My apologies that this is being posted a day later than scheduled, but due to a minor family emergency, I didn't have access to my laptop yesterday. Anyway, here is the final chapter of The Inbetween! I've had a lot of fun writing my first ghost story and I hope some of you out there have enjoyed reading it! Thanks to everyone for their lovely comments and encouragement!
Scarce seconds would elapse before Emma and Killian were greeted with a cloud of deep violet smoke which gradually dissipated to reveal the forms of both Regina and David, now standing in the middle of the Apprentice's living room with them.
"That was quick," Emma commented sarcastically as her initial surprise faded, mentally questioning why Regina would resort to using magic while in such close proximity to a ghost that fed off of it.
"I wasn't about to go traipsing through the overgrown landscaping in the middle of the night," Regina replied, echoing Emma's sarcastic tone. "And right now, the best course of action for all of us to take would be to leave this place right now, seal it up permanently and forget it exists."
"Sealing the ghost inside?" Emma asked skeptically. "For some reason, after all we've experienced tonight, I highly doubt that would work. There's too much magic here and if this ghost is already capable of enacting his own protection spells, what's to stop him from trying to break ours?"
Regina practically snorted as she chuckled at Emma's unfounded worry. "He's not that powerful," she scoffed.
"Maybe not today, but that could change," Emma reminded her. "The ghost even told us that as All Hallow's Eve approaches, he can draw from even more dark magic, but I have a feeling you already know that. And I think there's a lot more to this story…" She stood to face Regina in the candlelit room, wanting to make sure she could see the mayor's face if she tried to lie to them. "When you lifted the spell that enchanted the hearts, Killian said the spirits went quiet - at least for a couple of minutes. We know that there's at least one very angry spirit still in there. Why didn't he cross over? Don't you have his heart?"
Regina's face scrunched in thought as she fought for a way to relay the story, exhaling a deep sigh. "I'm fairly certain I know where this particular heart is located…"
"It sounds as though there's something you don't want to share with us, your majesty," Killian pressed, disdain practically dripping from his tongue as they awaited the rest of this tale. "The spirit, Jeremiah - David informed us that you believed he was dangerous. Perhaps you would like to clarify that statement?"
"He told us that he was one of your Black Guard," Emma added, "but I have a feeling that we're not getting the whole story…"
"That part is true," Regina stated, although reluctant to reveal details from so long ago. "He was a member of my Black Guard, but he was also a troublesome aspiring warlock."
"A warlock?" Emma repeated, incredulously. "The ghost we've been fighting all night was some sort of warlock? No wonder he's hanging out here in his afterlife with so much magical energy at his disposal. Still doesn't explain though why he didn't cross over with the others, assuming that really was his goal… Why stick around if you've fought so hard to move on?"
"Jeremiah was a special case," Regina began, glancing about the room looking for the least dusty and dingy place to sit, finally deciding simply to lean her weight against a wall. "My Black Guard were the inner circle of my army, hand-picked either by myself or my closest confidants and entrusted to carry out my orders without question. They were required to be a particularly ruthless bunch by design and I expected loyalty from them. One night, I caught Jeremiah snooping through my spell books without permission and even though I probably should have turned him into a toad or something right then and there, it was just before I cast the first curse so I must have been feeling somewhat benevolent that night because I simply ripped out his heart and made him my slave instead."
"Why is it that so many of your stories sound alike?" David asked rhetorically as Regina ignored his sarcasm - even though he was correct. "I had a feeling you remembered who he was when I mentioned his name earlier."
"If it was just before the curse, was he brought to Storybrooke then or did he come here later?" Emma wondered, trying to place where he might have fit into Storybrooke daily life.
"He came with us during the first curse. I know he was working at the Post Office during that time, but I lost track of him after the curse was broken. I honestly don't know when or how he died. You'd have to check with the town clerk for that information, but since he knows his real name and who he was in the Enchanted Forest, obviously he died after the curse broke."
"So, let me guess - you can't actually find his heart?" was David's next question. "Even though you say you know where it is, I have a suspicion that he didn't cross over because his heart isn't actually here…"
"Oh, I know precisely where Jeremiah's heart is located," Regina snapped back defensively. "I just can't be sure if the enchantment actually lifted or if he simply doesn't want to cross over."
"He tried to possess Killian again after the other ghosts departed, so to speak," Emma said as she tried to put the new information Regina had provided together with their interactions with Jeremiah. "We think he might be after something that requires a physical body to obtain. Any idea what that might be?"
"My first guess is that he's trying to find a way to get to me - to get his heart back before I crush it," Regina stated.
