Christopher Marlowe's house wasn't as nice as Shakespeare's.
For one, there were no old plays lying around for Flynn to potentially steal. And two, Christopher Marlowe kept stealing glances at Rapunzel.
Which Flynn hated.
He dragged Shakespeare into the house and set him on Kit's bed. Kit leaned over to look down at his rival. "What happened to him?"
"This happened," Rapunzel said, holding up the creepy, little doll.
Kit gasped and backed away. "That's a poppet."
"Does everyone know what this creepy thing is called more than me?" Flynn asked. "I'm starting to feel a little dumb." He crossed his arms. "And I am most certainly not dumb."
Kit gave him a look that was parts confusion, parts humor, and parts derision. Flynn found it insulting when all was said and done. "How have you never heard of a poppet? Witches use them to hurt their victims."
Before Flynn could come with a snappy reply, Rapunzel answered Kit's question. "That's what happened tonight. A witch used this on Will. I grabbed it from her but she's still out there, searching for him."
"I always knew Will would be hurt one day," Kit said. "He's become too famous."
Flynn snorted. "Too famous? I don't think there's such a thing. I, for one, always wanted my face on a wanted poster." He sighed. "Still hasn't happened."
"That's the price of fame. Everyone wants a piece of you," Kit said.
"Then why do you sound jealous of old Shakey over here?" Flynn asked, nodding at the sleeping Bard on the bed.
"Because who doesn't want fame?" Kit gave Flynn a sneer. "You wouldn't understand that. You're not a poet like Will and I."
"I can write poetry," Flynn said, shrugging. Not that he had ever done that before.
"Can you write an entire play in iambic pentameter?"
Flynn blinked once. "Uh, no. Why would I need to do that?" He turned to Rapunzel but nodded at Kit. "This guy, am I right?"
Rapunzel just shook her head but there was a smile on her lips that she tried to hide. "Let's focus on Will. We need to stop Marcella from coming after him again. We need to find her, figure out what her game plan is, and stop her."
"Marcella?" Kit asked.
"The witch," both Flynn and Rapunzel said at the same time. He felt slightly proud of that fact.
Kit nodded. "Understood." His eyes fell on Rapunzel. "Tell me, fair maiden, how you got caught up in all of this? And with a man like that?" He nodded at Flynn when he said that and Flynn tried not to feel offended. (Though, of course, he was).
"What if I told you I'm a time traveler from the future?" she asked.
"I would say you were delusional," Kit responded.,
"Then trust me when I say, I can handle myself. I'm not a damsel in distress."
Kit frowned. "Shame. I love a good woman I can save."
"Buddy, you don't want to save Rapunzel," Flynn said. "She isn't one to be saved." His mind immediately went to the day she died and he pushed it away.
"I agree," said a tired voice from the bed. Shakespeare was awake. "The woman seems more than capable of handling herself. She used her fists against the witch, Kit. She is quite… lustrous." He gazed at Rapunzel with unbridled passion in his eyes.
Flynn wanted to use his own fists on Shakespeare himself.
But instead, he went his usually witty route. "Lustrous?" he asked.
Shakespeare shrugged. "I made up the word. It has a nice ring to it, wouldn't you agree?"
Rapunzel smiled under all the praise she was getting. "Thank you, Will. And Eugene is right, I can take care of myself. So, because of that, we'll go out there and find Marcella. You stay here with Kit. Stay safe."
"For how long?" Shakespeare asked.
"For as long as it takes," she responded.
Shakespeare was trying to get out of bed, so Kit had to press him back down. "No. I have a performance for my play tomorrow. Romeo and Juliet. I can't miss it."
"Again?" Flynn asked. "You just had one today." Why could he never escape this damn play?
Shakespeare shrugged. "It's a popular play. The masses want to see it again. I never miss any of my shows."
"Well, you're gonna have to," Flynn told him, "if we can't find Marcella by then."
