Meanwhile, back in the sea, Max was back on his oyster bed getting ready for bed. While he tucked into his comfy slumber place, Phoebe was at the living room with her parents and her brothers. It seemed that the trip to the Pacific was called off and they had to come back due the heavy tsunami up front. King Benedict was complaining about it with his family.
"Can you imagine? We have gone all the way down to the middle of the trip when suddenly I was stopped by some aqua marines and they said that there was a tsunami up ahead and no one was to go anywhere near the Pacific. We had to go all the way back! Can you imagine how tiring it was?"
"That's awful, Father," Pince commented, the other brothers nodding in agreement. "Must be some tough weather up ahead."
"Father," Phoebe, after much contemplation, finally picked up the courage to tell her father. "I've been meaning to tell you this ever since you came back. Remember that night when Tiger the Great White crashed my birthday party?"
"How can I forget?" King Benedict rolled his eyes. "That was awful of him. I was almost worried sick when you disappeared all of a sudden."
"Well, Father," Phoebe said as she tugged at his arm lightly. "I want you to go and meet my saviour."
"He's...He's here? The one who saved you?" King Benedict was surprised.
"Yes. He's at his bed right now. I think he's asleep, so let's not wake him."
With that, King Benedict, together with the Queen Fridorithia and the brothers, followed Phoebe to Max's bedroom. The oyster he was sleeping in was closed, so Phoebe swam in quietly and opened the oyster slowly so as not to wake him. She gestured her father to come in and take a look at him. He went over as his daughter requested and when he took a peek, his face turned from interested to shock. Blonde hair, fair skin, the shape of the face...He looked so familiar...
"He's handsome, isn't he?" Phoebe whispered as she gazed dreamily at Max's sleeping face. "He's mute, but he understands things. I'm going to marry him, Father, that's for sure."
"Just listen to her, Father!" Pablio groaned, rolling his eyes in exasperation. "Can you believe you want marry someone whom you don't even know? Would you please knock some sense into her, Father?"
"All I know is that he saved me and he loves me," Phoebe scowled as she closed the oyster and left the bedroom. "That's all I need. Father, please say you'll let me marry him, please?"
"Well, he is quite charming," Queen Fridorithia agreed. "And he did save your life..."
"Mother! I cannot believe you would actually agree to this insanity!" Pad exclaimed in shock, disgusted at Phoebe's smug look on her face.
"I don't see anything bad about it," Pjer commented, with Pac nodding in agreement at the background. "There’s no point wanting to marry someone if you don't love him or her anymore."
"Are you saying," Pince had his hands on his waist, "that Phoebe doesn't love Drakeb anymore? They're supposed to be the kingdom's famous sweethearts!"
"Well...not that I don't love Drakeb anymore, but..." Phoebe admitted sheepishly. "But it's just that...well...if Drakeb loved me, he would've saved me that day. Instead it was Maxwell."
"Maxwell?" the brothers turned to her questioningly.
"That's his name. I had to guess his name coz he can't talk, remember?"
"Come on, sis!" Peter waved his arms dramatically. "Drakeb was with me the whole time looking for you that day! He even sent over some flying fish to see where you are up in the surface! He was meaning to go up there himself to save you but it was me who stopped him."
"Well, nothing stopped Maxwell from saving me," Phoebe replied indignantly. "And he risked his life doing it. Oh, Father, please tell me you'll let me marry him. Please?"
King Benedict got out of his deep thoughts. He didn't answer at first but swam back to the living room. The rest of the family followed suite with thoughts of their own in their heads: Phoebe, Pac and Pjer hoping that he would agree; Peter, Pablio, Pince and Pad hoping that he wouldn't agree; and Queen Fridorithia puzzling at what her husband had in mind. When he sat down, he looked up to his daughter and said, "You said that his name is Maxwell, right?"
"Yes," Phoebe said, her heart beating anxiously.
"Do you all remember how I got to become part of this sea?"
The Queen and the sons nodded. It was that fateful year when Queen Fridorithia—still mourning for the loss of her first husband due to war with a seawitch—was taking a walk while trying to contemplate how was she going to save the royal monarchy. Peter, the eldest of all her sons, was still too young to replace his father as the King back then and she sure couldn't govern the sea alone. She needed help and she needed it quick, but none of her sons were at the right age or at the right mindset to help her out. As she continued to muse about her misfortune, she saw at a distance a male human who was falling deeper and deeper into the depths of the treacherous sea. He was dressed in attire she saw only humans have and he looked as if he was going to die if he didn't go back to the surface fast. Out of haste, she used her late husband's trident and somehow transformed him into a genuine merman. It was something she never expected to do, but the only way to save his life.
