Aurora stepped shakily past one of the boundary sticks Graham had placed at intervals 200 feet away from the abandoned mine. She walked as close to the entrance as she possibly could without risking anything toppling onto her.

"Henry!" she shouted. "Can you hear me?"

There was no response.

Helena found herself in the center of town with nothing to do for the moment, other than be excited at the prospect of having something worthwhile to do the next morning. She smiled and waved at Kayla when she saw her getting off at the bus stop. Surprisingly, the girl ran straight over to her.

"Hey, you," said Helena. "Isn't one of your parents coming to pick you up?"

"No, my mom asked me to find her at the library. What was that noise? Miss Blanchard said a cave blew up."

"Something like that," Helena explained. "It was an old mine."

Kayla's eyes instantly lit up. "What was Henry doing when it happened?"

"Um...I don't know."

Kayla leaned in close to Helena's ear and solemnly whispered, "He did it, you know."

Helena raised her eyebrows. "What? You think my brother blew up a mine?"

"Not on purpose. It's part of Operation Zebra."

"Kayla, I'm sure..."

"I have to go find my mom before she gets worried," said Kayla. "This is amazing!"

"I...I'll walk with you," Helena started after the eleven-year-old, who willingly slowed down. "Listen, Kayla. I really need to know why you would think Henry would do something that..." she'd meant to follow up with crazy, but paused to search for a word with fewer negative connotations. "Drastic."

"Because it's Henry's job to break the curse. The longer Henry stays in town, the more things change."

"Right," muttered Helena. "Of course."

Kayla's eyes grew wide for a moment. "Walk faster," she instructed. "The sidewalk in front of city hall is dangerous."

Helena looked up and saw a large ivory multi-story building with a black door. She'd been wondering what that was, considering it was larger than every other building in the town center. "Doesn't look dangerous to me." Deliberately intimidating, perhaps, but not dangerous.

"Every place that Mayor Mills spends a lot of time at is dangerous," Kayla insisted. "She's the one who cursed this town."

"Right. That makes sense."

A few minutes later, Helena dropped Kayla off at the library with Mrs. Gold. She turned to go back the way she came, wondering whether or not she was doing the kid a favor by going along with this whole "curse" thing. Then again, Helena had been Kayla's age when she'd finally fully stopped believing that she and her brother were sent away by their parents in a magical wardrobe to be protected from a witch. Mostly because it was so much nicer than the reality that whoever had given birth to them obviously didn't want them

Helena sighed and looked up at city hall. Suddenly she felt a glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe, a little chat with the mayor would help her get out of town. It was a long shot, but it was one last chance.

It took Aurora fifteen minutes to find the building Henry had described to her. Everything in this world still felt so alien to her it was hard to tell.

"Can I help you?"

"Are you Sheriff Graham?" asked Aurora.

"Yes. You're…Eleanor, right?"

It took Aurora a second to remember this was her Storybrooke name. "Of course. Henry is stuck in the old abandoned mine."

Graham stood up so quickly his chair almost fell over. "What do you mean he's stuck?"

"He, went in and the entrance crumbled."

"Oh, crap," mumbled Graham. His first thought was concern for Henry's safety, but a close second was the fear of what Mayor Mills would do if she discovered the situation. He quietly called the fire department and convinced Aurora to come with him back to the site.

The first thing that Helena noticed about city hall as she ascended the majestic staircase was how disturbingly quiet the place was. Any people who were around must be filed away into their offices behind closed doors. Helena heard no voices, no phones ringing. No anything. When she reached the top of the staircase and saw a sign with an arrow pointing to Mayor Mills's office, she followed that path. The carpet was red plush and nice sculptures and paintings dotted the hallway at six-foot intervals. This building was in every way an extravagance and obviously considerably larger than it needed to be to serve its practical purpose.

When Helena neared the end of the hallway, she finally heard the first sound she'd heard since she got here, the rustling of paper and a soft sigh.

"Hello?" Helena called out softly. "Anyone here?"

"Are you looking for Mayor Mills?"

Helena turned and faced an open office where a woman about her age was sitting at a small mahogany desk. "Yes."

"My mother's not in right now."

Helena stepped closer towards the desk. "When will she be back?"

"I don't know," said the mayor's daughter softly. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Maybe." Helena sat down in a chair facing the desk. "I'm Helena Stable."

