p class="MsoNormal"Emma and David walked back over to others to scour for clues as to who was here and what they were up to. Although they left quickly chased off by Mulan and Red most likely, they were organised had an exit strategy hopefully with the stress of danger looming, they may have made a miscalculation./p
p class="MsoNormal""Sorry, about your arm" The man who shot the arrow said to Emma as they walked past, he looked apologetic she could tell he was truthful in his remorse./p
p class="MsoNormal""It's ok, just a scratch" Emma responded holding up her arm as they passed him making their way into the centre of the campsite./p
p class="MsoNormal"David Ignored him, placing his hand gently on Emma's back pushing her passed them. Still feeling a bit annoyed at their presence here wishing they would just leave, if they weren't going to help./p
p class="MsoNormal"Graham was questioning some of them about exactly what they saw and what they were doing out in the woods in the dead of night./p
p class="MsoNormal""Did you know them, the Merry men?" Emma asked David./p
p class="MsoNormal""No, there are so many different people here the curse is still such a mystery, in terms of who was taken to this world" David Responded thoughtfully./p
p class="MsoNormal""So weird" Emma said eyes wide all her friends including her boyfriend where cartoon characters as far as the version of the story she knew, not to mention her parents./p
p class="MsoNormal""What on earth do mean" David replied jokingly./p
p class="MsoNormal""Everyone here is from another world" Emma said thinking for the first time about how many other worlds could be out there to explore./p
p class="MsoNormal""Hard to believe" David replied thinking how little he knew of the world and himself before getting his memories back./p
p class="MsoNormal""Your telling me" Emma responded with a laugh./p
p class="MsoNormal""But you did" David said giving Emma a slight nudge and smiling at her./p
p class="MsoNormal"They continued to look around however there wasn't much to see. The tents where empty but one thing they could tell was whoever it was they didn't want to be found. Unfortunately for campers they were experts in that field./p
p class="MsoNormal""There's nothing here" Emma said defeated she got into a fight with Killian now and it was all for nothing./p
p class="MsoNormal""Covered their tracks well" David replied suspiciously./p
p class="MsoNormal""Must be trying to hide something" Emma replied when David phone started to ring./p
p class="MsoNormal""Stay here a minute, I got a call" David told Emma walking off but staying in eyesight./p
p class="MsoNormal"After searching every corner of the tent she was in, Emma walked out to find Graham standing there looking confused about the information he'd gotten from the merry men./p
p class="MsoNormal""Find anything useful" Emma asked him./p
p class="MsoNormal"Graham shook his head the Merry Men didn't seem to see much off anything from how the explained it, the creature was playing games testing them in a way. Graham was looking around at the tracks some more trying to solve this little mystery./p
p class="MsoNormal""There are about five maybe six tracks around here it's strange" Graham said confused as he had confirmed that the men were not here last night./p
p class="MsoNormal""Yeah, these tents are small looks, like only a few people where here" Emma laughed./p
p class="MsoNormal""I think it was people that chased them away, someone else was here but it wasn't these men" Graham answered as he thought about it so many different parties involved it was hard to keep track./p
p class="MsoNormal""I can't believe you can tell all that from markings on the ground" Emma replied impressed./p
p class="MsoNormal""Yeah I'm a good tracker, I mean obviously a little rusty, didn't realise we had someone tailing us" he replied giving Emma an impressed look./p
p class="MsoNormal""Thought I could help, kind of sick of being 'protected', kept out of things" Emma tried to sound annoyed but the truth was she just didn't know how to responded to it, no one had ever been there for here. Now she had a small army of people telling her what to do where to go./p
p class="MsoNormal""Your parents just want to keep you safe, let you be a kid" Graham responded trying to comfort her./p
p class="MsoNormal""I already know how to take care of myself" Emma replied, Graham chuckled as Emma said that./p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm sure that's what our campers thought but something scared them off" Graham responded with a shrug holding up something in his hand./p
p class="MsoNormal""What's that" Emma pointed to a strange contraption./p
p class="MsoNormal""Not sure it's certainly sophisticated" Graham said looking it over something like a drone but without flying capabilities with motion sensors all over it./p
p class="MsoNormal""So, nothing to do with the Merry Men" Emma replied with a laugh./p
p class="MsoNormal""They found it, looks like some sort of warning system" Graham said thoughtful it was found about five metres away from the campsite. The Merry men picked it on their way over here, but someone else had set it off hours ago and it had self-destructed another dead end./p
p class="MsoNormal""Huh" Emma replied her mind racing as she tried to piece together what may have happened last night, she would have to ask her friends to confirm the story but Emma was putting the finale pieces together./p
p class="MsoNormal"Red and Mulan where tracking the creature but instead found these campers and they must have taken off once they got near alerted by this device. But what would these people have to fear from two teenagers' girls. Even if one was a warrior the other a werewolf, it wasn't even a full moon last night. They had a secret to keep and couldn't risk being seen so they hid./p
