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“Huh,” she said.
    “Here’s a key for you.” She handed Emma a large metal key, almost comical in its artful flourishes. Nothing in this town was normal, it turned out. “How long will you be staying?”
    “Just a week,” Emma said, looking at the key. “Just one week.” That was what she needed to make sure Henry was okay. She had to. What else made any kind of sense? She had to know about her son. She had to stay near him now that she’d found him. What else could a person do?
    “A week!” cried the woman. “So wonderful. Welcome to Storybrooke.”
    Emma took the key.
    Outside, the second hand on the clock tower began to move.

CHAPTER 2

THE THING YOU LOVE MOST
    Emma woke that first morning and briefly wondered what the hell she was doing in this damned town.
    But she knew. She knew why she was here.
    She was in the bathroom when she heard a knock on the door. When she opened it, she was surprised to find Regina Mills smiling at her.
    “Ah, good morning!” Regina said. “I thought I’d stop by and offer you a gift.” She held up the apples and walked into the small room, not waiting to be invited. Emma watched her warily. “I’m sure you’ll enjoy them on your drive home,” she added. “It’s too bad you didn’t make it out of town last night, after all.” Looking around the room with mild disdain, Regina set the apples down on the countertop.
    “I’ve decided to stay,” said Emma, looking at the apples. “But thank you.”
    “Are you sure that’s such a good idea?” Regina asked brightly, apparently not surprised. “Henry has been dealing with a number of emotional problems. I think this will just confuse him more, don’t you?”
    “The fact that you’ve now threatened me two times in the last twelve hours,” Emma said finally, “makes me want to stay more.”
    “What?” Regina said. “You take apples as a threat? I wouldn’t—”
    “I can read between the lines,” Emma said. “I think I’ll stay until I get a sense for Henry’s situation here. I want to make sure he’s okay.”
    “I see,” said Regina. “You’re worried that I am in fact evil, are you? You’ve been reading his book as well. I can promise you that he’s just fine. And that his problems are being taken care of. He doesn’t need you.”
    “What does that mean?”
    “It means he’s in therapy,” Regina said. “It means that he will soon learn that reality makes more sense than fantasy. As I keep telling him. It means that only one of us knows what’s best for Henry.”
    “I’m starting to think you’re right about that.”
    The audacity of this woman was unbelievable—Emma could not imagine making the choice to enter so boldly into a stranger’s private space and speak so disdainfully, especially to someone who might be around for some time. Regina smiled a crisp smile and took a step toward Emma.
    “This has been nice,” Regina said. “But it’s time for you to leave this town.”
    “Or what?” Emma said, arms still crossed.
    Regina took another step toward her. Their faces a mere foot apart, Regina said coolly, “Do not underestimate me, Ms. Swan. You have no idea what I’m capable of.”
    Emma paused and considered that.
    “Well, then,” she said finally. “You’re just gonna have to show me, aren’t you?”
    Regina’s eyes closed to the thinnest of slits. “So be it.”
    Ten minutes later, in great need of coffee, Emma made her way to the diner. She also needed to think; she needed to figure out why Regina was so bent on getting her out of town. This place—there was something just off about this whole place. What was it?
    She felt the strangeness all the more when she saw her own face staring back at her on the cover of the town daily, the
Storybrooke Daily Mirror
.
    It was an old mug shot. She picked up a copy of the paper and sat down in a booth.
    Seriously? she thought. One day to put this together?
    Whoever had written the article—Sidney Glass was his name—had