Chapter Status: Edited
[three days later.]
It is silent; the only sound you can hear is my heavy breathing and the sticks snapping beneath my feet. The trees and leaves scuffling occasionally when the wind brushes past, I had heard a few people talking about a cliff that you can see the whole town from. It's just inside the town line and apparently, the view is gorgeous at sunrise.
It is currently 4:52 AM and I can't sleep, I did leave a note for Mum and Dad when I left just in case I'm not home when they awaken. Of course, they are going to furious when they find out, but did they really expect me to stay home when something beautiful is only a 35-minute walk away?
When I finally reach the cliff, I am breathless, so I fish my drink bottle out of my hiking bag and gulp about half the bottle down. I push past a few bushes and immediately see the town's lights, a smile spreading across my face. I walk over to the edge and sit down, my legs swinging freely as I watch the sun begin to slowly rise on the horizon.
It truly is a beautiful sight, the dark sky turning into an orange, pink colour before slowly turning blue after. The stars instantly disappearing, yet the moon is slowly fading away and won't leave for a couple of hours. I hear a few bushes rustling behind me and I turn my body to the side, ready to fight off an attacker. Since I didn't expect to see anyone, I didn't wear a jacket, instead settling for a black shirt and black jeggings and bringing my favourite black Sidemen jumper in my bag.
When I spot Henry walking out of the bushes, holding that book again, I sigh in relief and lower my guard.
"Oh, I didn't expect to see anyone up here," he says sheepishly.
He scratches the back of his neck awkwardly with his free hand.
"It's fine," I smile.
I pat the free spot next to me lightly, he smiles in response, scraping his feet against the dirt floor as he makes his way towards me. He does the same as me, sitting on the very edge and letting his legs swing slightly as he watches the sunrise.
"Do you come up here often?" I ask.
I keep my eyes focused on the sunrise whilst trying to make conversation.
"Sometimes, mostly to get away from drama, it never stops here," he chuckles lightly.
"I could imagine," I laugh slightly.
"So, I guess you know about the fairy tales and magic?" he assumes.
I look at him, our eyes instantly locking.
"Yeah, my Mum and Dad are from the Enchanted Forest," I reply.
"Cool, who were they there?" Henry questions, sounding genuinely interested.
"Princess Georgina and some guy named Jack, said they weren't important," I shrug.
"Huh, sounds familiar, anyway, how are you liking Storybrooke?" he questions, turning his upper body to face me.
"It's nice, most of the people seem lovely," I smile, deciding to be mostly honest.
In the back of my mind, I know I can't be 100% honest with anyone, knowing that I can't really trust anyone here.
"I'm sorry about my Mum, by the way, she can be.... rude sometimes" he apologises, sounding quite unsure with his words.
"Your Mum? I thought Emma was your Mum" I say in confusion.
Furrowing my eyebrows, I try to piece the puzzle together, maybe his Mums are lesbians?
"Well, Emma is my birth Mum and Regina adopted me" he explains.
I am still confused and know the conversation ahead will be me asking way too many questions.
"I know, it's confusing, I found Emma when I was 10 and then a lot of stuff happened, but it was worth the drama just to see my family together and happy," he smiles at the thought, making me smile as well.
"So, a lot of drama happens here then?" I assume cocking an eyebrow up.
"Yeah, bad guys coming and going, mishaps, sort of like my life's a TV show," he chuckles lightly at the thought.
"I would think that too if my life was that dramatic, I guess lately it has been," I admit.
"How so?" Henry questions.
I move my eyes to the sunrise again; the sky has begun to turn blue, it still having tints of orange, yellow and pink in it.
"I just learnt a lot of things I never really expected, growing up in the land without magic does take away the imagination after a while and it really is a shock to learn that your family are from a land full of fairytales," I explain.
"Same thing happened to my Mum," Henry speaks.
Looking back at him; I notice a sparkle in his eyes, he seems happy talking about his family, he must be really proud of them.
"Storybrooke opens the opportunities to be yourself and meet those like you. You can make new friends, have new experiences and finally be free!" he exclaims throwing his arms in the air for a dramatic effect. "Storybrooke is the home of true love and love at first sight, it's a truly a magical place" he finishes.
His hands fall into his lap, I notice the mischievous glint in his eyes as I take in what he said.
"Ha, ha, you're so punny," I say sarcastically before a laugh escapes from his lips.
"So, what's life like in the land without magic?" he asks after he had settled down.
"Quite boring compared to this place. Storybrooke is quite peculiar" I admit.
"Once you really settle in more things will make sense, though nothing will truly fill your curiosity," he explains.
"Curiosity killed the cat," I mumble to myself.
"I never really understood that expression," Henry admits.
"It's simple really, cats are curious animals and like to explore things and that can kill them, it's a basic saying," I explain.
"You're smart?" Henry asks and I smirk.
I'm not one to brag, but I do enjoy it every once in a while. Admit it, you do too.
"My friend Anna and I graduated when we were 16 and went to university together, we both graduated Uni last December" I state with a proud, yet boastful, smile. "But, I'm dumb when it comes to mysteries, I'm a good problem-solver, but that's in maths," I smile, laughing lightly.
He lets out a slight chuckle, obviously having a similar sense of humour.
"What's that book about?" I ask, pointing at his book,
My laughing stopping abruptly when I spot it still in his arms.
