"Can you hear me, Mr. Herman?" Mr. Deley's voice demanded in his classroom once he saw one student best known for slacking off in his class whenever he got the chance.
Chad blinked before he seemed to wake up. "Yeah. Totally. Gotcha, Mr. D," he then answered with a confident grin. "You were saying how the universe revolves around the son."
"...Well, yes, actually," Mr. Deley said, surprised that Chad had gotten that right. "What made you come to that conclusion?"
"Well, I'm the younger brother in my family so I get all of the attention," Chad smirked boastfully. "That makes me the son, so the universe in my house revolves around me!"
"Oh, dear..." Mr. Deley groaned as some of the other students laughed at that before he shook his head at the blonde boy. "Count on me thinking Chad Herman would qualify as a class genius for once," he then mumbled to himself before speaking aloud. "Anyone else?"
A few students held up their hands, waiting patiently to be called on.
"Yes, Mr. Clark?" Mr. Deley then called upon the bespectacled boy in his classroom.
"You were telling us about Sirius," Doug answered as he stood up from his seat and put his hand down as he pushed back his glasses. "The Dog Star which is the brightest star in Earth's night sky and the name also means 'glowing' in Greek."
"Correct," Mr. Deley nodded at him, prompting the boy to sit back down in his seat before looking at Chad. "Did you get all of that, Mr. Herman?"
"Yes... Yes, I did..." Chad replied. "I even know about one star in the sky that you might know too, Mr. Deley."
"Oh? Well... Go ahead and make my day." Mr. Deley then said, trying his hardest not to be too condescending even though Chad being in his class was a frustrating experience for him.
"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star... How I wonder what you are~" Chad then started to sing out loud.
Other students then began to laugh a little at that.
"Up above the world so high... Like a diamond in the sky~" Evie soon added before giggling.
"Good one!" Chad smirked at her.
The other students, except for maybe Doug, then started to laugh before they felt startled as Mr. Deley slammed a ruler against his board to make them shut up.
"Miss Mills, I expect much better from you to disrupt class like that, so I'll give you a warning," Mr. Deley glared firmly which made Evie shift in her seat and her stomach turn before facing Chad. "As for you, Mr. Herman, perhaps you'd like to drop out of school and become a stand-up comedian if you think you're so funny."
"No more school? Doesn't sound too bad for me." Chad smirked.
Mr. Deley groaned and shook his head. "Let's just try to get back to our lesson," he then said as he came to the blackboard and took out his chalk. "Now, I want you all to read these chapters from your Astronomy books before Friday because there's going to be a field trip..." he then started to say as Doug wasted no time in jotting down some notes while many other students, especially Chad, stared off into space (no pun intended).
Chad soon blinked as he had an idea as he looked at Evie who also took notes, looking very thoughtful. He then smirked as he took out a scrap of paper and decided to write on it before he had the other students pass the note on over to Evie. The other students whispered and passed it along and Evie quickly lifted up her textbook and snatched the note. Mr. Deley felt triggered somehow before he turned around to his class with a firm glare. The students just looked innocent while Evie peeked up from her textbook while hiding her hands with the note so that he wouldn't notice the note passing.
Mr. Deley then shrugged before he turned back to the board and continued to write down their homework and telling them more about their astronomy unit. "Yap, yap, yap, blah, blah, blah, blah... Yap, yap, yap..." he then said, what the teenagers, thought he sounded like as he continued the lesson.
Evie then took out the note and read it to herself before she beamed and blushed. "Meet me at the bleachers after lunch". She then folded up the note and decided to put it in a safe place before she sighed dreamily. Chad smirked warmly at her as he waved from his table as Mr. Deley continued the lesson until the next bell would ring.
Eventually, the bell rang and the students shifted in their seats, but they were smart enough to know not to get up right away. After all, the bell didn't dismiss the students, the teachers did.
"Hold on," Mr. Deley told the students before he handed them slips of paper. "You're all going to need permission slips for Friday."
"Sweet... A field trip and a permission slip," Chad smirked. "The old 'Get out of Class Free' card."
Evie giggled a little to that, blushing as she glanced at Chad while Doug just rolled his eyes. It was soon after lunch and Evie kept to her promise as she hid out under the football field bleachers and looked around before smiling as Chad was coming over.
"So... I'm a busy guy as you can probably imagine," Chad smirked smugly at Evie. "Mind doing some homework for me?"
"You're not mad that Henry interrupted our study date, are you?" Evie asked as she put her hand to her face. "I'm really sorry about that."
"Oh, no, no, it's fine..." Chad reassured before smirking. "I just need my homework to be caught up and I don't wanna lose my position on the teams around here. You understand, right?"
"Oh... You could lose your teams if you don't keep up with your homework?" Evie then asked.
"I knew you'd understand, Eva," Chad beamed as he grinned at her. "So yeah... Mind doing a little bit of my homework? Just make sure you don't dot your I's with hearts so the teachers don't suspect anything. 'Kay, Babe?"
"Oh... Uh... Okay..." Evie said before nodding. "You did well on your notes so far..."
"Notes? Ah, yes, right... My notes..." Chad said before groaning. "Only thing I'm not looking forward to is this astronomy field trip on Friday night... It can't even be during school?"
"Uh... Well... Mr. Deley wants us to have a good view of the stars and planets out there," Evie said bashfully with a shrug. "It should be a lot of fun at least, right?"
"...Yeah, I guess," Chad scoffed and shrugged before smirking as he reached into his backpack to give Evie some homework supplies. "Thanks. You're the best. This way I'll definitely be able to stay on my teams and keep up my academics so Dad knows that school is as easy as 1-2-C."
"Erm... C is a letter, not a number." Evie told him with a small, amused smirk.
"Oh, I knew that, I was just testing you," Chad chuckled. "Thanks. So, laters! Hope you don't mind the extra workload."
