"I give up!" exclaimed Gwen. "We came all this way for a blank clue. Now what do we do?" She glared at the prince, who stared balefully back at her. "I'll bet he took the real one," she muttered.

"Now, now, hold on a minute," soothed Org. He picked up the walkie-talkie and radioed Howard. "Howard, this is Org."

On the other side of the forest, Lance answered. "Lance here. What's up? We've had an adventure, let me tell you."

"Hold on, my boy, not right now. We've a bit of a problem here." Org explained, and Lance relayed the message to Howard.

"Hold everything!" exclaimed Howard. "Tell them not to throw away that paper! It may not be blank at all!" He took the walkie-talkie and said quickly, "It may be invisible ink! There's only one way to find out! Can you find a light bulb somewhere? You need to hold it up close to one."

Org relayed the message to Gwen, who said, "That may be a bit of a problem." Every light in the room, and indeed the whole castle, came from candles or torches. "If we hold it up to one of those, it'll catch fire."

"No problem," said Org. "You forget, I'm an expert on all earth appliances." He waved a hand and the nearest torch on the wall turned into a glowing light bulb.

Howard told them to hold the note up close to the bulb. Immediately, words appeared on the paper. "It's like magic! How does it work?" exclaimed Gwen. Howard explained.

Gwen and Org looked at the words that had so magically appeared.

FIND A PLANT THAT GREW TOO HIGH,
LOOK FOR CLUES UP NEAR THE SKY!

"Jack's beanstalk!" squealed Gwen, and Org said, "You've hit the nail on the head, my dear!" They relayed the news to Howard and Lance, and turned to leave, but found the prince standing behind them, staring at the light bulb.

"How did you do that?" he demanded. "Show me how at once, so I may patent this invention and be the richest one in the kingdom! Then I won't have to get married. Tell me, or I'll throw you in the dungeon!"

Org shook his head. "Greedy, greedy," he said sadly. Grabbing the prince's hand, he tapped it lightly on the spindle of the spinning wheel. The prince at once fell to the floor, sound asleep. "Have a nice nap," said Org, and he and Gwen left the room. "Will he sleep for a hundred years?" she asked anxiously, on the way downstairs.

"No, only for fifteen minutes or so," said Org cheerfully. "The magic spell has mostly worn off the spindle by now. Should give us enough time to get safely away."

Actually, they were nearing the front door when all the loud snoring in the castle suddenly stopped. "Well, that's a relief," said Org.

"Yes, but." Gwen pointed to the front door, where a sleepy-looking guard was just climbing to his feet.

"Halt!" he cried when he spotted them. "You are trespassing! Go no further! I must take you before the king."

"No time for that," said Org, whipping out a badge. "Adventureland Security. We're investigating a crime. Did I just find you sleeping at your post?" he snapped.

The guard looked panicked. "Oh, no sir, no-I was, I was just resting my legs for a moment. I've been awake every minute, sir, I assure you."

"Well, don't let it happen again," said Org to Gwen with a wink, and the guard stood briskly at attention while the two of them walked straight past him and out of the castle. Gwen bid a fond farewell to Puff the dragon and they started down the road towards Jack's famous beanstalk.

While Gwen and Org were making their way out of the castle, Lance and Howard were making their way through the woods, keeping a sharp eye out for bears.

"Where to?" asked Lance shortly.

Howard consulted the map. "The nearest town's a mile or so away."

"Good," said Lance. "I'm starved. Let's get something to eat."

"Fine," said Howard, "and guess what, Rapunzel's tower is there, too. So I guess that's our next stop."

Arriving in the town a short time later, they stopped a man who was carrying large bags of wheat, and Lance asked him where to find food.

"Buddy, you've come to the right place," said the man, setting down his load and mopping his face. This is Chowtown. The whole place is full of food. Just down the street, you'll find the shops of the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker. The butcher and baker run a restaurant where you can have their special-blackbird pie. Twenty-four blackbirds in every pie, guaranteed. Or there's the muffin man, who lives on Drury Lane. He specializes in muffins, but he also makes hot cross buns. Then there's."

"Hold on, hold on," said Lance, seeing that it was going to be a long list. "Just tell us, where's the very best place to eat."

"Oh, that's easy," said the man. "The Little Red Hen's place. Best homemade bread in the world. Matter of fact, I'm on my way there now to deliver this wheat. I'll take you there, if you'll help me carry these bags."

Lance and Howard each hoisted a heavy bag, and followed him through the town. Later, seated at a table outside the Red Hen Roost, stuffing their faces with homemade bread and jam, they were happy to see a tall tower nearby. "That's got to be it," said Lance, with his mouth full.

