Beast (10 page)

Leala and I set the table. Afterward, I walked over to the couch and sat down. Leala started a fire for me. Since there was some time before dinner would be finished, I ran into the library to grab a book to read by the fire.

Before I knew it, dinner was on the table. It was my favorite food again: rabbit, potatoes, warm bread, and mutton with onions. I walked over to the table and sat down in my chair.

“I looked for Deleena and Russel, but I could not find them. So unless they show up within the next few minutes, it is just going to be you and me for dinner, sweetie,” Leala told me as she made her way from the kitchen.

“She is missing too?” I asked with a shaky voice.

“I am sorry, sweetie,” she said in a hushed tone as she placed her hand onto mine.

I nodded vacantly.

Something was eating at my stomach, making it ache. My cheeks grew damp as tears quietly rolled down my face.
Where is everyone? What is going on?
I kept asking myself.

After I finished eating, I excused myself to take my book back to the library. The sun was gone, and the moon had risen. After I put the book back, I walked over to the window, which was still open from earlier that day. It was a clear night, just as it had been a year ago. There were many stars out, shining ever so brightly.

As I started to walk out of the library, the Rose House caught my eye. I grabbed a chair to stand on. The painting was beautiful, as usual, but it almost looked as if the leaves on the trees were moving in the background—as though wind were blowing. I moved my head as close as I could to the painting.

After I finished studying the painting, I grabbed one of the candles sitting on the table. On my way out, I noticed that Audric was not there. So I decided to walk around to try to find him. After failing, I closed the windows and blew out all the candles except for the one I was holding.

I made my way back down the stairs. Suddenly I was hit with exhaustion, and I started yawning nonstop. I spotted Leala and told her that I was going to go to bed. She informed me that she would be up in a little bit to tuck me in.

The second I walked into my room, I was engulfed in fatigue. I walked slowly, almost as if I had just woken from a deep sleep. I put on my pajamas, and after I brushed my teeth, I heard my door begin to open. Buttons trotted in, ate some food, drank a little bit of water, and jumped onto my bed. As usual, he situated himself on my pillow and began cleaning himself.

My tiredness increased as time passed. I lay down on my bed and waited for Leala, Deleena, and Russel to come in, or whoever was not “lost” in the castle somewhere. After waiting a few minutes, I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Leala came in with my glass of water.

“Well, like the rest of today, I could not find Russel or Deleena, so it will just be me tucking you in tonight,” she said as she walked through the door.

“Oh, okay.” I sighed in frustration.

She handed me my glass of water and kissed my forehead.

“Now, Buttons,” she began, “watch over him tonight, and keep him company, okay?”

Buttons perked up, let out a meow in response, and then proceeded to lick my hand, which was on the pillow.

Leala left my room, shutting the door behind her. Instantly, my room seemed extremely dark. There was a strange vibe throughout my room. The moon was out, and it was a clear night, but even so, it seemed eerie. I sank down into my bed and placed my head next to Buttons.

Again I was transported to the dream of the awful creature with the big black eyes and short body, and my parents. It started as it usually did and continued the same way until the part of the dream where the creature showed itself.

Up until then, I saw the vision as if I were a spectator watching the whole thing from a distance. Suddenly my point of view changed. Now it was as if the creature were in front of me, walking toward me. The creature began its chant, and I could not understand the words, except for the last part: “In a year’s time, things will change from what is known to something strange.”

The creature walked toward me ever so slowly. It kept repeating the last part of the chant. As it walked closer, its voice became louder. Its hands began to glow with the blinding white light. Instead of my parents, it was coming at me this time. I did not know what to do, or if I could do anything to stop this from happening.

“In a year’s time, things will change from what is known to something strange.” It was almost yelling.

Finally it shouted one last time, and as it did, the light from its hands shot out of its fingertips at me.

The second I was hit with the white light, I jumped up in my bed, sweating underneath my sheets again. When I opened my eyes, I could see clearly, but it was still night.

I turned to look at Buttons, but he was no longer there. I began to hyperventilate. There was a lit candle in my bathroom, so I jumped off of my bed and hurried toward it. On my way, I tripped over something, but I did not look to see what it was.

Once in the bathroom, I grabbed for the candle so that I could hold it up to the mirror. When I looked down, I saw something else reaching for the candle too. It had brownish fur and razor-sharp claws. I screamed at the top of my lungs, thinking that the creature had sent something to come for me.

My eyes widened and my heart raced as I realized that what I saw was connected to me! After staring at it, I grabbed the candle with this furry arm and held the light up to the mirror. What I saw staring back at me was terrifying.

The thing in the mirror, which was standing upright like a human, had a nose and mouth like a wolf’s, with razor-sharp teeth; tusks like a boar’s; eyes as golden as Mother’s hair, almost catlike; fur all over its body like a bear; and ears that stood up like Buttons’s, only bigger. It had horns next to its ears that were half the length of its ears, and broad shoulders, and it was wearing a ripped shirt that seemed to resemble my pajamas.

When I finally looked down, I saw that my entire body was covered in fur the same color as my hair. I looked down to my feet and saw that they were huge, resembling the feet of a canine or bear, and I had pads on the bottom of my feet and hands, along with retractable claws.

Something was moving behind me. I turned my head around slowly and looked down. There, behind me, was a tail! It was shorter than Buttons’s, but it looked similar to it.