"Uh... No, I guess not..." Evie smiled softly. "Erm... Don't worry, Chad. I won't let you down!" she then called out as Chad suddenly decided to leave before she sighed a bit.
Doug appeared to be playing Chess by himself as he looked a bit annoyed that he could see what Chad was doing to Evie, but she couldn't see it even though she was very smart as well as pretty. No, to him, she was more than pretty. She was very beautiful, almost as beautiful as her rather scary, yet powerful mother. He had to do something to help Evie somehow, but what?
Some time had passed. Regina had urgent business away from home, so she asked Evie for a favor. Luckily Evie didn't mind this favor at all, though she felt bad that this had to happen to her little brother due to his wild imagination getting away from him with him believing that everybody is under a curse and they just don't remember who they are or where they came from before Storybrooke.
"I'm sorry your study date with Chad got ruined, but you didn't need to worry about me," Henry's voice spoke to his older sister as she came with him to his weekly therapy session with Dr. Hopper as Regina was busy. "I would've been fine. Emma was with me. You know that."
"Oh, I know, Henry, but no matter what happens you're always going to be my baby brother I promised to protect from danger and bullies," Evie said softly. "You're not getting bullied in school, right?" she then asked to check, raising an eyebrow at him curiously.
"No... No one's ever bullied me in school," Henry shook his head. "I think everybody's too afraid of Mom to do that. Plus not a lot of other kids wanna be my friend."
"Well... What about Dee Dee?" Evie reminded. "She seems like a nice girl."
"She does seem interesting," Henry nodded. "I guess I could try talking to her."
"Yes, that sounds like a good idea," Evie smiled warmly. "Get some time to get to know her better and maybe if you'd like, Mom could let you invite her over sometime. We could have dinner and you guys could play or something."
"Well... What about you?" Henry asked his sister then. "You don't have many friends in school. Weren't you friends with Ben Gold at some point?" he then added.
"Well... Yeah... But that was a long time ago," Evie replied. "It just happens, Henry, like I told you. It's apart of growing up sometimes."
Henry looked curious before looking over as the door soon opened.
"Henry, you can come in now," Dr. Hopper smiled at the boy before looking over. "Oh. Good evening, Evie."
"Good evening, Dr. Hopper," Evie smiled back. "How's Pongo?"
"He's fine, thank you," Dr. Hopper chuckled. "You know what they say about dogs being man's best friend."
"I'll take your word for it," Evie giggled before she stood up. "All right, Henry. I'll probably come back for you after an hour, okay?"
"Okay, Evie," Henry said as he stood up to go and join the redheaded man. "See ya later."
"Later." Evie nodded as she waved at him, then walked off to leave the therapy office.
Dr. Hopper then went to go inside with Henry so that they could talk while Evie pondered on what else to do with her free time. Evie looked around before she squinted her eyes a little at one of the houses. She thought she saw Dee Dee from Henry's class opening and closing the front door before she looked around to make sure that no one saw her as she seemed to be going off to Granny's Diner all alone. What would a girl Dee Dee's age be doing outside on her own and without any parents or guardians? However, there was a loud explosion that suddenly pulled Evie right out of her reverie and she gasped and yelped, nearly falling right down on the sidewalk as she clutched her heart and stumbled as she ended up on her knees.
"What the heck was that...?" Evie muttered to herself as she tried to help herself up before seeing Graham's car speed by. "Oh, man... Looks like trouble... Okay... Give me a sign... Should I go check it out or just go back home?" she then asked herself before taking out a coin. Heads she would go, Tails she would head home. She soon flicked the coin from her thumb and watched it as it landed in her palm before she planted the coin on her hand to see George Washington's face to see her answer to her own question. "...Well, all right. Mom, don't be mad at me, okay?" she then said to herself before walking off as she knew where to go right now.
Soon, nearly everyone in town, even the other teenagers had gathered around the old abandoned mine of Storybrooke. The sheriff's car soon made it over and there were shouting men from the construction crew as the mine seemed to explode somehow.
"Wait 'til everyone in school sees this tomorrow." Jordan smirked as she took out her phone to take pictures of the site.
Soon, Regina was arriving in her own car as she rushed to the scene of the crime. "Everyone step back please!" she then called out urgently after she left her car door.
"Is that a crater?" Ruby wondered.
"No. There were tunnels, uh, old mines, something collapsed." Marco responded urgently.
"Whatever it is, it's cool," Mal smirked. "This boring old town just got interesting."
"Totally." Jay added before looking over.
Mal glanced over and rolled her eyes. "Great. Princess Evie has arrived." she then complained.
"Oh, I-I-I dunno... She seems nice?" Carlos smiled sheepishly.
"Shut up." Mal glared at him.
Carlos then pouted while Jay snickered at him.
"You too." Mal then told Jay firmly.
"Uh, hey, guys," Evie said as she came over. "What's going on here?"
"We're flying kites," Mal rolled her eyes. "What does it look like that's going on? Something exploded in the mines!"
"Gosh... I always thought those mines were abandoned..." Evie blinked and looked thoughtful. "I wonder what could've happened?"
"Your guess is as good as mine," Mal shrugged until she realized what she said. "Pun... Not intended." she then said.
"Be careful, step back," Regina commanded to the citizens of Storybrooke before seeing Graham and Emma. "Sheriff, set up a police perimeter. Marco, why don't you help with the fire department?" she then commanded before looking at Emma. "Miss Swan, this is now official town business. You're free to go." she then simply stated.
"Well, actually I work for the town now." Emma clarified bravely.
Regina then shot a look at Graham as she knew he had to be responsible for that.
"She's my new deputy." Graham then explained.
"They say the mayor's always last to know." Regina replied with an icy smirk.
"It's in my budget." Graham retorted bravely.
