After throwing Virginia into the oar-less boat and watched it go further and further away from the island, she stomped back to the castle she had been staying in for many, many long years. Once she stepped into the castle and made her way up to the tower, Rusty called out tentatively, “Err…Mistress?”
“What?” The Beastess snapped at the candelabra figurine.
“You know, since the boy would be living here for quite some time,” Rusty tried to put her thoughts into words without offending her hot-tempered Mistress, “I was thinking that you might offer him a more…comfortable room…”
Her suggestion was replied with a frustrated growl, blowing out all her candles before walking past her.
“Then again, maybe not.”
Max stared from the tower and watched as his mother disappeared slowly out of sight. He sighed and hoped that his mother would forgive him for the decision he had just made. As he was still distracted by the vast scenery of the forest and the sea before him, The Beastess’s came slowly up to the tower and stood there looking at Max who was still staring out at the tower window. It took a few seconds for Max to realize The Beastess’s presence.
“Oh, sorry, I was a little distracted,” max apologized as he stood up to brace himself to be thrown in the dungeons.
The Beastess stared a little longer at Max before she said hesitantly, “I’ll show you to your room.”
“My room?” Max was surprised. Wasn’t he supposed to be a prisoner? He asked, “But I thought…”
“What, you wanna stay in this tower?” The Beastess gestured at the place he was in.
“Well, no, but…”
“Then follow me.”
Max could do or say nothing more. This Beastess seemed authoritative enough. He followed behind The Beastess while feasting his eyes over the decorations of the hallway they were walking. The place was as sinister as The Beastess herself. It was practically decorated with gargoyle, weird beasts, griffin and creepy Greek statues and portraits and paintings of gargoyles, demons, fallen angels and loads of other creepy paintings you definitely do not want to have in your living room. The hallway was lit with only candles on candle stands, which made the place even creepier. Max couldn’t help feeling that he was going to spend the rest of his sorry life in this god forsaken place if he didn’t hurry up and find a way to get out of there and get the rose for SkullMaster’s payment.
The Beastess looked sideways at Max who was putting on a face of slight worry. She somehow felt a little guilty for him and was quite amazed that such a young boy like him would dare to trade the rest of his life to stay here in his mother’s place. If only she could do something to ease his tension about this place…
“Say something to him,” Rusty, who was being held by The Beastess, whispered to her ear.
“I…uh…hope you like it here,” The Beastess said tentatively. Max almost huffed; how could he like a place like this? Rusty ushered her Mistress to say something more. She turned her head around again and said, “The castle is your home now, so you can go anywhere you like, except the East Wing.”
The East Wing? Curiosity got the better of Max as he asked, “What’s the East Wi…”
“It’s forbidden!” The Beastess suddenly snapped at him, taking him by surprise. Forbidden? What’s so forbidden about a part of the castle? The Beastess’s copper-brown eyes that bore into Max’s blue ones made it clear that when he was forbidden, he was forbidden. Max decided to put the questions aside as he continued to follow The Beastess to his room.
Finally, after what seemed like a walk forever, he found himself standing beside The Beastess at his room. The Beastess opened the door for him and he peeked in. the only light that radiated the place was the ray of the moon coming from the open window and he could make out his room to be a very big and spacious place, with a canopy bed and a table and all the necessities a deluxe room is needed. He stepped into the room tentatively and heard The Beastess’s deep voice behind him saying, “Now, if you need anything, my servants will attend you.”
“Dinner! Invite him to dinner!” Rusty whispered at The Beastess’s ear, out of Max’s earshot.
“You will…join me for dinner,” The Beastess said with a small demanding pride in her voice. “That’s not a request!”
With that, The Beastess slammed the door at his back. Max winced before rushing towards the bed and punching the pillows. He felt an unexplainable anger towards this whole deal. He was angry of the fact that he had to go through all this trouble just to get a stupid rose for the payment of SkullMaster to make him a merman. He was frustrated that he might have to spend the rest of his life in this place if he failed in his first mission and was angry at the fact that he was actually trading his life to live with this grotesque Beastess instead of living with his true love Phoebe in the sea.
But then again, it was the thought of being with Phoebe that kind of calmed him down. The thought of being able to caress her dark chocolate-brown hair and kiss her sweet rosy lips without worrying that he was going to drown made him feel better again about this whole payment mission deal.
“I gotta get out of here fast!” Max groaned as he plopped his head onto the bed.