Rapunzel grabbed Shakespeare's hand and gave it a squeeze. "But we'll try, ok? Hopefully, you won't have to miss your show."
Shakespeare gazed up at her. "You are one truly beautiful woman."
Rapunzel blushed and walked away. "Thanks." She turned to Flynn. "Let's go."
"Flirting with Shakespeare, huh?" he asked as they left Kit's house.
"Jealous?"
"Me? I never get jealous, Blondie."
She gave him a knowing look that told him she didn't believe him for a second.
"Let's just go find our witch," she said.
"So, how did you track Marcella down in the first place if you didn't have anything of hers?" Flynn asked as they headed for Rapunzel's tower.
"I wasn't tracking her specifically," she explained. "I got some readings on my computer that indicated a witch and I followed it until I found Marcella about ready to kill you. But now that I have this" – she lifted up the poppet – "we can track her much easier."
"Let's just get to her before she gets to Shakey."
Rapunzel chuckled. "Shakey. Who knew you were on such casual terms with Shakespeare."
"Oh. You're one to talk. 'Are you ok, Will? Can I help you, Will? Can I marry you, Will? Oh, stop making me blush, Will.'"
Rapunzel gently slapped Flynn on the arm. "I do not sound like that and I've never said that."
"You didn't have to. It's written all over your face. You have a crush on him."
"I do not." She stepped around a muddy puddle in the street. It was dark out and the only two things lighting their way were torches and the moon. Which, suffice to say, meant seeing things were tough. Flynn was impressed she was able to see the puddle in the first place. "I just respect him, is all. He's Shakespeare. You can't blame me for being a little giddy."
"Oh, I can. And I do." He winked. "Hey, it's ok. Having a crush is harmless."
"Says the man who's jealous every time another man looks at me."
Flynn scoffed. "What did I just say earlier? I don't get jealous. That's not how Flynn Rider rolls."
"Maybe not," she said softly. "But I think that's how Eugene Fitzherbert feels."
He looked over at her. "I think I already forgot you know my real full name, despite you incessantly calling me by it."
"I know you don't like me using it. That's been an adjustment. The Eugene I first met was all for me calling him that."
"I guess I haven't gotten there yet," he said, rubbing the back of his neck.
Rapunzel opened her lips to respond but Flynn never got to hear her reply because a group of three men walked out of the shadows and blocked their path.
"Where are you two fine people going?" the man in the front asked. He had an ugly scar across his nose. Flynn winced. He hoped nothing like that ever happened to him. He needed to protect the goods, aka, his face.
The other two in the group rounded behind them. Rapunzel stood her ground which meant Flynn had no choice but to do the same thing. His normal instinct was to flee in moments like this but with Rapunzel, she forced him to be more heroic.
"We're just out for a walk," Rapunzel said.
"Out for a walk? This time of night?" Scar-Man stepped closer to Rapunzel. "Well, let me escort you back to your home."
"We're good," Rapunzel said, trying to walk around him but Scar-Man didn't move.
Flynn made himself look taller. Tried to, anyway. "Buddy, back-off."
Scar-Man chuckled to his friends. "Trying to be a hero? It won't work." He nodded to his buddies, who grabbed Flynn from behind.
"Hey!" he shouted, bucking his body but the men held on.
"Let him go," Rapunzel demanded.
Scar-Man grabbed her around the waist. "What are you going to do about it?"
"This," she replied, raising her fist and punching him square in the nose. Wow, Flynn thought. Rapunzel was really on a punching kick today.
Scar-Man jerked back as blood burst from his nose. "Bitch," he growled.
"No," Flynn said. "Badass."
"There's no need to fight," Rapunzel said. "You don't want me to hurt you again."
Scar-Man creaked his neck and cracked his knuckles. "No. I'm going to hurt you this time."
Rapunzel lifted up the poppet in her hands and Scar-Man immediately stopped. The men holding Flynn loosened their holds on him. Rapunzel waved the poppet at Scar-Man. "You know what I can do with this. I can stab you anywhere and hurt you. Do you want that?"
