Chapter 34

Emma

Walsh headed toward his chamber door and turned to face me. He said softly, "Here's what you need to do. Go back down the dark corridor that we came through. But instead of going back out through the gold room we were in first, go straight all the way down, then hang a right. It's a secret passage. Once you come to the end, you'll find a spiral staircase. Take those stairs and that'll lead you to the second floor where your husband and Stanom are kept hostage."

I nodded. "Where are you going?"

He sighed, just as I heard Mombi's loud, growling voice: "Walsh? Where are you!?"

I cringed. "Got to keep up appearances?" I asked Walsh under my breath.

"Yes. Once you get to Hook, you all need to escape through the back door of the palace. I'll occupy Mombi and keep her away, I hope." He flashed me a smile and ran his eyes over me before he nodded once. "She'll be looking for you and she'll want me to try to track you too."

He unlocked the door gently and peeked outside before he gestured his hand for me to go through the doorway. "Good luck," he whispered. His eyes were determined.

"How do we get to Nome King's Mountain?" I asked quietly.

"Walsh!" cried Mombi wildly. "Emma Swan! She has escaped!"

"Dammit," Walsh muttered as he followed me out the door. "I'll go to her, you head the way I said. To get to Nome King's is a dangerous mission. But probably the best idea now. Mombi hates going to the Nome King, but he will awake once you get there because of your magic. He's been tracking you."

"I thought Jack said he stone?" I replied.

"No. The Nome King was turned to stone, but he's been hunting you just as Mombi has. He awoke when you arrived to Oz. To get to him, go northeast around the Deadly Desert. Don't get near it."

"Got it," I said. We rushed back down the eerie, dark corridor. I could barely make out Walsh's silhouette. I ran behind him and he darted to the right and kept going until I nearly ran into a wall at the corner and veered right. I dashed through the pitch blackness until my feet stumbled on the first step of the spiral staircase. I climbed them as swiftly and silently as I could. At the landing, I raced forward until I was met with a closed door.

I turned the ancient doorknob but it wouldn't budge. I opened my hand and produce the ruby key Ozma had given me and stuck it in the lock and turned. If this didn't work, I'd try my magic. The lock clicked and moved to the right. With satisfaction, I opened the door. I saw Killian and Stanom sitting on a wooden bench of a stone walled room. There were two beds with thin mattresses. Much like a jail cell. I exhaled and panted, realizing I had been out of breath. Kilian and I stared at each other and I immediately felt relief gush through me.

"Killian," I sighed.

He crossed the room in a few strides and wrapped his arms around me. I threw my arms around his neck and squeezed him tightly to me. His arms tightened as he buried his nose in my hair. WE held each other for several glorious moments before he loosened his arms and searched my eyes before he kissed me fully. I held the back of his head and savored our kiss. I smiled up at him and stroked his face with my fingers.

"I thought you may be dead," I whispered as I rubbed his shoulders.

He grinned at me and slid his hand down my back and pulled me closer to him. "I'm good at surviving, Love. Mombi had another one of her demon monkeys put us in here. How did you escape?"

I threw a smile at Stanom who sat patiently on his bench and looked around the room politely. I noticed there was at least a window with no glass, but we were high up, nearly as high as my tower.

Killian held my cheek in his palm and looked me over before he lifted an eyebrow and said, "Why are you wearing a dress?" he asked in his sexy, husky voice.

I let out a long breath and replied softly, "It's complicated. I'll tell you later. But first we need to escape through the back downstairs. Walsh is distracting Mombi."

Killian furrowed his brow and raised his brows in surprise. His hand slid down my arm and caressed the length of It down to my wrist. He caught my hand in his. "Walsh is helping you now, is he?" he asked dubiously.

I nodded and looked in his eyes. "Yes. Long story but Mombi knows I escaped so we need to act fast."

Killian made a strange frown and blinked his eyes rapidly at me. He replied, "I trust you, Swan." He gave me a crooked, warm smile.

I returned the loving smile and squeezed his hand. "Walsh is going to allow us to sneak out. He'll turn a blind eye. But we need to head towards Nome King's Mountain. I guess he and Mombi don't get along."

"Then what?" asked Killian.

"There's a way to get home there," I replied, as I turned and opened the door as silently as I could. I peeked out the dark corridor. I could hear Mombi yell, "She isn't in the tower?"

