Red ran along the path, calling her friends. It wasn’t long before she heard an answering shout.

‘Red!’ yelled Jack. ‘Are you OK? We’ve been looking everywhere for you.’

‘Thank goodness you’re back!’ said Rapunzel.

Anansi swung down from the treetops on a rope made of spider silk. He pulled Red into a tight hug. ‘It’s OK!’ he yelled up into the tree. ‘She’s safe!’

Red looked up into the canopy where a horde of spiders nodded at Anansi, then scuttled away.

‘Can you speak to any spider anywhere?’ she asked.

‘Pretty much,’ said Anansi. ‘Apart from Spanish ones. I’ve never got the hang of Spanish. Anyway, my mum will be waiting. Red, are you all right to keep going?’

‘Of course I am!’ said Red. ‘I only fell down a cliff!’

They ran on up the path until it stopped at a deep chasm with a couple of frayed ropes dangling from it. The edge of the forest was just on the other side.

‘Oh no!’ exclaimed Anansi. ‘The bridge is down.’

‘Down it fell. It fell away! And on this side you’ll have to stay!’ chanted a high-pitched voice. ‘I cut the bridge down with my knife, and that fall now could cost your life!’

Rapunzel groaned. ‘Oh no, it’s Rumplestiltskin!’

‘Whaaat!’ squawked Betsy.

‘Seriously?’ said Jack. ‘That guy is SO annoying!’

‘Your quest will now end here in vain, if you cannot just guess my name. I’ll weave a bridge made out of gold, but first my name has to be told!’

The owner of the voice leaped out from behind a rock, cackling gleefully.

Rapunzel glared at the bearded little man. ‘Your name is Rumplestiltskin!’ she said crossly. ‘We all know your name. Everybody knows your name – it’s a pretty hard name to forget! Can you just get on with it and weave us that bridge? We’re in a bit of a hurry.’

‘It was worth a try . . .’ muttered Rumplestiltskin as he pulled out a portable spinning wheel. ‘Can you pass me some straw?’

Rapunzel sighed as she gathered up hay from a pile by the side of the path, which the small man spun into gleaming rope. Finally the golden bridge was complete. Rapunzel, Jack and Anansi ran across without a backwards glance, but Red slowed down as she passed Rumplestiltskin.

‘Maybe you could think about changing your name?’ she suggested. ‘Or coming up with a new riddle?’ Then with a wave she ran on to catch up with her friends.

‘There! Up ahead!’ shouted Anansi, pointing to where the path left the forest and joined a wide road at the bottom of the mountain.

Peering out from behind a large rock was an even larger figure – a troll.

‘Mum!’ called Anansi.

Cautiously his mother came out from behind her rock, a broad smile on her face.

Nobody noticed the thick net dangling from a ledge on the mountain above. Suddenly the net tumbled down, knocking Anansi’s mother off her feet. She roared in anger, but before she had time to get free, the net was pulled shut, trapping her.

‘Over there!’ shouted Jack, pointing to a winch being wound in by a burly man wearing a huntsman’s leather cap.

‘We need to cut the rope!’ yelled Anansi, but before he could get close, the huntsman heaved the troll into a cage on the back of his horse-drawn wagon.

‘MUM!’ screamed Anansi, as the huntsman’s horses started to gallop away. ‘Mum . . .’

‘It’s not your fault, Red,’ said Anansi for at least the twelfth time. ‘There’s no way you could have known what would happen.’

‘You said it yourself, just this morning – I’m too trusting!’ replied Red. ‘I told that huntsman what we were doing here, and now your mum’s gone, and it’s all my fault!’ She gritted her teeth and tried not to cry.

They were standing at a crossroads. The hoofprints and wagon tracks had vanished and they had no idea which way to go next.

Rapunzel, Jack and Anansi were trying to make Red feel better while Betsy was pecking and scratching at the forest floor.

‘Come on, Betsy!’ said Jack. ‘This is no time for eating.’

‘Whaaaat?’ squawked Betsy angrily.

‘What do you mean, you’re not eating?’

‘WHAAAAAT!’

‘Well,’ said Jack in surprise. ‘I didn’t know you could track people! Can hens even smell?’

‘Whaaat...’ Betsy rolled her eyes.

‘Well, it’s just that you don’t even have a nose!’

‘WHAAaAAT!’ shrieked Betsy, sounding very cross.

‘OK, OK!’ replied Jack, holding his hands up defensively. ‘You have an excellent sense of smell and beaks are way better than noses. Happy now?’

Suddenly Betsy stood completely still. She scratched at the floor one last time – then shot off like a feathery arrow.

‘Come on!’ yelled Jack as he sprinted after her. ‘Betsy’s found something!’

The sun hung low in the sky when the forest suddenly ended and they arrived at a locked gate set into a tall stone wall.

Carved skulls and gargoyles peered down at them and a sign warned people to

Underneath in smaller letters it read:

Red glanced at her friends nervously.

‘Oh, come on!’ said Rapunzel. ‘People write that sort of thing all the time – it’s never actually true! Now, how do we get in?’

Everyone was looking at Rapunzel. She stared blankly back at them for a moment before she understood. ‘You want to climb over the wall using my hair?’

Jack looked at her and shrugged. ‘Well, if you don’t mind?’

‘I just had to ask, didn’t I?’ Rapunzel muttered as she unwound her hair from its long plaits. The golden strands waved and curled as if they had a life of their own. She threw her hair up and it whipped around one of the scary-looking gargoyles, tying itself into a neat little bow. One by one, they all climbed up Rapunzel’s hair and waited for her on the top of the wall.

‘You owe me three bottles of conditioner!’ Rapunzel complained as she pulled herself up and her hair magically untied itself. Nobody replied – they were all staring silently ahead.

Within the wall, nothing was alive. The trees were twisted and dead, and the ground was bare, dry earth. A gleaming road led towards a huge castle in the distance. Rapunzel looked at the road more closely and realized it was made of bones. From inside the castle walls they could hear the unmistakable roar of a dragon.

‘Oh . . .’ Rapunzel said quietly. ‘I guess the sign was serious.’