Alice's Adventures In Storybrooke (A Crossover Fanfiction)

Chapter 10: The Step-Sister

"So let me see if I understand you correctly," Drizella said to Anastasia as the two sisters sat across from each other. "The man you love has become a genie, and you are desperate to get him back?"

Drizella and Anastasia rode in Drizella's carriage to the harbor town where they would find the ship that Drizella had arranged to take Jasmine's love, if he was still alive at this point. Drizella was confident that if they found Allan, they would find Jasmine--and if they found Jasmine, they would surely find this genie.

Anastasia pressed her lips. "Getting his love back isn't as important now as being able to tell him how sorry I am for all this mess. He told me, the last time we spoke, that he could never love me. It was like that day in the forest, when we should have met but didn't, he changed and became someone different, someone careless and dauntless and..." she paused as her voice caught. "...heartless," she finished.

Drizella evidently missed the emotion of the situation. She chuckled to herself. "Fancy!" she cried.

The carriage pulled to a stop in front of the inn, and the Tremaine sisters disembarked.
Anastasia immediately glanced toward the docks. "All right, so how do you want to do this?" she asked Drizella. "Do we search the docks ourselves or hope some of the sailors will give us a straight answer?"
Drizella tottered. "Oh, Annie! There's no need for skulking around or anything like that! Come with me!"

She swept over to the Harbormaster's lectern.
The rotund man gasped first, then immediately bowed his head. "Lady Drizella! What an honor!"

"Yes, it is, isn't it?" Drizella smiled at him. "I'm here to inquire after the status of the Hispañola. Do you have the records?"

The Harbormaster nodded vigorously. "She just pulled into the slip nigh an hour ago," he pointed to the furthest dock on the left. "Only a few men left and no cargo, what with being raided by pirates and all!"

"Raided?" Anastasia cried. "How are we ever going to find him now?"

The Harbormaster raised an eyebrow. "Him? Don't tell me you're looking for that cabin boy too!"

"Was there already someone inquiring after him?" Drizella asked. "A young woman perhaps?"

The Harbormaster nodded. "They were talking about going back after I told them... That is, she and the man she was with. They friends of yours?"

Drizella smiled. "You could say that."

The Harbormaster snorted. "Well, y'won't find 'em here. They got their answers and just went off."

Drizella thanked the man. "I think we'll just wander the docks a bit, if that's all right."
The Harbormaster nodded. "Whatever ye like, Milady."

Anastasia caught her sister's elbow as they walked toward the docks. "What was that all about? You're not actually a lady, are you?"

"Of course not!" giggled Drizella. "But they don't know that; the Harbormaster owed Baron Cavendish a great deal, and ever since he's called me Lady Drizella. But I do play the part well, don't I?" Drizella unfurled her fan with demure grace and fluttered it elegantly. "It's all in one's carriage, you know. I present myself as someone important, and no one questions me. You, on the other hand, Annie, have no more grace than the commoner's daughter you were. No one would ever mistake you for a queen!" And she laughed, while Anastasia steeled herself against the angry sting.
"Ooh, look!" Drizella cried rapturously. "A dinghy!"

Anastasia sneered at the dismal brown boat moored at the dock. "What of it?" she all but snarled at her sister.
"Look here," Drizella pointed to a skull and crossbones branded on the side. "That's not just any boat; that's a skiff from the Black Pearl, Silver's ship! Oh how lucky! That means the ship must be somewhere close!"

Anastasia glanced uneasily at the clouded harbor. The hour only grew later; would they be forced to spend the night in town? "Are we going to just take the dinghy back to the ship and search it?" she asked.

Drizella waved her hand, "Oh no, nothing like that. Do I look like the sort that would snoop about a ship?" She gestured to the fine silk gown she wore. "For all we know, they could have all come here in this boat and stolen another ship from the docks. The Harbormaster doesn't exactly see everything, you know." She rolled her eyes.

Anastasia glanced back toward the buildings; where could they have gone? "If I were a pirate," she mused, "I might stay a bit in town, maybe. I'm sure if we searched the inns and alleys of this place, we'd find someone who can tell us where they went."

Drizella suddenly grinned and clapped her hands. "Oh! you have just given me the most wonderful idea!" She adjusted her skirts and began making her way further into the town.

"Where are you going?" Anastasia asked. "What if Silver and his men have left the ship unguarded?"

Her older sister did not slack her pace. "If the ship is unguarded somewhere in the harbor, then that means they brought Allan with them." Drizella shot her sister a withering look. "Annie, why don't you go to the inn and wait for me? I am going to speak with the magistrate and see if Silver and his crew are still in town, or perhaps they made off with another ship. Ta-ta!"

Anastasia waited till her sister was out of sight, but she did not go to the inn. Instead, she turned toward the road that led out of town, back the way she and Drizella had come. Blowing a spell onto the ground, she watched the telltale pattern of a single sturdy sea-boot and three round holes (for a certain pirate's peg leg and crutches) light up against the dark ground, and sure enough, they led out of the harbor town and back into the forest. Anastasia glanced toward the window only briefly before following the glowing prints. Her hunch had paid off, and she did not doubt she would find them first.

Meanwhile, Drizella entered a room in an alleyway, but it was not the magistrate's office. A single mirror hung upon the wall. A man's face appeared within the glass as she entered.
"What is your command, mistress?" he asked.

Drizella smiled. "I have recently learned of one Knave of Hearts by the name of Will Scarlet. He left my sister and I want to know why. Show me."

The mirror obeyed. Drizella watched the scene with interest: a wagon, a promise--and the Queen of Hearts.

"Fancy!" Drizella murmured to herself. When the scene was done, she commanded the mirror. "I wish to speak with my stepsister."

The scene in the mirror wavered and changed. Now it showed a room, but it was not the one now occupied by Drizella. She saw a wall painted lavender, with two small pictures in white picture frames upon it.

"Leave this message for when she returns," Drizella ordered. "Dearest Sister, I know we have not spoken in a while, but there is something very important that I want you to do..."