"No, Your Highness," I heard Walsh reply faintly downstairs.

"Then find her!" she roared at him. She was not only demonic, but cruel to him. I felt a stab of sympathy for him. I sort of felt bad for deceiving Walsh, but I had no other way.

Killian held my hand and Stanom hurried behind us as we gingerly crept down the corridor. I led them back to my tower room. If Mombi thought we weren't inside, then we would have time. We filed into the tower, where Jack stood clutching the side of the dresser that served as a wall. He peeked out at us and said, "Oh, Emma. I thought you were dead."

I held up my finger to my lips for him to be quiet and gently closed the door. I waved my hand to lock it with my magic. Not that it may hold for long. I clung to Killian and smiled at Stanom. I said, "Jack, this is Killian my husband, and this is Stanom."

Stanom said to Jack, "You've been up here this whole time?" He nodded in greeting.

Jack replied in a hushed tone, "Yes. But Emma gave me life through her magic."

Killian tightened his arm around my waist and faced me. "Mombi is searching for us. How should we escape? The only way out is through the bloody window." He pointed at the opening. The sky was pitch black now.

Stanom replied, "It's late. Perhaps we can sneak out once Mombi goes to sleep."

"If she does," I replied. "Walsh is covering for us right now. What we need to do is get Mombi's power of life. It's down in her closet full of heads."

Killian arched a brow with a pinched face. "Bloody hell?"

I nodded and cringed. "I saw the women's heads. They're alive. She has them under her curse and she wears different ones according to her mood and her split personality. So what we need to do is built a flying…creature. You guys grab the rope, the gump head, the two sofas over there and those eagle wings. I'm going to go down and grab the powder of life."

Killian drew back his head as he glanced over at the rope coil in the far dark corner. He pointed at the area. "Bloody hell…" he said to himself as discovering something new.

"I know it's gruesome," I said, "but we only have this wild idea of mine."

"If we climb down the window, the Wheelers would get us," said Stanom.

"Right," I replied. I looked at Killian, who was staring wide-eyed around the room where I had seen the rope coil. It looked like a basement area. It also looked familiar. I ticked my eyes to Killian and said, "Honey, what is it?"

Killian pointed at the area. "This was where our daughter was taken."

I gawked at him and looked at the area again. It struck me, because the area matched my memory of us finding Hope here when she had been kidnapped. "Oh my God," I whispered. I placed my hands on Killian's chest. "You're right. She did this. Mombi stole our baby Hope!"

Killian nodded with wide eyes. "She's been after us all along."

Jack said, "Who was kidnapped?"

"Our daughter," I replied to Jack. "Mombi has had her before." My skin felt cold with striking fear as I gazed up at my husband. "She was too close. That means she could do it again! We must stop her from doing anything else. She already killed…" I stopped talking. I cleared my throat and said to everyone, "You guys start on building the flying vessel." I faced Killian and held his face between my palms, "I need to hurry and get down there. I think that Walsh will buy us more time."

He held my arms and whispered, "You and Walsh are friends now?" His eyes were full of curiosity as he searched my face for answers.

I shook my head regarding his brimming fear. "Not exactly. He's…agreed to help. He doesn't exactly like Mombi either."

Killian raised an eyebrow at me as he stared at me skeptically. He whispered, "I don't bloody trust him."

I said, "Killian. There is nothing to worry about. He said he'd help, so I pretty much trust he's at least doing that. Not that we're exactly friends."

He stepped closer to me and said earnestly, "What happened while you were away? How did he help you?"

I sighed and ran my thumbs over his cheeks and caressed under his chin. I whispered, "It's a long story. He brought me up here, and tried to make a deal with me that I refused in order to help us escape. I ran downstairs to find Mombi's powder of life that Jack told me about, but then Walsh caught me. I put a spell on him to help us. Basically that's what happened." I swallowed, not wanting to get into the rest.

Killian frowned and shook his head in confusion. "What deal did he offer to you, Swan?"

I closed my eyes for a moment and slid my hands to his shoulders and looked into his eyes. I whispered, "He wanted be back, essentially. But I said no. He locked me up but also hid me from Mombi. So I placed a memory spell on him." I ran my palms over the back of his head. He was furrowing his brow as he gawked at me in horror.

