The guards take us down, down even farther into the Casino and we can see the people milling about at tables and slot machine type areas, and there might as well be drool dripping from their mouths, as zombie like as they are. They're just playing the games, hoping to win big, but the house always wins. How can it not when a tyrant is in charge of the Casino?
People don't even look up as the guards drag us past, Pillar, awake but limp without his heart, me in my leather and skin and you in your black cloak, struggling and cursing the entire way. This must be an everyday occurrence, someone refusing to go on the Circuit, someone losing at a high stakes game, someone standing up to the Queen's laws. No one cares what's happening to us. No one even knows who we are. We're dragged past the tables and towards the back of the castle, towards a set of doors that leads to who knows where.
The rage in your eyes when I look over at you is close to bubbling over. I know exactly how much you want to light this entire place on fire. But several yards before they drag us through the back double doors, I see a bunch of knaves questioning someone, surrounding him.
It's O'Hare.
He looks our way, eyes roving at all the noise we're making and his eyes widen at the sight of us. He didn't think it would go this way, probably. But the knaves continue to yell at him and he simply smiles that crazy smile and says something we can't hear, inclines his head towards us and the knaves stop their questioning and back off.
Whatever he said, it got him out of trouble. Could he have also alerted the Red Queen of our presence here? Who can we trust? Shit. You're watching him too, and then we're into the double doors and heading down a hallway that slopes into the earth. It's becoming more and more dank and damp and the modern tiles and wood are replaced with stones and water dripping and moss and smells that are pretty gross.
The stones lead us to a set of spiraling stairs that go down farther and farther into the earth, or the mountain side. Wherever the hell we are. It feels small down here, claustrophobic. Like the ground and walls are going to collapse in on us. We go even lower, and to what exactly I have no idea. More cells? More torture chambers? The other side of the world? But eventually, the guards toss Pillar inside one door, lock it and then open up a different door and it takes us through to a cell block.
You're thrown into one of the cells and I'm tossed in across from you. Actually tossed. I land on my ribs and hip and the breath is knocked clear out of me. I can hear you muttering something about murdering these soldiers with your bare hands as soon as you can access your magic. They just laugh and lock the cell doors, swinging their keys and leaving the way they came, back through the door down the hall, which they lock and either go up or down the stairs, I can't tell. But wherever they went, they've left us alone. So this place must be pretty secure.
"Regina," I whisper into the dimly lit gloom outside my cell. There's a single glowing light in each cell, powered by diamonds or people's souls, I dunno which. I can hear you shuffle closer to the bars, and I can just make out the outline of your features. If they had just put us closer together, we could have figured a way out of this. "You okay?"
"I'm fine," you say. But you don't sound fine. This was not the way this was supposed to happen. We needed to beat the Red Queen quickly, get Glinda and Zelena to go back with us to the Enchanted Forest and save our son before the sun sets tomorrow. But I don't know if that's going to happen now.
"What are we gonna do?" I ask, because sometimes you have a plan, or an idea, or at least you know some spells that might could help us out of here.
"I don't know. They took my bag, and yours was with Pillar."
I cut you off. "Pillar. I can't believe him. And O'Hare, did you see him talking with the knaves?"
"Yes, I did. Do you think he's another spy?"
"Probably. We should have been more careful about who we trusted, I guess."
"She ripped his heart out," you say, your voice cold and distant. I can only imagine what's going through your mind. Still fresh memories of Cora? Reminders of what you'd done with hearts during your reign? Even recently? Regret that no matter how much you tried not to slide down that slope, you ended up being far too similar to your mother than you'd ever intended.
"Regina," I say, but it's just instinct to try and console and support. I don't actually know what to say.
"What?" You snap, and it startles me. It's been a while since you used that biting tone with me. "Am I supposed to feel better that it's not me? That I'm not the one ripping out hearts anymore? Well, I don't feel better. I should have been able to stop her."
Oh. "It's my fault, Regina," I say quietly. "I should have warned you that she was ready for you."
"It's not your fault," you say angrily. "I hesitated. When I saw you tied up on the bed, I panicked. I froze. And now we're stuck here and time is running out and Pillar doesn't have a heart."
And I can see that you're angrier with yourself than anything. Being in love with someone and having to worry about keeping them safe will do that to a person.
