Rewrite the Stars ★ Henry Mills

Chapter Six

Henry and Alexa were at the station, searching for a job for Ruby. The phone on the desk was continuously ringing. Henry pointed to the screen. "Want to be a bike messenger?" He asked.

"Bike messenger?" Ruby asked in confusion.

"That's about taking things to people in a little basket." Henry explained as Alex simply groaned.

"Too obvious." She muttered to him, referring to the Red Riding Hood thing.

Ruby shook her head. "Nope. Yeah, see, I'm not so great at bike riding."

Henry thought for a moment. "How about taking things on foot, to people, in a little basket?"

"Even more obvious." Alex muttered again, rolling her eyes.

"I'm not so sure that's a real job." Ruby said. The phone rang again. "Why do the phones keep doing that?" She asked.

"Oh, the non-emergency calls go to a machine when Emma's busy." Henry said, shrugging. The phone rang again, but Ruby answered it.

"Sheriff's station. How can I help you? Mmhmm. I'll get her to return. Thank you, too." She answered the next call. "Sheriff's station. Hey, Miss Ginger. Uh, no, that's not a prowler. That's Archie's dog – Pongo. Throw him a vanilla wafer. He'll quiet down. Did you still want to talk to Emma? Great. Glad I could help."

Emma walked in. "How's it going, you two?"

Ruby sighed. "Great. Except I can't do anything."

"I'm sure that's not true. I just saw you on the phone. That was good."

"That? That's nothing." She said, shaking her head.

"No. No, it isn't. I actually have some money in the budget if you want to help out around here."

Ruby nodded enthusiastically. "Yes! Thank you! Yes. Um, I could answer phones and help out. Um, is there anything else that you need done? Organize files, cleaning up? Please – I want to be useful."

Emma shrugged. "I'm swamped with the Kathryn Nolan thing. If you maybe want to grab us lunch, I would never say no to a grilled cheese."

"Done." Ruby said, turning to Alex and Henry. "You want anything?" She asked them.

"We ate at-" Henry started, but Alex cut him off.

"Two chocolate chip cookies, an apple pie, and a hot dog."

Emma Shook her head. "They ate at school." As Ruby went to leave, Mary Margaret walked in.

"Hey! Lunch, Mary Margaret? I'm getting for everyone."

She shook her head. "Uh, no. I'm not hungry." After Ruby left, Mary Margaret sighed. "David's in the woods. There's something wrong with him. He looked right through me. It's like... It's like he was a different person."

★★★

"Okay, kids. Don't mean to kick you out, but I got to go see if David's in some kind of trouble out there."

Henry shrugged. "It's okay. I'm supposed to meet my mom." He locked his book in one of the desk drawers. "There."

"Nice." Emma said, raising an eyebrow.

"You know, you can let Ruby do more. She's Little Red Riding Hood."

"With the little basket? Yeah, she seems like a badass."

"She is. She just doesn't remember how cool she is or what she's capable of. But it's true." Henry started to walk out, as Ruby walked in.

"Hey, Ruby." He said, leaving.