CHAPTER THREE
THE FIRST CLUES

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With introductions out of the way, Josie was more than just eager to get to the part where they figured out what had happened, and most importantly, where her father had gone. These were their most pressing issues, the ones that demanded their attention before anything else. But what Henry had said, what he had known, intrigued her. She wanted to question him further, and get answers. And it seemed that this was just what they had in store.

The initial explanation they offered to Josie and Nicholai was insane.

From upstairs, Henry retrieved a book that he offered to Josie and Nicholai. As soon as she saw the name in large print on the top of the cover, their eyes widened. On the bottom of the cover was the name Bram Stoker, unfamiliar to her. But the name on the top was Dracula. How could Henry have a book with Nicholai's family name on it? Even more concerning, how could this Bram Stoker man know? It didn't make any sense. A pit of dread formed in her stomach and she looked over at Nicholai, who looked equally concerned. She let him take the book from her hands and flip through it.

"I do not understand," Josie said, looking toward everyone. "How could this man have our names? Why would he write a book about Nicholai's father?"

"Well, that's kind of a theme around here," Emma said.

"A theme?" Nicholai questioned, looking briefly up from the book.

"Most of us here in Storybrooke are actually originally from a place called the Enchanted Forest and were transported here by a curse," Regina explained. "Once here, we discovered that our lives were also the subject of many stories."

"And you are... okay with this?" Josie questioned.

"We don't get people from outside the city here very often, if at all," Regina continued.

"Yes, but that does not explain how this Stoker man wrote this story," Nicholai said. "As far as I am aware, the journal of Jonathan Harker has never left the walls of Castle Dracula. No one in this world or any world should have this story..."

Everyone else in the room exchanged a knowing glance before their eyes turned to Henry. Josie and Nicholai also exchanged a glance, but theirs was of confusion.

"My guess is that Bram Stoker was an author," Henry said. An even more confused look from Josie and Nicholai prompted him to continue. "A magical author. Someone who can write the stories of people in another world. Everyone here in Storybrooke had their stories written by a man named Isaac. I'm the current author."

"I see..." Josie said, looking down at the book still in her best friend's hands. "Well, regardless of the strange nature of these... magical authors and their ability to transcribe the lives of others, I do not believe it will help us discover how our worlds have come together. Or... why my father has gone missing."

"Your father?" Snow questioned.

"Why didn't you say anything before?" Regina asked, crossing her arms.

"When did he go missing?" Emma asked, steering the conversation back on track and Josie's glare away from Regina.

"Just before the first quake. We were eating dinner, my mother and sister cleared the dishes and went to get dessert. Someone knocked at the door and my father went to go answer it. When he didn't return, I got up to investigate, but then the first quake hit."

"Who was at the door?" David asked.

"I do not know," Josie snapped. "If I knew, I would have been able to track him down already. He would not still be missing."

"Your father..." Henry said. "His name wouldn't happen to be Abraham, would it?"

"Like the man in this book," Nicholai confirmed with a sigh. "Though, the man that took me in and the man in this book have quite dissimilar mannerisms."

"Mother says that changed when he learned she was pregnant with me. He used to be less serious. And, of course, the vampire epidemic that was traced back to your father did force him to be more serious," Josie said.

"Vampire epidemic?" Snow asked, her tone worried.

"Yes," Nicholai confirmed with a sigh, looking down. "A wave of fresh transformations, courtesy of my father that... that began with myself. I cannot say what caused it or even where he learned of vampirism to begin with. All I do know is that the castle became insufferable with all of those fledglings around."

"Oh, how terrible for you. Living in a castle with people that got on your nerves," Josie teased him before turning back to the others. "It took many, many years to combat them all, they weren't even all gone by the time my training was complete. But I digress, we are getting off subject."

"Yes," Killian agreed. "Figuring out how our two worlds came together should be our priority."

Before anyone else could agree, before anyone else could say or do anything further, the door opened and someone came inside. Josie reacted on pure instinct, just as she had been taught, bringing her crossbow up and shooting at whoever was coming inside.