"Well, maybe he doesn't deserve to have a heart after betraying us," I say, even though I don't mean it. Not having a heart is a horrible thing. "What I don't get still is why she would punish him for being on her side? Even if he was a traitor, he'd shown his loyalty. It doesn't make sense to me."
"I agree. She's the kind of ruler who would normally reward that kind of behavior. And I wonder why Pillar was so adamant about me having this cake and potion," you say, and I can hear you rummaging around in your pockets. I can hear the rustle of your clothing as you search for them. It's probably not easy with your hands shackled together.
"They didn't say what it was for though?"
"No, but perhaps it could be useful."
"Regina, no, it's probably poison. He's the traitor and there's no way anything good will happen if you eat it."
There's silence from your cell. Yelling from you is bad. Fireballs are bad. Vines and purple smoke and flashing dark eyes are bad. But silence is the worst.
"Regina?"
But all I get in response is a muffled gurgle and on my end, here it comes - panic. Damn you. Why would you do that? An all I can hear is more silence. More silence and a roaring in my ears. You're probably lying on the filthy floor of this dungeon, dying a painful death from poisoning and I'm stuck over here with no way out and there's nothing I can do about it.
"Regina, answer me. Please. Please say something!"
More panic.
"HELP!" I yell, hoping someone will hear and do something. At least maybe I can get someone's attention and they'll pop their head in. It's fruitless I know, but I have to try. "SOMEBODY HELP!" But there's nothing. No one is listening. Or no one cares. There's nothing I can do.
Or is there?
I grip the bars, arms flexing, palms tightening around the iron, rubbing against my callouses. My magic is somewhere in there . . . somewhere. I just have to access it. And I can feel it. Somewhere in there - deep in my tissues and tendons and cells - it tingles. But I can also feel that it's not enough. The combination of these cuffs and being out of range from your touch is too much to overcome.
A gasp rips itself from my lungs at the exertion, sending me to the floor. Shit.
Anger: that's all I can feel. My desperation has morphed into helpless anger and there's nothing I can do. These fucking bars won't even rattle when I shake them! My hands fall uselessly into my lap and then tumble to the gritty stone beneath me.
Unbidden, here come the tears, as usual when I'm frustrated and emotional. My head rests gently against the bars and I have to resist the urge to slam it repeatedly against the metal. That won't help anybody. Especially not you. If you're even still alive that is.
And it's right about then that I feel a tickling at my wrists and a tapping at my legs. My bare legs mind you because I'm still in that skimpy little leather number. And there's a strange glow warming my skin. Great, I think, eyes still closed and imagining the worst. Now I probably have talking bugs crawling over me and they're just caught me on fire. But then there's a click and another glow, this one bigger and more electric, and it . . the air fills with the smell of something familiar. Your magic.
It smells and tastes like your magic. Our magic.
My eyes fly open.
Six impossible things before breakfast is an understatement. There you are, tiny little Regina, Barbie-doll size, pulling ineffectively at my cuffs. Holy shit. You are fucking tiny.
"Emma, you're going to have to help break your shackles using your magic. Mine isn't powerful enough by itself," you say in a small, squeaky voice. You don't look up at me, but if you did I'm sure you would see my eyes as wide as dinner plates.
"Okay," I lick my lips nervously because my magic is suppressed and it didn't work just then when I was desperate and needy, and I'm not sure it will work now. But you're here. You're okay, and you're going to help me. "What do I do?"
"Just focus on the metal. Let your mind slip inside the bonds that hold them together. Channel your energy into the bonds. See them breaking in your mind. You are fully capable of doing this."
"Okay," I say uncertainly, because little stuff like this, stuff that requires me to focus and meditate and be calm and still and quiet is not my strong suit. I was that kid in school who got in trouble every day for being unable to sit still and focus and complete an assignment in one go. But right now I can do it. I have to do it. With you, I can do it.
I can feel your skin contacting mine, like a butterfly landing on my skin. Okay, now or never. I close my eyes, forcing my mind to concentrate on the metal, the magic winding its way through the cracks and crevices, wedging through the very atoms and prying them apart, creating space between their particles, seeing it glow white hot and break free in my mind's eye. I focus on it, focus on it, willing it with all I have to happen, and then my hands start burning and a white flash arcs across my closed eyes. I open them and stare down in astonishment. My shackles bounce free.
