The Wide-Awake Princess (20 page)

“I’m sorry, but there’s no one here by that name,” called Annie. “Would you mind helping me down though? I seem to be trapped up here, and I need to get out. I have to get back to my kingdom.”

“I don’t understand,” the young man began. “I’m Prince Mortimer and I’ve come to visit my beloved, Rapunzel. Are you sure she isn’t there?”

Annie shook her head. “I’ve looked everywhere. There’s no one here but me.”

The prince muttered to himself before looking up at Annie again. “Say, if she isn’t there, why don’t you let down
your
hair so I can climb up?”

“You’re joking, right?” Annie’s hair reached to the back of her knees, but she never let it get any longer. She thought it was hard enough to deal with as it was. Besides, just as she had resented it when Prince Andreas had seemed to think that she and her sister were interchangeable, she didn’t like the way Mortimer seemed to think he could swap Rapunzel for her. It wasn’t a topic she wanted to broach with this stranger, however, so instead she said, “My hair isn’t nearly long enough to reach you. Tell me, does Rapunzel have long blond hair?”

“She has the most glorious long blond hair and she lets it down every time I come by. I climb up and we enjoy each other’s company for the entire day. I look forward to Wednesdays every week.”

“I bet you do,” Annie said. “Why didn’t you ever rescue the poor girl?”

Prince Mortimer looked affronted. “Rapunzel wouldn’t let me. She said that a witch had put her there and if I took her out, the witch would come after us and kill us both. She said that she wouldn’t mind dying, but
she loved me too much for that. So how about it? Will you let down your hair so I can climb up?”

“I told you that I can’t. Why don’t you help me come down there instead?”

“I don’t have a ladder,” said the prince.

“It would take an awfully long ladder to reach this window. I don’t suppose you know how to climb up?”

“Pardon me?”

Annie sighed. “Never mind. If you see a young man named Liam, please tell him that Princess Annie is in this tower and give him the directions.”

“I’ll tell him if I happen to run across him,” said Prince Mortimer, “but I’m not going to go looking for some stranger.”

Annie watched as the young man rode away. After spending one night in the tower, she could imagine how bleak Rapunzel’s life must have seemed locked away there for what she thought was forever.
She must really have loved Mortimer to refuse to let him rescue her,
Annie thought. Closing her eyes, she pictured herself in the poor girl’s place, but the prince she imagined didn’t look anything like Mortimer. Instead it was Liam’s face she saw, looking at her the way he had just before he kissed her outside the ogre’s castle.

Annie’s mood immediately soured. If Liam had shown up at that very minute, she probably would have snapped at him. He wasn’t a prince and they couldn’t be together, but he’d kissed her nonetheless, and then not said a
word about it afterward. She felt like a fool, mooning over a young man who didn’t care enough to tell her that he had special feelings for her, if he really did.

She had no doubt that Liam was already looking for her and would find her eventually, although the thought of so much time being wasted when she had none to waste made her anxious. If Liam came soon, all the better, but if he didn’t, she would do what she could to rescue herself.

Annie glanced around the tower room. There was nothing here to help her, not even a mirror to reflect light in the hope that someone would see it. Her stomach rumbled, making it harder to ignore the hunger that was eating at her. Although she didn’t like the thought of returning to the dark room at the bottom of the tower, it seemed to be the only place she could find food. Using the flint she’d found, she relit the torch and started down the stairs.

The air in the bottom room seemed almost unbearably stuffy and close. Annie looked for food first, and after setting aside bread soft with fuzzy mold and dried meat so hard she knew she risked breaking a tooth if she bit it, she was pleased to find a small, as yet unopened crock of pickled vegetables and half a wheel of moldy cheese. Taking the knife she found stuck in the wheel, she cut off the mold and discarded it before savoring the rich, nutty flavor of the cheese.

She was thirsty now, so she knelt beside the stone basin and took a long, cool sip of water. It tasted surprisingly fresh and when she dropped a few crumbs of cheese in the water, she saw that they swirled away down an overflow hole hidden in the side of the basin. Annie wondered where the water went, so she reached under the lip of the basin and felt for the hole; it was too small for her hand to fit in. When she tried to move the basin in the hope that there might be a larger opening underneath, it was far too heavy.

Carrying the torch in one hand, Annie began to inspect the wall. The stones were all firmly set, however, including those that had been used to fill in the newest opening. She thought about using the cheese knife to dig through the mortar, but it would take too much time.

Discouraged, Annie filled a jug with water and took it along with the crock of pickled vegetables and the remains of the cheese wheel up the stairs to the room at the top. She’d really been hoping that she would find some secret latch or hidden door, but if there was any such thing, the builder had hidden it too well.

Not sure how long she’d be stuck in the tower, Annie decided to make herself comfortable. The room was a mess, and Annie couldn’t bear the thought of living in it the way Rapunzel had left it. After nibbling another piece of cheese, she began to clean the room, tossing all the
soiled clothes in a pile and stripping the filthy bedding off the bed. Seeing the condition of the bed underneath, she decided that she’d rather sleep on the floor.

Annie was thinking about going back to the first level to look for a broom when she noticed that some strands of Rapunzel’s hair were stuck to her clothes. She pulled off a strand that had draped itself across her shoulder and down her back. She intended to drop it out the window, but on the way there she got an idea; the more she thought about it, the more perfect it seemed.

She moved the chair, placing it in a pool of sunlight, and would have moved the table as well, but it was so heavy that she couldn’t budge it. After collecting a few dozen strands of hair, she took them with her to the chair. The sun was high in the sky when she began to braid them. When she had braided three-quarters of their length, she knotted more strands to the braid and began to braid them in as well. By the time the sun set, the hair rope was long, yet still not long enough for what she needed.