"You're a witch," he snarled.
"Do you want me to hurt you?" she asked slowly.
Scar-Man grumbled under his breath before nodding at his men, who released Flynn. "Let's go. But I'm going to find you again, witch. You won't survive for long." He strode off into the darkness, his friends with him.
Flynn rubbed a hand down his jerkin. "That was intense. How did you know that" – nodded at the poppet – "was going to stop them?"
Rapunzel shrugged. "I didn't. I was hoping. Now," she said, patting his arm while he stared at her in shock, "let's go find our actual witch."
Rapunzel was hiding her tower near…
"The Tower of London?" Flynn asked. He thought about it for a moment, then chuckled. "You know, that's a little clever, I'm gonna be honest."
"Of course, it's not like my tower," she said as they walked inside her tower. "The Tower of London is more like a prison than an actual tower."
"Wasn't your tower like a prison?" he asked and then immediately regretted it by the way Rapunzel's eyes darkened.
"I guess you're right," she said, walking over to her computer. It was a strange sight, seeing Rapunzel in a gown from the 1500s standing next to modern-day technology. "Sometimes I can still forget. Gothel held me captive here for years and yet… there's days I can't even remember what she looked like."
"Isn't that a good thing?"
Rapunzel's expression was a mix of sadness and contentment. "Yeah. It's complicated."
"I'll say," he said under his breath.
Rapunzel slid the poppet into her machine. While she was tracking Marcella, Flynn wandered back over to her bookshelf and saw that she didn't have the copy of Romeo and Juliet. That confirmed it for him. She must grab it while she's here to add to her library.
"I found her," Rapunzel said, walking over to him. "She's across town in some shabby, little cottage. Let's see what she wants with Shakespeare."
"Uh, Blondie, don't you think it's a bad idea to go confronting a witch who's also a siren? I mean, what if she made one of those" – he nodded at the poppet – "of us?"
"Then we'll just do what we do best: stop her anyway we can." She reached down and grabbed his hand, giving it a squeeze. "Together."
Flynn tried not to be affected by Rapunzel's touch but once again, he felt like his body was putty when she was around. No other woman had this effect on him. He didn't know what to do about is sometimes. Ok, most of the time.
They left Rapunzel's tower and started walking through the streets of London. People eyed them on the way. Some with curious looks, like maybe they could tell that Flynn and Rapunzel weren't from this time. And others with meaner, intimidating looks, like they wanted to do horrible things to them.
But Rapunzel walked ahead with a straight back and complete confidence. It seemed to keep people at bay. Once again, he admired the way she held herself. Given what she went through as a kid, he was amazed she was so well-put together.
It took them around an hour to walk to the cottage where Marcella was staying. It was in a less populated area of the city, which just made everything feel creepier. The cottage was made out of stone and looked like something out of a fairytale.
"So," Flynn said in a quiet voice. "Are we Hansel and Gretel and this is the witch's house? Don't tell me we're going to be baked into pies."
"Of course not," Rapunzel said. "We'll just be baked into cake. Much more fancy."
He snorted. "Is now the time for jokes, Blondie?"
"You make them all the time at inappropriate moments," she said, shrugging. "So, why can't I? And besides, there's one flaw with your story. Hansel and Gretel were brother and sister. We're definitely not brother and sister."
No they were not. Flynn gazed down at her, tempted to kiss her again… but knew they really needed to focus on finding Marcella.
The sound of a cackle made them step away from each other.
"Don't tell me that was our witch," he muttered.
They edged closer to the cottage and looked into one of the front windows, keeping low in case they needed to duck out of sight.
Inside the cottage, it looked like a typical witch's house. Herbs hanging from the ceiling. A cauldron in the middle of the room. There was even a freaking raven resting on a perch, overseeing the scene below.
And the scene below was quite… something.
