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“Rapunzel, I need to ask a favor.”
A shadow flitted over the pages of Rapunzel’s book, temporarily blocking the light streaming in the bay window. She looked up to see her mother, the woman’s expression troubled.
As Arianna settled down into the sunny, cushioned reading nook, Rapunzel heaved a sigh. She slipped in a small bookmark and pushed the book aside. “What is it, Mother?”
“I’m sorry.” Arianna bit her lip, not quite meeting her daughter’s eyes. “I don’t mean to interrupt.”
“You didn’t, really,” Rapunzel lied. Although she would just as soon have finished her story than have to deal with whatever this was, she always made time to help her mother. Arianna worked so hard for her, and Rapunzel had always felt she needed to honor it.
“I—I need you to deliver something, sweetie.”
Rapunzel raised her eyebrows, wondering why this was phrased like such a grave undertaking.
She ran errands for Arianna all the time. She was always more than happy to go into town and shop for clothes or books, or pick up fresh food and trimmed flowers at the nearest market. Of course, she rarely delivered things, but it didn’t seem like too difficult a task.
“Okay,” she said slowly. “Who to?”
“Mother Gothel, on the path through the woods.”
Oh. Rapunzel stiffened.
“Mother Gothel? The wi—”
“Don’t call her that.” Arianna cut her off, eyes hardening. “She’s not—she doesn’t do dark magic. She’s just a little eccentric is all.”
Rapunzel had heard the rumors about Mother Gothel, holed away in a dilapidated little cottage in one of the darker parts of the forest. Her home was at the end of a long, overgrown trail that rarely got a full dose of sunlight. It was anyone’s guess why she chose to isolate herself from the rest of the town, or why she didn’t try to move out of such a dangerous spot. The woods were unforgiving enough that Rapunzel had trouble imagining anyone braving the heart of it without some kind of self-defense magic.
The forest had a reputation. Go too deep in, and you’d be claimed as a part of it…in the most brutal and visceral way possible, no less. There were plenty of records of villagers disappearing over the years, wandering into the tall pines and never coming back out.
It would be easy to dismiss as the work of particularly aggressive bears and mountain lions, if not for the stories of grimy, harried townsfolk coming out of the forest with their clothes in shreds. They often stumbled into town on moonlit nights, raving on and on about wolf attacks. They claimed they saw friends and family and lovers bitten by hideous, lupine creatures, transforming into monsters right before their very eyes.
She shuddered. The tales were common enough that the forest had become known for its…lycanthrope problem, to put it lightly. Rapunzel and her parents lived near the village edge themselves, but the long shadows of trees only loomed over their roof from one side.
As for Mother Gothel, Rapunzel had seen her in town a few times. The old woman seemed normal enough—friendly, charismatic, a tad overdramatic and loud, but nothing Rapunzel would give a second glance.
Mother Gothel had a strange aura about her, though. When she chatted up Rapunzel, something always seemed off. Maybe it was that she was a little condescending, phrasing things like Rapunzel was stupid when asking about her family, her home, her friends. Not that the conversations ever went on more than a few minutes.
She also tended to reach out and touch Rapunzel’s hair when she was taking to her, always marveling at how beautiful it was. Rapunzel wasn’t sure she liked that.
Regardless of all that, Arianna’s request was still odd.
Rapunzel pressed her back into a throw pillow. “Why do we need to deliver her something, Mother?”
“It’s complicated.” Arianna wouldn’t meet her eyes again, and Rapunzel’s frown deepened.
“What’s going on?”
“Long story.”
“Tell me, then. If you want me to go on some long trek through the woods, then I at least want to know why.” Rapunzel crossed her arms and pouted defiantly.
“Okay.” Arianna pulled her knees up onto the bay window cushion, hugging them to her chest. She smiled wanly. “Well…did you know your father and I used to be Gothel’s neighbors?”
“What, really?” Rapunzel’s eyes widened in surprise. “So she didn’t always live in that run-down cottage?”
Arianna laughed. “No, no. She was next door to us for a number of years. Your father and I were—well, not friends with her, I suppose, but we were cordial enough. She intimidated us, to be honest. She always had the most lush, beautiful gardens. Frederick and I used to joke she must enchant her flowers for them to grow that high.”
Rapunzel raised an eyebrow. “That’s what you were intimidated by?”
“Quality horticulture isn’t easy, you know!” Arianna reached out and swatted her arm, and Rapunzel laughed.
Her mother’s expression grew serious as she continued. “The truth is that our family owes her a debt. Because of something that happened a long time ago.”
