Chapter 29

Emma

I awoke in the early morning's dim light streaming from the window of the room we were asleep in. I was wrapped in Killian's arms, my face buried against his chest. I felt his hand slowly rub my upper arm and circle to the back of my shoulders. I felt his lips against my forehead.

I stirred peacefully and found one of my arms draped around his side. I gently rubbed his back and smiled up at him. I could make out his silhouette in the darkness of our asylum. I could tell that it was not quite dawn yet.

We shared an endearing smile.

He whispered into my hair, "I'd give anything to lay here in your arms like this all day."

I ran my hand up his chest and cradled his chin with my hand. I nodded and I kissed him sensually and replied softly, "I love you."

I could tell he was grinning down at me. His fingers threaded through my hair over and over, which made me feel peaceful and safe. I added under my breath, "I'm sorry for being so closed up until now and saying so many hurtful things to you."

His palm rubbed up and down my back. "It's all right. I'd say we made up for it last night." He smirked down at me devilishly. We kissed again, this time slowly, drawing it out and enjoying it.

He whispered against my cheek, "Does this mean we're fine now, Love?"

I nodded lazily and caressed his cheek and gazed into his eyes lovingly. His eyes were warm and adoring. I said, "Yes. I don't want to drift apart anymore." He embraced me tightly and kissed the top of my head. He grinned and murmured, "I won't ever let you go, Swan. No matter what happens. I'm sorry for not trusting you. I know I can be a jealous man."

I smirked, fighting back the urge to tease him about that fact. I refrained and replied quietly, "I guess I can too." I thought about Lily and how she had hit on him, but it didn't matter. I wasn't used to feeling jealous.

He smirked and raised an eyebrow. I could see his handsome face now that the sun was rising, gradually lighting up the room. I murmured, "I loved how you sang to me last night. You have a beautiful voice. Where did you hear that song?"

"Birds and Ships?" he asked. "Billy Bragg, Wilco and Natalie Merchant. It mentions ships and the sea. I think I heard it on a TV show while watching House MD with Henry at some point."

I brushed my fingers across his cheek. His breath hitched as I ran my hand down his chest and stopped my hand over his heart. I kissed him again, feeling so much in love. "I love that show. When I have time for TV that is." I let out a long breath. "If we ever get the chance again to go home." I looked around the deserted bedroom. I could see me more details now in the room. There was a mirror hanging on a wooden wall right above a dresser made of cracked old oak next to the bed we laid in.

His palm slid up and down my back tenderly. His eyes drilled into mine earnestly. He said, "We will make it back to our children."

I reluctantly sat up, and he moved in a sitting position with me on the bed.

I said, "I suppose it's time we get at it and find a way out of here. I'm guessing it won't be easy. Just wish there was a coffeemaker in this house." I skimmed the dim room. Something glinted and caught my eye. My gaze fell on the old dresser next to the bed, where a silver old-fashioned key laid.

"The hell?" I said as I reached for it and picked it up. It was cold and larger than a normal key.

He peered down at it over my shoulder.

I turned it over between my fingers. The handle of the key was a circle with a Z in the middle, making up one letter. "Oz," I mused, as I met his intrigued eyes.

Killian looked at the key oddly and said, "I wager that key wasn't there before."

I brandished it as I said, "It must be a sign. Or someone was here last night." I glanced around the bedroom for anything else that may have changed. I said, "I don't remember seeing it there last night. Course it was dark. And my phone died."

"Aye." He grabbed my jeans from the bottom of the bed and placed them in my hand with a crooked smirk. "We weren't exactly paying attention to anything last night except each other."

I placed the key next to me, slipped on my pants, and then pushed the key in my back pocket. He zipped up his trousers and swung his feet over the bed. I grabbed my jacket from the floor and slipped it on.

I said, "Can't believe we had sex in Dorothy's bed." I smirked at him and rose to my feet.

