"I wish I hadn't cried so much!" said Alice, as she swam about, trying to find her way out. "I shall be punished for it now, I suppose, by being drowned in my own tears! That will be a queer thing, to be sure! However, everything is queer to-day."

Dawn closed her eyes hoping for something familiar to appear behind her eyelids. But like every line and paragraph and chapter before nothing happened. She had been more than certain that her past life she had some ties to Wonderland. She expected the words and people to resonate with some memory locked away in her mind but, again, nothing.

She sighed and closed the book, tossing it on the opposite end of the bed. Every chance she got, Dawn drowned herself in the words. Even woke up far too early just to read another few pages.

There were plenty of lines that she was almost certain would trigger something. Odd dialogue and peculiar characters – people. It was possible she'd even met some of those people but not a single thing so far had been strong enough to piece together a memory.

Truthfully, there was no outside pressure to remember anything. Regina hadn't spoken about it except only in concern for how remembering might affect Dawn's sleeping habits. Emma didn't pry for her investigation. Although, that all could be because Dawn hadn't put a lot of urgency in getting back to a life forgotten, so they didn't push.

She walked downstairs into the kitchen. Henry had come dashing down behind her a moment later. He riffled through the cabinets and refrigerator, making himself a messy bowl of cereal. Dawn had only managed to hang her bag on her chair at the counter, putting the dreaded Alice book down, and grab something to drink by the time he was shoveling spoonfuls of Emma's cereal into his mouth.

He paused mid-bite, and picked up the book.

"What?" Dawn questioned when he tightened his lips at the cover.

"Nothing," he mumbled with his mouth full. "Just not my favorite story."

"Not mine either," Dawn muttered.

"The Jabberwocky poem is kind of cool, I guess." He shrugged putting it down and going back to his cereal.

Without him noticing, Dawn startled. Something sharp fired down her back. Her magic tingled at her fingertips so intense they almost felt numb. Then the feeling faded, like a gust of wind as Henry moved on to another topic.

It wasn't until Regina appeared that Dawn zoned back into the room completely. She hadn't gotten a memory or a flash just an overwhelming sensation over her senses. It was alarming but she had a feeling her research into Alice's Adventures was the right place.

"Jabberwocky," Dawn said to herself.

"Aw, come on." Henry sighed. "Mom, I was almost finished."

"That's unfortunate. I should've come back sooner," Regina said, "Do you know how much sugar is in this?"

"You let Ma eat it."

"I don't let her. She keeps finding new hiding spots for the boxes." Regina put a plate in front of him and one in the spot where Dawn usually sat. "And obviously she tells you where she hides them."

Dawn sat down at the counter beside Henry, eyeing the book between them on the counter.

"Are you okay?" Regina asked as she put on her earrings.

"No, she was reading one of the bottom five fairytale stories," Henry said.

"The bottom five?" Regina questioned.

"Alice's Adventures," Dawn said. "I'm fine."

"Not my favorite either."

"It's so not fair sometimes. I have to read about it, but you guys have met them," Henry said.

"I can't say my experiences were very pleasant, my prince," Regina said.

"And I don't remember anything," Dawn said, stabbing into a piece of fruit. Then she paused. "Wait…if Alice's Adventures is in the bottom five, who's in the top five?"

Henry opened his mouth glancing at his mother, who was obviously curious. There wasn't going to be enough time before they had to get to school to explain it all. "You know what, let me get back to you on that one. Hey, I'll even write a whole essay about it," Henry said, scarfing down the last of the breakfast quesadilla. He seemed to rush out of the kitchen with his bag over shoulder yelling about being late.

"We still have twenty minutes…" Dawn said.

Regina shook her head as she sipped her coffee. "That must mean his family fairytales aren't in his top five."

"He can be a little strange sometimes."

"He is his mother's son." Regina chuckled and Dawn could help but at least grin in amusement.

The bell was just about to ring for first period. And for the second time that day, Dawn had Henry making a mad dash passed her to get somewhere. She closed her locker and turned in the direction of her Pre-Cal class.

Typically, the class was completely dead. No one had the energy to do any of that first thing in the morning.

The only thing that made it a bit bearable was Dawn's new 'friend', who only recently started showing up to class.

"What's up?" Madison greeted just as Dawn took the desk next to hers in the second row from the back. She settled her phone down in her lap.

"Hi," Dawn replied, tucking the library book into her bag.

Madison snorted, shaking her head. "You're so stiff," she said.

"No, I'm not."

"Well, you're stiff with me at least." Madison cut her eyes at someone bumping into her desk on the way in, and he shrunk away from her gaze. She directed her attention back to Dawn and leaned closer to her. "I don't bite…unless you ask me to."

Dawn's eyes widened as she did, admittedly, stiffen.

"See?" Madison laughed. "I'm joking."

