The Witch's Tower, Tamara Grantham [best ereader for academics TXT] 📗

suppose there’s no point in denying it, though to be truthful, I don’t know what love is. I’m sure I don’t love him, not the way you loved Father.”

“Well, this does complicate matters, doesn’t it? Do not worry over foretellings, child. I may not be a believer in the goodness of our kind, but I do believe in kindness and love. If you are meant to be with him, old soothsayings will never stand in your way. Be brave. You will survive if the goddess wills it.”

“Thank you.”

“Now, about the business of these shears. I will do what I can to help, although not all will turn out as you like.”

“Why?”

She shook her head. “I can tell you no more than that.” Voices came from overhead. “We must hurry,” she said.

I followed her back up the stairs. My friends waited at the top, and their eyes widened as they spotted my mother walking along with me.

“Who is this?” Raj demanded.

“This is Aethel. My mother,” I answered.

“You said she was dead.”

“Yes, she died but was reborn.”

“How does such a thing happen?” Drekken asked.

“Because I am a fey creature of magic,” Mother said. “My body indeed died in Varlocke’s castle, but I was restored in this place. Unfortunately, I can never leave. But I can help you.”

“What reason do you have for helping us?” Raj asked.

Her eyes narrowed. “Because I hate Varlocke. I will do whatever it takes to see him dead.”

Yes, this was my mother. There was no denying it now.

“How will you help us?” Raj asked.

“For starters, I will give you these.” She held her hands out, palms up. A white glow encompassed her skin, and a narrow object formed, sparkling with golden light. When the brilliance faded, I stared in awe at a pair of golden shears sitting atop my mother’s outstretched hands.

“I can’t believe it,” I gasped. “Are these really the magical shears?”

“Yes, the very ones. But I will warn you—my sisters will know as soon you remove these from this archive. Escaping with this talisman will not be easy.”

“Can’t you help us?”

“I will do what I can, though my powers are not as strong as my sisters’.”

I stepped closer to my mom and ran my hands over the magic-crafted metal. They looked no different than an ordinary pair of shears, and even had a bit of rust around the tips of the blades, but a faint golden glow warmed my hands as I touched the metal.

“This is an ancient object—created at the time of our world’s birth, an object used by the gods themselves.”

“As long as they cut Rapunzel’s hair, I don’t care who made them,” I muttered.

Mother raised an eyebrow but didn’t reply as she handed the shears to me. “Treat them with care.”

I took them from her. They felt surprisingly light in my hands, and the metal warmed my skin. Quickly, I stuffed them into my bag.

“Now we’ve got to escape,” Odette said. “And we’ll have to do it quickly.”

“I understand,” Mother said. “I can show you a secret passageway, but there is no guarantee we’ll make it out unscathed.”

We followed my mother through the archive room and to a small wooden door. She turned the latch and opened the door, and we followed her into a narrow hallway.

We stopped inside a large, open tower that led us to a crystal staircase. Our footsteps reverberated as we paced down the stairs. On the bottom floor, we entered a domed room with ice sculptures crowding the floor. All kinds of beasts had been carved from the ice, and I worried walking so near them would make them wake. But perhaps I’d been reading too many of my mother’s fairy stories.

It amazed me that she was here—alive. I had trouble realizing it was really her. Perhaps I should have been more excited, but her presence reawakened emotions that I wasn’t ready to face. For so long, I’d felt anger at her decision to curse Rapunzel. It had been a selfish act, one that I still paid the price for. I’d thought I’d forgiven her. But the truth was more complicated.

Raj walked beside me, his eyes guarded as he stared toward my mother who led the group.

“It’s hard to believe she’s alive.” He spoke quietly, out of earshot of my mother who walked several paces ahead, with the others between us.

“Yes.”

“She never contacted you, though?”

“No. She said she couldn’t.”

“I see,” Raj said.

“Does that seem odd to you?”

“Yes,” Raj said. “If I’d lost someone close and returned again, I think I wouldn’t stop until I contacted them.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “She’s not like most people. Greed and hatred have always driven her actions. She loves me, but she hates others more.”

“Can we trust her?”

I hesitated before answering. “I believe so, but only because we’re going after Varlocke. If we weren’t, then I might answer differently.”

He nodded. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“Sorry you had to be brought up by someone like her. That isn’t right.”

“She wasn’t a monster all the time. She was kind to me, and I knew she loved me. But she had different motivations than most people.”

The looming shape of a dragon overshadowed me, and as I glanced up, I almost thought the creature was real. The ice sparkled in the dimly lit chamber, making its scales shimmer. We made it through the chamber and into another hallway, then another chamber and series of hallways, making me realize how enormous this place was.

Up ahead, the roaring of water echoed. We stepped out onto a balcony overlooking a waterfall. A gray sky loomed beyond the snow-covered mountains.

“Morning is coming,” Odette said. “Hurry.”

“Are we supposed to climb down there?” Drekken asked, looking down at the thundering waterfall.

“This is the only way out,” my mother said. “Odette, you must take them back to the tower.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you must transform when the sun rises.”

“What about the curse? I’ll have no choice but to return here when the sun sets. I’ll never be able to fly to the tower and make it back before the day ends.”

“Then how do we break her curse?” I asked my mother.

“There’s only one way. Someone else will have to take her place.”

“Take her place? Surely there’s another way.”

“Unfortunately, no, and once the sun rises, my sisters will know of what has happened here. You will have to leave quickly, but one of you must remain behind.”

“Why didn’t you tell us this sooner?” I asked.

“It would have done you no good, nor would it have made any difference.”

I glanced at the wolf, knowing who I would choose. Maybe it was wrong of me to think that way. I almost felt guilty.

Almost.

“This person must stay willingly,” Mother said.

“Of course,” I mumbled. No throwing the wolf to the witches.

The sky grew lighter, and morning was only minutes away. My heart raced as I stared out over the landscape. We were so close. We’d gotten the shears, and the dragon would take us back to Rapunzel’s tower, but that would only happen if someone stayed behind.

“I will do it,” Raj said.

“No,” I answered. “I’ll need your help once we get to the tower.”

I glanced at the wolf. Was there a chance? “You’ve been awfully quiet. What about you?”

He yelped as he sat by my feet, his tail thumping the floor, though he didn’t transform, nor did he volunteer—unless one counted the yelp, which I was tempted to do.

“I will do it,” Drekken said.

“What? Drekken, no!” I said.

“Yes, it must be this way.”

“But what of your music? You wanted to see the world and play for people you met. You won’t get to do that here.”

“No,” Raj said. “None of us will stay. Drekken, I appreciate your bravery, but we will not allow anyone to become a prisoner. There has to be another way.”

“There is none,” Mother said, her voice sharp. “If you want to escape, one of you must stay behind.”

“No. We go together or not at all.”

My mother laughed—a sound that caught me off guard. Her body glowed white, then she transformed. My aunts stood where she had been. My heart dropped. I should’ve known they’d do something like this. Anger formed in the place where my shock had been.

“You pretended to be my mother?” I asked.

“You wouldn’t have trusted us as us, would you?” Aunt Gwynna said.

“Yes, you know we get no visitors here. Is it so wrong to have a little fun?” Aunt Neleia chimed in.

“But you pretended to be my dead mother!”

“Dead? No.” They stepped aside, and I saw my mother standing behind them.

“We three