She soon brought him back to the castle to nurse him back to health. He had a temporary amnesia and couldn't remember who he was, so Pjer and Pac, the twins and the youngest among the sons, naughtily named him 'Benedict' from a science book they just so happen to come across in a sunken ship. Slowly, as his memory cleared, he began to remember his wife Virginia and his son Maxwell and began to tell them what he had recalled in the past. But somehow, the bitter trauma of Scott actually trying to murder him had caused him to have selective amnesia; he can't seem to remember that particular incident. You guessed it alright—ours truly King Benedict was actually Blake who was thought to be dead at sea!
He had thoughts of going back to the surface but Queen Fridorithia realized that she cared for him too much to leave (in other words, she had fallen in love with him ). He tried to go up to the surface once to check on his family and saw the changes Norman had made after his so-called death. The ship was sold and he had become the family butler, and he was managing the family quite well too. He could tell that Norman had a crush on Virginia and would be unkind of him to break it up as Virginia had learnt to move on with life without him (although she couldn't let bygones be bygones with the sea). Besides, he had to admit that he also had a liking for Queen Fridorithia who had been so kind and nice to him and that she failed, after many attempts, to try and transform him back to human. It was a tradition in the royal family that only the King is allowed to read and practice the trident's magic. Queens are not allowed. To top it all up, Queen Fridorithia was actually pregnant with his child Phoebe (obviously, he got a little too 'naughty'). So, in the end, Blake—or Benedict—married the Queen and was claimed the new King, much to the sons' approval and delight.
"What is it, dear?" Queen Fridorithia asked. "Thinking about your human life again?"
"Yeah. What's your human life got to do with Phoebe marrying Maxwell?" Pjer asked.
"It has everything to do with it, son," King Benedict replied. He turned to Phoebe and said, "I'm sorry, my sweet. I cannot let you marry that young man."
"W...Why not?" Phoebe asked, shocked. The brothers that disapproved this marriage looked thrilled.
"Because he was a human. I don't know why and I don't know how he did it—probably by sorcery—but he was human before. You cannot marry him."
"I don't care even if he was a jellyfish, Father! I love him! He saved my life! He must have been through hell to try and alter himself like this!"
"I understand, but..."
"You were human once but you married Mother all the same! Why can't I marry Maxwell?!"
"Because..." King Benedict hesitated before replying, "Because he's your half-brother."
"WHAT?!" Now everyone was shocked. Queen Fridorithia came up to King Benedict with a worried look on her face.
"You mean...that child...is your son? Your human son?"
King Benedict sighed and nodded, "Yes, he's my human son. The son that I had let go for this life. Phoebe, sweetheart, I know he must've loved you so much to go through this transformation and all that, but he had fallen into a forbidden love. He's your brother, Phoebe. Your human half-brother. I'm sorry. You can't marry him."
"No...No...It can't be...! It can't be true...!" Phoebe shook her head in denial and backed away.
"Sweetheart, please," King Benedict tried to coax her but she had made a dash out of the castle, crying pools of tears. The brothers want to give chase but their mother stopped them.
"Don't worry. Let her be alone for a while. She'll come home sooner or later."
Drakeb was sitting at his home sulking all day. He had heard wind about Max and he sure didn't like the rumour about Max being the potential husband for Phoebe. He had caught a glimpse of them downtown and had a good mind to go up to them and give Max a piece of his mind for taking away his love he had a crush on since he was a child, but seeing Phoebe so happy with him ached his heart and he couldn't bear to see her unhappy if he crashed the party. He was about to hit the hay with that awful anger churning inside when he heard one of his servants come in.
"What is it?" Drakeb asked irritably.
"It's Princess Phoebe, Your Highness. She wishes to see you."
Drakeb was surprised. At this hour? What could it be? "Bring her in."
The servant nodded and gestured Phoebe who was standing beside him to enter. As Drakeb turned to face her, he was shocked to see Phoebe with red sodden eyes, like she had cried a great deal. Drakeb tended to her immediately.
"What's wrong, Phoebe my love? Is there something wrong? Did that saviour of yours hurt you in any way?"
Phoebe didn't reply, but flung her arms around Drakeb and sobbed once more. Drakeb didn't know what happened and wasn't sure how to react, but he knew that Phoebe needed comfort. He wrapped his arms around her and hushed her.
"There, there, whatever is bothering you, I'm here for you, Phoebe my love."
"Wake up, Max! Wakey, wakey, wakey!"
Max blinked his eyes groggily at the sound of Robert calling from outside his oyster shell. The oyster shell opened, revealing a smiley-faced Robert. Norman muttered something about "5 more minutes, Mother" and drew the oyster tongue over his head. Robert went over to pull the covers off Norman and grinned from ear to ear. Max yawned and streched himself, jerking his head at Robert to ask what was the occasion.
