Dark One's Daughter *Book Three*

Quiet Minds

I couldn't believe it. After everything that we had been through this had to be one of the strangest and most confusing things that had ever occurred in Storybrooke, my father was alive!

I was still struggling to wrap the whole situation around my head so even as I sat in a practically empty Granny's with a strong mug of coffee I kept replaying the last hour in my head.

After we had found the cage that had recently been the living space of my father, we went to Granny's while David went back to his apartment to get Mary Margaret. I sat in one of the booths, one hand around my mug and the other had my chin resting in it as I stared at the dart board in front of me.

I then felt the seat beside me sink as a figure sunk into it. I didn't even need to look to know who it was.

"You know, throwing one of those darts might actually help," Jones said.

"Probably," I muttered, not looking away from the dartboard.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't you be excited? I mean, you have just found out that your father is still alive," Jones commented and from the corner of my eye I saw him twirling a piece of my hair around his hook. "You do want that, don't you?"

"Of course I want that. I just can't help but feel guilty. If I had gone down that storm cellar earlier I could have helped him," I replied.

"You can't blame yourself for that. If it's anyone's fault, it should be mine. I stopped you going down there," Jones said.

"I could have ignored you," I reminded him. "But I didn't. Why is it the one time I actually listen to you, it has consequences?"

Jones chuckled beside me and I finally glanced over at him as the hair on his hook fell off in a small wave.

"I guess we're just that lucky," Jones said, making me smile weakly.

The door to the diner finally opened revealing Emma, who had been the last one to arrive.

"If you want privacy, talk fast," Granny told us as she continued to faff around behind the counter. "We open in 20, and no one gets between Leroy and his bacon."

Realising that Granny was right, Jones slid out from the booth and I followed soon after, opting for leaning against the table instead.

"Is there any sign of our quarry?" Jones asked Emma.

"I went all over that farmhouse you and Tasha found and the land around it—nothing," Emma told us.

"Well, now that the sun's out, we should hit every place Gold might go—his house, his shop," David listed off.

"His cabin," I added. "If he's worried about something, that's where he'll go."

"Cause dead men love vacation homes," Emma commented sarcastically, making me shrug at her. "Can someone explain to me how this is even possible? We all saw Gold. He—"

"Disappeared into nothingness. I know," Mary Margaret added.

"I might have an inkling," Jones spoke up, making everyone turn to him. "When we went back to the Enchanted Forest, Baelfire was talking about the possibility of getting his father back." I saw Jones look over at me as I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.

"What? How?" David asked.

"He didn't know how. He just... he missed his family," Jones said, making me look down at my hands. "And he was desperate to find a way to return to this world. He believed that bringing his father back was the key."

"Well, if that was his plan, then obviously something went wrong, because while Gold might be alive and kicking, Neal is—he's—we don't know what he is. We don't even know if he made it back to Storybrooke. No one's seen his since this new curse," Emma said.