“Really?” Rapunzel couldn’t imagine what a creepy lady who lived in the middle of the woods could possibly be holding over her parents, but her past apparently had as many plot twists as the book she put down earlier.
Arianna heaved a heavy sigh. “When I was pregnant with you, I got sick. Your father and I weren’t sure what the illness was, or what to do about it. The doctor was perplexed. All I know for sure is that I felt awful, and for whatever reason, my cravings were worse than usual.” She laughed dryly.
“I remember I kept wanting…vegetables. Strange choice, I know, when something like cookies would make more sense, but for whatever reason I just couldn’t get enough salad.”
Rapunzel couldn’t help but chuckle, imagining a rotund Arianna Corona cramming kale and spinach into her mouth with reckless abandon. It was an odd thing to yearn for, Rapunzel would admit.
“Anyhow, one morning I woke up wanting lettuce more than anything. It was—well, it felt like so far to the market, and Gothel was out, and her lettuce patch was overflowing—there was no way she could have eaten all of it. Not to mention she also had way too many of this one type of yellow lily as well, and Frederick heard you can make a truly incredible stew with the roots.”
Rapunzel’s eyes widened as the realization dawned on her. “So you stole some.”
Her mother’s eyes swam with guilt. “I know it was wrong. We thought she wouldn’t miss one flower and one head of lettuce. Frederick made a soup from it, and it was the best I’ve ever had. But then…”
Arianna paused, fingers working in the fabric of a cushion. “Gothel came knocking the next day. Turned out she kept better track of her produce than we thought. She was furious. Said we owed her a favor. Frederick tried to apologize, but she wouldn’t have it. I remember she moved about a month later and plucked the garden dry before she left.”
“What happened with the sickness?” Rapunzel asked.
Arianna smiled mysteriously. “I felt better after drinking that strange soup. Maybe there was some magic in it after all. I gave birth to you not long after, powers and all.”
Arianna ruffled her daughter’s golden hair affectionately. Blushing, Rapunzel looked away.
Not many knew about her gift. She kept it a secret from the other townspeople, worrying they would look at her like a freak—or worse, an asset to be used. Her parents were some of the few who knew she had magic.
And Jackson Overland had, too.
Jackson Overland had been a grubby sort of boy, always running through the mud and swinging around trees with his shepherd’s crook and getting them both into all sorts of trouble. He wasn’t the sort of company her parents particularly approved of. Nonetheless, he had been her best friend, and one of the few people she would trust with anything.
Before he…
Rapunzel’s heart clenched with grief.
Both Jack and his little sister Emma had been lost to the ice the previous winter. They were skating on a pond in the forest when it unexpectedly caved, plunging them into frigid water. Rapunzel still remembered how loud she screamed when she went looking for them and found a gaping hole in the ice, piecing together what had happened.
From what she heard, their bodies were never found—not even when the pond thawed in the spring. In all honesty, she preferred it that way.
She shuddered, imagining Jack’s frozen, lifeless face peeking up through the water, brown eyes staring emptily at nothing.
“Sweetie?”
Rapunzel returned to the present, shoving away the image. “So we owe Mother Gothel a favor?”
“Yes.” Arianna leaned back against a pillow in the windowsill, sighing again. “I ran into her in the marketplace the other day, and she asked if you could deliver her some vegetables. She wanted the same ones we took from her, all those years ago. To make it even, I suppose.”
Something in Rapunzel’s skin began to crawl. “Mother…why does she want me to deliver the vegetables?”
Arianna gave her an apologetic look. “She’s an odd woman. It’s possible that since my pregnancy cravings were what brought about the whole issue, she figures it’s only fair that the um…result of all that return what was originally hers. Strange line of thinking, I know. But that’s what she requested.”
Rapunzel’s fingers dug into the cushion, sudden annoyance gripping her. “That’s not fair! I didn’t ask you and Father to steal from her! Why should I have to be the one to make it up to her?”
Arianna winced at her harsh tone, and Rapunzel felt a pang of guilt. She didn’t normally speak so sharply, but she couldn’t push down the bubbling fear rising in her.
“I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “You know I’m usually happy to help when I can. I just—I’m afraid, Mother. I’ve never gone that deep into the woods before. I mean, Jack and I used to go exploring, but never that far. And now I’ll be alone. What if I run into…” She trailed off, stomach clenching.
“Ah.” Arianna’s tone softened. “You’re worried about werewolves.”
Rapunzel nodded.
“I have just the thing for that.” Arianna stood up, giving Rapunzel’s shoulder a friendly pat. Without another word, she turned and walked out of the front room.