The man who had entered was quick to duck aside, the crossbow bolt lodging in the wall behind where his head used to be. The man reacted just as quickly as Josie had, bringing up a bow and nocking an arrow that was aimed directly back at Josie. Nicholai's eyes flared red as he stared down the man but before any of them could move, Emma was between them, preventing them from taking a shot.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Emma said. "Robin, Josie, lower your bows!"

"Who is this girl?" the man, Robin, asked.

"Who are you?" Josie demanded.

"This is a friend of ours, Robin Hood," Emma told Josie. "Robin, this is a new friend of ours, Josephine van Helsing. She didn't mean to shoot at you."

"Oh no, I intended it. It is not only poor etiquette but simply a bad idea to enter into someone's home without knocking. You never know what you will walk in on," Josie explained, keeping her grip tight on her crossbow.

"Says the stranger," Robin said.

"At least I was invited inside before entering!"

"Okay! That's enough!" Snow said.

"Lower your weapons now, both of you!" Emma told them sternly.

Josie hesitated, but when Robin started lowering his bow, she began to do the same. When both of them had lowered their weapons, Emma relaxed between them, as did Nicholai, his eyes fading back to brown.

"Did you find anything around town, Robin?" Regina asked.

"The Merry Men and I investigated the edges of town and into the woods," Robin said, stepping around Josie. "It is all unfamiliar and much darker than before. We encountered strange creatures that I have never seen before and that attacked us on sight. We barely managed to get out unscathed."

"The forests surrounding the roads and towns of Nightmoor are very dangerous. They are not a place to tread without the proper weaponry and armour, that is simply foolish," Nicholai explained.

"Well, that's good to know... Now."

"We should get back out there," Josie said. "We aren't going to find anyone or anything while we stand around here talking. We should be out there, looking for my father and for clues as to how our worlds were forced together."

"I actually agree with the little archer," Regina said. "Standing here isn't going to solve a thing."

"Thank you," Josie said with a nod.

"Alright, if we're going out, we should divide into groups to be safe and cover more ground," David said.

"As much as I loathe to suggest it," Josie began. "Nicholai and I should split up. We can divide into two groups and that way, each will have someone who knows the dangers of Nightmoor with them. That is the safest option."

"Alright, two groups. Here's how we'll divide..." Emma said.

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Heading back out onto the streets after their brief reprieve, Josie kept her eyes open for any sign of what could be a clue. The streets were as dreary as she was used to and despite the environment around them, the weapons that both Josie and Robin carried and what it was that they were doing, Henry persistently kept up with all of the questions he had.

Josie couldn't help but get a little more annoyed with each additional question he pulled forth from a seemingly never-ending supply. Her annoyance wasn't at all helped by the smug looks on the faces of Regina and Robin the more annoyed she got. She suspected that they were getting some joy out of her frustration.

"So, your friend Nicholai, he's a vampire?" Henry asked.

"You are the one that correctly deduced that fact, why do you require clarification on it?"

"What kind of powers does he have?"

"I do not see how that is relevant to our current search for clues on why two worlds were forced to come together," Josie said, hoping to remind him of what they were doing and steer him away from further questions.

"We might run into some vampires, right?" Henry asked. "We should know what we're up against, shouldn't we?"

"Vampires are a longer conversation for another time and a larger group," Josie said, stopping in a crossroads and looking around, feeling that the area was somewhat familiar to her. "For now, know that they are not to be underestimated. They are stronger than you, and many times more deadly. But while we still have daylight, you have nothing to worry about."

"But Nicholai was out in the daylight," Henry said.

"Yes, he is something of an exception to most of the rules but it is not my place to discuss his condition or his history. That is a story for him to tell and him alone."

"Earlier, you said that vampires were an epidemic and now you're not even going to tell us what we're up against?" Regina questioned her.

Feeling fed up, Josie turned to her. "Yes, for I am not in the habit of repeating myself. I assure you, once we have regrouped, Nicholai and I will explain the dangers of his kind so that you are all informed of what you may have to face. For now, I have given you the information you will need in the rare chance that we will encounter any of the living dead. For now, I believe us to be safe."

