Traipsing through the woods rarely ended well. Calliope had spent enough time in the New Enchanted Forest to know that twists and turns often led to danger. But she had told Killian that she would help him cure his heart, and she knew no other way than by scouring as many hidden corners and dark hideaways as she could.

There were monsters in this world she'd never seen before. One of the most formidable was the Cockatrice, and as she lay back against the trunk of a massive dark brown tree, mirror-like shield at her feet beside a massive, scaley, severed rooster head, Calliope muttered curses against this land. Killian just poked at its dragon-like body with his sword.

"Do you think we can eat a cockatrice, love?" he asked.

Calliope rolled her eyes, but huffed out a small laugh. She pushed off the tree and joined him. "I don't want to know. It probably tastes terrible."

"Aye, that's true." He sheathed his sword and looked around them. The forest had started to quiet, with sunset fast approaching. "We need to make camp soon."

She agreed with him. After agreeing to meet back at the cockatrice in 20 minutes, they split to go look down the two paths they'd found just before being attacked. Calliope waved her hand and the mirror shield disappeared in a cloud of smoke. With her cutlass sheathed on her hip and her eyes peeled for danger, she started forward.

Going just about ten minutes forward, it pleasantly surprised her to find a flat open space with only a single tree that overlooked a riverbank. That would work perfectly for a camp. She hurried up the grassy slope. In the open air, the wind blew the strands of her brown hair that had come loose from her crown braid into her face. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

The sound of rushing air came from behind her. Calliope turned, recognizing it instantly for what it was: a teleportation spell. But though she'd expected someone, she hadn't expected her.

"Gothel," Calliope said, voice low.

The woman smiled, her long braids jostling as she tilted her head. "Hello Calliope. It's been a long time."

"Not long enough." Calliope stepped away from the edge of the small grassy overhang. She knew that Gothel held a special hatred for humans, a group to which neither woman belonged, but she wouldn't put it past her to try to throw her into the rushing river. "I could've gone another thousand years without seeing you again."

Gothel shook her head. "Come now, Muse. There's no need for that." Moving slowly opposite Calliope, her red dress brushed against the ground, making the grass rustle.

Calliope just scoffed. "Come now, Nymph," she mocked. "We both know you're not here to catch up. If that were the case, you'd have sought me out centuries ago."

"Yes, I suppose you're right. But, that doesn't mean we have to be enemies now," she argued. "I'm here with a proposition."

"A proposition?"

Calliope could barely believe her ears. When she'd last seen Gothel, the nymph had tried to get her to join her family, her band of witches that wanted to punish the humans who had wrong them. At the time, Calliope had been realm hopping, thoroughly enjoying her time away from Neverland and eager to seek out her sister when she returned to regale them with legendary stories. She'd even spoken to the Author at the time, a man who had written a great epic for his people and who had looked to her as a source of inspiration. She'd been ecstatic.

But Gothel had other plans. She didn't want to inspire the humans, she wanted to eradicate them. She'd tried once. Calliope had seen what she'd done to the Earth, turning it into a Land Without Magic. Very little magic got through at all, she and her sisters doing their best to spin tales in the minds of the people but tales alone couldn't conjure magic. Not with the damage Gothel had done.

"I already told you, Gothel, I want no part in your scheme to destroy humanity," Calliope said.

But Gothel just smiled. "I do recall that. But I would encourage you to think twice, Calliope."

"And why is that?"

"Because unlike a thousand years ago, you now know exactly how evil humans are." She moved to Calliope until she stood only a few inches away, looking straight into her eyes. "I know he did to you."

He. Pan. Calliope shuddered, breaking eye contact with Gothel and stepping back from her. With her back to the forest, she stared at the hills beyond the river, dotted by small groves of trees and riddled with shrubs and flowers. Beautiful. Her sisters would've loved it.

She didn't speak, so Gothel continued on for her. "You know who I mean, Calliope. Your sisters are dead, broken in the ground that they used to dance on. The humans hate us. They want to destroy us, or worse, take our magic for themselves."

"Not all of them," Calliope murmured.

Gothel shook her head. "All they know is corruption and greed. They murdered my family. You saw it."

"I saw you raze entire kingdoms to the ground," Calliope hissed back. Turning to her, she tried to remember what the tree nymphs had looked like before they'd been hunted. Beautiful skin of pale green and blue, lips red like ripe strawberries, laughter as they mingled with the trees. The woman before her looked so different, pale-skinned with braids of brown and blonde, harsh blue eyes betraying the coldness in her beauty. Calliope sighed. "You expect me to help you with your quest?"

"Why not?" Gothel raised her voice, looking past Calliope into the forest. She smiled, and turned back. "Humans have done nothing but hurt you. Pan stole your sisters. Killian Jones broke your heart. Didn't he try to kill you?"

"He did."

"What if I told you that if you join my family, we could bring your sisters back."

Calliope hesitated. Bring them back? For a moment, hope rekindled in her chest. She could see them again! But then she remembered that this nymph, Gothel, had been responsible for tearing apart a family that had come to mean almost as much to Calliope as those she'd lost. She could feel the anger returning, her right hand shaking until she gripped it into a fist. "I left that behind when I left Killian in Neverland."

