CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
...on the cold nights...
Hyperion Heights
With every hour that passed, Melody found it more and more difficult to concentrate. The return of Regina and Zelena only made her feel a bit better, less alone but just as powerless. Gothel had the only magic around. Melody hated it.
As Manager on Duty for the morning shift, Melody found herself standing behind an empty bar, polishing glasses with nothing better to do. Only three customers were in the bar, a group of young women who just needed some lunch, no drinks and no entertainment.
Even the wait staff looked bored. Marie and Emile stood at an empty high table playing tic-tac-toe on a napkin. Melody didn't even know where Melvin had gone off too, maybe the kitchen to wash dishes? She sighed, taking a sip of the peach iced tea that Marie had brought back from Mr. Cluck's on her break.
The problem with the quiet bar wasn't so much the slowness itself, but the fact that in the calm, fear crept in. It tore at her heart like a hand with claws, cold and forceful. She hadn't heard from Regina or Zelena since they'd chatted in the early morning before dawn. Melody glanced at the clock on the wall.
The minute hand moved too slow and the second hand too fast. She couldn't stop her leg from shaking. With a deep breath, she leaned herself against the bar and tried to calm down. It wouldn't help anyone to stress while she could do absolutely nothing.
But the hours passed at a snail's pace. Customers came, customers went. Melody poured sodas and iced teas. She made small talk with lonely patrons, wringing her clammy hands together behind the bar until they hurt.
"What have you done to my bar?"
Zelena's unmistakable voice rang out through the bar. From the keg room, Melody couldn't see them but she figured Regina had come too. She hurried back out front to find the two women arguing by the bar. Her chest pounded as she moved over to them.
"Any news?" she asked.
Zelena just shook her head. "Alright, settle this once and for all. The old bar: a dump? Or a dive."
Melody scoffed. "Do not bring me into this sibling rivalry." Rounding the bar, she went to stand behind it. She glanced at Regina. "So?"
"Gothel wants the Resurrection Amulet," Regina said, lowering her voice. "Can you hold down the fort up here while we look around?"
"She thinks it's here?"
Zelena nodded. "It's the only thing that makes any sense. She wants me to bring it to her tonight."
"You can't," Melody insisted.
Zelena just rolled her eyes. "Calm down, Muse. I'm not stupid. That witch is the idiot if she really thinks she can get me to turn over that thing to her, after what she pulled."
Melody nodded. She released the fist she'd made, trying to relax. Regina and Zelena both knew the power of the amulet. Zelena had almost lost her life, and her daughter's, to it. "Right. You two look. I'll stay up here."
They split, heading into different parts of the bar. Left to her own devices, Melody tried to practice her breathing. In and out, slow, steady. She needed to calm down. But she couldn't shake the foreboding in her heart. It sent shivers down her spine.
Melody pulled out her cellphone. A few messages had come in from Sabine and Henry, a common occurrence. Both tried to keep her up to date with how Lucy was doing. She kept scrolling. She had one from Rogers. Her thumb hovered over the notification.
It had been so much simpler before she'd regained her memories. Rogers was just a man that made her heart skip a beat, someone who shared her pain and made her feel alive, more than anything she'd felt in years. Now, he was a ghost. She wanted to make him remember the days they'd fought side by side with Henry and Jack, climbing beanstalks and running from dragons. The days when they'd searched the realm for a cure for his heart, when she saw just what Killian Jones had always meant when he said he was a survivor.
She loved him. As Melody poured herself a drink of something a little stronger than iced tea, she tried to ignore the shaking of her hand. She loved him, while Rogers only knew her as Melody the waitress and street performer. She downed the shot. Doing shots of whiskey at two in the afternoon rarely boded well for the day. But then, she already felt doom coming.
"Hey, Melody." Regina came back out into the main bar, shaking her head. She put her hands in her pockets. "Shut down the bar. We need to tear it apart for this amulet. Zelena and I will be in the back."
Melody nodded. She figured that was coming. As Regina disappeared again, walking through their courtyard seating area, she tried to come up with a plausible story. After downing her last bit of alcohol, she went around the front of the bar. There were six patrons. They could afford that sales loss, especially if it meant getting to the Resurrection Amulet first.
"Excuse me! Hey, sorry all," Melody said, raising her voice. "We're having an issue with the water in here. I'm going to have to ask everyone to leave. Your food and drink are on the house. Sorry for the inconvenience."
Despite some grumbles and put-out glances, the customers left in an orderly fashion. Just as she went to lock the door, the last of them out, someone pushed it open. Not someone. Melody glared. Victoria Belfrey.
