"Allow me to make you a deal," I spoke sweetly to the young, poor woman before me. "I can make certain that you live happily ever after with the one man you deem worthy; the prince."

She smiled at me. "You can truly grant me such a favor?"

"In the blink of an eye, my dear."

She laughed happily at the thought of such an offer. "Thank you, miss!"

"Ah, but first, you must do something for me."

"Of course, anything!"

I smiled at the word "anything". "I can ensure that you and the prince marry and live together for the rest of your natural lives. But, after your marriage, I will come to you, and you will repay me then."

"With what, might I ask?"

"You will see then, my dear. So, what do you say, do we have a deal?"

She thought for a moment, then nodded her head eagerly. "We do, ma'am. Thank you. Thank you so much! What might your name be?"

"Gwendolyn. It is Gwendolyn."

Much time passed, and, of course, the young woman married her prince, and just as I believed would happen, they had a child. A healthy baby girl with blonde hair. And this was to be her end of the bargain.

I appeared to her in a cloud of purple mist, startling her as she and her prince watched their baby in the crib. The girl clearly recognized me and knew that I was here for my payment.

"Oh, Miss Gwendolyn. You startled me." She smiled small.

The prince looks to her. "You know this woman?"

"I do. She is the reason you and I are together. And I'm sure she is here for her repayment," She looked to me. "Which, I assure you, I will pay in full."

I smiled. "I'm sure you will, darling. I never got to congratulate you on the birth of your child. Such a beautiful baby, isn't she?"

"Thank you. Now, about your payment, I'm sure we will have enough gold, won't we?" She looked to the prince.

"Of course," He looked to me. "However much you wish, I am sure we can supply."

I laughed at the suggestion of gold. "Gold? I need no gold."

"Then what? Jewels, I presume?"

"You can keep your riches. What I am after is worth more than gold."

They both had no idea what it was I sought. "Tell us."

I grinned. "Your child."

They seemed genuinely frightened at the thought of giving me their baby. I was no evil enchantress, but I could not help but enjoy this look.

"Never." The Prince defied me.

"This has nothing to do with you, prince. I made the deal with your lady, and it is up to her to follow through."

I could tell I had put her on the spot. "I - I am sorry, Miss Gwendolyn. But... she is my child. I cannot simply hand her over."

"Then I will take her myself. Either way you see it, she is mine."

The prince walked up to me, pulling his sword and holding it so the tip barely touched my throat. "You will not lay a single filthy finger on my child, you wicked witch!"

I did not like it when people referred to me as a witch. I spoke a Latin incantation, waving my hand at his sword, turning it into a snake. He suddenly dropped it, and it slithered away. "The word you are looking for is enchantress. My sister is the witch."

I walked past him, approaching the crib. Before I could take the child from her crib, the young woman took her out herself, holding her close. "I'm sorry, Miss Gwendolyn. I will not let you take my child. Please, just take our gold, take our jewels, anything but our daughter." A single tear rolled down her cheek, and I felt sorry. But this was out of my hands, she made the deal.

I snapped my fingers, and the child was in my arms, which surprised the mother. "There. Was that so difficult?"

"What will you do with her?"

"I have built a tower just for her, hidden beyond your reach. But do not worry, I will raise her as though she were my own."

I attempted to teleport, speaking the spell that I always used to travel from place to place, but something went wrong. As the purple mist cleared, I found that my surroundings had changed, but only just. Instead of the little cottage that we had been in, we were suddenly in a large theatre, an audience staring at us. I was quite startled; I was attempting to reach my tower.

"What is this?" I asked furiously.

"What're you still doing here?" The prince asked me in a hushed whisper. "Get off the stage!"

"What is this sorcery?" I looked down at the baby to find that she had become a doll. I held her out with one hand, sneering at it.

"Marisa, what're you doing?" The young woman whispered impatiently.

I looked at her with fire in my eyes. "Who is Marisa?" I threw the doll at her. "My name is Gwendolyn, you idiotic wench!"

The audience began to murmur softly, and I looked to them, in their strange clothing. I'd never seen such attire in my life, nor had I been so confused.

"What is going on?" The prince asked his lady.

"I don't know. Do you think this is because of Danny?"

I looked to the two of them. "Danny? Who is this... Daniel, you speak of?"

"Should we do something?" The woman asked.

"Answer me, you miserable wench!"

"Would you quit calling me that?" She raised her voice slightly.

"Then you stop being one and tell me what is going on!"

