Beane Odette - Reawakened - A Once Upon A Time Tale

In the waiting room, Emma called Ruby. Something had occurred to her.

— I need you to go out and check something for me, — Emma said. — Right now. The last time David had one of these little dreamwalks, he ended up at the toll bridge. I’m wondering if we might get lucky. You need to go and check it out. Right now.

— Me? — said Ruby.

— You were great out there in the woods, Ruby, — Emma said. — You can do this. Call me if you find anything. Take my car. The keys are on my desk.

Emma was back in the woods shortly after having received the call from Ruby, who had certainly found something. The forensics team wasn’t too far behind. Ruby, who had been given a cup of coffee, sat in the VW, looking a little dazed. After taking a last look at the box that Ruby had uncovered by the river, Emma walked up the steep grade and got into the car on the passenger side.

— You did good, — she said. — Again.

— I’m not so sure I wanted to do good, — Ruby said.

— I know, — she said. — But this is a big break.

Emma wasn’t exactly pleased to have the vision in her head, either, but she meant what she said. They could move forward now, once they got the lab work back. The contents of the box… well, she could understand why Ruby had screamed into the phone.

She reached over, took Ruby’s hand.

— Thanks, — she said. — For today.

Ruby nodded and tried to muster a smile.

Emma could think of nothing more to say.

Though Peter had protested, Red had told him that she believed he was the wolf, that he had to be restrained, and that she would stay with him through the night. In order to fool Granny, then, Snow White agreed (against her better judgment) to wear Red’s red cloak and pose as her in her bedroom, just in case Granny decided to check up on her.

The two women said their good-byes, and Snow, wearing the cloak, fell asleep in Red’s room.

Granny came calling sometime past midnight.

— Red, dear, — Granny said. — I need you to get up. I…

Snow, wide awake, did her best to stay hidden in the sheets, but Granny, no one’s fool, noticed something was amiss. She reached for Snow White and turned her over. When she saw that it wasn’t Red, her eyes went wide.

— What have you done? — she whispered.

— We didn’t mean any harm, — protested Snow.

— Where is she? — Granny said, with so much urgency that Snow felt a jolt of nervous energy. She sat up on the bed and explained about Peter.

— She’s with that boy? — Granny said. — Right now?

— Yes, — said Snow.

— Dear gods, — said Granny. — Come, show me where. — She reached for her crossbow. — Now, girl!

The two hurried off into the night, Snow struggling to keep pace with Granny. She seemed to know something — what confused Snow, though, was the comments she kept making about — that poor boy.

— You don’t understand, — said Snow. — He is the wolf. We saw the tracks. The wolf is also a man.

— He isn’t the wolf girl, — said Granny, grunting her disapproval.

Snow stared at her, realizing the implication.

Red. Red was the wolf.

It seemed obvious now, but for some reason, it hadn’t ever seemed…

— You knew this? — Snow asked, still moving quickly behind Granny.

— Of course I knew. Her mother was one, too, before a hunting party killed her. I thought maybe Red didn’t get it, but when she was thirteen, it started. I paid a wizard for that cloak, and it keeps her from turning, but she doesn’t wear it, and she’s found some way out of the house.

— Why didn’t you tell her?

— I didn’t want her to have that burden. It’s a terrible, terrible burden.

They reached a farmer’s fence, and Granny stopped, waiting for direction from Snow White. Snow pointed.

— You’re one, too, aren’t you? — Snow said.

— Aye — was all Granny said, sniffing at the air. — I have her scent now. Silver-tipped arrows will stop her. We’re approaching from downwind, so we have a chance.

They did, but young Peter did not. By the time they arrived, Red, fully turned, had already slaughtered her love. Snow White threw the cloak over her and Granny was saved the tragedy of having to shoot her own granddaughter, but for Red — who only realized the truth as she awoke to find herself covered in blood, being lifted into the arms of Straw While and Granny — the tragedy had already taken place. Perhaps she would have preferred a swift death by silver-tipped arrow, at least in that particular moment. She cried out when she saw Peter, deceased. She cried out even more when she realized she’d been the one to do it, and that her plan had been the thing to kill her love.

But there was no time to lament. There would be decades and decades to lament. In that moment, Granny and Snow had to get her to a safe place. Because even as she cried and reached tor Peter’s lifeless body, they could hear the approach of the hunting party.

— Get her home, get her safe, — said Granny, once they were all moving. — They’re too close.

Snow and Granny locked eyes, and Snow understood. Granny could control the wolf inside. And she was going back. To protect them.

— I’ll see you there, — Granny said. — In the morning.

Needless to say, Granny survived.

The hunting party did not.

Having heard that David had been found and had returned to work, Mary Margaret went to see him at the animal shelter. He was sate, that was true, but he was not okay.

Not in the least.

She found him pacing about the back office.

— I don’t know what’s happened. I can’t be sure of anything, Mary Margaret. I might have killed her for all I know.

— You didn’t kill her. You don’t have it in you, — Mary Margaret said. — And besides, she’s going to turn up alive. Just wait.

He shook his head in frustration.

— Why would I have called her? — he asked. — That doesn’t make sense.

— There has to be an explanation, — Mary Margaret said. — What if…

The door to the shelter opened, and David went out to the entryway. A moment later he reentered the office. Emma was behind him.

She gave a nod to Mary Margaret.

— We found something by the river, — she said. — Near the toll bridge. — She gave David a heavy look.

— What is it? — David said.

— I don’t know how else to say this, so I’m just going to say it, — Emma said. — There was a human heart inside of a jewelry box. We think it’s Kathryn’s.

Mary Margaret clutched the arm of the chair, felt the room grow dim. She closed her eyes and gathered herself. David had sunk down and now leaned against his desk, completely deflated.

— I must have done it, — he said, near tears. He held out his wrists. — Cuff me.

Emma looked at him.

— Do it! — he said.

— I can’t, David, — she said. — There was a fingerprint inside of the box. It wasn’t yours.

David and Mary Margaret looked at her, confused. Emma turned to Mary Margaret.

— It was Mary Margaret’s.

A few days after Snow White consumed the potion that made her forget Prince Charming, she was holed up with the seven dwarfs, her memory blank. The dwarfs were realizing that the memory loss had some side effects. Snow was not… herself. She was furious, in fact. All the time.

Furious with everything and everyone. And she didn’t quite know why.

Grumpy had a guess.

After a morning of watching her attacking bluebirds with her broom, he went to the other dwarfs and told them that they had to do something.