The roiling in Rapunzel’s stomach didn’t cease. Whatever her mother was fetching, she doubted it would shake the anxiety of a pointy-eared, bushy-tailed shape trailing her in the shadows, saliva dripping from its great jaw.
Arianna returned a few minutes later with a wicker basket in one hand and a long, bright red cloak in the other.
“Wear this,” Arianna said, handing her the cape. “It signifies you’re under the protection of the Axers.”
Rapunzel frowned. “The Axers?”
“Werewolf hunters. They roam the forest collecting firewood for the town and protecting travelers and explorers from wolf attacks. The cloak is supposed to be a warning sign—a lycanthrope sees that shade of red, and they know they can’t hurt you without risking a hatchet in the chest. I suspect the color is striking enough that they still remember what it meant from when they were human: Stay away.”
Rapunzel shivered again. It was an unsettling thought, imagining the vicious wolves who prowled beneath the dark trees as once having been people. Just like her, just like Arianna.
She took the bright cloak, running her fingers across the silky, blood-red fabric. “So if I wear this…I’ll be safe?”
Arianna nodded emphatically. “Yes. I promise.”
Rapunzel relaxed. That was one thing she had unquestionably gotten from her mother—they both kept their promises.
Perhaps she’d be all right.
“What about Mother Gothel?” she asked uneasily. “Do I have to do anything when I get to her place?”
Arianna shook her head. “Just knock on her door, let her see it’s you, hand off the basket, and be on your way. You don’t even have to talk to her if you don’t want.”
The blonde girl considered. Maybe if she speed-walked, she could be done with the whole affair in less than a morning.
“Please, Rapunzel?” As she hesitated, her mother gazed at her with pleading in her big green eyes—the eyes that reflected her own in a way too close for comfort.
“Fine. Fine, Mother.” Like she could ever say no to that face. “I’ll go.”
Rapunzel’s boots crunched against the dirt, hands tightly gripping the basket’s handle. It was only just past midday, but the shadows of tall trees slicing across the path were still a little too dark for her tastes.
She hadn’t strayed from the path. She’d kept an eye on the summer sky, ever a crystal-clear blue. She wasn’t about to lose focus and get lost in the forest, and not notice before deep green leaves completely blocked out the sun.
She wasn’t scared. Being scared was for little girls, not independent and self-reliant 17-year-olds. She was, however, beginning to get the slightest bit annoyed. This whole excursion was taking significantly longer than she planned, and her book back home wasn’t going to read itself. She was also, perhaps, growing a little tense. Not afraid, but tense.
The darkness stretching away under the trees and the anticipation of having to face Gothel in all of her unnerving strangeness was certainly not helping.
Rapunzel cracked open the lid of the basket and glanced down, hoping the smell of the fresh-baked cookies on top would relax her. She made them as a means of placating Gothel, if needed—a way to suck up to the woman long enough to cause a distraction, allowing Rapunzel to quietly take her leave.
Admittedly she had snuck a couple cookies on her trek. Only to keep her energy up, she kept telling herself.
“Hey, you.”
Rapunzel looked up and started.
While she was preoccupied with her baked goods, a massive white wolf had slithered out of the forest. He now sat on the path in front of her, blocking the way.
Her hands trembled as she put two and two together.
He had to be the one who spoke to her. There was no one else around.
Werewolf.
She hadn’t imagined a beast known for its untamed ferociousness would still be capable of human speech, but today was full of surprises, apparently.
Swallowing, she took a step back. “Hi.”
“Where are you off to?” The wolf took a couple paces forward, cocking his head to the side.
“Um…making a delivery to Mother Gothel,” Rapunzel said nervously. “At the end of the path.”
The creature stepped forward, studying her with a pair of striking, icy-blue eyes. He raised his snout, sniffing the air a few times. Rapunzel stiffened.
“Something smells good,” he said. “You make cookies?”
An odd feeling stirred in her as the wolf stepped closer. His voice was rough and gravelly, more canine growl than words, and yet…
Something about it sounded eerily familiar. There was an odd twinkle in those icy eyes, too—one that Rapunzel could swear she’d seen somewhere before.
Creepy.
Not something to mull over, she told herself. She was face-to-face with one of the most infamous terrors of the forest. Not getting eaten should probably take priority over getting to the bottom of why it made her stomach tighten when the wolf tipped his head again and raised his tail up almost…playfully.
It was a strange sensation. Almost a sort of yearning, but for what she couldn’t tell.
No matter. No reason to let her guard down.
“Yes, I have cookies,” she said carefully.
“Magical? They smell too good to be regular cookies.”