"I don't think he'd actually need a physical body to try to kill you, especially since he tried to drop a chandelier on us earlier tonight. I'm still thinking there's something you're not telling us…" Emma's green eyes darkened, sparking angry with the flickering candlelight as everyone was now staring at Regina, awaiting an answer.
"Why would you have told us he's dangerous and why come all the way out here if you could stop him simply by crushing his heart?" David questioned. Something simply wasn't adding up here.
"Fine!" Regina huffed impetuously. "I've known the ghosts were here for a while and I knew Jeremiah was one of them." She took a deep breath before continuing. "When I took Jeremiah's heart, I looked him in the eyes and told him I wasn't going to crush it, but that instead, I was going to punish him for his insolence. I sealed his heart into a little silver box and locked it away in my vault - and in doing so, bound his magic and sent him to my dungeon until the curse was cast."
She paused to gauge their reactions before going on but no one seemed to be particularly horrified by her revelation. Had everyone grown so accustomed to tales of her evil deeds that they weren't even the least surprised by her actions anymore?
"When the curse created Storybrooke," Regina continued, "everyone had false memories implanted into their psyche, so I saw it as a chance to make Jeremiah useful again. I gave him a new civil service job - one as monotonous as possible - as punishment. But it seems that sometime after the curse broke, Jeremiah regained enough of his memories to realize he was missing his heart. Most never regain that memory, but in his case, not only did he remember about his heart, but the curse breaking must have freed him from the spell that I'd enacted to bind his magic. With magic returned to Storybrooke, he tried to resume his experimentations, but without a heart, he wouldn't have been able to summon the emotion necessary to grow and guide his powers so, while we were all distracted dealing with my mother, Greg and Tamara, Jeremiah apparently went on a quest to find his heart - to no avail. While we were in Neverland searching for Henry, he broke into my vault, but his heart wasn't there…"
"Do we even want to know it's actual location or how Jeremiah ended up being a cranky, magic-absorbing spirit haunting the Sorcerer's mansion?" Emma asked, curious as to what Regina would answer, yet somewhat afraid what that same answer might be.
"His heart was still sealed inside its little silver box back in my castle, where it would have remained probably for eternity, but then, as you know - Zelena happened. When the Wicked Witch took over my castle, she also took control over all of the magical objects I'd left behind, one of those being Jeremiah's heart. The curse your mother cast to bring everyone back here to Storybrooke of course also brought Zelena, and with her, many of those same magical trinkets and enchanted hearts. She had no idea who any of those belonged to yet somehow, Jeremiah knew his heart was back here in Storybrooke and the fool attempted to ally himself with Zelena, then still pretending to be Snow White's midwife, to get it back. When I found out the traitor was helping my sister, I got a bit irate and snapped his neck, leaving his body out in the forest. I know Henry wanted me to try being the better person, but I wasn't exactly there yet and since Jeremiah was working for the Wicked Witch of the West, he was as much of an enemy to us as she was. Honestly, I didn't think another thing about what I'd done until the first time someone reported a presence in the Sorcerer's mansion. At first, I thought it was just Gold up to no good again, but I later discovered it was actually paranormal activity. Ghosts don't exactly scare me so I ignored their existence - until David came knocking on my door tonight."
"Damnit, Regina! Why didn't you tell anyone else about this?" David chided her. "Especially if you thought it was Jeremiah?"
"Because at the time, I had a lot more to worry about than a ghost!" Regina shouted back at him. "And at the time, I had no reason to believe that he might be dangerous, but that changed tonight when you told me he'd possessed the pirate's body."
"Okay," Emma interjected, putting an end to the bickering, at least temporarily. "That's all in the past, but we still have to find a way to deal with Jeremiah here in the present. How are we going to stop him from getting any more powerful before Halloween and leaving this house to reign terror on the citizens of Storybrooke? I witnessed one ghostly possession tonight and I really don't want to ever see another. How do we deal with this spirit once and for all?"
"Would crushing the heart now dispatch his trapped soul to the Underworld?" Killian asked.
"Perhaps - If we can get to it," Regina replied sheepishly as another important fact she'd been concealing was about to surface.
"You told us just minutes ago that you knew where it was." David reminded her.
"Oh, I do," Regina assured him, extending her index finger in the direction of the main house. "It's in there."
"Inside the mansion?" Emma couldn't believe what she'd just heard. "You put the heart of the ghost who's hunting for it inside the same mansion he's haunting?'
