My gaze scans the diner for Henry, but it fixes on Mary Margaret sitting alone at a central table. She sips iced tea through a straw, and a bowl of salad rests before her.

"Hey," I say, making my way to her.

She looks up, her eyes brightening at the sight of me. "Hi. Why so glum?"

I smile, appreciative of her concern. It's comforting to be the object of someone's worry. Pulling out a chair, I sit across from her, saying, "I had a rough encounter with John and Michael Darling...Never thought I'd say that sentence in my life."

"Really? But they're so nice," Mary Margaret remarks, genuine surprise in her tone.

"Not to me."

Curiosity fills her eyes. "What happened?"

"That's the thing. I don't know. Something about me not saving Wendy from Pan."

"You knew Pan?" she murmurs, tipping forward.

"No, and I don't know Wendy or her brothers, either."

"Somehow, your story is connected to them."

"And I need to find out how. That's why I came here to talk to Henry, but he's not here."

"He's still grounded, Bella."

"Can't believe I forgot about that." I don't have time to wait around for Henry. I don't have time to visit his house. I need answers now. If my visions are real, what else is? Is my mother Princess Aurora? That would be insane—a good insane. I want to know about her. Everything there is. It's perfect how the woman sitting across from me met her. "So, uh, you and Emma got stuck in an enchanted forest, huh?—Not that I believe in all this." Skepticism nibbles at me as I question Mary Margaret about her supposed fairytale adventures, trying to make sense of the surreal situation I find myself in.

A smile graces her face. "Yes, a year ago. Wow. Time flies."

"And you guys met Aurora?"

"We did," she chirps, her smile growing. "She and Mulan helped us on our journey."

"Tell me about it."

Mary Margaret explains their adventure but stops herself mid-sentence. Her expression softens, reminiscent of melting snow. "But you want to know about Aurora, don't you?"

I nod, eager to hear more.

"She's tough, I'll say that. When we first met her, she wanted to kill us for—" A shadow of sorrow sweeps across her features. Why anyone would want to kill Mary Margaret, I've no idea. But my mother? What could Emma and Mary Margaret have done?

My mouth goes dry from this piece of information—from Mary Margaret's guilty, horrified demeanor. "For what?"

"For, uh, bringing the Wraith to her kingdom—accidentally, of course. We didn't mean to."

I roll my eyes, but she doesn't notice. Again with this Wraith-Grim Reaper thing? But then again, I just talked to Wendy Darling, so...anything's possible at this point. "What about Phillip?"

She pokes at her salad and says, "He wasn't there."

"Why? Where was he?"

"Let's just say his soul was in another place." Mary Margaret lifts her glass and sips her tea, her eyes shifting. What isn't she telling me? What does that mean?

Leaning forward, I ask, "Have you seen Aurora in town recently?"

She sets her glass down and takes a deep breath before answering. "I haven't, no, but I heard she's around...somewhere."

Hope blossoms inside my chest at this news. "So she is here?"

"Yes," she blurts, almost too enthusiastically. "Uh—From what I've heard." Okay, now I'm sure of it. She's keeping secrets.

I purse my lips and study her for signs that something isn't right with her story, but I can't pin down anything wrong. She seems a bit off, though, so I pry into whatever she's hiding. "Are you okay? You seem...frazzled."

She sighs and meets my gaze before speaking again. "I'm fine. I have a lot of things on my mind."

"You wanna talk about it?"

She shakes her head, a sad smile playing on her lips. "No, it's not important. What is important is what you want to know about your mother."

"What's she like?"

"Aurora's very kind, helpful, protective, determined—" Mary Margaret studies my face. "And you look just like her."

The mention of the striking resemblance between me and my lost mother causes tears to well up in my eyes. Finally having a connection to the woman I've yearned to know is overwhelming. "I do?"

"You have her eyes. The same color blue, too."

"What hair color does she have?"

"Red."

I gasp, sixteen years' worth of longing pressing upon me, and a new wave of questions and doubts swirls in my mind. Hope and fear intertwine as if I'm on the brink of a new chapter in my life, filled with magic and wonder but also pain and uncertainty. Maybe that's what life is—magic and pain, wonder and uncertainty, a mix of good and bad moments.

"Although, it's more on the auburn side," Mary Margaret adds.

"Mine, too—Uh, it used to be. I dyed it brown. Kids used to make fun of me at school."

"I'm sorry to hear that, but on a more positive note, I heard from Emma you're planning to stay in Storybrooke. That's exciting!"