"Indeed," Regina replied as she gave him another look before facing Emma. "Deputy, why don't you make yourself useful and help with crowd control?" she then suggested before speaking aloud to the crowd. "People of Storybrooke, don't be alarmed. We've always known this area was honeycombed with old mining tunnels, but fear not. I'm going to undertake a project to make this area safe, to rehabilitate it to city use. We will bulldoze it, collapse it, pave it." she then began to tell them as Henry and Dr. Hopper suddenly arrived from the latter's office.
"Pave it?" Henry repeated in concern.
"Henry..." Evie murmured before rushing over to her little brother, passing by Mal, Jay, and Carlos.
"What if there's something down there?" Henry then continued which earned the attention of their mother.
"Henry, what are you doing here?" Regina whispered firmly. "I thought I told Evie to take you to Dr. Hopper."
"What's down there?" Henry whispered back.
"Nothing. Now step back," Regina demanded before she spoke up to the crowd then. "In fact everyone please, please step back. Thank you."
"Let's go boys." A man in the crowd told the others before everybody else stepped back as Jordan took pictures to share with her school by tomorrow since she was in charge of the newspaper there like her father was with the town's newspaper.
Regina then picked something up from the ground before she tried to hide it.
"What was that?" Henry then asked Regina.
"Henry, enough. Listen, this is a safety issue now wait in the car with your sister," Regina demanded before facing Emma and Graham as she barked orders at them. "Deputy Swan, Sheriff, cordon off the area."
Evie soon walked over and ran into Henry as they both began to look for each other before she was very relieved to see him. "Oh, Henry... Thank goodness you're safe." she then said with a small smile as she put her hand over her heart in strong relief.
"Yeah, I'm okay," Henry said Evie started to hug him very tightly and even kissed his cheeks in a maternal/sisterly fashion. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Evie said with a small smile. "Hopefully Mom can finish what she's doing now so that we can go home."
"I saw something in Mom's pocket," Henry said on the way back to the car. "I'm not sure what it was, but it seemed important."
"Oh? What was it?" Evie wondered.
"I don't know... Something shiny." Henry said before shrugging.
"Hmm... Maybe it was just a compact mirror?" Evie suggested before they came to wait in the car together. "Don't worry about it though."
Henry looked thoughtful, but Evie could tell that he wasn't going to stop worrying or forget his suspicions about their mother. The Mills siblings waited in the car while Evie decided to check how she looked in her phone camera, licking her teeth as she made sure they were shiny and pearly white.
"Hey, there's Archie," Henry soon told his older sister. "We need his help."
"We do?" Evie asked while looking at her reflection. "I believe Mom said to wait in the car and we should be responsible siblings and do the right thing and-" she then began to lecture before looking in her backseat before sighing sharply as she unbuckled her seatbelt and went off after Henry. "Gee, kid, who were you in The Enchanted Forest, The White Rabbit?" she then mumbled thickly in deadpan.
"Hey, Archie. Over here," Henry called before he gestured to the redheaded man before Emma looked over from rolling around yellow tape around the site of the mine and decided to join in as they came behind Regina's car. "This requires all of Operation: Cobra... Both of you." he then informed.
"Typical." Evie sighed to herself as she caught up with her little brother, looking between Dr. Hopper and Emma, nodding her head at them.
"I didn't realize I was in Operation: Cobra." Dr. Hopper remarked.
"Of course you are, you know everything," Henry told him before looking at Emma. "We can't let her do this. What if there's something down there?" he then rhetorically asked.
"They're just some old tunnels." Emma replied.
"That just happen to collapse right after you get here?" Henry retorted.
"...That is pretty crazy coincidental when you think about it, Miss Swan." Evie commented.
"Yeah," Henry nodded in agreement to Emma. "You're changing things. You're weakening the curse."
"That's not what's happening." Emma muttered in response.
Evie rolled her eyes before glancing at the blonde woman. "Humor him a little, why don't you?" she then suggested. "Has anything different happened to you today?"
Emma didn't say anything to that, though she did reach down to the new badge that Graham had given her.
"Children... I told you to wait in the car." Regina spoke firmly as she came from behind.
Evie flinched as her mother's voice gave her frigid chills suddenly before she put her arm around Henry to rush back over to the car.
"Deputy, do your job," Regina then demanded to Emma before stopping the redheaded man who began to walk away. "Dr. Hopper a word, please?" she then requested as he approached her and she got straight to the point. "Okay, we're done with this."
"Uh, excuse me?" Dr. Hopper replied.
"My son. We need a new treatment plan. Everything I do he thinks is part of some horrible plot," Regina explained firmly and urgently. "I can't cover up a safety hazard without him thinking I'm hiding something. How am I hiding something terrible in an old mine? How is any of this logical to him? I think his sister is even getting involved with this." she then demanded.
"He's got an amazing imagination." Dr. Hopper defended calmly.
"Yes, that you let run rampant." Regina scoffed as she narrowed her eyes.
"Well I think it would be wrong to rip away the world he's constructed," Dr. Hopper then said, trying to remain calm. "I'd rather use it to try and get-"
"Sometimes I think you've forgotten," Regina interrupted sternly. "YOU work for ME. You're an employee, and I can fire you. This is MY town. You will lose your office, lose your house. I can cut you down to size until you're a tiny, shrunken little creature, and this will be the only roof over your damn head." she then listed before grabbing his black umbrella.
"...What would you have me do?" Dr. Hopper then asked softly.
"You take that delusion out of my son's head, and you crush it." Regina told him firmly and strongly before she left the living conscience to think over what she just said as she stormed off into the night.
