Loose ｡ Henry Mills [2]

26 - THE LEGENDS OF NIGHTMOOR

The sessions that Teresa Holmes had scheduled with Archibald Hopper over the next couple days went well. She talked, pouring her out to the former cricket about everything that was bothering her. They spoke about Inman and the moments before she had died; how she reunited with Alice in the Underworld and the events that transpired, telling him about the pain she felt when her body was consumed by the River of Lost Souls; how much she missed her mother, Robin Hood, and her little brother, Roland; how she wanted the Evil Queen to just go away and never return, and to take Hyde with her; the desire she feels to find and meet father, Sherlock Holmes. And even how she found it difficult to go on with life knowing that so many other people in Storybrooke had lost people that remained dead, and yet she could come back all because of a damned prophecy and her future with Henry Mills.

Today, she didn't have an appointment scheduled with Archie, so Henry had decided to take her mind off things by bringing her along with him to find the stories of everyone from the Land of Untold Stories. He had gotten a large stack of books from the library in the author's mansion, which she helped collect from the desk in his bedroom and together they carried them down the sidewalk toward Granny's, where they intended to read while enjoying steaming cups of cocoa.

By the time they reached Granny's Diner, a light drizzle of rain had fallen. Henry, not wanting the stack of storybooks that rested in his arms to get wet, quickened his pace to get inside. Teresa went to follow him but she paused midway up the path, a figure moving down the sidewalk capturing her attention from the corner of her eye. She turned her head to see who it was and found that it was a girl who couldn't be any older than herself.

The girl wore brown trousers, and a darker toned brown vest that matched in colour with her shin-high leather boots laced all the way to the top, paired with a white blouse underneath and a navy blue trench coat, her long, dark hair pouring around her pale face in gentle waves. She was walking in circles down the sidewalk, a strange-looking weapon made up of wood clutched in her hand as she stared at the world around her with confusion. The archer frowned, knowing that this girl couldn't be from this realm and must be from the Land of Untold Stories. She began making her way over to the girl.

When Teresa reached her, she placed a hand on the girl's shoulder and said, "Hey, are you okay?"

And what happened next occurred in the blink of an eye.

One moment, Teresa was placing a hand on the girl's shoulder to gain her attention while asking if she was okay, and the next moment Teresa was on her back, a painful grunt falling from her lips. The girl had turned around, knocked the storybooks from her arms, swept Teresa's foot from beneath her, and straddled the archer with her wooden weapon held threateningly against Teresa's neck.

"Make any move and this stake will puncture your jugular."

"Alright, alright." Teresa held her hands up in surrender. "Look, I'm not going to hurt you. I came over here to help you. You're from the Land of Untold Stories, right?"

"Yes."

"What's your name?"

The girl narrowed her eyes. "What's yours?"

"Teresa Holmes," she was quick to introduce herself. When the girl still wouldn't remove the stake from her neck, Teresa sighed. "Look, I'm not going to hurt you, I swear. I'm actually trying to help everyone who came here─"

"Where is 'here'?"

"Storybrooke, Maine. It's a realm outside of our world, as I'm sure you are well aware by now. You traveled here on the dirigible, right?"

The girl applied pressure to the stake, making Teresa grimace. "How did you know that? Have you been spying on me, is that it? O are you some kind of witch?"