He rose and slipped his hand around my waist and gave me a kiss. He replied, "At least it wasn't outdoors. I was prepared to build a fire, although that would have been quite inconspicuous."

I tossed my hair over my jacket and took his hand and squeezed it. "Well, let's hope we don't die today."

He walked ahead of me and found the front door in the next room. Although the house was at a slant since it had wrecked on the ground when landing, Killian managed to get the door open although he had to push it hard. He led me onto the porch with broken floorboards.

He stepped down to the grassy ground and I followed. "Tread carefully," he whispered as he looked into my eyes for a moment before walking towards the demolished yellow brick road.

"I wonder what this key is for," I said under my breath and glanced all around the dark woods for any rocks or moving creatures.

"I reckon we'll need it," Kilian replied as he scanned our surroundings. He pointed to a clearing beside the scattered bricks. "We'll follow it, just don't go near it, Love."

"I don't plan on it," I said coolly.

We meandered around the bricks and walked alongside them. "It's like obstacle course."

Above us, the sun was rising. I could see the city building tops ahead on the other side of the forest that reached up to the navy-blue sky.

I said warily, "The Emerald City isn't very emerald."

In the distance towards the forest, I could hear that squeaky sound that sounded much like a squeaky chain swing, although this was a constant, eerie sound. Then I heard two of the same sounds.

He squeezed my hand as he peered into the woods ahead, watching all points of view. "At least you can still use your magic here. Someone knows we're here."

The squeaky sound grew louder, closer to us than before but still far away to give us time to escape. "It's onto us," I said under my breath.

I quickly thought of a battle plan; I would use my magic. Then my gaze landed on another lunch pail tree. I ran towards it, Kilian chasing me to keep up with me. I reached up to pluck one of the red lunch pails. Killian squeezed my hand and led me towards the left to the trees.

"It's drawing nearer. Quick, hide. There." He moved his head towards the darker part of the woods. We quickly hurried through the trees and ran off to the right, heading towards the Emerald City as well. Maybe Walsh still lived here, but was he still on evil's side? I couldn't think of who could help us, unless we defeated the Princess.

We ran for several minutes as the squeaky wheels sound moved closer, but it seemed to bypass us to where our path had been along the yellow bricks trial before. Killian led me as we moved through the tall narrow trees, darting left and right, and I raced with him into the dimly lit woods.

"What the hell is that sound?" I asked Killian, panting.

I spotted a boulder ahead towards the left of our pathway and then another off to the right, but this one was closer to us. I searched the grey rocks for anything moving on them, like a face.

"Bloody hell," Killian said under his choppy breath. "One of them had eyes." He stabbed his finger at one of the larger boulders nearest to us.

"We're being watched. Where do we go?" I asked, breathing hard as we sprinted through the forest.

"The Emerald City. Perhaps we can get answers. Find a way home. There has to be a way to a portal or something we can find to get back," said Killian.

We ran ahead, the squeaky wheels far in the distance behind us, but they seemed far away now. "On second thought, maybe we should go back to the house."

He shook his head. "Perhaps tonight."

"You have a plan? You seemed to know a lot about this twisted Oz."

"Not exactly. But I think that key turning up means something. A clue that we will need it soon."

We raced through the darker part of the forest until we reached the outskirts of it, where trees started to thin out and there were patches of sunlight. I could see greyish-white stone walls ahead and what looked like statues outside of what appeared to be a drab palace.

Killian slowed down and held my arm back with his hand to cease. "Bloody hell…" he said barely audibly.

"What happened to Oz?" I asked rhetorically under my breath. "And why isn't it glowing emerald? It looks…dead. Like its abandoned."

"Or under new reign," said Killian.

I looked ahead at the ruins of what seemed to be a courtyard, full of white bricks and statues that looked like people either playing or standing. There was a circle of ladies dancing, holding hands, wearing dresses. But they were all stone.

