Disclaimer: I still don't own Once Upon a Time or any of its characters. Sadly.

A/N: A giant thank you to Sky for letting me know that the code weaseled its way in here.

They called Divina's grandma (Sheila) right after leaving Kyle's place and set up a time to meet the next day. As soon as they got back to the apartment (well, after eating lunch) Henry jumped on the computer to do his very age-appropriate research on homemade explosive devices and Killian sat down to continue reading the conveniently self-translating book. After telling them both to let her know if they found something good, Emma settled herself on the bed for more practice.

By the time either of them had something to tell her, she could keep her hold on her magic for almost ten minutes at a time, but she was still distracted by every little thing. Which was why she was pulled out of her meditation rather easily when Killian stood in front of the bed flipping through his book.

"It's mentioned the flmbrbogn a few times, but it-" He looked up at her and stopped short. She gave him a questioning look at his silence. He swallowed and then told her, "Love, you're floating."

"What?" Emma looked down and realized that, while she was still sitting cross-legged, she was a least a foot above the bed. Her shock translated into immediately dropping and rolling off the bed. At least it was a soft landing, mostly. She pointed out the obvious while she righted herself. "That was new… What did the book say?"

Killian shook his head, presumably to clear it. "It mentions it a few times, but doesn't actually say what it is. Mostly just comments of 'this plant or animal is less potent than flmbrbogn, but can act as a substitute in most spells.' It seems to be known in a few lands, though."

"Have you gotten through all of them already?"

He shook his head again, this time obviously to indicate a 'no'. "I've read through half. I should be able to get through the rest tonight after dinner."

"Has Henry found anything?"

"Yes, though he's been looking at the door every five minutes expecting the police to kick it in. It's disturbing how much information he can find on making explosives with just a few clicks of a mouse."

"I don't disagree, but right now it's convenient, so I'm not going to complain." Emma took Killian's offered hand to help her off the bed. He took the opportunity to pull her close to him, giving her a playful grin. He looped an arm around her waist and brushed her hair back.

"You know, I never thought I'd be nostalgic for the days of dodging a giant's security system, but I find myself constantly on the watch for trip wires to pull you back from."

Emma couldn't help but let a small smile slip out. "Since when do you stand on ceremony?"

Killian's playful expression faded, giving way to one that made Emma's heart skip a beat. He leaned in to speak quietly in her ear. "Since we don't have the luxury of time for anything else." And there's that shiver again.

He pulled away from her and walked into the main room, mentioning casually over his shoulder that he and Henry had made pasta for dinner, if she was interested. He does these things just to torture me, doesn't he?

-.*.-.*.-.*.-

Emma would have been all for Henry giving her a rundown on any ideas he might have come up with over dinner, but Killian insisted that they spend at least one meal without their noses to the grindstone. Unfortunately, this also meant that Emma couldn't ask Killian about the realms detailed in the book. Flmbrbogn and useful information aside, how could she not be curious about other worlds? She did have to admit that it was nice to focus on nothing more difficult that eating a delicious penne alfredo for half an hour.

This lack of distractions meant that when the book, which Killian had set on the coffee table, glowed (not blue), Emma noticed right away.

"The book-" Killian cut her off with a reminder of her promise of no shoptalk at the table.

"Yeah, I know, but… the book." She pointed to, well, point out, that there was a very good reason for breaking that promise. Both Killian and Henry, who'd had their backs to it, turned to look at the still-glowing book. The glow was a different color now, though, Emma realized. It had started out bright orange, so very neon that she probably wouldn't have been able to miss it even if she'd been in engrossed in a serious conversation. Now, it was kind of going through the rainbow.

Once it finally stopped, Killian approached it apprehensively. Henry looked over his shoulder as he opened it. Emma sent off a quick text to Kyle to let him know that the book had, in fact, done something weird. She joined her guys at the coffee table just as Killian was finishing his inspection. He left it open a couple dozen pages from the end.

Henry came out from behind Killian and peered more closely at the page title. "Is that… a new chapter?"

It was. That, or it had been written on invisible ink on invisible and incorporeal paper until now, because the first time they'd flipped through it, there certainly hadn't been a section titled "Defensive Magic: Grenades & Gadgets Galore."

When Henry moved to turn the page, the entire section separated from the rest of the book and bound itself into a mockery of a school workbook. The main book gently shut itself and the workbook settled just by it, positioned perfectly for Henry to read.

"Don't touch that just yet," Killian said as he barred Henry from picking up his mini-book. Killian picked up the larger book and read the spine again before studying what would have been the copyright page if, you know, it wasn't a freaky magic book made before © was a thing. "We should look into this author," Killian said, handing the book to Emma so she could inspect it herself.

Common Items from Uncommon Lands, V.K. Nachalo. 1423

I wonder if that's A.D. or B.C.

A/N: I'm going to try to pick this up again, despite have lost all of my notes for this story. Again. I'm not even gonna pretend like I expect to be posting weekly, but hopefully it'll be a couple times a month and I'll finish up soon.

Reviews are fine cheese and constructive criticism is gouda!... Pun not initially intended, but welcome.