The Seeker's Revenge

by Isadora Brown

  My eyes narrowed slowly. I could feel them lock on her like she was a bloody target, someone I wanted nothing more than to fucking hurt.

  “I would watch your words, Your Majesty,” I said slowly. “They’re magic unto themselves, aren’t they? You say words, cast your spell, and see the repercussions of them.”

  “Are you threatening me over Paul Winter’s charity project?” Caroline asked. She made a face, like she was some teenage girl awing over something they deemed was adorable. “I didn’t think someone like you could actually feel, Rumple. No wonder Sabrina has you by the balls.” She ticked her jaw. “Unfortunately for all of us, Paul Winter fucked us all by arresting Sabrina. If word gets out -”

  “It already has,” I pointed out. As long as she wasn’t speaking about Alice, I could handle whatever she decided to throw at me. “Or has your head been so high in the clouds that even you can’t see that this town is buzzing with a Royal’s arrest for something they’ve been told the Mad Mage was responsible for?”

  Caroline gathered the papers in her hands and began to straighten them. “Trust me, I have eyes and ears everywhere,” she said.

  “That’s right,” I replied, cutting her off before she could finish. “You’re dead-set on finding the Mad Mage. You want to make a show of arresting him, don’t you?”

  “I realize the Mad Mage should have been your king, but he’s done too much in Wonderland for me to ignore,” she said. “Perhaps that’s why his best friend betrayed him when he sent him over here without a way to get back into your realm. You should ask your father about it, you know. See if your father has any regrets about that.”

  “You want a reason to start your war,” I muttered, ignoring her barb. “And my father did what he felt he had to do for the people of the Fae realm. The Mad Mage was drunk on raw ShadowMagic. He was organizing armies, giving magic freely to those who wanted it. It was chaos.”

  “Whatever you fill your pretty little head with to sleep at night,” Caroline said. She brought her thermos to her lips and took a long sip of her highly-sweetened coffee. It was no secret that the Red Queen had a sweet tooth. “Tell me, does Alice Winter know this about your family? About how you’re all traitors? About how you shouldn’t even be an heir in the first place? If it weren’t for your father -”

  “If it weren’t for my father, everyone would possess ShadowMagic with no need to control it,” Rumple pointed out.

  “Your family is still infusing innocent children with ShadowMagic and running tests on them and turning them into little weapons,” Caroline barked back. “How is that any worse?”

  “Don’t pretend like you care, Caroline,” I said slowly, dangerously. “You’ve been hunting for the Mad Mage yourself these past twenty-four years ever since he escaped custody. You want ShadowMagic too, and you want to get it from a Fae who would have been king over the entire Fae realm. Don’t deny it.” My lips curved up. “They might not know what you were to him, but I do. I know you saw yourself as Queen there and Queen here. But that changed, didn’t it? He left you when he realized what you truly wanted from him.”

  “You have no idea what I want,” Caroline said with a sneer. “And you have no idea what happened between us either. Stop pretending like you know everything, Imp. You know nothing. You’re a false heir. We all know it. You should not be on the throne in your realm. Your father sullies the sanctity of the realm wearing that crown of thorns and bone.”

  “And who should it be sitting on the Obsidian Throne, Caroline?” I asked, leaning forward. “Tell me. You certainly can’t believe it’s you.”

  “It does not matter what I think,” she said carefully. “What matters is secrets are going to be revealed with the arrest of Sabrina Charming. All secrets. I just wanted to ensure that you are prepared for the consequences.”

  “I am prepared for anything,” I said, glancing down at my fingers. “You should prepare for the consequences of breaking the Never Glass. We have yet to destroy Sadie’s seal. Just because it was used with potent Fae magic doesn’t mean we can’t break through it. It isn’t going to keep the Fae from coming if that’s what my parents want.”

