Beast (26 page)

Once the feeling stopped, I ended up at a harbor where several ships were docked. The feeling began to push me onward again. This time it made me walk onto the dock. I looked at the different ships.

One beautiful ship in particular drew my attention. It had blue and brown accents on the sides and the flag. While I walked along the side of the boat, I carefully studied it.

When I was at the back of it, I saw the name. It was named
Shantay
. Though I had never been told what Reynard’s ships were named, I had a feeling that this was one of them. The more I thought about it, the more I suspected it was the ship that had come back—the one that Reynard had told me about at the castle.

While I was eyeing the name, I overheard two gentlemen talking on the ship. I walked to the bridge leading onto the boat, which allowed me to fully hear their conversation.

One of the gentlemen had grey, almost white, hair, while the other had curly brownish hair. They were about the same height, but the one with the brown hair seemed overly thin and looked familiar.

“You are a sight for sore eyes!” the gentleman with grey hair stated.

“As are you! I am so glad to finally be home, Mr. Prideaux. I have never been so happy to see familiar faces,” he said as they shook hands. “I cannot wait to see my lovely wife and family. Do you know if they are home, by chance? I have not had the time to go there yet.”

“Oh, no one has told you?” Mr. Prideaux said sorrowfully.

“Told me what? Are they okay?” the young gentleman asked with frustration.

“Yes, yes. Everyone is okay from what we have heard.”

“What do you mean ‘from what we have heard’?”

Mr. Prideaux grabbed the young man and made him sit down. The young gentleman had a frightened look on his face, along with worry on his brow.

“You see, son, about two years or so ago, all of your father’s ships disappeared—not only the one that you were on. Because of this, he had to sell all that your family owned to pay off the company’s debts, even the house,” Mr. Prideaux began.

As he said this, I knew for sure that the young man was Lanelin, Mirabelle’s brother. He resembled Reynard in many ways.

He continued, “After the house was bought, your father, Nadine, Evaline, and Mirabelle all moved to a city where Nadine’s uncle lives, Eglantina. About a year ago, he came into town because one of the ships had returned. We hear from them from time to time, but nothing recently.”

“Oh my goodness! Is there anyone who can take me to them?” Lanelin asked nervously.

I could see his hands shaking by his side.

“Yes, Lanelin, there are. When they departed from here to their new home, four guides took them there. They live near here; I know who they are. I will introduce you to them if you would like. I am sure that they would be able to lead you to your family.”

They stood up, and Lanelin hugged Mr. Prideaux.

“Thank you! Thank you so much!” Lanelin said. His voice sounded as if he were holding back tears.

I studied Lanelin’s face; he looked as though he were ill. If he was, he was about to make a few weeks’ journey to his family while sick.

I was not sure if he looked that way because he had just found out about his family or because being out at sea had made him ill.

As I watched, they both walked off the boat, continuing to talk about the journey that Lanelin was going to make the next morning. I slowly followed them as long as I could. The farther they walked, the less I could understand what they were saying.

“So let me take you to Leggett and Coty; they live by the barn near the edge of town. Afterward, I will take you to Guy and Montaiqu if Leggett and Coty cannot take you.”

“You have no idea how thankful I am right now! You have always been like a second father to me.”

“I will always be there for your family. Once you reach them, please send word about how they are doing.”

“I will!” Lanelin said, and then they were silent.

The vision faded, and when I came to, I was not where I had been when I first became dizzy. I awoke on the steps near the foyer.

The sun started to rise not long after the vision vanished. So I made my way into the dining room to lie on the couch for a little bit of time before breakfast. My head was still spinning. No matter what I did, it would not stop.

To my surprise, I dozed off while resting on the couch. This was abnormal; the entire time that I had been the Beast, I had not been able to sleep at all. I figured that the vision had shaken me up or something.

“Good morning, Beast!” Mirabelle stated as she gently stroked my face with her right hand, attempting to wake me. Again she softly said, “Good morning, Beast.”

When I woke, the first thing I saw was her breathtaking face.

“Good morning, my lovely Mirabelle!” I replied while attempting to sit up.

Mirabelle looked quite joyful that day. She had a smile on her face from ear to ear that would not disappear.

“How did you sleep last night, my beauty?” I asked.

“I slept quite well. Buttons kept me company in the moments when I was unable to sleep.” She smiled.

“You had difficulty sleeping? I am sorry, my darling, but I am glad that he kept you company. He is always there when we need him most—one of the many reasons why he is such a wonderful cat.”

After breakfast, we made our way to the library, where Mirabelle just stood and studied the painting of her house. I wished that I could have read her mind while she gawked at it.

I thought it might have alarmed her a little. While she stood there, from time to time she glanced over at me with a blank look on her face. When we left at lunchtime, I realized that she had stood there the whole time we were in the library.

Mirabelle worked in the rose bed after lunch. I watched her from the dining room.

She looked up at me every once in a while, shaking her head, laughing at me. I felt that our relationship was growing every day, but something was still holding it back from what it could have been. This baffled me.

After she finished caring for the roses, we walked outside with her horse. This time, we opened the gate to walk through the forest a little. I was nervous about being outside of the castle walls.

It was a nice spring afternoon; the sun was shining through the trees, creating patterns on the ground. I walked, and she rode. She asked me questions about my childhood.

I explained to her about Russel, Leala, and Deleena. Also, I told her about my parents and how they went to balls and traveled on business trips a lot of the time.