"Right you are," said Howard. After they had eaten their fill, they made their way up the street to the tower. They walked all around it, but found no way in. There was no door, and no windows except at the very top.

"We should have known," said Lance in disgust. "Now how to we get up there to look for clues? Guess we'll have to climb."

"Wha-at?" Howard looked pale. "I-I don't like heights much. Besides, how will we climb? We don't have Rapunzel's hair to use-they already let her out."

"Hmmm," said Lance, "let's see-look! I don't think that either Rapunzel or the kidnapper was very smart. The stones used to make this tower are very rough and uneven. There are lots of handholds and footholds. We can climb this, no problem."

Howard's face turned a sickly green. "Uh, why don't you go?" He managed. "I-uh-need to stay down here and, uh--catch up on my notes."

Lance laughed. "O.K., I get it. You don't have to go up. I'll be right back." And he began to shinny up the wall. "Piece of cake," he called down, "just like the climbing wall at the sports store back home."

Howard glanced up, shuddered, and pretended to concentrate very hard on his iPhone. Moments later, Lance disappeared into the window.

Howard was startled when a female voice spoke next to him.

"Who was that climbing the tower?"

Howard whirled around and found himself facing a very pretty girl, with very short hair.

"Uh-that's my friend-he won't make any trouble," he stammered.

"Oh, I don't mind. It's not my tower. In fact, I don't ever want to see inside that place again. I just wish the kidnapper had known about those handholds. He gave me the worst case of split ends I've ever had, climbing up my hair. And it really hurt, too," she pouted.

"You mean, you're Rapunzel?" sputtered Howard. "But-but--"

"You mean my hair?" said the girl. "Well, naturally, I had to cut it off. He tangled it so badly, all the king's men couldn't have combed it out. So after Org's security people rescued me with a ladder, I went to the beauty salon. Anyway, I was sick of long hair." She gave him a brilliant smile. "My new haircut is much more stylish, don't you think?" She batted her lashes at him.

Howard turned red. "Uh-yes, very pretty. Look, do you mind if I ask you some questions? What did your kidnapper look like?"

The girl looked annoyed. "Everyone keeps asking me that. I told them, he was dressed as a witch. Big nose, green skin, pointy hat, long dress-the whole works. Now that I think about it, maybe that's why he couldn't climb the rock-it would be hard, in a dress. But I know it wasn't really a witch, because he couldn't do magic, either-otherwise, all he would have needed was a broomstick to fly up."

"You keep saying "he", said Howard. "Why?"

"Oh, it couldn't have been a real woman," said Rapunzel, "his voice was much too low and raspy. Real women have lovely voices. My voice teacher once said mine is just like music. What do you think?" She simpered and batted her eyelashes again.

"Low and raspy voice," muttered Howard, typing the information and trying to look at his iPhone and not at her. "Anything else?"

Rapunzel pouted. "No-except he had very bad breath. Like moldy cheese. It was awful."

"Cheese?" said Howard, looking up in surprise.

"Yes," said Rapuzel. "Nasty-probably never used mouthwash in his whole life. Now, if you're through asking me these nosy questions, I'm going to get a manicure and a new dress to go with my hair." She fluttered her fan and him and added hopefully, "I'll be at Cinderella's ball tonight, if you're interested. I'm a very good dancer." She giggled.

"Uh, sorry, I don't dance. Some other time," managed Howard, and Rapunzel flounced off in a huff.

"Who was that?" said Lance from just above his head. He was climbing down with something in his hand. "That was Rapunzel, but she wasn't much help," said Howard. "What did you find?"

"Just this," said Lance, holding out a torn piece of black material. "It could have come from a witch costume. And look, there are more wisps of grey hair or fur stuck to it-like we found on Snow White's pillow."

"You're right," agreed Howard.

"Oh, one more thing," said Lance, "when I was looking out the window, I saw something under that bush over there." He ran to look, returned with three things in his hand. "Look, it's a witch hat, a mask and a broom."

"That settles it," said Howard. "The kidnapper was definitely in disguise. Not a real witch at all. But who was it?" he frowned.

"I don't know," said Lance, "but we'd better let the others know what we found." They radioed the information to Gwen and Org on the walkie-talkie, and as they walked down the street, Lance said, those walkie-talkies sure come in handy. I wish I had one at home."

"You could make one," said Howard. "It's easy. I could show you if I had some paper cups or tin cans."

"You can get some at a restaurant," said Lance. That reminds me, all that climbing made me hungry again. Let's stop by the butcher and baker's before we leave town."

Just then, a panicked message came over Howard's walkie-talkie. It was Org's voice. "Emergency! Emergency! Gwen's in trouble! Call us back at once! A matter of life and death! Emergency!"