The following day Henry came by his grandfather's pawn shop after school. He opened the front door and the bell to Gold's shop jingled. When Henry entered the shop he was surprised that his grandfather wasn't there to greet him right away, so he called into the shop, "Mr. Gold? Grandpa?"
"I'm back here Henry," called Mr. Gold from the back of his shop. "Come on in."
Henry walked slowly through the beaded curtain that led to Gold's private work office and saw his grandfather spinning at his spinning wheel. Henry watched the wheel for a few moments and found himself strangely mesmerized by the spokes that spun around the axel. A question bubbled to the surface of Henry's mind so he asked curiously, "Why do you still spin? Nobody really purchases thread anymore."
Mr. Gold smirked as he spun the wheel a little more slowly. "It's a hobby that's now become a habit of mine. It helps me forget, and it helps me think… which reminds me…"
Mr. Gold stood up from the small wooden stool and walked over to his jacket. He picked up the jacket and began putting it on. He eyed Henry suspiciously, but then smiled as he said, "I'm heading over to the library to meet Belle for a few moments. The pocket-watch you're looking for is on the counter at the front of the shop. I also left you a notepad and pen beside it. Feel free to look around and write down all the items you see and categorize them as you see fit. Should you need any help, I'll only be a few moments at the library. When I return, I'll answer any questions you may have."
Gold walked over to Henry and patted him lovingly on the shoulders. Gold then made his way toward the front of his shop. Henry followed after him to the front of the store. When Gold opened the front door Henry shouted after him, "Grandpa?"
Gold paused at the threshold to his shop and turned to face his grandson, "Yes Henry?"
"I… uh, just wanted to say that… what you did last night was a really brave thing. I think Dad would have been proud."
"Thank you Henry," replied Gold with a grateful smile, "It really means a lot hearing it from you."
Henry smiled at his grandfather and Gold nodded as he finally exited and left his shop. Henry immediately set his book bag down and whipped out his library book. He laid the book down on the counter and flipped to the page of the Traveler's Spell. He brought the open book with the incantation over to the pocket-watch. He held his open hands over the watch and looked over at his book to reference as he called out, "Hellebore henbane aconite glowworm fire and firefly light."
The pocket-watch began to glow a warm pink, as if the magic he had performed heated the item itself. Henry smiled to himself seeing that the spell worked. He touched the long minute-hand of the watch and turned it a quarter-turn to the left extinguishing the pink glow. Henry flipped through the pages in his book searching for the Levitation Spell. Now that he was able to enact the Traveling Spell, he felt confident that this next spell would work too.
He looked around the shop for something that could carry him. He began looking up and down and around corners of the room for an item to use as transportation when traveling to these different worlds. It wasn't enough that this item needed to help carry him away in a bind, but he needed the item to come to him when beckoned; which meant that the item he needed would need to take life of its own and to recognize his call. He would need to cast the Substitutiary-Locomotion Spell first.
In his book, Ms. Price used an enchanted a broom to carry her around, so Henry figured… why not for him? Henry looked around his grandfather's shop for a broom. Henry chuckled to himself because of how clichéd it all felt. He opened a couple of cabinets and closets until he found one hiding in the corner in the back of his shop. Henry brought the modern broom out to the front of the shop and leaned it against the glass counter where the book was displayed open behind it. Majestically, Henry called out to the broom, waving his hands, "Treguna Mekoides Tracorum Satis Dee."
Nothing happened. Henry frowned as he double-checked the spell in the book. He reread the spell and began to doubt the pronunciation of the words when suddenly the broom began to twitch. The broom twitched again and then began sweeping the floor on its own. Henry pointed at the broom and then directed it to continue sweeping at the opposite end of the store.
Suddenly, Henry heard some rustling behind him and random objects entered the front of the store from the back of his grandfather's private workshop. Mr. Gold's extra clothes had escaped a closet from the back and floated its way to the front, parading and dancing around Henry. Random objects throughout the shop were moving on their own accord. Some items were tethered in place while others became unhinged and joined in on the jamboree.
Things were becoming chaotic and getting out of control. Henry began to panic as he pushed though the random dancing items in the room to get to his book. He grabbed the book and began to feverishly flip through the pages, desperately searching for a spell to stop the nonsense. He read this exact situation happening in the story of his book, but before he could flip to the page to see the spell to stop the madness one of Mr. Gold's finely shined dress shoes came over to Henry and kicked the book out of his hands. The book immediately fell to the floor and Henry bent to the floor to grab it. The same shoe that knocked the book out of his hands swiftly kicked him in the behind knocking Henry flat on the floor. Henry saw the book and went to grab it, but the shoe's twin kicked the book out of Henry's reach and it slid across the floor and underneath one of the shop's glass display cases. Things were bad for Henry, and things got worse when he heard the front door bell ring.
"Woah!" shouted Mr. Gold as he dodged a darting envelope opener. "Henry, where are you?!" he shouted into the mayhem.
"Grandpa! I'm down here!" Henry shouted back from down below. Gold couldn't see his grandson, and out of frustration said to himself, "Oh, this is ridiculous."
