Hook didn't actually even do anything, just sat there quietly eating and drinking. And he left a decent tip, too. He was a decent person, really.

When he put his mind to it.

Lydia gave another little wave when he got up to leave. He actually seemed like a nice person, when he wasn't putting effort into being a pirate.

Hook gave her a jaunty little salute before he left, because he liked to be memorable.

Lydia couldn't help but grin at that and watched him go.

Two days later, Mai was waiting for Jefferson, since he'd decided to let her in on his plans. She just had to wait for him to get back from dropping off Grace with the other family for a few days.

Jefferson dropped Grace off with the assurance that he would come back and get her once he was done with his work. It felt uncomfortably like when he had to leave her with someone when he would work, back in the other world, and he mentally resolved to finish as soon as possible.

"Alright," he said to Mai when he got back to the house. "Pick a hat. It's time to see if this will work."

Mai blinked. "Does it matter which hat?" she asked, walking with him up to the hat room.

"Not really," Jefferson replied. "It takes the same amount of magic to start a portal, no matter where the destination is."

"And we don't know which land is most likely to have the missing people." Mai considered the hats for a minute before she nodded to the Wonderland hat. "Start there and work our way through the others?"

Jefferson nodded.

"Wonderland is as good a place as any to start with," he said. He went over to his work table and picked up the gem Gold had given him. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be," Mai quipped, watching the hat. "Just try not to let anything eat me, I won't be happy if you do."

"Don't worry," Jefferson assured her, "I know everything we need to avoid in Wonderland." Setting the hat down on the floor, open side up, he took a step back and dropped the gem into it. At first, nothing happened. Then, the hat seemed to vibrate, and Jefferson blinked. "It worked."

"It worked?" Mai's eyes widened as the hat started to swirl, and then the portal formed. "Okay, holy shit, it worked."

"Yes it did," Jefferson confirmed, working to contain his delight. Oh, it felt good to do his kind of work again. It had been too long. "Come on, it won't stay open long, not here."

Mai swallowed and looked at him but jumped anyway, because she knew that's what she had to do. She landed in grass, blinking and looking around at the completely new landscape with awe.

As soon as they were both through the portal, it closed and the hat sat on the ground docilely. Jefferson got up, dusted himself off, and then helped Mai to her feet.

"Alright there?" he asked.

"That was a hell of a trip," Mai said, blinking again and looking around. "But yeah, I'm fine. Thanks."

"Good," Jefferson said. He grinned. "Portal jumping is something that takes a bit of getting used-to." Bending down, he picked up the hat from the ground and dusted it off. "But now we know it works, so we should head back."

"That's it? No exploring first?" Mai couldn't help but grin at that, though she motioned for him to proceed.

Jefferson grinned a bit.

"This was just to make sure the magic still works the way it should," he said. "We should go back and see if we can't trace the portals that took the missing people from town."

"Alright, sounds fair to me," Mai agreed with a shrug. Even if she wasn't really looking forward to going through the portal again.

"We'll come back," Jefferson assured her, grinning a bit. "I promise, once things calm down again, I'll bring you back to explore here."

Mai grinned. "Sounds fair to me," she said. "I do like exploring. Although it's equal parts more fun and less exciting when you aren't being chased by something."

Jefferson couldn't help but laugh a bit.

"Grace would agree with you," he said. "She has a bit of an adventurer's heart, I think."

"Well, she is yours," Mai pointed out reasonably with a shrug. "How could she not at this point?"