p class="MsoNormal"Emma didn't want to tell Graham about her friends' nightly activities though, who knows what kind of trouble they get into so she kept this theory to herself and kept looking around. Emma was thoughtful thinking of what course of action you would take when trying to bug out and destroy any evidence of who was here and what you were doing. If you didn't have a shredder to dispose of your evidence quickly you could always burn it./p
p class="MsoNormal""Has anyone taken a look at the campfire?" Emma asked Graham./p
p class="MsoNormal""Not much to look at, nothing but embers left" Graham responded/p
p class="MsoNormal"Emma walked over she had a hunch and she would see it through she believed that even if she had no idea how to how to handle being a girlfriend or a daughter. If there was one thing, she was master at was finding a good distraction./p
p class="MsoNormal""Careful" Graham said realising what Emma was doing as she headed in the direction of the fire./p
p class="MsoNormal"Emma grabbed a long sturdy stick she found and pocked at the embers; she could see the shape of something not like the other bits of wood in the fire the surface although burnt beyond recognition it was clearly the backing of a book./p
p class="MsoNormal""There is something here" Emma said somewhat enthusiastically span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal""That's good Emma you found a clue" Graham came closer as she moved some over the wood out of the way to see it clearer./p
p class="MsoNormal""Hopefully" Emma answered/p
p class="MsoNormal"She carefully picked it up using the stick to take a closer look. The pages long gone but the cover must have been coated in something non-flammable to keep it looking nice. It was defiantly worse for wear; however, the title of the book was still clear. Emma wiped away the soot and could see the words that had been embroidered in the cover remained./p
p class="MsoNormal""Tales of the depraved spirit" Emma read sceptically aloud and frowning. It seemed to be a reference to the creature./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"So, I found nothing" Emma said after a long silence./p
p class="MsoNormal""No, they threw that book into the fire for a reason Emma, it must be important whoever did this was afraid if they were caught, we would find that" Graham reassured her./p
p class="MsoNormal""Yeah I guess" Emma agreed, couldn't argue with that logic./p
p class="MsoNormal""Seriously, your pretty good at this" Graham replied smiling./p
p class="MsoNormal""Hey, did you guys find something" David said coming over to them./p
p class="MsoNormal""Just another confusing clue" Emma told him as she walked over./p
p class="MsoNormal""Want to look around for more?" David asked Emma/p
p class="MsoNormal""I think that's all were going to get from here" Emma responded getting up off the ground her clothes now covered on soot./p
p class="MsoNormal""You guys take the car, I'll walk back with our merry men make sure they head home, last thing we want is a bunch of vigilantes getting themselves into trouble" Graham said getting ready to head out./p
p class="MsoNormal""You sure, you can trust to be alone with them?" David asked Graham./p
p class="MsoNormal""Trust takes time and we also need to earn there's; I feel they will make good allies, if they can learn to keep their cool" Graham responded./p
p class="MsoNormal""Yeah, just tell them to check twice before they send an arrow flying next time" David responded./p
p class="MsoNormal""Can't make promises, but I'll try" Graham said somewhat chuckling as he walked of, David wasn't going to forget this incident anytime soon he'd better try harder to smooth things over, they needed all the help they could get./p
p class="MsoNormal""We should get going" David looked to Emma with concern as she was now not only covered in blood but also soot from the fire./p
p class="MsoNormal"David took of rather quickly walking back to the car they had about at least an hour walk if Emma was remembering correctly and they wouldn't be able to keep up this pace./p
p class="MsoNormal""You seem to be in a hurry" Emma paused realising who had called "You told her didn't you" Emma said referring to Mary Margret./p
p class="MsoNormal""Hey, don't look at me like that, I tell her everything" David responded with a smile./p
p class="MsoNormal""Does this mean I'm in for another lecture" Emma groaned./p
p class="MsoNormal""No but I could do with some pie and the bakery will close soon" David replied trying to lighten the mood./p
p class="MsoNormal""Ughh don't talk about pie, I'm starving" Emma said as her stomach chimed in with a small churning sound in agreement, as she realised with all the excitement she hadn't eaten or really slept today./p
p class="MsoNormal""Better get some into you then" David replied smiling./p
p class="MsoNormal""Right" Emma answered as they walked to the car./p
p class="MsoNormal""And there will be no more running off alone" David reminded her./p
p class="MsoNormal""You know that's not the only reason I came" Emma said ready for more confession time./p
p class="MsoNormal""It wasn't?" David responded confused./p
p class="MsoNormal""I guess I was worried" Emma said she paused thoughtful "I mean what if it was here and you..." Emma trailed off./p
div style="mso-element: para-border-div; border: none; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;"