There was another long day of school, especially with Jordan telling everyone on her podcast for the school website about the craziness that happened in the mine last night. Evie just rolled her eyes and groaned a bit as she tried to ignore attention from other students while keeping a hopeful look on her face to run into Magda, Amalie, and Scarlet so that she could probably finally become an official Pinkette like them. However, she looked at the cafeteria tables outside and found that Doug was playing Chess by himself again and shrugged as she decided to hang out with him a bit to get away from the ruckus that was last night's mine mishaps.
"Can you teach me how to play?" Evie asked sweetly from across Doug's board as he concentrated on his next move.
That was, however, until Doug looked up in surprise as his eyes widened and he looked bashful at the dark-haired girl. "Uh... I'd be happy to!" he then said with a nervous smile before he began to move the pieces across the board in the proper way. "The first thing you must always remember is that Chess is all about simple strategy. Defeating your opponent by out moving them and outthinking them at any maneuver."
Evie smiled and nodded as she bonded with Doug a bit more as he seemed to harbor special feelings deep on the inside, but did his best to keep them to himself. "So the queen is the most important Chess piece?" she then asked.
"Next to the king, yes." Doug then nodded at her.
Evie smiled, seeming to enjoy hanging out with Doug so far. She just hoped that Magda, Amalie, or Scarlet wouldn't catch her out with him like this. After it was time for class to start, Chad seemed to be lurking around the hallways. Evie beamed and blushed at the sight of him while Doug just rolled his eyes, though he seemed to suspect something funny about Chad and I'm not just talking about his hair.
When the school day ended, Evie came home and looked over as Henry was looking up from a notebook he had.
"Evie. You're home." Henry smiled.
"Hey, Henry," Evie said softly. "I have quite a lot of homework to catch up on so we'll have to play later, okay?"
"Aww..." Henry pouted a little.
"Hello, Evie. How was school?" Regina asked as she came by to her daughter.
"Same old song and dance," Evie said, sounding exhausted before she took out a slip of paper. "Mr. Deley says to sign this slip. We're going to head not too far away from the mine site."
"The mine site?" Regina asked in concern. "On a Friday night?"
"Yeah, it's gonna be a stargazing field trip," Evie explained. "We're gonna take notes on the stars or anything else we see."
"Sounds educational," Regina said as she signed her name on the slip. "Permission granted."
"Great..." Evie nodded as she accepted the slip.
"You get to go on a stargazing trip?" Henry asked in amazement. "Can I go with you on the field trip, Evie?"
Evie laughed a little bit. "I wouldn't mind if you could go instead of me," she then explained quietly. "It's not even during school, it's on Friday night."
"Wow... Teenagers on a field trip on a Friday night..." Henry commented. "What is this sick, sad world coming to?"
"I have no idea," Evie scoffed a bit before smirking. "Anyway, I'm gonna head to my room and do some quick homework. You can tell me about your day probably before dinner, Mr. Deley's been brutal with his assignments lately so we don't 'screw up' this field trip like the last one where he ended up crying in the bathroom and asking his mother why she was punishing him."
"Man... High school teachers have it rough," Henry commented. "Ms. Blanchard would never do that to us."
"Such a simple time, Ms. Blanchard's class," Evie smiled warmly as Regina scowled in the background at the mention of the other woman. "Anyway... I gotta go."
"Okay, Evie..." Henry said softly as he let his sister get going to her room before he was alone again, though he decided to go back to his notebook with top-secret information on it.
Evie soon came into her room and did some hardcore studying as she brought out her books. Mr. Deley was being very hectic about their studies lately and she just hoped that she would be able to catch up. Luckily, Mr. Deley's class was easy for Evie compared to most other classes she had, such as cooking, though it was still hard and she smiled once she saw the nine, though currently eight, planets in The Solar System and tried to remember a trick from childhood. She took out a scrap of paper and wrote down the planets before she covered her hand over the other letters in the planet name next to the starting letter, such as the A-R-T-H from "Earth" before she remembered something and thought that it would also help out Chad for their next study date if he wanted it. She then began to do her own homework before gasping as she went to do Chad's homework too and it would take up quite a lot of her time, but she thought it would be worth it in the end.
Finally, it was time for the field trip. Mr. Deley had his class coming over to the mine and began to remind them about how it would be perfect to witness and examine the stars when it would get dark and getting food from Granny's Diner for dinner and reminded them to keep track of their money. The students began to leave the buses once they showed up at the mine and Mr. Deley began to rally them all up as they chattered among each other.
"All right. All right. Pipe down," Mr. Deley told his students as he stood in front of them. "Now it'll be sunset very soon and one of our students has volunteered to bring in his very own telescope to share with you all tonight. Mr. Clark?" he then prompted.
Doug stumbled out from the bus with a sheepish and nervous smile as he waved at his peers. The others looked slightly annoyed by him as he came to get it set up.
"Now, I want you all to take turns and look through the telescope once it gets dark," Mr. Deley told them. "No pushing or shoving and if any damage comes to this telescope for any reason, you're paying for it and I don't care who you are. It'll be dark soon, but I want you all to find 10 different things through the telescope and once we're all done, we'll go to Granny's Diner for a late dinner before you're all dropped off back home."
The students still muttered to themselves, though some of them did look hopeful and excited about the idea of getting to go out at Granny's with whatever food they wanted afterward.
"Please no flash photography," Mr. Deley then continued. "We want to experience complete and total darkness until the stars come out and you'll be able to see some planets in the night sky... If you're lucky."
"That doesn't sound so bad," Chad smirked before he raised his hand. "Excuse me, Mr. Deley? How long does it take for stars to come out in the sky after sunset?"
Mr. Deley rolled his eyes. "Can someone answer Mr. Herman's question for him despite us talking about it last week?" he then prompted his students. "Anyone? Anyone?"
Evie soon raised her hand.
"Miss Mills?" Mr. Deley then called on her.
"It takes anywhere from 70 to 100 minutes for it to get dark after sunset," Evie replied. "The further north you are, the longer it takes for true darkness to arrive after sundown."