Gothel smiled at her. She raised her voice again. "And yet you still travel with your pirate. Isn't that right, my dear Captain?"

Calliope spun around. She faced the trees, and found Killian there, jaw clenched and eyes narrowed. His hand rested on the hilt of his sword and as they turned to him, he drew it. The blade sang as metal scraped against metal.

"What the bloody hell are you doing with that witch?" he demanded.

"I came to offer her a deal," Gothel said. "We were just discussing the terms."

Calliope scoffed, backing up. But when Killian didn't say anything, just turning to stare at her, sword still out, she gestured to him. "Killian, you know I would never partner with her."

"Aye, love, yet here I find you, talking to her, instead of running a sword through her chest," he said, walking a few feet forward. His voice dripped with fury. He kept his blade raised. "I can't help but wonder."

"Trouble in paradise?" Gothel asked. With a small smile, she turned back to Calliope. "I'll see you again, my dear Muse."

With a wave of her hand, she disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Calliope's heart pounded in her chest as she turned from where Gothel had disappeared to Killian, his blade still out and eyes narrowed. Calliope raised her own hands slowly, showing him she wouldn't reach for her cutlass. "Killian, think about this."

"Oh I am, love." He tilted his head and gestured with his sword. "And I can't say I like what I'm thinking about."

Calliope let out a sigh. As Killian kept approaching, sword raised, she shook her head. One twist of her wrist and cloud of golden smoke, and Killian's sword went back in its' sheath. "We need to make camp."

Killian stared at his now empty hand. Then he looked up at her. "No."

"What?" She paused.

"I'll continue this damn search on my own," he snapped. "I don't need your help."

Calliope didn't move. It was happening again. Again, Killian Jones stared at her with furious eyes and hatred in his heart. For weeks, he'd been getting more and more irritable. He'd been getting more and more sure they'd never find a cure for his heart. The man had turned to drink on more than one occasion. And as she watched him, his hand going to his belt and grabbing not at his cutlass but at his flask, her heart sank.

She didn't have the energy to do this again. Not again, not while thoughts of Neverland swirled in her head thanks to Gothel. Not again, when she felt the weight of letting down his daughter on her shoulders as well. He stood framed by the setting sun, its red-golden light bathing the waters below and sky above with the colors of fire and blood. Calliope frowned.

"Don't drink yourself to death, Killian," was all she would say. Calliope let her hand rest on the hilt of the cutlass she'd gotten centuries ago from the other Killian Jones, feeling the smooth metal where her fingers had carved grooves from constant fidgeting. She rubbed it a few times, trying to convince herself to leave before she got hurt again. "Rum won't cure your heart."

Killian spun on her. He gestured at her with his hook. "Rum's more bloody useful than you've been."

Calliope sighed. "Goodbye Killian."

She turned away from the sun and the pirate she'd fallen for, again. The light warmed her back, heating up the grey tunic that billowed around her leather corset. She turned to the trees and let them conceal her tears.

He may have decided to abandon her, but she would not abandon his daughter. Calliope paused amidst the ferns and branches. She closed her eyes. Envisioning the tower, the small grassy bit around it amidst the forest, she concentrated. In a rush of air and golden smoke, she disappeared.

Calliope gasped as she only air beneath part of her feet. Tumbling back, she fell to the ground and gritted her teeth in pain as her head hit a rock. For a moment she lay dazed. The world spun. Pain shot through her entire body as she tried to sit up. It took several deep breaths for her vision to clear, but when it did, she saw the problem.

She'd appeared in the middle of a pile of ruined stones. Calliope's heart sunk as she gazed up at the tower. Smashed and broken, it looked as though the top had been ripped straight off. Calliope scrambled to her feet, brushing the blood off her scraped hands and begging her head to stop spinning.

"Alice!" she shouted.

No one answered. Calliope bit her cheek against the pain and teleported herself to the one flat bit of stone she could see at the top. When she materialized, the wind nearly knocked her off. But she recovered and felt a rush of relief as she saw the floor still intact. She eased herself down, landing with a thud on the wood.

Everything looked as though the tower was still intact. The teapot sat at her table, stuffed animals still surrounding it, faded and frayed from years of use. Her bed had been made, though a few leaves littered the blankets as well as the floors. Not many though. Calliope frowned. She looked at the table more closely. A half-eaten apple sat on a plate, moldy but still mostly intact.

Alice couldn't have been gone too long. A few weeks, at most. Calliope frowned. That assumed she was still alive. And based on the ruins at the base of the tower, that was a large assumption.

Calliope knew one thing, though. Before finding Killian and telling him anything, she wanted to find out the real answer. So she closed her eyes and in a puff of smoke, reappeared on the ground, far enough away from the ruins not to cause her to roll her other ankle. The first one already stung with every step.

Gritting her teeth against the pain, Calliope turned to the trees. The sun had set beneath the horizon. In the darkness and through the pain, she set off towards the nearest town. If Alice had gone somewhere, surely someone would've seen her? No one who met Alice could forget her. With a deep breath, Calliope just hoped she'd gotten away from whatever had destroyed the tower. Otherwise, this trip would be for nothing.