Marcella was there, standing over the cauldron but Flynn could only see the back of her, not the front. He recognized her blonde hair though. Through the window, Flynn would faintly hear her chanting again. But what Flynn hadn't been expecting was for Marcella not to be alone. Because she was most definitely not alone.
Two other women were with her, chanting as well.
The first thing Flynn noticed about these women were just how… ugly they were. Boils on their faces. Dirty, yellow and black teeth. Flynn shuddered.
"Ugh," he said.
Rapunzel slapped him on the chest. "Shush. Don't be rude."
The three women inside stopped chanting. The two other women turned in unison to look out the window…
…and saw Rapunzel and Flynn.
"Shit," Flynn said, ducking down.
But it was too late.
The front door burst open and the two women came out side.
"Don't hide, children," they crooned. "Don't be scared. We don't bite."
Rapunzel strode out from their hiding place and walked right up to the witches.
"Blondie, what the hell?" Flynn muttered, running after her.
"What do you want with Shakespeare?" Rapunzel demanded to know.
The witches exchanged a scared look before they burst out laughing. "You don't frighten us, child," the one with a boil on her nose said.
"But," the other one said. She had a gnarly long hair on her chin. "If you want to know what our plans for William Shakespeare are, then please. Come on in."
"Rapunzel, don't," Flynn said, grabbing her arm to stop her from taking a step into that house.
"We have to. Will needs our help."
"Last I checked, Blondie, we should be running away from the scary witches. Not walking right into their house," he hissed.
Boil Nose beckoned them closer. "Don't be shy. You want answers, we can give them to you."
"But you have to come inside," Chin Hair continued.
"We have to do this, Eugene. We need answers. Besides, they don't want to hurt us." She paused. "At least, I don't think so."
"You don't think so? Blondie, this is not a smart move."
"I'm going inside. Either come with me or don't."
He groaned. "You know I'm coming inside with you."
"I know." She kissed his cheek. "Now, let's go."
Flynn touched the spot she kissed, feeling like a little school-boy with a crush. After shaking himself out of that, he followed Rapunzel into the witches' cottage and tried not to think about them baking him into a pie.
"So, uh… what's your names?" Flynn asked as the two witches shut the door behind them. Inside, the cottage smelled horrible. Like something between rotten fish and rotten eggs. Either way, it was something rotten.
"Names are important," Chin Hair said.
Boil Nose nodded. "We can't just give them away."
"Oh hush," Marcella said from the cauldron. She was still facing away from them. "You can give them your names. These two little idiots wouldn't know what to do with them anyway."
"Idiots?" Flynn muttered. "I prefer to call myself a genius, thank you very much."
"Griselda, grab me that book," Marcella said, pointing towards the other side of the room.
Chin Hair groaned. "You weren't supposed to say my name." Even though she was disgruntled, she still went and grabbed the book. She tossed it at Marcella's feet. "Next time, boss Ursula around."
Boil Nose stood up straighter. "Don't say my name, you smellfungus."
Griselda gasped. "Smellfungus!?"
"Smellfungus?" Flynn asked Rapunzel in a low voice. She just shrugged.
"We came into your cottage," Rapunzel said. "Now, tell us what you want with William Shakespeare."
"What we want?" Marcella asked. "We want his words."
"His poetry," Griselda said.
"His artistry," Ursula said, waggling her fingers around.
"And then…" Marcella stopped stirring whatever was in the cauldron. "We're going to kill him."
She turned around and the sight of her… was not what Flynn had been expecting.
Gone was the beautiful, youthful face and instead, it was replaced with an old hag. She had a snarl tooth poking out between her lips. Just like the other witches, she sprouted boils and long hairs on her face.
Flynn yelped when he saw her. He couldn't help it.
Marcella scowled at him. "No need to be rude."
Rapunzel pointed at her. "That's what I said."
"Ah," Marcella said, looking towards Rapunzel's hand. "You have my poppet still. Thank you so much for bringing it back to me."
"No." Rapunzel lifted it high over her head. "You're not going to hurt Will again. Tell us what you need and maybe we can help you."
