Emma, David and I opened the office door, my fingers sparking with Magic as David and Emma pointed their guns into the room. With a quick sweep, and quick Magic scan courtesy of moi, we lowered our defence as we realised no one was there. "It's ok!" Emma called behind her, "She's not here!" Henry and Mary Margaret shuffled into the room behind us.
"When you find her, you're not gonna hurt her, are you?" Henry asked.
"No, we just want the beans she stole from us." Oh yeah, forgot to mention. Apparently, Regina stole some Magic Beans that we'd grown to get home and burned the rest of the crop.
"I don't get it." Mary Margaret admitted, "Why would Regina keep her office unlocked?"
"That does seem strange." I mused as I walked over to a plant over one side of the room. "I mean, she's keeping the Beans here, shouldn't they have some protection?"
"Was keeping them here." Mary Margaret corrected. I frowned when I realised that there weren't any Beans at all. "They're gone!"
"Something's not right." Emma said. "Regina would never leave evidence like this behind."
"Maybe she already used them to portal out of Storybrooke." David guessed.
"Without Henry?" I questioned. "Without me? I highly doubt that."
"What if something bad happened to her?" Henry wondered. I could hear the worry in his voice.
"Security system says the last time someone was in the office was around six this morning." Emma reported. "They used an override code to get in."
"Why would Regina need an override code on her own alarm." David asked.
"Regina wouldn't." I spoke up, crossing my arms. "Someone had to have tampered with it."
"You to think someone else broke in and took the beans?" Mary Margaret clarified.
"We haven't seen Regina in a while, and we haven't heard from her at all."
"So something bad did happen to her." Henry stated.
"We're gonna find her, Henry, I promise." Emma told him.
"There's only one person who could overpower Regina." Mary Margaret said.
"Gold." David realised. I think he meant Mr Gold, Neal's father, I'm not 100% sure.
"He's too busy with his new-slash-old girlfriend." Emma dismissed. "No, this wasn't Gold. This was Tamara."
"I agree." I said. "She rubs me the wrong way."
"Haven't you two already gone down that road?" Mary Margaret pointed out.
"Maybe not far enough." Emma countered.
"Or, maybe it's time for you to let it go?"
"August was attacked the day Tamara came to town, I don't think that was a coincidence."
"What if you're wrong?" David asked. "If Regina's in trouble, we can't just drop everything else because of a hunch."
"This is more than a hunch." I but in. "My instincts are going off, Tamara's bad news. This-" I pointed to my Dragon Mark. "Practically burns every time I'm near her."
"We're not going to drop everything else." Emma stated. "Go to Gold, I'm sure he has some kind of Magic that can help locate Regina."
"Where are you going?" Mary Margaret questioned, worriedly switching her gaze from Emma to me and back again.
"Hadley and I are going back to Tamara's room."
TIMESKIP
Emma and I practically barged into Neal's room. "I need yo search your room for real this time." Emma declared.
"You want to tell me what this is about, Sheriff?" Neal questioned. I lifted my nose and sniffed the room. Tamara's scent was lingering.
"Where is she?" I asked, turning to Neal. "Her scent is fading...but there's distinct...um…" My eyebrows pinched together, "A distinct beach smell? And seafood. Like, bad seafood."
"She's on a run." Neal explained with a small frown. "What do you think she did this time?"
"Regina's gone missing." Emma exolained.
"And you think she…" Emma moved to their closet while I inspected the rest of the room. "You're still on Tamara? You've got to be kidding me. She came to town to support me, her fiancée. She's not a kidnapper."
"Where'd she go running?"
"The same place she goes every morning, the woods."
"How long has she been gone?"
"A couple of hours. Does it matter? She's training for a marathon."
"If she runs in the woods, then why did she track sand in here?" Emma asked. I snapped my fingers, pointing at my sister.
"Maybe she likes to run along the beach instead." Neal countered. "What does that prove?"
"That she's a liar." I spoke up. "She puts me on edge. I know a thing or two about lies, and if she lied about something as insignificant as this, then I can guarantee she's lied about other things as well."
"Or maybe she just likes to run on the beach." Neal repeated.
"Only one way to find out." Emma said.
TIMESKIP
"So, where do you think she's hiding Regina?" Neal asked as the three of us trudged down the beach. The scent was almost identical to what I picked up in their room which put me on edge. "In a sand castle?"
"They have to be somewhere." Emma insisted.
"Look, Emma, you're letting your emotions get in the way of your judgement, and you dragged Hadley into this as well."
"Do you really think this is all about me trying to break up you and Tamara?" Emma asked, turning to the man following us and causing us all to stop. "What do you want to hear, Neal?"
"That it killed me that you never came looking for me even once I was locked up?"
"Emma…"
"That it didn't hurt that you found Tallahassee with someone else?"
"Neal?" A voice called out. My eyes flicked over to Tamara as she jogged over.
"Hey!" Neal greeted happily.
"What are you doing down here?" Tamara panted. My eyes narrowed at her. Her pants were fake, she didn't smell like sweat in the slightest and there were no matches of dried moisture on her at all.
"We were...we just...I thought you go running in the woods?"
"Yeah, I start in the woods, but then I run along the beach." Tamra was still jogging in place. "Everything alright?"
"Regina's missing." I told her, trying to catch any small slip ups on her part.
"Oh my god! That's terrible." I frowned. That was feigned.
"We thought maybe she was down here, but we were wrong." Emma admitted.