He said quietly, "He wanted you." He paused as I nodded somberly. He added under his breath, "Did he touch you?"

I glanced back at our friends who had moved the two sofas together facing one another and they had started wrapping the thick rope around the gump head with the wooden plate on the back of it to the center of one of the sofa as if making a body. They discussed the mechanics amongst themselves.

I took Kilian's hand and led him to the sofa by the door so we could speak in private. He faced me and watched me carefully and apprehensively. "What did he do?" he prompted. I could see anger boiling inside his eyes.

I said softly, "He kissed me."

Killian glowered and said, "I'll bloody kill him." His eyes hardened.

"Killian, don't worry. I didn't kiss him back. I don't even have feelings for him."

"I'm not worried about that. I'm not jealous. It's the fact that he bloody touched my wife." His hands circled around my waist.

I rubbed his chest with my palms slowly. I whispered, "He's a very disturbed person. Mombi killed his girlfriend, Ozma. The one in the mirror." I glanced back at Jack to see if he had heard me, but he didn't turn his pumpkin head. They were tying on the eagle's wings to the vessel which was our makeshift aircraft.

Killian made a sour expression and stared deep into my eyes. He murmured, "Bloody sad, that. But he still shouldn't try and coax you, blackmail you into allowing him to touch you."

I smiled ruefully and replied under my breath, "I wouldn't ever do that. Not even to save my life. That is why I gave him false memory of he and I." I sighed at the awkward tension. Killian flashed me a glimmer of a half-smile and lifted his hand to stroke my cheek.

He whispered, "Don't worry Emma. I know you did the right thing. I trust you."

I smiled at him, feeling the tension and anxiety easing. He really did trust me. I whispered, "I told him no. But Mombi was on her way to find me. She had seen me. So, he offered to help me one last time so I tried the magic and it worked. I'm sorry. I know it's too much…" I shook my head.

He leaned closer to me and said, "Don't apologize, Love. You were trying to save yourself. And save us all. Just as long as he didn't hurt you."

I forced a reassuring smile, but Killian frowned at me. He could read me well. He swallowed hard and said, "He did, didn't he? I'm going to bloody murder him."

I held his face between my palms and kissed him gently. I whispered against his lips, "I'm fine. I fought him off. But he is at least down there eluding Mombi. Which means we don't have much time."

He kissed me tenderly and held the back of my head as he kept kissing me slowly. I sighed as he ran his fingers over my cheeks. He pressed his forehead against mine and said, "I don't care. I'm still going to kill him."

I smirked and replied, "Working with Mombi must have made him go insane." I rose to my feet and he copied me. He took my hand and said, "I want to go with you."

I looked back at our friends. There was rope wrapped all around the joined sofas and the gump head and wings. It now looked like a strange, foreign bird with a box body. "We will return."

"We're finished," Jack exclaimed.

Stanom turned to us holding rope and said, "you think this will work?" He gestured at the gump.

I shrugged. "It's worth a shot. Unless we want to fight those Wheelers again."

"Oooh," Jack said nervously, "Well it's the only way to cross the Deadly Desert."

I slowly opened the door as I waved my hand over it to unlock it. Killian gripped my other hand and gently closed the door behind us as we crept down the dark corridor. We came to the railing and then the spiral staircase. We stepped down gradually, stepping as lightly as possible. I glanced around the golden floors and the mirrors, but there was no sign of Mombi. Once we arrived at the landing of the polished flooring, I led him towards Mombi's bedroom which was through the royal throne room.

I whispered nearly silently, "I wonder where Walsh is."

We tiptoed past the red velvet throne on the circle dais, and made our way to her room. I could hear snoring, which was feminine. I assumed it was Mombi. The mirrored door to her bedroom was cracked open. I very gradually moved the door open to peek inside of her bedroom. It was dimly lit and large, like two bedrooms in one. There, laying on the bed full of silk sheets and a silk comforter was a headless priness Mombi.

I inhaled sharply and drew back just in case she was watching in some hideously weird way. Her body seemed to be faced the opposite direction where there were palm plants in pots and a large tri mirrored vanity. Kilian slid his hand around my waist protectively. I turned to him with another flinch as I glanced back at headless Mombi.

