The Big Four

Chapter 1 - Part 2 - Rapunzel & Jack

The birds were chirping, the crickets were buzzing, and the frogs were burping.
It was a beautiful summer evening.
I let my long, braided blond hair flow down the length of the tower. It was only semi-naughty. Mother said that it would be much more matted and tangled if it weren’t for the magic.
The magic. The word itself sounded so amazing, so… freeing. It reminded me of stars, of the strange lights that floated through the sky every year.
On my birthday.
Tonight was one of those nights.
I was turning seventeen – I loved that number! – and Mother had gone for the night to get me a special birthday surprise. I hoped that it was another book. I knew that the world outside was too dangerous to actually venture into, but still. The books she brought made it seem more interesting.
I rifled through the pages of an old one as I waited for the strange lights. Sometimes, I changed the stories. Secretly, of course. Mother insisted that it was an entirely good ending for Snow White to die because a hunter cut her heart out, that Sleeping Beauty’s ending of eternal sleep – death – on her seventeenth birthday was totally appropriate. But I thought that they could be better. Didn’t good people deserve good endings? So, of course, Snow White was spared by the Huntsman. The story wasn’t long enough, though, so the Evil Queen found out and gave her a poisoned – what did I choose again? A wild mushroom? – apple. It still needed a happy ending, so she awoke to no less than true love’s kiss. Sleeping Beauty only fell asleep for 100 years, and her family and friends slept with her. Then – of course! – she was awakened, also by true love’s kiss. How romantic!
Then the lights came. They were brilliant, like a million little stars edging over the horizon like a new sun. They made me feel hopeful, happy. They made me think I could have a new future.
Out of habit, I started to sing.
Flower, gleam and glow;
Let your power shine.
Remind me of my home
Of once upon a time.
I had written the song a long time ago. Ever since, if I could, I would sing it on the night of my birthday, when the lights were out.
I know that where I am
Is not where I’m meant to be;
So on these stars I wish-
That I’ll one day be free.
I sighed. As I stopped singing, the light in my hair stopped glowing.
A cold, frosty wind blew past. Really strange. It was the middle of July!
Another gust of winter wind blew past, and I shook my head. Could it be the magic?
I waited there for another hour, but nothing else happened. I finally fell asleep right there at the window.

---

I wait until the girl falls asleep.
I need to find a team. The Haunteds have access to the lockets. I know that I’m not a Guardian and I’m not exactly supposed to save the world, but still. The Guardians are currently busy, and they don’t even know the magnitude of what’s happening. If I can just get the right team…
Movement. Something scampers across the floor, camouflaging into the ground. I tap the floor lightly with my staff, and the creature frosts over. A chameleon. It shakes off the thin layer of ice and hurries away, into a corner.
I turn back towards the girl. She obviously possesses some kind of magic. What kind, I’m not sure. But I doubt that I’ll get the chance to talk to her again.
I nudge her shoulder with my finger, cringing at the small, blue snowflake etching itself onto her skin. I hope it’s not permanent.
She bolts awake. “Who are you?”
“Jack. I need your help.”

---

I look him up and down. His skin is super pale, and his hair is white as snow. He has a thin frame and his face is extremely serious. He’s holding a tall shepherd’s staff that seems to be covered in frost or glitter.
“Umm. OK?”
“Your powers. What are they?”
I instantly go into defensive mode, holding a lock of hair threateningly. He doesn’t seem to notice.
“How do you know? How did you get here?”
“I saw it glowing. You sung to it, and it glowed. I want to know why and what else it can do.”
I growl at him. He shouldn’t be here. Mother would be furious.
Maybe that’s what kept me from throwing him off the tower. The fact that it would make Mother furious.
So I do have a rebellious streak.
“It’s none of your business.”
He got down on his knees, his ice-blue eyes begging, pleading. “You don’t understand. I really need to know.”
“Not unless you tell me who you really are.”
He half-smiles. “Alright. I’m Jack Frost. And you are?”
“Rapunzel. My hair…” I glance down at the long locks still dangling into the open air. Did he climb them up here? I can’t believe that I was so careless. “Is a long story.”
His smile vanishes and he almost growls. “I have time.”
OK, so now I’m scared. When he’s mad, he’s kinda cute, like the picture I drew of Ella’s prince, but also scary.
“Well… When my mother was pregnant with me, she got sick. She found a magical flower that healed her, somehow. Then I was born. The power of the flower was somehow magically installed in my hair.” I paused. “When I was about four years old, someone somehow snuck into the tower and tried to take a lock of my hair. When they cut it, it turned brown and lost its magical qualities. That’s when I discovered my first power. I sung to it, and it, umm…” I couldn’t finish. “It... Never mind. And then my life went on. I found other powers, like just making it glow, healing people, and stuff. But I don’t use it much.” I looked away. “I mean, except on Mother, of course.”
His face had a look of consternation. “Why use it on your mother?”
“Again, none of your business,” I snapped.
I regretted that decision a second later. Jack got frustrated and knocked his strange staff against the floor. I felt frozen. Ice shuddered over my body.
I grabbed a strand of my hair and sung through chattering teeth.
Flower, gleam and glow;
Let your power shine;
Make the clock reverse,
Bring back what once was mine.
The ice thawed, and I collapsed into a heap.
“Jack?”
He was leaning over me, looking really concerned and upset.
“Mmm?”
“Was that you?”
He stared into the distance. “Yeah.”

