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Part 5

Emma's eyes snapped open. She was lying on her back, stretched out on the road. Son of a bitch, that had hurt more than she'd thought it would. She flexed her fingers and they sank into the road below her, tearing gouges into the surface as tar immediately crumbled into powder. With an aggravated sigh, she flicked the powdery remains of her fingers and glided effortlessly to her feet.

Going by her watch, it seemed she'd only been out a couple of minutes, but the sun was now fully up. Her car looked forlorn, sitting by the side of the road with the driver's door still open. She gazed sadly at it. She really was going to miss the old Beetle.

Emma frowned as something caught her eye. With the sun backlighting the dust motes in the air, a slight distortion in their movements were clearly visible near the sign. It was like the motes were coming up against an invisible barrier and then bouncing off it. She traced the distortion with her eyes and she could see that it extended in both directions on either side of the road, curving slightly at the outer edges. She tilted her head back and noted that it also extended vertically. It was like Storybrooke was contained in an invisible bubble.

Well that was interesting, but first things first. She'd better make sure that everything was in working order. She took a deep breath and expanded her senses outwards only to immediately recoil in horror. The area surrounding Storybrooke was drenched in scent markers. She could detect at least 10 individual scents sending one overwhelming message: Claimed Territory. Keep Out.

This was bad. Very bad. Etiquette demanded she leave the area immediately. She had already broken a taboo by even crossing that scent boundary in the first place. If the owners caught her, they had every right to tear her apart. She concentrated on her own scent and was relieved to note that it was already fading around her. There would be nothing to track her directly.

She switched her focus to the scent markers. Each individual scent was like a band of colour, with its own unique hue to identify it. The bands twisted like ribbons woven into a scent boundary that followed the contours of the actual bubble that surrounded Storybrooke almost exactly, but separated by about 20 feet. The majority of the scents were confined to the scent boundary, but one crossed the deadzone between the two bubbles.

Emma tensed in fear, a growl leaving her throat. That lone scent continued into Storybrooke itself, to where her defenceless son and his mother slept. She forced herself to calm down. The scent was at least a month old, so whoever it was had been and gone.

She needed more information.

Emma reached for her phone and dialled a number.

"Delgardo, it's Swan. I need everything you can pull up on Storybrooke, Maine."

"Yes, usual rates."

"That's fine."

She pocketed her phone. Marcus Delgardo was an information broker and a damned good one. He was expensive, but his intel had saved her from having to deal with unwanted complications on several occasions.

Leaving Storybrooke was no longer an option. She needed to find out exactly what was going on and then make sure that Henry was safe from whatever it was.

Emma turned her attention to the barrier around Storybrooke. Both Henry and her had been able to pass through it, although it had left her slightly worse for wear. Maybe its purpose was to keep people like Emma out. Or at least level the playing field. It certainly made a whole lot more sense than Henry's fairytale nonsense. The only problem with that theory though was the scent that crossed into Storybrooke. She inhaled deeply and focused on it again. The scent remained unchanged on either side of the barrier, which meant that the owner was not suffering the drawbacks she had. There was no point speculating too much at this stage though, not until she had more information. Hopefully she'd hear back from Delgardo soon, so she'd have a better idea with exactly who she was dealing with.

She picked up a rock from the side of the road and idly flicked it at the barrier. It whistled through the air and as it hit the barrier, a fine mist of particles appeared around it, excluded from passing through. The majority of the rock though, continued on its trajectory and slammed into the sign on the Storybrooke side, knocking it over. Emma grimaced at the damage, but her attention stayed on the mist of particles slowly drifting to the ground on her side of the barrier. It looked like organic material, possibly lichen that had been living on the rock.

She moved closer and before she could second guess herself, stuck her arm through the barrier. She groaned as agonising pain spread though her arm, like she'd dunked it in a vat of acid. The skin on her arm began to change, getting softer and taking on a pinkish tone. Fine veins became visible and Emma could see blood flowing in them. With a gasp, she pulled her arm back. It immediately began to change back to match the rest of her. She held her arm out and slowly rotated her wrist, jaw clenched against the pain, as the last bit of pink faded away.

Well that had been thoroughly unpleasant. She certainly wasn't looking forward to going through that again, but if she wanted answers about the barrier, her best bet was likely to be in Storybrooke itself. It also meant that she could keep an eye on Henry better, especially if a certain visitor returned.

The sound of an engine snapped her head around. It was coming from Storybrooke and heading in her direction. Her eyes flicked to her Beetle sitting abandoned on the side of the road. It would be difficult to explain where'd she'd disappeared to without her car. There was no helping it now. She grimaced and stepped back across the barrier.

The pain seemed to go on forever.

When she'd recovered enough to walk, Emma staggered to her car. She dragged herself into the driver's seat and held her head in her hands. It felt different this time. She was dizzy and nauseous and the edges of her vision were flickering black. She vaguely heard the sound of a car and then everything faded to black.

TBC

Sorry for the second cliffhanger, but it seemed like a good place to stop. Some good guesses in the reviews as to what Emma is. Hopefully this chapter's given you some idea of her abilities, but I tried not to hit you guys over the head with it at this stage.

To the reviewer who asked about her car. It wasn't on fire, rather Emma was, well kinda. Let's just say Storybrooke does strange things to her ;)

Thanks again for the reviews.