Shard of Exile

A Rude Welcoming

I open my eyes right as a ray of light hits my eyes and grunt, shutting them again quickly as I sit up and rub my face. 

Looking to my left, I glare when I find a short man staring at me.

"What, never been behind bars before?"

I snort, "You have no idea," 

Suddenly his attention shifts to my right, "What are you looking at, sister?"

"Hey, Leroy—manners! We have a guest! So you are Henry's mother? How lovely for him to have you back in his life."

I turn to see an older man standing outside of the cell; I'm about to correct him when Emma sits up from next to me, "Actually, I was just dropping him off." 

Leroy, who I've decided to call shorty, tsks, "Don't blame ya. They're all brats; who needs 'em."

The man standing outside the cell looks between the three of us uncomfortably as I turn my glare back to the short man. "Listen shorty-"

"Well, I'd give anything for one." The man outside the cell interrupts, "My wife and I, we tried for many years, but, uh... it was not meant to be."

"Well cry me a river."

Before I can hiss at him to stop being so rude, the sheriff from last night comes in and unlocks Short's cell. "Leroy! I'm going to let you out, but you need to behave. Put on a smile, and stay out of trouble." Shorty gives him a sarcastic smile, and me one last glare, before leaving. Flicking my fingers, he trips on his way out and I smirk. 

Emma makes a face, "Seriously?"

The sheriff, thinking she's talking to him, gives us a mildly amused look. "Regina's drinks are a little stronger than we thought." I scoff, "We weren't drunk; there was a wolf, standing in the middle of the road." He gives us a disbelieving look. "A wolf. Right."

Suddenly the quick clicking of heels is heard and Emma groans quietly in protest of the noise. Leaning over, I give Emma a sly look. "How much you wanna bet it's Madam Bitch-"

"Graham? Henry's run away again, we have to-" She halts and a look of anger crosses her face "What are they doing here?" She looks to Emma furiously, "Do you know where he is?"

I snort while Emma shakes her head and stands to lean on the bars. "Lady, I haven't seen him since we dropped him off at your house, and-" she gestures to the bars she's leaning on "we've got a pretty good alibi."

The Mayor scoffs, "Yeah, well, he wasn't in his room this morning." I raise a brow, "Did you try his friends?" She frowns at me, "He doesn't really have any. Kind of a loner." I shift with a frown of my own, "Every kid has friends...Did you check his computer? If he was close to someone he'd be emailing them." Suddenly she narrows her eyes, "And you know this how?"

"Finding people's what we do." Emma interrupts, "Here's an idea; how about you guys let us out, and we'll help you find him."

~

Luckily, they agreed. Letting Emma sit in front of the kids computer, I kneeled next to her.

I few clicks later, Emma sighed. "Smart kid; cleared his inbox. I'm smart too, a little hard disk recovery utility I like to use." She muttered, waving the disk for them to see before plugging it in.

The sheriff looked on curiously, "I'm a bit more old-fashioned in my techniques. Pounding the pavement, knocking on doors, that sort of thing." I huffed a laugh, "You're on salary; we get paid for delivery. Pounding pavement is not a luxury that we get." Seeing an email show on the screen I nudged Emma, "What is it?"