Once Upon A Rose: The Guardian Of The Savior

✨Chapter 06: A Deal With Gold✨

I jogged over to Emma and Henry with a bag of food as I spotted them walking to Henry's school. "Emma! Henry!" They smiled at me when I caught up to them.

"Here's some breakfast for you Emma. I have a feeling you skipped it, and it's on the house, so I refuse any payment. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day in order for you to be able to function properly, after all." I offered a takeaway bag to Emma and winked at Henry. "There's a chocolate chip muffin in there for you too, Henry."

Emma accepted the bag gratefully. "Thanks, Penny. That's very thoughtful of you."

Henry gave me a quick hug. "Thank you, aunt Gerda."

I ruffled his hair and smiled at the both of them as I walked beside them. "You're both welcome."

"Do you think we need code names?" Henry asked.

Emma raised a brow. "Isn't 'Cobra' a code name?"

Henry shook his head. "That's the mission. I mean us. I need something to call you both."

I nodded. "I go by many names, but 'Gerda' has always been the one that's stuck to me like superglue, not that I have anything against the name that was given to me at birth, of course."

Emma blinked in surprise. "Oh, um...well, in that case, you could just call me Emma for now."

"Okay." We stopped beside the school bus, and Henry turned around and faced us. "Well, then, I'll see you later, Emma. Bye, aunt Gerda."

"Have a great day at school, kiddo." I waved at him before he got on the bus. He waved at us through the window when the bus drove away.

"You said you go by many names." Emma started a conversation with me. "What other names do you go by exactly? Other than the three that I already know of."

I chuckled. "Well, before the curse was placed, your mother used to call me 'Rosebud', and I would call her 'Snowflake'. I've also been called 'Hummingbird', 'Nightingale', 'The Guardian Of-'" I was interrupted by police sirens blaring off from Sheriff Graham's vehicle and watched it pull up in front of us.

Emma nodded to his car when he opened the door and walked over to us. "What's with the siren?"

"It's so hard to get your attention." Sheriff Graham admitted.

"Well, you've got it." Emma said.

I raised a brow at him. "Not like there's an actual crime that's been committed, is there, Sheriff?"

He shook his head. "Of course not, Penny." He made his way over to us after he got out of the vehicle.

"You going to arrest me again?" Emma casually asked.

He stopped in front of Emma. "And I'm thanking you both for your help in finding that coma patient. We all owe you both a debt of gratitude."

"Well, what do we get? A commendation? A key to the city?" Emma asked sarcastically.

I shook my head. "I don't need anything, though a key to the city wouldn't be so bad. Imagine all the adventures you'd have with the power of one key. Wouldn't be a lot of fun exploring with it?"

"How about a job?" Sheriff Graham asked her, ignoring me. "I could use a deputy."

"Thank you, but I have a job." Emma politely turned him down.

"As a bail bonds person?" Sheriff Graham questioned. "There's not much of that going on here."

Emma shoved her hands in her pockets and looked him in the eyes. "I don't see a lot of sheriffing around here, either."