p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; padding: 0cm; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;""I'm not going anywhere" David smiled putting his hand on Emma's shoulder as they walked back to the truck together./p
/div
p class="MsoNormal""Sorry, about your arm" The man who shot the arrow said to Emma as they walked past, he looked apologetic she could tell he was truthful in his remorse./p
p class="MsoNormal""It's ok, just a scratch" Emma responded holding up her arm as they passed him making their way into the centre of the campsite./p
p class="MsoNormal"David Ignored him, placing his hand gently on Emma's back pushing her passed them. Still feeling a bit annoyed at their presence here wishing they would just leave, if they weren't going to help./p
p class="MsoNormal"Graham was questioning some of them about exactly what they saw and what they were doing out in the woods in the dead of night./p
p class="MsoNormal""Did you know them, the Merry men?" Emma asked David./p
p class="MsoNormal""No, there are so many different people here the curse is still such a mystery, in terms of who was taken to this world" David Responded thoughtfully./p
p class="MsoNormal""So weird" Emma said eyes wide all her friends including her boyfriend where cartoon characters as far as the version of the story she knew, not to mention her parents./p
p class="MsoNormal""What on earth do mean" David replied jokingly./p
p class="MsoNormal""Everyone here is from another world" Emma said thinking for the first time about how many other worlds could be out there to explore./p
p class="MsoNormal""Hard to believe" David replied thinking how little he knew of the world and himself before getting his memories back./p
p class="MsoNormal""Your telling me" Emma responded with a laugh./p
p class="MsoNormal""But you did" David said giving Emma a slight nudge and smiling at her./p
p class="MsoNormal"They continued to look around however there wasn't much to see. The tents where empty but one thing they could tell was whoever it was they didn't want to be found. Unfortunately for campers they were experts in that field./p
p class="MsoNormal""There's nothing here" Emma said defeated she got into a fight with Killian now and it was all for nothing./p
p class="MsoNormal""Covered their tracks well" David replied suspiciously./p
p class="MsoNormal""Must be trying to hide something" Emma replied when David phone started to ring./p
p class="MsoNormal""Stay here a minute, I got a call" David told Emma walking off but staying in eyesight./p
p class="MsoNormal"After searching every corner of the tent she was in, Emma walked out to find Graham standing there looking confused about the information he'd gotten from the merry men./p
p class="MsoNormal""Find anything useful" Emma asked him./p
p class="MsoNormal"Graham shook his head the Merry Men didn't seem to see much off anything from how the explained it, the creature was playing games testing them in a way. Graham was looking around at the tracks some more trying to solve this little mystery./p
p class="MsoNormal""There are about five maybe six tracks around here it's strange" Graham said confused as he had confirmed that the men were not here last night./p
p class="MsoNormal""Yeah, these tents are small looks, like only a few people where here" Emma laughed./p
p class="MsoNormal""I think it was people that chased them away, someone else was here but it wasn't these men" Graham answered as he thought about it so many different parties involved it was hard to keep track./p
p class="MsoNormal""I can't believe you can tell all that from markings on the ground" Emma replied impressed./p
p class="MsoNormal""Yeah I'm a good tracker, I mean obviously a little rusty, didn't realise we had someone tailing us" he replied giving Emma an impressed look./p
p class="MsoNormal""Thought I could help, kind of sick of being 'protected', kept out of things" Emma tried to sound annoyed but the truth was she just didn't know how to responded to it, no one had ever been there for here. Now she had a small army of people telling her what to do where to go./p
p class="MsoNormal""Your parents just want to keep you safe, let you be a kid" Graham responded trying to comfort her./p
p class="MsoNormal""I already know how to take care of myself" Emma replied, Graham chuckled as Emma said that./p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm sure that's what our campers thought but something scared them off" Graham responded with a shrug holding up something in his hand./p
p class="MsoNormal""What's that" Emma pointed to a strange contraption./p
p class="MsoNormal""Not sure it's certainly sophisticated" Graham said looking it over something like a drone but without flying capabilities with motion sensors all over it./p
p class="MsoNormal""So, nothing to do with the Merry Men" Emma replied with a laugh./p
p class="MsoNormal""They found it, looks like some sort of warning system" Graham said thoughtful it was found about five metres away from the campsite. The Merry men picked it on their way over here, but someone else had set it off hours ago and it had self-destructed another dead end./p
p class="MsoNormal""Huh" Emma replied her mind racing as she tried to piece together what may have happened last night, she would have to ask her friends to confirm the story but Emma was putting the finale pieces together./p
p class="MsoNormal"Red and Mulan where tracking the creature but instead found these campers and they must have taken off once they got near alerted by this device. But what would these people have to fear from two teenagers' girls. Even if one was a warrior the other a werewolf, it wasn't even a full moon last night. They had a secret to keep and couldn't risk being seen so they hid./p