"What if we get bitten?" Henry asked.

"If we do encounter a vampire and you are unlucky enough to find your neck on the receiving end of their fangs, count yourself lucky that fate brought you to knowing Nicholai and myself," she told them.

"That's awfully cryptic," Robin said.

"And not reassuring," Regina added.

Josie didn't respond to them, turning away instead and narrowing her eyes at the area around them, trying to figure out what it was that was so familiar to her. As with everything since the quakes, bits and pieces were familiar to her, the parts that belonged to her world, but the rest unfamiliar, the parts that belonged to Storybrooke.

That was when she spotted the man standing in the shadows of a nearby building, very subtly trying to attract her attention and beckon her over to him. He was leaning back, partially hidden by a pillar, a trail of smoke floating up from the cigarette between his fingers. A smirk crept across Josie's face as they locked eyes and she turned to Henry, Regina and Robin.

"Henry, you will come with me. Regina and Robin, you two will stay right here. You will not follow us, whatever you do."

"Where are we going?" Henry asked.

"Hopefully, we are going to get some information that will help us figure out what is going on. And I do mean it, do not follow us, no matter what you see or think you see," Josie told them sternly.

"Think we see?" the two echoed.

Once again, Josie didn't answer them, she simply beckoned for Henry to follow her and then walked over to the man. She kept her crossbow down and at her side, hopefully making it look less threatening considering she had no intention of leaving it behind or unloading it, though she knew her intentions might not matter.

The closer they got to the man, the more Josie could see that he looked much worse than the last time she'd seen him. Her first thought was that Nightmoor colliding with Storybrooke must have really shaken him, but there was something else that was telling her that there was more to the story. There was some other problem here.

When the two teenagers reached him, he didn't say anything at first. He simply took a long drag from his cigarette and looked Henry up and down skeptically. Up close, Josie could see dark bags under his eyes. Yes, she decided, something had definitely happened to him.

"Who's this fella?" Frank asked. "Ain't your usual partner."

"We are in a strange land, we must take our allies where we can, mustn't we? Frank, this is Henry," Josie introduced.

"Hi," Henry said, a kind smile on his face as he outstretched his hand.

Frank looked at his hand, then up at Henry's face. Then he looked over at Josie and raised a brow.

"Yeah, he really ain't your usual partner," he noted.

"Now is not the time for insults, Frank," Josie said. "Do you have information for me?"

"Ohohoho," Frank said, taking a long drag of his cigarette before digging a hand into his long coat. "I got more for you than just mere words today, my friend."

"What do you have?"

"I know that I am the guy who sees things he ain't supposed to see, but I really saw somethin' that I shouldn' have this time," Frank explained, shaking his head. "I'm really up the creek, Miss Josie."

"Tell me what it is you saw," she requested gently.

"It was right before the quakes hit. I was walkin' down the road, just headin' to the tavern for a drink," he started. "And I saw your father. He was runnin' down the street, chasin' after someone, some woman. She was cacklin' like she was mad and when she saw me, she glared like I was her archenemy or somethin'. Then they went around a corner and disappeared."

"Do you know who he was chasing?" Josie asked urgently, heart clenching.

"I'm gettin' there, I'm gettin' there, hold your horses," Frank told her. "Sometime after the quakes, this woman, she finds me again and she's not alone, she's got this other woman with her. And the woman, the first one, the mad one, she glares at me and there's this pain... Miss Josie this was pain like nothin' I ever felt before. When it finally stops, I'm on the ground and the other woman gives me this and tells me to pass it onto you and your new allies."

Henry and Josie exchanged a glance before they looked back at Frank. He pulled his hand out of his pocket and held it out to them, something small and white. Josie took it, flipping it over to discover that it was some kind of photograph of a redheaded woman that she didn't recognize holding an infant. She handed the photograph to Henry and looked back at Frank.

"What about my father? Did you see him again? Did they say anything about him at all?"