A big smile forms on my face.

"And just so you know, we don't tolerate bullying at the Storybrooke elementary or secondary schools. Any kids associated with it get detention and a phone call home."

"Have you had to deal with it much at Storybrooke Elementary?"

"Thankfully, no. I teach my students to be what they want to see more of in the world."

"I'm guessing you like kids?"

"Oh, I love kids."

"I thought Snow White might."

"You're believing," she says with a warm smile.

"No, I'm not." I grin, looking away.

"Then why ask me about Aurora?"

"I don't know." Careful. No one needs to know about me believing I had a past life. That's still uncharted territory. "Because she might be my mother. But she's not a fairytale character."

"We're real, Bella. As real as someone not from our world."

"But—"

"Do you believe in ghosts? That there's a paranormal world?"

"Of course."

"What about aliens?"

"They're real. The Battle of New York proved that."

"Right, that was a bad example," she says, shaking her head, disappointed in herself. "What I'm trying to say is, if you have faith in all those things, why can't you open your heart to the idea that there is a world full of magic and wonder out there?"

"Because—" I say, raising my voice. People glance in our direction, prompting me to lower my volume. "While you were all here having a marvelous time, I was suffering. I have no family. I had no friends. I was alone. Sometimes, I think I still am alone."

"You are not alone, Bella. And you think we're here having a marvelous time? Emma and I were stuck in the Enchanted Forest. The Wraith wreaked havoc in Storybrooke. We were cursed, frozen in time, for twenty-eight years before Emma arrived and broke it. Peter Pan kidnapped Henry. Look now. There're winged monsters terrorizing people."

"It's still better than what I had to deal with."

"Don't forget what I told you. You can't keep feeling sorry for yourself. Everyone has problems to deal with. Yours may seem more terrible than they are, but some people have far worse situations to get through. Just be happy you had a roof over your head and food on the table." That wasn't always the case...

"There was a time when I used to run away from the foster homes I was in. To find a family on my own rather than wait to get adopted 'cause who would adopt me? I used to live on the streets sometimes until they came and found me. I lived like a homeless person, which, in a way, I was. I stopped trying two years ago."

"Bella, I am so sorry," Mary Margaret says, laying her hand over mine.

I turn away, fighting back tears. "You're right. I should've been happy...but I wasn't." I face her and tuck a piece of hair behind my ear. "I'm done running. Mary Margaret, I need to know who I am. I want to know who Anna was. Everyone's treated me like she was a queen, but the Darlings—They...They said I was a pirate."

"Hook didn't tell you?"

"No, he did. He said we were best friends. But Henry said I'm a queen. How could I have been a pirate and a queen? And John and Michael...They made it seem like Pirate Me was a villain. They called me a filthy pirate."

"Why would they say that?"

"How should I know?"

"You should talk to Hook. Tell him what happened."

"I'm so confused," I admit, drooping my head. "I think I'm believing in fairytales because of the encounter, but I can't be sure until I have all the facts."

"That's understandable."

"Wendy Darling...She's real, huh?" I raise my eyes to meet Mary Margaret's gaze.

"She is. We all are."

"She's not going along with Henry's ideas?"

"I'm sorry, but no."

"Yeah, I didn't think so. No one can pretend to be as angry as her brothers were."

Fairytales are proving to be authentic. I mean, Hortense, the Darlings, my visions, Henry's book...It's getting to be too much. Everything's happening all at once. At first, it was the flying monkey, then a couple days of nothing. Now every day is something. It's all happening too fast—I can't take it. I have to get to the bottom of all this before my past life wrecks my new one. If everyone thinks I'm a no-good pirate, I'll never have a family.

After a few minutes, I excuse myself to the bathroom but go to the jukebox's alcove in the hall. I still haven't read the letter Ruby handed me earlier. I don't want to read it, but it may contain clues about who it's from. Whoever they are, I'm reporting them straight to the Sheriff.

I retrieve the envelope from my back pocket, tear it open, and pull out the single sheet of paper. My hands shake as I read the words.

