A squawk escaped her throat. She might be naïve of most things of the world, but she was well aware of what “sacrifice” meant. She shook her head wildly, and he smiled at her. The smile was meant to be reassuring, but the intent was lost.
“Don’t worry, child, we’ll be certain you don’t feel anything.”
He stood and moved placidly away from her, as if he hadn’t just told her he planned to murder her. Rapunzel looked around desperately for anything that might help her escape. She glanced down at the straps that held her firmly to the bed. Realizing her panic wasn’t helping, Rapunzel forced herself to calm down, breathing deeply. and counted to ten.
Once her frenzy subsided, she manipulated her hands around until she could touch the strap. She moved her hands along the binding until she reached the metal buckle. Her eyes shot to Vedmak. He still faced away from her. She tucked her fingers up as far as she could reach, barely able to touch the edge of the lifting mechanism that would release the buckle.
Suddenly a woman entered the room, someone Rapunzel hadn’t seen before. Her eyes barely touched on Rapunzel before lifting to Vedmak.
“I’m here,” she announced solemnly.
“Good,” Vedmak answered, not turning to acknowledge her in any other way. The woman moved to the side and removed something from a hook. She wrapped the dark cloak around her, pulling the hood over her head, and Rapunzel trembled to the depths of her being. It was one of the hooded figures from her nightmare come to life.
Gothel swept into the room, already wearing a black cloak, fixing Rapunzel with a glare, smirking. “Where are the others?” she demanded of the hooded woman. “It’s nearly time.”
“They’re on their way,” the woman said. Rapunzel heard the disdain in the woman’s voice as she spoke to Gothel.
“Three others?” Gothel asked.
The woman didn’t answer, and Gothel turned to Vedmak. “Three others, right, Vedmak?”
“More or less,” he muttered.
“No,” Gothel interjected. “No more, no less. Three others, so there are six of us.”
Vedmak turned to face her. The look on his face terrified Rapunzel, but Gothel stood her ground.
“Tell me there will be six. You know the importance of the number.”
Vedmak sighed as if dealing with a child he had to reveal a harsh truth to. “It’s time to stop feeding these fantasies of yours, Gothel.”
“Fantasies?” she screeched. “You are the one who confirmed my belief in sixes. All things in sixes to bring my daughter back. The hook, remember?”
Vedmak’s voice hardened. “Nothing more than appeasing you. How else was I to get your willing cooperation? Your ideas are ridiculous.”
Gothel’s shoulders jerked back as if he’d physically assaulted her.
“Sixes are your obsession, Gothel. Not mine. And not necessary to the ritual.”
“What are you talking about?” Gothel asked angrily, pushing her shoulders forward aggressively, seeming not to notice the shroud of wrath encompassing Vedmak. Rapunzel glanced at the hooded woman and saw that she watched the two of them raptly. She unhurriedly moved her fingers along the strap again, searching for the buckle’s latch.
“The ritual we perform here is not for you, Gothel.”
“Of course it’s for me! The return of my daughter can be for no one else. You can’t back out now.”
“Oh, I don’t plan to,” he murmured ominously.
As if he hadn’t spoken, Gothel continued. “Haven’t I been working toward this with you for nearly eighteen years? Haven’t I done all you’ve asked? I’ve continued to build to appease your spirits.”
Vedmak burst out laughing, joined by the hooded woman. Rapunzel’s fingers froze in their search at the sound. There was not an ounce of humor to be heard in Vedmak’s laugh and only contempt in the hooded woman’s.
“How else could I get you to stop annoying me?” he demanded, all pretense of humor gone, his face darkening. “Your constant calls wanting your daughter back nearly drove me to the brink. Getting you to spend your time overseeing useless construction was nothing more than a means to an end for me.”
Gothel sputtered.
“You’re much easier to control when you have a purpose. I admit, when you first came to me I believed you to be a kindred spirit. It wasn’t long until I discovered you were nothing more than an insane old bat.” Gothel’s mouth dropped as did Rapunzel’s. How did he dare speak to her that way? Obviously Gothel wasn’t as intimidating to Vedmak as she was to Rapunzel. “But we needed your home and your money, both of which were easy enough to get by feeding your illusions.”
“You’re lying!” Gothel exclaimed, though her eye twitched and her voice quavered.
“No, Gothel,” Vedmak said, taking a step toward Gothel. “I’m not.”
Gothel moved toward the hooded woman, and Rapunzel slipped a finger beneath the buckle. She couldn’t lift the buckle, though. She took a breath, pushed it out, and slid her finger a bit further in.
“You see, Gothel, I doubted you would ever have a child. And I was right, you didn’t. But you did the next best thing—you found one.” Vedmak waved a hand toward Rapunzel just as the buckle lifted. Her heart stopped that she’d been caught, but none of them glanced her way. She held tightly to the two sides of the buckle, keeping it in place until she was sure they weren’t going to notice. “Good timing too. I was about to give up on you and find someone else. You brought me the girl I needed for my ritual, and not only found her, but kept her, raised her, fed her. Do you have any idea how much trouble you saved me? How much money? If someone saw her, it would be you who took the fall.”
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, k
nowing 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.
chapter
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41
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Rapunzel 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.”
Rapunzel Untangled Page 21