Griselda scoffed. "Help us? How? You're just puny, little mortals."
"And we're witches!" exclaimed Ursula. "You don't frighten us."
"Oh yeah?" Flynn asked, putting his hands on his hips. "Then, if you're such scary witches, what are you going to do to us?"
"Eugene," Rapunzel muttered. "Remember, they're sirens. Marcella almost killed you until I stepped in to help."
"Good thing I have you then." He gave her a wink. Rapunzel looked exasperated but she still had a tiny smile on her lips.
"Don't tempt me," Marcella said. "I could have your heart in my hands in a matter of seconds, Flynn Rider."
"I'd like to see you try." Flynn sneakily glanced around the room, searching for a weapon. When his eyes landed on a frying pan on top of a counter, he lunged for it. Picking it up, he brandished it at the three witches. "Don't make me use this. Tell us your plan. Now."
Marcella threw her head back and laughed. The sound was so beautiful to Flynn's ears, everything else drowned out. Right before his eyes, Marcella transformed back into her pretty self from before. Griselda and Ursula changed as well, turning into young women. Griselda had flaming red hair and Ursula's was jet black. The three witches looked so striking together, Flynn couldn't keep his eyes off them.
"You don't want to hurt us, pretty boy," Marcella said, walking with grace over to Flynn. "Put the pan down."
He immediately put it down. It's what Marcella wanted.
"Good boy. Now, go sit over in that cage." She pointed to a human-sized cage in one corner of the room.
Flynn did as he was told.
"Eugene," Rapunzel said, staring at him in shock.
For a second, Flynn froze. That name… sounded familiar. Eugene. Like a tickle of a memory at the back of his mind.
And then it was gone.
He settled into the cage.
Rapunzel turned to the witches and said, "Stop this. Release him from your spell."
"Get into the cage with him," Marcella instructed. "Or we'll have to hurt you. And you don't want that." She pulled a poppet out of her pocket. "I made this one with you in mind after you thwarted my plans earlier. Do you want to know what it feels like to have a hot poker jammed into your stomach?" She lifted a pin and pointed it at the doll's body. "No? Then get into the cage with your boyfriend."
Rapunzel didn't waste any time. She grabbed the ladle out of the cauldron and tossed the hot water onto Marcella. The siren screamed as her skin began to boil.
When Ursula tried to grab her next, Rapunzel snatched a bag full of seeds off the counter and threw it at the witch. Ursula jerked backwards and fell into the cauldron. Her body immediately disintegrated.
The scream that emitted from Griselda was blood curdling. She grabbed the poppet from Marcella and jammed the needle into it. Rapunzel dropped to her knees, screaming as she held her stomach.
"How do you like that?" Griselda asked, stabbing the needle again and again into the doll. Flynn could only watch as Rapunzel curled into a ball, her screams becoming whimpers. "Now, get in the cage." She lifted Rapunzel up by the arm and tossed her into the cage next to Flynn and locked the door.
As if the spell was broken, Flynn felt back to his normal self. He knelt beside Rapunzel. "Are you ok?"
She nodded weakly. "The witches made a poppet of me. There's no way I'm getting out of this cage if they can use that against me. It hurt, Eugene. It hurt so much."
He pulled her closer against him. "It's ok. I'm sorry I couldn't help. There was like a filter over my mind."
"That's what a siren does. They can manipulate you into doing what they want."
"How come it didn't work on you?"
"Because our powers only work on men," Marcella said, marching over to the cage. "How annoying but it is what it is. Now, you two are going to stay there until tomorrow."
"What's tomorrow?" Flynn asked.
"Shakespeare's performance of Romeo and Juliet. There his words will instill with us the power to get back home. Once we kill him, it will open up a portal that we can use."
Rapunzel sat up. "I can just take you home myself. You don't need to do this."