Back in Fishermen’s Friend Village, Norman was thrown into a panic frenzy. As soon as he saw an unconscious Virginia coming back from The Beastess’s island, he sent her straight to the nearest clinic. The doctor told him that she had suffered quite a serious trauma that she had fallen into a coma. There was no telling when she would wake up. Norman tried diving into the sea to the merpeople’s place to see if he was there watching his dream princess Phoebe but he wasn’t there. He even sent a search party to check out if he was around the neighbourhood but to no avail. Felix and Bea, who helped in the search, were getting worried.
“Poor Mrs. Deanhart,” Felix said as he and Bea stood near the jetty, looking far out into the sea. “She hasn’t been awake for about a month now, and the doctors say that isn’t good news. Her trauma must be really bad.”
“Where could Max be?” Bea asked. “I thought he was supposed to be grounded and not let out of his room.”
“Even Norman couldn’t go that fast back home to open the door for him. And there is no way he could get out—I mean he hasn’t been out when Mrs. Deanhart’s around. He had to get help from somewhere.”
“Well, wherever he is, I just hope he’s OK.”
Without them knowing, SkullMaster was around the area checking on the boats and just so happen to overhear their conversation. He smiled inwardly with an evil twinkle in his eyes and thought, ‘Soon my dues will be received…’
Max woke up at a slight rattling sound at the door. He then recalled his ordeal before. He assumed he must have dozed off out of fatigue. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and asked, “Who is it?”
“Normie here!” a woman’s voice replied. He almost thought it was Norman, for he always called Norman as ‘Normie’, but judging by the voice, he decided otherwise. As he opened the door, the coffeepot bounced in cheerfully and said, “I thought you might like a cup of coffee or something.”
Max was shocked beyond comparison. He backed away with his blue eyes wide open, stammering, “But you’re a…you’re a…”
“Oh! Careful!”
Max turned around in surprise to see that the wardrobe he had bumped on was actually talking and smiling at him. His knees went all weak as he slumped to the floor, “This…Man! This is impossible! Am I hallucinating or something?”
“Nope, you’re not,” the wardrobe replied as she threw herself on the bed. “And I know it’s impossible, but here we are!”
“Told you he was handsome, Mom, didn’t I?” the coffee cup said with a smug to Normie the coffeepot.
“Alright, Junior now, that’ll do,” Normie replied as she poured some coffee into her son. “Slowly now. Don’t spill.”
Max stared in awe as Junior the coffee cup bounded towards him, but seeing that there’s no harm done and that they were all talking to him like it was pretty much a normal thing, he decided to get used to it. He thanked Junior and picked him up to drink when Junior said he could do a trick. He actually blew bubbles in the coffee (A/N: Can’t really describe it. Just imagine the scene where Chip from Beauty & the Beast did it) and was disapproved by Normie. Junior grinned and apologized, much to Max’s amusement.
“That was a very brave thing you did, my dear, trading yourself for your mother,” Normie commented.
“We all think so,” the wardrobe commented.
“Yeah, not to mention losing my life, my dreams, everything,” Max replied glumly, still unable to believe that he had just did what he did.
“Cheer up, child,” Normie said kindly. “It’ll turn out alright in the end. You’ll see. Oh! Listen to me! Jabbering on when there’s dinner to prepare on the table! Junior, come along now.”
“Bye!” Junior bid Max jovially as he bounced off with his mother. Max was impressed. They sure were able to take their oddity very well indeed.
“Well then, what shall we dress you in for dinner?” the wardrobe said, getting Max’s attention. “Let’s see what I got in my drawers…Ahh! Here we are!” she said as she took out a nice suit, “you look ravishing in this one…”
“Uh, thanks a lot but…” Max declined the suit she gave him. “I’m not exactly going down to dinner.”
The wardrobe gasped, “But you must!”
Before Max could make his point, Virgil the clock came in and cleared his throat before announcing, “Dinner is served.”
Meanwhile, in the dining room, The Beastess was pacing back and forth, waiting impatiently for Max to join her for dinner. As she paced on and on, she muttered, “What’s taking him so long. I thought I told him to come down. Why isn’t he here yet?!”
“Oh, be patient, miss,” Normie replied. “The boy has lost his mother and his freedom all in one day.”
“Mistress,” Rusty noted. “Have you ever thought that perhaps he might be the one to break the spell?”
“Of course I have!” The Beastess snapped. “I’m not a fool!”
“Good! So he falls in love with you, you fall in love with him and POOF! The spell is broken! We’ll be human again by midnight!”
“No, Rusty, it’s not that easy,” Normie shook her head. “These things take time.”
“But the rose has already begun to wilt!” Rusty argued.
