In the Shadows

Prologue

Princess Charlotte of Corona had always wanted a sister. It was the only thing she wanted as a little girl: not a pony, or more dolls, or books or toys. Just a sister.

So when her parents Queen Guinevere and King Ostwalt, told her when she was two (and a half, she would always add) that she'd be blessed with a little brother or sister, she was ecstatic. It didn't matter that they told her often that it could be boy, she knew it was a girl, and she'd finally have a sister.

It'd be wonderful. They'd play dolls, laugh together, share secrets….be best friends. The months of her mother's pregnancy seemed to go all too slowly for her, and it felt like an eternity had passed before Mama's due date neared. However, one week before, she got sick. Really sick. And everyone in her family (including her) prayed for a miracle.

Unbelievably enough, a miracle actually happened, in the form of the famed magic glowing flower. Mama grew well and she gave birth to a healthy baby- a little girl.

At last, Lottie had her sister, a wide green-eyed, blonde haired beautiful sister named Rapunzel. And everything in her world was perfect.

Yet the funny thing about perfection, (and something she learned at a very young age) was that perfection never lasted. It hadn't in the case of her sister. One night, about three months after Rapunzel's birth, some old hag snuck into the castle and stole her sweet sister away. Of course, her parents sent their guards to find Rapunzel but it was no use. She'd vanished.

Lottie was devastated when she heard the news, and spent lots of her time telling God that she'd be the best girl in the entire world, and she'd never ask for anything ever again, if he'd only give her sister back.

But her persistent prayers didn't seem to work. No one could ever find any trace of her baby sister anywhere, or the old woman who'd taken her. In one split second, Charlotte's sister was gone.

Her parents tried to make her feel better (and themselves too) by saying that it'd be okay, that they could maybe have another baby. But as the years passed, all of them knew it was highly unlikely that they would or that Rapunzel would return.

Yet they didn't give up hope. Each year they'd send up flying lanterns into the air, hoping that Rapunzel would see them and come back.

And reunite their family at last.