Author's Note:

My story, The Runaway Princess is winding down so I have decided to upload a newer one. I am curious how you will all react to this one and I do hope that you all read and review. I am still working on my other one and you should see new chapters this weekend. Thanks to everyone who has supported my stories. Enjoy!

Do You Believe in Magic

Prologue

Once upon a time, on the outskirts of the village of Corona, there lived a little girl named Rapunzel. She lived with her mother, Greta, in an guest house of one of the richest families in the village, the Fitzherberts. Their corporation, Flynn Rider and Associates, produced a series of malls that seemed to have been popping all over the Four Kingdoms and beyond. The villagers were all grateful, because it kept them busy.

On the outside, the house resembled a fairy tale cottage, but inside it was large and lovely. It wasn't as large as Corona Castle, now mostly a tourist attraction, although the King and Queen, although merely figureheads, still lived there. It stood all by itself perched on a cliff, looking down over the village so that the family could see the comings and goings of the village below. .A nearby waterfall flowed on its right. In the early days, it provided power to a once prosperous farm, which was all but gone these days, but the family still held outside picnics and an annual picnic was held once a year for the villagers and employees alike.

Rapunzel always longed to be part of a family, any family and she had a crush on Eugene, the only son of Linus and Olivia Fitzherbert, who was destined to take over the business. Everyone knew that Linus had borrowed the name of his corporation from his son's favorite book, The Tales of Flynnagan Rider. The main character was a swashbuckling hero and Linus thought the name would bring him good luck, which it had.

Her mother, Greta Gothel, started out as a secretary, but she had a knack for business and became a business planner as well. She worked for the Fitzherberts, planning parties, store activities and special events. She frequently made trips back and forth to keep an eye on the other stores and was hardly ever home. When she was though, she had come back with surprises and treats for Rapunzel.

Rapunzel also had two special talents; she was a healer and a painter. She could heal anything from an injured animal to a small cut. She healed Eugene once when he fell and skinned his knee. She always had special herbs that her mother brought home for her on her trips abroad. Every once and a while her mother would bring her some paints as well.

Rapunzel painted what she saw around her. She even painted what it would be like to travel around the Four Kingdoms the way her mother did. She had a special book, The Invincible Four, The History of the Four Kingdoms, loaded with pictures that she copied from. Someday, she vowed, she would be rich and famous and would see all these places, but for now, she waited and watched and dreamed.

But Rapunzel still longed to be part of a family. Sometimes the Fitzherberts threw wonderful private parties that the employees or villagers were not invited to and Rapunzel always longed to be a part of them. While these were going on, she always slipped outside the guest house to watch. She climbed into a tree and looked down over the courtyard listening to the music, pretending to be Eugene's wife.

Very often, she was bold enough to climb down the tree and slip into the party unnoticed. And it was on one occasion that she met little Eugene Fitzherbert and became fast friends with him, although that friendship was forbidden and had to be kept secret.

This is the their story.