"Uh, can we get security in here?" The prince raised his voice, looking around for "security".

"Yes, perhaps this 'security' can provide better answers than the two of you!"

A large man wearing black attire began to approach me from behind the curtain. "Oh, greetings. You must be security. Can you tell me what is going on?" He did not answer, he simply grabbed me by the arm and started pulling me away. "Unhand me, you brute!"

I attempted to turn him into a cricket so I could squash him, but I found that I couldn't. "What? Why are you not a filthy insect? I demand answers!"

But I received none. Instead, I was hauled away, to a place that was referred to as a "mental institution".

I spent two nights here, surrounded by madmen who either claimed to see things that simply did not exist, or acted like children when they were grown adults, or would sometimes claim to be one person then become another. I was left in a confused state, wanting nothing more than to return to the Enchanted Forest.

I was soon visited by two young men who claimed to be doctors. One was very tall and had rather long dark brown hair, and the other was slightly shorter and had short dirty blonde hair.

They sat at the table that I was seated in, and the tall one introduced themselves. "Hi. I'm Doctor Ryan, this is Doctor Ross. Do you mind if we ask you some questions?"

Questions. It was always about the questions. "Fine, I suppose. I do not think there is a single doctor here who hasn't asked me anything."

Doctor Ross was the first to inquire. "So, let start with the basics. What's your name?"

"My name is Gwendolyn Morgana."

"Really? Because, according to your paperwork, your name is Marisa Stevens."

I was furious at the mention of that name, even though I knew nothing of a Marisa Stevens. "I am not Marisa Stevens! I have never met a woman named Marisa all my life, certainly not myself! My name is Gwendolyn, damn you!"

They seemed a bit surprised by my sudden outburst. "Okay, okay. Just relax. Now, where were you born?"

"The Enchanted Forest."

I had a feeling they would contradict that fact as well. "Well, it says that you were born in Galveston, Texas."

I was correct. "I have never heard of such a place. There is no Galveston, Texas in the Enchanted Forest."

"The Enchanted Forest?" Doctor Ryan repeated. "Where is the Enchanted Forest?"

I merely laughed. "You would not know it. I can tell quite clearly. I can tell you have never set foot in Malonesia."

They seemed intrigued by the name. "Malonesia?" Doctor Ross asked.

"Yes. In the land of Malonesia, there are many factions. And within these factions, there are the kingdoms. The Enchanted Forest is in King Richard's faction. That is where I resided."

"What was your role in this 'faction'?" Doctor Ryan asked.

"I was an enchantress, which I no longer seem to be. Something has cut off my powers, and when I find the one behind this, I shall cut off their head."

I could tell they were not expecting my last statement. "Just one more thing; what was the last thing you did before you ended up here?"

"I was collecting a debt. The first born child of a young woman after she struck a deal with me so she could marry a prince. I got the child, and I was trying to transmit myself to my tower, but I instead found myself in a theatre. Are we done?"

"How did the spell go?" Doctor Ross asked.

Why would they want to know this, I wonder? These particular doctors intrigued me to no end. "Peregrinatione. Latin for travel. Why would this be pertinent?"

"Just collecting information. I'm sure we'll be checking in with you soon." And with that, they got up and left.

I watched them as they went, seeing them talk. They stopped when they thought I wasn't looking. I caught snippets of their conversation through lip reading, words like "spell" and "demon" and, most interestingly, "angel". Angel of heaven, perhaps? These doctors were quite an enigma. I was not quite sure if they even were real doctors at all.

The next day, the alleged "doctors" returned, as I expected they would. And I almost hoped for them to return, oddly enough.

"Well, well," I smiled as they approached me. "You have returned. Just as I anticipated."

"Yeah, and we've got a surprise for you." Doctor Ross grinned.

I had no idea as to what the surprise could be. "A surprise? What might this surprise be?"

"Well, we pulled a few strings, and we got you out of here. You'll be coming with us."

I smiled, very happy to be free from this strange dungeon. "Oh, that is a relief! Might I ask what sort of strings you had pulled?"

He didn't seem to know how to respond, so Doctor Ryan answered for him. "It's a metaphor."

I began to understand. "Oh, I see. So they aren't real strings."

And this was certainly not going to be the last thing that left me confused. I was in for so much more bewilderment than I could prepare myself for.

(A/N: If you can find the band reference I made, you get a cookie emoji: 🍪. PS, writing Gwendolyn's lines is just EXHAUSTING 😅.)