"So, these wands you're looking for, what do they look like?" Robin asked while scanning the forest floor.
"Like sticks, really", Chris answered, "but with a carved-out handle that might sometimes have patterns. Like my handle has this criss-cross pattern all over it."
"They will definitely not be easy to find", Tessa said and picked up a stick from the ground, waving it around. "Nope, no magic there."
"We can't go around testing every single stick in the forest", Filipi pointed out. "There's got to be some other way to find them."
"Well, what are they made of?" Robin asked. "What type of tree?"
"That depends on the wand", Chris answered. "According to what we have read about Ollivander every type of tree has certain magical abilities. Some are suitable for healing, some for curses, some for duels, some for cooking..."
"Maybe not the last one", Jade interrupted. "But the others I agree with."
"Mine for example is made of Acacia", Tessa explained. "It's a loyal type of wood, so no one else but me can use the wand."
"While mine is Holly, a wand suited for someone engaged in a dangerous quest", Chris filled in.
"Well, I do not know of the Acacia, but Holly I have seen in this forest", Robin said, looking at Chris. "It is highly possible that we will find at least your wand there; where better to hide a wand made of wood than with its own tree?"
"Wait", Jade suddenly said. She was standing on top of a boulder, obviously trying to spy something among the trees. The tone of her voice caused the others to tense.
"What is it?" Filipi eventually asked. Jade jumped down from the stone and gazed upwards. There was the ominous sound of wings sounding above the treetops, causing them all to huddle down and hide behind a set of bushes.
"Am I the only one who thinks they're on patrol?" Jade asked as a black shadow passed them without noticing that it was being observed.
"There's something close by that it does not want us to find", Robin agreed. "Do you know what anyone else's wand is made of?"
"I don't know which wand that belongs to who, but I know there are some made of Oak, Alder and Black Walnut", Chris answered.
"There are Alder-trees growing close to where we are", Robin said, glancing up at the sky. "Come, this way."
In daylight the splendour of the Mayor's office became clear to both Indira and Wolfgang, however the fact that glass vials of various shapes, colours and sizes were spread out across it somehow made it less intimidating. David took charge of investigating the vials close by the conference table together with Indira, while Hook, Emma and Wolfgang checked the desk and scanned the marble floor for possible traces.
"Why did she wreck all of this in the first place?" Indira asked.
"We were trying to make a memory-potion", Emma answered. "All in hopes of bringing people's memories of the lost year back."
"Yeah, that might have been a good idea", Wolfgang agreed, picking up one of the files from the desk.
"So, how did the Wicked Witch know about it?" Indira asked, ignoring her friend.
"We spread the rumour that we were about to succeed", Emma answered, trying to find fingerprints on the window. "Regina had sealed the room with a blood lock, so we did not think the one behind all of this would be able to escape."
"But blood locks are extremely powerful", Indira argued. "I don't know the exact nature of them, but I believe they can only be broken by someone who shares the same DNA, the same genes."
"Regina is an only child", David answered and rose from his kneeling position, "and her parents are both dead. Whoever this Wicked Witch is she must have managed to break the lock by some other means."
His gaze fell on something on the floor, close to where they believed the Wicked Witch had disappeared the night before.
"We have a partial footprint", he said and knelt down to the red spot. It had probably not been spotted before due to being so small and not being placed on a white section of the marble.
"Is that blood?" Emma asked, frowning as she walked up to the man who appeared to be her father. David knelt once more, sticking his finger in the red stain and then smelling it.
"It's a berry", he said, sounding slightly surprised.
"A fruit?" Wolfgang asked. "Why would the Wicked Witch bring a fruit along?"
"No, it's a Holly berry", David answered and rose. "They grow on bushes..."
"Were you... some sort of botanist in this life, mate?" Hook asked.
"I worked in an animal shelter; saw dogs crack them all the time", David responded, ignoring the tone of the pirate's voice. "The bushes grow in the woods."
"Do you know where?" Emma asked.
"Yeah, northwest corner, not far from the Toll Bridge", David answered. His phone suddenly beeped and he reached into his pocket to take it out, flipping it open and reading the message he had received. It made him frown and look from the screen to the small berry in his other hand.
"Is everything okay?" Indira asked.
"Yeah, just... Mary Margaret needs me to come back to the loft", David said, his eyes still on the phone. "We're... getting a midwife and she wants to meet with both of us, so..."
"A bit demanding isn't she?" Hook said. Both Emma and Indira turned towards him with angry glares.
"I meant the midwife", Hook quickly pointed out. Neither of the women seemed to fully believe him, but allowed the subject to drop. For now. David turned towards Emma with a conflicted look in his eyes.
"It's fine", she said. "Go."
"But... we just got on track here, I mean..."
"And I've got it covered", Emma said with a smile. "She needs you."
David looked down at his phone again, trying to come up with a valuable excuse.
"Just meet us when you're done", Indira suggested. David glanced up from the phone, then down again, fidgeting with the device for a few moments before placing it back in his pocket. He looked up once more, seemed to be about to say something but then shook his head and turned, walking out of the office.
"So, we're off to this Toll Bridge place?" Wolfgang asked, putting the folder he had been flipping through back on the desk.
"Yeah, I think that would be the next step", Emma answered. "Unless anyone's found anything else?"
"Other than an austere sense of design; nothing", Hook answered with a grin. Emma rolled her eyes at him.
