She paced around him, wrapping him ever more tightly in her long hair. She was definitely feeling more confident, knowing the power of the pan. “So, what do you want with my hair? To cut it?” she asked accusingly. “To sell it?”
“No! Listen, the only thing I want to do with your hair is get out of it,” Flynn said. “Literally.”
“Wait. You don’t want my hair?” Rapunzel asked in disbelief. Mother Gothel had always said that everyone would want to steal it.
“Why on earth would I want your hair?” Flynn asked. “Look, I was being chased, I saw a tower, and I climbed it. End of story.”
Rapunzel eyed him. If he didn’t want her hair, then she could trust him! Bracing herself, she got ready to take the next step in her plan.
“Okay, Flynn Rider,” she said finally. “I’m prepared to offer you a deal.”
“Deal?” Flynn said, willing to listen.
“Look this way,” she told him. Rapunzel headed toward the fireplace, her hair still wrapped around Flynn. His chair twirled like a spinning top.
“Do you know what these are?” she asked, stepping up on the mantel above the fireplace. She pulled back the curtain, revealing the mural of the floating lights.
Flynn nodded. “You mean the lantern thing they do for the Princess?”
“Lanterns?” Rapunzel gasped quietly. “I knew they weren’t stars!”
More confident than ever before, Rapunzel presented her plan to Flynn: “Well, tomorrow night, they will light the night sky with these lanterns. You will act as my guide, take me to the castle, and return me home safely. Then and only then will I return your satchel to you. That is my deal.”
Flynn refused.
Pascal punched his fist to give Rapunzel courage. Standing tall atop the mantel, her frying pan in hand, she said in her strongest voice, “You can tear this tower apart brick by brick. But without my help, you will never find your precious satchel.”
Flynn repeated the offer Rapunzel had made: “I take you to see the lanterns, bring you back home, and you’ll give me back my satchel?”
Rapunzel nodded, adding, “I promise. And when I promise something, I never, ever break that promise. Ever.”
But Flynn knew he could not go to the kingdom—not now! He was a wanted thief. So he changed his strategy. He relied on his charm and good looks. Confidently he pursed his lips and oh-so-carefully raised one eyebrow. He knew this was his handsomest expression.
Nothing happened. Flynn waited for Rapunzel to react.
Rapunzel waited for something to happen. Having never been with other people, she had no idea what this Flynn Rider was doing, but he did look awfully strange. It was kind of like that crazy look he had given her earlier.
“This is kind of an off day for me,” Flynn said, beginning to doubt himself. He was finding it hard to believe that this young woman was not swept off her feet by his charms!
“Fine,” Flynn said finally, “I’ll take you to see the lanterns.”
“Really?” Rapunzel exclaimed. This. Was. It! She was going to see the lights! She was so excited, she began jumping about the room, leaving Flynn bouncing in his hair-bound position on the chair, landing, at last, facedown on the floor.
A little while later, Flynn, unbound and freed from Rapunzel’s hair, began to climb down the tower the same way he had come up, using his arrows. He could not believe he was actually leaving this place. Just a while ago, he had thought it would be a place to hide from that horse!
Halfway down, he looked up. Rapunzel was standing in the window. She was still holding her pan in case of any trouble. She hadn’t moved an inch.
“You coming?” Flynn shouted up at her.
Rapunzel arranged her hair to let herself down from the tower safely. Then she checked to make sure Pascal had securely tied himself in her hair. The little chameleon gave her a thumbs-up for courage. This was her big day! She was terrified.
Turning, she looked back at her mural and stared at the lights she’d had painted on her wall for so many years. She’d been drawn to the lights all her life, and now, if she had the courage, she’d get to see them. She wished Mother Gothel had agreed to take her, but she knew she’d have to do this for herself.
Slowly, she climbed down the tower for the first time. Using her hair like a rope—as she had done so many times for Mother Gothel, but never for herself—she rappelled toward the ground. At the bottom of the tower, her toes touched the soft grass. Then she was standing on the ground for the first time in her life! The grass tickled her toes. It was cool. It felt wonderful. The sky looked enormous. The sunlight shimmered through the trees. It smelled fresh. Outside was great!
