Chapter 1

Rapunzel woke up as beams of sunlight pierced through her window. She stretched her arms, running her fingers through her hair. Her fingers came to an abrupt halt at the top of her chin where her hair should have continued but it didn't. Her heart raced for a second until she remembered that it was gone. Her thoughts came in short fragments – it was too much to process this early in the morning.

My hair was cut off yesterday. Eugene cut it off yesterday. She smiled to herself as she thought about Eugene. He was her new dream, after all. She felt her stomach grow cold as thoughts about Eugene in the tower turned into thoughts about Mother.

She's gone. I'll never see her again. But she wasn't my mother, she reminded herself. She kidnapped me. I met my real mother and father yesterday.

She took a deep breath as she thought about her parents. How could she possibly feel so connected to them but not know them at all? How could she have spent her whole life not knowing her parents? She felt her heart beat faster and faster against her chest as a million emotions spilled out. This had been happening more and more since she left the tower. There was a whole world to explore and she wanted to see all of it. But sometimes it was all just too much. She longed for the normalcy of the tower but at the same time desperately hated it and everything that had happened there. She hated Mother for everything that she had done, but she had spent so many years loving her. She closed her eyes and pulled the covers of her new bed over her face. She heard a small squeak as a tiny green chameleon climbed onto her arm, looking up at her with wide, concerned eyes.

"Pascal!" Her smile returned to her face as she saw her best friend. "I'm fine. Really," She said, as Pascal narrowed his eyes, in a look that showed that he was anything but convinced. "Come on, let's go look around the castle!"

After she slipped on her familiar purple dress and brushed her hair (which was so much easier to do now), she left her new room with Pascal perched happily on her shoulder and a renewed sense of confidence. The two friends wandered through the hallways and Rapunzel marveled over the paintings scattering the palace walls.

"I've never heard of this artist, Pascal. But I suppose I haven't really heard of many artists at all. I wonder if the palace has a book on famous artists," She mused. She had spent her life reading only three books, and while she could recite all of them, she supposed that she didn't know much more than what they contained and what Mother had taught her, which hadn't been nearly enough for her liking. Thinking of Mother made her head spin again, so she went back to thinking about paintings.

"We could ask Eugene where we could find a book about artists!" She didn't know if Eugene would really know anything about famous paintings or books, but she did know that she desperately wanted to see him. They walked further down the hall to Eugene's room and Rapunzel knocked on the door. They waited expectantly for a few seconds until a very tired-looking Eugene opened the door.

"Blondie? It's seven in the morning," Eugene mumbled, his words slightly slurred, as if his brain processed them slightly after they left his mouth.

Her eyes widened slightly as she realized that he had been sleeping. "Oops. Sorry, Eugene. We didn't mean to wake you, I just had a question and -"

"Rapunzel," Eugene started, cutting across her quickening words. "You don't have to apologize to me. Come in." His warm brown eyes lit up as she smiled and walked in. He couldn't stop himself from smiling at her. Her smile was so infectious.

"So, you said you had a question?" He asked.

"Yes. Pascal and I were wondering if the palace had a book about famous artists and paintings. We were walking down the hallway and we saw the most beautiful paintings I've ever seen in my life! The technique was just incredible. I have no idea how they could make a something as simple as a basket of fruit look so interesting. It looked like I could just pick up an apple and eat it, Eugene. It was amazing!"

She was radiant when she got excited about something, Eugene thought. He could have watched her talk for hours about paintings.

"Punzie, do you remember when we went to the library together?"

"Of course I do. It was the most magical thing I've ever seen. Well the second most magical thing, after the lanterns."

"And where does the magical hair rank on that list," Eugene joked, before he realized that might not be the best thing to say to someone who had recently lost the before mentioned magical hair.

Rapunzel's smile fell.

"I don't really know. I guess it's always been too familiar to really seem that magical."

"Sorry. I didn't mean to bring that up."

"It's fine," Rapunzel said.

Her voice was a little too strained and her tone a little too sharp for Eugene to be convinced, but he decided to drop it.

"You were talking about the library, Eugene."

"Right," Eugene smiled impishly. "If you thought that was impressive, you're in for a surprise."