“I loved my childhood. Well, up until this happened to me,” I explained.

“Well, it sounds like you had wonderful parents and friends,” she said, touching my shoulder.

As the sun was setting, we made our way back to the castle. Once inside of the gate, I helped Mirabelle off her horse. The whole time I held her in the air, she was blushing, attempting not to make eye contact with me. After I set her on the grass, we walked to the barn to place Majestueux in there for the night.

When she was done tending to her horse, we walked up the steps of the castle and made our way into the dining room for dinner. Again she asked me to eat with her, and of course I was pleased to do so.

After we finished, I walked her to her bedroom. At her door, we stood gazing into each other’s eyes. My heart fluttered, and it became difficult to swallow. When I asked if she would marry me, she told me, “I am sorry.”

A few days later, while we were eating dinner, a vision came suddenly to me.

This time, I was in the forest on a rainy spring day. I saw Lanelin on a horse, accompanied by two guides; I assumed they were Leggett and Coty.

Lanelin was hunched over on the horse, coughing horribly. Also, he had a blanket or something similar wrapped around him, though it looked as if he were still shivering, as his teeth were chattering.

He was ill, as I had suspected in my last vision. He seemed miserable and in a lot of pain. It hurt me to see the love of my life’s brother this way.

In the vision, I began to think about Mirabelle. She had not told me about any dreams involving her family recently, which made me wonder whether or not she had seen her brother this way.

After the image faded, I saw Mirabelle staring at her plate with a blank look in her eyes. I was not sure how long she had been like that or if she realized that I had been doing the same thing. Once she came back to reality, she had a distraught look on her face, and tears filled her eyes.
Did she see the same thing that I did?

“Mirabelle, are you feeling okay?” I asked as I placed my hand on her arm.

“Yes, I am fine. But I had the strangest daydream just now,” she said. “It seemed to be a continuation of a dream I had the other night.”

“What was it about?” I asked, hoping that it was not the same vision I’d had.

“The one from just now or the one that I had the other night?”

“Both. Only if you feel comfortable telling me about them,” I said.

“Of course. I feel like I can tell you just about anything,” she said.

I kept my hand on hers as I scooted my chair closer to her.

“I will start with the one from the other night. Remember how I told you about my brother who was on one of my father’s ships that became lost?”

I nodded.

“Well,” she continued, “in the dream I had, he had come back and was talking with a man who was really close with my family, Mr. Prideaux. He told Lanelin about what happened, including why we were no longer living in the city. Mr. Prideaux introduced Lanelin to the men who guided us to Eglantina.

“In the daydream I just had, it was a rainy day, and Lanelin was on a horse, traveling with two of the guides; they were on their way to our house. But he looked very sick and weak. He had a deep cough that sounded awful. It looked like he was in a lot of pain.”

She took a deep breath; a single tear rolled down her left cheek and hit her plate. I placed my arm around her, and she placed her head on my shoulder, beginning to sob.

There was a knot in the pit of my stomach, and tears filled my eyes. Part of me felt that I needed to tell Mirabelle that the dreams she was having were not just dreams but visions—meaning that what she saw was really happening or going to happen. But if I told her this, then I would have to tell her how I knew that they were real. There was an argument going on in my head and my heart, but I knew what I needed to do.

“Mirabelle, I need to tell you something,” I said softly.

“Yes?” She looked up at me, tears streaming down her face.

“You know those dreams of your family that you have been having?”

“Yes, what about them?”

I took a deep breath and shut my eyes.

“Well, you see, they are not just dreams; they are visions.”

“What do you mean?”

“They are visions. I have had them quite frequently since the night of my parents’ death. Um, so what you are seeing is actually either happening or going to happen.”

“How do you know this?”

I had known that she would ask that. It meant that I needed to tell her about all of the visions I’d had of her family in the Rose House.

“Well, after the vision about my parents, I had a vision of eight people on horses, riding through a forest. I heard three girls’ voices and one gentleman’s voice. Later I had visions about the painting of your house in the library, which I referred to as the Rose House.

“Every time this vision came, I was able to walk closer and closer to the house. One day I was able to enter the house. When I was inside for the first time, I heard the voices of three people—two young ladies and one gentleman. Then, on my twenty-first birthday, I had another vision. This time I was able to see the people inside the house—well, kind of. Your sister, Evaline, was over the stove; your father was in a chair near the fireplace. But I could not see either of their faces, as they were blurry.

“Then you came through the door from the back of the house. You were the only person I was able to see completely.

“You were, and are, the most stunning, breathtaking, beautiful woman I have seen in my entire life! From the moment I saw you, I fell in love with you. But I did not know who you were, or if you even existed, until I saw you in my dining room the night you came.

“The first time I saw your face, you were wearing a blue blouse that made your eyes stand out, along with a long brown skirt similar to Evaline’s. You were talking to your father about the roses and all the hard work you were doing. Nadine was telling Evaline that she had received the fabric for her dress.”

Mirabelle stopped me.

“Wait a minute; I think I remember that day. We all felt that something was different in the air. Nadine said that she constantly felt as if someone were watching us, but we all thought she was just being paranoid; I guess she was correct,” she said.

“Yes, she was right. I was watching. After this particular vision, I had more visions about your family, but you were the only one I was able to see clearly.

“As I learned more about you from those visions and by spending time with you here, I could not help but fall deeper and deeper in love with you.”