I did it. You're still small though. I don't want you to be GI Joe size forever. But with your potion, you don't stay like that for long. It doesn't matter though. I'll never forget what you looked like as a miniature action figure. A glug of the liquid, another moment and a grunt and there you sit, fully regrown to your normal size but now in my cell, right before my eyes and squished up next to the steel bars with me, wiping your mouth of the potion with one hand and running a hand over my cheek with the other. And we're both unshackled.
You give my cheek a delicate little pat, which really isn't so delicate, and smirk at me, eyes twinkling as they do when you're right and I'm wrong.
"Well, dear, it wasn't poison, was it?"
I have to close my eyes, take a deep breath. I thought you were dead, dying, something horrible was happening and I couldn't help you. I felt helpless. And now you're rubbing in my face that you were right all along.
"Damn it, Regina!" I say angrily, unable to tamp down my emotions.
"What?" you frown.
"You couldn't have known whether Pillar was on our side or not. You couldn't have known what that potion was gonna do to you. I thought something bad happened over there and I was stuck in here with no way to help!" My voice breaks at the end of my rant, but it's not my fault. You scared me. "I don't want to lose you," I finish softly.
Your hand comes back to my cheek, softer now, caressing it, followed by your other hand. I look up into your eyes, and they're softer too. "I'm sorry, Emma. I am. But I felt desperate. We needed a way out of here and that seemed like our last and best hope before the Red Queen came to get us for execution."
I nod. You're right, of course. But that doesn't change the fact that you did something crazy reckless. "Okay, then we won't waste any more time," I say, pushing myself to my feet, flexing my now-freed wrists and feeling what minimal magic I have here course back through my skin. "Where to next?"
You stand with me, dusting yourself off. Queenly, as usual. "We need to find Alice and get back to Glinda."
Right. More magic is coming up I'm betting.
"Let's break out of this, shall we?" you say with a smile and take my hand. The surge is as heady as usual, addictive, and another spark flies through the air to the cell door, shooting through the lock and slamming the door open.
We move past the room they tossed Pillar into, thinking we can come back to him later and try farther down the stairs. Down and down we go, and I'm starting to get dizzy, passing all the doors and winding down the stairs. We pass another group of doors, no different than the rest, at first. But then, just as we pass it, a strange glimmer appears, almost nonexistent, but I can still sense it. Magic. I stop abruptly and you slam into my back, spluttering noisily.
"What the hell, Emma?" you demand and I hold my hand out, pointing towards the door.
You move closer to it, examining it and holding your own hands out. "There's strong magic here. Or was," you say quietly, glancing back at me with an impressed expression. I rarely get that from you. What a day! "Well done for noticing it."
"Thanks," I say, stepping up behind you. "You think the Red Queen might have stashed Alice in here?"
"Maybe. That could explain the slightly hidden door and magic fields. And not even a good one. If there's one thing I'm superior to the Red Queen at, it's cloaking spells," you say haughtily, grabbing my arm and waving a hand at the lock. It springs open, followed by the door. We move forward into the semi-darkness, the only light coming from a single torch casting its yellow glow from the middle of the room. The room itself seems empty except for a barred cell at the far end cloaked in pitch black emptiness.
"Alice?" I whisper, sort of afraid something is going to pop out and try to eat me. Zombies will do that to a person.
"Hello? Who is it?" I jump about a foot in the air as a voice from the only cell in the room echoes across the stones. A familiar voice. Not Alice's voice, though.
"It's Regina and Emma. Who's there?" you say into the darkness and I'm not sure how smart it is to give our names away so soon, but anyway, I tiptoe towards the cell, trying to peer inside. But it's much too dark. And we need to be careful. This could be another trap.
"I am Glinda, the White Witch of the North, formerously of the Uplands in Oz and presentously the White Queen of Wonderland," the voice says and I tilt my head to the side, open my mouth in confusion.
"They caught you? How?" Both of us speak at the same time. This day just keeps getting worse and worse. "I thought you were supposed to be setting an ambush for the Red Queen?"
Glinda harrumphs from inside the cell, moving towards our voices. "I do not know what either of you are talking about, but one of your names is familiarous to me. Regina. As in . . . Cora's daughter, Regina?"
"Wait a second," I say, meeting the darkened shadow of your face. "You don't know us? We just talked to you, you brought us to the Casino. We stayed in your castle."
"The Red Queen could have performed a memory spell on her," you say to me.