Despite herself, Rapunzel laughed. “No, nothing magical in here. I did just bake them this morning, though. You want one?”
Maybe a sweet snack would appease the beast, and she could be on her way.
The wolf sat, wrinkling his nose in what looked like amusement. “Can’t eat chocolate.”
“They’re sugar, actually,” she offered.
His eyes brightened. “Oh, yeah, then that would be great.”
She reached into the basket, pulling out a pink-dusted cookie and tossing it at the wolf. He leaped gleefully into the air, quickly snapping up the baked good in his massive jaws.
Rapunzel started walking again, skirting around the munching wolf. To her dismay, the creature followed her down the path, keeping perfect pace as he chewed.
She grabbed a handful of red cloak, squeezing it so hard her knuckle turned white.
“Don’t try anything,” she said, making her voice as steely as she could. “I’m sure there are Axers nearby.”
“What, you think I want to maul you or something?” The wolf asked around a mouthful of cookie.
Rapunzel didn’t answer, avoiding his bright blue stare. He swallowed and let out a snort.
“I’m not an idiot. I don’t want to get sliced in half. It’s just that I don’t see a lot of travelers on this path. Maybe a guy gets lonely out here, and wouldn’t mind a little company from time to time.”
She stopped, giving him a confused look. “Aren’t there other werewolves?”
“Sure, but it’s not the same.” The wolf looked like he tried to shrug, and wasn’t quite successful with his non-human shoulders. “Sometimes you want to see a little of what’s going on back in the human world.”
They studied each other, both seeming to not quite know what to make of the situation.
The wolf certainly didn’t seem like a brutish, bloodthirsty beast to Rapunzel. They were having a civil enough conversation.
“Isn’t the human world—well, aren’t they your prey now?” Rapunzel asked suspiciously. “The townspeople always warned me about werewolves. Said they only care about filling their bellies.”
Something flashed through the wolf’s eyes. Almost…sadness.
“And you trust them?”
Rapunzel nodded. “They’re my neighbors. My friends. Of course I do.”
“Sometimes people say that kind of thing to make you scared of whatever you don’t understand. I’m sure some of them mean well, but a lot of your villager friends don’t know what the hell they’re talking about.”
Rapunzel scoffed. “Easy for you to say. You can get meals out of people thinking like that.”
She thought she saw the wolf wince, but she could have imagined it. He bounded up in front of her, turning to look right into her eyes.
“This…Gothel. Do you trust her?”
Rapunzel shrugged. “Mother sent me to see her alone, and she wouldn’t if she believed Gothel was dangerous. If my mother trusts her, so do I.”
The wolf sighed. “You really should be more careful who you put your trust in. People often aren’t what they seem.”
“Yeah…like you.” Rapunzel took a step back, frowning. “I think I’m already telling you too much. Why are you so concerned with me, anyway?”
She wanted to slap herself. Familiarity be damned, it had been stupid to trust a wolf.
“Just giving some friendly advice,” he replied evenly. He started to back away toward the treeline, keeping his blue gaze fixed on her. “Naiveté is kind of a sad way to go. You have to watch your back out here. There’s plenty of monsters who’d just as soon use you for their own ends, Rapunzel. Sometimes when you’re that eager to see the best in everyone, you don’t realize how knee-deep in a mess you are until it’s too late.”
“Wait.” Rapunzel froze, the full weight of the wolf’s words dropping on her. “How do you know my name?”
He gave her one last sorrowful look. “I know a lot of things about you, Zellie. It’s—it’s all safe with me, but it won’t be with everyone. You take care of yourself out there.”
The wolf turned, and the last of the fluffy white tail vanished into the shadows of the trees. Rapunzel was left staring after him for several moments, feeling hollow.
“Mother Gothel?”
Rapunzel rapped several times on the rotting wood of the cabin door. The smell of moss, mold, and overgrowth seemed to drift from every crack, making her nose wrinkle. There was no response.
She did catch wind of what sounded like banging and clattering inside.
“Mother Gothel?” Rapunzel knocked again. “Are you okay in there?”
Again, no answer. She pressed her ear to the door, and her heart nearly stopped.
Inside, she heard a low growling and the click of long claws against floorboards.
Maybe she didn’t need to start hyperventilating. Maybe Mother Gothel just had a guard dog.
Or maybe the old woman was in serious trouble.
“Should I come in?” she called tentatively.
“Everything is fine, dear!” answered a cheery voice. “Just leave the basket outside and I’ll get it later.”
Rapunzel narrowed her eyes.
She’d only heard Gothel’s voice a handful of times, at bustling market stalls and sometimes briefly while passing on roads. She was no expert on how it sounded.
