It took some time to get the dastardly rogue out of his bondage. Apparently, I tie better knots than I thought because I had difficulty getting him free. When I was on the final knot, his right wrist, something occurred to me and I asked myself this question in a whisper, "How long was I out?"

"What was that?" The man asked, already coming up with plans to escape in case I had decided to change my mind at the last second.

After finishing untying the last knot, I asked him, "How long will it be until they show the Lights again?"

He took a moment, thinking, and then answered, "I think it'll be any night now. They do it on the lost princess's birthday, as a signal to show her the way back home."

"Lost princess?" I asked him, piquing my curiosity.

Nodding, he replied while rubbing his chin, "Yeah, a long time ago, the Royals' daughter was kidnapped. The King and Queen still hope that she's alive out there somewhere. Personally, I don't think so."

Turning away a bit, I thought back to the last time I saw the Lights in the sky. It felt like it had only just happened. I rounded on him and pointed up to the mural as I asked, "Do you know how long ago it feels since I painted that? That was the last time I saw the Lights."

He gave the mural a look and guessed, "Um… A year ago?"

"No," I answered quickly, before elaborating, "Well, technically, you're right. It has been a year, but it feels like it only happened a few nights ago to me. That's what Mother does to me."

Curiously, he asked, "Wait, that enchantress is your mother? And she enchants her own daughter?"

I nodded sadly. "To protect me. She enchants the tower and me. She makes it so nothing hurts me, whether it's other people or myself."

"And you want to go behind her back and leave this protective bubble she made for you, just to see those lanterns?" The rogue asked for clarification.

Drooping, I said, "Yeah, I know. I'm pretty horrible." Suddenly, I recovered and pointed up to him. "But I know this is something that I have to do. We need to hurry, to get a decent lead before she comes back." I dropped my arm and walked over to the large window and gestured outside. "I just want to live, even if it's only for a few days. I want to see just a small portion of the world. After I see the Lights, you take me back here and you get your satchel."

Nodding, he gave a light shrug as he said, "Yeah, what's the worst thing that could happen—aside from being enchanted into thinking I'm a frog for the rest of my life."

I gave an innocent smile and said, "Let's try to think positively."

"On the note of leaving," Flynn said, holding up a finger and then directing it to the large window. "If this was a matter of myself, it wouldn't be a problem, but you, on the other hand." He looks me up and down, noticing my petite figure and small limbs. He seems to get stuck for a second on my legs, which he seemed to noticed were shaved. "You… You don't appear to be in the right shape for climbing, so we'll need to figure out a way to get you down."

Nodding, I said, "Mother usually uses a grappling hook to get up and down."

"So I noticed," He said and then started looking at the floor. "However, this is probably a repurposed watch tower. If that's the case, there's probably a way down up here. They usually disguise one of the floor's stones or camouflage a door. It's to keep the guard safe as he alarms the next tower—at least that's the idea. It sometimes only just slows them down until they find the way up."

"Well, I suppose if you put something on top of the way in…" I thought out loud.

I watched as the thief made his way around the room, knocking on the floor tiles. "In order to make the exit viable, they need to make the tile lighter than the usual ones for construction. It makes a different kind of—" Before he can finish, a stone tile toward the outside of the middle of the room makes a definite different sound when he knocks on it.

Hurrying, I ran over and helped Flynn pull the tile up. Despite it being lighter than the usual stone, it was still pretty heavy to pull up. A soldier probably would not have much trouble with it, though. Peeking down, they saw a dark passage with a narrow staircase leading down.

Pulling up his sleeves, Flynn began to say, "Well, it's dark, so I suppose I should—"

Before he could finish, though, he was once again interrupted. I jumped down into the passage and began running down the stairs.

"Whoa! Wait up, princess!" He called after me and I heard him drop down somewhere above me.

After a few seconds, I heard his clambering steps begin to approach mine. I had never ran like this before, it was exhilarating! We reached the bottom far faster than we should have, considering it was nearly pitch dark.

"You…are a little crazy," Flynn said, panting behind me. After a second or two, he appeared to have caught his breath as he added, "For some reason, I like that."

