I was concerned. When you’re a Queen who uses magic – especially when you’re trying to make an impression—you have to act like you know exactly what will happen. I knew this curse was ideal and that it would transport all of us to the land with no magic. Transporting this many people isn’t as simple as passing through a hat.
Still, I wasn’t completely sure how the curse would affect everybody. Along with transporting everyone I wanted, the curse was also supposed to make everyone I wanted miserable. And let’s be honest: while I had no issue with making some people comfortable, everyone here (except me) deserves to be miserable.
I woke up this morning in a quiet, white room. It was almost as though watching Charming die in Snow White’s arms before the curse took us all had been a pleasant and triumphant dream. It’s a pity that since I’m the one who cast the curse, I’m the only one who will remember that moment. At least for twenty-eight years; the child did escape. I emerged from my covers in a simple white nightgown. To add further insult, looking out my window revealed my house was only two stories tall! I thought I was supposed to be rich!
It is no matter; the curse allowed for me to bring Charming to this land and it’ll be fun to watch him and Snow be tortured here. I’m the only one who will remember everything from our own world, while everyone I’ve brought along had the memories of their past selves replaced by identities and memories suited for this land. All I knew coming into this land was that it had no magic. Apart from Wonderland, I have little knowledge of and haven’t traveled to any other realms. Still, I wasn’t worried.
But I was about to be. I found a robe in my closet and explored my new home. The kitchen’s impressive, but it appears I have no servants. The curse is supposed to provide for much, but it is such a complex curse that I couldn’t have known every specific detail. I was able to transport some things along from our land to help me feel more at home, and through an impressive window looking out to the back yard stood my tree. The bright red apples hanging from it was a welcome sight.
Then a bell rang. I had no idea what it was or where it was coming from. I wandered all over the place as the bell continued to ring, until finally the ringing stopped and was replaced by knocking on the front door. I grabbed the nearest weapon—a wooden bowl off the dining table—and opened the door.
“Regina!” The Genie from my mirror was standing before me in a coat and hat. Was my name Regina here, too?
“What can I do for you?” I hid the bowl behind my back.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you, Madam Mayor.” He held out a rolled paper. “Fresh off the press. I thought I’d deliver it myself. I know you’ll want to read the front page story!”
“You wrote it?” I took it from him.
“Of course! Who else to write about your victory than Sidney Glass?”
It worked.
“Thank you, Sidney.” Relief. When he left, I found the button outside my door Sidney had pushed to activate the bell. I pushed it myself a few times and it’s really clever. So far, this is one of the things I like.
Back inside, I opened the dirty paper to read the front page story. My name in this land is Regina Mills and I won the impromptu election for mayor after the previous mayor died in the summer. There was no mention of who that was.
I was hungry before I'd finished the story. The kitchen had food, but it did me little good with no one to prepare any of it. I dressed myself and went outside to look for the stable, but there was none. I found the carriage house, but in it was the weirdest carriage I’d ever seen. There was no place to harness a horse to it. It seemed odd that the curse wouldn’t provide me with a horse, so I decided to walk into town and buy one after I’d eaten.
The town itself was easy to find and I quickly learned why I had no horse. Other people had carriages like mine and they were travelling inside them. But there were no horses pulling them! This is one of the things I don’t like. That doorbell thing made sense to me but this made none.
Across the street from me loomed Granny’s Diner. I guess some people didn’t get new names. Crossing the street was a challenge. I waited as carriages zipped by so I could cross, but they were always moving. They would stop and go as a lantern hanging above the street changed color. It took a good while before I figured out the pattern and made my way into the diner without getting killed. I sat at a table while the maids ignored me and others sneered at me. Finally Granny herself came over.
“I’m surprised to see you in here.” She was as delightful in this land as she was in the old one.
“I don’t know why.”
“Most people around here think you bought the election, just like you buy everything and everyone else around here.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Which was true. “I just want something to eat. I’ll take some venison.”
“We don’t have venison.”
“Duck, then.”
“We don’t have duck.”
“Shepherd’s pie?”
Her narrowed eyes made me wonder if this land had crossbows.
“Well, what do you have?” I asked.
“Read the menu.” She practically threw it at me. “Or do you have someone do that for you too?”
I ordered the first thing I saw. To go.
“Excellent choice, Madam Mayor.” Her back was already to me.
Before going home, I stopped at a bookshop and got a cookbook. I learned some very important things today. First, the people here are miserable and they don’t know who they are. Second, they don’t like me, so I need to learn to cook until I can hire someone. Finally, if I can buy everything and everyone, I must be rich!
It worked!
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