Two Weeks Prior

Outside the Dark Castle, Enchanted Forest

Things were not going according to plan, if they had even had a proper plan to begin with. They had spent five days searching the Dark Castle, moving in and out without meeting any kind of resistance from the Wicked Witch or her pet monkeys. The only thing they were able to hear in the dark halls was Rumplestiltskin's manic giggle and the sound of his spinning wheel.

They had lost Jade and Robin on the first day, when they had ventured into the mysterious corridor. The light of Jade's wand had disappeared around a corner, but when the rest of them got there all they found was a solid wall. No blasting curse could cause it to fall away. Every day they ventured back into the corridor, without any progress.

Rachel and Catriona had also disappeared on that day. Belle had been in the camp when it happened, having relayed to Catriona what had happened in the castle, when the two younger girls had disappeared into thin air. It was distressing and worrying and frightening, because it made them all think that they might be next in line.

"She's toying with us", Rowan muttered on the morning of the fifth day, stirring his bowl of porridge.

"People don't just disappear", Maryse said. "They have to be somewhere close, all of them."

"The Marauder's Map would have been a very good thing to have right now", Chris sighed.

"A what?" Belle asked with a frown.

"The Marauder's Map", Tessa answered. "It's an object featured in the Harry Potter-books."

"Why wouldn't it be real too, though?" Ella thoughtfully said, causing everyone else to stare at her. "Ollivander's real, Hogwarts is real; why wouldn't the Map be real as well?"

"Because so far we haven't heard word of the Marauders being real", Wolfgang responded.

"Wait, she's right", Miranda said. "The stories we heard and read are not completely true; it was the first thing we learned when we got here. I mean, Ollivander is the founder of Hogwarts here, and it's not called Hogwarts but Hog's Castle. Someone else might have created the Map instead."

"Well, that'd be very good", Filipi said, "but if we're going to use it we have to find it and I don't think we have time to go on a wild goose chase now when Snow's about ready to give birth and the Witch wants her baby."

"We can't just look at what we don't have and wish we had it", Arianne agreed. "This is what we have to work with."

"Not all of it", Indira suddenly said and looked up from her breakfast. "There's one more thing we might be able to use."

"What's that?" Chris asked.

"Rumplestiltskin."

"The mad man in the cage?" Clarissa asked. "How can he help us?"

"He's not mad", Belle pointed out. "He's... he's two people right now, after he absorbed Neal to save him."

"And you got through to him", Indira filled in. "Maybe we can do it again."

They made their way back inside the castle shortly after finishing breakfast, this time accompanied by Belle.

"You all should stand guard", Indira said, nodding at the majority of the group. "Me and Belle will go and try to talk to him."

"I'll come too", Chris responded. "He's Neal too right now."

Indira opened her mouth to protest but then quickly shut it again. There was no way she could talk him out of this. Thus she nodded and the three of them entered the main hall of the castle. Rumplestiltskin was in his cage at the far corner, spinning his wheel and muttering to himself.

"Rumple?" Belle said and stepped forward. Amber eyes shot up, glinting with insanity as the strange man noticed them.

"Guests!" he said. "Guests, indeed, how very, very precious."

Indira glanced at Belle, but the brunette did not return the look. It must hurt her to see him like this; so deranged, so inhuman.

"Oh, look, it's the Light", the man suddenly said and grinned widely. "The Light is here, to defeat Rumple, to slay the beast, maybe, maybe not?"

"You know me?" Indira asked with a frown. The man giggled and rose from his stool, placing his face against the bars of the cage.

"Rumplestiltskin is my name, some say, and knowing is what Rumplestiltskin does best. And you..."

He pointed a clawed finger at her and giggled.

"You I know, I know of you. I know."

"This is... creepy", Chris admitted.

"We have to get through to him", Belle said and, once more, reached inside the cage and grabbed the hand of the mad man. "Rumple, please, look at me."

The man only giggled and pulled his hand free, sitting down on the stool again and started to spin more straw into gold.

"How can he know me?" Indira asked as Belle disappointedly pulled back her hand. "This is the first time he has spoken to me; he's not supposed to know who I am."

"The stars go out in time for dinner", Rumplestiltskin cackled, "light hides in darkness, hope sleeps in the sea."

"That makes no sense at all", Chris said.

"Wait", Belle said, turning towards the cage again. "He told the others a riddle that should have helped them locate Glinda. Maybe he's trying to tell us one now as well; maybe that's all he can do."

Rumplestiltskin giggled.

"The birds fly east, east, east they fly, building nests in rocks by eye."

"An eye", Indira said and stepped up to the cage again. "That's Toby's prophecy symbol; the Eye of the Leader."

Rumplestiltskin looked up and, in one flurry of motions, reached out his hand and pulled her closer. The bars of the cage were unnaturally cold against her skin.

"Defeat me", he rasped in her ear, the madness gone from his voice. "You can do it. You told me you could. Please."

"When?" she asked. "When did I tell you?"

"In a time you don't remember", he hissed, his voice strained and his hand trembling somewhat where it held her wrist. He was fighting to stay in control.

"Then I will", Indira agreed. "I will defeat you. Just tell us where our friends are. Please."

"The birds fly east", he repeated, his voice still strained, "east they fly, building nests in rocks by eye, hidden by a veil of green, only by the arrows seen."

With that he pushed her away and the madness returned to his eyes, a manic giggle escaping him as he turned back to his wheel.

"Is everything alright in there?" Rowan called from the door.

"Yes", Indira responded. "I think we're done. There's nothing more we can get from him now."

"But what did he say?" Belle asked as they turned and walked back out. "When he pulled you close, what did he tell you?"

"First the thing with the birds and the nests", Indira answered, "then he said hidden by a veil of green, only by the arrows seen."

"The green veil must be the Witch", Chris thoughtfully said, "and the arrows must mean both Jade and Robin."

"So they must have found where the Witch was keeping Toby", Indira agreed, "but now she's keeping them prisoners as well."

"Question is where", Chris sighed as they reached the others.

"Wait", Belle said and stopped, "the first half of the riddle. The stars go out in time for dinner."

Her eyes lit up and she smiled widely.

"What?" Tessa asked and looked from one of them to the other, though both Indira and Chris looked equally confused.

"Follow me", Belle said and hurried through the corridor.

They ended up in a large dining room located in the other end of the castle. Belle quickly walked over to a painting on the far wall. It portrayed a black sky over a stormy, dark-blue sea. The only detail that was not painted in a dark colour was a few small specks of light seemingly hiding at the bottom of the sea.

"Wait", Chris said and frowned, "that's the answer to his first riddle, isn't it?"

"Yes", Belle said with a wide smile. "It all made sense when you put all parts together."

"What's behind that painting?" Ella asked. "It's a secret passageway, isn't it?"

Belle nodded.

"It leads to the east wing."

"Birds fly east", Indira gasped. "East wing. Clever."

"The Witch must have used this to create a secret prison cell", Belle said and turned back towards the painting. "We just have to find it."

Her fingers trailed along the frame until she found the small dent which served as a lock. She pressed it and the painting slowly slid to the side, revealing a dark corridor not too unlike the one they had found earlier.

"Wands at the ready", Wolfgang said. "That Witch could be lurking anywhere in there."