I squinted in the dark and asked, "There should be a way out, right? Why can't I see it?"

"That is strange," Flynn agreed. "I guess your mother may have sealed it off, to keep anyone from scaling the tower."

I could not see completely, but I heard him shuffling around and his hands traveling the walls. I thought that he was trying to feel for the exit. My assumption was verified after a few minutes when he exclaimed, "Yeah, I found it. This is definitely wood…and that's definitely a handle." He paused for a moment and said, "This is strange."

"What?" I asked, groping for him.

"Well, if your mother was protecting you, I was expecting to find something in front of the door. There's nothing here, though. Nothing to stop someone from the outside from getting in. If there's something on the other side of the door, that would suggest, it's designed to keep…you in."

I found him, my hands pressed against his back. My heart began to beat a little faster, I swallowed hard, trying to push it out of my mind. "Well, let's just try to open the door and see what happens."

I sensed a silent nod from the rogue, who given from the sound of metal and wood giving stress, was trying to push the door open. "No, there's something definitely blocking the way. It won't budge."

A sense of desperation filled me and without warning, I rushed toward the door, slamming against it. I could hear Flynn curse under his breath; however, I heard the muffled sound of a rock falling to the ground.

"Well, apparently, you aren't completely useless," Flynn admitted. "But it's going to take someone who's a little stronger to break down that blockade."

Stepping aside, I let him know that it was clear and then he charged the door, slamming his shoulder into the door. This time, there was the sound of quite a few rocks toppling down. "You know, I was expecting more resistance than this. Whoever built this blockage wasn't factoring in someone who was physically strong from the inside."

After a few more attempts, he managed to push the door open, with a little help from me. The light stung our eyes, after what seemed like hours of being in the dark. We managed to slide through the crack in the door and examine the rubble of stonework outside. Flynn crouched down and picked up a few.

"These aren't the same stones that were used to make this tower. The tower looks like it's more than just a few decades old, but this work was done maybe only a little over a decade ago. It also appears to have been done by a rank amateur." Flynn said and then stood up, dropping the stones.

"But why…?" I asked, looking down at the stones. "She told me she was protecting me."

Flynn puts his arms out and then touching my arm. "Well, she may have been. These stones probably covered the door to camouflage it."

"But why only the outside? There was nothing on the inside to prevent someone from getting in." I asked him, knowing he did not have an answer.

He obviously did not know what to say.

What did it matter? Mother was not a strategist. It's probably exactly as Flynn said, she thought that she was protecting me. I nodded and said, "I'm just over-thinking."

Once that crisis was resolved in my mind, I finally took time to realize my surroundings. Smiling, I looked down to my bare feet, feeling the lush grass beneath my feet. I closed my eyes and breathed in the air. I ran out in front of the tower and twirled with glee, my hair growing a little bit more, some more of the brown stands bursting into gold. I felt my hair brushing against my back and smiled.

The rogue walked up to me and then asked, "Did…your hair just grow a few inches in the last minute?"

Looking at him, I smiled as I said, "Yeah, it does that sometimes. It seems to be linked to my mood—or maybe my mother's magic—I'm not sure. It's almost like, the better I feel, the longer it grows—maybe."

He laughed nervously and said, "Well, how about that. You're full of surprises." He seemed to be realizing that he may be in a lot more trouble than he first realized. Enchantresses? Boys who are bursting with feminine beauty? Now, freaky growing hair? This was more than an average person could take in a single day—and it was not even mid-afternoon!

I guess I was lucky today, though, because not only did he not freak out yet, but he also stuck by my side.

Clearing his throat, Flynn said, "Well, that took a lot more energy than I was expecting, but we should get moving." He wanted to put as much distance between him and this tower as he could. The thought of coming back here later was clearly beginning to frighten him a bit.

As the two of us began walking away, into the unknown forest, I took a moment to look back at the tower. Even though it was a place of bleakness, it was the only home that I have ever known. Now that I'm out here, in the world, the thought of coming back also frightened me, but on a much bigger scale than Flynn. I never wanted to see this place again, but I couldn't tell him that. I needed a guide to get to the kingdom. I was not sure what I would do after that just yet, but anywhere was better than here.