Riverton

Levi stared at the clock on the wall wiggling a pencil between his fingers as his leg bounced up and down. One more minute. That was all he had to left. When that minute came, a loud bell rang throughout the room.

He sprung from his seat, grabbed his backpack lying beside him at his desk, and darted toward the door. Anything his teacher had said in the last ten minutes had gone through one ear and out the other. He couldn't wait to get away from here. Maybe this was why he was homeless. So he wouldn't have to deal with things like school.

As he pushed open the double glass doors to outside, he saw Daniel leaning against his sheriff's car with his arms crossed. Levi lowered his head as the other students piled outside.

He raised his collar and tugged on it trying to block his face from peering eyes. He slowly stepped up to Daniel, but turned his back to him. "What are you doing here?"

He was particularly angry at Daniel today. Last night when they had arrived home, he blabbered to Raven about the books he had found, and she had decided it was best to keep them for "examination" she had said. To make sure he didn't go getting the wrong ideas since he didn't have a memory.

What was Raven thinking? That he was going to think he was some fairytale character? If anything, he could at least tell reality from fiction.

"What's that supposed to mean? I dropped you off this morning." Daniel's tone sounded aggravated. "I knew you wouldn't catch the bus again."

"You can't be seen here." Levi's tone was raised. "The other kids will think I'm in trouble or something and start asking questions. Before school was fine because there was no one outside."

"Levi, I can't trust you to get on the bus and come home," Daniel argued. "Raven wanted me to specifically see you to school."

"Like she wanted to make sure my mental health was okay?" Levi jabbed back.

Daniel huffed. "You know that wasn't the reason she took your books from you. She's just trying to keep you safe, and that vision you had in Dr. Bones' office isn't helping settle her mind."

Levi grunted, and flung himself around. "And I didn't ask her to look out for me!" He swirled around, fists clenched as he began to march off.

A hand quickly grabbed his wrist. "Where are you going?"

Levi stomped his foot no longer caring about what scene he'd make. He wasn't planning on making any friends here anyway. "Five minutes! Can I not get some alone time for five minutes?" He yanked his hand away before hustling down the sidewalk.

He stopped about a mile away from the school. He just wanted to be left alone for a while. Left alone to think. He pulled out his phone, swiped to the left to bring up his camera, and aimed it behind him pretending to take a selfie. No sheriff's car, which meant, no Daniel.

He continued a little further until he reached the edge of the forest that surrounded the town. He walked a short distance, and looked up into the sky through the trees. He couldn't place his finger on it, but there was something about the forest that brought him joy. Almost like it was a little reminder of home. Maybe from all those nights sleeping under the stars at the troll bridge.

He sighed before sitting down in front of a boulder, leaning again it. He took one last quick glance over the top of the rock just to be sure no one was following him.

He unzipped his backpack beside him, and very carefully pulled out one of his white, hardcover books. He sighed as a smile spread across his face. Luckily for him, Daniel didn't know how many books were in his backpack. Surely they wouldn't notice one missing.

He rubbed a hand over the cover of "Beauty and the Beast". He flipped it open until he reached a few chapters passed the middle. He read a few paragraphs about how Prince Levi escaped Belle's clutches only to be welcomed by an arrow moments later.

Levi raised his head, his brow furrowed in puzzlement. The arrow had struck the characters left arm. Strange. Getting dressed this morning, he had realized an odd scar on his left shoulder on the front and back. He had no idea what it could be from. He figured it was just from beatings he use to get at home.

He closed his book and set it inside his backpack, his heart racing. Something was going on. Something really strange. Why had he never noticed before? That he had a scar in the same spot that the character did.

"Hey stranger!"

Levi jumped as he flung his head to the right. Imani plopped down into the leaves beside him. He sighed in relief as his heart calmed. He smiled brightly. "Don't do that! I thought you were someone else."

Imani playfully bumped his shoulder with hers. "Who? Like Deputy Noble? Or that girl from the hospital?"

His smile dropped to a frown as he lowered his head.

"Is something wrong?" He felt a hand on his back.

He fiddled with a leave in his head. "It's Elyssa." He crushed the dried leaf in his fist. "She's gone. She's been moved to a hospital in Chicago that can better see to her wound."

