Hiding From Light: A Beauty and the Beast Genderbend

Chapter 27

A/N: The third picture of Gabrielle. ^^^

"She's as crazy as the old man! If I didn't know any better, I'd say she even cared for him." -Gaston, to Belle, shortly before the Mob Song, Beauty and the Beast

Brandon held the mirror aloft, following the path it told him to take. He had no map, but the mirror worked just like one, telling him the fastest route to Gabrielle and his family.

He had no idea what he would say to them. He just knew he had to get there to stop them from... he didn't even know what.

As though it sensed his urgency, the mirror vibrated in his hand.

"I know, I know!" He snapped at it. "Where do I go from here? I'm just surrounded by trees!"

The mirror showed him exactly what he was looking at. Nothing else.

"There's nothing here!" He hissed at it.

It vibrated again, this time indignantly, and zoomed in on the area in between the two trees he'd stopped in front of.

He rolled his eyes but crashed through the two trees anyway, only to stumble onto a cobblestone path, lined by flickering blue lanterns.

Arquillon. I've made it.

He didn't have time to celebrate. Now that he was out of the snow, he just clicked his heels together to get rid of the snow on his shoes before running down the pathway, not noticing that his blonde hair was spiked full of the stuff, giving him a Jack Frost worthy look.

Up ahead, he could hear raised voices, and the low murmur of a gathered crowd. He increased his speed, determined to make it.

He stumbled right into the no man's land between the residents of Glitterendum and Arquillon, just as Genevieve shouted, "Don't play dumb! We know you have him! Just let him g-"

Brandon slid to a stop, almost tripping and falling over as he turned to face Genevieve.

Things had gotten worse in the time it had taken him to get here. Most everyone was fingering a weapon at this point, and they all looked about ready to rip each other apart.

Just in time.

"Enough... Genevieve. Just... enough." He called out to the crowd, struggling to catch his breath, the mirror clenched tightly in his fist. "You have to stop!"

"Brandon?!"

He winced at the collective noise. At least ten different people shouting his name at the same time was rather loud... and unnerving.

Genevieve ran forward and threw her arms around him. "Where have you been? We've been looking everywhere."

Brandon shoved her off him, fleeing backwards to be caught by Gabrielle.

Genevieve noticed this, and her green eyes narrowed to slits. "Has she kept you here? Or did you stay?"

"Neither!" Brandon said quickly as Gabrielle's face turned bright red in anger. "I wasn't even here. I was in this castle..."

Genevieve tittered. "There is no castle!"

Marlon Bates shoved his way to the front. "There is a castle! I was there too."

Genevieve rounded on him, and laughed pointedly in his face. Brandon's face paled in alarm. She didn't sound like herself at all. She sounded nearly deranged.

What on Earth is wrong with her?

"There. Is. No. Castle. In. This. Bloody. Forest."

"Not that you know of." Brandon protested, gesturing with his hand toward the path he'd come from. "But there is one! I just-"