There was a lion in the middle of the courtyard in mid step and his mouth opened in a maw of what appeared to be roaring. Around the lion were more statues. A woman was sitting on a stone, Greek style bench. There were tall walls and stone steps that led up to windows and second stories and sidewalks. It reminded me of a castle in ancient times. In the middle of the courtyard were scattered rocks and broken white bricks.

Killian grabbed my hand in alarm, looking to the side near himself, where there were headless statues of woman in a group. That's when I noticed that all of the statues were headless, except for the boys and men. Even the little girls who were children, frozen in what was probably mid-playing.

I stopped dead in my tracks as I saw two creatures that looked like men on all fours, but they had wheels at the bottom of their limbs, making that nails-on-the-chalkboard squealing sound. I gasped. They were up above the second level of the brick walls at the top of the white stone steps that led to them. I parted my lips as I noticed they wore masks of hideous masks of some sort of demon in pain with their mouths open and teeth drawn in silverish shades mixed with gold and bloodstains.

"Run," Killian hissed.

The wheels of the ludicrous men started to laugh maniacally as they rolled down the steps, moving like cats, rather rapidly as they chased us. I broke into a run to the right in the way we had come. Killian ran quicker than me ahead of us.

I noticed another demon-looking man on wheels rolling with squealing wheels that made me cringe towards us. He raced and skidded to a top in front of us. I gasped and jumped back as did Killian. "Emma run ahead!" He said as he kicked out his leg, ramming his foot into the demon face mask. It reminded me of a head of a gargoyle mixed with a man.

"That is terrifying," I said under my breath as I moved away from them.

Another wheeled man came up from behind us, cackling loudly, so much that it startled me. I screamed as it kicked Killian with one of its wheeled limbs. His mask had long silverish-gold hair that looked like ropes. It was like a clown's face. They all had that feature in common. One of the wheeled men picked up his head to look at me, just as Killian was knocked to the ground.

"Killian!" I screamed, as the wheeler kicked Killian's side with its wheel. I heard four pairs of squeaky wheels approaching us, surrounding us. Killian winced in pain. I swung my lunch pail in the wheeled clown's face as hard as I could with a grunt, with all my force and might. The wheeled man who had knocked Killian down was still laughing as if he thought all of this was hilarious.

"Creepy." I said as I knocked its head with my lunch pail. The wheeled man flew to the stone ground in mid laughter. There was blood on his face. The other wheeled clowns rolled towards me, behind me, also cackling in a demonic way. I dropped my lunch pail and pushed out my palms, using my force inside with all of my focused magic. I shoved my magic towards two of them, and they flew several yards and fell backwards, wheels in the air.

Another gruesome clown on wheels squealed and laughed hysterically from the distance near the top of stone steps that appeared like they led to double doors. My guess was that it was an entrance inside the castle, possibly the main gateway.

I dropped down to Killian on the ground who was still crumpled in a fetal position. I reached for his stomach which he was clutching with his good hand. He grimaced as I gingerly moved his hand and looked at his shirt.

He shook his head to decline, "No Swan, no time, we'll get to that later. We must find shelter from these devil creatures." He glanced around us.

I swallowed, feeling a stab of empathetic pain that he was feeling, since I was afraid for him. "How bad are you hurt? Can you move and get up?" I held my hand out for him.

He managed to sit up and started to stand. "Look out!" He exclaimed, staring at something in horror behind me.

I heard squeaky wheels right behind me.

I felt a hardness knock my back and I fell over on top of Killian. I rolled on my back and scrambled to get up with my hands behind my head. I shot out my foot to kick the wheeled clown with the repulsive demonic face, like an expression in a diabolical grin. He laughed loudly with a high pitch even though it was definitely a male.

The demonic clown growled, "Emma Swan! Come here!" I hissed as he picked up his head. I could now see that his mask was on top of his head. Much like a creepy court gesture, but now it was a thin faced man with bloodshot eyes, crazed and wild. He was grinning largely at me. His teeth were disgustingly yellow.