“Woo-hoo!” Rapunzel shouted, dancing in the sunlight. “I can’t believe I did this! I can’t believe I did this!”
Pascal hung on for dear life.
“This is incredible!” Rapunzel said as she and Flynn walked deeper into the forest. But then she remembered how her mother would feel if she knew she’d disobeyed her. Rapunzel shook her head. “Mother would be so furious.” She looked at Flynn and said, “But it’s okay. I mean, what she doesn’t know won’t kill her, right?” Flynn just shrugged and nodded.
Rapunzel knelt down to look at some leaves and mud on the forest floor. Everything was new and beautiful to her. She’d never seen anything like it.
“This is so fun!” she said to Flynn.
Rapunzel climbed a tree, and ran through a field of flowers. Then she saw a hill. A big, grassy hill. It looked…fun! She threw herself on her back and rolled down the hill, filled with delight. She wrapped her hair around a branch and swung through the air, hollering, “Best! Day! Ever!”
Finally, remembering Mother Gothel again, she slumped against a boulder and sobbed.
Flynn sat down next to her. “You know,” he said gently, “I can’t help but notice…you seem a little at war with yourself here.”
“What?” Rapunzel asked feebly.
Flynn moved closer, trying to seem gentle. He had an idea. He would play on Rapunzel’s guilt to force her to take him back to the tower, where he could retrieve his satchel and go on with his life!
“I’m just picking up bits and pieces,” he said to her softly, in a sugary-sweet voice. “Overprotective mother. Forbidden road trip. I mean, this is serious stuff. But let me ease your conscience: this is part of growing up. A little rebellion, a little adventure, that’s good! Healthy, even!”
“You think?” Rapunzel perked up a little.
“I know!” Flynn said confidently. “You’re way overthinking this. Trust me. Does your mother deserve it? No. Would this break her heart and crush her soul? Of course. But you’ve just got to do it!”
“She would be heartbroken,” Rapunzel concluded.
Flynn tried to look as distressed as Rapunzel. He had her wrapped around his little finger! He said as gently as he could, helping her to her feet, “Oh, bother. All right, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but—I’m letting you out of the deal.”
“What?” Rapunzel said. She knew she probably should go back to Mother Gothel, but she liked it outside. Nobody had hurt her. Maybe Mother Gothel had just been wrong about some things.
Flynn started to lead her back toward the tower. “Don’t thank me,” he was saying. “Let’s just get you home. I get back my satchel, you get back a mother-daughter relationship based on mutual trust, and voilà!—we part ways as unlikely friends.”
Rapunzel pulled herself together. She wasn’t ready to go back to the tower. “No. No,” she said firmly. “I’m seeing those lanterns.”
“Oh, c’mon!” Flynn whined. “What is it going to take for me to get my satchel back?”
Just then, something rustled through the bushes. “What is it?” Rapunzel asked, terrified. “Is it ruffians? Thugs? Have they come for me?” She leaped behind Flynn for protection.
A fuzzy rabbit jumped out of the bushes. Rapunzel blushed. Okay, now, that was a little embarrassing. She wondered if Flynn noticed that she had
overreacted a bit.
“Probably be best if we avoid ruffians and thugs?” Flynn asked.
Rapunzel agreed, “That’d probably be best.”
Flynn suddenly had an idea. “Are you hungry?” he said with a devious smile, still determined to scare her back to the tower—and his precious satchel with the crown. “I know a great place for lunch.”
“Where?” Rapunzel asked.
“Oh, don’t worry,” Flynn told her, grinning. “You’ll know it when you smell it.”
In another part of the forest, Maximus, the palace guard horse, was still eagerly sniffing the ground for Flynn Rider. Furious about losing Flynn, he saw one of Flynn’s WANTED posters. In a frenzy, Maximus ripped it from the tree with his teeth and shredded it into tiny bits. Maximus was not used to failing in a chase. And he definitely was not going to fail in this one. He had nothing but disdain for that cocky thief, and he couldn’t stand the thought that the man had evaded him. Maximus knew that he was considered the best horse in the royal guard. He had helped his humans win awards, promotions, and bonuses. And all that he asked for in return was a warm stable, some hay, and maybe a few oats every day.