"Let's get going", she said. "The sooner we find out who this Wicked Witch is the better."
They decided to walk to the Toll Bridge, an old bridge in the forest at the outskirts of the town. The four of them then started to scan the area for the bushes David had mentioned growing nearby. It did not take them too long to find several of them growing along an old hiking trail. Hook grabbed the bushes with his hook and shook some berries onto the ground before stepping on them.
"You'll look for any excuse to use that thing, won't you?" Emma said, sounding annoyed.
"Just to know we're in the right place", Hook answered, nodding at the berries on the ground to confirm that they, indeed, looked like what they had found in the Mayor's office.
"What now?" Wolfgang asked.
"Now we start searching", Emma answered. Hook suddenly met Indira's gaze and in his eyes she saw a silent plea; a plea that she and Wolfgang would leave him alone with Emma for a while.
"We'll take the lead", she therefore offered, grabbing Wolfgang's arm and dragging him up the trail.
"What the hell was that for?" Wolfgang hissed as they continued.
"Just giving them some privacy", Indira answered, releasing his arm once they had turned a corner of the winding trail. They could still hear their two companions, but now they had to strain their ears in order to catch exactly what they were talking about.
"Privacy?" Wolfgang asked as she knelt down to seemingly inspect the ground. "You think those two are..."
"Well, Hook's certainly got something going for her", Indira answered, keeping her voice low, "and they've been sort of tense around one another, so I figured we'd let them talk a bit without having us around."
Just then Emma came walking towards them, not even sparing them a glance as she walked by.
"Looks like that worked out well", Wolfgang muttered before following her. Indira rose from the ground just as Hook joined her.
"Thanks", he said. He sounded sad and did not meet her gaze.
"I don't know what you said to her, but you're welcome", she responded.
"How come you're helping me?" he asked.
"While Clarissa isn't here I guess I have to play matchmaker", Indira mused, before her smile dropped.
"Is she one of your missing friends?"
"Yeah", Indira sighed. "I just... we should have found them by now. The nine of us all showed up yesterday, at roughly the same time. Why didn't they?"
Hook gave her a hint of his usual grin.
"Don't worry, love", he said. "We'll find them."
Once they had exited the forest they found themselves facing a steep, snow-covered hill. It was a strange feeling to suddenly have snow beneath your feet when it had all but melted away in the forest they had been walking through earlier. Emma took the lead, still not having said a thing since her conversation with Hook.
At the top of the hill they found a small, white farmhouse with light green details.
"You have to appreciate the irony", Wolfgang said, referring to the farmhouse in the story that had crushed the Wicked Witch's sister. Slowly they made their way up to the house and passed the barbed wire fence. Emma was the first to make it onto the porch and snuck up to peer in through the windows.
"There's definitely someone living here", she whispered. "It's empty right now, though."
"Why are we whispering?" Hook asked, also lowering his voice.
"I was wondering the same thing", Wolfgang agreed.
"Because good hide-outs always look empty", Emma answered and started to carefully walk around the house. "Trust me, I've spent a lifetime tracking down people who don't want to be found. I know about hiding out."
She peered around the corner momentarily before leaning back against the wall again, a movement that the others were quick to follow.
"There's a bike standing there", she said.
"Does it mean anything?" Indira asked. "Is she still here or..."
"I don't know", Emma answered, shaking her head. "I..."
She paused, her eyes sticking to something out in the field outside the barbed wire fence.
"A storm cellar."
"Oh, the irony", Wolfgang muttered. The others pointedly ignored him as they made their way down the porch and across the lawn. Indira looked back at the clear footprints they were leaving, feeling uneasy. Their visit would not go unnoticed, even if the Wicked Witch was not here right now.
The entrance to the storm cellar itself was a small square concrete block with a metal door and a black pipe made for providing those locked inside with air. Although now the door was not locked from the inside; it was locked from the outside with a heavy padlock. Indira was about to suggest that they just leave, because if the door was locked from the outside someone could not be on the inside, but then she realized that the person they were dealing with was the actual Wicked Witch of the West. Locking a door in this manner would probably not be too hard to do.
Emma pulled out her gun, readying herself for shooting the padlock to pieces in order to break into the cellar.
"Woah, wait", Hook said, placing his hook on her arm. "It's one thing walking around a deserted farmhouse, quite another thing to descend into a one-way cellar with no other way out."
Emma smiled in amusement, but lowered her weapon.
"Scared?" she teased. Hook sighed.
"There's a difference between fear and strategy", he pointed out. "We know she's got these flying monstrosities; who knows what's down there?"
"I agree", Indira said. "If this witch is as powerful as we think we could use some back-up."
"Magical back-up", Wolfgang filled in.
"Unless you've been practicing in New York City", Hook finished off, looking at Emma.
"Wait, you can do magic, too?" Wolfgang asked.
"A little, but not enough for this", Emma sighed and pulled out her phone. "I'm calling Regina, have her drop Henry at Granny's. Let's see if those flying monstrosities can get passed her crossbow."
"Granny's got a crossbow?" Wolfgang gasped.
"You know, a little less excitement about every single thing we reveal about ourselves might do you good, mate", Hook pointed out. Emma suddenly frowned.
"There's a voice message from David", she said, pressing the screen.
"Emma, it's David", the voice said through the speakers. "I'm at the trail now and I think I found her; the Wicked Witch. I'm going after her."