I stumbled back at the frightening appearance of the demented thing. The menacing man maliciously hissed as he spoke, "We've been waiting for you, Emma Swan. Now she wants to see you."

I flinched. "Who is she?" I asked.

I quickly dropped to my knees facing Killian and waved my hand over his stomach and side and focused on healing him. He groaned and sighed in satisfaction and stood up. He grabbed my hand and pulled me back where there were no vile wheeled creatures.

"Come on," Killian demanded. "This way. There's too many."

There were indeed about eight of them crowding us now, but Killian and I ran through an opening as four more encroached in our path. I pushed my free hand forward and shoved two of them backward. One of them landed down a flight of stairs, the other hit a wall with a crack.

We ran through the opening of a corridor with brick walls. The other way was blocked by a crazy clown. It too laughed in an evil way.

I panted and said, "How many of these wheeled weirdos are there?"

Killian led me down the corridor which appeared like it led around a corner, hopefully to another exit from this stone castle.

One of the weirdos exclaimed with a low gritty tone, "There are many of us, Emma Swan. And we are going to take you to her."

Killian sprinted towards the end of the corridor, and as we veered to the left where the corridor bent, there was a wall.

"Oh bloody hell. Dead end," exclaimed Killian. I hurried with him towards the dead end of bricks.

I exhaled sharply and looked behind us. There were two weirdos rolling towards us slowly.

I said, "I can hold them off." I held up my palms and glared at the clowns, who were cackling louder in a victorious manner. They grinned at us as they followed us. There were about half a dozen more behind the first two.

I held up my palms and said through clenched teeth, "I'm able to fight you all, you freaks."

They burst into laughter and raced towards us quickly. I shoved my palms forward, knocking about four of them down.

"I can't hold them off," I said to my husband.

He grimaced at the sight of more of them coming for us. He turned towards the brick dead end wall and ran his hand down towards the middle right. "Look there. It's a door. That's a keyhole." He pointed his ringed finger at a hole.

I dared a glance behind us. The obnoxious clowns raced directly behind us. One of them screeched to a stop and whacked his wheeled limb at me, probably to knock me down.

"She's expecting you," it hissed at me, staring at me with demented eyes. They all had some sort of tattoos around their faces that looked like masked, intricately drawn like their disturbing masks on their heads.

"Good for her," I retorted as I fished for my key in one swift motion and stabbed it into the hole. I twisted it like opening a door. The wall screeched as if on hinges. It creaked as it moved backward.

I said to Killian, "You open the door, I'll take care of them." I mustered enough inner strength and power to send a wave of power to shove the clowned wheelers in a wave of wheels and dreadful looking masks and heads. It was nauseating to look at them. They looked half human and half of something else, like machines or vehicles.

The horrid men scrambled back up. One of them, the leader I assumed with the long metal-like dreads, bared his teeth at me like an animal. His teeth were sharpened. I cringed at the deadly sight.

"Back off," I commanded. "We haven't done anything to you. We aren't the enemy."

The leader rolled forward on his four wheels. "Aren't those not a stolen lunch pails you took? Did you not sleep in one of Mombi's homes?"

I frowned at the terrifying, demonic looking creature.

"How did they know?" I whispered. I made a sour face and hurried inside the dark, dank room with Killian and he tugged it to close. It moved rather slowly. We both grabbed into its edge, since there was no handle, to hurry its swinging to shut it.

I grunted as the leader of the wheeled pack stuck in his wheeled hand to stop the door. He succeeded. I kicked my boot on his wheel again and again until it shrieked in pain, but it was still laughing. The door shut as Kilian tugged it.

"I hope that locks it," said Killian. His hand circled my waist as he tugged me close to him. He hugged me and held me tightly with a sigh of relief. I held him back and closed my eyes for a moment.

I said against his neck, "We're probably trapped. The She they talked about probably is on her way."

He kept his arm around my waist as he looked around us. It was a small room, with stone walls. There was also a window, but it was high up and small, with bars vertically inside of it.