"You're not welcome here, Victoria," Melody said.
"Oh but I think that I am." The woman reached into her purse. Moments later, Melody found a gun pointed at her chest. "Now. Let me in, then close the door. That's a good girl."
Melody raised her hands. She hated it, feeling powerless. It made her blood boil. But as Belfrey pushed the gun closer to her chest, she did as asked, closing the store door and locking it up. Belfrey took the key and slipped it into her black coat pocket.
With the gun mere inches from her chest, Melody backed her way through the bar. She said nothing. Instead, she just glared at Belfrey, hoping the disgust would damage the woman in some way. Melody knew it wouldn't, but she could dream.
A crash and shattered glass sounded through the bar. Melody just stared into Victoria Belfrey's dark eyes. The woman continued to back her at gunpoint through the bar until she entered the keg room. Regina and Zelena stopped talking.
Belfrey gestured with the gun for Melody to move towards them. She did so. Belfrey pointed her gun at Regina. "That's your problem, Regina. Always wanting everything your way, but never willing to pay the price."
"Actually, I think this is the worst case," Zelena said.
Regina glanced at Melody. "You alright?" When she nodded, Regina turned back to Belfrey. "You. You did this. How could you hurt that child?"
At the thought of Lucy lying in the hospital bed filled her mind again, Melody just shook her head. She balled her fists. Stepping forward, Belfrey raised the gun again, and Melody stopped moving.
"'Cause I was desperate to save my own." Belfrey pointed to Regina again. "Surely, you of all people would understand that. You cast a curse just to save your son. And yet, you're absolved. Regina, Evil Queen, does a dark thing for a good reason and everyone forgave you."
"Because I'm not a monster."
At the accusation, Victoria Belfrey straightened up. "Neither am I. And when I turn that Amulet over to Gothel, and she wakes Lucy, everyone will know it." She raised the gun again, pointing it straight at Regina's chest. "Hand it over."
"Don't do this, Victoria," Regina said. "The cost of using that thing is too high."
As the amulet changed hands, Melody tried to think of a way to disarm Belfrey. She had the gun, and had cut off their only escape route. Nothing nearby could work as a weapon. They had the numbers, three to one, but someone would get hurt. Melody balled her hands into fists.
"You know as well as I that when it comes to our children, there is no such thing."
Belfrey shut the keg room door with a definitive click. For several tense moments, none of them spoke. Regina walked a few paces forward and stared at the closed door. But Melody just glanced around the room, searching for something, anything. A way to escape or lockpicks, something.
"Well that went well," Zelena said. She looked around the room as well, shaking her head. "Never thought I'd be locked in my own damn bar by Rapunzel."
Melody scoffed. She joined Regina at the keg room door. It didn't take long for them to realize the door had locked tight, and nothing would budge it. Just as Melody was about to scream in frustration, Zelena moved over to her.
"Is that a bobby pin?"
She reached up and grabbed the pin in Melody's hair. With a sharp protest, Melody jerked back in surprise. "Watch it!"
Zelena rolled her eyes. "I can pick the lock if you hand it over."
"You could try asking."
"Both of you, calm down," Regina said.
Melody pulled the bobby pin out of her hair and placed in Zelena's hand. As the woman joined her sister at the door, Melody just pulled out her cellphone. She had one missed call. To her surprise, it had been Weaver. She pulled up her texts.
"You called? Belfrey has the Resurrection Amulet, and she locked us in the bar."
It took several minutes of frustrated complaining from Zelena, but eventually, the door popped open. She gave a little cheer. Wasting no time, all three women hurried out into the main bar.
"We need to go check on Lucy, and on Henry," Regina said. She gathered her coat and purse. "You coming?"
Melody shook her head. "I'll be there later. There's something else I want to check on first."
"If you're tracking down Nook, I'm sure he's fine on his own," Zelena said.
It took all her strength to ignore Zelena's prodding. But she did, pulling on her brown coat and leaving the two women to lock up the bar. Once she stood out on the streets, she took a deep breath. The sun had started to set.
Her phone buzzed. Weaver had sent her a set of coordinates. At least after working together for years in Hyperion Heights and decades before that in the New Enchanted Forest, he knew her well enough to not even try leaving her out of things. It didn't take long for her to order a Swyft ride and soon, she was off to one of the local botanical garden greenhouses.
What she hoped to accomplish, Melody didn't really know. She had no weapons, no magic. All she had was her determination to help. By the time the Swyft pulled up by the botanical gardens, night had fallen. Melody hopped out of the car and slammed the door shut. The greenhouse wasn't far inside.
