The Second Beast

Part 4

When Mal got to Evie's house, her cheeks were tear stained and her face was still bright red. Evie was humming happily at her sewing machine, making a new dress for herself, when the door opened and Mal walked in.

"I thought you stayed at the castle with Ben." she said. When she didn't hear a reply, she looked up. She gasped when she saw Mal and instantly hugged her. Mal started crying again. I know it's not him. He didn't want to do it but his mind forced him to, she was convincing herself that it wasn't his fault. The boys didn't know about this and Evie had only heard about last night's fight. "What happened? Did you fall?" she asked.

"No. Ben--"

"Ben did it?! But he would never dream of hurting you!" Evie gasped. Mal nodded.

"I know. My mother, she used my stone necklace's last wish to turn him into a rude beast like his father was. Now he hates everyone and everything. More specifically, me." she answered.

"What happened?" Evie questioned as they sat down on her bed.

"I was telling him what I thought of the meeting with Grumpy. He must have got mad and slapped me. Then I told him I wanted the real Ben back and he slapped me harder before leaving." Mal said.

"I'm telling the boys." Evie told her. Mal grabbed her and stopped her from leaving.

"Please don't! It's not his fault, the spell is controlling him and he has no control over it." she explained. Evie knew there was no winning against Mal so she'd just have to wait. She sat back down and hugged Mal until she fell asleep. Then she went back to working on her dress until nine o'clock when she went to bed.

The next day, Mal went back to the castle as usual. She researched Beast and Belle's story until she was sure she knew how to break Ben's spell. He just had to fall in love. The only problem with that plan though was that he already was in love, his mind just wouldn't let him show it. So there was already a problem with that. She spent the whole day silently thinking of ways to get the spell off Ben. By the end of the day, her brain was fried and she was on edge.

"Get out of here." Ben demanded. Mal got up and left the room but she didn't leave the palace. She walked down to her room where Maleficent was being kept and shut the door behind her.

"Mom, tell me how to undo this or I'll turn you into a fly." she warned.

"Of course you wouldn't." Maleficent scoffed.

"Little lizard on Ben's tie..." Mal started.

"Alright, alright! You just have to get him into the enchanted lake. It wears off every spell." Maleficent said. Mal let her go and ran to find Ben.

"Ben! Can we go to the enchanted lake?" she asked.

"What? Why are you still here?" he replied.

"Can we go to the enchanted lake?" she asks again.

"No! Leave." Ben demanded. Mal walked towards him and grabbed his hands. He shoved her away from him but she tripped on pulled up carpet and fell backwards. She hit her head hard on the floor and black dots appeared in the corners of her vision. But she was determined to stay awake so she did. She got back up but almost tipped over again.