Killian looked out the keyhole. I peeked out of it as I moved my face close to his head.

One of the red rimmed wild eyes peered inside.

I gasped and jumped back a little.

Killian gripped my hand and clenched his jaw. "None of you will touch my wife," he threatened.

The leader of the circus of weirdos snarled, "You can't stay in there forever. Unless you starve yourselves to death. But when you come out of there, we'll serve you to Princess Mombi. It won't be long. You're only prolong your emanant death!"

Killian glowered back into the keyhole. "Like hell you will."

I took a chance at asking the ringleader, "Who's Princess Mombi and what does she want from us?"

The leader broke into hysterical laughter, and the rest of the eight or ten wheeled freaks did the same.

The leader finished cracking up and said with a roar, "Who is Princess Mombi?" he taunted, like I was the demented one. "She is the ruler of Oz. And you'll be lucky she doesn't toss you both into the Deadly Desert when she's finished with you. Especially you, Emma Ssssswaaaan." He drew out my name like a curse word.

I rolled my eyes and looked at Killian with a wince and blinked my eyes, horrified. I muttered, "That is terrifying."

My husband shared a fatal look with me. I sighed and said with confidence to the leader, "What does she want from me?"

They all broke into hysterics, howling. They turned and squeaked away. The leader said, "You'll see…"

"Freaks," I said to myself as I watched them roll away down the corridor.

I let out a long breath and faced my husband.

Killian searched the room we were in.

I held the key in my hand and studied it. "Someone must have brought this to us." I held it up and slid it inside of my jeans pocket.

Killian rubbed his chin then his face with his hand and looked upward as if helpless. He reached for my hand and said, "We will get out of here alive, Love. Even if we must escape tonight. There's a way, we just have to find it."

"How?" I whispered as I held his hand and massaged the front of his hand with my fingertips. I stood in front of him and slid my other hand around his middle to hold him. "Those Wheeled Weirdos won't lose sight of us. There's at least ten of them. We need a plan."

He gazed into my eyes and said, "Princess Mombi wants you for something. Those bloody demons didn't say anything about her wanting me. That's the part that scares me."

"And they know my name. Even creepier." I shook my head and tenderly ran my hands over his stomach and sides. I asked softly, "You still hurt?"

He kissed my lips and said, "Don't worry about me. I'm all right. I just wish I had my dagger so I could mince them and throw them into the Deadly Desert. That's a fine plan."

I leaned my head on his shoulder and wound my arms around his hips. I murmured, "Least they don't know my married last name."

His hand held the back of my shoulders. He planted a kiss on my forehead and murmured, "Aye. At least we're together." He moved his lips to my ear and whispered, "We could wait them out. Then bolt into the woods. There's got to be a way out of this realm. Someone here has to be able to send us back."

I sat against the wall on the floor with my knees up. He lowered next to me and sat closely to me. His arm wrapped around my shoulders. I leaned my head on one of his shoulders and tried to relax.

I mumbled, "Princess Mombi may have a way. Maybe we can find out from her."

He didn't respond. "I don't want you anywhere near her."

"We shouldn't have come in here." I ran my eyes around the room. There was a dark corner with something standing there. I inhaled sharply. "What the hell is that?" I whispered to my husband.

He squinted his eyes and slowly rose to his feet. His hand held out for me, and I took it.

"Another bloody statue," Killian said, revolted. "Mombi did this. Turned all these poor people to stone."

"And beheaded the women?" I shook my head, feeling a shiver like ice run through me. "This Mombi is deranged. Especially if she's got lackeys like those transformers out there."

"She is indeed evil. Possibly killed them then turned them with magic no doubt. She is a murderer. We shouldn't cross her path." Killian stepped towards the statue in the shadows.

I stared at the statue in the shadows. It was a tall man, but he looked like he was made of metal. He had large bulging eyes, but he was human and seemed like he was frozen in a terrified way. I went closer to the statue and ran my fingers over his face and then his arm.

