Blinded (A Sequel to "Sight")

The Second Note

Rose paced back and forth, rubbing her temples. "What do they mean, 'you're not safe'?!"

Varian watched Rose panic. He put a hand on her arm. "Rose, breathe." She stopped pacing and took a deep breath. "I-I don't know what they mean, but I do know that we need to show this to Rapunzel."

Rose nodded, then picked up the ominous note that was written on a rock. The blood-like substance the words were written with made her queasy. Was it actual blood?

They left the house, heading for the kingdom. Rose had left Benton and Daina back at Varian's home. They needed time to recover from the frightening moment. Rudiger stayed behind with them.

As they started walking, though, Rose swore she saw a dark figure in the corner of her eye. But when she turned her head to investigate more, nothing but a few trees were there. She mentally shook her head. She was just seeing things.

After a few miles of walking, they had finally reached the castle. But this time, Eugene wasn't outside. The guards sternly looked at them. "What are you doing here?"

Rose held up the rock. "I need to show this to Princess Rapunzel."

The guards' eyes widened, and they stepped aside to let the two in.

Today, the throne room was empty. Rose's heart paced. Where was everyone?

Varian grabbed Rose's hand and started dragging her to a hallway. "Rapunzel's bedroom is up here."

They ran down the hallway, then up a small flight of stairs. Eventually, they stopped at the third room to the right. Varian knocked on the door.

Nothing.

He knocked again. Still nothing.

"Okay, this is not good," Varian said.

"What're you guys doing?"

Varian and Rose jumped, Rose almost dropping the rock. They turned to see Rapunzel behind them, just finishing climbing up the stairs.

"Rapunzel! We found another note!" Rose handed the rock to her. The princess's face paled.

"Oh, this is not good. Not good at all." She looked up at Rose. "Where'd you get this?"

"It was smashed through a window at my house," Varian explained. "Not too long ago."

Rapunzel walked up to her bedroom door and opened it, stepping inside. Varian and Rose glanced at each other before following behind.

The princess set the rock down on a dresser, where the rock from the other day sat. She observed both of them. "Your days of peace are over. A new danger looms over you. You're not safe. Darkness is coming." She turned to the two teenagers. "What could this new threat be?"

"More like 'who.'" Rose told her. "No creature of any type could write these."

Varian put a hand to his chin. "Who would want to hurt us so badly?"

Rose thought hard. She couldn't think of anyone who would have a reason to hurt her, or anyone else.

"Do you have any old enemies that would want to cause you harm?" Rose asked Rapunzel. She knew that over the course of the few years, she'd met lots of new people-- and enemies.

"Not really. The worst ones are either destroyed or reformed," she cast a glance at Varian, but he wasn't paying attention to her.

Rose's shoulders sagged. "Well, that doesn't help much."

Rapunzel put a hand on Rose's shoulder. "Don't worry, Rose. I'm sure we'll figure out who's doing this and stop them before they can do any serious harm."

"Yeah, hopefully."

A few minutes later, Rose and Varian headed back to Varian's house. They had promised Rapunzel that they would try to think of who it could possibly be, and alert her as soon as possible if they found out. They left the princess pacing around her room, thinking her hardest about the ominous threat.

Rose knew that she was just trying to protect her kingdom, but she thought that the princess would just wear herself out with trying to figure out the mystery. Knowing Rapunzel, she would stop at nothing to protect all of Corona, even if it meant not keeping track of herself.

Back at the lab, Rose walked up to Benton and Daina, who were snuggled up and napping. She gently pet their backs, then kissed the top of Benton's head.

Turning back around to face Varian, she sighed. "I can't believe this is happening."

Varian stood next to her and put an arm around her. "I know. But we'll figure it out, and stop the person doing this harm."

"But that's the thing-- they haven't even done any harm yet." Rose put a hand to the side of her face. "All we've gotten are ominous notes."

"It is strange," Varian agreed. "A villain that hasn't even committed a crime."

"Well, unless you count vandalism," Rose said.

"Right," Varian said with a chuckle. "But it doesn't seem like normal villain behavior."

"Well, what is normal villain behavior?" Rose asked, turning to face Varian.

"Usually the villain tries to hurt the person who made them become a villain," Varian explained. "Like how I targeted Rapunzel. And how Cass targeted... Rapunzel."

"Then who could this person be targeting?" Rose asked, narrowing her eyes in thought.

"Well, we were the only two present when both rocks were thrown," Varian thought aloud. "That must mean that we're the targets."

Rose's stomach dropped. They were this unknown person's targets? What did they want with them? What had they done to make this person want revenge?

Thud. Rose looked up at the ceiling. What was going on upstairs? She quickly glanced at Varian, who gave her a confused look. Together, they ran up the stairs.

Quirin was wrapping a rope around someone who was covered in a long, black cloak. The person struggled as Quirin tied the rope around their wrists and ankles. Then he picked them up and set them on the couch.

"What is going on?" Varian asked in a raised and panicked voice.

Quirin turned towards his son. "I found this guy outside while harvesting some more crops. He was holding this." He held out a rock that had red-smears on them, probably once words. It was another note.

Varian was obviously thinking the same thing. "This is our villain."

Quirin narrowed his eyes in confusion. "What?"

"Take their hood off. It's time to know who we're dealing with."