THE CURSE OF RUMPELSTILTSKIN
SCENE 2
(Lights come up on the chamber and now everything is gold)
VEGA: You did it!
NYX: Beautiful.
LYRA: You both better go before Floogle returns. Can you lock the door too?
NYX: Yup. It was a surprisingly simple spell she used.
VEGA: Good luck, Lyra.
LYRA: Thanks.
VEGA: And thanks for the gold.
(VEGA giggles and she leaves with NYX. The door lock is heard. LYRA looks around the room)
LYRA: I can’t believe it actually worked.
(RUMPLE appears)
RUMPLE: And why wouldn’t it?
LYRA: Thank you for your help.
RUMPLE: I’m delighted to be of service. And delighted to be free.
LYRA: Who trapped you here?
RUMPLE: I trapped myself in a way, but now I’m free. And I have helped you in return and we’re even. So more favors okay?
LYRA: Okay. I understand.
RUMPLE: I’m not sure you do, but you’ll soon learn.
LYRA: What does that mean?
(Door lock is heard)
RUMPLE: Ta-ta!
(RUMPLE leaves and FLOOGLE enters with WEEZ, SORCHA and HOGGLE. FLOOGLE gasps with delight)
FLOOGLE: Amazing!
WEEZ: She actually did it!
HOGGLE: Look at all this gold!
SORCHA: Is it real?
FLOOGLE: It feels quite authentic.
WEEZ: We’re rich!
(FLOOGLE gives her a dirty look)
WEEZ: I mean the school is rich?
FLOOGLE: Close enough. Gather all the gold and take it to my office, please.
(HOGGLE, SORCHA and WEEZ grab handfuls of gold items excitedly and place them into boxes)
FLOOGLE: And none of it better be missing. I have an amazing memory and know exactly what is here.
(HOGGLE frowns as if her mind had been read. They exit with a big load of gold items)
LYRA: I’ve done what you’ve asked. Please allow me to return to my dormitory. I need some sleep.
FLOOGLE: What? But you have a most useful talent, my dear. This will be your new home. I’ll arrange for a bed to brought here. You can stay and make more gold.
LYRA: You can’t keep me trapped here.
FLOOGLE: Why not?
LYRA: The other teachers, the headmistress, my friends… they’ll wonder what happened to me.
FLOOGLE: I’ll just tell them you quit and returned home.
LYRA: This is wrong. Why are you doing this to me?
FLOOGLE: Because of what your family did to me.
LYRA: My family? What did they do?
FLOOGLE: They took everything from me. I was once a powerful magician. I could do anything I could imagine, but they took away the source of my spells, the source I found.
RUMPLE: The source you stole!
(FLOOGLE looks scared)
FLOOGLE: Who said that?
LYRA: That was Rumplestiltskin.
FLOOGLE: No! Don’t ever say that name!
LYRA: Perhaps I should say it again.
RUMPLE: Say it!
FLOOGLE: No! Please!
LYRA: Rumplestiltskin!
FLOOGLE: You mustn’t! You don’t know what you’re doing!
LYRA: I know exactly what I’m doing.
RUMPLE: Third times a charm!
(FLOOGLE runs screaming from the chamber and locks it. RUMPLE comes out)
RUMPLE: All runs and no funs. She got away before I could play.
LYRA: I can’t believe she won’t let me go.
RUMPLE: She’s an evil one. She steals magic. She has nothing of her own.
LYRA: What do I do?
RUMPLE: Well, I could help you out.
LYRA: Really?
RUMPLE: But it will cost you.
LYRA: I have nothing to give you.
RUMPLE: That’s not true.
LYRA: You want some gold?
RUMPLE: I know that spell too. No thanks.
LYRA: Then what do you want?
RUMPLE: Right to the point. No beating about the bush. I like that.
LYRA: Unlike you.
RUMPLE: Ha! You’re funny too. Okay, okay. I want a token, merely a trifle. All I want is your voice.
LYRA: My voice?
RUMPLE: Just kidding. What I really want is that medallion around your neck?
LYRA: My medallion? But this is all I have left from my family.
RUMPLE: Well, that’s what I want.
LYRA: And what will you do if I give it to you?
(RUMPLE grabs the spell book and flips through the pages)
RUMPLE: Deal with Floogle in any way you see fit. I can torture her…
LYRA: No.
RUMPLE: Turn her inside out.
LYRA: Ew. No.
RUMPLE: Make her fart uncontrollably.
LYRA: Maybe.
RUMPLE: Oh, I know! This is a good one. I can force her to speak the truth and only the truth. She won’t be able to lie to anyone.
LYRA: That’s a good one.
RUMPLE: What do you say? Is it a deal?
(RUMPLE points to medallion and makes a give me motion. LYRA looks at it sadly)
LYRA: Why would you want this?
(RUMPLE gets mad)
RUMPLE: It’s for me to know and you not to know. You want to be stuck here forever or you want to get out of here?
LYRA: I’ve had this a very long time. I can’t ever remember being without it. And this is all I have left of my family.
(RUMPLE mocks her with fake sadness)
RUMPLE: Oh, what a story. That makes me so sad. Boo hoo. Now hand it over!
LYRA: I have this feeling this means as much to you as it does to me.
RUMPLE: Ding, ding. Give the girl a prize.
LYRA: Okay, here. Let’s teach Floogle a lesson.
