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The game had been going great for almost two weeks. Henry knew they were in trouble when he found himself inside a locked cell in the Sheriff’s Station. He was wondering if he’d been able to pick the lock when Gretel appeared next to him.
“I think we’re busted.”
“Yeah, the cell is a giveaway.”
Hansel, Violet and Grace arrived over the next fifteen minutes. Their discussion about who had ratted was interrupted by the arrival of Emma, Charming and Gold. Henry grimaced at the frown on his Mom’s face, she looked pissed.
“Care to explain what you think you were playing at?”
“Ding-Dong-Ditch.”
Gretel elbowed Hansel in the ribs and rolled her eyes. Her brother was such an idiot sometimes. His Mom was glaring at them, waiting for further details, so with a sigh Henry began to explain.
“We found out about the enchantment Grandfather put on the closed sign and sort of turned it into a game.”
Henry caught the amused look on his Grandfather’s face; it was a shame that sentiment wasn’t shared by Grandpa or his Mom.
“Why would any of you think that playing around with magic was a good idea?”
“Especially magic cast by the Dark One! No offence.”
Rumple shrugged at Charming’s comment; “The magic is perfectly safe. A simple relocation spell, as you know, you were the first to trigger it after all,” He grinned as Charming frowned at him, the prince had not been happy to be find himself on the Troll Bridge instead of inside the pawn shop.
Emma rolled her eyes and focused on the kids again, “You’ve been spotted popping up all over town. What if you’d ended up in the mines? Or in the middle of the road?”
Violet smiled; “The crow’s nest of the Jolly has been the only scary place, but that’s just because it’s so high.”
Grace grinned at her; “And it got you fifty points.”
Emma’s jaw dropped; “You’ve been scoring this insanity?”
The five kids shuffled their feet and answered with a mumbled chorus along the lines of yes. Charming tilted his head to one side and asked; “How many points for Doc’s car?”
That had been one of the places he’d ended up; thankfully it had been parked and unlocked at the time. The kids didn’t answer, it was more fun to watch Emma turn on her heel and fix her father with a disbelieving look. Charming shrugged at his daughter; “Just wondered.”
Emma took a deep breath; “This ends now. You all got that?”
There was a repeat performance of the yes chorus. Satisfied Emma unlocked the cell and waved the kids out.
“Play video games, or sports like normal kids.”
She did realise that ‘normal’ probably didn’t apply to a girl from Camelot, the Mad Hatter’s daughter and two kids who stole from a witch’s candy house, but the adults in this town caused enough magical problems; she didn’t need the next generation adding to her worries just yet. Once the kids had left Emma turned her attention to Gold.
“You’re going to remove that enchantment.”
Gold shifted his grip on the handle of his cane and slowly shook his head.
“No I’m not. It stays until people learn what ‘Closed’ means,” He held up his hand to forestall Charming’s interruption, “I do have a cell phone. If it’s an emergency call me.”
With that Gold turned and strolled out of the Station. Really they should be grateful that Belle said no to his first idea for hexing to door. Turning people into snails was more in keeping with his reputation, but his wife had pointed out that they would wreck the floor.
Outside he caught up with his grandson, who wasn’t looking at all ashamed by his telling off, or brief incarceration.
“So, Henry, who got the most points in you game?”
Henry fell into step with his Grandfather and gave him a grin; “Violet. She ended up in the crow’s nest twice and got down without being caught. How did we get caught?”
Gold chuckled; “Jefferson saw Grace appear on the library roof.”
Henry nodded; the Hatter still had the habit of watching the town through his telescope and was a touch paranoid about keeping tabs on Grace.
“It’s a shame; I was only twenty points behind her.”
Gold gave him an impish grin; “Your mother only insisted that I change the enchantment to bring you all to one place on this particular occasion. It will be back as it was from now on.”
Henry raised his eyebrows at his Grandfather, who was now giving him a blank look that might be described as perfectly innocent by anyone who didn’t know the face that was wearing it. Grandfather made a point of checking his watch.
“This has been lovely, Henry, but I have to stop by Granny’s to get lunch for Belle. The shop will be open again at two, if you want to drop by and say hello.”
A knowing grin spread across Henry’s face.
“Yeah, I’ll do that. See you later Grandfather.”
Gold watched his grandson hurry away, rapidly texting. He probably shouldn’t have encouraged their game of, what had they called it, ah yes, Ding-Dong-Ditch, but his own competitive streak wanted to see Henry win, and he’d like to see the scoring system the kids had come up with, just for curiosity’s sake.