Chapter Three

Her gaze drifting to the clock on the wall, Emma realized how late it was getting – nearly 6:30 and she had promised to meet Killian at the station. The whole discussion of the mysterious looking glass or whatever the hell it was already had her on edge, but she kept being nagged by an uneasy feeling that something was really out of the ordinary.

"It's getting awfully late," Regina stated having seen Emma's eyes being drawn to the clock. "We should probably call it a night. Not going to solve the mystery of that thing tonight anyway."

"No, probably not," Emma sighed. "I'll bet Killian's already waiting for me too." She dug for her phone from her jacket pocket as she retrieved it from the back of the chair, half expecting to find a notification of a message from her often impatient husband, but there were none. She thumbed through her speed dial list to locate his number and dialed it to find out where he was, but after ringing several times, it went to voicemail. She didn't bother to leave a message, but the confused expression on her face caught Regina's attention.

"What's wrong?" Regina asked.

"Probably nothing. I just figured that if he was already waiting at the station, he would have answered his phone."

"There's more to it than that," Regina pressed. "I've seen that look on your face before. What's really going on?"

Emma sighed as she tugged her jacket on and as she slipped her hands into her pockets, her fingertips traced the surface of the compact.

"Something just doesn't feel right to me. I've had a really uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach since we were talking about this looking glass thing." Producing it from her pocket, she pressed the button to flip it open and for a moment, stared at her reflection in the top mirror. She really didn't think anything of it as she viewed her own image, but suddenly, a different image flashed on the lower mirror and it rattled her so starkly that she tossed the entire compact onto Regina's desktop.

"What on earth are you doing?" Regina wondered, picking up the compact and snapping it closed.

"The image on one of the mirrors changed for a second. It wasn't my face…"

"What do you mean it wasn't your face? What did you see?"

"The top reflection was me, but the bottom one wasn't. I swear I saw an image of Killian and got the most disturbing sensation that he was in trouble."

"What? Do you two have telekinetic powers now? That isn't usually how these looking glasses work…unless this one is special? They don't normally give feelings – just images." Regina placed the compact back into Emma's hand then then stepped to her side so that they would both be able to see any images the compact might show them. "Open it again. Let's see if the same image comes up again and if you experience the same emotion."

Reluctantly, Emma reopened the compact and gazed into it once again, seeing the reflection of her own face in the upper mirror and as before, there was a fuzzy image on the lower mirror and it was definitely Killian. Peering over Emma's shoulder, Regina was able to see it as well and while the image wasn't very clear, they could both see that he was on his knees, hanging on to what appeared to be a desk.

"It is like looking into a crystal ball," Regina exclaimed, truly impressed that the looking glass was actually real. "It's fuzzy, but it's trying to tell us something."

"I still get that same ominous feeling from it and that looks like my office," Emma said as the blurry manifestation vanished and she found herself gazing at her own visage once more.

"And Killian was supposed to meet you at the station?"

"Yes," Emma replied.

"Then let's start there," Regina stated and with a wave of her hand and a flourish of purple smoke, she transported them directly into the center of the Sheriff's station. As they materialized in front of Emma's office, they saw that all of the lights were on, but there was an eerie quiet. Unsure of what they might encounter, Emma drew her weapon and her eyes darted back and forth across the room, taking everything in and noting anything that might be out of place. At first, nothing really seemed out of order, until she glanced past her office toward the hall that led to the rear entrance out to the alley.

A cell phone lay face down on the hallway floor. She pointed to it to alert Regina, who stood ready to release a fireball if necessary, but then a muffled sound from her office caught their attention – something scraping against metal? Not sensing any immediate danger, she decided to call out.

"Killian?"

The sound of her voice was a welcome relief as Killian tried to push himself up so that Emma would be able to see him. Both he and her office were still covered in the purplish pollen and with the fire burning in his throat, he was barely able to squeak out her name.

"Emma?" He reached up, grasping onto the desktop for support. "Here."

Realizing where he was and knowing from the shakiness of his voice that he was in pain, she rushed straight ahead toward her office with Regina right on her heels. Emma saw him on the floor, his hand clinging tightly to her desk, but as she extended her hand to help him up, Regina barked out a warning that led her to instantly freeze.

"Emma – stop! Don't touch him!" Regina shouted.

"What?!" Emma exclaimed, not knowing what Regina had spotted that had her so concerned as she hadn't yet noticed the purplish pollen dust that was covering everything in her office, including Killian's skin and clothing.

"Take a step back, out of the office and whatever you do, don't touch him," Regina repeated sternly.