𝑀𝓎 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒,

𝐼 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝒷𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝒾𝓃𝒻𝑜𝓇𝓂𝑒𝒹 𝑜𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒹𝑒𝒸𝒾𝓈𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝓉𝑜 𝓇𝑒𝓂𝒶𝒾𝓃 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒸𝓊𝓇𝓈𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝑜𝓌𝓃. 𝒴𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓈𝓉𝓊𝒷𝒷𝑜𝓇𝓃𝓃𝑒𝓈𝓈 𝒶𝓈𝓉𝑜𝓊𝓃𝒹𝓈 𝓂𝑒, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐼 𝒻𝑒𝒶𝓇 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓈𝒶𝒻𝑒𝓉𝓎 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒻𝒶𝒸𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒹𝒶𝓇𝓀𝓃𝑒𝓈𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓁𝑜𝑜𝓂𝓈. 𝐵𝓊𝓉 𝒾𝓉 𝓈𝑒𝑒𝓂𝓈 𝐼 𝒶𝓂 𝓉𝑜𝑜 𝓁𝒶𝓉𝑒, 𝒶𝓈 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝒸𝒽𝑜𝓈𝑒𝓃 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓅𝒶𝓉𝒽 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓈𝑒𝒶𝓁𝑒𝒹 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒻𝒶𝓉𝑒. 𝒯𝒶𝓀𝑒 𝒽𝑒𝑒𝒹 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓌𝒶𝓇𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔, 𝒶𝓈 𝒾𝓉 𝓈𝒽𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝒷𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒻𝒾𝓃𝒶𝓁 𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝑒𝒾𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓉𝑜𝓌𝓃 𝑜𝓇 𝒿𝑜𝒾𝓃 𝓂𝑒. 𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝒸𝒽𝑜𝒾𝒸𝑒 𝒾𝓈 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇𝓈.

𝐼𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒸𝒽𝑜𝑜𝓈𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓁𝒶𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓇, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐼 𝒶𝓅𝓅𝓁𝒶𝓊𝒹 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒾𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒹𝑜, 𝐼 𝓇𝑒𝓆𝓊𝒾𝓇𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒶𝓈𝓈𝒾𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝓊𝓃𝓁𝑜𝒸𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝑅𝑒𝑔𝒾𝓃𝒶'𝓈 𝓋𝒶𝓊𝓁𝓉 𝓉𝑜𝓃𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉. 𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝓂𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝓊𝓃𝒹𝑒𝓇𝓉𝒶𝓀𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓉𝒶𝓈𝓀 𝒶𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓃𝑜 𝓉𝓇𝒶𝒸𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒸𝑜𝓁𝓁𝒶𝒷𝑜𝓇𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃. 𝐿𝑒𝓉 𝓃𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝑜𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒾𝓃𝓋𝑜𝓁𝓋𝑒𝓂𝑒𝓃𝓉, 𝓁𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒻𝒶𝒸𝑒 𝒹𝒾𝓇𝑒 𝒸𝑜𝓃𝓈𝑒𝓆𝓊𝑒𝓃𝒸𝑒𝓈 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝑜𝓃𝓁𝓎 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇𝓈𝑒𝓁𝒻, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓈𝑒 𝒹𝑒𝒶𝓇 𝓉𝑜 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒶𝓈 𝓌𝑒𝓁𝓁, 𝑒𝓈𝓅𝑒𝒸𝒾𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝐻𝑜𝑜𝓀.

𝒟𝑜 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝒾𝑔𝓃𝑜𝓇𝑒 𝓂𝓎 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝒹𝓈, 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝐼 𝒶𝓂 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝒶 𝓂𝑒𝓇𝒸𝒾𝒻𝓊𝓁 𝒶𝒹𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓈𝒶𝓇𝓎.

-𝑀

𝒫.𝒮. 𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒾𝓈 𝒶 𝓉𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓈𝓊𝓇𝑒 𝒽𝒾𝒹𝒹𝑒𝓃 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝒽𝒶𝒹𝑜𝓌𝓈, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒾𝓉 𝒽𝑜𝓁𝒹𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓀𝑒𝓎 𝓉𝑜 𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒻𝓊𝓉𝓊𝓇𝑒. 𝒪𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝐼 𝓇𝑒𝓉𝓇𝒾𝑒𝓋𝑒 𝒾𝓉, 𝐼 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓂𝑒𝑒𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒶𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓌𝒾𝓈𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓌𝑒𝓁𝓁.

I'm taken aback by the letter. This is wrong—so very wrong. What could be in Regina's vault that's so important to them? Why does Regina even have a vault?

Wait a second...Tonight? This person wants me to open Regina's vault tonight? I don't know where her vault is. Instructions would've been helpful—Wait. Am I considering this?

I should go through with this. I could stake out the vault and wait for the letter sender to appear—catch them in the act. I could set a trap. Get Emma and David in on this, too. They need to know.

Whatever I plan to do about this, I have to use caution when making any decisions that could impact the safety of the town and its people. I have to weigh my options and figure out what's best for me and those I care about. But the best thing I can think of is finding out who this "M" person is and throwing their ass in jail.

It's time to catch a criminal.