Chapter 1

Mother Gothel looked down at sleeping baby girl. She was very sweet, thought Gothel; she wished she had a child like her. Plus her golden hair was beautiful, very beautiful. The hair! That reminded Gothel of why she was here. She stopped admiring the baby and instead took out a pair of old, rusty scissors from her robe. Then, without warning, she began to sing softly:

Flower gleam and glow,

Let your power shine-

As she sang she took a small strand of the sleeping girl's hair. The hair was glowing brightly, like the sun. Some of this strange power seemed to transfer itself into Gothel's hand and from there to the rest of her body until the old, wrinkled and ugly woman was transformed into a far younger and more beautiful one. However, as Gothel severed the girl's hair with the scissors the light in the strand faded and the hair turned brown. And as the light in the strand faded, so too did Gothel's youth and beauty. Gothel gasped and dropped the scissors. She stood there for a moment, wracked by indecision. To break in the castle and cut the princess's hair was one matter, kidnapping her was another far worse thing both for Gothel if she was caught and for the girl and her parents.

But would the girl actually have to know she had been kidnapped, thought Gothel. She could raise her as her own child and the sweet girl wouldn't have to know that she wasn't, in fact, her real mother. Besides, who wants the life of a pampered princess anyway? It would make the poor girl into a spoiled brat. No, far better that Gothel raise the child herself, out of the way of the cruel world. Yes that sounded good, very good indeed…

You know those moments when you know you're doing something you really shouldn't be but it's so very tempting that you try and convince yourself that really you're doing the best thing for everyone involved? Yeah, Mother Gothel was having one of them now. She had made her decision and for good or for ill there was no going back on it.

Gothel snatched up the baby and ran towards the window. However, she had misjudged how deeply the child was asleep. The sudden movement the small girl felt was enough to jolt her awake and, seeing the unfamiliar woman who now held her, she began to howl as babies are often apt to.

This crying woke the king and queen who were lying in the bed at the back of the room. The king jumped up upon seeing his child, his baby girl in the arms of some ugly, old woman but before he could begin to react they had disappeared without a trace leaving the King and his wife alone in their big, empty room.

5 years later...

'Goodnight.'

'Goodnight mother'

'I love you darling'

'I love you more'

'I love you most'

Mother Gothel pulled the curtains separating her daughter's bedroom from the main tower to and walked down the stairs. The young girl, now of 5 years of age, listened to her mother's footsteps recede as she walked down the stairs. Tonight was a big night and the small child's face was lit up with excitement and anticipation. This was her favourite night of the year- the night when the floating lights lit up the night sky. It was also her birthday.

She didn't know what the floating lights were exactly. At first she had just assumed they were strange stars. But when she realised they only came once a year she began to suspect they were something different, something important. It was such a happy coincidence they came on her birthday!

This year her mother had got a wonderful new set of paints and she had happily spent the afternoon painting away at the walls in her bedroom. For dinner, they had had her favourite meal (hazelnut soup) which mother had specially prepared. This had been a good birthday, thought the small girl contentedly.

Meanwhile, downstairs in her bedroom Mother Gothel looked out of her window anxiously. She hated her daughter's birthday. Maybe that was a terrible thing to say but it always made her nervous. Gothel knew she couldn't keep her cooped up in the tower forever and every birthday that passed marked another step to when Gothel would have to tell her daughter the truth…or at least some of it. It was also the day they put out those confounded lights. Gothel didn't know why but the lights set her on edge even more. Maybe it was guilt because the lanterns reminded her of the grief she had caused to the parents of the young child she had taken? Or maybe it simply made her more anxious because everyone was always more vigilant, at least as far as the princess was concerned, around the time of the celebration? Who knows, certainly Gothel, conflicted woman as she was, didn't.

Suddenly she heard some creaking noises on the stairs outside. Gothel jumped and grabbed her knife. Then she slowly edged towards the door and peeped through the keyhole. Her daughter, dressed in her pyjamas, was sneaking down the stairs towards the main room. Gothel rolled her eyes. 'Probably just going to get another snack from the kitchen' she muttered. Ah well, it was her birthday, Gothel thought. And with that Gothel put down the knife and crawled into bed.

As the lights filled the night sky the young girl stared up at them, her big, round eyes filled with wonder and awe. She laid her head on the window sill and smiled happily. This had been a very good birthday thought Rapunzel.