Mr. Gold threw up his hands and waved them stoically over his entire shop. Upon his gesture all of the items froze in place and fell immediately to the floor. With all the items now on the floor, Gold could finally see his grandson who was curled up over by one of his display cases. Henry's arms were still wrapped protectively over his head when Gold approached him.
"Henry, are you ok?" Gold questioned as he helped Henry to his feet. Gold continued, "With magic, you should never initiate a spell without knowing how to stop it."
Henry quickly dusted himself off and begged, "Please, don't tell my moms! Emma doesn't like magic and magic has always complicated my relationship with Regina and…" and then it hit Henry. Mr. Gold wasn't upset or surprised; it was as if he was expecting it. "wait a minute… you knew I could do magic?"
"Of course I did. It was obvious when you were asking me about it two days ago. Well, it was what you were asking me that made me suspicious initially."
Henry's face was riddled with worry. He didn't want his mothers to know just yet. Henry's mouth fell open preparing to speak but Gold held up his hand to stop him. "Don't worry," Gold said lowering his hand, "I'm not going to tell them, at least not yet anyways. This will be our little secret… for now. But I must warn you, secrets have a way of being discovered. Sooner or later they will find out."
"I know, I know. But I'm working on something really important. No one can find out about it, at least not yet."
"I'll tell you what… Let me make you another deal. If you come by my shop every day after school and allow me to train you properly, I won't say a word about this to either of your mothers."
"Deal!" Henry exclaimed excitedly, thrilled over the notion of learning magic with his grandfather. Henry quickly gathered his book bag and made his way to leave the pawn shop.
"Thanks Grandpa!" shouted Henry as he opened the front door to leave Gold's shop. "See you tomorrow!"
The front door closed again and the bell gave a final jingle. Gold smiled amusedly to himself as he waved his hand over his entire shop. Every item that was out of place magically found its way back to its original spot in the store. Gold walked toward the back of his shop walking by one of the glass display cases when he accidentally tripped over a book that was on the floor. Gold curiously picked up the book. He didn't recognize the book as anything from his own library so he flipped it around to the front and read the title.
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
- PROPERTY OF STORYBROOKE PUBLIC LIBRARY –
Henry must have left this, Gold concluded. He leafed through the pages and quickly read through Henry's borrowed book. Gold almost gave up on the book entirely when he happened upon the Traveler's Spell, which Henry had left heavily creased from having referenced the page so often. He studied the book for a moment and then immediately went to the back of his shop to retrieve an item. When came back out to the front of the shop again, he carried with him Henry's book and the gold cane from his cursed Storybrooke self.
Gold placed Henry's book down on the counter which freed his hands to grip the cane better. He started to fidget with the cane itself, but it was as sturdy as ever… except the bottom. Gold stared at the rubber plug at the end of his cane. He reached for it and tugged at it. Gold twisted the rubber knob and with great success was able to twist the knob off. With surprised satisfaction, Gold took the two pieces of his cane and laid it gently down on the counter.
Gold referenced Henry's book for the spell and memorized it. Could it really be that easy? He thought to himself. Unlike Henry, Gold didn't need to say the spell out loud. His prowess and experience in magic allowed the words in his mind to transform into magic by mere thought through his hands. All he needed to do was concentrate on the words as they repeated in his mind's eye.
Hellebore henbane aconite glowworm fire and firefly light
Gold slowly waved his hands over the cane as he repeated the words in his head. In just moments of waving, the cane glowed a dark purple signaling the success of the spell. Gold smiled to himself as he took the rubber knob and screwed it back on the bottom of his cane. He adjusted the rubber bottom so that cane could rotate on it and not fall off inconveniently. He looked at the book again and read the passage one more time before testing it. He held onto the cane, like his curse self had done for twenty-eight years, and suddenly felt nostalgic. As he leaned upon the cane for support like he once had, he reflected on the man he once was and the man he was now. He thought about the time he crippled himself on the battlefield to be with his son. He thought on how his leg had constantly pained him… that is, until he was introduced to magic. He needed more magic and he knew where to find it. So he felt it only appropriate as he cleared his throat and called out to the cane, "Cane, take me to my Dark Castle in the Enchanted Forest."
Gold tapped his cane to the ground three times. When the cane rested on the ground he twisted it, pivoting on the newly adjusted knob a quarter-turn to the left. As soon as Gold twisted the cane into the ground, he became engulfed in glittery purple smoke and then disappeared completely from his shop.
Hello my beautiful readers. It was so nice catching up with all of you. What a treat to read all of your reviews! And a special shout-out thank you to BreathingintheSun, Katelynberg, TheGreenFairy25, OUATgirl17 and Montreat11! You guys motivate me to write every day... so thank you! (OUATgirl17, since I can't PM you I'll just answer quickly and simply here... to answer your question, I'm going to skip ahead, but not so much. I still have some storytelling left before we get there.)
I was quite tickled when writing this chapter because I literally combined three similar situations from three different stories into one fiction. The Sorcerer's Apprentice from Fantasia, Bedknobs and Broomsticks and now Once Upon A Time. For my readers who remember Bedknobs and Broomsticks, were you just as amused as I was? lol.
See you next chapter. :)