The Princes of Tangleforest

by Vann, Dorlana

  “Besides,” Zachary continued, “you know I don’t control these kids. I simply gave them a different perception of what they have been told since they were born. I let them see that nerds, as everyone liked to call us, are not weird or different. That’s what’s been programmed into their minds.”

  “What about the games, like the one you played on Tanner?”

  “No one was ever in real danger. I just wanted to make my point.”

  “Maybe not this time, but I’ve watched you do some pretty stupid stuff.”

  “My choice,” Zachary said. “But I don’t have to defend myself to you. You’re not my mom or my girlfriend. Why don’t you kids make like the creepy arachnids you are and web away?”

  “Sucks to be you,” Darla chimed.

  Julia didn’t see him leave but heard Tanner practically running down the stairs. The front door slammed shut.

  “I don’t think you’re a nerd, Zachary,” Julia said at the top of the stairs. “I think you’re a jerk.”

  “All you had to do was ask if you needed something.” She heard Zachary say as she walked down the stairs. “All you had to do was ask.”

  Once outside, Julia and Tanner walked down the sidewalk in silence. Even though the night felt warm, the October air had begun to take on the scent of autumn. Julia hated cold weather, but she didn’t mind the months that led up to it. Yet she couldn’t enjoy it at that moment because Tanner gave off an air of his own: gloom.

  She didn’t know why she had tried to help him in the first place. She didn’t know why she didn’t tell him good luck and pretend she had never met him. Every time she stood near him, looked at him, talked to him, it made her feel close to miserable.

  It made her crazy knowing the reason she didn’t stay away: she had this tiny bit of hope that he would start liking her back, if he could only feel a smidgen of the love-sting she felt. Maybe if she changed her hair, or clothes, or dangled dangerously from a tall building screaming his name…

  “How did he do that?” Tanner finally broke his silence.

  “I don’t know. No one told me what he did.”

  “He knew what glass I picked even though he was blindfolded and turned the other way. Could he tell by the sound of my voice? The twins didn’t say anything.”

  “What color was his shirt?”

  “What?”

  “Zachary’s shirt… what color was it?”

  “Red.”

  “What color cup did you pick?”

  “That doesn’t mean anything,” he said, even though he stopped walking like he wanted her to explain.

  “What color was the tablecloth? Oh yeah, and when I first got there, he asked me those weird questions like, ‘Have you read any good books lately.’ There’s no telling how many red things he had planted in that house. He’s probably been setting you up all day.”

  Tanner held his breath in his mouth, the dim streetlights balancing on his puffed cheeks and his disappointment.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I should have known that he couldn’t be fooled so easily.”

  He let the air out loudly as he started walking again. “Maybe if you—oh never-mind.”

  “What? Say it! You’re saying this is my fault, aren’t you? You think it is, don’t you?” She tried to hold back the weakness in her voice.

  “You haven’t wanted to help me from the beginning. For all I know, you sabotaged this on purpose. ”

  “That is so not true.” She put her hands on her hips. “And so unfair! I was really trying to help you and everyone else at that stupid school.”

  “I’m sorry. You’re right. It doesn’t matter now anyway. I don’t know what to do. My only chance to learn that stuff is blown to hell.”

  “What were you planning on doing with the information anyway?”

  “I told you. I wanted to be able to put the idea in her grandmother’s head that she should let Poppi go.”

  “Think for a moment, Tanner. Seriously. Where’s Poppi going to go once you get her out?”

  “What do you mean?

  “You live with your mom. Even if Poppi is of age, she doesn’t have a job or a place to live.”

  “Just forget it.”

  She bit her tongue until they made it the last block to her house. Even though he was obviously still mad at her, he walked her all the way home. He didn’t say goodbye, instead he kept walking.

  She couldn’t stop herself from yelling after him. “Wait.” She would never admit it to him, but she did feel a little responsible. “I’ll do it.”

  He stopped in his tracks.