"Why can't I touch him?" Emma wondered. "He's hurt. He needs our help."

"I know," Regina replied as Emma stared into Killian's eyes – both of them caught in a gaze of confusion and concern. Regina had seen the dusting of purple pollen atop Emma's desk and when Killian started coughing, the swirling particles confirmed her suspicion. "He's been poisoned."

"What?!" Emma repeated, her head snapping back toward Regina. There was no way to hide the shock and fear on her face.

"Hold on," Regina said, conjuring up a little magic cyclone that as it spun, drew all of the toxic pollen into its core and then with a flick of her wrist, the cyclone was dispatched out into the hallway in a burst of flames. "Now it's safe."

"What the hell was that stuff?" Emma demanded as she stepped back into her office.

"Pollen from the widowsbane plant. Believe me, it's quite aptly named. It's a rather effective poison and I should know since I've used it myself on occasion."

"And that's supposed to make me feel better about it?" Emma asked as she knelt beside Killian who hadn't yet released his grip on her desk as he fought to stay upright. She put an arm around his shoulders to steady him. "What happened?"

"Sinclair," he replied. "She came here looking for that mirror."

"Now that I know what it actually is, I'm not surprised," Emma said.

"She said to tell you that she'd trade the antidote for it," he explained.

"Regina, you obviously are the expert on this stuff. Is there actually an antidote? And just so I know, what exactly does this poison do?"

"It's a slow moving poison, one that is mostly immune to magic but yes, there is an antidote. I can make it, but it will take a while for me to gather all of the ingredients I'll need. Right now, we need to get him to the hospital." Emma started to reach for the phone to call for an ambulance, but again, Regina stopped her. "We don't have time for that. Magic's faster."

Enchanted Forest Harbor – A few weeks after Neverland

After a bustling day of commerce, the dock was now a quiet place at this hour. Only a few ships remained in the harbor, most of which were prepping to leave at dawn. While a few sailors remained to tend to their vessels, the majority were off in the nearby town – most of them likely at the tavern while others would be found at the brothel but all of that was perfectly fine with Devereaux Sinclair. She'd intentionally anchored her ship way offshore, not wanting to draw unneeded attention. She'd spent the afternoon and evening surveying the plethora of cargo that was being unloaded and reloaded from all of the ships in trade. She was tracing one particular shipment – a crate of treasures from a distant realm that was marked with an unusual intricate seal. She'd followed it from ship to ship until she'd watched it being loaded onto a familiar vessel.

One belonging to the nefarious Captain Hook.

Since her crew had been escorted from Neverland by the Jolly Roger, Devereaux had done her best to keep her fellow captain in her good graces. He'd certainly proven to be an interesting distraction – charming, witty and more than a little devious, but tonight, it was her turn to keep him distracted long enough to get a look inside that crate.

As nightfall descended, she had hoped that he would accompany his crew into town, but she never saw him disembark the ship. It was going to make her task a bit more challenging, but she was up for it. She'd anticipated that she might need to utilize her feminine wiles and had dressed for the occasion, displaying a generous portion of her cleavage beneath a black leather corset. She also made certain that her skirt showed just enough leg flashing through a deliberate tear up the side. She was never going to be accused of showing up unprepared.

She stayed concealed in the shadows until she spied Hook on deck, giving out orders to the two crew members who had just brought her desired crate on board. Surveying its contents, she noticed him taking out a few objects that piqued her interest. She could see that he held onto a few items and ordered the rest sent to the cargo hold. The shape of one object in his hand drew her attention but she couldn't quite make it out from this distance. Time to put her plan into action.

She lingered for a few minutes until she was certain that Hook had returned to his quarters, then retrieved a jug of ale that she'd lifted from a merchant earlier that day and sauntered toward the Jolly Roger. One of his deckhands recognized her as she approached.

"Evening, Captain Sinclair," he shouted.

"Evening, mate. Is your captain aboard?"

"He's in his quarters. Would you like me to fetch him?"

"Not necessary," Devereaux said, ascending the gangway. "I've got a surprise for him. I know my way."

"Captain's not keen on surprises, milady," the deckhand warned as she invited herself aboard, swinging the jug of ale.

"He'll enjoy this one," she smiled, crossing the deck and making her way toward the hatch that led to the Captain's quarters. "You've got a lady on board, Hook. You'd better be decent," she shouted as she descended the steps into his stateroom.

"Since when are you a lady, Sinclair?" he asked as she came into his view. "And since this is my ship, the state of my being is hardly your concern." Sitting at his private table, he had no intention to bother getting up for her. She was interrupting his work as he inventoried some of the better trinkets his crew had procured and he wasn't interested in her dalliances.