"Careful," Killian said as he protectively held my arm.

"It's stone. He's a statue," I said. "Not like he can do anything to us."

"Right, but you never know with this bewitched place."

"His eyes are kind in a way. Like he was scared. I'm sure all these people were terrified of Mombi." I let out a ragged breath and locked eyes with Killian. "He's the Tin Man," I exclaimed.

He gave me a strange look and lifted an eyebrow. "And why is he in here?"

"We already saw the lion out there. We have to stop her. We need to kill Mombi. Save these poor people." I winced as I recalled turning Sneezy to Stone when I was the Dark One. I sighed and concentrated on him. His clothes looked like he was made of tin. "Why would she do this to these people?"

"She's insane, Love. She's evil. I must say that things were better when Zelena was the ruler here."

I glanced at the Tin Man and then back at Killian. "Maybe I can fight her. We both can. Maybe that's why we're here. We can help them."

"Emma…I know you could, but she's pure dark magic. Worse than the Black Fairy, I'm sure. Look what she's done." He gestured his hand at the Tin Man.

I sighed. I didn't want to argue. I gazed at Killian and then stared at the Tin Man. "There's got a be a way. We just have to find out how to defeat her. Her weakness."

"We know nothing about her except she wants you and probably wishes to kill you, take off your head and turn you to a bloody statue and stick you outside for her garden. Her graveyard. We must not do it unless we know about her first."

I nodded in agreement. "Who knows, maybe our family and friends are finding a way to us right now. We always find each other. They always have. I doubt my parents and Henry will fail us."

I searched his eyes. He smiled sadly and reached to caress my cheek tenderly. "That's what I love about you, Swan. Your tenacity. Your passion to help others in need. Your love for people." His face melted into a soft smile and his eyes shined bright as he gazed at me in awe.

"I'm still the Savior. These people need saving." I waved my hand towards the Tin Man. "Who knows, maybe if we turn him back, he could tell us a thing or two about the freak Mombi."

He nodded once and replied, "I have no doubt in you that you can save these people from Princess Mombi. But I don't want you to get hurt, Love. She's already after you." He leaned closer to me and searched my eyes convincingly. His eyes were beseeching and soft with fear that I may die.

"Who isn't?" I replied. "Or who hasn't been? We didn't even figure out the last mystery about who took our daughter. Or the mystery before that that took me to the past." I tossed up my hand and dropped it. "Maybe it all connects together. Maybe it's all from one person."

His hand cupped my chin. He kissed me gently. I returned the kiss and sighed with the satisfaction of being with him. He gave me some sort of tranquility. He kept his arm around me and looked over the unfortunate Tin Man. "I wonder if you could change him back. Or any of these poor people."

"I could try. Although if it is under Mombi's spiteful spell, I may not be able to." I closed my eyes and concentrated on healing and changing the man back to life, back to flesh. I felt my magic but felt it failing. I sighed and met Killian's gaze.

"It's not working," I said sullenly. I dropped my hands and scanned the empty room. I faced the Tin Man again and noticed a small mirror behind him, which mirrored the Tin Man's head.

Killian followed my gaze and asked, "What is it, Love?"

I went closer to the mirror and pointed my finger at it. I didn't recall seeing the hanging mirror when we first noticed the Tin Man. I asked Killian, "Was this here before? When we first came inside?"

He slowly shook his head. "No, there was just a dark hallow place there before. There was no reflection."

I gawked in wonder at the Tin Man and then peered carefully into the mirror. It reflected not only the Tin Man's head, but also room that was mirrored, but it also reflected golden, as if the other side of the mirror was in a polished palace of some sort. I looked over my shoulder at the brick wall that should have been reflected in the mirror.

"Look," I said in wonder as I pointed into the mirror.

Killian stood right behind me and stared into the mirror too. "Bloody hell." He looked back over his shoulder too. His lips parted as we exchanged a curious look. "It's got to be a portal of some sort."