The night was mild and the sky was clear, so she didn’t bother to close the shutters. After a quick meal, she wrapped herself in a blanket and lay down so that she could look out the window at the same stars she saw from her bedroom window at home. The familiar sight made her feel a little less lost and alone.

Even before Annie ate anything the next morning,
she returned to braiding the hair. She worked with a frenzy that made her clumsy at times, so she had to slow down and undo some of the plaiting more than once. Intent on her work, she didn’t hear her visitor at first.

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel,” he called again. “Let down your hair!”

Annie dropped the braid and jumped to her feet. Whoever this was, perhaps he would help her get out of the tower. She ran to the window and leaned over the ledge to see a young man standing down below with his cap in one hand and a bouquet in the other.

“I’m beginning to get a picture of this girl Rapunzel,” Annie muttered to herself. “Rapunzel isn’t here,” she shouted to the young man. “Tell me, is she a princess from a local kingdom?”

“Is this a trick question?” the young man called back. “My darling Rapunzel isn’t a princess. She’s the beautiful daughter of two peasants and was brought up by an evil witch in this very tower. Now how about letting down your hair so I can come up and spend the day with my beloved. Tell her that Prince Ludlow has arrived.”

“I already told you, she isn’t here.”

“What do you mean she isn’t here? It’s Thursday. I’m sure she’s expecting me.”

“She’s gone. I’ve looked everywhere and I can tell you with absolute certainty that I am the only one here.”

Even from a distance, the young man looked disappointed. He held the flowers as if he was about to throw
them away, but then he paused and glanced up at Annie again. “I don’t suppose that you could let your hair down and—”

“No! My hair isn’t long enough. Let me guess, you don’t have a ladder.”

“Why no, I’ve never needed one.”

Annie sighed. “And you don’t have any other way to get up or down, do you?”

The young man shook his head.

“Listen, Your Highness,” said Annie. “I’m stuck in this tower and I need to get out. Do you think you could come back tomorrow with a ladder or whatever you need to get me down from here?”

“Actually, I have plans with my wife tomorrow. Thursday is my day to visit Rapunzel. We’ve had a standing appointment for years.”

Annie laughed to herself. “This just gets better and better. Did Rapunzel know that you’re married?” she called down to the young man.

“The subject never came up,” he said, sounding stiff and angry. “It’s obvious that I’m wasting my time here,” he added, and turned to walk away.

“Wait!” called Annie. “If you happen to see a young man named Liam, please tell him that Princess Annie is in this tower and needs to be rescued!”

“Rescue yourself!” Prince Ludlow shouted back. Dashing the flowers to the ground, he stalked back to where he’d tied up his horse.

“That’s exactly what I’m trying to do,” Annie murmured as she returned to the chair and picked up the hair rope again.

Annie worked on the braid for the rest of the day, and went to sleep that night with only a little more to do. Excited and nervous, she didn’t sleep well and got up as the first rays of the sun peeped over the ledge of the easternmost window. It didn’t take long for her to finish the braid, knotting the end in a circle just big enough for her foot.

The braid was as thick as two of her fingers and held up well when she tested it, so she tied her own hair back, hitched up her skirts, and carried the rope to the table. Running the rope around a table leg, she stuck her foot in the circle she’d made and wrapped the braid around her waist, just as Liam had taught her to do outside the ogre’s castle. Then, perched on the windowsill, she dangled her legs over the edge and dropped the other end of the braid. It fell in a golden coil, unfurling down the side of the tower until the end lay draped across the ground.

Annie swallowed hard. The ground looked far away now. If she were to slip or make a wrong move … Resolving not to look down again, she grasped the dangling rope with both hands and lowered herself down the wall. The first few yards went well, but her arms soon began to shake and she had to force herself to keep going.

Annie was nearly halfway down when she heard a
horse and rider below her, but she didn’t dare look. With her breath rasping in her throat and her heart racing, all she could do was focus on working her way hand under hand down the rope. She had nearly reached the ground when a pain of strong arms wrapped around her waist and lowered her the rest of the way.

“I thought I’d lost you for good,” said a familiar voice, and Annie looked up into Liam’s eyes. “Was it too terrible?” he asked, glancing up at the tower.

“You have no idea,” she replied, letting her head rest against him. “So who told you where to find me—Mortimer or Ludlow?”

“Neither,” he said, sounding confused. “Actually, I found the men who kidnapped you. They were happy enough to tell me where you were once I’d tied them up and offered to shorten their miserable lives.”

Annie smiled, even though he couldn’t see it. “You do have a way with words.”

ANNIE TURNED IN HER SADDLE to look behind her, but they had ridden far enough that she could no longer see the tower above the tops of the trees. When she was facing forward again, it occurred to her that something wasn’t quite right. “Are you sure this is the way to Treecrest? The sun is in front of us. That means we’re headed west.”

“We’re taking a short detour,” said Liam. “There’s another prince I want you to meet.”

Annie tugged on her reins, making her horse stop short. “But I need to get to Treecrest as soon as possible. I should be there already. The princes are probably waiting for me.”

“And they’ll continue to wait,” Liam said. He rode up beside her so that their knees were touching. Leaning across the space between them, he rested his hand on hers and squeezed it gently. Annie looked up, flustered,
and felt her face redden when he looked into her eyes and added, “I swear that this is important. I wouldn’t ask you to do it otherwise.”

Annie had to clear her throat to speak. “How far away is this prince?”

“We’ll reach his castle before dark. We can spend the night there and leave for Treecrest in the morning.”

“Who is the prince?”

“His name is Clarence. He’s the crown prince of Dorinocco … and he’s my brother.”