Once again; apologies for the long wait! I have been really out of it lately and I'm not sure why, but hopefully I'll be able to come back around to writing a bit more (and posting new chapters) now that OUAT is back on! :)
Also, quick reminder; this is still taking place during the Missing Year. So any meeting with Storybrooke-people here and now is very, very problematic...
"How could he even get there?" Filipi exclaimed. "I thought one of the spells we put on the place would keep people that we cannot interact with away!"
"It's meant to keep Emma away", Ollivander retorted, "and it does. Her son was not something I thought we would have trouble with."
"How could you not add that to your plan?" Toby asked. "That's a vital part of it all!"
"Henry started all of this", Chris agreed. "Well, sort of. He figured out his adoptive mother's secret and brought Emma to Storybrooke to break the Curse, right?"
"Exactly", Clarissa said, nodding. They were certainly ganging up on Ollivander back in Godric's apartment, but seeing Henry had caused them all to panic. The only ones who could be safely seen by him without changing events – at least as far as they were involved – were Laura and Blaire. They were lucky that only Toby had been in the café when he appeared and had managed to hide his face by busying himself with cleaning the unused coffee machines. The boy had been polite and happy, ordering two take-away cups of hot chocolate sprinkled with cinnamon for himself and his mother, Emma Swan. He did not specify where she was, but it was easy for all of them to realize that she could not be far away. Another reason to quickly close up shop once the two siblings also present at the café had been given the cards that they handed to all of the possible apprentices and left.
"We won't know if there's any damage done until we're back in Storybrooke", Ella said, "but this was close. Far too close. We have to close the place; if Henry's able to find it, why shouldn't Emma be able to?"
"Exactly", Clarissa said, "and she needs to see the place as Neal's apartment or we're screwed."
"We've found sixteen people", Rachel agreed, "and many of them might not even want to do this. They've got their own lives. Sixteen is enough."
"Are you saying that because you're the only one without a plausible apprentice?" Tessa inquired.
"I'm pretty sure I'll have my hands full anyway", Rachel replied, "and for all we know several of you might not have that either, in the end. It all depends on what they want."
"I agree", Miranda said. "We'll call the meeting."
Ollivander narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to object when the door behind him suddenly swung open. To everyone's surprise Maryse entered, with Godric in a wheelchair.
"Wait, what?" Arianne said and rose with a frown, looking at her friend. "You said he wouldn't be released for days!"
"Hello to you, too", Godric said with a lopsided grin.
"You're supposed to be in bed", Miranda said, "not being rolled around in a wheelchair."
"How did you get him out?" Jade asked.
"Doctor Clarkson got tired of him being there", Maryse replied with a slight grimace, "and me running around there as well, I suppose. It was stressful for him, so he said Godric could come back here. But he's still not allowed to get up and walk around for at least another week."
Godric groaned.
"I'd prefer the hospital to that."
Then he scanned the room, his eyes surprisingly alert for someone who had been in a severe car accident four days earlier. Then he frowned, not as deeply as he had before, which was most likely due to the injury covered by a bandage on the left side of his head.
"Either I'm seeing double or you've got some new people in the group", he said, "and is there a meeting happening here that we accidentally interrupted?"
"Oh", Laura said, hurrying forward, "I'm Laura and that'd be my sister Blaire."
She pointed at the blonde with the blood-red lipstick.
"We were at the café during your accident and sort of... got involved", Laura continued.
"Good", Godric said, "the more the merrier when it comes to this group. Now, the meeting?"
"We have to close the café", Toby replied, "to avoid possible disturbances in the timeline. We're calling the meeting with the plausible apprentices this weekend."
"Good", Godric replied with a slight nod. Ollivander's eyes widened somewhat, as if he had expected his former apprentice to take his side in the argument. Godric, however, simply shot him a quick look, one of darkness and hurt. Then Maryse wheeled him towards one of the two bedrooms on the ground floor.
Godric and Ollivander avoided each other for the upcoming days, while the rest of the gang closed up the café. In the end it was as if it had never existed and to those who had visited it, well, to them it would become one of those pop-up cafés that sometimes appeared and ran for a short time before being closed up. No one that passed them by on the street while they said goodbye to this brief glimpse of near-normal life appeared to care the slightest about it.
They then moved on to the next stage of their plan; gather the apprentices they had found using the distributed cards. The cards would emit a signal that would make the bearer interested in going to a set location at a set time. It was definitely not magic that should be dabbled in lightly and Ollivander had strongly advised, from the very beginning, that the cards should be one-time-use only. Once the magic had been activated the cards would go back to being just regular cards.
"I've set the time and date", Arianne said. She was in charge of activating the spell, seeing as it fell within the Sorcery subject.
"Saturday, at 10.30am."
The rest of the group nodded.
"That gives us one and a half day more to prepare", Toby said, "which we'll probably need."