Still, she could recall it enough to know it did not at all match the one inside the cabin. The one in the cottage sounded less like a deep-voiced woman and more like…a harsh bark trying to mimic a high pitch.
Not suspect at all.
“You don’t sound fine,” Rapunzel said. “I think I’m going to come in and check on you.”
She slipped her hand onto the doorknob and turned, blinking in surprise as the door easily slid open. Apparently when you lived out in the middle of nowhere, robbers and break-ins weren’t as much of a concern.
Rapunzel stepped into the gloomy cabin, lit only by faint sunlight streaming in through high windows. She could see amorphous shadows across the room, bending and flickering into uncanny shapes in a dark corner.
“Hello?” Rapunzel clutched the basket tighter, creeping forward. “Mother Gothel, are you here?”
She could hear some kind of scratching, accompanied by another husky growl. There was a sickening squelching noise, and sweat pooled on Rapunzel’s skin.
It sounded like long teeth sinking into flesh.
She took another cautious step forward, and a beam of light glinted off something shiny on the floor.
A trail of blood.
As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she made out the crumpled body of a woman in the corner. The faint outline of a white wolf was standing over her, snout darkened with blood. The creature looked up, ice-blue eyes searing into Rapunzel.
Rapunzel shrieked like never before.
“Wh—what have you done?” she gasped out.
The wolf stalked toward her, flashing honed white teeth.
“She was going to steal you,” he snarled. “Lock you away where no one could have you but her. I had to do something.”
“Steal me?” Rapunzel gave him an iron glare, refusing to cower. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“I hear her muttering to herself every time I pass by her house,” the wolf growled. “About getting her ‘flower’ back. About being able to stay young forever. And I sure as hell don’t think she’s talking about whatever’s in there.” He gestured his nose viciously at the basket still hanging from one hand.
Rapunzel raised her other hand to her head, running it down a blonde lock. How on earth did the wolf know about her hair…?
In any case, the wolf was claiming Gothel had known, too. That Gothel had wanted to take Rapunzel and use the golden-haired girl’s gift for her own purposes.
Perhaps there’d been more in that soup made from Gothel’s vegetables than Arianna knew.
“She was going to take you prisoner,” the wolf went on. “In her attic. I saw the room she was going to keep you in. I promise you you wouldn’t have ever seen your parents or the rest of your village again.”
She glowered at him. “If you knew she was dangerous, why didn’t you tell me not to come?! Why did you have to kill her?”
The creature gave her a frosty look. “You’ve always had a knack for putting too much trust in the wrong people. You wouldn’t have listened to me.”
Rapunzel took a step back, fists clenching in anger. “Stop talking like you know me!”
“I do know you!” the wolf snapped, the slightest note of pain finding its way into his voice. He paused after he said it, looking alarmed.
Like he had let something slip he didn’t mean to.
“Anyways, I saved you,” he hissed. “I stopped her from taking you as a slave. Sheesh, would it be too much to ask for a ‘thank you’?”
Rapunzel’s face hardened, looking from the carnage to the bloody-pawed wolf and back again.
“I’m not thanking you for anything. You’re a murderer. A monster.”
The wolf looked like he’d been struck. Rapunzel didn’t care.
“You don’t think I could have taken care of myself?” she demanded. “You don’t think I could have fended her off when she tried to trap me?”
He lowered his head, ears flattening.
“She was going to trick you, Zellie,” he said softly. “You’re smart, but she is, too. I think she could’ve hidden the warning signs from anyone until it was too late.”
Tears sprung to the corners of Rapunzel’s eyes, her throat suddenly feeling heavy. “Stop calling me that!” she choked out.
Only one other person had ever called her Zellie, and he was rotting in pond muck. The last thing she wanted was for this wild, murderous beast to bastardize his memory. The wolf stepped towards her, giving her a long look.
Everything suddenly clicked into place so quickly that it made Rapunzel’s head spin.
Why the wolf’s eyes twinkled in a way that was all too familiar. Why the playfully raised tail and tipped head brought to mind the springy movements of a boy bounding through the woods. Why the creature knew her name, her magic hair, and the nickname reserved only for her best friend.
Why Jackson Overland’s body had never been found at the bottom of that pond.
“Jack?” she whispered.
He didn’t have time to respond before there was a loud shattering of glass from the next room. Both their heads whipped around.
Rapunzel barely registered what was happening before the Axer was in the room, a display of rippling muscles and scarred forearms and a black beard as thick as forest undergrowth. A face permanently creased by brutality.
“I heard you scream, miss,” he said, voice nearly rougher than the wolf’s.
