Chapter 20: Operation Night Owl
Henry gave Mandy his extra walkie talkie so they could communicate at night. They both snuck out of their houses at midnight and met at their usual place, the stables.
"You're late." She said flatly when she saw Henry running up.
"Sorry. Emma stayed up to watch a movie. I couldn't leave until she fell asleep." He said out of breath.
"Alright, well we better get going. We don't have much time. You know Regina is an early riser and I would really prefer not to get caught." She replied sternly.
"So is Snow…do you think it was a royal thing?" He asked curious if that's what royal people did in the Enchanted Forest.
"I wouldn't know…I'm not royal. I grew up poor, remember?" She reminded him.
"Right, I forgot." He said remembering her story. "But if Regina was a Queen doesn't that make you a Princess?" He asked as they walked.
"Um, I guess. I never really thought about it." She said honestly. "You're royal too though."
"That's weird to think about…"
"Yea I know. You put it in my head now. Thanks." She said sarcastically. "We need to get Regina and Snow talking. There's so much history between the two and they keep it bottled up. If they just talked and let it out, I think it would help."
"One operation at a time." He said laughing.
She smiled. "Fair enough."
"So what's the plan?" He asked.
"I was thinking we walk around town and see if we see anything suspicious going on." She replied.
"But what if someone sees us?" He asked trying to keep up with her.
"Well it's not like we're gonna run around town screaming. We're gonna be sneaky about it." She answered.
"Is it such a good idea to be walking around when there is a kidnapper on the loose? I mean, we are kids too…" He said worriedly.
She stopped walking. "Are you backing out?"
"No, I'm just weighing the options…" He said shrugging his shoulders.
"Well, are you in or out? I'm not forcing you to do this." She shot back.
"I'm in. I'm in." He answered.
"Great. Let's not waste any more time." She said as she kept walking. They snuck around town, hiding behind buildings, lampposts, benches, bushes, anything they could find when they saw someone walking by. They followed some suspicious characters but they all led to dead ends. They kept this up for a few hours.
"This isn't working." Henry finally said.
"Maybe we need to try something else." Mandy pointed out. Henry didn't answer, he seemed distracted.
"Henry? Henry hello? Calling Henry!" She said waving her hand in front of Henry's face to catch his attention.
"Do you hear that?" He asked still staring off into the distance.
She looked in the same direction. "Hear what?" She asked confused.
"Singing." He replied.
"What singing? Henry, I don't hear anything." She said with a puzzled look in her face. He didn't respond. "Henry, pay attention!" She said snapping her fingers in front of his face. He quickly snapped out of it. "What?" He asked.
"What were you hearing?" She asked concerned.
"What are you talking about?" He asked back.
"You just told me you heard singing…"
"No I didn't." He said denying it.
"Yes you did. You specifically told me you heard singing." She argued.
Henry looked at his watch. "We don't have time to argue about what I heard or didn't hear. It's almost 4am."
"Oh no! That means Regina will be up soon. We need to start heading back." She replied. "Come on, I'll take you home."
"What about you? I don't want you traveling alone." He said acting more like a big brother than a little one.
"I won't" She said and she ruffled his hair. "I'll just teleport myself home…and please don't get caught!"
"I won't I'm good at sneaking around." He answered confidently.
Once she got Henry home and teleported herself back to her room it was close to 4:30am. She quietly hid her bag, kicked off her shoes and jumped into bed. She didn't bother getting changed, she was too tired. She was happy she didn't get caught and she was hoping Henry didn't either. As soon as her head hit the pillow, she was out. She didn't even hear Regina check on her a half hour later.
Mandy awoke to a thump outside her door. She looked at her clock and saw that it was only 9am. She crawled out of bed and opened the bedroom door, her eyes still heavy and half shut. She saw Cora on the floor and cursing at the table in the hallway.
"Cora? What are you doing?" She asked groggily.
"Nothing dear, just tripped. I'm fine, go back to sleep." She answered in her best cheerful voice. She tried to stand but became dizzy, her hand on her head trying to steady herself.
Mandy helped hold her steady. "Are you drunk?" She asked smelling the alcohol on her breath.
"Don't be silly." Cora said patting Mandy's cheek. "I don't get drunk."
She laughed. "And you're wearing yesterdays' clothes."
Cora looked Mandy over. "So are you, dear. Why don't we keep this between us? Regina doesn't have to know about it."
Mandy took a moment to think it over. She certainly didn't want Regina to find out what she was up to last night and for some reason neither does Cora. That will be the next thing on her list-find out what Cora is up too. "Fine. It stays between us, but you might want to take a shower before Regina finds you. You smell like alcohol."
"It wouldn't hurt to get a shower yourself." Cora answered before walking to her room.