She found Weaver's cop car by the entrance of the gardens. It sat empty, eerie in the darkness by the massive iron gates. Melody paused. She looked through the bars. She could see the greenhouse, well lit in the darkness.
Melody took a deep breath. Her hands shook as she pushed open the unlocked gates. Even without her magic, she could feel it. A great power had been expelled. It sent shivers down her spine, tingling through her body like pinpricks of electricity. She moved through the darkness.
When she opened the glass door, she stopped in her tracks. Through the flowers and greenery of the arboretum, her gaze fell on a pentagram circle. Candles, a foot tall each at least, had been set on the points of the star. In the center lay a body, and at the head, Ivy Beflrey. Drizella. Weaver and Rogers crouched near her, talking softly. Melody's heart dropped. As much as she hated Drizella, the lost look in the young woman's eyes moved her to pity.
Rogers and Weaver moved off. The latter noticed her first, straightening up and giving her a tiny shake of his head. When Rogers followed his gaze to her, he frowned. Melody joined them, eyes not leaving the body of Victoria Belfrey until she stood side by side with the two detectives.
"What the bloody hell are you doing here?" Rogers demanded.
Melody glanced at him, then at Weaver. He answered for her. "She has experience with the cult."
"They tried to recruit me once, a long time ago," Melody added. She shook her head, closing her eyes for a moment. Those witches had wanted her magic. Though she'd declined, the invitation had damaged her life for many years. She turned to Rogers. "Weaver told me they were back."
He didn't seem satisfied, but he moved on. "Someone needs to stay with Ivy," Rogers said. He turned to Melody. "I know you two aren't exactly friends, but."
Melody nodded. "I'll talk to her."
As Rogers pulled out his phone, she and Weaver moved back over to Drizella. The woman stared at the face of her dead mother. She didn't move from her knees on the floor, partially inside the casting circle.
"Where's Gothel?" Weaver asked.
It took her a moment to respond. When she did turn to them, her eyes were wide, and she shook her head. "I don't know. She took my sister."
"We'll find Anastasia," Melody assured her. She placed a hand on Drizella's own. Though the girl stiffened at the touch, she didn't pull away. "Drizella."
She flinched back. "What?"
Melody had seen this before. Trauma. The girl couldn't process what she'd seen. Drizella's hands shook where they cradled her mother's still face. Melody sighed. "Drizella, you're going to be okay."
"She has my sister."
"We know," Melody told her. "And we don't want Gothel to have her any more than you or your mother wanted it."
Drizella glanced up at her. No more words were exchanged. Melody took her arm and eased her off the ground, pulling her away from her mother's body. She brought her over to the side, to where Drizella could choke out her silent tears. Only when the paramedics showed up and took her away did Melody turn back to the crime scene.
Rogers and Weaver were taking pictures, working with a team from the precinct. Melody watched from the corner. Gothel had taken yet another life. They'd warned Belfrey, told her the cost would be high. But she'd ignored them. She sighed and turned away.
The cold, evening air provided a bit of relief as she stood outside. Melody closed her eyes. She didn't have magic here, but she tried anyway. She turned all her thought to the sky. Rain in Seattle came easily. But when she opened her eyes, the sky still looked clear, a hundred stars gleaming down in mockery. She frowned. Crossing her arms over her chest, Melody tried not to despair.
"You okay, love?"
At Rogers' voice, Melody closed her eyes. She didn't turn. She couldn't. It hurt, knowing his memory of her only scratched the surface. He didn't know their history, the years they'd spent together and apart. Only when his footsteps halted and she felt his shoulder brush against hers did she open her eyes.
"I'll be fine," she assured him. Melody looked at him. "You?"
He shrugged. "This is far beyond my expertise," he said. Pointing back at the greenhouse behind them, his voice tightened. "But we'll find who's responsible."
She nodded. "I know."
Her phone buzzed. Both she and Rogers glanced down at it as she pulled it from her pocket. Clicking on the notification from Roni, she released a deep breath.
"Lucy's awake. Call me."
Melody turned to Rogers. "Lucy woke up. She's going to be okay."
"That girl's a survivor." He smiled. "At least one good thing happened today."
"Yeah."
Rogers went back inside. With the outdoors all to herself, she called Regina. The woman answered almost immediately. She demanded to know what had happened. Who had paid the price?
"Victoria's dead," Melody said. She glanced back at the light emanating from the greenhouse. "She saved Drizella."