He put his hand against the mirror, but it was solid.

The mirror glass didn't change. It continued to reflect the brick wall in front of it.

"Magic mirror," I said in awe. I looked at the Tin Man again. Why was this happening? "Whatever the reason, it's like we're supposed to be in this room," I said.

I kept searching the other side of the mirror, and suddenly noticed a green light floating on the other side of the golden mirrored side. "Oh my God. Look at that. What is that?" I mused.

Kilian lifted his chin to indicate the girl. He said, "Perhaps a fairy."

I touched my fingertips to the mirror and whispered, "What is it you're trying to tell me?"

The green light spread a little as if moving and then expanded in size, spreading in shape longways as if in the shape of a person. I traced my finger all over the glass, searching for any way to find a ripple or space through the mirror.

"I think she's trapped in there," said Killian. He said to the green fairy, "Can you hear us?"

The fairy nodded. I could see her female frame now. She was a little shorter than me. The green fairy seemed to go out of focus as if under water, and then solidified until I could see her green eyes in it. She had light skin and gold hair.

"What can you tell us?" I asked her.

Her arm slowly moved up towards the glass. She held a ruby key and then gracefully pushed it through the mirror and handed it to me.

I gawked at her in amazement. "What is this for?" I asked her as I took it. I side-glanced at Killian to ensure I wasn't going crazy. "What happened to you?" I questioned the fairy.

She lifted her palms and placed them on the glass, but her hands wouldn't emerge through our side of the mirror.

"You've been trapped in there, haven't you?" I asked her sympathetically.

The young girl nodded. I could see her face and her hair and her body now. She didn't have wings, but she had on a light mint colored gown that flowed. She looked to be about thirteen years old or so with fair skin and gorgeous rippling hair.

"Can you speak to us?" Killian asked her softly as he pressed his fingers against the mirror.

The girl shook her head wanly and frowned. She lifted her arms and opened them and glanced all around the room and then gazed helplessly back at us.

I frowned, feeling a pang of sadness for her. I looked down at the key again. It was gorgeous, heavy, and also an old-fashioned style key. "You want us to enter your mirror with this?" I asked.

She shook her head and looked back at me sorrowfully. She lifted her hand and pointed her fingers at the key I held and then looked past me at the door we had entered through. She smiled ruefully at me.

Killian glanced back at the door and then at the green fairy. He said, "That key isn't for this door, is it? We will need it on our journey?"

The girl nodded slowly with a small spark in her eyes, but she appeared to be so helpless and most of all, hopeless.

I turned the key in my hand and said to the girl, "What is your name?"

She shook her head and touched her throat and then gestured to the mirror and shook her head again. She moved her mouth, but we heard no sound. I traded a rueful look with Killian.

Killian looked at the mirror and asked her, "Princess Mombi, she did this to you, didn't she?"

The girl's eyes lit up a little and she nodded morosely. She lifted a finger and pointed at the Tin Man and then at the door. She looked at both of us and gave us a faint smile, as if in farewell.

I brandished the ruby key and gestured it at the Tin Man. "Can you show us how to bring him to life?" I asked her.

The girl looked towards the brick door and then back to me. She waved her hand behind herself as if to indicate the room she was in, or something behind her, but I couldn't tell anything else from where she was. She looked slowly behind herself at the left and then back at me and then ticked her eyes to my husband.

I said, "I think that she means we have to go inside there." I lifted the key to show it to Killian. "There's something inside that we need to get to, to open. Maybe to let her out."

Killian stared at the girl for a moment, studying her. He shook his head, "No. It's something else. She appears fearful." He said to the fairy, "How do we get you out of there?"

She frowned forlornly at me and looked around herself and then pointed at the key. She touched her hand to her chest and woefully shook her head.

I said to her, "I wish we could hear you."

The girl seemed a bit frustrated as she clenched her hands into fists and then released them. She looked at the Tin Man and pointed her fingers to her chest over her heart.

