The Dragon King

Chapter Fourteen

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.