"Victor…?" I said. And that was the only thing I said for a very long time.

And it was a good thing – that he was too busy telling me about the monster he just had in his emergency room to let me get in a word. I might have told him just what good news that flying monkey was… And that would take forever to explain. So I kept it to myself. He really didn't need to know that I spent last two days worrying that I was so homesick I might be hallucinating monsters in local excuse for a forest.

"I'll be there," I said, not arguing about the place where he wanted to meet, since it was clear from his tone, that he needed a drink.

Getting off the phone I too late realized that I forgot about one tiny, crucial detail. I was at work. And that meant that I had now dozen teenagers staring at me with very interested expressions.

No way I could leave before doing something about it…

"Right. Which of you think you can fight…?" I asked. Couple of arms raised into the air. Mostly lost boys, unsurprisingly. I sighed.

"Any of you has weapons? Of course you do… Right. There's no point in pretending I'm here as a teacher. My instructions were pretty much to sit here and look dangerous in order to… scare you straight," I repeated expression Frederick used, but never translated to me. "But considering what's been going on lately, I think we might start spending our time a little more… constructively."

"Does this mean you're going to teach us how to fight?" asked one of the teenage nightmares I've been seeing in detention pretty much since day one.

"Yes. Starting tomorrow," I added, putting my jacket on and opening the door to let them out.

"Fight what?" one of the kids asked.

I considered not telling them for a moment. But then, the only reason I was here was that they were bunch of hyperactive teenagers who needed someone appropriately scary in room with them for a few hours every day, to help them rethink their attitude. This might actually help with that. Not that I wasn't making progress with my previous strategy…

"Flying monkeys," I said.

The silence that followed was deafening.

"Try to get swords. Knives and daggers will do too. I can try to teach you some basics of archery, but I'm telling you right now, I suck at it," I said, leaving them in the room.

Which was not exactly responsible, but I had no doubt that if they won't spread the news, there was a dwarf that definitely will.

Not feeling one bit guilty I exited the school and headed for the Rabbit Hole. Leaving alone Victor, a man of science, after he just saw someone turn into a winged monstrosity, would be much more irresponsible right now. And we were in enough trouble without local Doctor going through another crisis of faith right now.

"You heard?" said Granny, when she caught up with me on the street. So it wasn't just me who felt like keeping an eye on him…

"He just called me."

"Wicked Witch," she said, shaking her head, though I could tell she wasn't that surprised.

She, unlike me, spent a number of years in this land, so of course she couldn't be surprised easily. Living through crisis after crisis does that. She was telling me about this giant just last Friday on our group therapy.

"Is there any chance she got swept by the curse accidentally? Right. Why don't we forget I asked that," I said, facing her amused expression.

"Wonder why she took our memory…"

"Well, that's obvious, isn't it?" I said, as we reached the door.

"What's obvious?" asked Blue, seeing us come in.

"Why we don't have memory of last year," I said. "She's up to something and wants us all preoccupied with what we were doing in the Enchanted forest instead of ganging up on her. Not to mention someone probably knows something about defeating her."

"Like throwing some water at her you mean…?" said Victor feebly. He did not look good. I wonder what he would do if he had to face something really serious. Like one of the things I used to share my living space with, for instance.

I gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze and sat down.

"That's assuming she cast the curse," said Blue, still considering the witch. "So far we only know she's in town. We might be getting attacked by flying monkeys because she doesn't like it here."

"Of course she cast the curse," said Jefferson getting in and heading straight for the bar. "Who else?"

"Regina," reminded Granny in a tone that was pretty close to growl.

I turned to her, just making sure I heard that right. She seemed pretty serious. And though I hated to be the one, someone better set the record straight here. But I got up and moved away from her, in case she really didn't like what I had to say.

"She didn't do it," I said at the same time Jefferson did.

The room went quiet and I got that by now familiar feeling that I was missing some backstory here. Just what I needed – a reminder that I don't get these people. Not half as well as I did dragons and mantichores.

"Of all the people I would never expect to defend her," started Blue, looking beyond shocked. Not talking to me.

"He's not defending her… Really?" I said, looking around and finding only incomprehension. And pissed off looking bartender suddenly keeping a bottle of whiskey just out of my reach, disliking what I was saying.

"She couldn't cast that curse. How come none of you knows how this works…?"

"She'd need heart of the thing she loves most," said Jefferson, giving the explanation I was about to supply.

"Oh right," nodded Blue, looking slightly embarrassed. "Forgot about that."

I sighed, reaching over the bar and taking my bottle back. And once I had it, I found myself unable to pour myself a drink. I knew it won't help one bit. The mysteries will still be here once I finished it. And so will the flying monkeys.

