Chapter 8
From the Tales of Flynnagan Rider
Everything is Relative
Coming back was the easy part. It was staying that was hard. I had left because I wanted fun, adventure and above all my privacy. I didn't want to be tied down, even if that's what my parent's wanted. I was expected to marry and take over my father's business, the selling and buying of property. It was a gift, I was told, and my father and I excelled at it. We did have a number of houses and hotels that we managed. My father sold and I kept the books, starting at the young age of 13 when my parents discovered my arithmetic abilities. It was fun, but dull, and after a few years of that, well, I needed some excitement, but enough of that. It was explained in the first chapter.
My intended was my 5th cousin, Delia, who reminded me of the small monkeys that lived near the falls and came onto our property from time to time. She was small and thin with mousy brown hair and large brown eyes. She would curious about everything and anything and chattered away endlessly, never letting me get a word in edgewise. She visited often and my parents adored her.
So it was no wonder that I found Danielle completely different from the rest. She was quiet and attentive and listened to everything I had to say. She also had a brain in that head of hers and she used it to her advantage.
Except that my mother was against her from the start. She was of new money, not old as we were. Her parents were upstarts and, although they loved and adored her, she was not to be taken seriously.
Things were going to change on that score and that would be very soon.
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Lisa Stabbington, the twins younger sister, walked into the twins dingy office and threw a thick purple folder down on their desk.
The twins looked down at the double desk and then back at Lisa.
"Go ahead, guys, it's all there. Took me at least 2 days to dig up all that info, but I'm sure you'll appreciate it."
Edward grabbed it and opened it up first, Elliot looking on.
"She was born in Berlin, April 25, 1700. Her parents were Wilhelm and Elise Gothel, she had two siblings, an older sister, Ada and younger brother, Mark. She was the middle child. Consumption claimed the lives of Greta's parents and older sister when she was just 9 and her brother was 7. Wilhelm's sister, Emma, raised her niece and nephew as if they were her own. Greta left when she married Karl Gottfried in 1718. He was 31 when they married, and it wasn't long after that she became pregnant. Their baby was stillborn however, and Greta could never have another. Karl died of pneumonia after and Greta soon went back to live with her aunt. By this time Mark had married and moved to England. They never saw one another again.
Emma didn't live very much longer after that and left Greta a beautiful purple flower necklace, one she always admired. Her aunt said it was handed down from one generation to another, but warned Greta not to put it on, ever. She said the necklace was cursed and had magic powers that could make one live forever. Emma made her swear not to wear this necklace."
"How do you know all this?" Edward said, still searching through everything.
"There were plenty of diaries that this Emma and Greta kept, all of them on microfiche. It was taking so long to read all these pages, so I just skimmed through everything and found the important stuff."
"Don't tell me Greta put on the necklace eventually," Edward asked.
"And how did she get to Corona from Berlin?" Elliot asked.
Lisa smiled. "As you already guessed, Greta put on the necklace when she reached the age of 80. Instead of making her 18, she looked and acted in her early 40's."
She came here to Corona to identify the cloak of an ancestor, Greta Gothel, who was always referred to as Mother because she taught and cared for children when she was younger. Her latest charge had been Rapunzel, whom she had kept in a tower until her 18th birthday. She had magic hair that was transferred from the flower to her. It kept Mother Gothel young and healthy for at least 18 years until it was discovered that she was the Lost Princess of Corona. Before that, it is said that Mother Gothel found a magic flower from the droplets of the sun that kept her young for 400 years. It was big news back then."
Edward stared at Elliot, and then returned his gaze to Lisa.
"Does the flower on the necklace resemble the flower from the sun?"
Lisa thought about it. "I never even considered that. I'll have to check. There are sketches of both."
Lisa continued with her story. "In her diary, she writes how she couldn't believe there really were witches in her family and they had been very lucky not to have been found out. She was going to take the necklace off then, but she couldn't. She didn't want to die. She swore that she'd take care of children all her life and she hired herself out as a maid, a nurse and later on a teacher."
"That's where the diary ends."
"What year was this?" Edward asked.
"In the 60's sometime, the exact date is in those papers. She'd stopped working by that time and retired to the Corona Arms where she stayed until the Fitzherbert's hired her in 1995 when she and her one year old daughter moved into the their guest house."
"Her daughter?" Edward asked. "I thought she couldn't have any more children."
Lisa shrugged. "That's the one thing I can't figure out. Either she's adopted or she's kidnapped. She never did get over the death of Rapunzel, her little girl with Karl. But if the baby was kidnapped, it would be the first time that Greta ever committed a crime. And there are no records of adoption anywhere."
Elliot walked over to the desk and held up the Certificate of Birth, the one without a watermark. He looked at Edward. "Well, that explains this."
"It also explains why there was no Rapunzel Gothel in the birth dates either," Edward said, staring back at his brother.
"And that explains why no one has seen her age at all," Lisa added. "Everyone has always remarked that she's looked the same for years."
No one moved, no one said a word.
"I guess we're all on the same page then," Elliot answered.
All three of them nodded.