I’m not in a house, but a stone tower. The window is dangerously high above the ground. Wrapped around the tower are green vines covered in orange flowers that resemble the color of a setting sun.
A tower. Extremely unruly, long hair. “Rapunzel,” I murmur. Let me guess, no door. I look all around the floor, and there’s not a door in sight. I search all over the floor to find a hidden exit, but there’s not one.
Around the room, there isn’t anything except a bed and a side table that I walk over to. There is a wicker basket that is filled to the top with fresh fruit. I grab an apple and roll it around in my hand, examining the sensuous redness. Then I set it back down beside a banana and orange. There’s a pitcher beside the fruit filled with water, and a cup sitting across from it.
I plop myself down on the bed. There is a wool blanket on top that is scratchy to the touch. Surprise, surprise, I have on a different dress. It’s a light shade of pink that has rips and holes everywhere and looks more like rags than clothing. It falls to my ankles, and my feet are bare.
Everything that has happened hits me at once, and I lie on the bed and let a few tears silently fall. The whole thing with Maisie reminds me of Josselyn and their terrible fates. Along with everyone else we have seen, and how they are trapped in their confinements.
It’s one of those never-ending nightmares that occur over and over each night, but it isn’t one that they can wake up from. I can’t even wake from my own here.
I get up and walk over to the window while having to lift this ridiculous hair off the ground and carry it with me. There is nothing that I can use to cut it, or I would have done that already.
When I was sitting on the bed, I almost forgot the hair was here. It doesn’t have weight to it, until you try to walk and then it drags.
I look out the window, and the sun is shimmering brightly in the sky. There isn’t anything except trees, rows and rows of trees. I always wanted to live away from the city and be surrounded by nature, but I’m second guessing that after being around so many trees and no one around.
“August!” I shout out the window. It may be a stupid move not knowing who else can hear me yell, but I have to try. Nothing. There’s nothing except the flapping of black birds all around the trees.
I feel completely defeated. There has to be another way out of here. I look around at all the hair, and there is no way that I can use my own hair and climb down. There’s no real place to attach it to. Unless I try tying it to the wooden leg of the bed, but once I’m down on the ground, how am I going to cut it off? I may have to try that later if I run out of ideas, which my options aren’t looking too good right now anyway.
Not caring, I walk over to the wooden, side table and snatch the apple I was holding earlier, bringing it to my mouth. I take a huge bite of the round apple, and it’s full of such a juicy flavor that I almost moan. Who knew an apple could taste this good? After a few moments pass, and I still find myself alive, I finish the apple and set the core on the table.
I find myself pacing the room in circles, sitting on the bed and walking over to the window. When I sit on the bed, I even find myself trying to meditate and then get mad and toss the pillow across the room when I can’t do it.
How do people even meditate? If I try not to think about things, it only has my mind go into overdrive with even more thoughts and worries in the process. Even when I’m not in this situation I have tried to meditate before. Then I just start thinking about ridiculous things like what I need to do at school, or what I’m going to eat for dinner. The people that can meditate should be awarded a trophy. Maisie would definitely be awarded a trophy.
All I can think about is where August can be? Is Maisie still out in the forest, or is she back in the cottage fighting her mind to come back to herself? Are Josselyn, Officer Rodriguez, and Ben still battling their obstacles, or do these things only happen if someone else is in the display? Is Neven in here, too? I know the answer to that question. I know he is. There were so many displays at the museum that I may never run into him to tell him I’m not angry anymore.
My thoughts are cut off by a voice I know. “Perrie! “Perrie, are you up there?” August is yelling. It isn’t a normal yell, but a shout filled with distress and fear.
I reach for some of the hair, folding it into a ball in my hand as I dart to the oval window. “August, I’m up here in the tower,” I shout back.
He runs out from the trees to the side of the castle. I throw my hair out the window to see if he can climb, but he isn’t alone.
Chapter 27
The black birds that were sitting on the top of the trees begin flapping their wings. The loud flaps make a thunderous roar.
Black crows are diving at August from all angles and pecking at him as he runs toward the tower. There’s someone standing at the edge of the forest with a dark, black, hooded cloak that seems to be controlling the birds that are attacking August.
When he reaches my hair, he looks at it in shock not knowing what to do. “Try climbing it!” I yell down.
As soon as his hands touch my hair, the birds fly back to the forest, and the cloaked person stands there watching us. At least I think he or she is watching us. I can’t see a face or facial expression.
He hesitates. “What do you mean climb your hair? I don’t think this is going to work.” He gives my hair a few short tugs, and my head bobbles up and down.
“Well, it’s not going to work with you pulling on it like that. Just hurry and climb up before the birds fly back.”
I hold myself against the wall and pray that when August begins to climb that he doesn’t drag me out of the window. I have no intentions of seeing what it’s like to fall from this high up off the ground and smack against the dirt below.
“Are you ready?” he asks.
“Yes. Please don’t slip and fall off!”
There’s light pressure at my head but not a real feeling like it would be if someone really did try climbing someone’s hair. I’m sure if we tried this at home most of my hair would be ripped out, but I can’t even tell that he’s climbing it. The sound of his boots against the stone, and the light pulls to my head are the only things to indicate he’s using my hair.