"No, Miss Josie, they didn'. But if he went up against that mad woman..." Frank let out a low whistle. "I don' think anyone gets away from them unharmed."

A chill ran down her spine and a fist tightened it's grip around her heart as she sucked in a breath. That was not the news that she'd wanted to receive when she saw Frank, not in the slightest. It was a starting point, nonetheless, and more than they'd had before. Now they knew that they were after two women and at least one of them was a witch of considerable skill.

Before entering Emma's home, she had seen a woman watching them. Perhaps this woman was one of them, more likely the second woman if that was the case. Or this woman could simply be passing information onto the two they were looking for. It was something.

With a sigh, Josie turned to Henry. "Do you know this woman and infant?"

"Yeah," he said, looking shocked as he turned his gaze from the photograph to Josie. "This is my Aunt Zelena and her baby, Marian."

"They have your family now as well?" Josie questioned incredulously.

"I... I guess so," Henry agreed.

Josie turned back to Frank. "Is there anything else that you can tell us?"

"Only one thing," Frank said, looking pained. "The mad woman said that revenge will be had against those that broke the Dark One's curse and freed the sorcerer by the name of Merlin."

"That's what she said?" Henry asked, sounding concerned.

"Was there anything else?" Josie asked.

"Yes," Frank said, sounding more pained. "She said that once I passed on the message, I was to be sure that I wouldn' be of any further use against her."

"Frank, what does that mean?" Josie asked.

"I'm sorry, Miss Josie."

"Sorry for what?"

"It's been a real pleasure workin' for you and your father."

"Frank?"

From an inside pocket of his coat, Frank pulled out a pistol. Josie's mind immediately went to a place of danger and she tackled Henry to the ground to get him out of the line of fire. Josie turned back to look at Frank just as a shot rang out.

Josie flinched back from the spray of blood as a ringing began in her ears. For a moment, she was dazed, blinded by the flash of the gun, then she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see the face of Regina, her dark eyes full of concern as she looked between Josie and her son. The ringing in her ears died down enough that she could hear Regina asking if she was okay. She nodded, looking back at Henry to see that he was fine, if a little startled due to being tackled. Finally looking down at herself, she noted blood splatter on her nice blue skirt, the matching jacket and white blouse.

Her mother would be furious. Blood was a pain to get out.

Worse than her potentially ruined clothing was the body of Frank in front of her. A curse fell from her lips as she looked at the now unmoving body of the man who had once been her informant and the ever-expanding pool of blood beneath his head from where he'd shot himself.

A newfound anger settled in her stomach, different than the small seed that she had felt since everything had begun and questions had only continued to pile up. That anger had now bloomed in the wake of Frank's murder. He may not have been the most upstanding member of the community, he did do bad things and had a checkered past, but he was a good man at heart. He had routinely put his own life on the line to help Josie, her father and Nicholai. He had put himself in dangerous situations so that they wouldn't have to, gone places their good reputation wouldn't let. He had risked his life for them. And now he was gone because some witch wanted payback and for what she did not even know.

"Are you okay?" Robin asked her, offering her a hand as Regina helped Henry to his feet. "That was quite the tackle there."

"I am fine. Much better off than Frank."

"Why did he shoot himself?" Henry asked, still looking dazed.

"This witch," Josie spat. "She did not want us to be able to extract any more useful information from him. The only way to ensure that he could not tell us more is if... if he was dead."

"Why not just... have him rip out his tongue?" Robin asked.

"There are ways to get information from someone who cannot speak. The witch knows this, she is more knowledgeable than I anticipated. And of the magic of my world," Josie looked at Frank's body one last time before looking back at Regina, Robin and Henry.

"Not just your world," Regina said. "This world has magic that can get information from those that can't speak too."

"Yes, you are quite knowledgeable about magic as well as I recall," Josie said, gesturing slightly with her crossbow.

"You could say that," Regina agreed.

"That's an understatement," Henry said. "My mom is one of the best magic users in Storybrooke."

"Good, we will need one on our side," Josie stated. "We should regroup with the others, we have information to pass on. And a burial to plan."