Mandy smelled herself. Cora was right, she definitely needed to get a shower and out of these clothes. She knew she wasn't going to get anymore sleep today; 4 ½ hours would have to do it. She quickly jumped in the shower. While she was straightening her hair, she heard her walkie talkie going off. Henry told her Emma and David were about to hold a town meeting regarding the recent kidnappings. She informed Regina and Cora about the meeting and Regina agreed to go. Cora wanted to stay home and sleep; her hangover getting to her. She also knew the townspeople weren't too fond of her so it would be best if she just stayed home. Mandy and Regina headed down to the town hall where a lot of people were already gathered, waiting for the meeting to begin. They took a seat in the back just as Emma stood up to the podium.
"Thank you all for coming. As you all know, several children have gone missing. Twenty more went missing last night." Several gasps escaped the audience. As soon as it quieted down, Emma continued. "This has escalated rather quickly and we are looking into it."
"You say that, but what are you actually doing about it?" Jefferson yelled from the middle of the crowd.
"We are doubling our patrol at night. That seems to be when the kids are taken." Emma replied as best she could.
"How many kidnappers are they?" Another person asked.
"We don't know yet." She answered truthfully.
"How are they taking so many kids at once and what do they want with them?" A man in the third row asked.
Emma wasn't ready for all these questions and didn't have the answers. "We don't know that either."
"What do you know?" Jefferson asked fed up with her lack of answers to this problem.
David noticed Emma was sinking fast. He asked Emma if he could take over. She didn't hesitate to let him take control of the situation. He had more experience with handling crowds and giving speeches than she did.
"Jefferson, I know your daughter was one of the children taken but she wasn't the only one. There are a lot of parents affected and we are doing everything we can right now so you have to bear with us for the time being." David said focusing on Jefferson at the moment before addressing the rest of the crowd. "We are working around the clock to find these missing children. But we need you, as parents, to keep your children close at all times, especially during the night. Don't leave them alone. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me or one of the officers. Thank you all for your cooperation and coming to this meeting. We will keep you all updated."
Everyone started to either go home or to the officers to ask questions. When Emma saw Regina and Mandy were heading towards the door, she quickly got back on the microphone. "Regina and Miranda" they turned at the mention of their names "I need to talk to the two of you."
Regina rolled her eyes as she headed up to the front, Mandy following close behind. All eyes on them. Mandy didn't like being the center of attention but Regina didn't seem to mind, she seemed use to it. Emma was waiting for them with Henry and Snow.
"What is it, Emma?" Regina asked already sounding fed up with the blonde in front of her.
"I just thought you'd like to know that Henry and your daughter were out roaming the streets while everyone else was sleeping." Emma answered as she crossed her arms.
Regina looked at Mandy shocked but she was too focused on Henry to notice her mother's glare. "You told me you weren't going to get caught!" She hissed.
"I wasn't planning for Emma to wake up." He shot back.
"Do you two even realize what's going on?" Snow asked.
"You put yourself and my son in danger." Emma said angrily toward Mandy.
"You both could've been taken." Regina added, also angry.
"Whoa, hold up." Mandy said putting her hands up signaling them to stop talking. "You don't all have to yell at once…"
"Children are going missing…do you know how serious this is?" Regina asked sternly lifting Mandy's chin to look in her eyes.
"And you two are kids…perfect targets. Alone at night." Emma added.
"Yea, yea. We know." Mandy said rolling her eyes.
"We were only trying to help." Henry said trying to lighten the mood a little but it didn't work.
"Henry, this is a grown up job. We don't want you, any of you, to get hurt." Snow said calmly.
"Why can't you just stay at home and play video games like any other kid your age." Emma sighed.
"Snow, I need your help." David said calling her over to answer questions.
"Please stay safe you two." She said to the kids before going to assist David.
"Whose idea was this?" Regina asked.
"Both of ours…" Henry said keeping his head down.
"I think you two need some time apart. You're getting into too much trouble together." Emma said.
"But that's not fair." Mandy whined.
"It wouldn't hurt." Regina said to Mandy's surprise. "You agree with her?!"
"Calm down, Miranda. We don't want anything to happen to you or Henry. It's just until this kidnapping business is taken care of…assuming it will be taken care of shortly." She said glaring at Emma.
"We're doing our best, Regina." Emma replied frustrated.
"This sucks." Henry chimed in.
"You just had to get caught, didn't you?" Mandy said rhetorically.
"I'm better at sneaking out than back in." He shot back.
"Well maybe you should work on that." She snapped as she got in his face.
"Alright, that's enough." Emma said separating them. "Regina, I suggest you keep a close eye on her." Emma said pointing to Mandy.
"I think I can handle it, Emma. I've been parenting for a while now." Regina argued.
"No offense but she's snuck out before without you knowing about it." Emma informed.
"And Henry has done the same to you. Maybe you should take your own advice before suggesting parenting tips to others." Regina instructed before grabbing Mandy's arm and pulling her along.
I would love to know what you think about this chapter. I have an idea of where I want these next few chapters to go but your feedback is appreciated. Please review:)