“You know I wasn’t even thinking about slipping and falling, until you yelled that down. Thanks for putting that image in my mind,” he grunts.
I don’t dare move my head to look down the tower. “You’re welcome.” The only place I’m able to look is straight ahead into the forest, where the black birds are resting peacefully again in the tops of the trees. Their squawks have quieted, and the cloaked person has disappeared back into the forest.
“How far up are you? I am getting nervous.”
“You’re getting nervous? There’s only about halfway to go.”
It seems like an eternity before I see August’s hand clasp the edge of the window, and then his other hand. I grab onto his arm and see the top of his head. I help him as he lifts his body and drags it into the window and falls softly to the floor. He lays his whole body flat against the ground, lets his head lightly hit the cement, and brings his hands to his chest while breathing deeply.
I haul my hair back through the window as swiftly as I can. My heart is beating beat by frantic beat. After I handle getting all the hair over the edge of the window, I lie down beside August, grab his arm and breathe rapidly, until my nerves calm slightly.
“Why are you breathing so hard? Did I hurt you while climbing?” He turns and looks at my face.
“No. no,” I hurry and reply. “I didn’t even feel anything. I’m more exhausted from the stress of worrying about you falling.”
“And what is with all the hair? Rapunzel supposedly had a lot of hair, but this is extreme.” He grabs a lock in his hand before laying it back down.
I notice the blood on his neck and cheek. I sit up and scan his whole body, and there’s blood in a few spots on one of his arms and both of his legs. “You’re hurt!” I place my hand on his cheek,
and there’s a small cut that is dripping blood. The cut on the side of his neck has a line of blood, too.
August sits up. After moving my hand away from his neck, he continues to hold my hand. “I’m okay, Perrie. It barely even stings. It looked worse out there than it really was.”
“Really? You sounded pretty terrified.” I examine other parts of his clothing. His shirt sleeve has several holes where the birds managed to nick his arm. There are other holes in the shirt from where they pecked but didn’t draw blood.
“Yeah, I was terrified that I wouldn’t be able to find where you were.” His legs have a few shallow nicks, but his pants and tunic are a thicker material that seems to have protected him for the most part. The worst spots are his cheek and neck, but even then, he is lucky that they didn’t do more damage than they did.
I walk to the side table and pour a little of the water from the pitcher into the cup. I grab the pillow that I threw earlier and remove the pale-yellow pillowcase. I take both over to August who is leaning his back against the wall of the tower, watching me.
“What are you doing?” he asks.
“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m not going to let you sit here with blood all over your face and neck.”
I dab the water with the corner of the pillow case and dampen it. I raise it to his cheek, and he sucks in a breath when I wipe the blood away that has already begun to dry. I can see the cuts aren’t that bad once the blood is wiped away.
The next spot I move to is his neck. Wiping away the small streak of blood streaming down his neck to the collar of his tunic, and I stare at his neck longer than I should. I look back up at August who is gazing at me with the same emotion. I want to keep this feeling, but I don’t.
I look away and let my eyes travel down to his arm and roll up his sleeve. I wipe an area on his arm that doesn’t need cleaning. “So, what happened when you got here?” When I check the pant leg, there is a sword attached to his hip. “And why do you have a sword again, while this time I have nothing?”
He adjusts himself and pops his back. “Maybe the weapons are just part of the specific display? Luckily, I did have it, but I didn’t seem to remember to use the stupid thing. Anyway, when I got here, I came out of the portal into a tiny house in the middle of the forest. It only had one room. I waited around a while to see if you were going to show up there. When you didn’t, I went searching to see if you were somewhere else.”
I set the cup of water and the pillowcase down beside me while he moves his legs up to get comfortable. “I couldn’t find you, and the only living things I could see were those black crows that are scattered throughout the forest.” He looks back toward the window. “I found it strange that there were birds everywhere, and I mean everywhere. At the tops of the trees, sprawled across the branches, trickled over the ground, and even sitting on the rooftop of the house I had landed in. As I walked through the forest, the birds that were on the ground didn’t even budge when I got close. You know how normally when you walk too close to a bird they will fly off, or at least move out of the way?”
I nod.
“Well, not these birds.” He hikes his thumb up and points it back toward the oval window.
“What about the creepy, cloaked person out there? Did you see who it is? My guess is the witch.” Who else could it be?
He adjusts himself again and leans forward with his elbows resting on his knees and his hands folded under his chin. His blond hair brushes forward against his eyebrow, and I want to reach up and move it to the side.
“I wasn’t far from the tower. I couldn’t miss it because the tower reached toward the sky and practically called for me to come. I had to see if you were up here. I wasn’t that far from the edge of the forest when the figure in the cloak stepped out behind me. I heard a crackle and turned around to see the person standing there. I’m going to say for now that I think it’s a woman. She didn’t run after me or anything. She just stared, but I couldn’t tell if she was staring or not. Even though I wasn’t that far from her, I couldn’t see anything underneath the hood. It was… just darkness.”
