Chapter 3: Power Unleashed
In which the hunter becomes power hungry and Rumplestiltskin finds what he is looking for
Rumplestiltskin was in an extremely bad mood. These past two nights he had visited both the crypt and the office again and come up with absolutely nothing. He cannot imagine where else Regina could have put the spell books. Henry's bedroom? She wouldn't be so careless, would she? On top of all that, Belle had noticed that something was up and had been nagging him to tell her what was bothering him.
Radolph had been in a bar fight. He, who was usually so calm and collected, had gotten agitated and had lashed out at his friend. He had apologized immediately but their friendship had gotten a bit tense. Just like he himself. It was as if he had gotten a violent temper overnight. Since that clearly wasn't possible, it must be something else that had caused his sudden outburst. The real problem was that he didn't really care. Radolph had always taken pride in his levelheadedness but somehow that did not matter anymore. It had felt fantastic to let his negative emotions roar like that.
Emma was doing her homework. Mother Superior had given her some books to read and a few simple spells to practice with. Henry was absolutely thrilled that his mom needed to do magical homework and her parents kept on making lousy jokes about it. The Blue Fairy had asked her for detailed descriptions of all the times that magic had happened through her. How she had felt and if she could feel the magic coming before it actually happened. Emma didn't have clear answers and that had bugged them both.
Belle is puzzled when she looks at the restricted section of the library. She is absolutely sure that there were supposed to be fourteen bookcases. Belle checks her map to be sure. Yes, fourteen bookcases. "How on earth can this be possible? When did this happen?" she mumbles to herself. The basement section of the library, tucked away in a corner, only has twelve bookcases. Belle almost never checks this part of the library because it creeps her out a little. The cleaners look after it and nobody ever wants a book from that section anyway.
At home, she shares the mystery with Rumple. He is a little shocked, but tells her not to worry too much. It contained old and unwanted books, so she needn't be upset. Belle does not notice the glint in his eye when she first tells him about it, nor the horrified and darkened look when she says there were fourteen bookcases.
Fourteen, fourteen? Rumple is pondering what happened. Belle must be mistaken. There should only be thirteen and he took one of them. The cases were small and had wheels so they were not difficult to steal, but he had only taken the one he needed. The thirteenth one. The one that contained very, very precious spell books. He isn't even sure if they are Regina's or someone else's, since he did not recognize all of them and he had been the sole provider of Regina's spell books.
The idea had been brilliant. Books in a library. He should have searched it sooner. If only he hadn't been so focussed on Regina, he might have found this fourteenth case as well. If it really existed. Perhaps Belle was simply mistaken. Rumple makes a mental note to check the library himself tomorrow.
Emma breathes on the spell in the book. It releases itself from the page. She stares at it before doing anything else. So, this is a spell. An actual spell. Emma tries to capture it with her hand, but it seeps through her fingers. When she reaches for it again, the spell changes into a hat. A deerstalker. Emma laughs and calls Mary Margaret to take a look. Perhaps she wants it, since she is so fond of hats?
At night, Rumplestiltskin opens the spell books and starts to work. He begins with the more simple spells, in order to practice, but soon, he cannot resist the powerful ones. Without the magic of the blade, he needs to collect as much magical items and forces as he can muster. He isn't entirely sure how to wield some of the items he manages to animate, but that does not stop him. Rumple is totally in his element, surrounded again by magic and drawn to its power.