"Wake up, sleepy head! It's a brand new day!" Robert yelled at Norman's face.
"You're awfully excited about everything," Norman muttered, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
"Of course I am, you silly little catfish!" Robert exclaimed as he rubbed his knuckles on Norman's head. "Today is the 3rd day, last chance for Max to get a kiss from his darling Phoebe! I saw her and her family discussing something really exciting and I bet my bones they're discussing marriage. I've got a good feeling about today, so come on, Max! Get up and get ready!"
Max calculated the days and soon realized that Robert was right after all. It was his 3rd day and if he didn't get a kiss from Phoebe by the time the moon rises tonight, he would become a human again and goodness knows what SkullMaster would do to him. He quickly got out of bed and arranged himself before rushing towards the living room to check out and see what were the family discussing about.
Once he was about a foot away from the living room, he was shocked to see his rival Drakeb sitting together beside Phoebe as he talked cheerfully with her family. They all looked happy to be chit-chatting with Drakeb and it seemed as if they were discussing something very happily.
"Of course, you know we would have to invite elaborate guests, Drakeb," he heard King Benedict talking.
"Don't worry, Your Majesty," Drakeb said nonchalantly. "I assure you the people that I've invited would be flocking into the ceremony even if it's the last minute."
"We have planned this wedding for so long," Peter said. "Phoebe and Drakeb have already been betrothed since the very first time they met. Although not exactly officially, but both parties did agree for them to be together."
"That's right," Pablio agreed. "It's only too befitting to be finally married. How's about we wed them by tonight, before the moon rises?"
"Excellent suggestion," King Benedict replied. "Phoebe sweetheart, is there any close friends you would like to invite? Maybe that young gentleman you said have rescued you..."
Max couldn't listen to it anymore. Robert was half-right—they were discussing marriage alright, but not between him and Phoebe, but between her and his rival Drakeb! He swam away, his heart breaking. Phoebe caught a glimpse of him leaving but didn't want to alert her family by chasing after him. Needless to say, when she tried to look for Max to explain things, she couldn't find him anywhere. She assumed that he had already returned back to his human world where he belonged. Little did she know that Max had been hiding at the tower of the castle the whole day wallowing in self-pity. He watched as the preparations were made and everyone got ready for tonight's wedding. As he continued to watch, he slumped to the floor of the tower and sobbed silently. 'She had never loved me,' Max thought to himself. 'She was only grateful for what I've done for her. She's been in love with Drakeb all along. The day she wanted to kiss me was just a phase, a normal reflex...She doesn't love me at all...'
Norman, who was beside him all the while, couldn't help shedding a tear as he, too, felt Max's loss.
Felix was walking about at the jetty, thinking about his best friend Max. Now that Norman had disappeared as well, the whole village was talking about a certain curse coming into town or something. They began making rumours, gossips and urban legends about a spirit that had followed Virginia back home (which caused her to be in a coma) and started kidnapping people. Children were afraid to stay out of the houses after dark and there was a certain aura that made Fishermen's Friend Village not so cheerful and friendly as it used to be.
"Man, so many happenings in this village," Felix sighed. "And I thought this was a nice, quaint village where nothing big happens around here. Guess times have changed."
"Times have changed, my friend."
Felix turned around and was taken aback to see the owner of the cold voice belonging to a hooded man with a pair of sinister-looking yellow eyes. He couldn't see the face clearly because of the hood, but he could tell that this man sure wasn't someone you want to mess with. Obviously, it was SkullMaster but, of course, Felix didn't know that.
"Who are you, dude?" Felix asked tentatively.
"Names aren't important, my friend," SkullMaster replied. "There's a favour I need to ask from you."
"Wh...What is it?"
"I'm worried about our village, and I believe it has something to do with the spirit of the sea. I want to make peace with it but then I'm allergic to sea water and even the sea air," Skullmaster dug out a bottle of crystal clear water and gave it to Felix. "I want you to go down to the sea and row to the deepest side. From there, I want you to turn west and row 14 times and then turn south and row 20 times. After that, I want you to take this vile and throw it as far as you possibly can. Row back home immediately after you're done."
Felix took a look at the bottle he was handed and checked the content. Nothing special to look at—a perfectly normal bottle of clear water—but he was still suspicious.
"Hey, what's in this stuff? How can you make peace with just a bottle of water...?"
He looked and saw that SkullMaster was gone. Nowhere to be seen. He suddenly had the shivers but then his heart told him to do whatever this mysterious man told him to do before he gets himself into trouble. Soon, he could be seen borrowing one of the fishermen's boat and was rowing towards the direction he was instructed.