"I come bearing gifts. Heard you were casting off at dawn. Brought you some of the finest ale in the land – at least the finest that I could pilfer."

"And what occasion would we be celebrating?" he wondered, still more annoyed than intrigued. "Finally getting out of each other's way perhaps?"

"Sounds like a perfectly good celebration to me," she replied, plopping the jug atop his table and now getting a better look at the objects he'd been inspecting. One definitely caught her eye – a cylindrical bronze metal object that was about the length of her hand and had a half moon shaped opening at one end. The exterior of the object appeared to be covered in the same intricate design as the crate's seal, but before she could get a closer look, he scooped everything up in his hand and stood.

"Let me get these out of the way," he stated, knowing the look that he'd just seen in her eyes. Taking a few steps across his stateroom, he tossed the treasures into his open safe, then closed the door and locked it. Despite her disappointment in not getting to touch that lovely bronze item, Devereaux pulled two pewter goblets off of the shelf beside his table and set them atop it to fill them. This was going to take a bit more work than she'd originally thought, so while his back was still turned, she quickly switched to Plan B, lifting up the jewel atop of the ring she wore on her left pinky finger to reveal a secret compartment filled with a powdery substance. She tapped the powder into one of the goblets, then filled it with a hearty serving of ale. After filling the second goblet for herself, she hoisted them in her hands, offering one to him.

"Well, are ya going to leave a girl hanging or are ya gonna drink? What kind of pirate are you?"

"The thirsty kind," he said, accepting the goblet from her outstretched hand.

"To plunder and adventure," she laughed, holding up her goblet in a mock toast before downing the entire goblet of ale in a single, not very lady-like chug. Hook brought the goblet to his own lips and took a drink, but something wasn't quite right. He stumbled to his bunk, losing his grip on the goblet as he staggered. The remaining ale spilled out onto the teak floor planks as the goblet fell to the deck. As he sat down on the bed, he slumped over and his head struck the cabin wall.

Devereaux paused for a few moments, making sure he was unconscious before she moved toward the safe. The lock was a puzzling one. It had what appeared to be a keyhole, but it was unlike any shape she'd encountered before. A quick review of the stateroom didn't reveal any key ring hanging about so he must either keep them hidden or he had them somewhere on his body. A sly smile crossed her lips at the thought of pawing through his pockets, but as she leaned in to slide a hand into his coat, she found a dagger trained at her throat instead.

"Next time, make damned sure that all of the powder dissolves if you don't want someone to know you're trying to drug them," a very wide awake Captain Hook spat.

"It's really not what you think," she stammered, trying to back away from the blade but he kept with her.

"Not what I think? I think you were trying to steal from me. I saw the way you looked at that bronze piece. I know that greedy gaze all too well."

"Put the dagger away and let me explain."

"I don't need an explanation. I need you gone. Get the hell off my ship before I decide to slit your throat."

"You're letting me go?"

"It's your lucky day. But if I ever cross paths with you again, consider yourself warned." With the dagger still pressed to her neck, he backed her up the steps and onto the deck. "Make sure Captain Sinclair leaves my ship right away," he shouted so that all of the crew remaining on deck would hear. "If she resists, kill her. If she comes back, well, you know…"

With multiple swords being drawn around her, Devereaux was quite certain that none of his crew would defy his order. She scurried down the gangway and sprinted toward town, knowing full well that she'd revisit this someday. No matter how long it took, she would come back to get her hands on the object she'd spent so much time searching for and not even Captain Hook would stand in her way.

Storybrooke – Present Day

More than a few staff members and patients were startled when Regina, Emma and Killian appeared in the middle of the hospital's Emergency room waiting area, but Regina didn't have time to deal with the surprised glances and stares that they received.

"Can we get some help over here? Now?" she snarled. "And find that damned doctor! He'd better be sober."

"Regina, really?" Emma was embarrassed by her outburst as she aided a shaky Killian to his feet.

"We can't afford to waste time," Regina replied as a young, blonde nurse hurried toward them. The sound of urgency in Regina's voice had Emma wondering just what they were really up against.

"How can we help?" the nurse asked as she approached.

"He's been poisoned," Emma replied.

"Do you know what kind of poison?" was the nurse's next question.

"Yes – and it's nothing pleasant," Regina snapped. The young nurse was a bit taken aback, but continued to be polite and focused her attention on Killian.

"Let's get you over to the exam area," she said directly to him. "Are you able to walk or would you like assistance?"