He whispered, "Now what?"

I replied under my breath, barely audibly, "We go to her closet. She must think Walsh is hunting us."

I turned my head and peeked inside her bedroom one more time. She moved in the sheets. I froze and gripped Killian's hand in fear as my heart sped up and drummed in my chest. Mombi stilled again. I had to hold my breath to refrain from sighing.

I quietly closed the door and turned to tiptoe back through the throne room with Killian by my side. Killian whispered once we were out of earshot, "That was bloody disturbing."

We turned sharply to the right as we walked quickly down the hallway to the right. We followed the mirrors and sped up our pace and then hung another right down the mirrored corridor with better lighting. We arrived at the closet with the mirrors and glass cabinets full of heads, but now they were sleeping, their heads tilted and eyes closed.

Killian stared at them each in turn with widened eyes and a raised brow. He muttered, "Bloody hell. She's crazy."

"I'm telling you, she is the worst we've ever faced," I whispered as we looked at each of the thirty plus cabinets. I looked at ach number of the doors. I finally spotted the one that said 6 at the top. It had a mirrored casing with no glass, so I couldn't see what Mombi's head looked like.

I produced the ruby key in my hand and stuck it gently into the old-fashioned keyhole. I carefully turned it and pulled it open. I jumped back and inhaled quickly when I saw a sleeping head of a woman with wild curly, frizzy hair and too much makeup. At least her eyelids were closed. There inside near the right corner of her head almost behind it, there was a small shaker that said Powder of Life on it in fancy letters. I gingerly reached in, slowly moving my fingers around it. Once I lifted it out of the cupboard, I vigilantly moved my hand out with the shaker of powder.

I stared at the rather ominously ugly head and wild hair framing the face. I touched the mirror of the door of the cabinet and ever so precariously pushed it to close it. I didn't close it all the way. I felt the presence of someone behind us, so I whirled around with a sharp breath. Killian squeezed my hand and stood beside me.

Walsh was there glaring at us. He set his jaw as he stared at me. He whispered, "What are you doing?" He shook his hand in the air at the cabinet number 6. He waved his hand behind him to indicate for us to go the opposite direction. "Are you crazy? Get out of here!" he mouthed.

Killian scowled at him as he marched towards him. I gave his hand a squeeze to warn him to be cautious. As we moved quickly out of the head collection area and turned left, I said to Walsh, "We're getting out of here. Think you can distract her if she wakes up?"

Killian glared daggers at Walsh as we passed him. Walsh marched after us, following suit. I glanced back at him to ensure that he wasn't chasing after us. Walsh replied, "I'm keeping my word. Part of the deal. What are you planning with that powder?"

Once we got down the end of the hallway, Killian sharply turned towards Walsh and grabbed his cuff near his neck and pushed him up against the wall. Killian clenched his jaw and said under his breath but in a growl, "Don't you bloody touch my wife ever again. Do you hear me?"

I exhaled and glanced towards Mombi's throne room and then back at the hallway that led to the closets. "Killian. We need to go."

Killian shook Walsh and squeezed his neck before he slammed him back and let him go. Walsh stared at him coldly, but with shock in his eyes as he ticked his eyes to me quizzically. Walsh straightened his collar and stood up proudly and raised his brows at Killian with an absurd look at him.

"I'm helping you," Walsh hissed. "She thinks I'm searching for you, Emma." He turned to me with a vexed expression. "Why are you both turning on me?" he lifted his palms.

"No reason, except I bloody will kill you if you touch her again." Killian said through clenched teeth. He pointed at Walsh. "Don't care what you do for us."

I took Killian's hand as I led him towards the spiral steps which led to our tower.

Walsh followed us and caught up to my opposite side of Killian. He fell in step with me and walked close to me. "That's a nice way to say thanks. To tell your husband?" he whispered in my ear.

Killian stopped dead in his tracks and stepped towards Walsh with a furrowed brow. He stood between us. Killian glared at him warningly. "Will you sod off?" he whispered. "I know everything."

Walsh's eyes flashed to mine with a peeved, hurt look in them. Walsh quickly recovered and lifted his head proudly. "All I can say is I'm sorry." He shrugged. "But you don't know the pain I've been going through."

I made a sad face and whispered, "You can still leave."