  “I’ll read and practice up again. I’ll go and talk to the old haggard grandmother witch lady.”

  “You don’t have to do this.”

  “I know. I want to. I want to help you.”

  Tanner simply said, “Thank you,” before walking on.

  Julia stood in the darkness watching him until he had turned the corner. As she opened her front door, heavy sadness, which she hadn’t felt in awhile, started settling in her mind. She heard soft music playing and noticed that the lights had been dimmed. “Great.” She had forgotten all about her dad having company. She crept up the stairs to her bedroom, fell across her bed, and let the tears stream down her face.

  Another woman in her dad’s life. She wanted him to be happy. So why did it make her feel so miserable? Maybe, she thought, because every man in my life seems to need someone or something else other than me to be happy.

  Chapter 17

  Tanner hadn’t been able to shake his dream all day: his bedroom window had flown open, and Poppi’s golden hair waved through the strong wind like wings. “Grab hold,” Poppi’s voice had echoed. “The witch is dead.” He stretched out his arms and grabbed the ends of her hair; it yanked him out of his window and into the night. He soared in the air, crossed the street, and landed inside Poppi’s open bedroom window. Julia sat on the bed drinking from a crossed-bone adorned bottle as she drunkenly said, “What’re you going to do once you get’er out of here?”

  As he sat down at the lunch table, the question from his dream still lingered.

  “Are you sure you want to sit here?” Julia asked.

  “Sorry for blaming you last night.”

  She shrugged. “No problem. We screwed up together.”

  “I’ve been thinking about what you said.”

  “Uh-oh.”

  “I think I should try to find her parents.”

  “How are you going to do that?”

  “Poppi said that her parents went to a hospital in Mexico City. I guess I can check that.”

  “Really? Well my mom’s family is from around there. I’ll call my nana. Do you know her last name? Or her parents’ names?”

  “Daaang! I didn’t even think of that. Maybe I can go over there tonight and ask Poppi. Surely her grandmother isn’t guarding her room every night.”

  “Are you mental?” Julia exclaimed. “You’re not going back over there. Do I have to put a leash on you? You have to stop being so freaking impulsive.”

  “But I don’t know her last name. How am I going to find her parents if I don’t have it?”

  “I can ask my dad. Her parents may have lived around here. In the meantime, I brought you a present.” She handed him a book that had a big, green frog and some pretty-boy in colorful clothing on the cover. He was about to protest until he noticed the title, Frogs into Princes - Neuro Linguistic Programming.

  “You had a copy this entire time?”

  “Well, I kind of lifted it when we were at Zachary’s. It was in the movie room from Hell. If I never see the words Star Wars again…”

  “Thanks.”

  “Homework,” she said. “Read it, and also do some research on the internet about hypnotism.”

  He nodded.

  “Hopefully,” she continued, “that will keep you out of trouble for a couple of minutes. We need to take our time with this so we don’t screw up. Again. That means keep the hell away from Pop
pi and her grandmother.”

  “Fine,” Tanner said.

  “Promise?”

  “Yeah. From now on, you’re the boss.”

  She smiled. “And don’t you forget it.”

  He flipped through the book. “You want me to read this entire thing?”

  “That’s right.”

  “I’ve got a better idea,” Tanner said as he closed the book. “Why don’t you come over for dinner tonight, and we can go over it. You could give me like a summary.”

  Julia opened her mouth like she was going to speak, but she didn’t. She bit her top lip, her rapid eye movement revealing inner debate. She looked down to her untouched lunch before looking back to him. “I guess we could do that.”

  ***

  “Do you live across the street?” Bonnie asked Julia at the dinner table.

  “No,” Tanner said. “This is Julia. She’s my friend from school. I went to her house the other day.”

  “Oh,” Bonnie said, staring up at Julia. “You had purple hair.”

  “That’s right,” Julia said with a smile. “And tomorrow I might have green. I could color yours if you’d like… I mean, if it’s all right with you, Mrs. Dobbs. It washes right out.”