But this was different. When it came to this conniving, disrespectful thief, Maximus had reached his limit. He wanted to apprehend Flynn Rider himself!
Maximus sniffed the air, trying to pick up the scoundrel’s scent. He looked for the puny footprints left by the puny man who barely made an imprint in the soil. Maximus knew—he knew—he would find those prints, however small, and track down Flynn Rider.
Suddenly, his ears perked up. There was a rustling in the bushes. Aha! The horse hid behind a large green bush, ready to catch that man. A figure, dark and shadowy, approached. When the figure got just close enough, he leaped out to confront it. But it wasn’t Flynn he found. He was face to face with Mother Gothel!
Who is she? Maximus wondered.
Mother Gothel was wondering the same thing about the horse. Startled at first, she quickly noticed the kingdom’s emblem on the horse’s bridle.
“A palace horse?” she mumbled to herself. “Where is your rider?” The palace guards rarely came around this area of the forest, not since—
“Oh, no,” Mother Gothel gasped. “Rapunzel!” There was no other explanation. The horse’s rider must have been searching for Rapunzel. That was the only reason for any royal guard to be in this part of the forest. What if he had found the tunnel into the valley, leaving the horse outside?
In a panic, Mother Gothel turned and ran back toward the tower. When she got there, she called out, “Rapunzel? Rapunzel! Let down your hair!” But no one answered.
She ran to the back of the tower. Long ago, she had used this entrance. But once Rapunzel’s hair had grown long enough for Mother Gothel to use it as a way of entering and exiting the tower, she had closed off the door, with bricks and mortar. Now, she ripped at the branches that had grown over the door and uncovered the hidden entrance.
At least no one got in this way, she thought as she began prying away the bricks with her bare hands, until she could open the door behind the wall she had built.
Climbing a secret staircase, Mother Gothel burst through a door hidden in the floor. She looked around the tower. It was just as she feared. The tower was empty.
In a fury, Mother Gothel ransacked the tower. Rapunzel couldn’t leave. She had raised the child! Rapunzel believed everything Mother Gothel had told her. All that work nurturing her precious flower, the child with the magical hair—had it all been for naught?
“Rapunzel!” she called out desperately. Then she saw a glint of something under the stairs. She moved toward it, walking up a few steps, and a board creaked under her foot.
Mother Gothel ripped the board away and found a satchel hidden underneath. She pulled it out and looked inside. Much to her horror, she found a crown inside. The crown of the lost princess! Then she saw the WANTED poster with Flynn Rider’s picture on it.
Mother Gothel wasted no time. She grabbed a dagger and the satchel and quickly left the empty tower.
As Mother Gothel tore through the forest searching for Rapunzel, Flynn and Rapunzel were still searching for a place to eat.
“Ah, there it is!” Flynn exclaimed at last. “The Snuggly Duckling!”
Rapunzel stared at the little tavern. It looked interesting. She cocked her head. The crooked old wooden building was tucked into the base of a large tree. It seemed as if the tree and the building had grown together and the tree had determined which way they would grow. Having never seen any building other than the stone tower, she thought it seemed perfectly natural that the wooden shingles and shutters would fit right into the tree. One wall of the tavern bent out around a root. The peak of the tavern’s roof curved down under a limb. And the tavern seemed wobbly all over.
Outside the tavern, there were some horses. They seemed gentle. She wasn’t too frightened of them, but she did wonder why they were tied to a fence.
“Don’t worry,” Flynn said. “It’s a very quaint place, perfect for you. Don’t want you getting scared and giving up on this whole endeavor, now, do we?”
He was determined to terrify that girl right back to her tower, retrieve his crown, and cash it in.
“Well, I do like ducklings,” Rapunzel said, trying to be positive as she worried about the possibility of finding ruffians inside.
“Who doesn’t?” Flynn said brightly. “I’m buying. And by buying,” he said with a wink, “I mean stealing. And by stealing, I mean taking unlawfully.” He chuckled to himself. This girl was oh, so naïve! She was practically clinging to him, her body trembling in fear.