Marcella sniffed. "Maybe not. But this is a lot more fun. And also, you just killed my sister. I'm in the mood to murder someone." The dark glint in her eye was directed right at Rapunzel.
"That was an accident," Rapunzel said. "I didn't mean to kill her."
"Yeah," Flynn backed her up. "You guys were the one with a cauldron full liquid that could kill a person. Who's really to blame here?"
"Eugene, not helping," Rapunzel said out of the corner of her mouth.
Marcella gave them both a disgusted look. "You two will remain here. And if you try to act out… well, I don't think I need to remind you." She lifted up the poppet of Rapunzel before she walked over to the cauldron where a hysterical Griselda was.
"Why not just kill us?" Flynn asked in a low voice. "Why keep us alive? Because we're going to get out of here and stop them." He paused. "Right?"
Rapunzel leaned heavily against Flynn. "The power these women have is… intimidating. I've never felt that kind of pain before. I'm not sure how we're going to get out of this to stop them if they can just prick the poppet and take us down."
"Take you down," Flynn reminded her. "They haven't made one of me. I could grab it from them. Somehow."
"But their powers work on you. They could just convince you to do their bidding."
"Yeah… forgot about that." He leaned his head against the cool stone of the wall. "So, what are we going to do?"
"We wait. We watch. We see if they slip up. When they're not looking, you can pick the lock. We'll escape and warn Shakespeare not to go to his show tomorrow."
"And what are we going to do about the witches?"
"We get them in my tower and we take them back to their homeland. Simple as that."
"Do you even know where they live?" he asked.
"They're sirens. They come from the planet Odren. It's actually quite beautiful there."
Flynn snorted. "Only you would think a planet full of murderous sirens was a beautiful place."
"Not all sirens are like this. I think these women are desperate to get back home. They've lost their way and are willing to do whatever it takes to get it back."
Flynn looked down at Rapunzel with awe. "They hurt you and locked you in a cage. How are you able to empathize with them?"
"I know what it's like to have nothing." Her gaze was far away. "I know how desperate it can make you." She shook herself and turned back to him. "I won't let them hurt anyone else. For now, we watch them to see what they do."
And they did. And it was boring.
For a while, Marcella and Griselda just kept crying over their dead sister. Well, Flynn assumed they were sisters. They all shared the same boils and rotten flesh.
The longer Flynn sat in the cage, the more he was reminded of the other time he and Rapunzel were locked in a cage. It was back in the Palace of Versailles. The day Rapunzel died. He wondered if that day would ever not haunt him.
The women returned to their ugly state once they finished crying. They got back to work. They kept chanting the phrase, "Double, double toil and trouble. Fire burn, and cauldron bubble." It was getting kind of old, especially when they said it for the hundredth time.
"Come up with another chant, for fuck's sake," Flynn muttered.
Marcella and Griselda whipped their heads around to stare at Flynn. "Do you want us to make you one of these?" Marcella asked, holding up the poppet. "Because we can."
Flynn raised his hands. "No, no. Please continue with your chanting."
Marcella huffed and Griselda grumbled under her breath as they went back to work over the cauldron.
"Don't antagonize them," Rapunzel whispered.
"What else am I supposed to do?" he whispered back. "They're just standing there, chanting. They've been at it for hours. The sun is starting to come up. We only have so much more time."
"I know." Rapunzel nodded to a book they had resting on a wooden stand. "That's they're book. If we can get that away from them, they won't be able to use spells on anyone. We grab that, we run, we save Shakespeare."
"Ok good." Flynn shifted on his butt. "So, how are we going to do that?"
"Let me think." She looked around the room. "Ok. They're busy with their spell. So, you pick the lock. The moment we get out, we distract them. You go for Griselda and I'll go for Marcella."
"Shouldn't I go for Marcella? She has your poppet. She could just hurt you."
"She could also just put you under her spell again," Rapunzel pointed out. "Either way, she's the stronger one of the two of them. You go for Griselda, I'll go for Marcella."