Rapunzel’s eyes widened. “No, wait—”
The Axer did not wait.
She didn’t even finish her sentence before he was flying across the room, axe poised and aimed for the kill. The wolf crouched down, cowering with wide, terrified eyes beside Mother Gothel’s body. Completely frozen with fear.
Rapunzel wasn’t, though.
She ran into the Axer’s path, hands held up desperately. “Stop! He wasn’t going to hurt me!”
The Axer sneered down at her. “What are you, insane? That thing’s planning on having the old lady for dinner and you for dessert. Now get out of my way and let me do my job!”
“No.” Rapunzel’s eyes grew steely. “I won’t let you hurt him.”
The Axer scoffed, taking a massive hand and shoving her roughly aside. Rapunzel gasped, caught off-guard by the effortless strength.
She screamed as he made a strike. The man barely missed, slicing his axe into floorboards as the wolf rolled away. The Axer swung wildly, thundering around the room as the white-furred creature dodged more and more frantically. The wolf made a dash for the cracked front door, but the Axer was ready to block his path with a thrashing hatchet at every turn.
Rapunzel shrieked again as she heard a yelp and saw a splash of red on white fur. The man’s aim was getting better, and the wolf would only be able to squirm out of the way so many times.
And Rapunzel had a feeling the Axer wouldn’t stop until the beast was hacked to pieces.
She scanned the room frantically, looking for any makeshift weapon. Her eyes landed on a heavy, cast-iron frying pan, hanging from a peg on the wall.
The Axer had the wolf cornered at last, after several minutes of ferocious cat-and-mouse. The werewolf hunter raised his hatchet, sneering down at his prey in the seconds before the killing blow fell.
The hatchet never met its mark.
The Axer was tall, and Rapunzel had to jump, but her aim was true. She slammed the pan into the Axer’s head with every bit of strength she had. He gasped, collapsing to the ground in a heavy lump.
The axe clattered to the floor, trailing drops of blood as it slid away.
“Jack?” Rapunzel glanced around the room, but the white wolf was nowhere to be found.
She just managed to catch a glimpse of a tail flitting out the front door before he was gone.
Rapunzel’s boots squished damp leaf litter as she walked, the sound blending into the evening chorus of chirping crickets and hooting owls. In one hand she held a lantern, soft golden glow lighting the way beneath the blackening trees. In the other she held a wicker basket, axe laid across the top like a decorative ribbon.
It wasn’t difficult to follow the pawprints in the leaves and mud, or the tufts of white fur caught in brambles. Nonetheless, she was growing worried she’d lost the trail.
That was, until she heard a harrowing noise up ahead.
It was a sort of pained, animalistic whine, mixed with what sounded like human moans.
The dying sunlight was silhouetting…something a little ways away. Some creature sitting upright on its knees, but with small, pointed ears and a light dusting of sun-traced fur. Its arms, resting on the ground beside it, seemed to end with the outline of thin fingers and long claws.
Not quite wolf, not quite human.
As Rapunzel drew closer, the noise became clearer. It was guttural, uneven, pained.
Almost like the sound of rough, ragged sobs.
Rapunzel ran to him.
She nearly threw down the lantern and the basket as she got close, making out the white-furred shape crumpled on the ground. She slid up behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist and pulling him close to her.
“Jack!”
The broken sobs stopped for just a moment. “Rapunzel?”
She felt tears of her own begin to well. “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry, Jack. I should have known.”
A gnarled, clawed hand closed over one of her own, squeezing it gently. “It’s okay. I…don’t think this is what you were expecting. Can’t blame you for not figuring it out.”
She held him tighter, suddenly wanting to keep him as close as she possibly could.
Like she was terrified someone was going to take him away again.
“Why didn’t you tell me it was you?” she murmured.
“Same reason Emma and I broke that hole in the ice to make it look like we drowned.” His voice took on a mournful tone. “I—I didn’t want you to see me like that. I wanted you to remember me as that happy kid you climbed trees and got into trouble with. I didn’t want you to know I was still out there as some…monster in the woods that parents warn their kids about at night.”
She thought of how she’d looked at him earlier, and her stomach squirmed with guilt. “I’m sorry I called you a monster. And I’m sorry I screamed. I nearly got you killed by that Axer.”
“No, it’s…it’s all right.” He sighed, leaning into her. His grip on her hand tightened. “It was fucked up. What I did back there. I get why you were horrified. I just—I know you love your freedom more than anything, and I know you’ve always wanted to see the world. And when I thought of someone trying to take that all away from you, I—I got so angry. I lost control.” His voice broke, and he heaved another sob. “I think you were right. I am a monster. I shouldn’t have killed her.”