“Garçon!” Flynn shouted to the greasy tavern keeper as they entered the ramshackle establishment. “Your finest table, please!”
The tavern was dark and musty inside. It was noisy, too, filled with the sounds of men yelling and fighting, laughing and grumbling. Rapunzel’s eyes widened. A silence fell over the room as she and Flynn entered. When her eyes adjusted to the gloom, she looked around. The tavern was filled with a large group of terrifying, brutish men!
Ruffians and thugs! Rapunzel’s heart raced. They want my hair!
Rapunzel was horrified as she and Flynn made their way through the tavern. The thugs were battle-scarred and wore armor that had been pierced by arrows; they carried axes and spears. Not a single one had bathed or shaved. Poor Pascal turned sickly green when he saw that the cook was making lizard stew.
Suddenly, Rapunzel felt someone grab a piece of her hair.
“That’s a lot of hair,” the thug said menacingly.
“Is that blood in your mustache?” Flynn asked another, smaller thug. “Look at this, look at all the blood in his mustache!” Flynn said to Rapunzel.
Rapunzel backed away in terror and bumped into another thug. “Sorry,” she said to the man. “Sorry.”
Flynn could see that Rapunzel was as white as a ghost. His plan was working. “Hey, you don’t look so good, Blondie. Maybe we should get you home, call it a day?” he suggested hopefully.
“Okay.” Rapunzel nodded.
“Probably better off doing just that.” Flynn shrugged. “This is a five-star joint, after all. And if you can’t handle this place, well, maybe you should be back in your tower.”
Flynn had opened the door to leave when a huge hand grabbed the door and slammed it. The hand slapped the WANTED poster of Flynn onto the door.
“Is this you?” the huge man said.
Now Flynn turned pale. He was in a room full of thugs, and his experience with thugs was that they didn’t show much mercy when a reward was involved.
Every thug in the room eyed the reward mentioned on the poster. All heads turned in Flynn’s direction with a keen interest.
“It’s him, all right,” one thug said. “Greno, go find some guards.”
“That reward’s gonna buy me a new hook,” a one-armed thug said, licking his chops.
The bartender grabbed Flynn. “I could use the money,”
he said.
“What about me?” another thug interrupted. “I’m broke.”
A brawl quickly ensued, with bottles crashing and chairs flying. Everyone was pulling at Flynn. Pascal and Rapunzel ducked and cringed, terrified.
“Please!” Flynn squealed from under the pile of filthy men. “We can work this out!” But the only replies were grunts, shouts, and growls.
Rapunzel tried to help. She raised her frying pan and spoke up. “Um, excuse me? Ruffians?” she said.
“Gentlemen! Please!” Flynn cried as one of his arms was twisted behind his back and his knee was jammed into a table.
“Is it possible to just get my guide back?” Rapunzel shouted. She poked one of the thugs with her pan. “Just stop. Stop!” Nothing happened.
Rapunzel looked around. She saw a large table and jumped on top of it. It was time to take action! She whacked her pan against a giant pot hanging from the ceiling. CLANG! Then, with all her might, she yelled, “PUT HIM DOWN!”
For a moment, there was absolute silence. Every thug in the tavern stopped what he was doing and stared at the young woman.
Rapunzel took a breath. “Okay,” she said to the rabid mob, “I don’t know where I am, and I need him to take me to see the lanterns because I’ve been dreaming about them my entire life! Find your humanity!” she pleaded. “Haven’t you ever had a dream?”
Flynn cringed. A dream? Did she really want to talk about dreams with this crowd? His heart sank. He was definitely going to end up with a broken nose.
Then the thug with a hook for a hand moved toward Rapunzel with a menacing look. Rapunzel froze.
“I had a dream once,” the brute said softly. He tossed aside his axe and told Rapunzel that he’d dreamed of being a pianist. Finding a small piano, he began to play.
A burly thug covered in bumps and bruises took the opportunity to tell Rapunzel about his dream. He handed her a flower. He wanted to fall in love! Rapunzel patted his hand.
Tangled Junior Novel Page 3