  “Can I?” Bonnie hopped in her seat. “Can I, Mommy? I want pink.”

  “We’ll see.”

  Bonnie clapped her hands.

  “Across the street?” Tanner’s mom asked. “A girl lives across the street?”

  “Yep, she’s home schooled…” Tanner started to spill out the entire story but decided against it when he noticed Julia’s frowning face. He needed to find out what his mom would do if he had to bring Poppi there, however he had to wait until he had her in hand. His mom would understand after he explained the situation. How could she say no once Poppi stood in front of her, all beautiful and helpless? He figured it would be exactly like the time he had wanted a dog. She had said no until the stray—aka Fluffy—arrived on their doorstep. Fluffy had stayed with his dad when they moved. His mom thought it only fair since she took the kids with her.

  Tanner smiled at his perfect plan. He just needed to be patient. “Yeah, she just lives there.”

  “Oh, I see,” his mom said. She smiled at Julia. “What about you, Julia? How long have you lived here?”

  “All of my life. My dad, too. He grew up a few blocks over from here.”

  Tanner wondered what his mom thought about Julia. Julia had worn her hair in its natural color, but she had glued it up in the crazy faux-hawk style.

  “I heard people live here forever,” Tanner’s mom said. “We were lucky to find the place. I guess poor Mr. Charlie Doman wasn’t so lucky. His daughter said they had to put him a nursing home.”

  Julia had a pleasant, happy smile on her face. “Old man Doo—that’s what the kids used to call him. He would wash his car in his underwear.”

  “His underwear,” Bonnie repeated. “That’s funny.”

  They all laughed followed by his mom asking about Julia’s hair. Julia’s eyes lit up as she explained the mechanics of it. Tanner watched his mom’s amazement when she found out Julia had cut his hair. Yep, Tanner thought, Mom likes her. How could she not? Julia was so… Julia.

  ***

  After dinner, Tanner retrieved the NLP book, and he and Julia sat on the front porch steps.

  “I talked to my dad about Poppi’s parents when I got home,” Julia said. “Graham is their last name. He said he went to school with both of Poppi’s parents. Apparently, they were the “it” couple. He said after he went to college he didn’t hear anything else about them, except what we already know.”

  “At least we have the last name.”

  “Right. I called my nana and asked about my great aunt who lives in Mexico City.”

  “Cool. And?”

  “Well, apparently, she died last winter. I feel really bad that I forgot.”

  “Yikes.”

  “Nana did say that she would call some old friends of the family and see if she can find out if they still live there.”

  “Well that’s a start,” he said as he opened the book. “All right, I did some work myself. I read about half way through this book before you got here. I don’t see how any of this is going to help. I don’t know any more now than I did before I opened it.”

  “I told you it wouldn’t be easy, Julia said. “Let’s see. We need the grandmother to trust us so she will think it is her idea to let Poppi leave. You know, like how Zachary made you think you wanted to pick the red cup.”

  Tanner exhaled and shut the book. “Okay, I remember something about that. I sort of see how the book is saying how to do that. What do we do first?”

  “First,” she said as she stood up. “I’m going to go do some planting.”

  “Planting? Wait… Where are you going?”

  “I’ll be back,” she said as she walked backwards across the street. “I’m just going to talk to her.”

  “I don’t know, Julia.”

  She turned and waved her hand behind her.

  After Julia reached Poppi’s front door, she knocked and was making silly faces at Tanner until she suddenly stopped, straightened up and seemed to be talking to someone, most likely the grandmother. She waved her arms about and actually reached her hand inside the house. She took a step toward the door, and without even looking back at Tanner, walked inside the house.

  Tanner stood up. “Ooooh crap!”

  Chapter 18

  Julia’s plan had been to plant some words in Poppi’s grandmother’s head. After telling her she was visiting from a local church, she had told her key words like “let the spirit out,” and “don’t keep your feelings in,” and “freedom from the world.” Obviously, the lady got the message reversed and invited Julia in. She so should have practiced more.