"Once again, correct." Mr. Deley then nodded.
Chad then smirked at Evie to which she giggled bashfully at his smirk. Unknown to anyone, something was going on with the mine as they came to get settled and Evie looked wide-eyed and deeply concerned as she felt something not quite right. Her stomach turned and her face paled a bit at the sight of Emma as she and Archie seemed to be looking among the mine. She then looked around and wandered from her field trip a bit as she had to see just what was going on since she trusted Emma, even if Emma was being a buzzkill about Henry's little obsession with fairy tales lately.
"Henry! Henry!" Emma's voice called.
"Henry!" Archie added.
Evie soon rushed over to them as she looked around. "Hey, guys." she then greeted the two adults calmly.
"Evie?" Emma and Archie asked.
"Yeah... So... Good to see you too... I'm sure your families are well," Evie smiled, pretending like there was an actual conversation going on. "So, long story short, yadda yadda yadda... What's going on here?"
"Shouldn't you be in school or something, Evie?" Emma asked almost suspiciously.
"I'm on a field trip, but that's not the hot issue," Evie replied bravely. "What's going on around here and why are you calling out for my little brother?"
"Uh..." Emma and Archie paused, not really sure how to explain or tell this sort of news to Evie.
Pongo was soon sniffing around as he came right into the mines.
"...And why is Pongo going to the mines?" Evie then asked.
"It's a bit of a long story," Emma said with a sigh as Archie came to tend to his dog. "Henry's vanished."
"He's missing?" Evie asked with wide eyes. "He's gone?!"
"Um... Well... Erm..." Emma stammered.
"I think that Henry is here." Archie said as he came back after seeing Pongo.
"Oh, yeah? What makes you say that?" Emma then asked him. "Because I don't think that he's here."
"I have evidence," Archie said before picking up an Apollo bar. "Candy bar. He had these with him."
"Does Henry eat those?" Emma then asked Evie.
"Henry doesn't like candy much, but that does sound like him," Evie nodded. "Then he must be here and I'm going to help you guys look for him."
"You?" Archie and Emma asked.
"I won't tell Mom what's going on if you let me help," Evie firmly insisted. "He's my little brother. I've been looking after him his whole life. Besides, it's not like your fault that he ran away."
Archie then suddenly looked very guilty.
"...Oh, my gosh," Evie said lowly before she firmly pouted and looked angry for once, but luckily it didn't last. "I don't know what you did, but right now I don't care. We are going to save Henry and get him out of trouble or there will BE trouble. Understand?" she then firmly told the redheaded man.
"Erm... Uh... Yes, Evie..." Archie flinched nervously as Evie greatly resembled her mother when she was angry which was very startling. "Yes, of course, Evie. You can come along."
"Evie, are you sure that's a good-" Emma spoke up.
"Don't argue with me, Emma," Evie interrupted as she looked very unhappy that her brother was gone as she put her hands on her hips. "I don't care what we do or what it takes. I am helping and I'm not leaving until I get my brother back. I'm very disappointed."
"...Okay, Evie," Emma said before sighing. "Just don't say I didn't warn you."
Evie firmly nodded before she came with the adults closer to the mines since that was where Pongo had led them to.
Meanwhile, Henry was inside the dark mines as he shined a flashlight around him while exploring. He was going to get to the bottom of a personal mystery he had found out about and wouldn't rest until he got it. He then found what looked like a clue as he spotted a mysterious shard of glass among the stones. He then picked it up and examined it when all of a sudden, he heard the gravel rustling. He looked up to see an avalanche of rocks moving which prompted him into running before his situation would get worse.
"Earthquake!" Evie cried out as Pongo was suddenly running.
"No! It's coming from in there!" Emma told her from the rumbling and shaking from inside the mines.
"Henry!" Evie gasped before she tried to crawl over there, stumbling a bit from the shaking of the avalanche inside the mines.
"Archie! Evie!" Emma cried out.
"Evie, it's not safe!" Archie warned the teenage girl, deciding to go in after her.
"Henry! Evie!" Emma cried out before she rushed over.
Soon, Evie and Archie made it into the mines before they soon collapsed right behind them.
"Oh, dang..." Evie groaned. "Well, it looks like I won't be going to my prom this year."
"Don't say that," Archie sighed to her before he decided to light a match. "Evie, you really shouldn't have come here. You may be older than Henry, but you're still a kid."
"I am not a kid." Evie firmly pouted.
"We don't have time to argue about this," Archie told her before he picked up his lucky umbrella. "Just stay close to my match and you'll have some-"
Evie then took out her phone and turned on the flashlight before walking forward.
"...Or you could just do that for light..." Archie then finished with a weak murmur.
"Welcome to the 21st century, Dr. Hopper," Evie replied as she looked around. "Henry? Oh... Henry, come on out here!" she then called out. "If you're dead, then Mom's gonna kill me!"
Then suddenly, Henry came out of hiding with his flashlight and smiled once he saw his therapist and big sister. "Archie! Evie! You're here to help me!" he then cheered.
"No, I-" Archie said before shaking his head. "Listen, we gotta get out of here." he then warned.
"So you're still against me." Henry then said a bit crossly.
"Henry, there's no time for that," Archie said, trying to get Henry to listen to him, but he had great difficulty. "Come on, Henry, come on!"
"You don't believe me? You'll see. You'll see!" Henry retorted as he backed up and then got ready to run.
"What did you tell him?" Evie asked Archie firmly.
"Don't make me say it..." Archie groaned.
"You called him crazy about his fairy tale idea, didn't you?" Evie then demanded.
Archie stammered, unable to properly answer, especially since Evie looked a lot like Regina when she was unhappy.
"I guess you did," Evie then said before she turned away and went to go after her brother. "Unbelievable."
