The Modern Fairy Tale Town Book 2: The Price of Magic

Chapter 4: Lady of the Lake

Me neither... Guess that's what she meant by Snow White going to be a little different from now on." Evie remarked as she knelt beside the short-haired woman as they were stuck with nothing else to do or able to get back out.

"Do you need help?" A new voice asked, but the person was obscured by the shadows.

"Who said that?" Evie gasped and flinched. "Who's there?"

"There's no need to be afraid, my dear, I'm just a friend," The voice said before showing a bit of an older woman who then stepped forward into the light coming from above. "My name's Cora."

"Cora..." Evie whispered to herself. "...What a wonderful name."

"Thank you, my dear~" The older woman smiled and nodded in response as she looked rather fond of Evie already.

Evie smiled back as she felt very hopeful about this older woman already as they felt a strong connection with each other, though they weren't quite sure what it was yet.

"Here, let me take care of this one," Cora said as she stepped over to Mary Margaret. "I can tell that she'll need some special help the most."

"Thank you, Miss Cora," Evie said, not sure what else to call her just yet. "Oh, please be okay, Ms. Blanchard." she then added quietly and hopefully.

Emma and Evie soon stood by and watched as Cora tended to Mary Margaret.

"You sure she's gonna be okay?" Emma asked out of concern.

"Don't worry. She'll be fine." Cora reassured.

"What is this place anyway?" Evie asked as she looked around the pit.

"It's a little island our captors like to think of as their haven." Cora explained.

"Haven?" Emma soon asked. "From what?"

"The world's dangerous," Cora warned. "What's left of it, anyway."

"Well, they can't keep us down here. We didn't do anything wrong." Evie then said strongly as she tried to behave more like Regina so that she wouldn't feel scared and worried about everything due to being so far away from home.

"Neither did I." Cora replied.

"Then why are you here?" Emma asked her then.

"I'm here because of something my daughter did," Cora explained. "The curse that ravaged this land? She cast it."

Evie's eyes slowly widened as she realized who this woman was now. The woman's daughter cast the curse who was Evie's mother and this made the woman her own grandmother and she never even knew or realized before.

"Regina?" Emma asked Cora out of shock. "You're Regina's mother?"

"Yes, but you've nothing to fear from me," Cora reassured. "The apple fell very far from the tree."

"You're... You're her mother... But... That's impossible..." Evie whispered.

"Pardon me, my dear?" Cora then asked, not sure what exactly Evie was talking about right now.

"You're from over there, aren't you?" Emma asked as Evie was alone with her thoughts as she backed away a little from Cora in concern. "How'd you get back?"

"Girls. No..." Mary Margaret spoke weakly as she slowly came back into reality.

"Oh, Snow, you're awake," Cora said to the other woman with a small smile. "I'm so relieved."

"As bad as you think Regina is, this woman is worse." Mary Margaret warned.

"She's right..." Evie said as Cora approached her and she kept trying to stay in front of the redheaded woman.