"Right." Dawn nodded opening her notebook and pulling out the previous night's homework. "Did you-"

"You know I didn't."

"Are you passing this class?" Dawn frowned.

"I don't think that's really important right now. How's the research going?"

"We're going to skip over-"

"Yep. The book?"

"I haven't read a lot of it. It's a little slow for me but I'll get through for the sake of research."

"Miss Silver, nice of you to join us," Mr. Johan said, blowing into the classroom in a flurry of papers and folders. "Feet off the desk. Thank you."

Madison took her feet down with a begrudging reluctance, rolling her eyes as she moved.

"How about you go over the first problem from the homework?" He stated more than asked. She raised an eyebrow at the request, and he tapped a marker against the board.

"Whatever."

Mr. Johan nodded and went about putting his stuff up around his desk – not very neatly. No one seemed to think it was a bit strange when Madison stood up from her desk and made her way to do the problem on the board. No one - except Dawn. She tilted her head, watching Madison work through it with no hesitation...as if she'd done the homework.

"What the hell..." Dawn squinted in confusion.

Something flew across her desk and landed on the floor but it caught her attention enough for her to turn away. Enzo was sitting in front of the desk on the other side of Dawn's. He waved and glanced back to Madison, shoving his thumb in her direction.

"How did you manage that?" He asked.

"Manage what?" Dawn asked in return.

"She likes you. Which is rare. Most people are on her shit list...or her 'couldn't give a shit' list," Enzo said.

"Uh, I don't really know." Dawn watched her at the front with a furrowed brow. "She just kind of appeared and I guess, I'm not trying to get rid of her. Although, I was not aware she could be my math tutor. She never comes to class."

Enzo snorted and shrugged, "I don't know answer to that one. She's an enigma. No one questions it."

Mr. Johan zoomed through attendance quietly at his desk, periodically checking the board. He submitted the attendance, sure someone was going to be surprised to see he marked Madison present and on time in the same day.

"Dawn?" He called, gesturing her to his desk.

She reluctantly stood up and approached, being handed a slip of paper. "An appointment?" Dawn questioned.

"With the counselor during your advisement."

"Did I do something wrong?"

"Not that I'm aware of. I believe it's to help aid your adjustment or just about your classes…college admissions."

"Technically, I already have a therapist," Dawn said, sounding exasperated. She understood everyone wanted to help her. She'd been through a trauma and all that but no one really addressed the fact that she didn't remember. And maybe she didn't want to talk about it with every adult in town. "Do I really need both?"

Mr. Johan shrugged, slightly cringing. "I'm…I don't know, Dawn. Maybe that's something you can talk to the counselor about when you see him."

"Okay, I guess," Dawn murmured, turning back to her desk. She shoved the note into her back pocket as Madison brushed her shoulder during her own return to her desk. She winked at her and Dawn paused, looking back at the board.

She did all the math problems. Not just the one Mr. Johan asked her to do.

What the hell was this day?

The moment Dawn decided to take a break from digging into her past through a children's book, Henry had something new to show her. And she had to see it, or she was missing out. She hadn't exactly felt like she'd missed out on a lot, even when she hung out with Enzo and Madison and they referenced things she hadn't heard of before. She supposed it was good that everyone offered up explanations without being annoyed.

Henry was useful for a lot of obscure information and comic book knowledge. And a good history book for movies.

Especially, the one he recommended she sit and watch with him instead of him finishing his reading homework.

Dawn sighed. "Being 'The One' is usually not that fun," she said.

He was about to argue when he paused and gave it a thought. Wasn't it, though? Emma didn't have too much fun being the Savior at first – and she still complains sometimes now. "You have a point but it's one of the coolest trilogies of all time."

"I thought you said Lord of the Rings was-"

"It's in the top five, too."

"Dare I ask what those five movies are?"

"Trilogies," Henry corrected. Dawn threw a handful of popcorn at him, ignoring the idea of Regina being mad later. "I'm not giving them an order or else you'll just end up in a war with someone. The Matrix, Lord of the Rings, Blade, Back to the Future, and Mad Max."

"And you're going to make me watch all of those?"

"Duh," Henry said, shoving popcorn into his mouth. "But we have to sneak and watch Mad Max. Mom doesn't like that one."

"There's a lot of sneaking involved with you."

"Yep."

There was a moment of silence as the movie played on, getting more and more complicated as the minutes passed. Henry snorted here and there at references Dawn hadn't yet been acquainted with. Then something occurred to her – maybe she'd missed it or maybe it'd be coming up – and she had to ask.

"How does he even know Neo is 'The One'?" Dawn questioned.

"Technically, that's not explained. But sometimes that part doesn't matter to the story. Its about the experience from Neo's point of view. And he's someone who has a total Emma response to figuring out he's messiah."

"Emma response?"