Meanwhile, back at Max's home, Virginia still lay on her bed unconscious and still. It has been about 3 days since SkullMaster made the bargain with Norman to cure her ailment but he still hadn't made a move yet. He wasn't someone who would break a deal, but he had his own twisted ways to fulfill it.
Besides, he had a plan to carry out.
Soon, the bedroom door opened and there stood SkullMaster with his hood down. He walked stealthily towards the sleeping Virginia and knelt beside her. He took out a black vile from his robe sleeve and pulled the cork out with his teeth. He spat out the cork, filled his mouth with the black concoction and held up Virginia's head. He brought his lips close hers and kissed, feeding her with the concoction. He savoured the taste of her lips and her tongue, enjoying lavishly every moment of it--he had wanted to do this for a very, very long time.
Slowly, Virginia fluttered her eyes open as she woke up from her deep coma. Her eyes that met him weren't the usual ocean-blue eyes, but eyes as dark as night. She stared at SkullMaster for a long while before she let out a blissful smile and fell into his embrace. SkullMaster smiled back and hugged her.
"Good evening, my lovely wife."
Saturday, May 6, 2017
A Mix of Fairy Tale Cocktail-Chapter 15
Max woke up the next morning by the chirping sound of Reynard, Phoebe’s pet dolphin. The oyster opened automatically and the first thing that caught Max’s eyes was the beady eyes of Reynard. Max gasped and backed away, making a soundless scream.
“Reynard! How many times do I have to tell you? Don’t scare our guest!” Phoebe’s voice came in, sounding very exasperated as she tugged the little naughty dolphin away. Max heaved a sigh of relief. He had to get used to this kind of wake up call if Reynard was going to keep doing this everyday.
"I am so sorry, my friend," Phoebe came over to check if he was alright. "My Reynard is always excited when there are guests around the house. Rise and shine, friend. It's time you get ready. We're going to town, remember?"
Within minutes, Max got himself all cleaned up and all decorated up for the occasion. They both hopped on a dolphin each—Phoebe on Reynard and Max on Pac's pet dolphin Phoenix—and were soon heading towards the merpeople town. Once there, Max feasted his eyes on everything that was new and intriguing to him. There were people selling odd and weird things that weren't in his secret sea collection, stalls that were set up way more beautiful than the stalls he normally saw in his own home and even places where you can just relax and have a drink or so and just dance away to the music played spontaneously. There was once when Max tried the seadragon ride (one of the merpeople town's famous rides) and he rode the darn seadragon so excitedly that he almost crashed into the merpeople and the stalls around. Luckily, he was able to keep control of the seadragon after quite a while and nothing was damaged. Phoebe took it humorously and laughed like she never laughed before. Overall, it was a colourful, beautiful city busting with life and happiness. Max sure enjoyed his time, especially when it was with his darling princess Phoebe.
Norman was following around wherever they went, trying to keep up with them as they went from one place to another. The fat body given by SkullMaster sure took a toll on his speed, but he had to keep an eye on his little master. Robert just so happened to pass by and whispered excitedly, "Hey, Norman! Did he kiss her yet?"
"Not yet!" Norman hissed, much to Robert's disappointment. He, too, ended up tagging along to check out the fun. He sure didn't want to miss out anything.
After a long day's touring around, Max and Phoebe relaxed on a slow ride on a humpback whale, enjoying the starry night sky from under the sea. Norman and Robert were still following them around, trying to see what's going on and hoping something good might happen. Phoebe looked intently at Max, her face showing that she was deep in thought. Max jerked his head, meaning that he was asking what she was looking at.
"I dunno," Phoebe rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "You look a wee bit like my childhood sweetheart Prince Drakeb, but you sure are not him, that I know. And yet you really remind me of someone else, but I just can't put my finger in it. You saved me, but I can't ask you your name, 'coz you can't talk. So, uh, how about I guess your name?"
Max shrugged. He didn't mind what she does, as long as he's with her.
"Let's see. I'll figure out your name…hmm…Bingo?"
Max screwed his face in disgust, unable to believe his name was associated to a farmer's dog. Phoebe chuckled.
"OK, not Bingo. How about…Darren? Richard?"
Max shook his head at all the names. They all sounded common. His was special, and he wanted Phoebe to know that. Norman groaned and sneaked up behind Phoebe, whispering, "Maxwell. His name is Maxwell."
"Maxwell…?" Phoebe turned around, feeling weird. She thought she heard someone saying a name and muttered it to herself. Max heard her and nodded excitedly. Phoebe turned back to him and asked, "Maxwell? That's your name? That sounds kinda cute…and special. OK, Maxwell it is."