The other woman held out her hand to shake. "I'm Virginia Mills."

Helena smiled warmly and firmly took the stranger's hand in hers, looking into the brown eyes that were a mirror image of hers with an odd feeling that this was someone she should definitely get to know.

Inside the mine, Henry remained blissfully unaware that the entrance was sealed as he drew another red chalk dot on the wall to mark his way. He shined his flashlight up and all around him, looking for something, anything.

He turned and reached a path that he could tell was a downward slope. He paused to tie one end of a rope around a stalagmite, giving himself something to hold onto while he walked back up if it became too steep. He carefully made his way down the path. It did become progressively steeper, but not so much that it would be dangerous to walk back up. So at the end of that path, he took another downward-sloping one. And another. At the end of that one, he stopped, having gone as far as he was prepared to go. He froze when he heard a low rumbling noise. Who was that? Had someone come after him?

The noise came again. No. Whatever that was, it wasn't a person.

Henry glanced around the corner and almost screamed when he saw where the noise had come from.

"Holy hell," he muttered to himself. "Is that what I think it is?"

About fifty feet below, he saw the top of a dragon's head.

"This is a surprise," said Virginia Mills as she brushed a lock of her very short dark hair back behind one ear. "My mother doesn't get many visitors. The last time someone came into her office who doesn't work here was..." she gazed thoughtfully. "Not as long as I can remember."

"I hope I'm not bothering you," said Helena apologetically. "I was just hoping you or your mother could help me find a way out of town."

"It's no bother at all," said Virginia sweetly. "I don't get many visitors, either. My mother hasn't let me talk to anyone but her for..." the thoughtful look crossed her face again. "Well, as long as I can remember. But I won't be of much help getting you out of town. I've um...well, I don't leave Storybrooke."

"You don't, or you can't?" Helena pressed gently. "I literally can't find any way in or out of this town other than when my brother and I drove here in his car."

"I'm sorry," said Virginia. "I don't know of any way out of here either. But then again, I've never looked. I've never tried to leave. Actually, I've never even thought about it."

"Do you think it would be nice if you could?" asked Helena.

Virginia shrugged. "I honestly don't know. I can't imagine what my mother would do to me if I ran away."

Helena raised her eyebrows and squeezed the hand Virginia was resting on the desk next to a typewriter. "Virginia, how old are you?"

"Twenty-seven. Why?"

"Leaving your mother when you're twenty-seven isn't running away. It's growing up."

Virginia's eyes lit up as she gazed at Helena as if she were some sort of miracle worker. It seemed like this was something that had never occurred to her before.

Not as long as she could remember, anyway.

"We need something that can punch through the ground," said Graham.

"Explosives," said one of the firefighters.

"No. That's too loud."

"What's going on here?"

Graham turned and saw none other than Mr. Gold walking over with Kayla. Graham pulled out his wallet. "Mr. Gold. How much is it going to take for you to keep our little accident from the mayor?"

"I don't want your money."

Graham was so surprised he nearly dropped the wallet. "You…don't?"

"I want to know how you're going to get that man out of the mine safely."

Graham didn't have time to question Mr. Gold's motives. "We need to blow up the entrance. Can you do something to distract the mayor long enough?"

"Perhaps."

"Hey, what's going on?"

Graham jolted again at the sound of a female voice before his brain registered it was too full of concern to possibly be Cora.

"Ruby, keep your voice down. Henry got himself trapped in the mine."

"Oh my god. Is there anyone in town whose help you need? I can get someone, if you'd like."

"Not at the moment, but I may ask you to run a couple of errands when we figure out how we're going to get him out of there."

"Running errands, huh?" asked Kayla. "I guess that makes sense. You do have a pretty good sense of direction because you're actually a-"

Mr. Gold squeezed his daughter's hand. "Kayla, now's not the time."

"I know what Henry's doing down there, Daddy. He's gathering intel for Operation Zebra."

"Of course he is," said Mr. Gold offhandedly. Then he left to drop Kayla off back at the library on his way to find Mayor Mills.

Henry held his breath as he heard another massive roar out of the dragon and a whoosh as the dragon flapped its wings.

"Oh, hell no," said Henry to himself. "No way am I going near that thing." He gripped the rope and climbed back up the slopes. Once he was at the top, he realized that if he was quiet enough, he could still just make out the dragon's roar.