  “Not if I find the Mad Mage first,” she said. “He’d probably want a shot at obtaining his throne, you know. Your parents slaughtered his family. Your dad was supposed to be his best friend. And then? He comes here, to Wonderland, seeking shelter. At the time, I’m not what I am. I’m powerful, certainly, but I don’t reign over this town. Until I realize what he is. Until I realize he’s trying to steal our people, create an army, and take them to war against you. He’s still here, Imp. He’s somewhere. You know this as well as I. Are you prepared for the moment he returns, because he will return, and he will want his revenge.”

  “He’ll take you before he takes me,” I said, though the look in her cold, calculating eyes left me more wary than I assumed I could be.

  “I’m not so sure about that.” She leaned back in her chair, resting her elbows on the arms and steepling her fingers with an elegant grace. “You are the false heir. You’re a threat to his throne.”

  “And you’re a threat to his magic,” I snapped. “Who do you think he’s going to want to go after first? What do you think is more precious to him?” I paused, staring at her. “I’d be careful, Caroline. I truly would. You only became ruler over this place once you took magic from everyone. Now that everyone knows he didn’t do what you claimed, they’re going to see you as the false queen, as a goddamn liar. The Mad Mage might have started out building an army, stealing children, infusing them with ShadowMagic. But you? You just gave him an entire town to use now that everyone knows.”

  Caroline scoffed, but I could see it was stiff.

  “You know what I’m saying is true,” he said. “Warn me all you want about me and my family, about whether the Obsidian Throne truly belongs to us. But you sullied his name. You made him into a monster.”

  “No,” she said. “Your father, your family, did that. I just carried the torch when it was passed to me.”

  “Then it looks like we both have targets on our backs, doesn’t it?” Rumple asked. “Tread carefully, Red Queen. We do not know which one of us he comes after first. But we do know he’s coming. And I would take great care to ready my defenses and prepare.”

  I gave her one last withering look. I wasn’t sure if my words sunk in. I wasn’t sure if she would take more consideration into her own affairs rather than focus her attention on Alice.

  But before I could be sure of anything, someone said my name three times and I was forced to disappear completely.

  19

  It was just before eleven by the time I pulled up to the front of the station. I knew I probably shouldn’t be here. I quit the job. There was no reason for me to show up.

  But I wanted to be there when my dad interviewed Sabrina Charming. I doubted he had done that yet, but I wanted to be sure. I wanted to know everything.

  I walked through the sliding glass doors and headed for the door that would lead me out of the hallway and to a staircase. Bianca didn’t even look in my direction. I wasn’t sure if it was because she was busy filling out a report for someone or if she didn’t care that I was here to see my father, but I pulled out my badge and pressed it against the keypad.

  I held my breath. There was a chance it wouldn’t work because the station revoked my access. Granted, they would only do that if my father told them to. I might have quit my job but he was still the chief of police. That wasn’t going to change any time soon.

  The light turned green just as the door popped open. Relief swept through me and I eased inside. If anyone noticed me - especially since I was in my leather jacket and jeans - they didn’t say anything. I just had to walk with the confidence of knowing that I belonged here, regardless of what anyone else thought. I made my way down the hall. For a moment, I considered heading up the stairs to my father’s office, but something inside of me told me that he wouldn’t be there. He’d be down here, where people
were booked and interrogated.

  I just hoped I wasn’t too late.

  I didn’t want to miss something, especially since there was a chance my father wouldn’t talk to me about it. Wouldn’t tell me what happened.

  I hailed a left, passing the break room, the restrooms. I ignored the records room to my left - the only place in this building with no windows outside. I headed down the hall, past the watch commander station until I finally reached the booking area.

  And my father.

  My father sat with the booking officer, Rigo, in Rigo’s small office, going over some paperwork. The two were alone, the soft hum of the computer the only thing making any noise in the room.

  My father looked up the second I positioned myself in front of the open door. If he was surprised to see me, it wasn’t reflected on his face. Instead, he gave me a long look, probably debating on whether or not to kick me out.

  “I take it you heard,” he finally said, shutting the folder and setting it on Rigo’s desk.

  I nodded. “I had to see for myself.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Of course you did.” He sat back in the chair.

  “I’m going to get some coffee,” Rigo announced, backing away from his standup desk. “Anyone want anything? No? Okay, I’ll be, uh, I’ll be back then.”

