A Deceptive Beauty

Chapter Seven

Kaiden whirled around. His heart pounded in anticipation. Both Agatha's voice and her image filled his mind.

But when he faced the direction where the voice came from, there was no one in sight.

Confusion showed on his face. His eyebrows were furrowed and his eyes were narrowed. Warily, he scanned the room to see if anyone was hiding. He checked behind his bed, in his closet, every possible hiding spot. He even looked out in the hallway to see if there was anyone slinking away.

As the minutes went by, tension slowly leaked out of his body. The room was clear. To make sure that he didn't miss anywhere, he checked the room again. But once again, he didn't find anything.

He shook his head and closed his eyes. Clearly, thinking about certain things made him upset and crazy enough to hear voices that weren't there - and Agatha's of all people! Surely Agatha was far, far away from the castle. She had to crazy to go near him after what she did to him. While she may have magic, he had the Beast, who was abnormal strong and fast. A witch wouldn't be able to counter his attack quick enough. Kai's speed was barely perceptible to the human eye. So once again, she would have to be crazy if she was there.

She was crazy enough to curse him, a thought materialized in his head. He swatted the thought away in annoyance. A woman scorned is stronger than usual too, the voice continued to taunt him.

He clenched his jaw in frustration. If the negative thoughts kept coming back, it would send him over the edge. Calm down, he thought to himself, which he did.

Another sigh came out of him. Maybe this was just a sign for him to leave the room and get distracted by someone. Anyone or anything to rid his mind of thoughts about Agatha, the curse, or the Incident.

A person immediately entered his thoughts. That one girl, Red. The image of her earlier that morning was still in his mind. Mostly of her revealing dress, but the smell of peaches too, now that he thought about it. Perhaps she could keep him company? Kaiden decided to go find her.

The first place to check would be her room. He remembered that her room was the first one in that hallway. Before leaving, he finished clothing himself. He noticed a small scratch on his side while dressing up. It was a small, red scratch that was the size of his index finger. He wondered where it came from but didn't spend too much time thinking about it.

Finally getting an excuse to leave his room, he walked back to the ladies' hallway. He noticed that all of the doors were open, with the exception of the room where Annabelle was being cared for. Even though that puzzled him, he continued to the first room.

For the second time that day, he knocked on the first door. He looked down and quietly called out, "Red?"

There was no answer from within the room. Lifting his head, he could finally see the room. There was no one else in the room.

But why was the door open, he mentally asked himself.

Then he heard some shuffling behind him. A sound of surprise echoed in the hallway as he turned around. A girl in a purple dress stood there with wide eyes.

"Your Grace!" she exclaimed in a surprised tone. He remembered that she was the one who opened the door earlier and that she was Red's roommate. She was also the one that shyly hid behind the door.

"Hello again," he greeted. He noticed that she was carrying a folded-up bed sheet in her arms with some candles on top of it. She must be in the middle of doing her chores, he assumed.

"My apologies, if I'm interrupting your work. I just wanted to know where your roommate was," he continued to talk. With her eyes still widened, she shook her head, as if she wanted him to know that he didn't interrupt anything.