Rapunzel buried her face in the back of his neck. A little crooked, a little elongated, not quite human, but still his nonetheless. “You were trying to protect me,” she said softly. “I see that now. And you’re not a monster. I know you’d never do anything to hurt me—or any good person.”
“I don’t know,” he whispered, voice shaking. “I hope not. But the wolf—it’s different, Zel. It’s like everything in me that I’ve always been ashamed of. Everything that I’m too afraid to show. And sometimes it’s out for blood.”
Rapunzel hummed thoughtfully.
“We all have a side like that, I imagine. Yours just manifests a little more…physically. And it has to, if you’re going to protect yourself out here.”
He sniggered, leaning into her even more. “God. I missed your dumb philosophizing.”
“And I missed your snide comments.” She chuckled briefly before her expression turned serious again.
“Did both you and Emma get turned?”
She felt him nod against her. “We got tired of ice skating that day. Put on our boots to go play in the snow deeper in the woods. We were attacked by a group of renegade werewolves and we couldn’t run fast enough.”
Rapunzel brushed her thumb across clawed fingers. “I’m sorry.”
He shrugged. “We adjusted. As much as anyone can, anyways. Joined a pack. Learned how to hunt and how to avoid the Axers. Emma’s the most experienced pup there now—she’s taken it on herself to mentor the younger ones.”
“Werewolf pups…” Rapunzel frowned, shuddering at the thought of someone so young having to undergo such a brutal transformation.
“It was hard at first,” Jack admitted. “It got better eventually. We always had each other. We have the rest of the pack now. But you—I always missed you. Feeling like I could never see you again without you…I don’t know, turning away in disgust. That hurt more than anything.”
Rapunzel frowned. “Now why would I do that?”
“I mean…look at me.”
He squirmed out of her grip, turning to meet her eyes. His face was elongated, skin stretched in odd, unnatural places to form a snout. Veins bulged out of his cheeks and his forehead, looking like they didn’t know which body they belonged to—human or wolf. His mouth seemed almost misshapen, the teeth inside just a little too big for it.
“I’m a freak,” he said bitterly. “I don’t belong with the humans, but I don’t belong with the wolves, either. I’m always caught in between. The humans—well, most of them think we’re some sort of abomination. I have yet to meet one who doesn’t run off screaming, or try to throw rocks at me, or almost puts an axe in my back. I was—I was terrified you wouldn’t be any different, and it would destroy me.”
“I’m not afraid of you,” she whispered. “And I never will be.”
Rapunzel leaned forward, sliding her hands onto his cheeks and pressing their foreheads together. She took a breath, and said the one thing she never had the courage to before.
“I love you, Jack Overland. I always have. I don’t care what you are.”
She felt his body begin to shift beneath her, rippling and flexing as it changed shape. The dusting of fur shriveled away, leaving nothing but smooth skin. His face seemed to compress, fitting more naturally with hers as they pressed into each other.
She felt a hand—a human hand—reach out and interlace its fingers tightly with hers. She pulled away to see the face she had known for her entire life, the face she had missed more than anything else in the world.
He looked a little different. Gone were the warm browns she remembered—his hair had turned a ghostly white, and his eyes were the icy color of the pond where he had faked his own death. He looked more…wild. More a part of the forest, perhaps. Nonetheless, the untamed spikes of his hair and the mischievous glint in his eyes were unmistakable.
His blue eyes welled with tears, and he pulled her close.
“I love you, too. I never thought I’d get to tell you.”
Rapunzel smiled, nestling under his chin. “You can tell me a thousand more times.”
They stayed like that for a long while—Jack holding her, Rapunzel letting herself be cocooned in the boy she’d been certain she lost forever. Another surprise to add to the list for today, but a very welcome one.
Rapunzel rubbed her hand gently across his chest, and suddenly blushed. “You’re…naked.”
“Oh. Uh.” She looked up to see him blushing right back. “This is awkward. I haven’t shifted back to human in a while.”
“Here, hold on.” Rapunzel leaned away and pulled off her red cloak, handing it to him.
“Aw.” He pouted. “I was hoping one or both of us could keep our clothes off for a little longer.”
“We’re not there yet.” She used the cloak to swat him, and he sniggered. “Besides, the Axers probably won’t be expecting a werewolf to walk around in what’s basically anti-werewolf repellant.”
He nodded in a way she was all too familiar with. The “impressed” nod, accompanied by a slightly-surprised grin signifying she had come up with a much better idea than he was expecting. “Good point.”