  When Rigo left, my father leaned back slightly so he could look at me. His gaze was steady, not harsh.

  “You know, you’re a piece of work, Alice, coming here,” he said. “How did you even get back here?”

  “I used my badge,” I said.

  “You used your -” He shifted in his seat. “You know access behind the front desk should have been revoked. Just because it hasn’t for you doesn’t mean you get to take advantage of that.”

  “I’m not,” I said. “Dad.” I looked away. “I just, I want to watch you interrogate her. I want to know what she says. That’s it.”

  “Why?” my father asked. “This has nothing to do with what happened to Anna.”

  “How do you know?” I asked, throwing my arms out. “Anna told Jack she found something out and she needed to tell him. What if this was it? What if she found out Mary Stone wasn’t killed by the Mad Mage?” My father shushed me so hard, the file nearly spilled out of his lap. “And what if someone else found out she knew and killed her for it. I know...I know how important it is the Mad Mage be blamed for Mary Stone. I know how important it is that, that he be painted like a bad guy.”

  “Because he is a bad guy,” my father replied, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Even if he never killed Mary Stone, he is still a bad person.”

  “How?” I asked. “Everyone, says all these horrible things about him, but the only thing concrete is that he was banished under false pretenses. Without Mary Stone’s death on his list of bad deeds, he doesn’t get banished in the first place.”

  “Alice -“

  “No, Dad. I’m not here, trying to paint the guy as innocent, okay? I know better than that. But I also know that what’s fair is fair. And if he didn’t kill her -“

  “Alice, there’s a good chance he and Jimmy Hook kidnapped a bunch of young boys years ago,” my father said. “There’s a good chance he took abandoned babies in order to run experiments on them using ShadowMagic. He laced tea with drugs and gave it to the innocent just to see how they’d react.”

  “And…and this is all proven?” I asked. Suddenly, I wasn’t so sure about this. I wasn’t so sure about my position against the Mad Mage any longer.

  “You know it’s not,” my father said in a tight voice.

  “So...so how can you accuse him of that?” I asked. “I thought Jimmy Hook was some middle school teacher? Why would he want anything to do with the Mad Mage? Why would he help him? And I thought he claimed he was framed, that he was innocent?”

  “Everyone in Neverland says the same damn thing, Alice,” my father said. “Don’t you get that?”

  “I don’t, because Beast sure as hell didn’t, and so far, he’s the only one I know with every fiber of my being didn’t do anything to Anna,” I said.

  Without warning, my dad stood up and glared down at me. He didn’t break eye contact as he closed the door to Rigo’s office, hand lingering on the knob.

  “This whole thing is much bigger than you realize,” my father said slowly. “Sabrina wouldn’t even be here if you hadn’t brought me that evidence. You forced my hand. Let me tell you something - did you know that there was trace of DreamMagic on Mary Stone?”

  I shifted my weight. “DreamMagic?” I asked. “What-what’s that?”

  “You remember Ella Byrne?” my father asked, dropping his voice even with the door tightly closed. “You remember how your buddy, Shane Wolf, ran DNA there, and magic was found on her? You remember how she couldn’t remember a damn thing? That magic was found here, on Mary Stone’s body. Wolf probably didn’t think anything of it, probably thought someone paralyzed Mary Stone before she was killed. And that’s probably exactly what happened. But not even the Fae possess DreamMagic.”

  “Who…” I swallowed, my head getting fuzzy. Because if this was used on Ella, maybe...maybe it was used on me too. “Who does possess that sort of magic?”

  “It’s created,” my father said. “Magic can be combined to create new magic.”

  “And you think -”

  “If Tom Charming worked with the Mad Mage, and he had that magic…” My father’s voice trailed off.

  “You think the Mad Mage gave it to him?” I asked.

  “Honestly?” He ran his fingers through his sandy brown hair. “I don’t know what I think anymore. I just know what I know. Someone used DreamMagic to paralyze Mary Stone before Sabrina Charming killed her. We could run tests, see if she still has traces of DreamMagic on her.”

