Rapunzel Untangled (27 page)

Rapunzel would have gasped had the tube not still been down her throat. She blinked a few times at the depth of the underhandedness of Vedmak. And she’d thought Gothel was bad! She quietly lowered the buckles to the bed, careful that they didn’t fall and make any noise. Then she moved her hands up to undo the strap across her chest, slowly, carefully so as to not draw any attention.

Gothel took another step toward the hooded woman. “If I didn’t need you to bring my daughter back, I’d throw you out right now,” she hissed.

“Your daughter isn’t coming back.” Vedmak’s words were cruel, nothing softening the blow. Gothel deflated as if she’d been punched in the chest.

“But, Vedmak,” Gothel moaned, her voice pleading. Rapunzel unbuckled the straps across her thighs. “You
promised
. You promised she’d come back to me. Now. Today.”

“I lied.”

Gothel let out a shriek that would have sent even the bravest of creatures running. The hooded woman covered her ears as Gothel pulled a gun from inside her cloak. She pointed it at Vedmak. Rapunzel screamed—grateful the tube in her throat muffled the noise.

Vedmak lifted a hand toward Gothel. Rapunzel watched in astonishment as a blue light formed against his palm. As if he were throwing a baseball, he thrust his hand forward, the blue light launching at Gothel. Gothel ducked, and the light hit the hooded woman in the center of the chest, flinging her against the stone wall with a sickening crunch.

Gothel immediately stood and pointed the gun again, pulling the trigger. Rapunzel ripped the tube from her throat, choking and gagging as it propelled from her esophagus, the noises covered by the gun’s ricochet.

Vedmak roared, the sound terrifying in the enclosed space. The echo swirled around the room, creating a whirlwind. Rapunzel rolled from the bed away from them, ducking as Vedmak threw another blue light at Gothel, slamming her into the wall and pinning her high above the floor. Alarm filled Gothel’s face as the force pressed tighter against her, and she turned red with the effort to breathe.

Rapunzel didn’t wait. She turned and fled the room. She wasn’t exactly sure which way to go to find Fane. She stumbled and found herself at the bottom of a stairway.
Wrong way!
She turned to go the opposite direction when she heard Vedmak’s furious yell.

“Rapunzel!”

She bolted up the stairs, knowing her only chance of helping Fane now was to escape. She went up two levels and realized she was on the main level. She dodged around corners, hoping she’d find the entry. Finally she came to an area she was familiar with and knew she was one turn away from the kitchen. She skidded to a halt at the sound of voices.

“What’s going on?” she heard a man say.

“Not sure,” another male voice answered. “But if there’s trouble, I’m not sticking around.”

Rapunzel peered around the corner and saw three men and two women gathered in the kitchen. None of them looked her way, so she took a breath and slid around the corner toward the stairs. Once she reached them, she darted to the only safe haven she’d ever known.

 
^.*
*

R
apunzel stood in the center of her rooms, looking around in disbelief. It was gone. Everything was gone. No furniture. Open cabinets revealed their vacant interiors. Her computer and pictures that had hung on the walls were all gone. She rushed into the bedroom. Empty. It was as if she’d never existed.

Realizing she’d trapped herself into the tower, she hurried back into the main room to leave.

“You won’t make it,” Vedmak said. Rapunzel froze at the sound of his voice from across the room. He stood at the entry to the cove, which housed the window. “Nor will anyone hear you if you scream. Fane is locked up below, and the others have left.”

“How do you know his name?” she asked, her mouth gone dry.

“I know all about you, Rapunzel.” He stepped toward her.

“What do you want me for?” she asked, backing away from him. “The transformation can’t happen without Gothel.”

Vedmak scoffed as he continued to slowly stalk her. “Do you really think I have any interest in the delusions of Gothel? There was never any intent to bring her daughter back through you. There was never any chance to bring back her daughter at all. We only needed that story to get her to do our bidding. She was obsessed enough to believe us.”

“Why all the construction?” she asked, trying to stall him. She’d heard his excuse below but needed time to form a plan. “What’s in it for you?”

“Nothing.” Rapunzel was surprised he admitted it to her. “It was nothing more than a way to keep Gothel occupied. Gothel is much easier to control when she’s busy. The construction gave her purpose—or so she thought.”

“So no spirits live here?”

“I didn’t say that,” he said, one brow lifted sardonically.