  Julia had never seen Poppi’s grandmother before. By the way everyone, even Tanner, had described her, Julia had been expecting the epitome of evil. However, she merely saw a little old lady who wore her white hair up in a little old lady bun. She hunched over when she walked and used a cane—moving very, very slowly—and of course she had plenty of wrinkles and frown lines. Old. But not scary.

  On the other hand, Julia thought the house was another kind of creepy. When she stepped inside, darkness surrounded her. As her vision adjusted to the dim light, her nose and her lungs filled with thick mothball-and-gardenia scented air, causing a cough she couldn’t suppress.

  “This way, dear.”

  Julia followed closely and entered the living room within seconds. Packed full of stuff, it looked like the antique resale shop she and her mom had stopped by on the way to San Antonio a couple of summers before. Only a narrow trail led to the couch.

  “Have a seat,” the lady said, lighting a lantern that sat on the table. “I’ll be right back.”

  No electricity?

  The room lazily awoke with colors and individual animated pieces. Heavy drapes—dark red, orange and purple striped—covered the one large front window. Posters of men in top hats, ladies in leotards, Ferris wheels, and balloons covered the walls. Three life-sized stuffed bears and cluttered tables filled the room. She also noticed the crystal balls on gold stands, burning candles, and stacks and stacks of old books. The more Julia examined the room, the more she confirmed her suspicions that Poppi’s grandmother practiced, or used to practice, some sort of fortune telling.

  She stood to leave, remembering something her dad always said, “You can’t kid a kidder.” She knew she was over her head.

  The lady walked back inside the room carrying a tray with one hand and her cane in the other.

  “Oh,” Julia said, “Let me help you with that.”

  “Thank you.” Poppi’s grandmother released the tray of assorted cookies to her. Julia set it on the coffee table, having to scoot a pillar candle and a bowl of rotting apples down a bit to make room.

  “Have a cookie.” The old lady smiled, her teeth obviously her own.

  Julia hes
itated, but she couldn’t be rude. If she had to die by poisoned cookie, she would take the chocolate one. She sat back down, picked it up, and nibbled on the edge a little. “Ummm. Thank you.”

  “I would have brought some tea, but I’m afraid I couldn’t carry it all at once.”

  “No, no. These are fine.”

  The woman grunted as she sat down in a rocking chair beside the couch. “I don’t get many callers. It is so nice for you to stop in. What church did you say you were from?”

  What church indeed, Julia thought. No, she hadn’t mentioned. She looked away so that the lady wouldn’t be able to tell by her eye movement that she was not telling the truth. “First Baptist.”

  “Oh, and you’re going around the neighborhood at night, by yourself, telling people about it?”

  “Yeah,” Julia said. That was stupid to say. And she had told Tanner to stop being so impulsive.

  “I admire your dedication,” the lady said, the shadow of a bear’s claw across her face. They stared at each other for a minute.

  Julia decided to change the subject. “Quite a collection you have.”

  “I suppose I should get rid of it.” The lady sighed. “It’s so hard to let go sometimes.”

  The lady looked up and to the right. Julia knew by studying visual cues in the Frogs into Princes book that the woman was visualizing her past, and was most likely right handed. Not the kind of information that would help…

  “Perhaps it’s a punishment for my choices,” she continued. “A way to remember what I’ve done. A way to remind me not to let it happen again. Evil is in the hearts of men. Evil and heartache. Trust should not be given, because trust is the one thing that can destroy us. Misery is our punishment, and I guess I keep all of this junk so I won’t forget.”

  Julia thought now would be a good time to excuse herself. She could tell the lady to come visit her church on Sunday. However… she didn’t want to leave empty handed. She had made it inside enemy camp; she hadn’t foamed at the mouth from the cookie yet, so she figured she should at least try to take advantage of being there. If she couldn’t convince the lady to let her granddaughter go, maybe she could at least find the path to Poppi’s room. She had found out one thing already; the place needed flashlights.