  “DreamMagic lingers?” I asked.

  “All magic lingers,” my father said. “It can be masked, it can be broken, but it doesn’t fade. For example, Sadie Skaarsgard created a protective glass around Wonderland that protects us from the Fae realm. The Fae could destroy the glass, but there would still be evidence of Sadie’s spell, even if it was destroyed.”

  “So,” I said slowly, “with what happened to Ella...you could test her and DreamMagic would still show up? Despite the time that’s passed?”

  He nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “But Shane already did that, didn’t he? What we should do is compare the magic. It would let us know if the DreamMagic originated from the same person.”

  I wrinkled my brow. “But...but that wouldn’t be possible,” I said. “Tom Charming wasn’t around when Mary Stone was killed. I don’t even think he was born.”

  “Right,” my father said. “But there is that possibility that whoever gave it to Tom also used it on Mary Stone.”

  “You don’t think it was Sabrina?” I asked.

  “I think Sabrina killed her,” my father said, locking eyes with me. There was more behind that gaze, almost as though he was pushing me, wanting me to understand what he was saying even though he wasn’t quite saying it. “But I don’t think she could paralyze Mary Stone. I don’t think she has access to DreamMagic, and if she did, I highly doubt she would have given that magic to Tom instead of Stephen.”

  “Tom said the Mad Mage was training him,” I said suddenly. “Is that...is that even possible?”

  “God, I hope not.” My father stood, stretching out his legs. “The Mad Mage has been lost for nearly quarter of a century. Things aren’t perfect, but there’s peace. I don’t want to lose that if he somehow returns.”

  “There’s not peace, Dad,” I said. “Anna was killed by someone, and I don’t know why. And we both know it wasn’t Beast, even if he did confess. She found something out, and I think it was this. I think she knew the Mad Mage didn’t kill Mary Stone, and she was killed because of it.”

  “And you think you’re going to figure out who killed her by arresting Sabrina Charming?” He arched a brow, though he wasn’t completely dismissive.

  “First
of all, I didn’t arrest her,” I said, bringing my hand to my chest. “You did. Secondly, I don’t know if Sabrina is responsible for Anna, or if it was someone else. I do know Rumple and you were bound by magic to protect her identity. Whether that’s her magic or someone else’s…” I let my voice trail off. “At least that can get some closure. Maybe something will come out and it’ll be like dominoes until they all fall down right in front of Anna’s real killer.”

  My father gave me a long look. I saw so many emotions touch his face - wariness, doubt, fear, concern, and love. Maybe, if I looked hard enough, I might even be able to spot some hope there as well. Before I could stop myself, I threw my arms around him, burying my face into his chest. I wasn’t crying, not really, but I needed to hug him. I needed him in general. He arrested Sabrina Charming because of me. He risked everything because of me. I wasn’t naive enough to assume he was doing the right thing. He was doing it because I told him to. Because I needed him to. And maybe I didn’t agree with that reasoning, but it was enough.

  It was enough.

  “I’m assuming I can’t talk you out of getting out of here?” my father asked, enveloping me in his arms. “I figure you’re going to watch the whole thing?”

  “I mean, yeah,” I said. “I’d like to.”

  I swallowed, looking down. My hair fell into my face, and I quickly brushed it aside. I took in a breath, then another, waiting for my father to officially dismiss me.

  “I know I’ve screwed up a lot,” he finally said. I widened my eyes, tilting my chin up so I could really look at him. When I locked my gaze with his, he loosed a breath through his nose. “I know I keep telling you I did it for you, and maybe that’s not fair. I shouldn’t put that on you and make you feel responsible for my choices because you aren’t, okay? You aren’t. But maybe, if you’re lucky, one day, you’ll have a child that you love with every fiber of your being. A child that will delight you, awe you, scare you, and make you feel this sense of wonder, of curiosity, of love, every damn day, and you’ll realize why I did what I did. I just, I want you to know that I love you. And I would do it all again, every single time, if it meant I got to keep you safe. Do you understand me?”