I squinted my eyes at her, confused and stared at the Tin Man again. I noticed a small medal, which was stone too on the Tin Man's chest over his heart. "What does that say?" I moved my face closer to read it. I read aloud, "Army of Oz."

I lifted my eyes to meet Killian's, who seemed bemused as I was. I faced the mirror. The girl was watching me with hope. That was a good sign.

I said to Killian, "I don't understand. I was never good at Charades."

Killian looked over the Tin Man carefully and lifted his brow at the girl in bewilderment. "If this land has an army of Oz, perhaps he is to help us against Mombi."

The girl smiled, although her eyes were still heavy with grief.

I said to the fairy, "I'm so sorry your trapped in there and miserable. I will try to help you. We both will." I touched Killian's arm. I had so many questions for our new fairy friend, but we couldn't really communicate this way.

"Is there a way for us to get to you?" Killian asked the girl.

She gazed at him despondently and gravely shook her head at him and then stared at me.

"Help us free him?" I reached out to touch the Tin Man's shoulder. "I tried. I don't know what else to do. Unless you can point us in the right direction?"

She placed her palm on the glass of the mirror as if trying to touch the Tin Man and stared at me expectantly.

Killian said to me, "She can't. She's trapped in that bloody room."

The girl held a flicker of a smile on her face as she shook her head at Killian. She held his eyes for a moment and then met mine. She walked to us a few steps and pointed at the glass and tapped it, and then put her hand down slowly.

I said with amusement, "She's not trapped in that room. She's trapped in the mirror."

Killian nodded. "We know someone who specializes in mirrors," he said to the girl.

"I wish I had a notebook," I told the fairy. "Or do you have a pad of paper and a pencil?" I winced, knowing it was a long shot. She blinked and stared at me as if I was not making sense, or she didn't understand my humor.

"I would take that as a no," Kilian said teasingly to me. He said to the fairy, "So for the Army of Oz here. Do you know how to free him of this spell of stone?"

She pointed at me.

"She thinks I can do it," I said to Killian. I nodded at her. "I will try."

She managed a faint smile, but she didn't seem content at all.

I asked her, "Are you in other mirrors here too?" I glanced all around the mirror to see if I could tell where she may be in the palace or any indication of which room. It was all mirrors and a gold floor.

She nodded once.

Killian said to me, "You ought to try to heal the Tin Man back to life with your powers, Emma."

I nodded and then said to the fairy, "What is your name?"

She took a step closer to the mirror and slowly pointed her index finger to the glass and traced her fingertip into a large O. Then she traced a slow but clear Z. She began another letter on the mirror which began at the bottom left, but she quickly snapped her head behind her as if someone had startled her, something unseen to us, and then she gazed at us sadly before the mirror faded to black.

I exchanged a perplexed look with Killian. "Her name is Oz?" I asked him. That couldn't be her name, could it?

He lifted his palm and dropped it. "Someone must've frightened her. She wasn't finished."

"I want to help her," I said remorsefully as I gazed into his eyes and added, "She was so full of despair. And so young. And trapped in a mirror. Only if we had Regina here."

I placed my hand on the Tin Man and closed my eyes and concentrated my energy to manifest into magic that would heal the man. I felt the ripples of power inside me. I opened my eyes to see if he was in flesh yet. It didn't work so I tried again. I waited as I imagined him turning from stone to flesh. I pushed my magic into the Tin Man, but nothing changed. I sighed, impatient and discouraged.

Killian lifted his hand and rubbed the back of my arm as he gazed at me lovingly. "Believe in your magic, Love. I don't think you believe you can do it. Have faith that you can do this. You can do this."

I nodded vigorously and then let out a breath and shook all negativity. I placed my hand on the Tin Man's stony chest and closed my eyes, this time willing the stone to turn to a human being that he was once. I thought I heard the word "Oz" in my mind in a soft, light voice, so I whispered the name, hoping it held magic and said with power, "Oz."