"I don't think I can do this." Belle frowned as she picked up a book and carefully placed it on the cart next to her. "We don't really have a town history. What am I supposed to tell them? Storybrooke was founded on October 22, 1983 when then Evil Queen, now reformed mayor, Regina Mills cast a curse hurtling the people of the Enchanted Forest into a tiny town in Maine?"
"Yes, and, right after, you can explain that you're Belle from 'Beauty and the Beast' fame, and you married the beast," Regina replied with a sneer. "Just remember to start your tale with 'Once upon a time."
"Sweetheart, the town came prebuilt with historic markers and points of interests, did it not?" Gold moved swiftly between the two, giving his wife his most reassuring smile. "All you have to do it walk them through town, show them the sights such as the town park and the docks, and then take them back to Granny's."
"And the point of all of this is to keep them occupied until we can get them out of the town, if we can get them out of the town?" The young woman huffed. "Rumple, did you find out why their car stalled?"
"In fact, I did." He tipped his head and smirked. "It would seem our barrier was to blame. When the car came into contact with it, the vehicle stalled."
The mayor closed her eyes and silently counted to ten. "So magic is to blame." It was a statement. Internally, she was already starting the narrative of what was likely to happen next, and it was nothing she wanted to be a party to. They'd just saved Henry, returned from Neverland, stopped a second curse, and killed Peter Pan. The universe could do to allow them all to rest for at least a week before throwing something else at them.
She rolled her eyes. It'd been less than two weeks since she was nearly electrocuted to death. Really, she deserved a vacation.
Gold nodded. "In part. The barrier apparently has some electrical qualities. It short-circuited the car's computer system."
"Can it be fixed?" Mentally, Regina knew the next line, and her hand flexed. She was certain it wouldn't solve a thing, but throwing a fireball at Gold would at least make her feel better.
"Yes, but there's still the little issue of making certain the computer doesn't short out as they pass back through the barrier," he replied with a slightly annoyed sigh.
"Wait a minute," Belle cut in, clearly trying to keep up and having problems, "So the strangers themselves could pass through the barrier, then?"
"They could, and I don't believe it would affect them. After all, they passed through already as they were pushing their car to the side of the road. The problem," he explained calmly, "is that they need their car in working order. If it stalls again just on the other side of the town line, then we're right back to the issue we're currently trying to solve."
"We need to bring the barrier down that Pan erected." Regina threw her hands up. "Great. While we're at it, why don't we find a way to safely portal between different realms, and a cure for cancer?"
"One problem at a time, Madam Mayor," Gold snarked back before turning to his wife. "Belle, will you occupy their time while Regina and I begin to investigate the best way to remove the town's barrier?"
Belle sighed, reaching for her coat where it was stuffed behind the counter. "I suppose, but I hope you both know that I'm basically going to tell them that I'm no historian and just give them a tour of the town. It's probably going to be very short."
Pulling a dusty book from a nearby shelf, Regina turned her head to look at the younger woman. "If you can keep them from asking too many questions, you should be fine."
"Right." Belle took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Off I go, then."
"Uh, Yzma?"
"Yes, Kronk?"
"This is a forest." The muscled man slowly stood, careful not to step on the woman haphazardly sprawled beneath him from their fall through the portal. Hand going to his chin in consideration, he narrowed his eyes in thought as he inspected the trees surrounding them. "These are Red Pine, or Pinus resinosa Aiton. Lovely trees, really. Did you know," he turned back to the old woman still in a heap on the ground, "these wonderful trees can grow up to 200 feet, but they only ever have a diameter of 2 to 3 feet, which I find absolutely fascinating. You know, a lot of people…"
Yzma's jaw flexed before she finally exploded at her companion. "Kronk! Will you help me get up from here and stop talking about those stupid trees?"
"Oh," he hurried back to her side and easily pulled her to her feet, "Right. Sorry. So, what do we do now?"
The old witch motioned with her hand for the big man to turn around. He quickly complied, and she reached in to rummage through the overly large pack on his back where she retrieved a small bowl, skin of water, and a handful of herbs. With a pat to the pack to alert him he could turn around, she slowly seated her herself on a rock. "I'm going to see where this Swan girl is. I doubt the town if far. Once we find her, you go get her, bring her back here, and we'll return home. It should be very simple. In and out." She glance around them. "Even you can't mess that up."
He happily plopped down beside her and watched as she poured water into the bowl, tossed in the herbs, and recited an incantation. A moment later, the bowl glowed and a picture formed on the water. His eyes widened as a thin, muscular blonde in a red leather jacket came into view. As the picture cleared, he could see she was inside some type of structure with a young boy and a man with a hook for a hand. Frowning, Kronk tried to understand what he was seeing. "I think she's having dinner at a diner."
"So it would seem. Obviously, you can't waltz in there and take her while she's surrounded by people. We don't want to cause a stir." Ymza tapped her forefinger against her chin in thought. "You'll have to find her and then follow her around town, without being noticed," she gave him a hard look. "When she's alone, then you can grab her."