“It’s no use,” The Beastess growled. “He’s so handsome and I’m…well, look at me!!”
Rusty and Normie shrugged helplessly. They knew what The Beastess meant, but they dare not say it out. Normie turned to The Beastess and said, “Well, you must help him to see past all that.”
“I don’t know how!”
“Well, you can start by making yourself more presentable,” Normie said as she jumped off the fireplace where she was standing and got on the dining table. “Straighten up! Try to be more like a lady!”
“Yes, yes,” Rusty joined in the conversation. “And when he comes in, give him a sweet, lovely smile. Come, come, show me the smile.”
Needless to say, her smile turned out anything but sweet and lovely. Normie groaned and she and Rusty talked back and forth, confusing the frustrated Beastess.
“Don’t frighten the poor boy.”
“Impress him with your radiance.”
“But don’t overdo it.”
“Show him you’re confident.”
“But be sincere.”
“And above all,” this time, Rusty and Normie said it together, “You must control your temper!”
The door of the dining room creaked. The Beastess waited in anticipation but was disappointed to see Virgil at the door instead, greeting timidly, “Good evening.”
“Well? Where is he?” The Beastess demanded.
“Oh, the boy,” Virgil laughed nervously while looking for an excuse. “Well, he’s in the process of…well, circumstances, what they are…well…He’s not coming.”
“WHAT?!”
Almost immediately, The Beastess came crashing out of the dining room towards Max’s room, with Virgil, Rusty and Normie protesting in the background. Once she reached his room, she pounded furiously at the door.
“I thought I told you to come down to dinner!”
“I’m not hungry!” Max replied from the inside.
“You come out or I’ll…I’ll…I’ll break down the door!”
“Mistress,” Rusty chuckled nervously as she voiced out. “I could be wrong but that might not be the best way to win a boy’s affection.”
“Please, attempt to be a lady,” Virgil begged.
“But he is being so difficult!” The Beastess growled at the door.
“Gently, gently,” Normie coaxed her to try again. The Beastess obliged.
“Will you come down to dinner?”
“No!”
“Hmm?!” The Beastess pointed at the door but Virgil guided her to talk some more. As The Beastess said it again gently (well, tried to), they could see, as they fear, her hackles rising up, meaning that she has lost her patience.
“It would give me great pleasure if you would join me for dinner…”
“You forgot to say ‘Please’,” Virgil whispered.
“Please.”
“Thanks, but no thanks, babe!” Max was still adamant. The Beastess finally lost it altogether.
“You can’t stay there forever!”
“I think I perfectly can!” Max replied in a mocking tone.
“Fine! Then go ahead and STARVE!!!” The Beastess roared, then turned to her servants and growled, “If he doesn’t eat with me, then he doesn’t eat at all!”
With that, The Beastess bounded furiously on all fours towards the East Wing, banging the door as she went. The tiny animated objects winced and waited until all was silent before Normie broke the ice.
“Oh dear, that didn’t go very well at all, did it?”
“Rusty,” Virgil turned to the candelabra, “stand watch at the door and inform me at once if there is the slightest change.”
“You can count on me, Mon Capitan!” Rusty saluted and stood by the door on full alert. Virgil sighed and turned to Normie.
“Well, I guess we’ll just head back to the kitchen and start cleaning up.”
The Beastess crashed into the forbidden East Wing, where her private quarters were. She banged at everything she could see as she muttered angrily to herself.
“I ask him nicely but he refuses! What else does he want me to do, beg?!”
The Beastess reached over and grabbed a hand mirror. It was placed beside a hovering, glowing rose inside a belljar and it was made out of the finest ivory the world has ever seen, carved in a certain complicated pattern no one could ever duplicate. It was as if made by a goddess with nimble, skillful hands. She took it to her face and demanded, “Show me the boy!”
The reflection of her on the mirror changed and in its place showed Max sitting on his bed looking very frustrated and disgusted and the wardrobe leaning on the bed beside him.
“Well, the Mistress is not so bad once you get to know her,” the wardrobe forced a laugh. “Why don’t you give her a chance?”
“I don’t wanna get to know her!” Max exclaimed. “As far as I’m concerned, I don’t wanna have anything to do with her! I’ll just get what I want and find a way out of this dump!”
The Beastess put away the mirror exasperatedly. She had heard enough. She knew this would happen. Her heart ached with Max’s words about her.
“It’s no use. He’ll never see me as anything…but a monster…”
As she spoke, another petal fell from the hovering rose onto the tiny heap of petals below it.
“It’s hopeless…”
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