As the couple continued to glide down the sea on the humpback whale, they began to stare at each other dreamily. Nothing could get better than this. Phoebe was sure that Max was the one who saved her that fateful night, voice or no voice. She was sure now that she had fallen in love with this saviour of hers who had risked his life to get her out of the open air, and was sure that she was going to be his wife. Max, on the other hand, was trying to control his furiously beating heart. She was there, just right in front of him, her lips ready to be claimed. He had risked his life to get the payment to seal the deal, traded his voice in exchange for this new body and now all he needed was to get a kiss from Phoebe to strengthen the spell and be with his love forever. He was willing to go great lengths for this and he would do it again if he had to. Both their eyes stared and stared, seeping deep into their inner souls and seeing through what they truly want. Before they knew it, their lips came closer and closer until they were almost in the verge of touching…
Suddenly the humpback whale lurched backward and threw Max and Phoebe off its back. Norman and Robert, who were watching nervously as the two lovebirds were about to kiss, groaned in disappointment as max and Phoebe moved quickly out of the panicked whale's way. The whale swam off as if being frightened by something and left them behind. Phoebe tried to recollect herself and turned to Max, asking, "Are you alright, Maxwell?"
Max nodded, feeling weird about why that humpback whale suddenly reacted that way. He pointed at the whale with a questioning look on his face. Phoebe noticed.
"Yeah, tell me about it. I've taken rides like this since I was a kid and it never reacted this way. Weird, though. Don't worry, I gotcha. Let's go home. It's seriously late anyway. Pablio would go into a fit if I don't get home soon."
With that, Max and Phoebe swam hand in hand towards the direction of the castle, looking slightly disappointed that the steam and romantic intimacy they felt just now suddenly cut off. Norman and Robert said their goodbyes gloomily and went on their own ways. But behind their backs, a pair of smoky-looking ladies hugged each other victoriously, letting out a silent snake-like laugh as they slithered back up to the surface.
"That was close! Too close! The little tramp! Oh, he's better than I thought!"
SkullMaster was in his lair, watching Max and Phoebe from the mists emitted from the cauldron. He angrily swiped the mists away and stomped towards his potion shelves. He pushed and shoved, even making a few bottles drop and crash to the ground, looking for something. He finally found the thing he was looking for: a wilted, dried rose that he had kept in a large pink bottle. He took it out and eyed it like it was some kind of marvelous treasure.
It was the exact same rose that Max had risked his life getting from The Beastess's garden. Unknown to Max, as soon as Max had transformed into a merman and was brought down to the sea, SkullMaster had taken out the rose from his concoction as quick as he could get his hands into it before it melts down and dissolves completely in the cauldron. The rose sure meant something to him alright—he needed it so that he would be able to go back to The Beastess's castle and claim what he had longed and believe to receive for such a long time: The King of the West. The King of the West was known to rule over all the lands of the West and has been in control for many centuries until it had reached a certain generation where the ruler was a sort of disappointment to the family tree. That particular ruler ruled his kingdom with an iron fist and many suffered because of his ways. Finally the people started rebelling and fought back, bringing down the ruler. The last surviving heir of the family managed to escape and was ashamed of his tyrant father and swore never to rule the land again until there is someone worthy for the cause. He ordered his Wiseman, who was also a magician and had survived the attack, to seal the castle and all of what's left in there until fate chooses the right person to rule the West once more. But the Wiseman added an extra ingredient to the spell. He put an enchantment to all the servants who used to work for The King of the West—namely Rusty, Normie, Virgil, Junior, etc—and turned them all into animated objects and turned the last surviving convict from the dungeons of the castle into The Beastess and ordered her to guard the castle until the rightful owner returns. As she was one of the most bad-tempered and dangerous convicts arrested by the previous King, The Beastess transformation was an extra sentence to her to show her how her true bestial colours inside her were.
Of course, everyone deserves a second chance, but some people had to earn it. So before leaving, the Wiseman left The Beastess a mirror which was the only window for her to the outside world so that she can keep with the change of time. The shining rose Max saw before in the belljar was an enchanted rose and bloomed until she was about 18 years old (she was very young when she was arrested—a very dangerous crook with a bad childhood she was) before it started wilting. The rose acted as a sort of hourglass and the condition was that if The Beastess could learn to love another and earn his love by the time the last petal fell, the bestial curse on her would be broken and everyone would return back into their normal bodies again. If not, she would be doomed to remain a Beastess for all time and the servants stay as animated objects even if the true heir has returned to claim the throne.