"In my defense, I didn't actually put it there." Regina retorted. "It seems to have landed here during the curse. I remember seeing it here in one of those little secret rooms when we were hunting for the Author. I should have come back for it, but once Isaac was freed, things escalated pretty quickly around here…"
Emma sighed as she dropped back onto the sofa, sinking into the cushions beside Killian who was rubbing his bleary eyes with his thumb and index finger. "Okay - so where do we find it and how are we going to get in there to look?"
"It's in a little room off of the library - some narrow chamber that Henry located when we were looking for the door pictured in the book," Regina explained.
"A little narrow, tunnel-like corridor?" David asked, seeking clarification as Regina nodded in reply. "I think I know where it is. The kids tonight got themselves stuck in a secret passage connecting the living room to the library. There's a false stone built into the fireplace that opens up a panel in the wall. That has to be the same one, so if we can get back inside, I can go retrieve the box."
"If we can get around Jeremiah's protective spells. I highly doubt he'll let us back inside without trying to kill us all again," Emma responded, struggling to think of another way to do this.
"I'm hardly worried about a ghost's spell," Regina chuffed. "I can get us through that easily. Jeremiah wasn't ever that skilled of a warlock and I doubt he's gotten better in death. I can lower the spell long enough for you to get inside."
"Someone would have to go with me," David stated. "The door doesn't stay open long so someone has to stay inside the living room to reopen it once I get the box. What exactly am I looking for anyway?"
Regina closed her eyes as she pictured the box so she could describe its appearance to David. "It's a rectangular box made out of silver - about four by six inches and maybe two inches deep. Just large enough to hold a heart. There's a polished, oval onyx stone on the latch and the lock is sealed with blood magic so that only someone of my bloodline can open it. It'll be tucked away in an alcove just off of that corridor. There isn't a lot inside there so you should be able to locate it quickly."
"Alright then," David said with a smile. "Let's go find it."
"I'll go with you," Emma offered, "as long as someone can manage to keep Jeremiah occupied long enough for me to poof us inside and grab that box."
"I can distract the spirit," Killian spoke up. "He wants to possess me, so what better way to maintain his attention than to let him try again."
"No way," Emma said, shaking her head vigorously. "It's too dangerous. Even if he can't fully possess you anymore, his presence still seems to have a negative effect on you. You went into some sort of trance and if that happens again, he could kill you!"
"Unfortunately, I happen to agree with the pirate," Regina countered. "It would be perfect to use him as bait - so to speak." She added the latter in response to Emma's glare. "Don't worry. I'll be there with him. I won't allow Jeremiah to harm him."
"I suppose we don't have much choice," Emma scowled. "Let's go then. We've got a ghost to bust and get this night over with."
True to her word, Regina made quick work of Jeremiah's protective barrier, lowering it and surreptitiously enacting one of her own. She informed Emma and David that they'd have approximately ten minutes to retrieve the heart before Jeremiah's spirit energy would begin draining their magic so they'd have to make this quick. David recited a silent prayer to whatever god might be listening as he and Emma transported into the living room, enveloped in a swirl of grey smoke. Switching on his flashlight, he wasted no time hurrying to the fireplace to show Emma the location of the fake stone that would allow her to open the panel concealed inside the wall.
As the panel slid open, David aimed the flashlight beam into the dark recess, but couldn't see much in the inky blackness. At least so far, they'd been left alone. Whatever Regina and Hook were doing to keep the ghost entertained appeared to be working because they'd yet to face any resistance.
"Be back in a moment," David promised his daughter before ducking his head and stepping inside the hidden passageway while she waited impatiently in the living room, listening for their agreed upon pattern of knocks so she'd know when to press the stone. Please make this quick, she whispered as she heard the panel snap closed.
Regina, in the meantime, had transported Killian and herself into the vestibule, wisely avoiding entering the mansion anywhere near the kitchen. They were here simply to draw and maintain Jeremiah's undivided attention, keeping the ghost away from the living room so that David and Emma could retrieve the heart. They weren't here to chase a ghost throughout the depths of the property and Regina wanted this night to end just as rapidly as Emma did.
"You really should have spent more time practicing how to conjure a proper protective spell, Jeremiah," Regina announced her presence with a statement clearly designed to antagonize him.
"And as if he wasn't angry enough…" Killian muttered under his breath, nearly convinced that Regina actually was trying to get them both killed. "You certainly got his attention, Love," he added as he heard the spirit's unenthralled response.
"That was my intention. He was an unskilled, second-rate warlock - barely deserving of that description," she continued to goad the invisible entity as above their heads, the vestibule's light fixture began to sway on its chrome chain, the heavy crystal sphere hovering precariously over them. Regina managed to throw a protective barrier around them just as that chain snapped, deflecting the sphere away from them where it shattered against the marble floor sending lethal glass shards flying in every direction.
