𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐄𝐅 ★ 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 ⁴

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟏𝟒

────── ★★★ ──────

────── ★★★ ──────

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟏𝟒
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐀𝐆𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐋 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐔𝐄

────── ★★★ ──────

What felt like an eternity of them searching through thousands of books in the room passed, only for all of them to come up short. Everly was about to grab another book from the shelf when she heard someone let out a long sigh. The Jones woman instantly turned toward the source of the sound to find Regina staring down at a book with irritation in her eyes.

"Nothing," the Mills woman announced as she threw a book onto the floor, "they're all still blank. Whatever the Author's writing, it's not appearing in the books. This is useless."

"Easy," Robin told Regina while placing his hand on top of hers, "this is not your fault."

"Even so, tomorrow, thanks to Gold and the Author, I can be waking up a talking frog," the former Evil Queen retaliated as she threw another book across the room.

"At least you'll wake up," Killian said from his place in the only chair in the room, "I don't doubt whatever the Dark One has in store for me is a far worse fate."

"Well, there's no use trying to guess what he has planned," Everly announced, trying her best not to think about what was going to happen to her friends and family if Rumplestiltskin succeeded, "we just need to stop it."

"And if there's nothing useful here, we need to move on," David announced while closing the book in his hands and placing it on the table, "find something else that can help."

"I might just know the thing," a new voice declared, making everyone turn toward the source of the sound to find August walking into the room.

"I thought you didn't know anything more about the Author," Sam said while keeping his eyes glued to the Booth man until he was stopped at the head of the table they were sitting at.

"He doesn't, but he knows someone who does," Emma explained before her attention moved to the brunette man, "that's why I called him here."

"Who?" Mary Margaret asked.

"The man who gave him his power, the Apprentice," August told them before a smirk formed on his face after seeing the shocked looks he was receiving, "I met him once when I was living in Phuket. He was the one who told me about the storybook and that I should learn everything about it."

"If he was in Storybrooke, could you find him?" Pierce asked without even attempting to hide the curiosity in his voice.

"Well, I haven't seen him," the Booth man answered before pulling out a piece from his back pocket and showing them a sketch of a man, "but that's what he looks like."