What has happened to me?
My heart raced as I walked back into my room. Tears were building up in my eyes, and I began to shake with fear.

When I had tripped earlier, it had been because of my new feet. It was difficult to learn how to walk with such enormous feet, along with claws. The claws tapped on the wood floor as I moved.

Suddenly I started to worry about Buttons. I hoped that I had not frightened him when I changed.

I sat on my bed and began to look at the roses. In that moment, a thought hit me: this must have been what the creature was saying! It had been exactly a year since my parents were killed by that awful creature. Then I started thinking about Leala, Deleena, Russel, and the rest of the servants.
Have they changed? Do they look like me?

I somehow found myself running down the stairs.

“Deleena, Leala!” I yelled as I ran.

There was no response.

“Deleena, Leala!” I yelled again.

Still nothing. I ran to their bedroom doors and started banging, screaming their names!

Time passed, but I never heard anything.

I walked to the stairs and sat down. I looked down to the first floor of castle; it seemed different. It was darker; there seemed to be less life in it. No matter how many times I rubbed my newly catlike eyes with my enormous hands, this image would not leave me. I decided to go back to my room to try to figure this all out.

Once in my room, I walked to my bed and sat down. I did not need to climb to get on the bed this time. With this new body, I was a little taller.

The roses were still on my nightstand, as beautiful and fragrant as ever. Once again, they seemed to be an even deeper shade of red.

I was not sure if it was because of this terrifying event that had happened or if it was something else, but I was not tired at all. I sat there and stared at the roses until the sun came up. It was a long night.

As I thought about it, I was not sure how I was ever going to come to terms with this.
How am I going to live like this? How can I be around anyone ever again? What will Leala and Deleena say? Who am I?

A little after the sun rose, I tried to open up my door, but I was unable to because my hands were now paws. Then I realized that I could not remember opening my door when I had first discovered what happened to me, even though I knew the door had opened.

“Come on,” I said aloud. “Please open! I need to come out!”

As I said it, I did not think that talking to the door was going to do any good. But after I spoke, the knob turned and the door opened. I looked around to see if something had opened it for me, but I saw nothing.

I pushed the door open wider and peered out; there was nothing. Before I left my room, I saw that Buttons was out of food and water.

“Now how am I supposed to fill up Buttons’s food and water bowls?” Again, I was not sure what speaking to the air was going to do.

I thought I heard a noise outside my door, so I looked out and then looked back at Buttons’s bowls. To my surprise, there was food in his food bowl and water in his water bowl. At that point, I became less intrigued and more frightened.

I hurried out of my room and descended the flight of stairs. I kept turning my head to look back at my room. After I left, the door started to close on its own. At the sight of this, I let out a scream that had been building up in my throat since I first saw my new body.

It was extremely difficult, and also strange, to walk down the stairs. Every time I took a step, I heard nothing. Normally something with feet as big as mine made loud noises, but not me. I slowly and carefully walked down the stairs, holding on to the railing.

Once at the bottom of the staircase, I decided to walk to the dining room to see if I could find anyone.

I wandered around for what must have been more than ten minutes while trying to find the dining room; I kept getting lost. I ended up in parts of the castle that I had not even known existed.

Finally, after becoming extremely frustrated, I shouted, “I just want to find the dining room!
Please!
”

I suddenly found myself walking through the hallway with the paintings and into the dining room.

It started to click in my head that if I spoke something aloud, it happened. I had asked for my door to open, and it did. Then I had mentioned that Buttons’s bowls needed to be filled, and they were. And now I had said that I wanted to find the dining room, and the way to the dining room showed itself to me. I wanted to see what else talking aloud into the air could do for me.

I walked over to the dining table and said, “I would like some breakfast.”

After I said this, I started to wonder how I was going to eat. Picking up a fork was not going to happen; I no longer had opposable thumbs. But as soon as those words came out of my mouth, I heard clanging in the kitchen.

I hurried as fast as I could to the swinging door, but when I pushed it open, I saw no one in the kitchen. However, the sounds continued. When I made my way back into the dining room, I went over to the window. The roses still looked awful.

Something caught my eye as I was turning around to walk back to the table: food had appeared out of nowhere. I sat down in my seat, trying to discover how I was going to eat. After contemplating this for some time, I realized that I was not even hungry.

Chapter 6
 

A
few days passed, and I attempted to become used to this new body of mine. I was not sure how long I would be like this, or even if I would ever change back into a human.

I continually talked to the air to help me go places in the castle or do things. I started to call whatever was helping me the Invisibles. In the back of my mind, I could not help but think that maybe it was Deleena, Leala, Russel, and the rest of the staff who worked at the castle.

Having the Invisibles around made me feel less lonely. Every so often, I thought that I would hear the Invisibles talking. They sounded like Deleena, Leala, and Russel. But I was not sure if I was making it up in my head or if it was really their voices.

Although it was nice to have the Invisibles to talk to, not seeing them or being able to hug them started to take a toll on me.

One night, I was down in the dining room, reading a book next to the fireplace. There was a light breeze, which was making howling noises. As I was about to finish the book, I heard voices.

“I wish that we could tell him that we are here still,” a female voice that sounded similar to Leala’s voice said.

“Yeah, but, unfortunately, he is not allowed to hear us,” a voice that sounded like Russel’s agreed.

“It hurts my heart to see him have to go through this alone,” another female, who sounded like Deleena, said.

Their voices were faint, almost whispers, but they comforted me a little bit.