That 200-year-old rose grew there for a reason too, but it was known only to the Wiseman. For generations, the Wiseman and his forefathers before him have predicted that this black sheep generation and this rebellion would happen. Nothing could prevent it. So his ancestor, the first Wiseman to work for the first King of the West, cast an enchantment on one particular rose among the rose bushes and claimed to it that when this rebellion happens, the rose would act as a charm to break the seal from the castle, along with a magic ring, and claim the throne. And this is where SkullMaster came in. Generations had passed and the legend of The King of the West was slowly forgotten. The only thing well known was The Beastess in a horrible-looking castle. SkullMaster had discovered a long time ago about the legend when he was in one of his voyages with his half-brother Blake. Yes, that's right. SkullMaster—or Scott, as he used to be named—was Blake's half-brother. Blake was always the favourite son of the family and it wasn't before long that SkullMaster got jealous of him. He kept thinking that there was something behind all this favouritism and believed that he should have it, not Blake. He and Blake had a crush on Virginia at the same time, but Virginia chose Blake instead, which made his jealousy even deeper.
So when Blake buying the magic ring, claiming to use it to propose to Virginia with it, he was lucky that Blake had ignored the scroll that came along with it, thinking that it was all hogwash and that it's nothing more than a ring with a little bit of destructive powers in it. He borrowed the ring and took the scroll and soon learnt about the legend of The King of the West. He was thrilled. This was his big break! Since he was just a half-brother to Blake, maybe his bloodline had something to do with this King of the West that his side of the family didn't know of! This has to be what he deserved for! 'We'll see who's the favourite son now!' he thought.
But alas, the ring was not meant for him. When Blake tried the ring out for fun in front of his crew and his trusted shipmate Norman, it glowed, just like the scroll said it would when the rightful king came to possess it. The ring can be used by anyone else of its destructive powers, but only the true heir of The King of the West is able to use it to its full potential. SkullMaster was devastated and disappointed once again to know that in the end, Blake would be King and still be the favourite son. He remembered the last conversation he had with Blake after that ring incident…
"Life's not fair, isn't it?" Scott talked to himself as he used his fork to fiddle with the noodles on his plate. "I'm always in the background, having to answer for all the mistakes my dear ol' brother does. And alas, I, who is supposed to receive my dues, shall never be king. And you, my little noodle friend, shall never see the light of another day. Adieu!"
"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to play with your food?"
Scott rolled his eyes and sighed at Norman's disgusted voice, "What do you want?"
"I'm here to tell you that Captain Blake is on his way," Norman replied, crossing his arms. "So you better give him a good excuse for not attending the ceremony this morning."
Scott knew what he meant. It was a tradition for Fishermen's FriendVillage that every newborn baby has to be presented at the village church to receive his or her family and relatives' blessing before being baptized. Needless to say, after the cruel reality of the ring belonging to Blake, he wasn't interested in any other affairs Blake had in mind. Absentmindedly, he accidentally dropped the meatball he was about to eat.
"Oh, now, Norman, you made me lose my lunch."
"Hah! You'll lose more when the captain gets through with you. He's as mad as a lion with a thorn on his paw."
"Oooh, I quiver with fear!" Scott said sarcastically as he brandished the knife at Norman's beard. He was about to give him an instant shave when Blake came in the nick of time.
"Scott, let him go."
"In perfect timing, Captain, sir," Norman noted gratefully. Scott reluctantly put the knife down and turned to his brother with a sly smile.
"Why, if it isn't my big brother descending from his heights mingling with the commoners."
"Virginia and I didn't see you at the baptism of Maxwell," Blake got to the point.
"That was today? Oh, this is simply awful of me!" Scott pretended to be shocked, then dragged his fork on the plate, making Norman cringe. "Must have slipped my mind."
"Well, as slippery as your mind is," Norman went over towards Scott and bellowed, "as the Captain's brother, you should've been first in line!"
"I was first in line, until that little hairball was born."
"That hairball is my son and your nephew," Blake said, keeping his cool. "You should be at least proud of him; he's the first grandson to be born in our family of granddaughters, lucky for our parents."
"Oh, then perhaps I should practice my tap dance," Scott said mockingly as he went off, leaving his noodles untouched.
"Don't you turn your back on me, Scott!"
"Oh no, Blake. Perhaps you shouldn't turn your back on me."
Blake stormed over in front of his half-brother and grabbed him by the collar, growling, "Is that a challenge?"
"Temper, temper," Scott replied in a cool cat way, taking Blake's hands off his collar. "I wouldn't dream of challenging you."
"Pity. Why not?" Norman asked, disappointed. He was hoping Blake could give this pain-in-the-ass a good wallop.
"Well, as far as the brains and the ship crew status go, I get the lion's share and half the booty, but when it comes to brutal strength…" Scott glared his cold yellow eyes at his half-brother's sky-blue ones, then sighed tiredly and walked off, saying, "I guess I'm just the shadowy end of the gene pool."