---

OK, so. I knew that I could definitely use her help. I knew that she didn’t want to talk about it, but she had obviously done something bad to that intruder. Which meant that she not only had the power to heal, but to hurt.
Now, how to go about asking her?
“Um, I kind of need your help to save the world. Um, will you come?”
Her response was instant.
“No. I mean – yes. Um, I want to, but, I, uh…” She looked down at the floor.
“Your mother?” I guessed. She somehow used her magic on her mother a lot – probably to heal.
“Yeah. She-“ She stopped abruptly, as if afraid to continue.
“What?”
She didn’t answer.
“What’s going on with your mother, Rapunzel?”
A voice echoed from the corner of the room. “Nothing’s going on with me.”
Rapunzel’s mother emerged from the shadows. I knew by instinct that if I touched her, I wouldn’t fade. There was a heavy magic on her.
I wondered exactly what Rapunzel might have to do with that.
“Rapunzel, why is there a stranger in our house?” Her voice was icier than any glacier I could dream up.
Rapunzel seemed to be shaking slightly. She didn't answer. Instead, she gave me a very, very stern look, like I needed to go right now.
“If you don't want to tell me, that's fine. He'll stay for dinner, won't he?” She gave Rapunzel a pointed look, and a tremor passed through her.
I wanted to reach out to touch her, to reassure her somehow. But I was afraid that if I did, I might hurt her.
“O-of course.”
“Will you make it, darling?” The way she said 'darling' sounded like a slap in the face. Rapunzel numbly nodded.
The mother gestured to a seat. I sat, careful with my staff.
Something wasn’t right.

---

Not again, Mother. Please.
I could beg all I wanted, but Mother wouldn’t hear me. Ever since she had started leaving every day, things had gotten stranger and stranger. One day, I’d heard my mother’s voice in my head. From there, Mother had started to read my mind, and communicate via telepathy.
Kill him, she had said.
Why? He’s innocent!
Do as I say. Or else…
She hadn’t needed to say more. I knew the ‘if else.’
And I never wanted that to happen.
So now, I was being forced to kill an innocent boy much like myself.
I couldn’t do it. And I couldn’t not.
I give Jack a pleading glance. Leave while you can!
Child, do as I say. You can’t plan anything without me knowing.
I nearly sobbed out loud right then and there.
I know.
I’m so, so sorry for what I’m about to do.

---

I could tell something was wrong. Rapunzel nearly spilled her soup all over herself. She had no concentration, and she was shaking. At one point she had thrown me a warning glance, then paused as if her world was ending. She was still staring at me when her lower lip trembled. She went back to the stove.
Something was definitely wrong.
I could feel the tension, the magic, crackling in the air like electricity. I was starting to have some suspicions, and all of my instincts screamed for me to leave right now. But I couldn’t leave. Something was up, and I was determined to discover what it was.
Rapunzel set a bowl in front of me, refusing to meet my eyes. Whatever she was doing, she didn’t like it. I could tell that much.
“So, what brings you here? And what is your name?”
I wasn’t sure that I should tell this lady the whole truth. “Jack. I’ve been lost in the woods for days, and when I saw this place, with what looked like a rope-“ I glanced at Rapunzel’s cord-braided hair “-hanging down, I decided to check it out. Find food. Maybe get a map so I can find my way home?”
Rapunzel seemed frozen to the spot by the stove, staring at the ground. She was shaking violently, almost like trying to break away from something.
Her mother didn’t seem to notice. She popped a grape into her mouth and smiled at me.
“Of course. Rapunzel, do you think you could find a map?”
Rapunzel looked like she wanted to die on the spot. Her face was whiter than my own, and her eyes were wide – with horror, I decided. What was going on?
“I… I…”
Then she literally started crying.
I couldn’t help it. I walked over to her. “What’s wrong?”
“STAY AWAY!!”
Rapunzel shouted. Then her eyes glazed over, and her jaw hardened. She ceased shaking. I glanced at her mother, who was sitting in her chair and staring at her plate. Her hands shook and her face looked the same as Rapunzel’s had moments before.
Something was beyond wrong. Her mother was a dark sorceress. I was almost sure of it.
Suddenly, Rapunzel jabbed at me with a piece of hair. I stepped back, but it grabbed at my skin like it was magnetic.
Suddenly, her mother stood and spoke – no, she sung. She sounded just like Rapunzel, and that was the moment that I realized exactly what was happening.

---

I didn’t care anymore. Mother could do whatever she wanted to… to them…
But I wasn’t going to stand by while she murdered someone else. As me.
Flower, gleam and glow;
Let your power shine;
Never let rehappen this,
Bring back what once was mine!
A dizzying sensation whirred through me, and I was myself again. I collapsed, and Jack caught me just before everything went grey. I’d never directly countered Mother’s magic before, and it was even more draining than I’d expected.
My last feeling was wind and cold before I drifted into blackness.