"Evie! Wait!" Archie gasped before sighing as there didn't seem to be any worth trying to reason with the Mills siblings and he thought he knew that now.
"Henry, I'm just glad you're safe," Evie told her brother. "What's this all about?"
"There's something hidden here, I can feel it," Henry replied before showing her what he found. "Look."
"...What's this? A dwarf's lost diamond or something?" Evie asked as she carefully reached out and took out the glass shard.
"I'm not exactly sure, but I think it has to do with the curse." Henry replied.
"Hmm..." Evie paused thoughtfully, of course doubting that on the inside, but tried to think of something nice to say on the outside. She then took out her phone and saw that there was no service available and she groaned. "Well, looks like I can't get out of here too easily."
"We'll be saved, Emma will make sure of it," Henry told her. "She's The Savior."
"Right... The Savior..." Evie said with a small smile. "Maybe The Savior has an underground WiFi password."
Henry laughed a little to that.
Soon, they heard another very familiar voice. "Evie! Henry! You gotta slow down."
"There's something shiny down there." Henry told the redheaded man urgently.
"Henry, this is seriously dangerous," Archie advised. "We gotta get out of here. Evie, talk some sense into him."
"He has a point, Henry," Evie replied. "We could get stuck down here and get terribly hurt."
"But this could be something." Henry defended after he had shown her the shard he had found.
"Henry, this is very dangerous and we're both scared for you." Evie began to warn.
"Because you think that I'm crazy?" Henry then asked with a small pout.
"No! No, because we are trapped underground in an abandoned mine, Henry, and there is no way out." Archie defended.
"You told him something else, didn't you?" Evie asked suspiciously.
"Evie, don't make me talk about that right now." Archie told her as gently as he could since Evie was easier to talk to than Regina.
There was soon another rumble outside as word got out about what had happened to Archie, Henry, and Evie. Mr. Deley was apologizing to Regina a thousand times about Evie ending up in the mines without his notice as she was trying to figure out how to save her children. Soon, the three underground heard a more comforting and familiar sound.
"Guys, do you hear that?" Archie then asked the siblings.
"It's Pongo!" Henry smiled once he recognized it.
"Follow the noise." Archie then said before he went on ahead of them.
"Don't have to tell us twice." Evie replied as she took Henry's hand to get out of where they were.
They then continued to follow the sound of Pongo's barking until they could properly make it out of the mines, safe and sound.
"It's loudest over here." Archie said once they came to a corner and saw a large metal sheet.
"Wait... There's something over here." Evie noted.
"Don't worry. I'll get it." Archie said as he removed the metal sheet to uncover something new, though old technically, but new to them.
"What's this?" Henry asked once he saw the metal sheet removed.
"Looks like an old elevator." Archie told the siblings.
"Don't you just love field trips?" Evie smirked.
"What's it for?" Henry then asked.
"To get the mine workers in or out," Archie explained as he looked up and down the elevator. "It goes all the way to the top. That's why we can hear Pongo." he then informed.
"So will it work?" Evie wondered.
"Let's give it a shot," Archie said confidently before he came over. "We have to spin this wheel in order to get up and down."
"Then let's go for it." Evie nodded as she put her phone away for now.
Henry and Evie were both soon turning the wheel together and it seemed to be working so far. The elevator was slowly lifting up off of the ground and it seemed to be going up to help take them out of the mines.
"Come on!" Archie urged the siblings.
They soon seemed to be good until the elevator suddenly crashed down after there was another rumbling explosion from the outside. They groaned once they had a very rough landing.
"Henry, are you okay?" Evie asked softly and weakly.
"I'll be okay..." Henry said softly. "You guys okay?"
"Could be better," Archie groaned. "I think I landed on my keys."
"Guh... I once landed on my butt after I couldn't climb the rope in Gym Class," Evie grimaced. "We had a matt on the floor in case we fell, but it STILL hurt!"
"This is my fault," Henry sighed to Archie and Evie. "I'm really… Really, really sorry." he said to them.
"It's not your fault, Henry," Evie frowned. "We're not mad at you... Right, Dr. Hopper?" she then added with a small look to Archie, hoping he would answer wisely and not crudely smart.
"It's alright." Archie reassured.
"I just wanted to find proof." Henry then pouted.
"I just wanna be a good big sister," Evie said as she put her arm around her brother. "I'm still not sure about whether your fairy tale theory is true or not... I kind of hope not because then if I'm The Evil Queen's daughter, I'd be an Evil Princess."
"You're not evil... You're just misunderstood," Henry shook his head. "Like Mal, Jay, and Carlos."
"Well, I'm definitely misunderstood... And a little useless," Evie then said as she sighed a little. "I just never got out of my awkward middle school phase and that's why I don't have any friends. Maybe I should be home-schooled next year so I can be a better sister for you, Henry, or a perfect daughter for Mom."
Archie sighed at them. "Henry, it's alright, and Evie, you're so much better and more than that," he then said as calmly as he could. "Look, Henry, I... I don't think you're crazy. I-I just... I just think you both got a very strong mother, who's got a clear idea of a path that she wants you to be on and when you step off that she… She gets scared. And, you know, it's natural, but it's also natural for you to be able to be free to think the things that you want to think. So, anyway. I-I didn't mean those things I said and I never should have said them.
Evie firmly pouted. "Then, why did you?" she then demanded.
"I guess I'm just not a very good person," Archie sighed sharply. "I'm not the man I want to be."
"Sometimes I'm not the girl I want to be either." Evie spoke up.
"You still have a chance, Evie," Archie told her. "You're very smart, very beautiful, and a much better big sister than you think you are."
"You really are." Henry then told Evie.
Evie cracked a small smile even if she felt unsure before she gasped and blushed in a sisterly way as Henry suddenly hugged her to help prove his point. She then decided to hug him back. Archie smiled at them before they gasped and flinched as the elevator suddenly shifted farther down the shaft.
