— So what exactly are you proposing, then? — Regina said.
— I don’t know. Just that we’ll figure it out in good faith as we go.
Regina nodded.
— However, — she said. — He is my son.
— Yeah, — Emma said. — All I want is your word you’ll take good care of him. And no one — not him, not this town — will get hurt.
Regina nodded.
— You have my word.
Emma stared at her; she could always tell when someone was lying. She looked at Regina for a long time, trying to see if she was being honest.
— What? — Regina finally said.
— Just seeing if you’re telling the truth, — said Emma.
— And am I? — Regina asked.
Emma nodded.
— We have a deal.
Seeing Regina smile was a strange experience. Had Emma seen it before?
— Ms. Swan? — Regina said. She held out the turnover, now inside a box of Tupperware. — Maybe a little something for the road?
Emma shrugged.
— Why not? — she said, taking it.
— If we’re going to be in each other’s lives, we need to be cordial, don’t we?
Emma nodded.
— I do hope you like apples.
It took Henry fifteen minutes to arrive at Emma’s apartment after she’d called him on the walkie-talkie. She waited at the kitchen table, a cold cube of dread in the pit of her stomach, imagining how she was going to tell him that her time in Storybrooke was over.
When she opened the door, he took one look at her face and said, — Is everything okay? You sounded strange over the walkie.
He came inside, and Emma remembered the way he’d so brazenly entered her apartment in Boston. The same laser-guided initiative. She loved that about him.
— Henry, yesterday… when I tried to take you away… — She crossed her arms. Do not cry, she thought. — You were right. I can’t take you away from Storybrooke. But I can’t stay here, either.
Henry looked back at her, trying to figure out what she meant.
— I don’t get it, — he said finally.
— I have to go, Henry, — she said.
There. It was out. The hardest part was over. An arrow through the heart did not do the feeling justice. Something in her was dying.
— Go? — he said finally. — You’re going to leave Storybrooke?
— Yes, — she said. — I talked to Regina. I made a deal with her. I’m still going to be able to see you. I just won’t be here… every day.
— NO! — he cried. — NO! You can’t trust her!
His tears were coming again, which pulled at her own.
— I have to, Henry. This is what’s best for you.
— You’re just scared, — he said. — This happens to all heroes right before the big battle. It’s just the low moment before you fight back.
She shook her head.
— This isn’t a story. This is reality. And things have to change. You can’t skip school anymore. You can’t run away. There are consequences. You can’t — You can’t keep believing in this curse.
He looked back at her, eyes wide, shaking his head.
— You really don’t believe, do you?
— This is how it’s going to be. I made a deal. I used my super power. She was telling the truth. She’s going to take care of you.
— Maybe she will, but she wants you dead, — Henry said.
This surprised Emma.
— Henry, come on, — she said.
— She wants you dead, because you’re the only one who can stop her.
— Stop her from what? — Emma said, raising her voice. — What is it that’s she’s really doing? Other than fighting for you? — She took a step toward him, meaning to hug him. — This whole thing has gotten out of hand.
She put a hand on his shoulder and knelt down to him. She thought he would pull away and fight, but he didn’t. He buried his face in her chest, sobbing. It was unbearable. She felt him stiffen then, and his head came up. He was looking at something over her shoulder. She looked, too. It was the apple turnover.
— Where did you get that? — he asked.
— Regina gave it to me, — Emma said. — So what?
He sniffed the air.
— Is it apple?
— So?
He went to the counter and pushed it away.
— You can’t eat it, — he said. — It’s poison.
— What?
— Don’t you see? — Henry said. — The deal? It was all a trick. To get you to eat this. To get rid of you once and for all. This is exactly how she got rid of Snow White, except this time, you don’t have a Charming here to come wake you up.
It was terrible to hear him going down this path again. Archie had been right — he’d retreated into it. Her presence here was hurting him.
— Why would she do that after I told her I would go? — Emma asked.
— Because as long as you’re alive, wherever you are, you’re a threat.
— You have to stop thinking like this.
— BUT IT’S THE TRUTH! — he yelled. She had never heard him so loud.
Emma reached for the turnover.
— Fine, — she said. — I’ll prove it to you.
But when he saw what she was doing, Henry snatched the turnover before she could get it, and held it in front of his own mouth.
Like a threat.
— What are you doing? — Emma said.
— I’m sorry it’s come to this. You might not believe in the curse, or in me, — Henry said. — But I believe in you.
He took a big bite.
Same difference, Emma thought.
Either way, he’d know for sure.
She waited.
He chewed and swallowed.
— Do you see? — Emma said, after she thought that enough time had gone by. — You want some ice cream with that, or can we get back…
Before she could finish the sentence, Henry dropped to die floor.
She ran to him, grabbed his little shoulders, shook him.
— Henry? — she said. — Henry?
Panic gripped her after she took his pulse. He was not messing with her. Almost no heartbeat.
— Henry? — she cried again, her voice trembling.
One thought kept circling her mind: This is not happening.
— Henry! — she cried. — Henry!
CHAPTER 17
A LAND WITHOUT MAGIC
The hospital, screaming, frantic cries. Dr. Whale’s harried questions.
More doctors. Trying to stabilize Henry.
Tears.
Emma ran alongside the gurney, her eyes full of tears, as they carted her son into the ER. She was unable to think. She could barely answer their questions. She tried to tell Dr. Whale about the turnover, to tell him that Henry had been poisoned, but none of it made sense, none of it sounded right. She sounded like a raving lunatic, and Dr. Whale insisted that Henry had not been poisoned. He could find no evidence.
— Is anything different? — Whale said. — You have to think, Emma. What’s happened in the last few hours?
Frustrated, she grabbed Henry’s backpack from the gurney, pulled it, and began riffling through its contents, looking for any ideas. Soon, however, the backpack spilled all over the floor, and Henry’s things were everywhere. Emma, tears in her eyes, began to look around.
— I don’t know, — she said. — I don’t know.
Whale, frustrated also, went back to Henry.
And just then, Emma saw Henry’s book.
Magic, she thought. It’s not poison. It’s magic.
She remembered Henry’s words from that first day:
— All the stories in this book actually happened.
She touched the book. And as she did, she remembered… more.