𝓵𝓸𝓷𝓰 𝓼𝓽𝓸𝓻𝔂 𝓼𝓱𝓸𝓻𝓽

𝑵𝒐 𝑶𝒏𝒆 𝑹𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒔

Twenty Seven

At first light, I left my room to get Killian. Half-awake, I took him away from the palace.

"I'm sorry for disrupting your sleep," I said, handing him a satchel filled with food I nicked from the kitchen before we embarked on our way completely. "I could not stay inside those walls any longer."

"It's nothing to worry about, luv," Killian said, reaching for a sandwich. "Did you notice something off with your grandfather enough to make you change your mind about staying?"

I shook my head. "No. He's as perfect as he was before. The curse failed to taint his portrayal," I said. "Have you seen the man I was dancing with last night?"

"Ah, the prince?"

"Yes, him," I said. "That was Verose, my real ex-lover from our reality. He did not exist here before... and he died. He was the one who gave me the note of warning about the curse when it was about to hit our town, trading his life for his desire to help me."

"That was eerie. Imagine they revived him to use him against you. How evil." Killian remarked.

"Exactly," I said. "But that was not all. Last night, I figured out what was wrong with my parents."

"Their unusual kindness and how they welcomed you with open arms?"

"They are not the loathsome people I grew up with. For a second, their illusions were erased and I saw... somebody else replace their faces. Rumple and Suliman thought they could fool me by pretending to be my parents and used my grandfather as leverage to make it all convincing, their act of changing for good."

"Bloody hell," Killian exclaimed, filled with dislike. "It means they are truly behind this, both of them."

I nodded. "That's why we must find the others and a way to end this now."

"Aye. Perhaps we should split to cover more grounds faster," He suggested. "I am going to head on to the Evil Queen's castle. My sources told me that my family is there. Meanwhile, you must go the other way and search for yours there. Then, we shall meet at the Tavern in a day's time to exchange information of what we found. I do not mean to overstep about leading this expedition. It is just that I'm more experienced in being trapped inside a cursed land."

"It's not a problem, Killian. I appreciate the initiative," I nodded. "Please be careful while we're apart."

"You too, princess." He grinned and gave me a salute gesture using his hook before we started walking away from each other.

"See you in the morrow." I teased.

Once I had taken my first step, it was like I ran into an invisible force field so I looked back to check if Killian felt the same.

He didn't seem to feel it as he kept walking without turning back to me again so I did the same, carrying on to what I am supposed to.

It was probably nothing, anyway.

After quite a long walk without any idea where I'm heading, I ended up in a village that brings extreme nostalgia to me.

"Careful with the ball, Antonio," Luisa's voice filled my span of hearing. "You might hit some-"

The ball she was talking about landed on my feet the instant I found my way to where they are using the guidance of her voice.

"-one."

Antonio came rushing toward me with a big smile on his face.

I crouched down to get the ball and hand it to him.