Chapter 2

"Excuse me? We're where?" My mind is racing. This is impossible. Right? It has to be impossible. Just because my arm was sucked into a metal sign and I woke up lying in the middle of a forest…I mean, wait. No, I have to believe. I have to believe this is where we are. I have to believe for Henry.

"Emma, I know you're scared. Please, don't yell at me…" Mary Margret sighs. I feel so guilty. I'm not even mad at her. I'm irritated with the situation. "Mary Margret, I didn't mean to. I…I've just got a lot going on right now. My son is in danger and I can't protect him, my newly found father just watched us both disappear into thin air, and I am standing in a damn fairytale forest! I'm a little edgy, I'm sorry. I don't know how to handle this." I'm at my breaking point. There's only so much one girl can take. I can feel the tears welling up.

"Sweetheart, I promise you…they will be okay without us." She smiles at me through teary eyes. I love this woman so much. "How can you know? How can you be so positive?" The floodgates have been opened and 28 years of dealing with my feelings in solitude vanishes. I am bawling, looking to Mary Margret for answers that she can't possibly hold.

"I don't know for certain, but I have to believe. I have to have faith that they will pull through because if I don't, I won't make it back to them." Her composure is receding. It's all I can do to keep from fully breaking down. She pulls me in to a tight hug and I return the embrace, which of course makes me cry even harder.

We've been standing here hugging and crying for what seems like an eternity. I want to move, but I don't. I'm exhausted from the emotional outburst. I really just feel like punching something. "Emma? Are you alright?" she whispers to me after our weeping subsides. "I think so. Are you?" I look at her perfect face. She smiles "I think so."

I laugh a little, which seems odd in this situation given the circumstances. "What do we do now?" I ask, honestly. She stands in front of me thinking for a moment, "Can I show you something?" she asks me, almost excited. I narrow my eyebrows at her, "Am I going to regret saying 'yes'?" She grins wryly, "You won't. Besides, it isn't far." I'm intrigued and I mean…what else are we going to do out here? "Alright, I'm in." I agree.

After what seemed close to an hour of walking in all directions, we come up to a small, unkempt cottage-looking structure. "What is it?" I ask a little disappointed. All of that just to find this little old, run-down hut? "This…is where I hid from Regina. This…was my home for some time." She states, motioning to the tiny house.

She moves toward the door and knocks. There is no answer. After a moment, she pushes the latch and the door pops open, spewing dust into the sunlight. "Looks vacant" I conclude. "Oh, it has been for some time. Since the curse, I suppose." We stand there looking into the small building.

Mary Margret enters the cottage slowly, as if contemplating whether or not she should disrupt the old place. She spins around, holding out her hand for me. "It's fine. I want to show you something." She smiles at me. I duck into the little building. Why is the door so short? My eyes adjust to the dimly lit room. This must have been the living/dining room. A long wooden table takes up the majority of this room, with its eight wooden chairs. Mary Margret runs her fingers over a few of the chair backs, reminiscing.

I take a closer look at the chairs and see names imprinted in each chair back. Oh my god, one for each dwarf! Suddenly, it dawns on me. Snow White's story! Of course! That's why the door is so short, that's why the house is so tiny, and that's why no one's here.

My sudden intake of breath startles Mary Margret. "What?" she gasps. I laugh because she's so on-guard, "Nothing. Sorry, it's just that I had a revelation. This all makes so much sense! This is the dwarf's cottage!" She smirks at me, "Hovel, actually. It's the Dwarf's Hovel, Emma." I giggle and follow her to a back room, with a little more light than the last room. "I should have known… 'Hovel' is more appropriate." I counter.

"This was my room. The dwarves treated me with such kindness. I had the sunniest, brightest and most luxurious room." She picks up odd little trinkets and giggles with each passing memory. I spot a small book and am curious as to what's inside. I open to a middle page and start reading the small cursive hand-writing.

"That's my…" Mary Margret starts, but judging by the look on my face, trails off. I am astonished by what I just read. Not in a bad way, but in a holy-crap-what-did-I-just-read kind of way. "You…already knew that my name would be Emma?"

"It was my favorite name, so it was fitting." Her mood relaxes a little and I can't help but feel like there's something in this journal that she doesn't want me to know. I close it reluctantly and walk over to Mary Margret.

"Aha! Here it is!" she exclaims holding up a large metal key. "What is that for?" I ask looking around. "Come on, I'll show you." She grabs my hand and leads me out of her room and into the living/dining room. "Help me move the table, Emma." She's excited about something.

We push the very heavy wooden table a few feet, so that it touches the wall. Mary Margret kneels onto the floor and starts brushing the top layer of dirt off of a trap door. "What's down there?" I ask, reserved and nervous. "Armor. We're going to need it." She answers easily.

"You mean like shields and swords…The whole nine yards?" I'm kneeling next to her helping clear the dirt from the keyhole and hinges. "Daggers, shields, swords, anything we might need to defend us on our way to the castle ruins." She looks up at me.

I swallow hard and she clicks the key into the keyhole. "Ready?" she eyes me with concern. My mom is a total badass! "Yeah Snow, I'm ready." She looks up at me with the most honest expression I've ever seen, "…thank you" she inhales deeply and lifts the hatch.

Clearly, there's no homeland security in the Enchanted Forest because this is a gold mine of weapons and sirens would definitely be going off if there were one. Snow hands me a sword and sheath, a rawhide chest protector, small dagger and a sturdy shield. "Put that on under your jacket," she motions to the rawhide chest protector. I do as she says.

I can't believe I'm gearing up to go trekking through a forest teeming with strange fairytale creatures… with my mom. She gracefully adorns all of her war attire in a matter of seconds. Clearly, she's had some practice.

"Let's go kick some fairytale villain ass", I say more to myself than to her. I move to the door and she grabs my arm, pulling me back to look at her. "Stay by my side at all times. I'm serious, Emma. You don't know what kind of evil lurks through this world."