"I do believe our host is a tad irate," Killian quipped sarcastically.
"Good," she stated in reply. "Let him use all of that energy throwing things at us…"
"And what if he starts draining your magic?" he asked, recalling the challenges Emma had faced earlier in the evening.
"He's only one ghost. He can't draw all of it away that swiftly, but for all of our sakes, let's hope that Charming makes it snappy locating that box!"
"Agreed," Killian nodded as they watched a new scene unfold before them. The shards of broken glass began to draw together, swirled up and around in a miniature cyclone of shiny, deadly projectiles. "I do hope this magical barricade you've enacted is powerful enough to withstand that…" The spinning vortex began to pick up speed and girth as it moved towards them, mercifully repelled by Regina's protective spell, but as the shards scattered back across the marble surface, the spell faltered, leaving them incredibly vulnerable to another attack.
"Damn!" she exclaimed, shaking her hands furiously as she tried in vain to raise the spell again, but she simply couldn't draw enough magic. "He can't possibly be that strong…"
"I hate to disappoint you, Regina, but it would appear that you've misjudged this entity!" Killian shouted, a split-second before some manner of malevolent force struck them both from behind - one strong enough to send them both sprawling to the floor.
"I don't like what I'm hearing out there, Dad," Emma shouted anxiously toward the panel in the wall, startled by the sound of something heavy - and apparently very breakable - striking a solid surface. "Have you found it yet?"
On the other side of the wall, David crouched with the silver box clutched tightly beneath his arm while he pounded furiously against the wall. He'd remembered, a little too late, one very important fact Tyler Sprat and his friends had told him earlier - the passageway allowed them to hear sounds from outside, but no one outside could hear sounds from inside the tunnel. Emma was out there waiting for him to knock, but she wasn't going to be able to hear him and he'd stupidly left the radio back in the butler's quarters. But on this early morning, he couldn't have been more thankful for his daughter's impatience when the panel slid open and he could see the beacon of her flashlight.
"Everything okay in there?" she called out into the darkness as she made her way from the fireplace over to the passage entrance right as David scrambled out.
"I forgot that you wouldn't be able to hear me," he confessed. "I'm so glad you decided to open up the panel anyway."
"Did you find it?" she cut him off even more impatiently. "I'm hearing all sorts of loud noises coming from out there…"
"Yes, I found it," he replied, holding up the tarnished silver box where she could see it.
"Well, then, we'd better hurry up before that ghost drains all of Regina's magic."
"This way then," David said as he clasped his fingers around her wrist and pulled her toward the arched doorway that would lead back to the vestibule, arriving just in time to see both Killian and Regina be tossed to the floor by an invisible force, landing amidst a scattering of shiny objects that reflected the glow of her flashlight. Broken glass from the light fixture, she realized as the beam illuminated the metal chain coiled on the floor.
Regina was livid as she pressed her bloodied hands to the floor, catching glimpses of Emma's flashlight in the hallway to her left, maintaining hope that she and Charming had located the heart. On her right, the pirate had pushed himself up onto his knees and even though she couldn't see his facial expression in this dark vestibule, she assumed that Killian would be equally angered at Jeremiah shoving them around. In actuality, Killian had scarcely been given a moment to recover before the ghost turned his full attention on him and drew the pirate into a trance-like state yet again.
As Emma and David approached, they heard what sounded like clanking metal which Emma immediately realized was the sound of the chain she'd just spotted on the floor now moving on its own. She directed her light to where she'd seen it lying earlier just as the chain lifted off of the floor to encircle Killian's neck.
"Killian!" she wailed, hoping he would hear her cry and break from the trance, but he remained unmoving, making no attempt to fend off strangulation as the chain tightened about his neck under Jeremiah's power. Emma's jaw gaped open as she instinctively yanked the silver box out of her father's hand, offering it up to the vicious entity. "Is this what you want, Jeremiah?" she cried out, done with this spirit's antics.
"Emma, what are you doing?" Regina demanded. "Don't let him get ahold of that!" She didn't want to hand over their only bargaining chip to Jeremiah, but she understood Emma's anxiety as she grabbed ahold of the chain and tried to pull it free from Killian's neck before his airway was completely cut off. The chains weren't budging though and Regina suddenly had a feeling of helplessness wash over her as she sensed her magic being drained away only to be absorbed by the very entity they were fighting.
