New Romantics: Once upon a time fanfic

Twenty four

"Henry!" I shout to him as he runs right past me. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to check on my book," He shouts back to me, not even stopping to look back.

The storm destroyed quite a bit of the town, Henry's castle being one of the things that got ruined.

He's been upset about it all day and he has been trying to avoid our mom.

Henry begins digging up the ground around the base of his castle.

"What are you looking for?" Emma asks him.

"My book!" Henry shouts back to her. "I keep it buried here."

"Why did he bury the book here?" Emma asks as she turns to look at me.

"So my mom doesn't find it," I tell her as I look at my phone.

I have five missed calls from my mom.

I put my phone back in my pocket as I look over at Henry who pulls out a box from the ground.

"Was there nowhere else he could have hid it?" Emma asks as she crosses her arms. "When I was younger people used to hide stuff underneath their mattress, is that not good enough anymore?"

"That would be the first place she would look," Henry points out to her as he opens the box to show that the storybook is still in it."

"You know that you could have just left it with me," She says as she looks over at Henry who is rehiding the box.

"And that would be the second place she'd look." Henry says as he walks up to us.

"Does she not know about the castle," Emma asks him.

"No this is our place," Henry tells her.

"Well technically I found it first when I was a kid," I point out. "I showed it to Henry."

I turn around when I hear a car pull up. My mom gets out of the car and storms over to her.

"Henry!" She shouts over to him. "I've looked everywhere for you."

"You could have just texted me," I tell her. "I would have told you he was with me."

"I did and you didn't answer me," She tells me, crossing her arms as she glares over at me before turning to look at Henry. "You have a session with Archie, get in the car now."

"Let him be a kid for once," I tell her. "He wouldn't need to see Archie if you did."

"You're seventeen, Arabella," She scoffs at me. "I don't need to take parenting advice from you."

"I'm just saying," I say, she shoots me a look and I throw my hands up. "I'm going to meet my friends."

I hear my mom say something to Emma about how irresponsible it was to let Henry anywhere near his castle before I walk off to try and find my friends.

***

"It's so unfair," I say, turning to look at Nora. "She doesn't even care that he's upset."

"It was a safety risk, Bella," Nolan replies instead. "Kids could get hurt."

"Still," I say as I pick up my coffee cup. "Now Henry can't even find his book."

"It's probably still there," Nora says as she looks up from her phone. "He can go back when they're done tearing the place down."

"Or your mom could have taken it," Elijah adds in as he sits down next to Nora. "Isn't she obsessed with it?"

"There's no point in her taking it," Nolan points out.

"Well something happened to it," I say before taking a sip of my coffee. "Henry's really upset about it."

"He really loved that book didn't he," Nora says as she takes a plate off the waiter. "We can help him look for it."

"I meant to tell you this earlier," Elijah says as he turns to look at me. "I overheard Emma talking to Sydney the other day when I was walking home."

"What were they saying?" I ask.

"Something about your mom," He answers. "He wants to expose her."

"People really hate her." Nora says.

"Her daughter included," I say. "What else did you hear?"

"Emma just told him to go home, he was a bit drunk," Elijah says. "He did give her his business card though."

"Do you think she phoned him?" I ask.

"She's the sheriff," Nolan says. "I think she would lose her job if she was conspiring against the mayor."

"I think she will," Nora says. "Emma hates your mom, she'll take the opportunity."

"She probably already has," Elijah says. "You'll need to ask next time you see her."

***

I walk into Granny's diner and spot Henry, he's sitting by himself as he writes down something on a piece of paper.

"Bella!" Henry says when he spots me, he waves me over to where he sits.

"What are you doing?" I ask as I sit down across from him.

He points down to his paper, I look over at it to see something about the evil queen and Snow White scripled onto it.

"I need to write everything I can remember down," He says, not looking up from his paper. "I don't know if I'll get my book back."

"You will, don't worry," I tell him.

I'm not sure if we will actually find his book but I want him to still have hope.

"What are you working on?" The stranger that just came into town says.

"I need to write this all before I forget it," Henry tells him, not looking up from his piece of paper.

"He's writing down the story's from his book," I tell him, moving over to let him sit down.

"It must be really interesting to have to rewrite it," He says, trying to get a look at the paper. "What's it about?"

"You seem really intrigued," I say, turning to look at him. "It's just some kids' book."

"I'm just trying to be neighborly," He says, still eying Henry's paper.

"What are you doing in storybrooke?" Henry questions.

"I'm a writer." He tells us.

"You can write anywhere," Henry says. "What are you really doing here?"

"Stuff," He says before standing up. "Good luck with your story's."

I wait until I hear the bell on the door of the diner ring before I speak again.

"There's something off with him." I tell Henry.

"We need to figure out why he's here."