Flynn didn't want to feel offended that Rapunzel was passing the 'easier' sister off on him but he knew by now that trying to reason with Rapunzel when she had her mind made up was a futile event.
"Ok. Let's do this. You have a bobby pin I could us-," he didn't finish as Rapunzel already had a bobby pin in her hand, which she held right in front of his face. "You came prepared."
"I'm prepared for anything."
God, he could kiss her. How had he not kissed her yet?
He began to pick the lock while the witches were busy. The moment they had their backs turned, Flynn gently pushed open the door.
"Now," Rapunzel whispered. They ran straight for the witches.
But Marcella turned around and jabbed a pin straight into Rapunzel's poppet. Flynn watched in horror as Rapunzel dropped to the ground in agony.
Griselda tried hitting Flynn with the ladle from the cauldron but Flynn backed out of the way just in time. He wasn't going to let anyone turn his handsome face into a pustule, boil-y mess.
He grabbed the ladle from Griselda and wacked her in the arm with it. The witch cried out. In her distracted state, Flynn grabbed the witches' book and raised it high over the cauldron.
That made Marcella and Griselda stop.
"Oh, so this is important to you," Flynn said. "Funny that. I wonder what would happen if I dropped this book into this cauldron right about now." He let go.
"No!" Marcella screamed.
Flynn caught the book before it fell into the bubbling water. "Then stop hurting Rapunzel."
Marcella's face twisted into something ugly. Even uglier than her current appearance. "Fine." She tossed the poppet to the side. "Now, put the book back."
Flynn felt that familiar tingling at the back of his mind telling him to listen to Marcella. He began to set the book back down.
"Eugene, no," Rapunzel said, still curled into a ball. "We need to run."
But Flynn only wanted to listen to Marcella. She had his heart. She had his mind. She had his soul.
Marcella transformed back into her younger self and approached Flynn with a flirty smile on her lips. "Put the book back down, Flynn."
Flynn was setting it on the stand.
"Eugene!"
"Quiet," snapped Griselda, walking over to grab Rapunzel's poppet. She stabbed a needle into it, causing Rapunzel to scream again.
"Set it down now," Marcella instructed Flynn. "You're so close."
"Eugene!" Rapunzel screamed again. The pain in her words sent a jolt through him.
He jerked away from the stand, the witches' book still in his hands. He was back to his old self. No longer under Marcella's spell.
The shocked look on Marcella's face spoke volumes.
Without waiting another second, Flynn chucked the book into the cauldron.
"No!" screamed both witches as they ran for it but it was too late. The book dissolved within the liquid. Griselda dropped the poppet along the way.
Flynn scooped it up and helped Rapunzel stand. "We have to get out of here."
They stumbled out of the cottage. The sounds of screaming witches followed them as they ran for their lives.
They reached Kit's house. Rapunzel was feeling much better now that she wasn't being stabbed in the stomach – well, the doll version of her anyway.
She was so grateful for Eugene. When she called out to him back in the cottage, using his real name, she wasn't sure it would actually work. But it did. He came back to her.
But she didn't have time to focus on her love for him. They needed to make sure Shakespeare was all right.
By the time they made it to Kit's house, it was nearing noon already.
They pounded on the door. Kit answered, looking handsome in an open collar white shirt and dark pants. "You two. Did you defeat the witches?"
"No," Rapunzel said, pushing past him into his house, Eugene right behind her. "Where's Will?"
"Oh." Kit scratched his head. "He went to his show."
"He's there now?" Rapunzel asked, feeling her heart constrict. If he was at the theater, then that meant the witches were going to be coming after him.
"Why didn't you stop him?" Eugene asked.
Kit shrugged. "Because he really wanted to go. And besides, I thought you two were going to deal with the witches. He'll be all right."
"No, he won't be," Rapunzel said, heading for the door. "We need to get to the Globe Theatre now. William Shakespeare is in serious danger."
I'm going to start posting on Wednesday and Saturdays from now on, so see you Wednesday!