Walsh shook his head. "She'd find me. I just didn't think you'd tell him." He lifted his chin towards Killian. I frowned at Walsh.

"That's quite the audacity to say that. We tell each other everything," I said to Walsh.

Killian lifted his head to look upwards and squeezed my hand and pulled it towards the way of our stairway. "We need to set sail, Love. Leave him."

Walsh glared through narrowed eyes at my husband.

I said to Walsh, "We need to go."

That's when I heard Mombi shout, "Emma Swan!"

Walsh sharply turned his head towards the throne room. "She's awake. Run," he said quietly.

"What the hell?" I said, as I parted my lips, realizing we had run out of time.

Walsh replied uneasily, "her original head must've woken up. Alerted them all."

Then I heard screaming, like dozens of women in the opposite direction, through the closet full of heads. I staggered backwards and gripped Killian's hand. He yanked me backwards as we dashed towards the stairway.

I then saw Mombi emerge from the entryway of the throne room, just a dress and legs and feet, no head. She wore a nightgown. She hurried towards her closet of heads, probably to put one on.

Walsh mouthed, "Go."

"Walsh! Find her! And bring her to me!" Her original head screamed, as if attached to her hsoulders, but she wasn't.

My body felt cold with fear.

Killian and I ran up the stairs, panting, and then burst into the tower room.

"Mombi's awake," I said breathlessly as I closed the door. I went over to the gump-head on the new airplane our friends had built. I started shaking the glittery dust all over the gump head and the sofa and wings.

Jack gasped loudly, "I hear her!"

Stanom got inside the sofas which made up a bed with walls. "Get in."

Killian dashed beside me and watched me as I stared at the gump. Nothing happened. It's eyes were still closed. "Nothing's happening," I said in alarm.

Killian pointed a the shaker and said, "Read the magic words, Love."

I read the instructions. At the top it said the incantation. I read the three words and said aloud, "Weeog, teeog, peeog."

I looked at the gump, its eyes opened, green and wide and full of surprise. "What?" it said in a low voice. "Who's there."

Killian held my arm and said, "Climb aboard, Love. Hurry. I can hear someone climbing the stairs out there."

Killian helped me climb inside the sofa vessel, and then he jumped in and held onto me. "Fly!" I told the gump. "Use your wings."

The gump said, "I don't have any wings. I'm a gump."

"Emma Swan!" I heard a female voice shout with rage. That was when the door burst open, and the body of Mombi, wearing a flowing gown and the same wild haired head glared at me with boiling anger. She gritted her teeth. "So, you stole my powder of life. Well, I shall take you head now!" She dashed for us.

"Gump, fly! Now!" I cried as I leaned forward to pat the gump's face. At least it was friendly. "Allright, hold on. Not sure how to…" said Gump. He flapped his eagle wings, and our vessel slowly but surely lifted off the ground.

Mombi grabbed hold of Jack's arm and then the edge of the sofa, but Killian kicked her off and then punched her with his hook, scraping her cheek enough to make a mark. She roared like a wild animal and screamed, "Walsh! Get the Wheelers! After them!"

The gump soared out the window, flapping its wings, as we started to fall but it flapped its wings slowly. I gripped onto Killian. He held on to me tightly and wound his arms around my neck. Jack and Stanom yelled in alarm as we lifted off over the ruins of the courtyard, then the trees, towards the deadly desert.

I sighed and leaned my head onto Killian's shoulder. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and kissed my forehead. "Well done, Love."

I looked back at the castle, which drifted farther away. But as I looked down at the entrance of the castle, I could see the Wheelers all assembling and Mombi watching us, as small as she was, but her deadly stare seemed to pierce through me.

"Well, that was close," said Jack as he shook his pumpkin head.

"Who are you people, anyway?" Gump asked as he flapped his wings faster, learning them quickly. He soared through the crisp night air towards the tall Nome King's Mountain.

"She won't give up," I said with a sigh to Killian as I lifted my head towards the small, but ominous Mombi.

"At least were about to soar over the Deadly Desert," Killian replied. He gathered me in his arms, and I leaned against his chest, feeling worn out but giddy that we had finally escaped. But we still had a long ways to go.

"Yes. Maybe it'll stop her," I replied as I wrapped my arms around my husband, "Someone has to. Before she kills someone else."