Her eyes fell on a few streaks of black on his chest, and she frowned. Dried blood. “You’re hurt.”
“Only a little bit. That stupid lumberjack had no hand-eye coordination, really.” He groaned slightly as he said it, and Rapunzel rolled her eyes.
“Come here, dummy. You can’t fool me.”
She wrapped her hair around him, and the soft, melodic sound of her voice filled the trees. She couldn’t help thinking of the irony of it—Gothel was so determined to force her to use her power, but she was always more than willing to for those she loved.
Rapunzel bundled Jack in the red cloak and sunk into him again. His arms curled around her waist and tugged her the rest of the way in.
“Will you stay with me?” he murmured after a while, leaning down and kissing her temple.
“Stay with you?” She turned to look at him in surprise. “In…the forest?”
“I know it seems scary, but I’ll protect you.” He held her a little tighter.
“Not if I don’t protect you first,” she said cheekily. “I probably saved your life earlier.”
He chuckled. “That you did. Who knew frying pans could be so dangerous?”
She smiled. Anything can be, if you put enough force behind it.”
He rested his chin on her shoulder, leaning up against her. “Can you stay?” he asked again. “I don’t know if I could take it if I lost you again. I mean…you don’t have to. I know you have a life back there. But it would be really great if—”
“Of course I’ll stay, Jack,” she cut him off. “I already packed some food for us.”
“You did?” He pulled away to give her a puzzled look.
“Gothel’s kitchen was pretty well-stocked.” Rapunzel shrugged. “And it’s not like she’ll be needing any of it anymore.”
“Oh my god, you looted her kitchen? You little scamp!” Jack laughed, reaching down to jab her in the side. “I’ve taught you well. And you nicked that guy’s hatchet, too?” Jack’s eyes trailed over to her basket, and he smirked. “Wow. You are out of control.”
Rapunzel giggled, jabbing him back. “We have to be ready if he comes after us, don’t we?”
“I guess so.” His smirk widened.
“Speaking of which.” She slid out from under him, standing and offering him her hand. “We should get a move on. That Axer will probably be looking for us.”
He took it, and she pulled him to his feet. Her face lit up with a mischievous smirk and she yanked him towards her, lacing an arm around his waist to tug him the rest of the way in.
He let out a surprised grunt as their lips met, but quickly melted into it. He tasted like rain and spruce and wild blueberries—and, for better or for worse, still a little like blood.
Rapunzel found she didn’t mind. It was Jack, and that’s what mattered.
That’s what had always mattered.
As they pulled apart, he snuck a kiss on the tip of her nose. “That was a long time coming,” he teased.
“Sure was.”
She laced their fingers together and led him over to where the basket and the lantern lay, handing him the lantern.
“Come on, pull your weight.”
He let out an extremely exaggerated groan. “Fine. Fiiiiiine. God, maybe I wouldn’t have asked you to come along on my aimless forest wanderings if I knew you were going to torture me the whole time.”
She practically threw the lantern at him.
Rapunzel picked up her basket, now heavy with fresh cheese and meats and pastries. She’d even slid the frying pan on top—never knew when you’d need an extra weapon, after all.
“So I can visit my parents sometimes, right?” she asked. “This isn’t a pledge-myself-to-the-forest-forever type of situation?”
“Oh, yes, good lord!” Jack chuckled. “I’m not Mother Gothel! You can go see them whenever you want. I’m honestly not even sure what we’re going to be doing—I just knew I wanted you with me.”
“We’ll figure it out as we go,” Rapunzel assured him.
Jack smiled meekly. “Neither of us have ever been the best at planning, have we?”
Rapunzel sniggered, swatting him lightly with the basket. “And you wouldn’t have it any other way. Plans are overrated, anyhow.”
“I couldn’t agree more.”
Hand in hand, they melted into the shadows and were lost to the woods.
Deep in the forest, the light of a campfire flickered off a wicker basket and a polished axe. A few paces away were a white-haired boy and a golden-haired girl, lying tangled up in each other with a red cloak wrapped around them.
The moon slank out from behind a cloud, and Rapunzel felt the skin pressed to her own grow soft with down. She laced her fingers with Jack’s, massaging his hands gently as long claws formed.
The beginnings of a snout pressed against her ear. A conniving voice snickered, and Rapunzel smiled conspiratorially.
“Now,” the voice purred in her ear. “Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf?”
“Not me.” Rapunzel pulled Jack’s arms closer around her, nestling into him. Drinking in the warmth of his fur and breathing in the slightly musky scent that had already started to feel like home. “Not me. Not me.”