Beauty and the Arrogant

Chapter Eight

TITLE

Each frozen fern with crystal ends

Belle was sitting in the main room with Adam, talking politics. Lumiére, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, and Chip were all huddled together, listening the whole conversation with amusement.

"No, Lumiére has flames, so he would obviously win!" Adam shouted.

Belle shook her head as if she pitied him. "But Cogsworth has intelligence – no offense, Lumiére – so don't fool yourself. Mind over matter, that's what they say."

Someone knocked on the door, and Belle stood up before Adam could counteract her statement. He huffed as she left, turning his attention to his audience. "What do you guys think? I'm right, aren't I?"

Cogsworth twiddled his mustache. "I do not believe you're right, and I hope you understand it's because this imbecile next to me is . . . well, an imbecile."

"Now, now, let's not be rash. I agree with the young Adam. You're just jealous that someone else believes that I could beat you in a fight," Lumiére said.

Adam's attention went back to the girl standing at the door. She was standing there with something in her hand. The conversation was short and simple, but Adam wondered who was at the door. He's been staying here for months now, and he's never seen anyone come visit. It's improvement, he thought. She's getting better, isn't she?

The two were still fighting when she sat back down with a blood-red apple grasped in her palm. He eyed it, wondering why someone would bring an apple to the Beast's home? It seemed like a gift a student would give his or her teacher, but then again, it was food, and it looked delicious.

She smiled at him and gave him the apple to look at. "It's beautiful, isn't it? I've never seen an apple quiet as red as this one. Do you want to have a bite?"

He shook his head. "No, it's your gift, and I just ate. Thank you. Tell me how it tastes."

Belle took a bite and made a face to make him laugh. She took another and another until it was down to its core, and she closed her eyes. It seemed forever since she reopened it, and he saw something inside her change. Her pupils dilated and her irises turned darker until it looked almost black. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"What are you looking at, buttercup?" she hissed. She threw the apple core at his head, barely letting him dodge it. She stood up and knocked the chair over before she stormed off into her bedroom.

He looked at Mrs. Potts, and she shared the same reaction. She shrugged her shoulders and said, "This happens a lot. No one really knows what triggers it, but we suspects it's when she's starting to get better that she gets worse."

Adam looked behind him and stared at the core on the floor. He furrowed his eyebrows and thought hard. She was fine just a few minutes ago before she ate that apple . . . He hopped out of his seat and ran towards the door, hoping to see someone who saw who came to visit. Adam saw the dictionary sitting on the steps, staring at the door.

"Hey, dictionary," Adam uttered as he sat down besides the book. "Did you see who came to see Belle?"

It spoke before he could finish his sentence. "It was a really old – like really old – lady who had brought her cat on her shoulders. It was really weird because I've seen her many time before. She's came here and given my master an apple. Every time. I believe she lives in the Village with the others. It seems likely."

"Can you make a picture out of her so I can see?"

It scoffed. "I'm no camera, but I could try to form my words into a picture if you must know who she is." And he did. Adam was in awe of how the dictionary was able to do such thing, but he observed it and thanked it before scurrying out of the door with a coat in his hand and determination in his veins.