Despite the fact that he still felt as though someone was crushing his chest, he replied that he was indeed okay to walk. He wasn't about to let the poison get the best of him, not yet at least and he wasn't about to let Emma see how much he was really hurting. He knew what widowsbane pollen was and had a very good idea of what to expect but although he was terrified, he wasn't going to let it show.

Even though he'd been here before, modern hospitals were still something that Killian didn't fully appreciate. The sterile coldness made him a bit apprehensive, but he had little choice right now. As the nurse had him lay down on the exam table, he was reminded of the last time he'd been in that position – his ribs broken and head pounding after striking the windshield of a moving car. What an introduction to the modern world that had been! He wondered how much Emma had seen through his flirtatious front back then, but now, if only the feeling of his ribs being crushed from the outside had been any different from the pain he was presently experiencing.

When at last Dr. Whale pulled back the exam room curtain, the displeasure on the doctor's face was readily apparent.

"Regina, Emma. Always such a joy to see you both," he quipped.

"If we could get another doctor in this town, you'd never have to see us again," Regina retorted.

"Okay – now is not the time," Emma stated, stepping between Regina and Whale. "Killian's been poisoned and we need your help."

"What kind of poison?" Whale asked.

"Widowsbane pollen," Regina replied sternly. While it wasn't from his land and definitely wasn't from Storybrooke, Whale was familiar with the toxin.

"Nasty stuff, but we don't stock the antidote for something that Old World here." Emma's heart sank a little hearing that they had no antidote here. She was either going to have to bargain with a pirate or hope that Regina could really prepare it in time.

"I know you don't have the antidote here," Regina stated. "I can make it, but where you come in is that we need to slow the poison's progress. The best way to do that would be for him to be completely unconscious."

"Unconscious?" Emma wondered. This was Regina's plan to help?

"You want me to sedate him?" Whale asked.

"Yes," Regina replied – essentially answering both questions with one word. "I could easily conjure up a sleeping potion, but using medicine would have a lot fewer side effects."

"How is putting Killian into a deep sleep going to help? And what did you mean earlier when you said it was mostly immune to magic? What exactly does this poison do?" Emma really wasn't sure about Regina's idea and Killian himself was just listening to the arguments to determine what made the most sense to him. He was in too much pain to argue right now anyway.

"Clearly you know this one better than I, Madame Mayor," Whale said. "Maybe you should explain?"

Regina sighed, knowing full well that Emma wasn't going to like any of this.

"As I said before, it's a slow moving toxin. There's no way to remove the toxin using magic, nor can the ingredients for the antidote be conjured. As it starts to take hold, there is a burning sensation, then fever, seizures and eventually a paralyzing effect that makes it impossible to breathe." Horrified, Emma glanced over at Killian and he spotted that knowing look in her eyes that she could already sense the pain he was trying so hard to conceal.

"You forgot to mention the part about your chest feeling as though it were being crushed under a boulder," Killian added, his voice little more than a whisper.

"Let me get this straight," Emma began, clearly exasperated, "you're saying that if he's sound asleep, the poison slows down?"

"It should," Regina replied, "but I've never actually had to test that theory until now."

There was no denying her concern as Emma's eyes again met his, but Killian saw no other option available to them. At least this way, she wouldn't have to watch him in pain.

"It can't hurt, Swan," he told her as he grasped ahold of his hook with his hand and gave it a twist, unlocking it from its base and pulling it free from the leather sheath. "Probably best if you hold on to this. I wouldn't want to injure myself or anyone else when the inevitable convulsions arise." He tried to pretend that he didn't notice the tear on her cheek as he placed the most defining icon of who he was into her hands for safekeeping.

"Well, okay then," Whale spoke up before things got too emotional. He turned to the nurse first. "Janet, get an IV started and let's get our patient upstairs to the ICU where we can best monitor him through the night. It's pretty quiet up on that floor and hopefully, it will stay that way. I'll meet you upstairs, but first, Regina, can I have a word with you outside?"

She nodded and followed him into the corridor where they could talk in private.

"This isn't a poison I know a lot about," Whale admitted, "but I do know that it's not from this realm. I'm not sure how science and medicine will counteract it."

"I'm not looking for a cure," Regina replied. "I just need your science and medicine to keep him alive long enough for me to brew the antidote. I don't have access to the machines and things that you do. I have magic, but magic won't stop this poison."

"I hope you know what you're doing," he said as he walked away, leaving her standing in the empty hallway.

"Yes, I know what I'm doing," Regina said aloud to assure herself. "I just don't know if it will work…"