Sitting in the beautiful rose garden, the beast looks up from his book as Adeline approaches.
What are you reading?
Nothing.
He hides the book but Adeline catches the title.
Guinevere and Lancelot.
Well actually, King Arthur and the Round Table. Knights, and men, and swords and things...
But still... it's a romance.
The beast nods, a bit shyly.
All right. I felt like a change.
I never thanked you for saving my life.
Well I never thanked you... for not leaving me to be eaten by wolves.
Adeline laughs. A quiet charged moment, which ends with the shouts and laughter of the servants in the castle. Adeline and the beast can't help but smile.
They know how to have a good time.
Yes. But when I enter the room, laughter dies.
Me, too. The villagers say that I'm a "funny girl," but I don't think they mean it as a compliment.
I'm sorry. Your village sounds terrible.
Almost as lonely as your castle.
He turns to her with a melancholy smile. Then, an idea.
What do you say we run away?
Adeline is surprised by the suggestion.
The beast unlocks a desk cabinet. In it, resting on velvet, its gold-leaf cover faintly glimmering with magic, is a leather bound book covered in a thick layer of dust.
Another little "gift" from the Enchantress...
The beast cracks open the book to reveal an antique world. No countries. Just land and sea.
A book that truly allows you to escape. Beast said.
Adeline moves closer to find the pen and ink drawing is alive. Waves lap the beaches. Green trees sway in invisible wind.
How amazing. Adeline said.
It was her cruelest trick of all. The outside world has no place for a creature like me. But it can for you.
The beast offers his hand and Adeline takes it.
He gently moves her hand to the book.
Think of the place you've most wanted to see. First, see it in your mind's
eye. Now feel it in your heart.
Adeline nods, this isn't a difficult decision. The moment her hand hits the page, the entered it,
Where did you take us?
Paris.
The beast looks out of a window and sees glittering lights.
Oh, I love Paris. What would you like to see first? Notre Dame? The Champs-
Elysées? No? Too touristy?
He turns to find Adeline silent. Her eyes brimming with tears.
It's so much smaller than I remembered.
The beast watches Adeline walk through her childhood home... the artist's garret that Maurice recreated in his signature music box. Abandoned years ago, the room is crumbling. Adeline finds the remains of her father's easel. A tarnished
wall mirror. Calliope's own broken crib and her old doll, Rosie.
YOU ARE READING
Beauty and the Beast
RomanceAdeline is the eldest daughter of Maurice and the older sister to Calliope. Went her father "steals" a Rose he's in a castle with a Beast who is under a spell. When she trades spots with him she has to stay forever. Will she be able to do that and w...
