Cavenaugh Tower (A Rapunzel Remix)

Chapter 1

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!"

"Ask nicely," Rapunzel replied, her little cheeks flushed from saving her prince from the evil dragon Calumnious.

Kamree couldn't resist rolling her eyes. "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, please let down your hair."

"Okay." Little Paisley threw down the extra-long braid section of her blond wig. Kamree mimed using it to climb up over the arm of the couch. Er, palace tower.

Exhausted, Kamree rested her head against the back of the piece of furniture and closed her eyes for a moment. However, her tiny eight-year-old sister didn't want any of that. Paisley scrambled onto Kamree, her knees digging painfully into Kamree's hip. "Sing to me, my prince," she said in that petite voice of hers. That same innocent-sounding voice often got her out of a lot of trouble.

"Sing to you?" Kamree groaned, but a small smile worked its way onto her lips. "How about I..." She grabbed suddenly at Paisley and worked her fingers into her armpits, grinning as the little girl shrieked. "Tickle you!"

"Ah!" Paisley squirmed and tried to get away from Kamree's hands. "No! I give! I give!"

Ah, the magic words. Kamree immediately stopped. Both sisters huffed and sucked in air. "You're a lousy dragon, Ree." Paisley giggled.

"Hey," Kamree joked offense. "I'm the scariest, most dangerous dragon you've ever seen."

They rested on the couch for a while. Kamree settled into the lumpy old couch, content enough to fall asleep. In fact, she had just begun to drift off when Paisley spoke.

"Ree, what's for dinner?"

Kamree smiled at the question. As a baby, Paisley had never been able to correctly pronounce her name and by the time she could, the nickname stuck. She didn't mind. It seemed somewhat cool that her sister, her only family, had a name for her all her own.

"I'm thinking mac n' cheese," Kamree replied. "What do you think?"

Paisley mulled this over. A tiny crease had appeared on her forehead between her eyebrows. "Can we have hot dogs?"

"If we have them, sure." The contents of their fridge usually ended up being a random event. Sometimes the amount of time any food item lasted in their house depended on how many times Paisley snacked and how many late-night food binges Kamree had. "I'll get right on it. You want to watch some TV?" Kamree snagged the remote for their huge blocky thrift store TV off the coffee table.

"Yes, please."

A little ball of warmth oozed into Kamree's chest. "Good manners, baby girl."

She left her sister to it and made the four-step journey from their living room into their miniature kitchen. Their entire apartment was nothing more than a tiny hole-in-the-wall with one bathroom, a kitchen nook, and a single bedroom. It was too simple to get from one side to the other. Yet, watching Paisley had been so much easier ever since Kamree moved them a year ago. Getting her set up at school had been easier as well.

The two girls hadn't so far lived an uncomplicated life, but they had a roof over their heads. To Kamree, that meant more than anything else.

The fridge was mostly empty except for half a gallon of milk, half a loaf of bread, three eggs, some condiments, and some butter. Kamree pushed aside the milk jug to find—Thank Creator—a pack of hot dogs.

Their microwave was under construction, which was Kamree's way of saying it was completely busted. Lucky for her, hot dogs could also be made over the stove. It took a few tries, but once the gas stove clicked and held a flame, she placed the pot of water over it.