The sound of a blaring horn startled me awake, and I jerked the steering wheel towards me just in time to keep our car from colliding head on into oncoming traffic.

Lily yelped and slammed on the brakes on the side road. Her trembling hands gripped the wheel.

"What happened?" I shouted.

"I fell asleep," she stammered. "Emma, I'm so sorry." With a shaky hand, she put the car into park and then rested her forehead on the wheel. "No matter how hard I try, I'm always screwing things up."

My calm, cool, and collected friend started crying, and the sound melted away all the anger I felt. "Hey," I said, rubbing her back. "It's okay. We're still alive, and that's what matters. I wish I knew how to drive so I could help you."

"It's alright," she said. "Without you, I don't think I could get into Storybrooke."

"What?" I asked. "Why not?"

"According to the Apprentice, only the savior can get in."

She wasn't making any sense, but I'd spent hours of our trip trying to get more information out of her about why our parents were in Storybrooke, and this was the first thing she'd shared. "Savior?" I repeated.

"Yeah," she said, putting the car back into drive and pulling back onto the road. "Our parents didn't exactly choose to give us up. They were cursed."

Magic and curses. Maybe the girl was crazy, and I was even crazier for believing anything she said.

"I know what you're thinking," Lily said.

"Are you a mind-reader now too?" I asked.

"No," she said, playing with her necklace. On it was a small crescent moon. "But if I were you, I would be calling bullshit, and you could be right. Everything the old guy said could be nonsense, but you're real. For me, that's enough."

I thought back to the compass that was now resting inside the cup holder. She'd used it to find me, and she'd known my last name.

"Tell me more about the curse," I said.

She looked at me warily. "Why don't we see if Storybrooke is real before I explain that?"

"We're going somewhere that might not even be real?" I asked. My anger resurrected itself. "Either you tell me everything right now, or I'm getting out of this car."

Lily let out a long sigh, the way someone did when they'd spent a lot of time wrestling with themselves. "Our parents aren't from this world."

I replayed her words in my mind a few times before responding. "Are you saying we're aliens?"

She shook her head. "Not aliens. Our parents are...fairytale characters."

I laughed despite myself. "You're joking." I would have been more inclined to believe aliens.

"Nope," she said. "He said that all the characters from fairytales were cursed and made a part of this world. A few of us escaped the curse, though. You were sent here specifically to grow up and break the curse. I was more of an accident."

Being able to tell when someone was lying was a skill I'd learned from sheer necessity. I studied her face and knew she wasn't making it all up. Crazy was still on the table though. "You think our parents are fairytale characters who were cursed by being sent to this world."

"Yes," she said. "And you are the only one who can break it."

"How?" I asked.

She hesitated. "I'm not sure. Maybe you have to kill the evil queen who made the curse to begin with."

"I'm not going to kill someone!"

"Not even if she tries to kill you first," Lily asked as calmly as if we were discussing having our nails painted. "She will probably try like she tried with your mother."

My mother, I thought. My heart was moved by the words. "Who did the Apprentice say my mother is?"

"Snow White," Lily said. "Cool, huh?"

"More like impossible," I countered. "And why didn't she ever come looking for me?"

"I don't think she can leave Storybrooke," she explained. "The old man was vague about that, but he said something about being trapped there."

"The town is frozen?" I repeated.

Lily nodded.

"What's going to stop that same thing from happening to us?" I asked.

She took my hand and squeezed it. "You're the savior. You probably have some kind of immunity."

"What about you?" I asked.

She shrugged. "I'm sure I'll be fine."

"And if you aren't?"

She glanced away from the road long enough to meet my eyes. "I believe in you."

"But we just met," I reminded her.

"Yes, and as a rule, I don't rely on anyone no matter how long I've known them for, but you're different. I trust you, Emma."

I didn't think anyone had ever said those words to me, and they brought tears to my eyes. Most likely, everything Lily believed about our parents was wrong. I was too old to believe in fairytales, but she'd been right about one thing. We were connected in a way that defied rational explanation, and if our adventure turned out to be nothing more than a cross-country escapade in a stolen car, then so be it.

"I trust you too," I told her, "but if we're going to make it to Maine in one piece, then we should probably pull over so you can sleep."

She laughed and took the next exit. "Good thinking, Savior."

"Ugh, please, don't call me that."

"It has a certain ring to it," she said. "How about 'your highness'?"

I choked on my own laughter. "You think I'm a princess?"

"If your mother is Snow White, then, yes, you're a princess."

"What about you?" I asked. "Who's your mother?"

Lily bit her lower lip. Finally, she said, "Not a princess."

"Come on," I said. "You have to tell me more than that."

"Maleficent," she spoke the name barely above a whisper. "My mother is the one who cursed Sleeping Beauty."

"Oh," I said, not sure what else to say. "Are you okay with that?"

Lily nodded. "I've always felt drawn to the villains in fairy tales. I guess being the daughter of one makes sense."

We pulled into an abandoned parking lot. "You said you came here by accident. What happened?"

Lily bit her lower lip. "I was stolen from my mother and sent here when I was still an egg."

"An egg?" I repeated.

"Yeah, I'm part dragon," she said with a chuckle. "I hope you won't hold that against me."

I shook my head. I wanted to be part dragon too. "Who stole you?"

She studied me for a long time and then said, "I'm not sure."

It was a lie, and I wondered if I should tell Lily about my superpower.

Lily laid her seat back and took off her seatbelt. "But when I find them, I will make them pay for what they did."

Now that was the truth, and the fury in her words sent a chill through my body.

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