Kyle looked at us with a strange look on his face. "But Neal... He's..."
Snow piped up. "No he's not. We have to find him. Pan told your dad that he was still alive. I don't think he was lying."
Snow can never keep a secret. The plan had been to not tell Emma about Neal until we were completely certain he was alive. Because she was his ex lover person thing. We didn't want to get her hopes up. But Snow didn't seem to care about that!
Regina rolled her eyes. "Let's get to it then." My mom. She understands me completely. Except for one thing. She has never told me who my father is. I've tried to find out, even read her little journal thing she kept long ago, but it didn't give me any help. Just made me feel awkward since I knew her past feelings.
We began our journey. It was a good distance away, but we kept trudging forward. Every once in a while someone would try to form a small conversation, but it would die away quickly. I stayed next to Liv. Peyton seemed to just trudge along behind.
Kyle walked next to us, taking sips of his "rum." I honestly think that bottle is just filled with water and he's pretending to be cool with his adult drink.
That's just my opinion.
I grabbed his bottle and dumped it out on the floor. "AHAH! Just as I suspected. Is that what they're calling water these days?"
Kyle rolled his eyes and made a face.
Liv stomped her feet as she trudged. Her nicest pair of flats were ruined. She had a pair of heels but they were too fancy. "What's the Echo Caves even like? Why would they keep Neal there?"
Kyle smirked. "It's a place that's dark and creepy and echoey?..."
"Echoey isn't a word."
"Yeah whatever Riley. But there's one small thing. In order to get to Neal, everyone has to reveal one secret. Their deepest and darkest secret that no one knows of. So basically, you will come out in deep humiliation. In just a matter of speaking."
Liv turned red. "What?!!? I think I left my lipstick at the camp I'll go...."
Kyle grabbed her arm and pulled her forward. "Nope. If we go down, you go down too."
Secrets. Deadly secrets. Mine would be dreadful. And I couldn't turn back.
We arrived quicker than I wanted, and everyone looked pale in the dim light. No one wanted to reveal anything, it seems.
"So who's first?" Hook smirked.
I rolled my eyes. So did everyone else.
Peyton stepped forward silently and whispered something.
"Speak up!" Kyle groaned.
Peyton cleared her throat and began softly. "I'm not one to keep secrets normally, because of their danger. But I have kept one, and I never planned on speaking of it, until now...
My secret is, I stole something from Mr Gold, I mean Rumplestilskin... And it was my life... I was his servant and I ran away, so when I found out his son was here.... I didn't want to come. I didn't want to help him."
Peyton stepped back and wiped her tears off softly.
I looked around for something to happen. Neal was still on the other side of the giant room, but suddenly everything began to shake. Liv stumbled back and slipped over the rock.
I screamed, grabbing her arm. She was okay. She had to be okay. She was my only friend.
My mom came and ran and helped me pull her up. But as soon as she touched the ground, she screamed. Her face turned pale and she turned and looked over the edge of the cliff we stood upon.
I frantically scrambled next to her and tried to understand what was going on. "What?!!!? What happened?!?"
Liv started to sob. "Don't you understand? I lost one of my favorite shoes!!!!!"
I grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. "LIV GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF. SO BECAUSE YOU SCARED ME YOURE GOING TO SAY YOUR SECRET NEXT."
Liv suddenly stopped sobbing. "Um I'd rather throw myself off the cliff."
I shook her again. "Do it!!!"
Liv whispered something about goodbye to her shoe, then stood up.
"Okay my secret is... I actually don't like wearing shoes as much as I say. I just do that because then maybe people wouldn't think I was the amazing girly girl that has fabulous hair...."
Kyle jumped up. "NO! You STOP THAT.."
Peyton covered his mouth and nodded to continue. Kyle kept struggling, but I think Liv thought it would be better. No one would hear her as much.
"And I was crying because the shoes fell... The reason I cried was because those shoes cost $1,200...."
She sobbed as my mom and everyone else broke into a frenzy. That was so much money. Liv was lucky her mom wasn't here to hear that.
The ground started to shake again. I clung to Liv and waited for it to end. When it did, we noticed a path was beginning to form towards Neal.
I stood up and brushed off my black pants. Time to reveal.
"Okay so.... I was never going to say this. Like ever ever ever ever ever ever ever..."
Liv laughed. "Stop stalling." Apparently she forgot how hard this was.
"Okay so, this is hard today say. But I just have to..."
"I tried to give Kyle a sleeping curse!"
Kyle turned bright red and laughed nervously. "Whaaaaaat... Noo wayy. Nope she's not right...."
He scrambled to the back of the small group. I can't believe I said it.
But then I continued. "I really just wanted to never deal with him again. It happened when Hook was working for my mom in the Enchanted Forest. But I wanted to do it.... Because Kyle is..."
Someone piped up, "lame."
I know it was Liv. But I didn't mention that.
"But he fought me and stole one of my mother's enchantments to paralyze me for a day."
Kyle was pushed to the front of the room.
He scratched his neck nervously and looked at me. I laughed evilly and left to the back. I was not going to be in the front when he fear puked. My mom was looking at him with a 'I'll kill you thief' look.
Kyle laughed nervously. "I don't want to..."
Hook grabbed his ear and pulled him forward. "Do it."
Kyle turned red. Tomato face.
"Okay so my secret is that...
Ihaveasmallcruuuuhhh."
"What?!?!"
"A small cruhhh..."
Kyle turned brighter red. "I HAVE A SMALL CRUSH ON HAIR PRODUCTS. ANY KIND I LOVE TO USE IT TO FIX MY HAIR I EVEN SMUGGLED SOME IN MY LUGGAGE I BROUGHT ON THE ISLAND."
Everyone laughed. But it worked. The platform leading to Neal extended. Bur it was only at its halfway point.
Hook revealed something about loving Emma, Snow revealed that she wanted to have a baby, and David revealed something WAY OUT. Apparently he was poisoned by dreamshade and can't leave the island because he used a remedy that loses its effect once off Neverland soil. Eh.
My mom was last. She stepped up quietly and dusted off her coat.
"This may not be a mystery to some people, but Riley, is my daughter, yet she doesn't know who her father is..."
I grinned and jumped up. Finally. I would know the truth. This was it!
"He is now.... Dead... But, his name is..."
"Graham, the former sheriff of Storybrooke, also known as the Huntsman I ordered to kill Snow."
I drew in a deep breath. I had known Graham and he was my father!?!? NO! He COULDNT BE NO.
I collapsed to the floor, my heart pounding as the ground started to shake, the platform extending. But that didn't matter.
I now knew the truth. And I hated it.