"No, that was not me," Glinda says, and I can just make out the outline of her silhouette. No details, though. If it really is Glinda. "And my memory is just fine, thank you kindly. Alas, I wonderated what she had been doing in my absence. Now I know. But I certainly did not think it would be this disastrifous."
"What the hell are you talking about?" you demand, because the voice is the same but the tone is different, more desolate, not as sassy, but still somehow a beacon of hope, even if she doesn't mean for it to be. It's different than it was before. And those words.
"Anastasia, the Red Queen, her forces capturated me around a month ago as I was out riding near the old Animal Village. The knaves discoverated me. I have been locked in here ever since. Whoever you met with in my castle would have to be the Red Queen disguisified as me, and with my wand. She has more magic now, thanks to that, you know."
No. That can't be. A month? But we met Glinda. And we met the Red Queen too. They're different people, right? Right?
Well, that's the first we've heard her name anyway. Anastasia. But there's no way the Red Queen pulled one over on us like that. And Alice and Pillar and Ches and fucking everyone. No way.
"Yes, we've experienced her magic," you say and my thoughts fly back to what you're thinking of, me tied to that bed and you helpless and shackled at a wave of the Red Queen's wand and Pillar's heart leaving his chest. It's not easy being in a different land where your powers don't work as well. You might be ahead of me in the logical turn of events department. "So it was her the whole time. That's how she knew the exact plan. It was her plan."
"She could have had help," Glinda adds. "It is difficult to know whose side anyone is on."
She's right about that. And anyway how do we know she's not some looney toon nobody who's been locked down here for ages and is just pulling our legs?
"Meaning Pillar?" You ask.
"Perhaps, although I doubt he is traitoriforous. He has been loyal to the Resistance from the beginning."
"But the Red Queen could have bought his loyalty completely with drugs, and besides, the Queen has taken his heart and locked him up," you argue.
"Perhaps he could be on her side. Although it seems she would rather have him locked up than use him for her henchman duties. That tells me he is not on her side. By the way, how is Alice?" new Glinda asks, her voice drawn and tired. Okay then, maybe she's not pulling our legs. She does sound nutty though; and seriously, what the hell is with her words?
"Alice," I say slowly, because if this Glinda's been in here for a month, then some other things make sense. No wonder Ches said the other Glinda had been acting weird, and no wonder Zelena thought something was up when they first reunited. Jesus. Of course they would know something was wrong about the whole situation. And we just ignored them. I even ignored my own instincts. I knew there was something familiar about the Red Queen, the way she watched me hungrily, as fake Glinda and as Anastasia both.
You answer for the both of us. "Alice was captured last night, and that is why we're here trying to storm the castle and get her back."
"Captured?" Glinda gasps, and I can hear the heartbreak in her voice. Well, now it sounds like this could be the real Glinda, but how can we be sure?
"Yes, captured. And now that we know there's been double crossing on both sides, can you prove to us that you're on our side and that you're really Glinda?" I ask because I really don't want to get blindsided again. This is getting to be too much. After the zombies and the pirate and the magical woman and getting my memories back then traveling by boat and being transported by silver slippers which is pretty much Floo Powder and magical sleeping apples and sand clocks and then all of this Wonderland bullshit, this is really getting to be too much.
"Of course," new Glinda says, and I can hear her rustling around, probably shuffling closer to the bars. "What can I do to make you believe me?"
Good thing you're here. The brains of the operation, the calculating logic. I'm all guts and instinct. Not so good with the chess games.
"The other Glinda seemed to know who Zelena was, but ultimately wanted nothing to do with her," you say slowly. "Only the real Glinda would know about Zelena's back story, about her real family and how she discovered her magic."
A deep breath from the next cell. "Zelena is here?" Her voice breaks at the last word and I can hear a slipping of shoes and a thwump as something hits the floor.
"Yes," you say, almost impatiently. I know you're trying to hold back, but we've been through this with the other Glinda and our time is running low. "She brought us with her from the Enchanted Forest to search for you. Now tell us about her so we can believe you."
But we have to wait, because there's sobbing from inside the cell. I guess when you've lost your lover for thirty years, you can have a little bit of time to cry about finally getting the chance to see her again.
