Beauty and the Dream Demon

Chapter Ten: Something There

The next morning, George was still tied up near the tree Jane had left him on. The wolves had not found him but the cold night had weakened him. When he finally woke up, he saw Mary standing in front of him, only just finding him in the woods. She untied him from the ropes and took him back to her home which was under a fallen tree. There, Mary put George down on her bed and prepared some tea to help him get better. Mary helped him to drink, as he had become too cold to want to do anything, shivering to try and get his body head back to normal. George thanked her for her help. Meanwhile, back at the castle, Jack was by Maddie's bedside, reciting lines from a book he once read.

"'Love can transpose to form and dignity. Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind and therefore...'"

"'And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind'," Maddie finished the sentence

"You know Shakespeare?" Jack asked her

Maddie sat up with a grunt, "I had an expensive education."

"Actually, 'Romeo and Juliet's my favorite play."

Maddie groaned, falling back onto his pillow, "Why is that not a surprise?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Well, all that heartache and pining and..." Maddie shivered in disgust, "So many better things to read."

"Like what?"

Maddie put on a coat and took Jack into the library.

"Well, there are a couple of things in here you could start with," Maddie said walking into the library.

As Jack walked in, he marveled at the giant room filled with books. He had never seen so many in his life. The most he's seen are the small few that were in Pere Robert's little library in the village. Seeing Jack's reaction, Maddie asked if he was alright. But he couldn't take his eyes off the thousands of books in the room.

"It's wonderful!" Jack finally said

"Yes. I suppose it is," Maddie agreed, "Well, if you like it so much, then it's yours."

Jack looked at Maddie in surprise. This had to have been the first time Maddie was actually kind to him. Maddie gave him a small smile and started to walk away.

"Have you really read every one of these books?" Jack asked her, making Maddie turn back to him.

"What?" Maddie turned back to him, "Well, not all of them. Some of them are in Greek."

Jack giggled, "Was that a joke? Are you making jokes now?"

Maddie hesitated for a moment before giving him a smug look, "Maybe."

Jack chuckled as Maddie began to walk away. Watching Maddie walk away, Jack couldn't help but smile at the now kind Dream Demon. Not before looking around the library and squeaking in excitement. He knew that, even if he were to stay here forever in place of his father, he'd never grow bored with all these books to read. Later that afternoon, Maddie and Jack had both picked out books to read while eating their soup. And, instead of talking, they both just read. But they both couldn't help but glance at each other from time to time.

After lunch, the two had been outside, taking a stroll while Jack read his book out loud. On the snowy grounds, the two would just walk while Maddie listened to Jack read. But Maddie stopped when they walked over a bridge. She looked out to the frozen lake with white trees in the distance. She had seen it so many times and yet never admired the beauty of winter, even if it was June. And, as she didn't leave her castle much once she was cursed, she never took notice of the beauty around her.

Jack stopped to take in the scenery too, almost seeming curious about what Maddie was seeing for the first time. But, as Maddie stopped, she asked if Jack could continue the poem. So, Jack continued to read as Maddie looked over the winter wonderland she had on the castle grounds. Jack had been reading 'A Crystal Silence' by 'William Sharp'. And every word in that poem described what Maddie was seeing perfectly. It even described how Maddie was starting to feel. When the poem ended, the two just gazed at each other.

Later, once Jack had dressed into something more appropriate for the weather, he helped to show Maddie how to not scare Philippe. Maddie had startled Philippe the first time she met George so Philippe was still a bit skittish. As Maddie tried to approach, Philippe made a sudden move, startling Maddie slightly. Jack helped by calming Philippe down before helping Maddie. He took her hand and gently put it on Philippe's back, showing both that they were harmless. Maddie looked over to Jack who just smiled and left Maddie and Philippe to get acquainted properly.

'There's something sweet and almost kind. But she was mean and she was coarse and unrefined and now she's dear and so unsure. I wonder why I didn't see it there before,'
Jack sang out loud as he went up the stairs.

Taking some snow from the stairs, Jack made it into a snowball and threw it at Maddie. Maddie looked up at Jack who just laughed at his playful action. With a playful look of anger, Maddie scooped up a big ball of snow and threw it at Jack, knocking him down. Maddie laughed to herself as she didn't mean to do that. But she finally felt happy. At dinner, neither of them read and just sat opposite each other.

'He glanced this way I thought I saw and when we touched, he didn't shudder at my claws. No, it can't be. I'll just ignore. But then he's never looked at me that way before,' Maddie said to herself

Maddie walked over with her bowl of soup and sat next to Jack instead of being across the table from him. The two ate together while the castle staff worked to clean the castle up for the first time in years. Meanwhile, the next morning, Jack watched from the ballroom window as Maddie walked and talked with Philippe.

'New, and a bit alarming. Who'd have ever thought that this could be?'

Later, he was in the library with Maddie grabbing a few books to dust off and read.

'True that she's no Princess Charming, but there's something in her That I simply didn't see.'

Maddie walked over with a stack of books. Jack gave her two that he had picked from the shelf while the castle staff watched from the sidelines.

'Well, who'd have thought?' (Y/N) asked

'Well, bless my soul!' Topsy explained

'Well, who'd have known?' Binnacle asked

'Well, who indeed?' Bert said, 'And who'd have guessed they'd come together on their own!'

'It's so peculiar. Wait and see,' Topsy told everyone

'We'll wait and see a few days more!' The four of them sang, 'There may be something there that wasn't there before.'

"And here's a thought..." Binnacle said as they all started to leave the library, 'Perhaps there's something there that wasn't there before.'

"What, Mama?" Georgie asked

'There may be something there that wasn't there before,' was all Topsy replied.

"What is it? What's there?"

"I'll tell you when you're older."

Georgie turned away for a second before turning back to his mother, "Okay, I'm older!"

"Georgie..." Topsy laughed, "You are a one!"

Everyone left the two to read and bond on their own.