"I think you can be him," Henry then said to Archie. "I think you can be a good person. I mean, you're Jiminy Cricket."
"Henry. Henry, Jiminy Cricket was a... He was a cricket, okay?" Archie then started to retort.
Evie snickered a little which made Archie look at her. "Sorry, that just reminded me of a TV Show I watch sometimes." she then said apologetically.
Archie sighed at her before he continued to talk down to Henry a little. "And he was a conscience. And... And I hardly think that's me."
"Well... Sometimes psychiatry can be seen as a conscience or spirit guide of some sorts." Evie then said with a small shrug.
"And before he was that, he was a guy who took a long time to figure out the right thing to do." Henry then added
Archie looked a little soft then. "That kind of sounds like me." he then had to admit.
"Now it's harder for you because of the curse," Henry then told Archie. "To hear the voice inside of you. To be who you want to be."
"That still small voice." Evie added lightly as Henry nodded.
Archie smiled softly and warmly. Henry would never realize it, but his conscience served to be a very good guide to Archie right now and Evie was so proud that he was so smart despite his age and adventurous personality. The elevator soon jerked again and moved even further down the shift.
"Hey, can I ask you again?" Archie then asked.
"Hm?" Evie blinked.
"Ask what?" Henry added.
"Why do you think it's so important that your fairy tale theory is true?" Archie then asked.
Henry just gave a small shrug. "I dunno."
"Oh, come on, Henry... Surely you've thought more about this for Operation: Cobra?" Evie replied softly.
Henry shrugged before he looked around then. "'Cuz this can't be all there is."
"I understand." Archie then said.
"I thought if I found proof… But I didn't find anything... And Evie and her friends are descendants from The Enchanted Forest." Henry then said softly.
Evie frowned before hugging Henry a little to prevent him from breaking down to tears.
"Well, that's not true," Archie then told the boy. "I was lost and you found me, right?"
"You mean, you remember?!" Henry then asked hopefully with an excited smile.
"No, Henry. I... I don't remember, but I-I do remember the kind of person I want to be," Archie then explained, trying to calm Henry down just a bit even if it wasn't what Henry wanted to hear. "I just got to listen harder."
"Let your conscience be your guide." Evie advised.
"Well said, Evie." Archie smiled.
Evie smiled back before glancing up at the top of the grate on the elevator as pieces of rocks fell through. Soon, Henry and Archie looked up too and they could see a light.
"Wh-What's that?" Henry asked softly.
"It's a light by the silvery moon." Evie harmonized.
"I think that's the rescue." Archie replied.
It soon proved to be true and Emma was shown once she saw the three who were trapped down below.
"Emma, you're okay, great!" Evie said in relief.
"Yeah..." Emma smiled. "You guys okay?"
"Yeah, we're... We're okay." Archie replied.
"Hang on, guys," Emma said as the others were lowering her from the outside as she came to save the trapped trio. "Okay, that's good. Stop."
"Henry, you go first." Evie suggested.
"Yeah," Archie added as he helped Henry up with some of Evie's help. "Here you go. Up."
"Come on. I got ya," Emma said as she wrapped her arm around Henry. "Okay. Okay, I got him."
"You got him? Is he safe?" Evie asked hopefully.
The elevator then started to shake.
"Oh, Apple Crumble!" Evie then cried out in distress.
"It's gonna fall!" Archie warned them as Evie had a panic attack.
"Archie? Evie?!" Emma cried in warning as she kept her grasp around Henry. "I'm sorry!"
"It's okay!" Archie said.
"What?!" Evie yelped.
"Archie!/Evie!" Emma and Henry both cried out in fear for the fallen two.
The elevator had fallen down the entire shaft and it looked like Archie went down with it as Archie had saved himself by hooking onto Emma with his umbrella so that they could all get out. Herny looked very proud and impressed before he then gave Archie a thumb's up.
"Oh, Archie... Thank you..." Evie smiled softly as she wrapped her arms around the man's waist.
Soon, Emma, Evie, Archie, and Henry were all pulled out. The crowd at the site began to clap and so did the construction workers. Regina looked very enthralled and relieved to see that Henry and Evie were now going to be okay. Marco even came by and hugged Archie after seeing the younger man and Evie saw her classmates while Mr. Deley looked like he had been fearing for his life before looking relieved that Evie was going to be all right.
"You okay?" Emma asked as she checked on the Mills siblings.
"Deputy, you can clear the crowd away." Regina glared at Emma before pushing her away and then checking over Evie and Henry before sending them off.
"Guess you gotta get back to your field trip, huh?" Henry guessed to Evie.
"Yeah... I guess so, kiddo," Evie replied. "Maybe you can see some stars with us if Mom doesn't send you to bed without dinner."
"That sounds like a good idea." Henry nodded before they soon went their separate ways.
Soon, as Evie was walking off, she caught a glimpse of her mother and Archie talking. She decided to pay attention to this as best as she could since the last time her mother talked with someone important, she was too stressed out to remember it.
"Thank you, Dr. Hopper." Regina then said, smiling a little at the redheaded man.
"I, uh... I have something to say," Archie spoke up confidently. "I'm going to continue to treat Henry, and I'm going to do it my own way."
Regina narrowed her eyes as she decided to icily decline. "My relief at my childrens' safety hasn't changed a thing, Dr. Hopper. You will do as I say, or you will-" she then began to threaten.
"Or will what?" Archie retorted bravely as he decided to fight back for once in his life. "You'll ruin my life? You'll do your worst? Because I will always do my best."
"Don't test me." Regina warned.
"Oh, I don't need to," Archie glared. "Because you're going to leave me alone and let me do my work. In peace."
"Really? Why's that?" Regina retorted with a smirk.