And about twenty minutes and twelve chalk dots later, he realized the entrance had disappeared.

"So, have you ever thought of talking to someone else in your family about how controlling your mother is?" Helena paused and searched the other woman for signs that she might be offended or uncomfortable, but there were none. She actually seemed happy just to be talking to another human being.

"There is no one else," said Virginia. "I'm an only child, both my parents were only children, and my father…all I remember about him is that he died of a heart attack. I don't remember any of my grandparents either." Helena half-smiled sympathetically. "I'm sorry. This all probably sounds crazy to you."

"Not at all," Helena assured her. "Trust me, I know what that's like, not remembering most of your family." Virginia's eyebrows perked up with interest. Helena hesitated before continuing. "I grew up in foster care. All I ever had was my brother. I don't remember anything about my parents, and he won't tell me."

Virginia visibly cringed sympathetically. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," said Helena. "I was luckier than the other kids. At least I always had someone in my corner. Most of them didn't."

"How much older is he than you?" asked Virginia. "If you don't mind me asking."

"It's okay. He's almost five years older. He was kicked out of the system when he graduated high school. I had to watch him struggle to make it on his own. By the time I was old enough to come live with him, he had a steady job and a two bedroom apartment, plus enough savings to keep us fed while he went to the police academy. What I'm trying to say is that anyone can make it on their own if they try hard enough and find the right tools. And are willing to give up a few luxuries in the process."

Virginia smiled. "I'm afraid my mother wouldn't agree with you on that one. She thinks I'll never be able to handle living without her. But thank you."

Helena just starred at her for a moment. "You know what? Screw her."

Virginia looked startled but not displeased. "What?"

"Screw her," Helena repeated. "No matter where you go, there are going to be people who think they can tell you who you are and what you're capable off. You've just got to punch back and say 'no, this is who I am'."

Virginia didn't say anything for a moment. She looked enthralled and terrified at the same time. "But my mother…if I left…I don't even…"

"What do you think she's going to do?" asked Helena. "Call the police? Put "wanted" ads for you in the paper? She can't make you stay with her." Virginia's eyes widened just a tiny bit larger than they already were. "The only way you're ever going to get away from her is if you turn in your resignation and walk out that door and never look back," said Helena, more softly this time. "Trust me. I learned the hard way that there are no fairy godmothers in this world."

A man who was once a dwarf named Bashful screamed and jumped behind a hedge to avoid walking in Mayor Mills's path, much to her amusement. All her years of intimidation had paid off. Now that something was going on to cause things in the town to change, people were still too afraid to defy her. There was no way that any of them were ever going to go near that mine. The former witch smiled to herself as she ascended the steps of city hall. All these things that had happened in Storybrooke over the past week-with the clock tower moving again, the residents finding more variety in their schedules, and the mine exploding-the mayor couldn't actually say she hated it as much as everyone thought she would. It was making her life interesting.

Just as the mayor placed her hand on the brass door handle to her workplace, she heard a familiar voice calling from the sidewalk, "Oh, Mayor Mills?"

She turned around. "Yes, Mr. Gold?"

"There's something I need to have a word with you about in my shop," said the pawnbroker. "Immediately."

"If it's a private matter, it would be best to discuss it in my office," said the mayor.

"I'll need to take you to my shop to show you what it is," Mr. Gold insisted. "I'm afraid the matter is rather urgent."

Reluctantly, Mayor Mills turned and followed Mr. Gold to the pawn shop.

Ruby sat down on a mound of grass to tie her shoelace as she watched Graham discuss the placement of the explosives with the fire department, feeling a little guilty about just how useless she was right now. Granted the fact that she could do nothing to actually save Henry faster was what would make her invaluable if someone needed to be sent out for something, but…

"Help! Is anybody out there? Hello! Aurora? Graham? Anyone!"

Ruby gasped a little at the faint sound of Henry's voice. She stayed still for a moment and realized she could hear his footsteps, too. She listened carefully and moved in the direction of the sound. She found him about ten feet away from the mine's former entrance.

"Ruby, get away from there," Graham instructed. "We're going to blow this up in a minute and see how much damage we can do to the rocks blocking the entrance."

"You can't put the dynamite HERE!" snapped Ruby. "Henry's right there."

Several heads turned in Ruby's direction. "How do you know where Henry is?" asked Graham.

