Hook, Emma, Regina, and I show up to the trail head in her car and see David, exhausted, leaning against a tree.
"David!" Emma exclaims. "Are you okay?"
"Well, where is she?" Regina says abruptly.
"It wasn't her," David says.
"Then who was it?" asks Hook. "You look whiter than a fresh sail."
"Myself," replies David.
"Excuse me?" I say, confused.
"It's the witch," Regina offers an explanation. "She's toying with us."
"Did you guys find where she might be hiding?" David asks, still breathing quickly.
"A farmhouse," Hook says. "And we think it's hers."
"Then let's end this," David says, finally catching his breath. "Let's send this witch back to Oz."
We arrived back at the location of the farmhouse.
"Any particular reason she would send a demon who looks like you?" Hook asks the question we are all wondering.
"No idea," David replies. "It was just there, wearing my face, harping on my deepest fears."
"It knew your deepest fears?" Regina stops, questioning David.
"Yeah," David says. "Things I never told anyone, even Mary Margaret. It wasn't until I admitted them that I was able to defeat it by stabbing it with the hilt of my sword."
"W-where is it," Regina asks. "Your sword?"
"That's the strange part," David continues. "After I killed it, the hilt-it... disappeared."
"Well, what's that mean, then?" Hook asks Regina.
"When we face our deepest fears, our true courage comes out," explains Regina. "When you used the hilt of your sword to vanquish your fears, your courage went into it."
"Then why'd it disappear?" I ask.
"It didn't disappear," Regina replies. "She took it."
"Hang on," Emma pauses Regina. "The Wicked Witch stole his courage?"
"Well, a symbol of it, at least," Regina answers. "And symbols can be powerful totems."
Everyone got up close to the storm cellar opening.
"That lock," I say. "It wasn't busted before."
Everyone readies some kind of weapon they have, from gun to hook.
"Ready?" Emma asks. We all nod, and she kicks open the door.
Nothing immediately happens, and Hook says,
"So far, so good."
"There could still be someone down here," Emma says, and leads the way into the storm cellar. We all get down into the small underground room and pause.
"There's definitely dark magic here," Regina comments, glancing around the small, poorly lit room. The room makes me shiver, and it just feels...wrong. Like when you know something bad is about to happen.
"Can you feel it?" Regina asks. My heart races again, until I realize she is asking Emma if she can feel the darkness, not me.
"I don't know," Emma replies. "Maybe. Whatever I feel, it's not good."
Emma looks on the ground.
"What would the Wicked Witch keep in a cage- monkeys?" Emma asks.
"No, not monkeys," David whispers, pulling a cord to turn on a light over our heads, revealing a wooden spinning wheel.
"Now," David says, picking something shiny up off of the floor. "How many people do we know, that can spin straw into gold?"
We all shared a look. Rumpelstiltskin.
Emma runs into Granny's diner, knocking on the door that holds up a "CLOSED" sign.
"If you want privacy," Granny says as soon as opening up the door, "Talk fast. We open in 20, and no one gets between Leroy and his bacon."
Mary Margaret, David, Hook, Regina, Emma, and I sit down on chairs and talk.
"Is there any sign of our quarry?" Hook asks.
"I went all over that farmhouse," Emma replies. "And the land around it-nothing."
"Well, now that the sun is up, we should hit every place Gold might go," David says. "His house, his shop, his cabin."
Mary Margaret nods.
"'Cause dead men love vacation homes," Emma says sarcastically. "Can someone explain to me how this is even possible?! We all saw Gold. He..."
"Disappeared into nothingness," Mary Margaret finishes for her. "I know."
"I might have an inkling," Hook says. "When we went back to the Enchanted Forest, Neal was talking about the possibility of getting his father back."
"What, how?" says David.
"He didn't know how," Hook continues. "He just...he missed his family. And he was desperate to find a way to return to this world. He believed that bringing his father back was the key."
"Well, if that was his plan," Emma states, "then obviously something went wrong. Because, while Gold might be alive and kicking, Neal is...He's...We don't know what he is. We don't even know if he made it back to Storybrooke. No one's seen him since this new curse!"
"He's out there, somewhere," David assures Emma.
"With all due respect," Regina cuts in. "We have bigger issues right now than who brought Gold back. The fact that he was in the Wicked Witch's basement, for one. I wanna know what the hell she was cooking up with him."
"Well, the best way to find that out would be to ask Gold, right?" I say.
"He could tell us who the Witch is," David agrees. "Maybe even how to track her down."
"I'm gonna head back to that farmhouse," Regina stands up. "It's possible this Witch left behind some trace of potion or special ingredient."
"Have at it, just be careful," Emma warns Regina. Regina nods,
"Well, she's the one who needs to be careful. She invaded my space. And when I return the favor, I'm not pulling any punches."