Dark One's Daughter *Book Four*

Poor Unfortunate Souls {2}

I hate my life.

I had spent the last hour listening to the incessant whining from Cruella as she complained about me, my father, Regina, the cabin, me, August, oh, and did I mention me? Turns out, she was not my biggest fan. No love lost there.

"There's just no resemblance there. Maybe that's lucky but you're just so ... bland. At least Rumple has character," Cruella commented.

"Do you ever shut up?" I groaned, leaning back against the wall. "It's no wonder they left you here. They might've had to silence you themselves."

"I think you're age is catching up to you, darling. You're getting grouchy," Cruella said.

"Well, hopefully my age finishes me off in the imminent future then," I countered quietly.

Cruella wandered off into the adjacent room, again, to look through some of the stuff in there and silence finally settled over the cabin, apart from the occasional crackle from the fireplace.

"Do you mind getting rid of the fire? The flames are making me slightly nervous," August requested.

Despite Cruella's earlier protests, I'd removed August's gag so that he could actually breathe properly. Doubt it would blow my cover but I had to be careful what I said now since Cruella was hardly very far away.

I didn't respond aloud but I did distinguish the fire with a swish of my hand, an instant chill entering the cabin.

"Thanks," August muttered. "So ... you've joined the villains, I see."

I narrowed my eyes at him slightly, but the amusement on his face told me that he was playing. He must also know that Cruella would be listening.

"I wasn't going to get my daughter back at the gnat's pace the others were moving at," I retorted. "We'd both be dead at the rate they were going."

"What does Baelfire think of this?" August asked, the amusement still present on his face.

"Why do you care? Gonna impersonate him again?" I remarked. "That was sick, you know."

"I was desperate," August shrugged.

"You know, if you didn't know more than you're letting on, puppet, I'd throw you right onto that fire so that you were finally doing some useful for once," I snapped back, a grin on my face, knowing that Cruella would be lapping this up.

"You've already gotten rid of that fire," August pointed out. "Plus, I'm not made of wood anymore. Or are you too blind to see?"

"I'm willing to still give it a go," I said. "All it takes is one small flick of my wrist and then—"

My threat was cut off when I saw an odd cloud building up in the sky outside of the window. It appeared to be coming from the docks and it looked scarily like a transportation one. Knowing I needed to keep my cover, I called Cruella through, much to my dismay.

"I'm not a dog, you know," Cruella said, as she entered the room.

"Could've fooled me," I muttered. "Are you seeing this or am I hallucinating?" I stared at the cloud as Cruella stood by my side with only a string of insults muttered under her breath.

"What is that?" Cruella said, confirming that I wasn't losing my mind.

"I'm gonna go check it out," I decided.

"You really think that I'm letting you go alone," Cruella said, standing in front of the door. "You could be going straight to the heroes."

"I don't give a shit about them right now," I argued, thinking quick on my feet. "My father said that he was going to try and find Rosie. That cloud looks like a transportation portal. What if it's her? What if they found something in that door?"