(RUMPLE grabs the medallion excitedly and then does the spell)
RUMPLE: Floogle, floogle what a fool. May the truth take you to school.
LYRA: That’s it?
RUMPLE: That’s it. She’s off spilling the beans as we speak.
LYRA: Thank you for helping me.
RUMPLE: Ha! Like I care.
LYRA: I have a feeling you do.
RUMPLE: What’s that supposed to mean?
LYRA: That’s for me to know and you not to know.
RUMPLE: Very funny. You’re a regular comedian.
(Door is hear unlocking. RUMPLE exits. NYX and VEGA rush in)
NYX: You won’t believe what just happened.
VEGA: Floogle admitted to everything she was doing to the headmistress.
NYX: She is in big trouble.
VEGA: And this means you’re free.
LYRA: I’m glad this is over.
NYX: You don’t seem surprised.
LYRA: Maybe I had some help.
VEGA: Oh, no. You didn’t ask, you know who, for help again, did you?
LYRA: I did.
VEGA: This is terrible. You can’t keep doing that. This could backfire. That creature is a trickster and mischief maker. There’s always a catch with this kind of thing.
LYRA: But I know her secret now. She revealed something to me.
NYX: What?
LYRA: I better not say yet. Not until the right moment.
(WEEZ, SORCHA and HOGGLE enter)
VEGA: Oh, no.
WEEZ: Oh, no, is right. You three are in serious trouble.
NYX: What are you talking about? I think it’s all of you who are in trouble now that Floogle is telling everything to the headmistress. That includes all the dirty deeds you do for Floogle.
SORCHA: What did you do? Some kind of truth spell?
LYRA: Something like that.
HOGGLE: You ruined everything.
NYX: This is the best thing to happen to this school in a long time. Ever since Floogle became a teacher here, there has been a dark aura tainting everything. With her out of the way, maybe things will return to the greatest my parents told me about.
WEEZ: Back to the time of parlor tricks and magic shows. We are serious magicians now. We don’t need that anymore.
NYX: It was a time when we used magic for good instead of for selfish reasons.
SORCHA: What good is magic if it doesn’t help us get ahead and make us better than others?
WEEZ: You should have joined us, Lyra. Floogle had great plans for you. We could have helped you be the most powerful magician in the history of this school.
HOGGLE: But you chose to be with these losers instead. What a waste.
LYRA: I’ll always pick kindness and friendship over power.
(WEEZ mocks her)
WEEZ: “I’ll always pick kindness and friendship over power.” You make me sick.
NYX: You’ve lost, Weez. You should all go pack your bags.
WEEZ: We will. We just want Lyra to make some more gold for us first.
LYRA: Why would I do that?
HOGGLE: Because something will happen to your friends if you don’t.
(HOGGLE and SORCHA grab VEGA and run out)
NYX: What are you doing?
LYRA: Stop!
WEEZ: You want her to be safe, then make more gold for us. And hurry. She won’t be safe for long.
(WEEZ runs out)
NYX: Let’s go after them.
LYRA: Go and try to find out where they took, Vega. I’m going to get some help.
NYX: No, please. Things keep getting worse and worse for us.
LYRA: There’s a reason for all of this. I know the answer. Please, trust me.
NYX: I hope you’re right.
(NYX runs out)
LYRA: I know you’re listening, Rumplestiltskin… Rumplestiltskin… Rumplestiltskin!
(RUMPLE enters in a weird hat and bulky outfit that hides her face [this allows her makeup to be removed for a later transformation])
RUMPLE: You rang?
LYRA: I need your help again.
RUMPLE: More gold? Rescue your friend? What will it be?
LYRA: But I have nothing to give you.
RUMPLE: Actually, there is one more thing you can do.
LYRA: What?
RUMPLE: You can take my place.
LYRA: Take your place.
RUMPLE: Become Rumplestiltskin. Set me free.
LYRA: That’s why you’re helping me, isn’t it?
RUMPLE: Of course! Why else would I help you? I want to be free of the curse and you’re my ticket out of here.
LYRA: And I become trapped.
RUMPLE: Unless you can guess my name. But you’ll never guess. Not in a million years.
LYRA: But I know your real name.
RUMPLE: You do? How?
LYRA: You gave yourself away when you wanted my medallion.
RUMPLE: How did I do that?
LYRA: No one would want that medallion. It’s worthless… except to my family.
RUMPLE: What do you mean?
LYRA: That’s why I came to this school. I came looking for you.
RUMPLE: Because you want my power!
LYRA: I came to find you… my parent…
RUMPLE: No! Don’t say my name!
LYRA: You’re Orla… Orla Vale.
RUMPLE: No!!
(RUMPLE screams and the lights go black and then flash with the sound of thunder. The lights are totally black for a moment and RUMPLE is under a pile of clothes on the floor, making it look like she melted. LYRA cautiously approaches the pile of clothes. Out of the pile comes ORLA who no longer looks like RUMPLE, but a normal woman)
ORLA/RUMPLE: Lyra?
(LYRA has tears of joy)
LYRA: Yes… it’s me.
ORLA/RUMPLE: I remember now. I remember everything!
(ORLA and LYRA hug)
LYRA: The spell is broken. You’re free!
ORLA: Thank you, Lyra.
LYRA: Let’s go home.
ORLA: After we help your friends of course. I have enough magic left in me to help with that.
LYRA: Thank you.
ORLA: And thank you for saving me from the Curse of Rumpelstiltskin.