Hair Apparent by AJ Tipton

Author:AJ Tipton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Savvy Storytelling, LLC

The sun was beginning to rise in earnest, and Rapunzel resisted the urge to check his beard again. He’d already checked three times in the last hour. Wavy lines. Uncertain future.

He hated it, and yet there was something exhilarating about not knowing how the escape was going to go.

Perhaps I could be an adventurer after all.

He looked at Parker. She was cleaning some of the magical gadgets she kept stored in her bag, wiping them off, checking to see they still worked, and then systematically putting them back into her tiny handbag. In some ways, Parker was just like that bag: infinite wonder and possibilities miraculously found inside a tiny package.

After only one night with her, Rapunzel knew he’d never be able to return to the solitary, predictable life he’d lived for the last year. The smell of her, the taste of her, it was like waking up from a sleeping curse.

“You ready for this, Hairy?” she said, slipping the last gadget into the deep recesses of her purse.

Rapunzel did a few final stretches, limbering up, and nodded. He hoped the gesture looked confident. He grabbed one of his best chef’s knives at the last moment, just in case. It wouldn’t be much use against a sorcerer like Mal, but it still felt good to be at least nominally armed.

As they headed together down the familiar winding staircase, Rapunzel was surprised to see how unfamiliar the walk seemed with Parker at his side. The unyielding stone walls seemed to press in on them. The torches set in iron brackets cast uncertain shadows flickering along the walls. Rapunzel gave Parker’s hand a tiny squeeze as they reached the first landing where Einen fluttered inside her glass bottle.

“What are you two doing?” she cried. “Do you want to piss off Mal? Rapunzel, you should know how grumpy he gets in the morning.”

“We have a new plan. I know what I’m doing this time,” Parker whispered, grabbing one of the magicked torches from the wall. The flame was steady and never wavered like true fire, the green light revealing her face in new angles. She caught Rapunzel’s eye, pointed at Einen, and then left, running down the steps with the torch to the sphinx’s cell.

“Rapunzel,” the pixie said, beckoning him close. He stopped so close to the barrier he could feel its sizzle against his cheek. “Is her plan going to work? What does the future say?”

He shrugged. “Too many possibilities to know for sure.” He wanted to tell her the escape plan was foolproof, but he’d always been a bad liar. “But there’s a shot. And it’s better than being trapped here forever.”

The tiny woman sighed, playing with one of the flowers sprouting from her hair. “I don’t know...no hope is better than no life.”

“Don’t you want to see your garden again? Who’s been taking care of it since you’ve been here?” When Einen first arrived, it seemed like the only thing she ever talked about was her garden. It felt cruel to bring up her dearest wish, but Rapunzel couldn’t let Einen remain a prisoner forever.

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