“And the sixes?”

“Gothel’s own personal obsession. I’ll tell you, I could have accomplished what I needed much sooner had she not been bound by that particular bit of insanity. We were restricted to six in the room each time we met to further the ritual. I’m nothing if not a patient man.”

He said it so proudly Rapunzel wondered if he wanted a compliment.

“Why me?” she asked.

“You were pure chance. Gothel wanted a baby to replace her daughter. When it was obvious she wouldn’t become pregnant since she lived alone without dating, I planted the seed that she might find you. I didn’t care who she found, just an infant girl for me. She wanted details so I told her blonde hair and green eyes. Fortuitously, you fit the bill, all the way down to having hair longer than it should have been on such a young child. Lucky for me too, since I was about to give up on Gothel and move on.”

Nausea rose in Rapunzel’s throat.
Lucky?
What was lucky about it? She’d been so close to not having been taken, so close to Vedmak giving up. Would Gothel still have taken her if he had? She’d never know.

Rapunzel’s panic ratcheted upward. “What do you want with me?” she repeated.

“You’re aware of what I want with you. I’ve already explained it. You must die for me to bring you back. Gothel wasn’t completely wrong. Your body is a vessel for someone, just not for her daughter.

“Who?” she whispered, backing to the door as he lurked closer.

“A powerful witch who was taken from the earth far before her time. Another found a way to harness her and trap her in the spirit world. He who can release her and give her a body will possess power you can’t imagine. I will be the most powerful warlock in existence. No one and nothing will be able to stop my reign of power. And, with Gothel’s death”—Rapunzel gasped—“you’ll be sole heir to the fortune the Gothel family amassed. No one will know you’re not you—since no one knows you at all.”

“Gothel’s dead?” she asked, surprised at the grief that choked her. Gothel might have been preparing Rapunzel for her own death, but still, she’d been the only mother she’d ever known.

“Of course she is. That was the plan all along. You’ve put a bit of a crimp in the plan with your pathetic attempt at escape. No matter. We’ll just begin again.”

Rapunzel was frantically scanning for something—anything—to use for a weapon as he spoke.

“You’re insane,” Rapunzel said, inching toward the open door as he continued to circle closer to her. “There is no such thing as magic or witches or warlocks or whatever you think you are.”

“No?” he questioned calmly. Rapunzel broke and ran for the door. It slammed shut. She grabbed the handle and twisted. It moved readily beneath her grip, but the door did not budge. She glanced back in panic at Vedmak, who continued to slowly, purposefully stalk her. It was her worst fear, being locked in this tower yet again.

“Stay away from me!” she yelled.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said with a small smile. “But I will if you fight me.”

Rapunzel laughed scornfully. “Do you think I’m going to make it easy for you?”

“You don’t want to anger me,” he said, smile still in place, eyes turning hard. The room began to shake, and Rapunzel looked at the open window. Were they having an earthquake? As she watched, the window slammed shut, and she jumped, a squeak of alarm escaping her.

Rapunzel ran to the kitchen, opening drawer after drawer, looking for a forgotten knife or anything sharp.

“Let me help you,” Vedmak said. Every drawer and cabinet door flew open.

Thinking quickly, Rapunzel grasped the closest drawer and pulled it out, flinging it at Vedmak.

He lifted a hand, and it moved harmlessly around him.

“Is that how you want to play?” he asked. Another drawer suddenly launched from its open position and torpedoed toward her. She ducked just in time.

When she stood again, Vedmak had dropped the smile and now looked decidedly cross. “This doesn’t have to be so difficult,” he said angrily.

“Oh yeah? For who?” she said, dodging to the side as another drawer came at her. The room began shaking even harder, making it hard to keep her balance. And still Vedmak walked toward her, slowly, like a predator.

Pounding sounded on the door. “Rapunzel?” she heard Fane call.

“Fane! Help me.”

Vedmak threw a look of fury at the door. “Meddling boy!”

“I can’t open the door.” She heard what sounded like Fane hitting his shoulder against the door, followed by yells of pain.

“Vedmak is in here,” she called.

“
What
?”

“He can’t help you,” Vedmak said.

She heard Fane grunt in frustration. “Vedmak! You have to let her out now.”