As he disappeared out of sight and hid at one corner, he heard Norman and Blake talking to each other.
"There's one in every family, Captain, sir," Norman said. "Two can't be competent together. They always manage to ruin special occasions."
"What am I gonna do with him?" Blake sighed.
"Well, he’ll make a very handsome throw rug," Norman suddenly suggested.
"Norman, that's not funny!" Blake scolded playfully.
"Hey, just think. Whenever he gets dirty, you just take him out and beat him."
SkullMaster shook off that memory. He and Blake never clicked. There's always something that they had to fight about, and he was always to blame. Never once was Blake punished—maybe once or twice—for the things he did. It was always him. He hated it. Even when Blake tried to make peace and be friends with him, he refused to acknowledge it, thinking it was all just for show. He wasn't even satisfied when Blake had made him his first mate on ship.
He had his share of watching Max grow up, though he knew that little blonde hairball was afraid of him. Max had no idea that SkullMaster was his half-uncle, but he called him 'Uncle' just the same. He had a few words with him once when Max only the wee age of 6…
"Hey, Uncle Scott! Guess what?" Young Max asked as he bounded excitedly towards the musing Scott.
"I despise guessing games," Scott muttered through gritted teeth.
"I'm gonna be the Captain of Virginia," Max grinned delightedly. Virginia the ship was named after his mother by his love-sick father when he was younger.
"Oh, goody," Scott said in mocking way.
"Dad showed me all the ships in the jetty, and he said that our ship Virginia is the biggest and the strongest of all ships. When I grow up, I'm gonna be the Captain of Virginia and King of the Sea. And I'm gonna rule it all!"
"Yes, but forgive me for not leaping for joy. Bad back, you know."
Max rushed towards Scott who had his back turned to him, tugging on his sleeve and asked, "Hey, Uncle Scott. When I'm the Captain, what'll that make you?"
"A monkey's uncle."
"You're so weird," Max chuckled, taking the comment humorously. Scott turned to him with a mysterious grin.
"You have no idea. So, your father showed all the ship in the jetty, didn't he?"
"Everything."
"He didn't show you the ol' rundown sooty-looking boat over there now, did he?" Scott jerked his head at the ship that looked almost like the Black Pearl ship in Pirates of the Caribbean. Everyone feared that ship and never dared go near it. It was, of course, belonging to the rich eccentric bachelor man who had committed suicide. It had a really bad vibe over it and no one even dare to buy or use that ship. It even had a really dark name: Dementor (A/N: Sorry, this name just so happen to appear in my head after the experience of watching Prisoner of Azkaban ).
"Well, no," Max replied, disappointed. Always the adventurous one. "He said I can't go there."
"And he's absolutely right. It's far too dangerous," Scott replied half-truthfully, fearing that ship a little. "The owner had been to many places with the wretched ship of his. Really dark and gloomy places too, I must say, although he had been to other more beautiful places. But then again, only the bravest sailors go there."
"Well, I'm brave. What beautiful place…"
"Oh, sorry, Maxwell, I just can't tell you."
"Why not?"
"Maxwell, Maxwell," Scott said in a pretend concerned voice, patting Max's head. "I'm only looking out for the wellbeing of my favourite nephew."
"Yeah, right. I'm your only nephew. Adopted nephew, that is."
"Which is why I'm a little bit more protective. Besides, a mermaid world is no place for a young boy…Oops!" Of course, Scott actually did that deliberately.
"A mermaid what?! Wow!!" Those words sure got Max's attention.
"Oh dear, I said too much. I suppose you'll find out sooner or later. You've been so clever, but just promise me one little thing," Scott brought Max closer to him, making his voice cute. "Promise me you'll never visit that dreadful ship."
"No problem," Max replied, but Scott could tell from his eyes that he had his fingers crossed.
"That's a good lad. You run along now and have fun. And remember, it's our little secret."
Needless to say those words sure got Max into trouble and earned his father's scolding, which of course, Scott backed Max up, like the 'good uncle' he should be. He realized that this child has a formidable mind and if he got into his good side, he'll have his favour in everything and soon might even get Virginia's attention. So his evil mind came up with a plan to kill Blake at sea and make it look like an accident. That fateful night before he pushed his half-brother to his death was so victorious to the end…
The winds were strong. The sails couldn't bear the wind and the strong waves that shook and rocked them like a small matchbox. The crew was hanging on for their dear lives not to die and Blake was yelling out orders to keep the boat afloat, and that means dumping unnecessary cargo. Soon, it was evident to everyone that the ship was about to sink. Blake yelled for everyone to abandon ship and quickly led his crew towards the small boats on the sides of the ship. While he was lowering the last boat for himself and letting Norman and the last batch of crew into the boat first, he accidentally slipped and was hanging desperately on the deck. By then, Norman and the crew were already on the boat and were rowing about a few feet away from the ship. Blake was about to climb back up the ship when he saw Scott standing near the deck with his yellow eyes staring coldly at him.
