I sat there awkwardly adjusting my tie. Was she still looking at me? I glanced out of the corner of my eye and felt the connection between our eyes. She was sitting

there with this intent look on her face. She seemed so out of place. She had this fierce look about her in such a happy place. Her short blonde hair framed her face and freckles

rested upon her pale complexion. She gripped something in her pocket, but I couldn't see what it was.

"Are you looking at something?" she spat. I instantly swung my head back, cheeks burning. The men came out of the bathroom in dark suits mumbling loudly back and forth. I turned my head, and the girl was gone. In her place was a man looking intently at the choice of butter.

One of the men gripped my shoulder and pulled me up.

"There's no time to waste," he said. I knew he was trying to whisper, but he had a naturally loud voice. I nodded and stood shaking my brown hair from my green eyes. We took up a whole aisle together and many men and women were shoved out of the way.

"Isn't that sort of... harsh?" I whispered. A man shook her head.

"If your going to be in the league, you need to learn to toughen up boy." he said smacking me in the back of the head. I gulped at the comment.

It had reminded me of this morning. I was in a dark dusted room and the other boys were laughing back and forth wrestling on the floor. I was looking out the grime covered window trying to figure out the type of cloud outside. I had filled in my journal shading in the cloud with my dull pencil.

Someone grabbed the back of my hair and yanked me down to the floor.

"Dude, really?" the boy laughed. He poked his ugly head over mine and punched me.

"Let me go," I whimpered trying to kick him off, but his strength overpowered mine. He flipped me over on my back and clambered over me and wrapped his hands around my throat and threw my head against the ground. The boys around us cheered, but I couldn't breathe. I felt the color of my face draining. I tried to fight him off, but I was becoming weaker. I felt my eyelids started to close when the door burst open. I probably would have died if it wouldn't have been for that.

I stared out the car window and remembered the three visitors. One was an old man with a wrinkled body. He had sunken eyes and thin parted lips. The stare he gave us sent chills down my spine. We all recognized him from the gruesome tales and photos. He was known as "Boss." Nothing more, nothing less. Beside him was a plain looking man standing tall. He was obviously the bodyguard. But what caught my eye was a girl about my age. I didn't know her, but I could tell by her facial expression that she was terrified. She had big green eyes and curly golden brown hair down to her shoulders. The boys all started to cat whistle at her.

"Fools," Boss snarled. The boys went silent. "Go ahead," he sneered pushing the girl forward. "Who do you think is right for the job?"

She took a small step forward and bit down on her bottom lip. She scanned the boys in the room then paused her gaze on me.

"Him," she said simply.

"Which one?" Boss snarled. She gulped and pulled me forward. Her nails dug into my wrist. Boss nodded.

"Ah, of course." he shook his head. "Alexander. I should have known. He's not nearly as ugly as the other boys here." the boys cried out in dismay, but the guard shut them up.

"Welcome to the league." Boss croaked. A toothless smile spread across his face. He grabbed the girl by her curls and pushed her out of the room. A shiver ran down my spine as we passed a local farm.

What was coming next, I had no idea.

"We begin this meeting with the celebration of our new member," everyone stood up around me and I quickly scurried to my feet. The door of the meeting room opened and in stepped a tall man with scraggly blonde hair around his face. He carried a cart behind him. He walked past the table and set his cart up behind me. The hairs on my neck pricked up as I heard the rolling of needles and found his breath against my neck.

"Take off your shirt." he whispered. I flung it off quickly then sat down.

"This will only hurt a lot." I could tell the man was grinning. I felt the heat of my skin being peeled by a needle. I gripped the table and gritted my teeth so I wouldn't scream out in pain.

"If your going to be a new member, you have to wear your league with pride." Boss nodded. A man next to me pulled down his collar to show a cross with a snake crawled around it with a rose clenched between its teeth.

"We wouldn't want you to wait in agonizing silence," Boss smirked. "Let's get down to business." he shuffled the paper in his hands.

"As you know, Rapunzel has been found." he announced. My eyes widened. Rapunzel was supposed to be the fairest girl in all of the land. Beautiful clear skin like and big bubbly blue eyes. She had golden hair that grew so fast she had it cut every other week. I smiled. I had been so young then, sitting in the dusted room reading the news in the paper I would secretly get every other week. She was only a few years younger than me,

I thought I might have a chance with such a beauty. I rolled my eyes at my silliness.

"But the princess is being unfair," said Boss tapping his wrinkled fingers against the desk. "She offers us no reward for freeing her out of the castle. But maybe someone her age could get something from the princess." he glanced at me. "That's where you come in. You will sneak into the palace and-" the doors flung open and in ran a skinny man. His hat flew from his head and he stopped breathless at the table.

"Rapunzel-" he wheezed. "She's gone!"

The men cried out in rage. They started to scream at the boss, but he said there calmly. Spit flew through the air and the scrawny man fled from the room in terror.

"Silence." the boss ordered, but there was none. Papers flew, chairs overturned and the men started to fight against each other. One tried to attack the boss, but he rose with quick agility and snapped the man's arm so he lay on the ground in pain.

The boss rested his hands on my shoulders. I noticed the tattoo man had fled, for there was only the slight stinging on my missing skin. "You are our last hope." he said. "Find Rapunzel. Whoever took her is going to cause her great pain. You have thirty days to return, or else."

"Or else what?"

"You don't want to know."

I gulped and nodded. "Go to the mapmaker in the village of Cantoria." he said. "He will give you a map of the country. Now go!" I jumped from the table and grabbed my shirt before I took off from the room. I pushed open the two doors, and the sudden light of the sun blinded me. I guarded my eyes and squinted down the path as I continued to run. I didn't know where I was, but I needed to get out of here quick.