"Well, I'm sure she'll turn up somewhere. Let me know if I can help at all." Neal and Tamara shared a quick kiss and a goodbye before she jogged off. Emma started to walk away.
"Emma…" Neal called.
"I think I should go." Emma said. I hurried to follow her.
"I wanted to go to Jail for you." Neal revealed. Emma and I paused. We shared a look before turning back to Neal. "It kills me that I let August talk me into letting you go."
"I don't want to hear it."
"Ok, but I have to say it. I wanted to look for you. I just...I was too afraid."
"Of what?"
"That you would never forgive me. 'Cause I never forgave myself. There hasnt been a day that's gone by that I don't regret having left you. I'm sorry, Emma. For everything."
"Me too." Emma replied softly. Emma then turned and left again. I stomped angrily after her. "You ok?" She asked me.
"No, I'm not ok." I snapped at her. I was irritated. One, Tamara got away again, and two, Neal was too busy making up excuses for her to see the truth. "Tamara is a liar, I can sense it. And I'm gonna prove it, and we're getting nowhere. I just want to prove it and get her out of our home."
TIMESKIP
I met up with my friends later that day, we were all in Mal and Evie's room discussing everything. I was angrily pacing up and down the length of the room, trying to get my anger out. "Neal is blind!" I declared, throwing my hands up. "He's so infatuated with this woman that he can't see whats two feet in front of him!"
"Hadley…" Evie said softly. "Are...are you sure this isn't just your Dragon getting the better of you?"
"No, no Evie, this isn't that. Rember when we had our birthday party when I insisted we invite Mal but your mum didn't let us because of her grudge with Maleficent."
"Yes, you screamed at mummy for almost an hour."
"Did that really happen?" Ben muttered to Jay and Carlos.
"Oh, yeah totally." Carlos muttered.
"I lived on the other side of the Island and Hadley's voice echoed." Jay added.
"My gut told me that we had to invite Mal, but we didn't, and look what happened to us." I continued, ignoring the boy's conversation. "This is that exact same feeling." Mal looked over at me.
"Are you sure?" She asked. I nodded.
"Everyone in this room are my closest confidants." I let my eyes trail over everyone. "I would never lie to you, so when say Tamara is not to be trusted, I mean it."
"We've seen that Greg guy a couple of times here and there." Ben said. "His room is directly cross from ours."
"He's always sneaking out." Carlos added. "His not as subtle as he thinks he is."
"He keeps on muttering random things late at night." Jay continued, glancing between us. "He wants to find his dad, but he hasnt gotten very far."
"That and he keeps on tracking sand into the Bed and Breakfast." Ben finished. "Granny is starting to complain."
"Sand?" I repeated. My eyes widened. "He's working with Tamara!" I gasped. "Phone! Phone!" I demanded. My phone was tossed to me. I grabbed it and my eyes widened at the messages. I had about a dozen messages from not only Emma, but Mary Margaret and David as well, telling me to stay as far away from the warf as possible. "We...we need to get to the docks, like, now."
"What? Why?" Ben demanded.
"Something's happening there."
"We're not gonna make it there in time." Evie realised.
"Hadley and I, we'll go." Mal said. "You all get there as soon as you can." Mal grabbed my hand. "We'll meet you there." I shoved my phone in my pocket, and with a wave of my hand, green and red smoke surrounded us and we disappeared. We appeared right in front of the Storybrook Caned Packing factory. I heard a commotion down in the basement, and I raced towards it. My heels made rapid clicks across the floor that echoed through the warehouse in stark contrast to the thud of Mal's combat boots.
"Emma!" I called, "Emma!" We made our way down to the basement of the factory, and I heard heartbroken sobs. I came across Emma curled up on the floor, her shoulders shaking with the force of her cries. I hurried over to her, falling next to Emma. "Emma." I breathed, "Em." Emma slowly looked up. Her red-rimmed eyes met mine, and a new wave of tears sprung to her eyes. She practically threw herself onto me, sobbing and burying her head into the crook of my neck. "Shhh." I wrapped my arms around Emma, rubbing her back gently. "Everything's gonna be ok."
"Neal's gone." Emma sobbed, "Tamara killed him." My eyes widened, and they met Mal's over Emma's shoulder. I continued to rub her back, whispering soothing words to her.
TIMESKIP
Mal returned to the Bed and Breakfast with my friends, while Ben accompanied me back to the Loft. I supourted Emma as we walked, Ben opening doors for us like the gentleman he is. When we entered the loft, Regina was laying in Mary Margaret and David's bed, with Mother Superior standing at her bedside and our parents close by. I lead Emma over to the couch, gently setting her down and wrapping a blanket around. She was still in shock, unable to process what had just happened. "What happened?" David asked, hurrying over to the couch. I stopped him in his tracks, Ben stepping up beside me.
"It's best we leave her alone." I whispered, glancing back at Emma. "I found her like this at the Warehouse."
"What is it?"
"Where's Neal?" Mary Margaret added.
"Neal...Neal's gone." Ben told her softly.
"It was Tamara." I explained with a soft growl, my eyes turning gold.
TIMESKIP
It was a couple of ours since we had gotten back. Emma had moved to sit on the stairs with David, while Ben and I stood near the island, two mugs of untouched tea beside our hands. It had gone cold a while ago. "Emma…" David trailed off. "I'm so sorry."
"How am I gonna tell Henry?" Emma asked, her voice sounded particularly hollow. I leant into Ben, sharing a look with him. Something big was going to happen, we could feel it in our bones, and we knew it wasnt going to be good.