Eventually Glinda catches her breath and there's more rustling. Maybe she's standing back up. "Zelena and I met at school. She was green, and unpopular and bookish and always getting into fights with students who picked on her. Especially me. I was the exactly opposite of her: wildly companionable and stylish and knowledgeable about everything important to do with politics and social situations. But eventualishly we found common ground when the Animals started to lose their rights and their voices. And somehow we fell in love."
There's a pause, where Glinda must be thinking about that time. She goes on. "Even when Rumpelstiltskin showed up, flipped her life upside down and showed her other worlds and powerful objects, I knew deep down she was still good, still adamant about fighting for Animal rights and unitifying the four Ozian territories. But Zelena said it was you who changed her, Regina. You and Rumpelstiltskin's other child, Baelfire. She couldn't stand the thought that you two had her parents' love and affection while she had been dumped, unwanted in Oz.
"And that Rumpelstiltskin chose you to enactify the Dark Curse, it tore Zelena up. I cannot for the life of me figure out why, because enactifying the curse would have been terrible for Zelena. But still, not being chosen meant Rumple wanting to take back his gifts and favors and aid, and that meant bad things pertaining to power and who deserved to have most of it between the Wizard and Zelena and me. And then the curse hit, the cyclone came, and I was gone."
"Well," you say thoughtfully. "That's remarkably close to the story Zelena showed me. I suppose it's just not likely the Red Queen could have known all of that."
"And now, what about Alice?"
"We've brought a small army to win her back, and we're going to free you as well and defeat the Red Queen."
"A small army, you say? Is Ches leadifying it?"
"Yes, Ches seems to know quite a bit about military strategies."
"Good. But I still do not understand why you are here, Regina, and . . I do apologize, what did you say your name was?"
"I'm Emma."
"Emma, a lovely name. Yes, why are you here helpifying our cause? And Regina, however did you manage to escape Cora? She left this place to find you."
I want to let out a derisive snort, but it's still a sore subject. Cora dying, you being torn up about whether or not that was for the best, which it was in my opinion. I'm sorry, Regina but she wasn't good for you. She was an evil lady who forced you into some really bad situations in your life. I hate for you to have gone through that, but I really do think it was for the best that she's gone. You know that already though, I'm pretty sure.
"That's a long story we can discuss later," you say, and that's the understatement of the year, but you go on. "But like you mentioned already, I cast the curse for the Dark One."
"Yes," Glinda says. "Zelena saw it all in her looking glass."
"Right. But were you aware that Zelena went searching for you when my curse's after effects took you away?"
"She did?" Glinda asks. Everything we say about Zelena seems to leave her breathless. She continues, answering her own question. "Yes, of course she did, but she never came to Wonderland: why is that? In thirty years, why didn't she travel here to find me?"
My chest expands as I breathe deeply. I thought we had already gotten through this before, but it turns out all that was a fake. "She did look. All over Oz and then the Enchanted Forest and got stuck there without strong enough magic to get out while we were all in the Land without Magic."
"What?" Glinda asks, but there's so much to explain and maybe Zelena can do a better job than we can.
"What matters is that she looked for you. But when I showed back up to the Enchanted Forest after another curse brought us back almost a year ago, she confronted me about the effects of my curse and then tricked me into helping her find you."
"Tricked you?" A pause, and Glinda contemplates her blinding love. "Yes, she can be headstrong and ruthless sometimes in her methods."
"Ruthless, yes. She sent a pack of infectious undead into the Land without Magic where Emma and our son were living without memory of any of their previous lives, and those undead killed or infected thousands of the inhabitants there. When I heard about what she'd done, I had to go back and see if my son had made it. And Emma."
I smile at you through the dark but I doubt you can see it. Glinda continues to listen quietly. "Zelena put a sleeping curse on Snow White and Prince Charming, Emma's parents, and said the only person who could save them was Emma. So I had to restore Emma's memory and bring her back to try and revive them before their time ran out."
"You came back and tried to wake them from the sleeping curse, and then what happened?" Glinda asked, but her tone is knowing.
"It didn't work," I say. "Whatever curse she put on them needed a different kind of antidote. And then she cursed Henry too for good measure, made him take a bite of an apple and it put him to sleep. Said that the real antidote was within you."
A sigh from inside the dark cell and I can hear a small thud. Maybe her head hitting the bars. "She is right. I am the only antidote. It was a spell from her Grimmerie, was it not?"