"So what did we do to her? Because we really must have pissed her off," I said, not really hoping for an answer. And not even imagining I could get the kind of accusing look I just got from Blue.

"Right. Because I'm known for causing this kind of trouble."

"You then…?" she turned to Hatter. "You were in Oz."

"Why do I have the feeling that it might have been you?" I turned to the fairy. And my feeling worsened still, because she looked like someone who had the same thought and wasn't entirely certain that this wasn't the case. Of course her first reaction was to start blaming anyone in her line of sight.

"Oh please. I bet it was the queen," said Granny.

"Which one? Oh, what? It's big land, loads of royals," I said shrugging my shoulders. "I'm related to two queens myself."

"Two?" said Victor with obvious confusion. It seemed it was that kind of day for him, so I spared him details of my family tree, with the feeling I was saving him a headache.

"Long story. Concerning the place we don't talk about…"

"How did we get from flying monkeys to white rabbits?" said Granny.

"Because none of you is here because of the flying moneys," said familiar voice from shadowy corner.

Will. Looking like he was having a crisis of his own. As usually, seeing him like this I found myself torn between the need to take his glass away before he drunk himself into unconsciousness and giving him a hug, promising it will get better.

I solved it like every time and did nothing, because there was nothing I could do. He once did me the favor of getting me the help of people who understood just how I felt, and I knew I couldn't be that kind of person to him, being so far spared any major heartbreak. So I just kept my mouth shut, until the temptation to comfort him passed.

"Whatever's happening someone else is taking care of it and the odds are we won't get involved at any point, unless something winged attacks us out of boredom," he continued, ignoring how unhappy we all felt about someone spelling the truth out for us. And that one of us was werewolf...

And the, shocking us all even more, Blue grinned. "He's right."

"He is?" I said, having hard time believing what I was hearing.

"We're not here to solve anything. If this was that kind of meeting we wouldn't be in a bar. Someone just gave us an excuse to come here and we took it because in this damn town you never know which day can be your last…"

"You would know," said Victor, tactful as ever.

"I would," she agreed, raising her glass. Not letting the fact she was just reminded of the time she died make things get weird. "To the Wicked Witch," she said loudly.

"Is she serious…?"

"For giving us an excuse to get drunk in the middle of the week," she explained. And was refilling her glass before anyone could react.

And she was right. Five minutes later the witch, the monkeys, and the fact we were almost sure who cursed us were forgotten.

Well… almost.

"So she came from the enchanted forest?" I asked.

"That's what I heard," said Jefferson, letting me know that the information came from a good source, and he might get offended if I dismissed it.

"Well that explains it," I said, nodding to myself.

"Explains what?" he asked. And now I knew how many drinks it took him to forget that he understood how magic worked at least as well as I did.

"How she knew how to cast the dark curse. Because only two people really did – and with one of them being dead now…" I said, hoping that my ability to deduce was not too affected by the state I was in.

"Oh yes… she must have known it from him. Which would mean she studied magic from him at some point…" he said. Making me almost believe that it made a kind of sense.

"That can't be good," I realized. Thought of someone else with that particular kind of dark powers, in the same town, and judging by the way her minions were behaving, definitely pissed… "Do you think we should tell someone?"

"No… If we could figure it out, I'm certain someone in authority will be able to…"

"Are you saying it only because you're scared of the sheriff?" I said, getting the impression from how fast he was to answer.

"I'm not scared of her…"

"Of course you're not," grinned Will. Too drunk to know he was really pushing his luck here. And remembering he was family and I would not like to spend my evening identifying his body, I knew I had to say something.

"Will someone tell me what happened…?"

Someone did.

"Snow White kicked you out of a window," I repeated once the story was over.

"Is that what bothers you about it…?" said Blue, really trying to suppress laughter when she saw the look on my face.

"Of course it is," said Will before I could explain. "None of you gets worried about what normal people would. You came here because as it turns out we now live in town terrorized by green-skinned lady in a pointy hat, but none of you is really worried. You have no concept of fear. When you leave this bar, will you keep looking over your shoulder, looking out for flying monkeys?"

"No," replied Victor immediately.

"There you go…"

"But that's because he's not planning on leaving," I explained to the Knave. Who, despite being a very wise drunk today, was still missing some details.

"You think he's right…?" asked Blue after the conversation moved on a little. I just nodded. What else was there to do? I couldn't pretend to be afraid of flying monkeys, not when everyone here knew who I was and what I was capable of.

When I left, walking just a little unsteadily, what I was worried about was not what might attack me on the way. I was worried about how to live in a world where Will Scarlet was making brilliant observations and I wasn't the only person who took the Wicked witch to be nothing more than excuse for a few drinks…