Finding Your Story (Once Upon a Time)

Chapter Nineteen: Ivy

Henry: "Henry, that's probably the worst idea you ever had. Ivy is worse than her mother!" Jacinda yelled at me, making sure I wouldn't fall for the temptation of trusting Ivy Belfrey.

"Why do you say that? It seems to me that she suffers as much as you do, under the shadow of your cruel abusive stepmother."

"No, it's too risky. Those two are flesh and bone, they always had each other's back at making my life a living hell. You can't trust them."

"Don't you think it's worth the shot? We're out of options, here." I tried to call Jacinda to reason, to let her hope that we could trust Ivy. I knew better than to judge someone without knowing their past. I knew that everyone was a hero in their story and Ivy could be in our own. I could see the girl was just as broken and alone as Jacinda was, it's just no one ever wrote her story.

"Jacinda...I think Henry is right. It's worth the shot. Even if Ivy doesn't help us, we lose..."

Jacinda stared at both me and Jack. Her hands on the hips, breathing heavily and sweat covering her face.

"Okay...Fine, try talk to her."

"Nice." I screamed, in content. I'll be back in a minute.

It wasn't hard to find Ivy. She was outside the court, in the bar in front of it, none other than Roni's.

I entered the bar, which was almost empty cause it was still afternoon.

 Ivy was in front of a table, with the company of a bottle of whiskey.

Roni saw me enter and waved me with a smile on her royal face.

Before meeting Ivy, I went to the balcony to talk to the bartender.

"Hi, Roni."

"Hi, kid...You were here last night, weren't you?"

As someone who wasn't entirely sure if I was in her bar, she seemed to show a lot of affection towards me.

"Yes, I was."

"Nice to see that you came back. I always love new costumers!" the bartender poured some gin and tonic in a glass, with a lemon on it, and put it in front of me.

"I didn't order anything..."

"Oh, I know. That's on the house."

"Thanks." I said, incredibly surprised by the maternal instinct of the bartender towards me. Let's just say calling someone who was almost her age "kid" was very weird.

"Tell me, do you know Ivy Belfrey?"

"Hm, the girl over there, sitting with the bottle of whiskey? Yeah, I know her."

"Does she come here a lot?" I tried to know as many things about Ivy, as possible, before talking to her.

"Sometimes...When her mother is not around. I know how terrible it is to live with someone like Victoria."

"I see... But what about her? Do you think the apple fell far from the tree?"

"Erm...I don't know. Ivy is...complex, I'd say. She suffers a lot under her mother's wickedness, I can tell. But I can't precisely say if she's better than her mother, or even more cruel."

"You think?"

"Yeah. But that's just me talking. Don't mind her, I saw you with much better company, last night. Why bother with a Belfrey when there's a better candidate in the table?" her eyebrows jointed in a thick line. "Jacinda..."