p class="MsoNormal"Emma didn't want to tell Graham about her friends' nightly activities though, who knows what kind of trouble they get into so she kept this theory to herself and kept looking around. Emma was thoughtful thinking of what course of action you would take when trying to bug out and destroy any evidence of who was here and what you were doing. If you didn't have a shredder to dispose of your evidence quickly you could always burn it./p
p class="MsoNormal""Has anyone taken a look at the campfire?" Emma asked Graham./p
p class="MsoNormal""Not much to look at, nothing but embers left" Graham responded/p
p class="MsoNormal"Emma walked over she had a hunch and she would see it through she believed that even if she had no idea how to how to handle being a girlfriend or a daughter. If there was one thing, she was master at was finding a good distraction./p
p class="MsoNormal""Careful" Graham said realising what Emma was doing as she headed in the direction of the fire./p
p class="MsoNormal"Emma grabbed a long sturdy stick she found and pocked at the embers; she could see the shape of something not like the other bits of wood in the fire the surface although burnt beyond recognition it was clearly the backing of a book./p
p class="MsoNormal""There is something here" Emma said somewhat enthusiastically span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal""That's good Emma you found a clue" Graham came closer as she moved some over the wood out of the way to see it clearer./p
p class="MsoNormal""Hopefully" Emma answered/p
p class="MsoNormal"She carefully picked it up using the stick to take a closer look. The pages long gone but the cover must have been coated in something non-flammable to keep it looking nice. It was defiantly worse for wear; however, the title of the book was still clear. Emma wiped away the soot and could see the words that had been embroidered in the cover remained./p
p class="MsoNormal""Tales of the depraved spirit" Emma read sceptically aloud and frowning. It seemed to be a reference to the creature./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"So, I found nothing" Emma said after a long silence./p
p class="MsoNormal""No, they threw that book into the fire for a reason Emma, it must be important whoever did this was afraid if they were caught, we would find that" Graham reassured her./p
p class="MsoNormal""Yeah I guess" Emma agreed, couldn't argue with that logic./p
p class="MsoNormal""Seriously, your pretty good at this" Graham replied smiling./p
p class="MsoNormal""Hey, did you guys find something" David said coming over to them./p
p class="MsoNormal""Just another confusing clue" Emma told him as she walked over./p
p class="MsoNormal""Want to look around for more?" David asked Emma/p
p class="MsoNormal""I think that's all were going to get from here" Emma responded getting up off the ground her clothes now covered on soot./p
p class="MsoNormal""You guys take the car, I'll walk back with our merry men make sure they head home, last thing we want is a bunch of vigilantes getting themselves into trouble" Graham said getting ready to head out./p
p class="MsoNormal""You sure, you can trust to be alone with them?" David asked Graham./p
p class="MsoNormal""Trust takes time and we also need to earn there's; I feel they will make good allies, if they can learn to keep their cool" Graham responded./p
p class="MsoNormal""Yeah, just tell them to check twice before they send an arrow flying next time" David responded./p
p class="MsoNormal""Can't make promises, but I'll try" Graham said somewhat chuckling as he walked of, David wasn't going to forget this incident anytime soon he'd better try harder to smooth things over, they needed all the help they could get./p
p class="MsoNormal""We should get going" David looked to Emma with concern as she was now not only covered in blood but also soot from the fire./p
p class="MsoNormal"David took of rather quickly walking back to the car they had about at least an hour walk if Emma was remembering correctly and they wouldn't be able to keep up this pace./p
p class="MsoNormal""You seem to be in a hurry" Emma paused realising who had called "You told her didn't you" Emma said referring to Mary Margret./p
p class="MsoNormal""Hey, don't look at me like that, I tell her everything" David responded with a smile./p
p class="MsoNormal""Does this mean I'm in for another lecture" Emma groaned./p
p class="MsoNormal""No but I could do with some pie and the bakery will close soon" David replied trying to lighten the mood./p
p class="MsoNormal""Ughh don't talk about pie, I'm starving" Emma said as her stomach chimed in with a small churning sound in agreement, as she realised with all the excitement she hadn't eaten or really slept today./p
p class="MsoNormal""Better get some into you then" David replied smiling./p
p class="MsoNormal""Right" Emma answered as they walked to the car./p
p class="MsoNormal""And there will be no more running off alone" David reminded her./p
p class="MsoNormal""You know that's not the only reason I came" Emma said ready for more confession time./p
p class="MsoNormal""It wasn't?" David responded confused./p
p class="MsoNormal""I guess I was worried" Emma said she paused thoughtful "I mean what if it was here and you..." Emma trailed off./p
div style="mso-element: para-border-div; border: none; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;"
p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; padding: 0cm; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;""I'm not going anywhere" David smiled putting his hand on Emma's shoulder as they walked back to the truck together./p
/div