The smile was back as Vedmak listened to him. “How touching,” he oozed, and Rapunzel shivered at the repeat of Gothel’s words. She worked her way back to the door again. She pulled on it as she felt the vibrations of Fane ramming it from the opposite side. It was difficult to tell the difference between his ramming and the house’s shaking and splintering.

And then Vedmak was next to her, trapping her between his tall, broad form and the door. She screamed.

“Rapunzel!” Fane cried.

“Enough!” Vedmak commanded. He pulled the tie from her hair, tangling his fingers in the blonde strands. Her braid unraveled beneath his assault, long strands of hair falling to the ground where she’d cut it. Rapunzel tried to twist away but he fisted his hand, pulling and trapping her with pain. He began chanting, eyes closed, and terror seized Rapunzel.

Suddenly, she heard loud chirping. She looked up and saw Angel above them. Sheetrock splintered and pieces of the ceiling fell. She heard the cracking of the rock that surrounded the tower and beyond that Fane’s frantic voice.

A calmness came over her as she watched Angel, as if she’d been suspended in time. Angel’s blue was shining like the sun glinting off sapphires. For the first time, Rapunzel thought that it wasn’t coincidence that Angel had come to her, but rather design. Maybe Rapunzel’s naming the little bird Angel was more appropriate than she’d realized. Dipping a wing, Angel looked Rapunzel directly in the eye. It was then that she knew as well as if Angel had spoken. She looked up at Vedmak.

“You can’t take the magic unless I give it to you,” she said quietly.

His eyes popped open, full of rage. “What did you say?” His fingers tightened painfully.

“You have no power,” she said more loudly, “without my hair. It’s the final piece and without it, you lose everything.”

He laughed scornfully. “This isn’t some childish fantasy movie where you can have a happy ending by finding the right words to say.”

Fright slithered up her spine. Angel chirped again, drawing Rapunzel’s attention. The fear dissipated and she stood straighter, not an easy task with the loudly rupturing, swaying room and Vedmak’s painful grip against her skull.

“Maybe not,” she said. “But it’s true, isn’t it? You bet everything on me, on the magic you infused in my hair. But you can’t take it without permission. How did you plan to get me to give it to you?” She gasped as the answer came to her. “Fane. You knew about him all along.”

“I told you I know everything about you. How do you think the pathetic boy found you in that dungeon?”

Rapunzel glanced at the door. The walls around the frame splintered as she watched. Rapunzel shoved her panic down. She had to play the game. She smiled at Vedmak. “He’s safe now. You have nothing.”

With a snarl, Vedmak flung a blue ball of light toward the door. Rapunzel unthinkingly jumped in front of it between Vedmak and the door, which wouldn’t protect Fane. She closed her eyes, waiting for the pain. When it didn’t come, her eyes popped open and she looked down. She wasn’t hurt. Vedmak bellowed and threw another. It bounced off of her as if it were nothing more than a cotton ball.

“You only have what power I allow you to have over me, Vedmak,” she said more strongly, moving until she stood directly in front of him. “Which means you have
no
power to hurt me. You can’t have me, and you can’t have my
hair
!”

A low rumble of fury sounded at the base of Vedmak’s throat. With a howl, he pushed his hands in her direction, flinging her away from him. She stumbled to the floor, turning quickly to keep her gaze on him.

“You don’t know what it is you do!” he screamed.

Rapunzel swallowed. Then she scrambled to her feet. “I’m leaving,” she said. “And you can’t stop me.”

Large chunks of sheetrock rained from the ceiling as Vedmak wailed, fingers twisted in his own hair now. He stumbled his way to the center of the room as if he had no control of his actions. Rapunzel ran back to the door, hands over her head. The door was still stuck.

“Open the door, Vedmak,” she commanded.

His eyes opened wide, and he pointed at her. “You don’t know what you do!”

“Yes, I do,” she said. “I’m taking my life back.”

He screamed again as the room began to shake up and down. Rapunzel stumbled, catching hold of the door handle. This time, it opened.

She took one step into the hallway just as the floor dropped from beneath her. She screamed as she fell. Suddenly, she jerked to a halt. Looking up, she saw that Fane had caught her, lying on his stomach, and he struggled to pull her up. And then she was in the hallway with him. She looked back into the tower and saw that Vedmak still stood in the center of the room—with no floor beneath him. His hands and face began to wither as he writhed in internal pain. Over and over he wailed, “You don’t know what you do!”