Broken: The Second Book of the A Tale of Two Sisters Series

The Crocodile

Sweat dripped down Reagan's face as she swung her pickaxe, mining for fairy dust along with the dwarves and David. Henry and Serenity sat idly by—Henry because he was a little too young, and Serenity because well . . . She was Serenity. The heroes had made a discovery that fairy dust could bring Emma and Mary Margaret home.

"Keep swinging, dwarves," Leroy said as Ruby entered the mines with some food.

"They find any fairy dust yet?" she asked Henry and Serenity.

"No, not yet," the latter replied.

"But they will," her younger brother insisted. "When . . . When they do, we'll figure out a way to get Mary Margaret and my mom back."

"I'll be back later with lunch," Ruby said before leaving.

"I hate mine dust," David groaned, putting down his axe. "Leroy! If you find anything, I'll be at the Sheriff's Station." He looked at the kids before gesturing to them to follow.

"You're taking over as Sheriff?" Leroy asked.

"Stepping in. Until Emma gets back."

"You go ahead," Reagan said. "There's something I've been meaning to do since the curse broke."

"What's that?" Serenity asked, genuinely curious.

"Just a personal matter," the fifteen year old replied as she set down her pick axe.

"What is it?" Henry asked.

"She just said it's personal—when Regs says that, she's not talking," Serenity said.

"It's about your dad isn't it?"

Serenity looked at her older sister who looked at Henry in defeat, "Alright, you got me. I just want to see him. Mom preserved his body long ago with magic, and I know he's in her vault. I've never gotten to see him before, and . . . Well, I want to now."

"Be safe, Regs," David said.

"I'll be fine," she assured him.

Thinking of where she wanted to go, she disappeared in a cloud of royal blue smoke before appearing in front of Regina's vault.

The teen thought of her mother's skeleton keys, making them appear in her hand. She was happy with how far along she was coming with her magic, especially with the very few lessons her mom had given her over the weekend.

The ravenette went to the door and unlocked the vault, already finding her grandfather's coffin pushed aside. She figured Regina decided to leave it that way so they didn't have to keep moving him around to go downstairs.

Reagan anxiously ran down the stairs, ready to see the man she had waited her entire life to see. She knew about the preservation not long after King Leopold died, but Regina had forbidden her from seeing him for some strange reason. The princess came close to seeing her father once, but the guards caught her just before she turned the corner to him. After that, Regina had buried him at Firefly Hill—the place where she and Daniel would sneak away to when they could. The teen knew that her mother didn't like burying him, and she knew there was no way Regina would've left him buried here, despite the tombstone that laid in the cemetery for Reagan's benefit. She knew this for sure even more, for when her and Regina left the vault, Regina looked down one hallway longingly.

Once Reagan made it downstairs, she kept walking straight, going to the hall Regina had been looking at. She went to the closed door and tried the knob, finding it to be unlocked. The teen slowly turned the knob before slipping inside.

When Reagan walked into the room, she froze.

There in a glass coffin was a man who was quite tall. He had dark hair that was parted perfectly and wore a long sleeved ivory tunic that was certainly made for someone of nobility rather than lower class, and brown pants. Around the tunic was a brown belt with a large silver circle buckle. Around his neck was a simple white scarf.