Page 29 of Locked

She stood and pulled me in for another hug. I felt her yank a hair from my head and I winced again.

"Sorry, darling I mean to give you notice, but old habits die hard."

"It's fine, Mother, I'm used to it."

"There's my girl." She patted my head and made for the door. "Try and spend more time working on your spells or something… stay off that tablet. I think that's why you have the headache."

And once I started practicing too much and getting too good at the spells, she'd think of a reason to send me back to my tablet again.

I would never, ever impress her. I would never make her happy. She wanted to keep me needing her, after all.

"You might be right, Mother. I think I will."

"Good, good… goodbye Basil…" she waved down to him.

He raised a paw. "Goodbye, Mother. Have a pleasant week."

"You too, dear." She gave him a sickly sweet smile and turned for the door. Her haunting words from before echoed in my mind.

"We'll have to put him down."

No we wouldn't.

"I'll see you in two weeks, Rapunzel. Same time."

"Same time. I can't wait. Goodbye, Mother!"

She dropped my hair into the fire and left the apartment.

As soon as the doors shut behind her, I set to work on the persiage. I brought over a vase of water, lifting the tangled weeds in the air to detach them from one another.

I dropped them one by one into the perfectly tempered water, watching as they perked up almost immediately. Good. Maybe all wasn't lost.

"Where are you going to hide those?" Basil asked.

"In plain sight," I replied. "With the Rapunzel."

"Good choice," he said, going back to cleaning his paws.

I would have to start a tincture, just in case Mother asked about it on her next visit, but for now, I wanted to gloat just a little in my accomplishment.

"Did you hear her?" Basil asked, and my heart sank as I nodded.

"She threatened to put you down," I said.

"She did more than threaten…" he replied. "She pretty much guaranteed that it's curtains for me."

"I won't let that happen," I promised him.

"What are you going to do? Fake my death and hide me in the tower?"

I shook my head. "I don't know. But I won't let her take you from me, Baz. I promise."

He locked eyes with me, bowing his head slightly. "Thank you, Zelle."

"Even if I have to let you go," I replied with a nod.

"Let me go?" He asked, rising to his feet. "You'd do that?"