Jaws neared him, teeth close enough that Chad could smell the rotting stench of its breath. He didn’t even have time to flinch as it lunged. Meaning his eyes were as wide open as his ears to catch the deafening blast that tore through the night, a sound so violent it rattled the teeth in…

Finn’s eyes snapped open the second the scream rang out. He didn’t bother jumping out of bed this time, no need to kick to his feet or reach for a weapon. Instead, he just groaned from his bedroll. “Could somebody wake her up already?” Aurora screamed out again, Finn joining in the noise with a…

His shoes slapped a hard rhythm against the damp pavement of Storybrooke’s streets, uncaring of the puddles he splashed through. Feet and trousers drenched, Chad couldn’t find it in him to stop; steps uneven and breath shaky as he tried to ignore the way his heart was bashing against his ribs like a trapped bird.…

“Too tight…” The hiss left one Ruby Lucas, the girl’s rasp even lower and rougher than usual.  From what he’d been told, it had to do with the full moon and the ‘nature of the wolf’ being closer to the surface than normal. The instinct to say that it might have just been the stress…

And all the answers were insane. “You all are psychotic.” Chad clicked his tongue, the syllables more spat out than said as they hit the salt-heavy air of the Storybrooke docks and vanished. The fog took sound in the same way it took distance, everything more than a few yards out swallowed up until the…

Alright. Enough. Chad O’Donaghue frowned as the bell to Granny’s diner chimed loud above his head, the young man pushing his way past the glass. The door swung shut, the chill of the Maine dawn left behind and his eyes took in the empty diner; the air missing the distinct smell of fresh-brewed crude oil…

Municipal Allocations… A sigh left David’s mouth as he stared at the form in front of him. Infrastructural Budget Derivatives… As much as he wanted to keep his eyes focused, the black text blurred together under the buzzing glare of the fluorescents in the sheriff’s station. “Jesus.” He raised a heavy hand to his face,…

‘If you’re scared, that’s good. Very good, in fact. Means your heart’s still beating, boy. Brain’s still working.’ The young man adjusted the cuffs of his sport coat, pausing his steps on the sidewalk as his chest buzzed. His phone left his jacket pocket a second later, blue eyes staring down at a text from…

For all its vaunted softness, Egyptian cotton was suffocating. Regina Mills opened her eyes from beneath the sheets, pulling them down from her head to stare up at the ceiling. Barely an inch of morning light made its way in through the blackout drapes, the sterile hum of the HVAC filtering into the room serving…