Read Online Rapunzel Untangled by Cindy C Bennett - Free Book Online Page B

cards.
    “Uncle!” he exclaimed.
    “Uncle?” Rapunzel repeated.
    “It means I give up. Are you sure you’ve never played this game before?”
    “Never,” she confirmed.
    “Wait,” he said, “where are all your winnings?”
    Rapunzel glanced down at her relatively small pile of the brightly colored candy. “I ate them,” she said.
    “In that case I win,” Fane declared.
    “No, you didn’t. I won and you know it.”
    “Look at my pile compared to yours.” He indicated his pile, decidedly larger than hers.
    Rapunzel picked up three more candies and tossed them into her mouth. “I won,” she stated. “And I ate my winnings. So really, I won twice.”
    Fane shook his head at her, scratching absently at his goatee. “You’re kind of stubborn, huh?”
    She shrugged. She hadn’t ever had anything to be stubborn about before, had never argued with her mother. But she genuinely enjoyed arguing with Fane.
    He sighed deeply, stood, and walked to his backpack. “I brought you one more thing.”
    Excited, she jumped up and hurried over to him.
    “But I don’t know if I should give it to you. I mean, unless you’re willing to concede my victory.”
    “Never,” she said, leaning intently toward him against the counter.
    He sighed again, this time dramatically. “Fine. You win. Besides, this is just as much for me as for you. Maybe more so.”
    Rapunzel stood up straight, anticipation doubled. Fane pulled a screwdriver out of his backpack and held it up triumphantly.
    “Voilà!” he exclaimed.
    Rapunzel shook her head. “I don’t get it.”
    “This is our key, Rapunzel. This is how we get out of this room and explore the house.”
    Rapunzel’s eyes flew to the door, as if someone might be standing there listening. Her heart pounded wildly in her chest. She hadn’t ever thought to step outside the doorway. Of course she also hadn’t ever thought to have anyone besides her mother in her rooms. She returned her gaze to Fane’s eager, questioning look. Did she dare?

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11
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    W hat about Cook?” Rapunzel asked.
    “We’ll be quiet,” Fane said. He stilled next to the doorknob, looking at her. “Wait, is this dangerous for you, Rapunzel? Do you think you might get sick by going out there? Because it’s not worth that.”
    Rapunzel hadn’t even thought of that. She remembered the mask. “Hold on,” she said. She hurried into the kitchen and pulled it from the drawer she stored it in. She walked back to Fane and held it out to him. He grinned.
    “Brilliant.” He took it from her, placing it over her mouth and nose, hooking the elastics behind her ears, and pressing the wire along the upper edge to conform to the shape of her nose and cheeks. “There, now you look—”
    “Yes, hot, I know,” she said, voice muffled, eyes rolling.
    Fane smiled. “I was going to say like a doctor, but if you think you look hot, then ya know, who am I to argue?” he teased and then added, “A hot doctor.”
    Rapunzel’s face suffused with heat. Thankfully the mask covered a good portion of her cheeks, hiding her discomfiture.
    “Ready?” he asked. She nodded, and he turned to the knob. After a short time, he tugged the knob, pulling it out. Rapunzel gasped as he pushed the opposite side out, the knob falling with a quiet thunk on the opposite side. There was a small hole where the handle had been. He stuck a finger in, pushed something, and the door clicked open. He glanced back at her and, holding her gaze, pulled the door open.
    Panic crawled up Rapunzel’s throat as she gazed at the gaping hole where her door should be. Beyond the opening was a carpeted hallway with a wall on the opposite side, which explained the lack of noise when the handle fell. Ambient light came from an unknown source. Fane stuck his head out the door, and she felt the overwhelming need to pull him back inside. He glanced both ways and turned back to Rapunzel with a wide grin.
    If it hadn’t been for that grin,