"I just heard him yelling," she said. "Can't you hear him moving around in there?"

No one else had heard. But because they had absolutely nothing else to go on, they decided to trust her.

"You keep track of where Henry is," Graham instructed. "We'll find somewhere else to punch a hole through the earth that he should be able to come out of when we find it." They already had their supplies at the ready, so hopefully it wouldn't take too long from here.

"So, what exactly is this urgent matter you needed me here for?" asked Mayor Mills as Mr. Gold held the door to his shop open for her.

"I'll show you in a moment, dearie," he said. "Come here." Mr. Gold motioned for Mayor Mills to follow him to the entrance of a tiny dark closet.

"What's in here?" she asked

"Take this in there with you for a moment," replied Mr. Gold. He handed her a small necklace, nudged her into the closet, and shut the door behind her. He felt the doorknob rattle under his grip but he didn't hear any noise coming from the closet, either because the mayor wasn't making any or because it was completely soundproof. He had built it himself when Kayla was a baby so that if the mayor had ever come into the shop while he was watching her, all he had to do was put his daughter in her playpen and close the door. The playpen and all the baby toys had been removed years ago and replaced with shelves that housed some of Belle's books they didn't have room for in the house, but Mr. Gold had kept the room soundproof in case he needed it someday. He hoped that it worked as well as he thought he had when he heard the distant sound of an explosion. He waited thirty seconds and opened the door. The mayor burst out, predictably red-faced and glaring.

"So…does it work?" Mr. Gold asked innocently.

"What was that?" snapped the mayor.

"The bauble, of course. You were supposed to make sure that it glows in the dark."

"It doesn't."

"Oh. I hope it wasn't too uncomfortable in there."

The mayor stormed across the room. "Just tell me what you brought me here to talk to me about in the first place!"

"Oh, yes," muttered Mr. Gold. "You see my porcelain collection over there? One of my figurines has been stolen."

"You…you brought me here to tell me that?" the mayor sputtered like a pot that was about to overflow.

"Yes. You see, it was a figurine of a-"

"I don't want to hear it!" shouted the mayor. "This town has a sheriff's department for a reason!"

Mr. Gold shrugged nonchalantly. "Suit yourself, dearie."

As Mayor Mills turned around to exit the pawn shop, her eyes happened to land on a small porcelain cup that had two matching gold bands inside. They almost looked like real jewelry but not quite.

"Where have I seen those rings before?" she wondered aloud.

"How should I know, dearie?" asked Mr. Gold. "They've been here in my shop for as long as I can remember."

Henry barely had time to thank those involved in his rescue mission before Graham shuffled everyone away from the mine as fast as possible. He insisted that Henry stay long enough to help him quickly remove footprints and any other traces of evidence that people had been near the mine. Hopefully the mayor would just assume that the changes in the mine's condition had happened on their own. By the time Henry and Graham were able to leave the site of the explosion, everyone else had gone back to their regularly scheduled lives, leaving Mayor Mills little to no cause for suspicion. Henry returned to the hotel to get himself a snack. When he got there, Aurora was sitting on the steps.

"Hey," he said.

The former princess looked up. "Are you okay?"

"Of course I'm okay," Henry assured her. "But you're not gonna believe what I saw." He sat down next to her and whispered to her that he had seen a dragon and how large it was. She let out a little gasp.

"Was it…was it kind of purple-ish with dark wings and large shiny claws?"

"Exactly," said Henry. "Don't tell me you've seen it too."

"Of course I've seen her," whispered Aurora. "That was Maleficent. She almost killed me once."

Henry nodded. It was still a little bizarre even for him hearing that the characters he'd grown up with in cartoons were living beings. "If only everyone in Storybrooke could see her, I have a feeling they'd take us a lot more seriously."

"Definitely," Aurora agreed. "Maybe it would even jar their memories."

"I guess now we know why Madam Mayor was so obsessive about people staying away from there, huh?"

"I'll say," Aurora agreed. "That must have been quite the adventure, but at least now we know what she's hiding."

Henry half-smiled. "Yeah. That's something."

Aurora looked up a second later and waved to Philip, who was jogging over from across the street. "I'll see you later, Henry."

"You, too."

Little did either of them know that they had barely uncovered the tip of the iceberg. That the dragon was not the main object that Mayor Mills was concealing, but a precaution meant to destroy anyone who attempted to find it.