Welcome to a Nightmare

Chapter 20: Fake It and Break It

Chapter 20: Fake It and Break It

"And furthermore, if I catch you skipping school again, I will add more days to your grounding. You will also be paying me back for the missing phone." Fiona says sternly as the black car carrying her and Henry stops in front of the casino hotel. "Is that anyway unclear?"

Henry is hardly paying attention to anything that she has said, he just keeps looking down at the floor of the car, trying to formulate some kind of plan in his mind. He doesn't care about the groundings because she wasn't his real mother, he doesn't care about school because there were much more important things happening around him, and finally he doesn't care about anything about his current situation because none of it is real and now that he knows that he has an ally in the cause, he knows this wicked woman can be defeated.

Fiona becomes furious by the fact that Henry is still ignoring her, so she roughly grabs his face with her hand so that they are looking into each other's eyes. Henry tries not to show fear as he gazes into her eyes... they are supposed to be brown, but in the limited light, they look as black as night... it's like staring into the darkened abyss of space or a black hole that sucks all the light and happiness from his existence. One could say that the eyes are the windows to the soul, but Henry was sure that The Black Fairy had no soul.

"I said, is that anyway unclear?" she snarls, putting dark emphasis on the last word. Henry can feel the coldness in her voice and it sends shivers up his spine.

"Yes Ma'me," he says, before finally being released from her spidery fingers.

"Good, now I want you to go straight upstairs and do the homework that you missed. You're lucky your Uncle Gideon was nice enough to go get the work from school for you."

Uncle Gideon?! The thought makes the teenager's stomach turn violently. While they all knew that Gideon was not evil by choice, he had still tried to kill his mother multiple times before that, so the very mentioning of him being related to "the hooded figure" makes him shift uncomfortably. And knowing that Fiona was the one controlling and manipulating his half-uncle the whole time is merely creepy on top of everything else.

Henry doesn't say another word, he grabs his bag and goes through the rotating doors of the hotel that he is forced to call home. He actually looks at the bright, sparkling neon sign and learns the name of this overpriced prison; The Golden Deal, likely a bad word-play on his Grandpa Gold's curse name and his nature as Rumpelstiltskin spinning straw into gold. The sign glitters like it's made of gold and there are bright spotlights shining up into the night sky to attract attention to the hotel-casino. There are people lining the streets, waiting to get inside. Henry is easily let through by a security guard and he enters the crowded and noisy lobby. He hates to look at this grotesque display of greed and the curse any longer than he has to, the teenager goes to the elevator, pushes the button and then gets on the lift, riding it up to the penthouse alone.

When he gets off the lift, he goes to the heavy oak doors at the end of the hall and slips inside. Again, he ignores the Mediterranean mural below his feet and the fancy crystal chandelier hanging above him in the main hall. He begins climbing the steps when he hears the sound of ice tinkling in a glass. He turns to see his grandfather casually drinking a martini as he hobbles down the upstairs hallway, which has velvet carpeting with flecks of gold woven into the material.

When the Dark One notices his grandson, he immediately stops and goes to greet Henry. He places his martini down on an antique looking table and then limps towards the young author. To the boy's great shock, Rumpelstiltskin wraps him in an affectionate and seemingly earnest hug.

"Henry," he says quietly, patting the boy's back. "I'm so glad that you are safe and home."

The author shifts slightly, uncomfortable with this show of affection. As far as anyone knew, the Dark One could not stand any physical forms of affection with anyone besides Belle. In fact, Crystal often had to force her father into giving her hugs and she no doubt would love to trade places with Henry at this very moment to feel the seemingly loving connection her father is trying to make with him.