Page 116 of Down from the Tower

We can’t hide here. Tressa is a new land now and we have to see what’s left.

Pulling back from her, I let the shadows fade. She blows out a breath, pulling at her hair until it moves and slides free of us in silken waves that only magic can create so we can see the kingdom once more.

Beyond our small cocoon, Tressa is in shambles. Rapunzel scrambles on all fours, trying to get to her feet, and I drag myself up before pulling her with me. We’re spent.

All around us, pieces of the castle lie missing. Half the trees are ripped from the ground, tipped over, and one lies only a few feet away. We’re lucky nothing came down on us as we hid.

She spins from the wall that’s no longer there, looking out towards the village. With the damage done to the castle, we can see down into the valley and off towards the Endless Sea. Where there should be noise, chaos as people realize that their world is forever changed, there’s nothing. Eerie silence greets us.

In the distance, three ships bearing the green flags sink into the water. The explosion sent out a wave of magic, all made by Midas' hand, and when he breathed his last breath, the magic fell away. It was enough force to strike down the ships ready to storm the kingdom.

I notice figures moving in the water, and press my lips together. There won’t be any survivors to reach land if the merfolk have arrived. They will deal with the soldiers.

“It’s gone,” Rapunzel whispers, looking around at the kingdom. It’s hard to call it much of anything with half the buildings torn apart, and the tower Rapunzel lived in for most of her life is missing, the top ripped from its place high in the sky and lost someplace below. There’s little left to look at.

“I didn’t think it would take out the ships.”

We spin together at the voice to find two spirits standing behind us, Midas and Theo. The four guards' souls are strangely missing, and though I sensed their lifelines snap, I see no spirits. I don’t even feel them around us.

That’s not a good sign. Not if they are controlled by the Queen.

Midas looks old in his ghostly form, much older than he did in life. There’s a pensive look in his eyes, and he studies his daughter with narrowed eyes while Theo stands by silently. I don’t see Rapunzel’s cat, nor do I feel the spirit of an animal. Perhaps her sneaky feline escaped.

I wince, rubbing at my chest. The gold isn’t there any longer, but a weight remains. Rapunzel healed the shallow wounds, but a suffocating pressure builds within me. Midas upset the balance of the afterlife, and I can feel the effects rippling through me.

The spirits, whoever’s left, are surging towards us. I don’t know that I have enough magic to open the passage that they’d need, and the only way to escape the fury that will overtake Tressa will be to flee through the shadows. They can see us but they can’t touch us that way.

Rapunzel swallows, clasping her hands in front of her as she studies the figures. “Father?”

“No daughter of mine sides with evil,” he scoffs, looking between us. “You trusted a Reaper more than your own family.”

She scowls, and some of that defiance she's grown into returns. “My family lied to me my entire life. Even if your soul isn’t passing on, you’re still dead to me.” She throws her hands out at the destruction around us. “Look what your greed brought us.” As Theo and I silently look on, Rapunzel and the King argue about his choices and it’s a rehash of everything he just fought the Mad Queen about.

Not once does he ask about Dorah, showing how selfish he truly is.

I keep my eye on the newly-dead ruler. He might have just joined the afterlife, but he died maliciously and with a vendetta. Corrupt people become corroded spirits, and I can’t allow him to hurt the princess any longer.

Theo approaches at my side and bows. “My soul isn’t indebted to the Queen if a Reaper can send me on.”

“And what debt do you owe her,” I wonder, crossing my arms. The guard looks down, twisting his fingers together that keep disappearing, and his brow pinches. I know very little about the white rabbits the Mad Queen torments, and the last one I had the displeasure of interacting with was on the day of my death when he blew the horn. “You were sold to Midas.”

“A trade,” he says quietly, his gaze dancing to the two royals arguing. Midas’ eyes are wild, but he has no power to do anything to the princess right now. This is her time to vent and grieve before we have to leave the kingdom.

“I know the dead princess,” Theo says quietly, his eyes remaining on Rapunzel. “The one Midas traded and the Queen tossed away.”

Now he’s got my full attention. “Oh?”

He nods slowly, his head momentarily separating from his body. He’s adjusting faster to the afterlife than he should, like he’s resigned to death and happy to go. Being a spirit is like acceptance in his eyes, but he doesn’t know how to handle a formless body.

“When she tossed the child,” he says slowly, pursing his lips. “A man shot from the tower. A beast of a thing, with long pale hair and wings that stretched like skin.”

My eyes narrow, one person coming to mind. Lucius.

But I pause, counting backwards in my mind. More than thirty years have passed since the second princess died. Lucius would’ve been a young child like me back then, not a full grown man. “You’re sure it was an adult?”

“Yes. He returned to the tower as the Queen pulled us along the path, taking the backroads towards her castle. This was before she stopped traveling across Mystica. The man flew up to one of the tallest spots on the palace, and another figure joined him there on the roof. They were too far to see much from where I stood, but they were similar in height. I assume another adult.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

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