“That’s it?” I press
“Well, no. That isn’t it. I stood there like an idiot, and she lifted her hand. This is how I’m sure it’s a woman. Her hand was thin and willowy with long nails that had pointed tips. She let her middle finger and thumb collide, and it made a sharp snapping sound.
It was as if the sound of the snap caused the pandemonium that caught the birds’ attention. They all stopped what they were doing, and there was only silence except for their little, feathered heads turning toward her.”
I smack the ground with both of my hands. “And you didn’t run away?”
“Hell yes, I did. That’s when the switch in my brain came back on, and I decided to back away slowly. I made sure I watched where I was stepping since those damn birds would rather be crushed by my boot than move out of the way. The woman slowly moved her arm to the side and snapped again causing another buzz and commotion amongst the birds. They slowly turned their heads to me, and that was when I took off running like there was no tomorrow. I heard one more snap. It rattled the crows and caused an explosion all around me, and that was when I started calling for you. I had no idea if you were out in the forest, or if you were even here. Then the birds started attacking and pecking. When I reached the tower they stopped attacking me, as if the tower was bound by something that repelled them away.”
All along my arms, the hairs are standing on end. “Not only are you an excellent story teller, I wish that you hadn’t told me what happened because I’m a little bit panicked now.”
He lets out a low whistle. “You and me both, Perrie. You and me both.”
“What do you want to do? Do you want to go back out there now, or do you want to rest here? As fearful as I am, we can go right now if you want.”
He takes my hand out of my lap and into his. The coldness of my hand is instantly warmed by his. “I think we should stay here and wait for a while. We don’t have the slightest idea who that person is out there. But my real concern is, what are we going to do with this hair?” He lifts a knotted mess in his hand, and I let out a small laugh.
“I would have cut it off earlier, but there is absolutely nothing of use here, least of all scissors.”
He reaches for the sword at his side and unsheathes it. It’s lined with engraved leaves all around the handle. “Do you want me to?”
This is the most excited I have been in a while. “Yes! Please!”
He laughs and starts sawing away at the hair right at my shoulders. When he’s finished, it’s an uneven mess, but it’s so much lighter and freer. “When we decide to leave, we’ll just tie the hair to something and travel down,” August says.
Chapter 28
We put the hair in a neat pile in the corner of the room and make sure it stays untangled, so it will be easier to shimmy down. He agrees that the only thing that can anchor the weight of us when we climb down the hair will be the bed.
The only other option is the side table. It’s too small and would go straight through the window when we put our weight on the hair. I don’t want to have my life end that way. The bed will most likely continue to drag. But if we bring it to the window, it won’t be able to fit through, even if our weight is heavy.
I point at the table. “Are you hungry? There’s fruit in there. I already tried one, and I’m still alive after eating it.”
August shoots me a glare, then loses it when he spots the bowl of fruit. “I’m starved, but I’m still going to be a little mad that you tried one of the fruits by yourself.” He reaches for a banana and sits down on the edge of the bed and begins to peel it.
I sit next to him, and we discuss Maisie. He knows just as much as I do that if anyone can survive this place and not be affected by it, it’s her. Then we talk about things that aren’t important, but it distracts us at that moment. It’s nice to have the distraction from thinking about flying birds that will b
e flapping their way toward my face and trying to peck away the flesh.
“What’s the first thing you want to do when we get home?” I ask.
August slips off his boots and places them under the side table. “I want to roll up in my bed and sleep for days.”
“When we get home, I don’t know how we’re going to figure everything out.”
He shrugs. “The best thing we can do is try. If we are still alive after that, you and me, we are going to have a slumber party and sleep for days.”
“Slumber party, huh?”
“That’s what I said.”
“We have to load up on cake before we go to sleep with lots and lots of frosting.”
“I wish you wouldn’t have said that. Now I’m going to have frosting on my mind, until I can get my hands on some,” he laughs.
I know exactly what he means because now I can’t stop thinking about all things cake. I could eat like ten cupcakes right now.
We sit in comfortable silence, and I watch August as he glances toward the window and stares out of it. “You know you can lie down and go to sleep,” I suggest.
August looks over at me for a second and then turns back toward the window looking at the clouds. “What if I don’t want to go sleep?” he asks quietly.
Wait. What? Does that mean that he wants to keep talking? That he isn’t tired? That he wants to spend time with me in a more intimate way? The latter is what I want.
With August, things have always been easy, even when I was a mess. Besides Maisie, he has been my best friend for a while. Even when I didn’t think I had room for anyone else.
After what happened with Neven, I had seen August as nothing but a friend. Following our night out at prom, I started having glimpses of possibilities. I didn’t want to attempt anything and ruin things between us, and I never really told him how I had started yearning for something more.
I’m so incredibly weak with this. If something were to happen and destroy my friendship with him, the way it did with Neven, I don’t know how I would feel. My heart hasn’t been worn on my sleeve for a long time. My focus has been on the future and college, and then after I finished school maybe I could have the extras.
Quinsey Wolfe's Glass Vault Page 17