"It's all the fairytale stories in the Enchanted Forest," he replies.
He looks down at it for a moment before meeting my gaze again.
"Is there anything about a woman named Camilla in there?" I question curiously, trying not give away my need to know more about her.
To me, she sounds like a woman who was desperate to be with the one she loved and would do anything to get that. Although it was selfish, she was probably drunk on love and most likely regrets her decision now. But then again, she could be a cruel heartless woman who doesn't care who she has to kill to get what she wants.
"No, there's nothing about her in there" Henry replies, sounding confused with why I would ask something like that.
"Oh, well, I found these papers in my attic and there's a lot of stuff about her in this book I found in the library," I say.
I grab my bag from behind me, accidently giving Henry a clear view of the markings on my arm.With the thought in mind, I also pull out my jumper and throw it on before focusing on the papers that sit on my lap.
"All these pages have stuff about her, they look similar to the size of your book" I state, handing him the papers.
He puts the book next to him and briefly flips through the pages, looking more and more confused the more pages he looks at.
"These.... these look like they are supposed to be in my book," Henry says.
His eyes meet mine, yet again, sending me a confused look.
"Maybe they are, maybe someone took them out without you knowing and changed the book so it looked like it was never changed!" I exclaimed, more pieces of the puzzle forming together.
"No way, that's not possible," Henry denies.
He looks at me as though I'm crazy, although I can see the glint of worry that I'm right in his eyes. I sigh and grab his book, making sure it was okay with him before flipping through the pages.
"I know Camilla's story, and she fits in Snow White's, a lot of stuff your book probably doesn't explain. Camilla is the answer to a lot of unanswered questions," I say as I read through Snow White's story.
Henry seems to think about this for a second.
"Who would change the book just to keep her out?" he asks, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.
"Who wouldn't want you to find out about her?" I question.
His eyes widen, meeting with mine again.
"My Mum" he states.
He jumps to his feet, and I turn around, still sitting on the ground and watching as he makes his way back to the forest.
"Are you coming or not?" he asks as he turns around to look at me.
I keep the papers in my hand as I throw my bag on. I begin to chase after him, I am quite fast after a few years of playing netball, so I easily catch up to him, but make sure I don't run in front of him. I don't think he runs much. We get strange looks as we run through the town and towards Henry's house. I didn't know which Mum's house we were going too, just going with the flow and ignoring the burning in my legs and lungs. Henry pretty much throws the door open, and I make sure to close it behind me. The house is a literal mansion, clean, white, with a bit of black and a little colour. It's like a dream.
"MUM!"
Henry's yell breaks me out of my daydream and I watch a woman in a tight black dress and black heels run down the stairs, looking panicked.
"Henry, what's wrong?" she asks worriedly.
She looks to Henry's slightly angered face, and then mine.
"What are you doing here?" she asks, sounding more confused than angry, which I assume is a good thing.
"Who is Camilla, and why isn't she in my book?" Henry asks, ignoring his mother's previous question.
"Who?" Regina blatantly lies.
I can see the worry in her eyes.
"We know you're lying, but to re-freshen your memory, Tahlia, will you do the honours in telling my lovely mother who she is?" Henry asks me with a fake smile on his face.
"Camilla is one of the four sorcerers that can speak the ancient tongue and to my account, you can speak it as well, your majesty," I smirk slightly at her appalled expression. "Camilla helped your mother kill Queen Eva, A.K.A Snow White's mother, she tricked Snow White into befriending her and was one of the reason's you lost your true love" the words fell out of my mouth.
I remember briefly reading the pages in my attic, Regina's first love was killed because of Camilla and I thought maybe this would help her spill the beans.
"Fine, Camilla was a witch, what more do you want me to say?" she snaps, making me step back in shock and guilt.
"We want to know why you took those pages out of the book and why you didn't want me to know about her," Henry demands, sounding much more confident than he looks.
"She was more hated across the lands than I, I wanted her to be forgotten, she's the reason this all happened, I have her to thank, as well as me wanting to murder her," she admits.
"Is there anyone that would know where her whereabouts is?" I ask.
She looks at me like I'm an idiot, which I probably was for wanting to find her. I don't even have a valid reason to find her, I just want to know what the god damned markings mean and I know I'm definitely not asking Regina.
"You two better not go looking for her, she's a witch and she will kill you," she warns.
"I'm sure she's not that bad anymore" I say softly.
Regina steps closer to me and I gulp.
"Fairy tales are not all rainbows and unicorns, kid. They are dangerous and dark" she says darkly, her brown eyes piercing into mine. I nod and she steps back, "now go home" she demands.
I nod again and turn around to walk out.
"Bye, Tahlia!" Henry calls.
I turn around and wave.
"Bye, Henry!"
A/N:
Be honest with me guys, did anyone else's heart melt whenever Tahlia and Henry's eyes locked because that shit's cute. Henry and Tahlia is otp, but Peter and Tahlia are other otp because Peter's hot and who doesn't want to make out with him?
Anyway, vote/comment/share/fan because (I say this every authors note but I don't care) I LOVE hearing your suggestions!
QOTD: What was the first concert you ever went too?
Mine was a Hi-Five concert and I was two months old, but if that doesn't count, Taylor Swift when I was 9 :)
Stay beautiful and keep reading because books.
Word Count: 2171.