Psychotic | OUAT

Chapter 15 - "It- why are you all looking at me like that?"

Atarah was starting to grow bored with watching Emma try to make something happen. "Focus!" Regina told the blonde firmly. "Concentrate!" She added on sharply as she stood up in frustration.

"It's kind of hard when you're talking in my ear!" Emma snapped at Regina.

"Here we go!" Atarah sighed to Judas. "The third argument within the space of 3 hours!" Judas chuckled softly, he too was also growing annoyed and bored with Emma just doing nothing. It had been three hours, and she had achieved nothing so far.

"And when the wind blows, or it's raining, or someone's shooting arrows at you!" Regina said as she circled around Emma like a predator would to it's prey. "Yes, concentration's hard. That's the point! Find your anger, and use it to focus."

"No!" Emma said. "There has to be a way without going dark."

"You're such a pathetic waste of ability!" Regina snapped, causing Atarah to unattractively snort in laughter, and Judas elbowed her in the ribs.

"And you're a monster!" Emma retorted, and Atarah noticed that a fire had appeared and shrugged. Albeit, the flames were tiny and she could probably do the same when she was 2 years old, but Emma had still done it.

Regina faced her. "Smell that?" She asked her.

"What?" Emma snapped.

"Smoke!" Regina replied as moved closer to the fire, where there were tiny flames beneath the logs of wood. Atarah and Judas watched as Emma crouched by the fire, just as her brother joined them all.

"We need to talk!" He spoke to Snow and David, and Atarah strained her ears so she could listen in on the conversation. "Pan paid me a visit. He told me that Neal is alive, and that's he's on this very island." Her brother explained.

Snow shook her head in a confused manner. "No, Emma saw him die!" She told him. "He was shot! He fell through a portal. No one can survive that."

"Well, he did!" Her brother whispered softly so Emma wouldn't be able to hear them. "And now he's here. He said he took him from this very camp while we were off in his cave."

"According to Pan." Snow said. "If he's telling the truth!"

"Why would he tell you?" David asked Hook. "What does he hope to gain?"

"Who knows why he does anything?" Her brother asked them, concealing the fact that he and Emma had kissed. "He has his reasons, but it's a sure bet they're not good ones."

"He's telling the truth!" Snow said suddenly, and Atarah couldn't see them, but she could hear movement. She briefly looked over her shoulder and found the three of them surrounding a broken branch of some sort. "There's tracks. And a scuffle. Someone was here while we were gone. We have to tell her!"

Snow went to head for Emma, but Atarah watched as David stopped her. "No, no, no!" David told her. "She's already lost Neal once, and if this is a game, we can't put her through losing him again."

"He's right!" Her brother agreed. "Either way, telling her is what Pan wants! Which is why we shouldn't do it!"

"You want to find him without letting her know?" Snow asked the two.

"Why hurt her unnecessarily?" Hook asked.

"I've never lied to her before!" Snow said.

"You're not lying!" Hook informed her. "You're just keeping a secret until confirmation!" He added on, and Atarah quickly joined them all quietly.

"Considering her track record on keeping secrets, you shouldn't have told her!" Atarah informed her brother matter of factly. "Emma will find out, probably by the end of the day with Snow's inability to keep a secret!"