"Yeah, seeing that revealing your magic to be and Laura was terribly done", Blaire huffed.
"Will you two be there?" Filipi asked and flopped down into a chair. "At the meeting, I mean."
"Sure", Blaire said.
"I guess", Laura agreed. "It's not like we can just back out now."
"And by that you mean this group, not the 'you have magic as well'-thing?" Wolfgang asked with a small grin. Laura only glared at him in reply.
"Unless anyone's got anything to say about this, I'm activating the spell", Arianne said. No one objected and all it took was a muttered word from the Canadian girl's mouth. Then it was a waiting game.
Saturday came about with rain pouring from the sky. Not that anyone in the group noticed; they were all busy arranging things in the apartment for the meeting, making sure that there were enough seats and that they were placed so that no one would feel singled out or threatened.
"You think they'll all come?" Tessa asked, spying down onto the road far below.
"If the spell worked, they should", Ella replied. Then the elevator dinged and Catriona exited.
"Chris and Rowan are in position", she announced. The boys' job was to pose as hotel clerks and guide the people they were meeting to Godric's elevator, which would only take them up to the apartment and not anywhere else. It was a good thing that Godric had stored several uniforms for his own use; all they needed to do was shrink them down a bit and they fit perfectly.
"It's time", Toby said as the clock neared the designated time. Thus they all seated themselves and waited.
Soon, one by one, the people they had been told would make suitable apprentices started appearing. The brunette who had spent her day at the café reading a book originating from Arendelle. Victor, the Norwegian boy. The young nurse-student, this time without her friends. The aspiring journalist, Imogen. Brandon, the banker and their first found apprentice. Vera, the Scottish girl with weight issues. Nathan and his sister from their last day at the café. June, the bubbly and talkative exchange student. The confident British brunette with chopsticks stuck into her hair. Amber, Chad and Sarah, the ones who had loved the pies they had served.
Last to arrive was Josh. He frowned slightly as he saw them and, unlike the others who stood off to the side, confused about the whole thing, he walked straight up to Indira.
"What's going on?" he asked. "What is this place?"
"We'll explain in a bit", Indira said and squeezed his hand. "Just... please don't..."
"I trust you", he interrupted with a small smile. "If you say this is alright, I have no reason to doubt you."
"If everyone could please take a seat", Toby said. The group of newcomers looked around, uncertain, until the British girl with chopsticks in her hair stepped forward and flopped down onto a chair. She was by far not the oldest of the assembled, but once she had sat down everyone else followed.
"Right", Toby said once everyone of them was seated, "so, I believe you recognize at least some of us."
People nodded, their eyes darting to whoever had been at the café when they had come there.
"Why did you close it?" Sarah asked, blushing slightly as everyone turned around to face her. "I mean, we walked past it on the way here and... it's sad that it's not there anymore."
"We couldn't keep it open forever", Maryse replied. "You'll find out why in a bit."
"Did you experience some economical difficulties?" Brandon asked. "I'm sure I can..."
"No, no, nothing like that", Filipi replied.
"Issues with the law, then?" Amber questioned. "Me and Chad would be happy to help out."
"I can deal with the health issues, if that's the problem", the nurse-student filled in.
"There's no issue with the café", Toby said, his voice rising. "There's no economical problem, nothing about breaking the law and no health issue. We decided to close it for a completely different reason."
"And what's that, then?" Nathan asked.
"It served its purpose", Jade replied. "We found you guys."
Everyone, regardless of their relationship with the young girl, spun to face her.
"What kind of comment is that?" Tessa squeaked. Jade shrugged.
"I just think we should get to the point, without confusing everyone even more. Laura and Blaire have stuck around despite our terrible explanation to them."
"And what explanation is that?" Nathan's sister asked. No one replied; instead everyone of the old friends glared at one another, challenging everyone else to tell the truth.
"Oh, get to the point!"
The annoyed exclaim caused everyone to turn around as Ollivander wheeled out of his bedroom, his silvery eyes gleaming. The newcomers rose, staring at the old man with the wild white hair.
"Jade is right", the old man said, "and you have all decided that it does not matter what these people answer you. Tell them the truth."
"Wait, who are you?" Vera asked.
"My name is Ollivander."
"Yeah, right", Nathan huffed. "What is this, a roleplay event?"
"A what?" Ollivander asked.
"It's not a roleplay event", Indira said. "This is all very, very real."
"So you're telling me that Ollivander's a real person?" Imogen asked, raising a perfect eyebrow at them.
"I am very real, thank you", the old man replied.
"He's real", Rachel said, "as is the majority of the old fairytales."
"What have you been drinking?" Chad asked. "Fairytales are fairytales, not reality."
"That's not true."
Now everyone turned towards the brunette at the back of the room, the woman who had appeared at the café with an old book in her arms. She now glanced around, drew a deep breath and opened her mouth.
"They're real. I have proof."
Next chapter will be up tonight!