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Levi. I didn't know."

He looked up at her, and gave her a grin. "It's no big deal. I didn't even know her anyway. How'd you find me here anyway?"

She shrugged. "I just watched you run away from that deputy, and followed. Figured you were in some kind of trouble or something." He watched as her eyes ventured to his backpack. "What's that?" She gestured with her head.

Levi swallowed a lump in his throat as he slowly placed a hand on his backpack, his heart quickening once more. "What's what?"

Imani snickered. "Oh, don't be like that." She reached over his lap, and gripped the strap of his backpack. She hoisted it over his legs, and sat it down in front of her. She then reached inside and grabbed his books.

She giggled as she read the cover out loud, "Beauty and the Beast. Huh. No wonder you were out here all alone." She eyed him with one raised brow. "Never took you for the fairytale type."

With one, swift motion, he thrust his hand forward, and grabbed the book. "Will you leave my things alone? Seriously, who goes through other peoples belongings?" He grabbed his backpack, and yanked it back to his left side where it sat minutes ago.

Imani's head drooped. "Sorry. Me and the girls do it all the time. I wasn't thinking."

His shoulders sagged. He felt terrible for talking to her that way. She had proved herself to be a good friend. He didn't want to mess that up now. He sighed as he slowly extended the book back to her.

She smiled as she took it back in her hands, and flipped through the pages. "Whoa! There's a character in here with the same name!" Her eyes lit up with astonishment.

He laughed. "Yeah, I know. That's one of the reasons why I bought this series. It's about a prince who's name is Levi. The first book is Snow White. He's her step-brother."

"Wow! That's so cool!" She flipped a few more pages. "But I've never seen a fairytale like this before."

He slowly placed a hand on the pages. "That's because these are the true fairytales. Not Disney's. Not the Brother's Grim, but these books right here."

She cocked her head. "How do you know? These books would have to be pretty old, and they look brand new."

He stuck his chest out pridefully. "That's because I take excellent care of them! But, I don't know, I kind of just have this gut feeling."

She finally turned her full attention towards him. "You do realize they're just fairytales, right? Nothing about them is real."

He rolled his eyes as he sank back against the boulder. "Not you too. I know they're fiction, but with a million copies out there of Snow White, The Little Mermaid, Rapunzel, all of them, there has to be a start. And I'm just fascinated believing that these are the first."

She gave him a weird glance before looking back down. "Alright. So, there's more of these books then?"

Levi huffed. "Yeah, several more. Mayor Raven has them hidden somewhere. She thinks I'm going to start believing they're reality or something because of my amnesia."

Imani shrugged. "Well, you can't be too careful I suppose." Her jaw suddenly dropped open as she pulled the book closer to her face. "Whoa! These books are so much more violent then Disney."

"What is it?" He tried looking over her shoulder to see what she was reading.

"Levi got hit with an arrow by Cinderella." Imani laughed. "That's so crazy! It doesn't look like he's going to make it though."

He chuckled. "Well, he's the main character in the series, and this is only book three. I think he'll be just fine." He sat up straight, and moved to where his back faced Imani. "The weird thing." He pulled down his shirts sleeve to reveal his scar. "I have a scar in the same place. Both on the front and back."

"Huh," was all she said. "You sure this stuff isn't going too much to your head?" He turned around to face her as she pointed toward his shoulder. "Like, that's not self inflicted to make you like the character?"

He was shocked. Did she actually think he would do something to hurt himself? He lowered his head, and furrowed his brow. But would he? Would he hurt himself? He didn't know anything about himself. That was definitely a possibility, but he prayed it wasn't true.

Imani stood to her feet, and offered the book back to him.

Levi climbed to his own feet. "You hold on to it for now. You can read it."

She smiled. "Wouldn't do me any good reading book three from a series, now would it?"

He sheepishly accepted the book back. "No, I guess I wouldn't." He stuck it back in his backpack, and hoisted it onto his shoulders.

Imani placed a hand on his back, and gently pushed him along. "Come on. I know a great place we can go to hang out. A lot of kids go there after school. It'll be great! Maybe we'll even find Stella."

He nodded his head, but didn't reply. His mind was focused on other things. The more he talked about his books, the more he wanted them back. He had to find a way.