"Right, go into town, follow her from the shadows, grab her when she's alone, and then come back here so we can go home." He nodded. "Got it. Wait." He paused in his motion to leave. "How am I going to blend in?"
Slowly grinding her teeth, Ymza tried not to yell. "What do you mean?"
"Well, uh, they're wearing different types of clothes from us, and fashion is really important. I mean, do you remember when Jareez came into town wearing that hat that was four seasons out of fashion? Oh, it was awful," he dramatically set his pack down and leaned on it. "The whole town knew about, and then people started mocking him, and he eventually…. Uh?"
The sorceress stared him down until he stopped. "Then steal something and wear that."
"Steal something? But stealing is wrong." He furrowed his brow. "Couldn't I just borrow it?"
"Fine. Borrow it. Barter for it. Buy a pattern and make it yourself. I don't care!" She threw her hands up, tossing the bowl in the air and grunting as the contents landed on her head. Sulking, she pulled the bowl off and stared with dead eyes into the open air in front of her. "Just go, Kronk."
"Uh…" he reached over to try to help, but she batted his hand away.
"Go. Now!"
Nodding, he turned and hurried off, leaving Yzma with the pack and a look that said she questioned every life choice she'd ever made.
"I realize the mayor made it seem as though I was an expert on our town's history," Belle said with an embarrassed smile, "but I'm afraid what I really know best is the library and my husband's shop. However, I'd be more than happy to simply show you around." She gave an apologetic shrug. "Perhaps I could point out some of the local attractions?"
They strolled down the main street while they chatted, and Jane couldn't help but notice that something was still missing. "People."
"Beg your pardon?" Belle stopped walking to turn and fully face her charges.
"People." Jane motioned around here. "Where are all the people?"
Belle shook her head in confusion. "What people?"
"Yeah, exactly." The detective walked into the middle of the street and turned slowly around in a circle as she spoke. "It's the middle of the afternoon, and there are all these shops." She began to read the names aloud. "Granny's Bed and Breakfast, Three Little Pig's Grocer, Sleeping Beauty Mattresses," she stopped turning to give their guide a hard look, "The Rabbit Hole." She again made a wild gesture. "I am standing in the middle of the street, and there are no cars driving down it. Where the hell are all the people?"
"Well," Belle shifted uncomfortably, "a lot of us are down at the docks…" She trailed off wincing at how unconvinced she was in her own answer. The truth was everyone in town was avoiding the travelers lest they do or say something to give the town away. Unfortunately, that gave the town the feeling of being deserted.
"The docks?" Jane gave a disdainful snort. "Where? King Trident's Restaurant?" She shook her head as she started walking back toward the other two women. "And that's another thing. Why is it that everything around here sounds like it was named after a kid's story?"
"Oh, well, that's an easy one," the librarian said with just a hint of mirth in her eyes. "The town is themed. I mean, surely you get it, don't you? We're in Storybrooke." She shrugged. "Storybrooke… story book. Cute, isn't it?"
"That's very interesting. I don't think I know of another town that's done something like that," Maura commented as she glanced around at the store fronts. "If your town did a bit of advertising, I would think the tourism would increase just based on people's amusement at things such as this."
The lanky brunette sighed. "That still doesn't tell me where the people are," she pressed.
"With the phone lines and internet down," Belle replied, hoping what she was about to say would quell the detective's curiosity, "I would imagine they're all driving around to see people or going out of town to make calls."
Jane grunted. "Maybe." Her eyes darted around as if she half expected something to jump out at them. "So, since you're our tour guide, what do you plan on showing us?"
"Well, our park is lovely, and the docks really are a treat." Belle internally exhaled in relief. "Of course, I'm happy to show you our library, and there's also our cemetery, if you're into that sort of thing. Some of the graves there are hundreds of years old."
Maura smiled. "That all does sound interesting. Perhaps we could see the park first?"
"Sure." Jane shrugged. "What's it called? The Queen's Garden? Are the roses red?"
Despite herself, Belle visibly shuddered. "Oh, an Alice in Wonderland reference. Very… clever Jane." She only marginally managed to hold back her wince at the thought of Cora being anywhere around. "There are roses in the park, though they're various colors. We also have several apple trees."
"Apples?" Eyes following along the row of buildings with names straight from storybookland, Jane snort. "So… what? Instead of the Queen of Hearts, we're going into the Evil Queen's garden?"
Their guide faltered a little in her steps. "Oh, well," she said as she managed to catch herself before she completely tripped, "No, not exactly. I mean," she sighed. Things weren't really going her way. "It's simply a park, Jane. It doesn't have a name outside of 'city park."
"Too bad," the detective dismissively replied as they headed away from the main street and toward the park. "I bet, if we ran into her, things would get interesting."
Belle sighed, tipping her head as her mind raced through her encounters with the Evil Queen. "You have no idea," she muttered to herself as she walked along in front of the two women.
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