Chapter Eleven
“Gone? What do you mean, ‘she’s gone’?” Cedric shouted as he hit me in the jaw. I staggered backward. He was about twice as big as me. “I went to see if she was home, like you said. Her father answered the door, her ‘precious Papa’--” He hit me again, this time right in the stomach. I forgot--I wasn’t allowed to make fun of Belle. I continued, after catching my breath, “Her father answered the door, and he seemed really depressed. I asked if she was home, and he just said, ‘No, she isn’t home. Belle’s gone. And she’s never coming back.’” Cedric was filled with rage, so that his face turned a bright red. I almost expected to see smoke coming out of his ears. He began pacing, like a madman trapped in a closet, or a demented scientist dreaming up his new scheme. “Did you ask him where she was? Or are you about as useful than you seem?” “He said that she’d been taken by a beast,” I replied, trying to appear nonchalant, despite the insults. “Which means she’s dead.”
“No, her father says she was taken prisoner.”
“How on earth is that supposed to make sense?”
“It’s like......a man, in the form of a beast. It was weird.”
“MONSTERS DO NOT TAKE PRISONERS, YOU IDIOT!!!!!”
I fell backward, having received the strongest blow in my life -- right in the chest. I inched away, trying to catch my breath. “What I meant,” I gasped, “was that Belle’s father said this particular beast spoke English, as if he was a man. As if a spell had been cast upon him before Belle was ever in his captivity. He also had the mind, the senses, the wit of a man.” A slightly scary smirk played on his lips. “If we rescue her, she’ll fall in love with me, wouldn’t she? Then, all we’d have to do is get married and live happily ever after.” I was confused. “How do you take a damsel in distress out of the clutches of a beast with the mind of a man without killing yourself?” “Process of elimination,” Cedric replied, the smirk becoming even more menacing. I shrunk away, terrified for my life, and Belle’s. “Belle,” I whispered, “Watch your back.”
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RomanceA twist on the classic fairy tale, Belle's father goes missing. She finds him in an enchanted castle, whose master is a hideous beast. After being taken prisoner, a side to the beast begins to appear that Belle would never dream of. "I thought about...
