Thirteen
Rapunzel
“And according to Councilor Laroux, even though Astera is a volcanic island, it contains limestone deposits, and the majority of the basalt is also relatively porous,” Rapunzel whispers to Eugene, who is busily picking the lock on the iron door as she keeps a lookout for guards on their night patrols in the royal gardens. It was already hard enough to ditch the personal guards assigned to each of them the moment they set foot back in the palace. Even Minister Cressien couldn’t shake his “additional security,” despite his increasingly direct hints that he wanted a private word with her and Eugene.
(Part of Rapunzel can’t ignore that King Enver promisednotto assign more guards. The rest of her is insisting thatthere has to be a good reason. That shecan’tkeep looking for Gothel in every shadow.)
Not that any of that could stop Rapunzel and Eugene from sneaking out. When Councilor Laroux confirmed earlier that the unremarkable iron door Rapunzel had discovered does in fact open to the king’s path into the Starlight Spring, she probably assumed the regular guard patrols were enough of a deterrent, and the lock would do the rest.
Councilor Laroux probably needs to spend more time with Rapunzel before making that sort of assumption.
Rapunzel scours the darkened lawns for the torchlight of an approaching patrol and continues. “The groundwater’s mostly in highly permeable karst aquifers, so when the rainy season increases the watershed’s intake, any contaminants ought to be diffused throughout the whole system. Do you see?”
Eugene, who graciously did not ask too many questions when Rapunzel knocked on the glass of his bedroom window earlier tonight and asked him to help her break into the Starlight Spring, says under his breath, “Not even a little, Freckles.”
“The Starlight Spring is connected to all the other water sources on the mainland. Starlight is in the whole water supply, even in small amounts—it’s why even the children are still going gray. But if the starlight’s in the water…”
“…ah. The poison should have spread too.” There’s a faint click. Eugene eases his lockpicks from the keyhole and stands, then opens the door with a bow. “After you, my lady.”
“Thankyou, kind sir.” Rapunzel curtsies, grabs the lantern she “borrowed” from a low-lying garden lamppost, and heads inside. “And yes, exactly. Something—”
She pauses as Eugene’s fingertips brush her lips. He yanks the door shut, then holds his index finger to his own mouth. The orange glow of torchlight and muffled footsteps swell at the doorjamb behind them, then fade.
“You were saying?” Eugene asks once the patrol passes.
Rapunzel tucks her hair behind an ear, hands tingling. “Something must be giving King Enver a false positive. I want to get a sample to test ourselves.”
She heads off down the dim stone tunnel, partially just to keep from getting too distracted. Even before guards were shadowing their every step, they hadn’t had any true alone time since setting foot in Astera, and it doesn’t seem like Enver’s about to willingly let them off the leash anytime soon.
It’s a familiar, unsettling kind of surveillance. Rapunzel remembers bargaining with Gothel foryearsfor the “privilege” of hanging curtains over her bedroom doorway; a month of having real privacy was enough that Rapunzel doesn’t ever want to give it up again.
“Do you think someone’s messing with the tests?” Eugene asks.
“Councilor Laroux said the king does them himself every morning.” Rapunzel swings the lantern around, studying the rock walls. Strange, shiny veins play through the rough-cut pillow basalt—maybe some kind of mineral? If they had moretime, and she had her sketchbook…“Itdoessound like conditions in Astera are worsening, but I don’t think it’s due to contamination. I think something’s been draining the Starlight Spring so less of it seeps into the other water sources. We know plants can absorb the magic, like the sundrop flower did, so my best guess is it’s something like that.”
“Because of the roots you saw?”
“Right. They seemed like they were reacting to the song like my hair used to.”
The lantern light jumps abruptly around a corner. They’ve reached a fork in the tunnel.
“I thought they said every route but one was sealed off,” Eugene says behind her.
“Maybe they just meant the entrances.” Rapunzel lifts the lantern to study both options.
Eugene points to the ground on the left. “Look, there’s moss growing on the path.” Then he gestures to the barren stone on the right. “This one gets more use. If Enver’s down here every day, that’s gotta be it, yeah?”
“Good—” Rapunzel stops short as the hinges of the iron door creak.
Eugene steadies her elbow as they duck down the mossy path. Rapunzel finds the lantern’s shutters and yanks them down, then plasters herself to the wall.
Footsteps thud closer. Rapunzel risks leaning out for a better look—and even though she can’t quite make out the stout figure as it briefly passes, headed for the other branch of thepath, she can tell that’s not Enver’s silhouette against the swaying torchlight.
Isn’t the king supposed to have the only key into this passage?
Rapunzel doesn’t even have to say a word. Once the coast is clear, Eugene whispers, “So we’re following, right?”
“Right.”
