Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-4962906-20151007080647/@comment-24674051-20151009193817

Well, I actually think that he was trapped back when Snow and David pulled their cray-cray stunt. the Apprentice was seen talking to the cloud of blue smoke right after that. I may be that the Apprentice had a special way to communicate with Merlin (something that is now missing now that the Apprentice is in Storybrooke, and most likely dead)..

It'll be interesting to see how the writers spin this story.