skills or the knowledge to handle what was happening in Storybrooke. At least, not by themselves.

There was a sharp ringing and a tiny head went bobbing by the window, scooting down the sidewalk.

"Who was—"

"Rosie," McKenzie said, pushing against Skye so she would get out of the booth.

"Guess we know it got Gold, too," Rowe said. "He never lets that kid out alone."

"Hey," McKenzie shouted, pushing through the door. Rosie was riding her bike down the sidewalk. She looked determined and a little annoyed that she had to stop until she looked over her shoulder and saw McKenzie.

She braked and put both feet down. Then she turned her head around, her helmet falling over her eyes. "Look, Kenzie, no training wheels."

"I see. That's great, Rosie," McKenzie said. The rest of the group had joined her outside now. It was getting dark. The streetlights had just come on and the town felt too quiet.

"This is freaking me out," Skye mumbled. "Storybrooke's like a ghost-town."

"Rosie, where are you going?" Talon called.

The little girl blinked. "I was going to the library."

"Why?" It was Addie who asked this time, skipping over to her friend, as if oblivious to everything that she had been crying about an hour before.

"Because I went to the portal to see if someone could help me wake papa but it's closed up."

"Really?" Kai said. He moved forward and kneeled down beside the pink bike. "Rosie, you're sure?"

"Yep. It was sealed."

Kai looked up. "Someone doesn't want anyone being able to get out of Storybrooke."

"Or in," Rowe added.

Skye swallowed. "That doesn't sound good." She looked up and down the street again. The wind whistled and she shivered.

"Well, where are you going now?" Talon asked Rosie. "It's late, you should come inside the diner with us."

Rosie shook her head. "I told you, I'm going to the library. That's where my papa keeps some of his magic."

"What magic?"

"His beans," Rosie said.

"Of course." McKenzie clapped her hands. "They open portals. That's how we get help."

"Well, if you find these beans, where do you want to go?" Mel asked Rosie.

"Storybrooke."

Addie laughed. "But you're in Storybrooke, silly."

"Not this Storybrooke," Rosie said. "I'm going to yesterday so I can ask my papa what's wrong." She turned and started pedaling again. Skye and Mel raced after her.

McKenzie looked at Talon. "Sometimes that kid is so smart it scares me."

Talon nodded. "I know. And then I wonder if she gets it from Belle or from Rumplestiltskin."

"She's right, you know." McKenzie inhaled and let it out.

"I know," Talon said. "We have to go back in time."

"It's the only way to get help."

"Well, if you're all going on an adventure," Rowe said, barging between them. "I'm coming to. You'll need a captain to steer the ship."

"We are not taking your dad's ship," McKenzie said. "It smells like booze and the last time it was on open water was in Neverland."

"So?"

"So I don't trust something that hasn't had an oil change in like twenty years."

"Har, har," Rowe said. "What do you suggest then, a coach pulled by horses? Your mom keep that kind of thing in the garage?"

"Not exactly," McKenzie said. "I was thinking something a little smaller than that."