"Because someday, Madam Mayor, you may find yourself in a custody battle," Archie then stated strongly and courageously. "And you know how the court determines who is a fit parent?" he then rhetorically asked before answering his own question. "They consult an expert. Particularly one who has treated the child. So, I suggest that you think about that. And you allow me to do my work. And let me do it the way my conscious tells me to." he then concluded.
Evie hid a small smirk as she reunited with her class.
"Oh, Miss Mills, thank goodness you're safe," Mr. Deley said to the girl. "Don't scare me like that."
"Sorry, Mr. Deley," Evie replied. "I just had a big sister emergency."
"All right then..." Mr. Deley then said before facing his other students. "Now... I think Miss Mills has had enough adventure for a while... Let's get some Granny's Diner and then meet back here to look at the stars."
The other students groaned before they walked off. Evie shrugged and sighed before smirking as she waved to Emma. Emma looked over and then waved back with a small smile for Evie. Ben was soon coming by in the line, closer beside his old friend from early childhood.
"Oh, hey, Ben. What's up?" Evie asked.
"Oh... Nothing much..." Ben replied. "I was gonna help out my dad at his shop, but he thought I needed an educational field trip to keep me out of trouble."
"Yeah... That sounds about right," Evie rolled her eyes before smirking. "He have anything new or special in his shop?"
"Uh... I think he said he has some puppets in his shop now." Ben said.
"Puppets?" Evie blinked.
"Yeah... I don't get it either, they're a bit creepy, to be honest," Ben shrugged with a small, sheepish smile. "Maybe he's gonna take them home with him next time and keep them over my headboard to make sure I do my homework on time or make sure I don't sneak any cookies from the cookie jar after dinner."
"Kinda like what we did when we were kids like Henry?" Evie asked with a chuckle.
"Oh, don't get me started on that," Ben replied. "And that time we tried to hide a batch of chocolate chip cookies we made together in a vase instead of the jar so your mom wouldn't find out and then your hand got stuck in the vase until we broke it after trying to get soap on your hand to slide it out?"
"Guhhh..." Evie groaned before laughing with Ben at their childhood memories. "Good times... Good times..."
"Yeah..." Ben smiled and nodded. "Doesn't feel so long ago, but I guess that's just part of getting older like our parents."
"I guess so," Evie smiled back. "So these puppets? Do they at least have names?"
"Yeah, I saw the tags... I wonder if they're married or something?" Ben replied. "Martin and Myrna."
"I wonder who they were?" Evie commented.
"Ya got me," Ben shrugged. "Maybe a witch cast a spell on them in a former life? Dad's shop is just full of a lot of mysteries."
"No doubt about that." Evie chuckled before they came into Granny's Diner as Ruby was driving her car over there after using it to help the others at the mines to get out Henry, Archie, and Evie.
Later that night, it was soon time for Mr. Deley's class to start stargazing. Evie had invited Henry over to join her class and Mr. Deley was fine with that, though Regina would take Henry back home. Evie kept watching Chad even if Henry was really doubting that he would be her Prince Charming. Luckily for Henry though, Evie soon shifted her focus onto someone else.
"Is Marco Archie's father?" Evie then asked Henry as he would know.
"No, they're just old friends." Henry told her.
Evie smiled and nodded before looking at him and put her hand on Henry's arm. "You really scared me. I asked for a little brother, I don't wanna end up without one."
"I'm sorry." Henry said softly.
"Hey, kid," Emma said as she came over to get Henry. "Come on. Your mom wants to take you home."
Henry pouted before he stood up and faced Evie. "Thanks for letting me join the field trip." he then said.
"No problem, buddy," Evie smiled. "We'll hang out at home later."
"Sure... If you're not too busy worrying about Chad." Henry rolled his eyes a little.
"...Okay, Henry, tomorrow's Saturday, so when I come back home after you're asleep, I promise we'll do something fun." Evie then told her little brother.
"Okay, Evie. Good night." Henry said as he hugged his sister.
"Night, kiddo," Evie smiled, hugging him back big and tight. "Mm... Don't ever grow up."
"I'll try!" Henry replied before he came to join Emma. "Get away from Chad!" he then called out warningly.
"Not gonna happen!" Evie called back mockingly before she went to join her class before she saw Doug all alone with his telescope and thought maybe he could use some company as everybody else was busy. "Nice telescope. It's so big." she then said with a small smile.
"What?!" Doug gasped and yelped before looking bashful. "Oh. Yeah, right. Heh... Thank you." he then nodded.
"Mind if I look at some of the stars with you?" Evie then asked.
"Erm... No, I guess not..." Doug said bashfully as he let Evie come over. "How well do you know your stars?" he then asked with a small smile.
"Well, I'm an Aries," Evie stated with a small shrug and smile. "How about you? My birthday's April 10th."
"Nice," Doug smiled back bashfully. "Erm... Leo... I was born August 9th."
"A lion... Nice..." Evie nodded as she memorized the Zodiac sign. "Sometimes I wish I could read Zodiacs... Like some sort of horoscope fortune teller."
"That sounds interesting," Doug smiled before he looked through his telescope and let her come and join him on his blanket so that they could look at the stars together. "Man, the night feels more peaceful and beautiful... W-W-With the company of crickets I mean."
"I know what you mean." Evie smiled back as she decided to join him.
Doug and Evie were soon looking at the stars together, looking through the telescope. They were both amazed and impressed with each other's company.
"And that crater in the middle northwest, out there all by itself like a starburst?" Doug began to rhetorically ask Evie.
"It has a name too?" Evie asked.
"Yes," Doug nodded as he told her. "55 Cancri. It's a binary star system located 41 light-years away from the Sun." he then informed.
"...Fascinating." Evie smiled as she put her hand down over his while they continued to stargaze together, enjoying both the stars and the gentle and peaceful chirping of the crickets.