Forest of Fireflies

Chapter 41

(Daniella's POV, later in the evening)

After mother had picked up Henry from Dr Hopper's office, we were on our way home until her phone rang. 

"Henry, can you please answer that for me?"

I was sitting at the back with Henry so I passed my mother's handbag towards him. In the car mirror above me, I saw him retrieve something small out of the bag. He flipped it open and held it to his ear. "Henry Mills speaking."

There was silence until Henry spoke again, "Alright. I'll tell her. Bye." Then, he put down the phone. "It's someone from emergency services.  One of the mines have collapsed and there's chaos down at the site right now."

Immediately, mother parked the car on the side of the street and turned her head around, "Pass me my phone."

Henry did so, and after mother called back, we were heading towards the mines.

When we got there, there was indeed, chaos. Before getting out of the car, mother spoke sternly to us, "Stay inside. I won't be too long, hopefully." Then, Henry and I were left alone.

We shuffled to the left, where we could see what was happening from the car windows. After a second, Henry exclaimed, "Oh, look! There's Emma."

I turned to face him, "Mama told us to stay inside...Henry!" 

My brother didn't listen to me. He opened the car door on the right and exited. I grunted. Well, I guess I'm out too.

Henry ran towards his birth mother but I wormed my way through the crowd instead, in order to hear my mother speak to the people.

"Please, step back. All of you, step back. People of Storybrooke, don't be alarmed. We've always known that this area was honeycombed with old mining tunnels but fear not. I'm going to undertake a project to make this area safe, to rehabilitate it for city use. We will bulldoze it, collapse it and pave it."

Suddenly, Henry ran out towards mother as he shouted, "Pave it? What if there's something down there?"

The crowd began to whisper amongst themselves so I squeezed through and made my way towards Henry. Mother looked down at both of us and whispered, "What are you both doing here? I told you to stay in the car!"

Quickly, I replied, "I was following Henry."

Henry looked at me and narrowed his eyes. Then, he turned back to our mother and whilst pointing towards the mine, whispered, "What's down there?"

Mother immediately replied, "Nothing. Now, you two...go back to the car."

I turned to walk away but I noticed something glimmer on the ground. I picked it up and saw that it was an irregular piece of glass. It was thick, and slightly jade coloured just like...the glass from Snow's coffin!

Henry peered over my shoulder, "What's that?"

I closed my palm and frowned. "What?"

"That thing. The thing you are holding in your hand."

Luckily, I didn't have to show Henry for mother stepped around me and extended her hand. I gave it to her, without revealing what it was and she quickly pocketed it. Then, she threw me a subtle worried gaze before stalking off.

Next to the car, I saw Emma stand there, as if she was waiting to talk to Henry. My brother ran towards her, leaving me trudging slowly behind. This was the first time that I've met Emma in person and I have to say, Henry doesn't really look like her. Actually, Emma doesn't look like her parents either. Snow and her Prince both have brown hair, not blonde. I frowned a little as I tried to pinpoint the genetics that could have resulted in her hair colour. From the royal portraits that hung in forgotten parts of the palace back home, Queen Eva and the King didn't possess light coloured hair either.