"My mom freaked when she found out she was the Savior meant to save the town and 'defeat' the Evil Queen." Dawn's eyebrows raised at that, but Henry rushed to clarify. "Well defeat is relative…in the case of my moms they needed to become friends and stop fighting over me."

"That fits surprisingly well. The Emma thing isn't surprising though. She seems out of place with magic sometimes."

"Very true…and while we're on movies. Books and movies, you definitely need to catch up on Harry Potter…"

Henry's voice was suddenly muffled like she'd just been dunked into water. She was overwhelmed by the unpleasant sensation of a memory forcing its way back to her conscious mind.

There were honking cars and lots of chatter while she waded in darkness for several seconds that felt like hours.

"This is going to be epic!"

"Did you read the book?"

"Book or movie?"

"The book is always better than the movie."

"Dawn, what is that? What are they talking about?" A voice questioned. It was so familiar and gave her a warm feeling. This was someone safe. Someone she cared about…but not her father.

Her past self turned, a Harry Potter movie poster displayed outside the theater. But everything else, every face was too blurry to recognize. Including the person – the girl – beside her. However, she could see hazel eyes. They were curious and troubled and held a lot of uncertainty in them. She knew them well. She felt protective of them.

"We're not going to see that one. You'll be confused," Dawn said.

And then it was over.

"Dawn?" Henry gently touched her shoulder, worried for the faded white glow of her eyes. At his touch she seemed to return from the trance she was pulled into with a sharp gasp. He quickly backed away upon realizing her disorientation. The look in her eyes signaled she might have asked where they were but she didn't. "Are you okay? Should I get Mom?"

"No." Dawn shook her head. "I'm fine, I'm fine."

"Did you see something?" Henry asked.

"I, uh, kind of…"

That meant 'yes but she was not telling anyone about it'. His moms maybe noticed and didn't say anything, but he noticed and was a bit offended. She was on a mission to figure out the whole mystery of her life alone.

"You know I don't appreciate not being invited to your covert operation," Henry said, "I could help you find whatever you need. I'm the town's operation guy."

"Operation guy?" Dawn questioned, leaning back into the couch finally having caught her breath.

"Yeah. I'm a professional at coordinating missions. And I'm an expert at picking through the storybook with a fine-tooth comb."

She nodded but still looked confused and a little skeptical. "It wouldn't hurt, I guess."

"You won't regret it. I'm the go-to guy." Henry put the bowl of popcorn on the table and turned to face her. "Okay, so what did you see?"

"I was at the movies with someone…"

"Does it feel a little weird to you?" Henry questioned, taking Dawn's forgotten slice of pizza from her barren tray.

"Does what feel weird?"

"You and me hanging out at school," he said.

"Why would it be weird?" She asked, flipping through the book she'd checked out. She wasn't finding the poem but maybe she was skimming the pages too fast.

"We have completely different friend circles. Those are my friends…" He gestured towards the group excitedly discussing Halo. And then he dared not make eye contact with the people at the table behind them. "And those are your friends."

Dawn paused in turning the page she was done with and turned around. Madison continued to sit at the table they'd be sharing. Now sometimes she brought friends with her but only when Dawn skipped lunch, otherwise the only person who could tag along was Enzo.

And the pair of them together against her was odd. Her feelings got conflicted. There was something – the same thing – about the both of them and she wasn't sure if she liked it or not.

Madison looked up from her phone and to Dawn. The looks. Dawn couldn't decipher them but all she could determine was that they weren't malicious looks. Henry reluctantly turned when Dawn didn't look away. He glanced between them.

"Dawn…should we run or something? I'm only used to a stare this intense when it's my mom…and my other mom did something stupid."

"Ignore her," Dawn said. Madison smirked just before Dawn turned back to her book. "I'm still working out what it means to be her friend. It actually very complicated."

"Are you guys dating and you don't know it?" Henry questioned, raising an eyebrow at her. He was already tired of dealing with that with his moms, Dawn couldn't add to the list.

"What? No…" She didn't look certain but still said, "No. We're not. And there no poem in this damn book."

"Maybe we should just look it up then," Henry said. He closed the book in front of her and pushed it away. "That's what Google is for. It has most of the answers to everything."

Dawn gestured for him to continue. Henry's fingers moved too fast across his screen for Dawn to follow. Before she could question what he did, he was already looking at the poem.

"Here we go…" He scanned the words, frowning at the first verse. "That's gibberish…We'll start here. 'Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!...'"

Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun

The frumious Bandersnatch!

"It's not my favorite, Papa," Dawn said, pushing the scroll aside.

"No? But it may be useful one day. Like all text," Jasper said, "And always heed warnings you are given, small one."

"Dawn?" Henry called with concern. It was obvious another trance had taken over.

He'd broken the reverie, leaving her only with a face. A new face. Curious and deeply troubled.

Dawn blinked, sucking in a deep breath. "Lena."