"Her spell book?" you ask and Glinda says yes.
"It's a very particular brand of sleeping spell that is cast using True Love magic, but not the sort that your worlds are used to. No, this sort needs the True Love of the person who cast it in order to break the curse."
"Complicates things, doesn't it?" you say and Glinda lets out a derisive laugh.
"She did all of that just to force you to help find me?"
"I think she felt trapped, cornered, and very alone," you say.
"Probably desperate too," I add, because why else would someone who was previously a pretty good person, just trying to fight for what's right in their world and keep things from spiraling into chaos, resort to such extreme tactics just to get people to help her? Maybe she went a little crazy.
"She also mentioned something about another antidote to the undead infection in the Land without Magic."
I can hear a clucking noise, not quite chicken-like, but almost, from the next cell. She must be thinking. "It might be possible. The dead were revived using their hearts, I presume?" Glinda asks.
"Yes, an old trick of my mother's."
"I know," Glinda mutters, almost to herself more than anything. "She taught Anastasia many of her tricks before leaving for the Enchanted Forest."
A pause, full of everyone thinking of Cora and what she'd done to all these worlds. At least that's what I'm thinking about. "It is possible. But its synthesis would require a few rare ingredients and quite a bit of powerful magic. It will also be exceedingly dangerous. Even our combined magic might not be enough."
"We've got plenty of combined magic though," I say. "Regina, me to an extent, Rumple, Zelena, you, " I take a breath. "And not to mention the Dark One is pretty much the hoarder of all things that are rare magical ingredients.
"Then it might be possible," Glinda says. "Which is a good thing because otherwise I will have to stranglify that Zelena with my bare hands," Glinda grits through her teeth. She might be joking, it's hard to tell, but I'd imagine she's angry with Zelena. Thousands of people have died and many more are suffering because of her. We all are angry with her.
"Okay, then" I say brightly because things are looking up just a little bit. Except for the fact that the real Glinda is definitely still inside that jail cell and we have no idea what's happening with the rest of our crew. Or Alice. It could be getting close to execution time. And that is supposed to mean our execution. Shit, I forgot about that.
If she catches us again, the fucking Red Queen could kill you and Alice in front of me and I would have to watch and then she would take me and have her evil way with me. We gotta get out of here, and now.
We give Glinda's cell door the same treatment we gave ours. Glinda glides forward from the small, dank space and wow, she really doesn't look anything like the other Glinda. Aside from the same almost translucently pale skin, this one is malnourished and dirty and not at all like Glinda the Good Witch from the movies and books. But really it's me getting the up and down look of judgement from her.
Strange.
"Goodness!" she says in her high pitched voice, eyes widening in alarm at my body. "Were you on the Circuit, you poor woman?"
I look down at myself and shrug, past the point of wanting to cover myself. "It was part of the other Glinda's plan. Sent directly to the Red Queen."
An almost comical gasp. "I would never! She must have had you picked out from the beginning."
Yeah I guess she did. A blush creeps over my neck and face and I'm glad for the dim light. I can just feel you rolling your eyes next to me, and then you squeeze my hand for added power as you wave me through a cloud of purple smoke, restoring my regular clothes and sword and bag as well as your own. You look over at Glinda and raise an eyebrow, silently asking if she wants the same treatment.
A quick nod and those bright blue eyes flutter closed. "Yes, please!"
One more wave of purple smoke and Glinda is given leather breeches and a shimmering blue shirt.
"Ah, Glinda-fied," Glinda says giving herself a little once over, even though she can barely see the colors. At least she's clean again, probably for the first time in a month. What an interesting woman.
"Now, let's go find Alice and then get your wand back. We can find Pillar later," I say, looking at the door and wondering where to start. "There's gotta be another jail cell down here or . . I dunno, where else would they keep Alice?" I ask you and Glinda.
"We didn't pass any other doors on our way down here. It's either in a different part of the castle or farther down," you say.
"Farther down, I think is the best option," Glinda says. "The Red Queen might keep more dangerible prisoners deeper underground."
"Okay, then let's go," I nod. Even though, damn it, we're pretty dangerible too. Damn her. Dangerous. But Alice would probably kill someone with her bare hands, no questions asked. But just as we make it to the door and begin to magic our way through it, it slams back open towards us. We jump back in alarm.
And look who it is.
A/N - I love cliffhangers, don't you?