"Sorry, Regina. Gotta do this my way," Emma countered as she then addressed the ghost. "Let Killian go and you can have the box!" The moment she shouted the words to their invisible enemy, the box flew from her grasp and both the chain and Killian dropped to the floor. The box landed atop the marble on the opposite side of the staircase, out of the reach of any human's hand at the moment, but it rattled and vibrated wildly as though the ghost were struggling to get it open.
Emma crouched beside Killian, tossing the chain away from him as he gasped for breath, no longer transfixed by Jeremiah's spell. She drew her arms around him protectively as they glanced over at the silver box lifting off of the floor and flying into the wall. It was as though Jeremiah had become frustrated with his inability to open it and free his heart so he'd flung box and all against the wall in hopes that it would break open - but he wouldn't be so lucky.
"Why did you let him get the box?" David asked in frustration after all they'd done to recover it. "Won't that make him more dangerous?"
"It would - if we weren't a step ahead of our supernatural friend here this time," Emma replied cryptically as her right hand slipped inside of her leather jacket. "I'm sorry, Jeremiah, but it's time for you to rejoin your companions in the Underworld…" As she withdrew her hand, she revealed the deep, ruby red heart clutched in her palm and then tightened her fingers around it. She felt the entity descending upon her as she crushed it to dust, an act which she normally would have harbored immense guilt over, but Jeremiah was already dead. She was only helping him move on, as he should, Emma told herself as she squeezed it until there was nothing left but a pile of ash billowing from her fist.
No one said a word for a few seconds as a brilliant flash of light lit up the vestibule and the scattering of dust was picked up in another mini-cyclone like the one that Jeremiah had created with the glass shards earlier but this one vanished in a flash. Killian was finally the one to break the silence. "He's gone," he said in a raspy whisper before collapsing against Emma.
"Hope this afterlife is better for you, Jeremiah," Emma stated as she pushed herself to stand up and then helped her husband to his feet, carefully dusting away glittering crystal slivers with her sleeve.
Feeling her magic restored, Regina waved her hand and the front door swung open, revealing the first faint hint of the morning sunrise to the east. "I think we can all safely go home now," she smiled as she stood. "I think the mayor just might be taking today off," she announced to the others before disappearing in a purple cloud.
"I think I'm in full agreement," David laughed, taking a tentative step through the doorway, not yet convinced that they could leave freely, but there was no barrier to stop him from strolling out to the porch.
"C'mon, pirate," she urged her exhausted husband. "We should probably go get your head checked out…" Emma suggested as they followed David through the front door, pulling it closed behind them before Emma sealed the lock with magic. David started to descend the steps towards his truck, but paused as he reached the flagstone walk, turning to Emma with a look of pure confusion on his face.
"I've got a question for you, Emma," he turned, glancing up at his daughter who was still standing on the porch. "Regina said that the box was sealed with blood magic, so how did you manage to get it open and take the heart out? And how did you know that it would work?"
"Before we left the Apprentice's living room, Regina gave me a tiny vial of her blood - just enough to break the seal. She figured we might need it, and did we ever! I opened up the box and stashed the heart in my jacket while we were making our way down the hallway in the dark. The rest was just a little bit of misdirection."
"I, for one, am quite pleased that it worked," Killian stated with a weary, but grateful smile. "Now - may we please go home? I'll be fine…" He lowered his aching bones to sit on the top step and slumped his tired body against the railing, simply too exhausted to take another step.
"Looks like I'll be making a trip back for the Bug later," Emma grinned. "Thanks for all of your help tonight, Dad."
"Anytime," he assured her. "Have a good night - err, morning?" he chuckled as she wrapped her arm around Killian and they poofed away in a puff of smoke.
Emma transported them straight to their bedroom, depositing Killian atop their king-sized bed. She helped him shrug off his leather jacket while he toed off his boots then fell back against the pile of pillows, not even caring that he was still clothed. It didn't take long for him to drift off and while she had some lingering concerns about his head injury, she decided she wasn't in the mood to deal with Dr. Whale at this hour so she set her alarm to go off in two hours, remembering something she'd read somewhere that you should wake a person with a concussion every couple of hours to make sure they hadn't slipped into deep unconsciousness.
Since he'd fallen asleep atop the comforter, she yanked a quilt off of the back of the armchair sitting in the corner and draped it over him. She then slipped off her own leather jacket, tossing it right onto the same spot she'd removed the quilt from before she unzipped and removed her boots and collapsed onto the bed herself. She snuggled in close to him, tugging half of the quilt over her own body while pressing a kiss into his cheek and finally, resting her head atop his chest to hear the comforting sound of his heart beating beneath her ear.
What a night, was the last thought that crossed her mind as she faded into slumber. Maybe the Sheriff would be taking the day off too.