"Scott! Why aren't you on the boat?! I thought you've gotten on!"
Scott didn't reply. He continued to stare at Blake, ignoring Norman's frantic cry to stay there and don't move while he rowed the boat closer to the ship.
"Scott, please! Brother, help me up! Norman will come get us! Help me up!"
Scott remained there for a few moments before finally reaching over and grabbed his wrists. But instead of pulling him up, he leaned closer to him and hissed, "Long live the King!"
Blake widened his eyes, not understanding what he meant. It was obvious he still had no idea about the King of the West legend. Before he could comprehend, Scott had already let him go. He could still remember Blake's scream as he plummeted towards the sea and carried away by a sudden wave that coincidentally swept along. Norman yelled for Blake and Scott yelled too, pretending to look guilty for being unable to save his half-brother. Just when he was about to yell again, another wave hit the ship and tossed him overboard.
He soon found himself sinking deeper and deeper, not knowing when to stop…
The bubbling cauldron woke him up from his memories. The potion was ready. He plucked one petal from the rose and the concoction immediately turned from green to a bright blue. He stirred the potion some more and, when it was quite ready, scooped some of it into a bottle. He muttered an enchantment and the potion turned crystal clear, like water.
"Blake's throne will be mine! And I'll make his son suffer for what he had done to me! I'll take whatever that's rightfully mine and I'll see that little hairball wriggle like a worm on a hook!"
SkullMaster's menacing laughter rang throughout the whole village that night and even reached the ears of the worried-looking WarMonger who was getting ready to toll the midnight bells.
“Reynard! How many times do I have to tell you? Don’t scare our guest!” Phoebe’s voice came in, sounding very exasperated as she tugged the little naughty dolphin away. Max heaved a sigh of relief. He had to get used to this kind of wake up call if Reynard was going to keep doing this everyday.
"I am so sorry, my friend," Phoebe came over to check if he was alright. "My Reynard is always excited when there are guests around the house. Rise and shine, friend. It's time you get ready. We're going to town, remember?"
Within minutes, Max got himself all cleaned up and all decorated up for the occasion. They both hopped on a dolphin each—Phoebe on Reynard and Max on Pac's pet dolphin Phoenix—and were soon heading towards the merpeople town. Once there, Max feasted his eyes on everything that was new and intriguing to him. There were people selling odd and weird things that weren't in his secret sea collection, stalls that were set up way more beautiful than the stalls he normally saw in his own home and even places where you can just relax and have a drink or so and just dance away to the music played spontaneously. There was once when Max tried the seadragon ride (one of the merpeople town's famous rides) and he rode the darn seadragon so excitedly that he almost crashed into the merpeople and the stalls around. Luckily, he was able to keep control of the seadragon after quite a while and nothing was damaged. Phoebe took it humorously and laughed like she never laughed before. Overall, it was a colourful, beautiful city busting with life and happiness. Max sure enjoyed his time, especially when it was with his darling princess Phoebe.
Norman was following around wherever they went, trying to keep up with them as they went from one place to another. The fat body given by SkullMaster sure took a toll on his speed, but he had to keep an eye on his little master. Robert just so happened to pass by and whispered excitedly, "Hey, Norman! Did he kiss her yet?"
"Not yet!" Norman hissed, much to Robert's disappointment. He, too, ended up tagging along to check out the fun. He sure didn't want to miss out anything.
After a long day's touring around, Max and Phoebe relaxed on a slow ride on a humpback whale, enjoying the starry night sky from under the sea. Norman and Robert were still following them around, trying to see what's going on and hoping something good might happen. Phoebe looked intently at Max, her face showing that she was deep in thought. Max jerked his head, meaning that he was asking what she was looking at.
"I dunno," Phoebe rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "You look a wee bit like my childhood sweetheart Prince Drakeb, but you sure are not him, that I know. And yet you really remind me of someone else, but I just can't put my finger in it. You saved me, but I can't ask you your name, 'coz you can't talk. So, uh, how about I guess your name?"
Max shrugged. He didn't mind what she does, as long as he's with her.
"Let's see. I'll figure out your name…hmm…Bingo?"
Max screwed his face in disgust, unable to believe his name was associated to a farmer's dog. Phoebe chuckled.
"OK, not Bingo. How about…Darren? Richard?"
Max shook his head at all the names. They all sounded common. His was special, and he wanted Phoebe to know that. Norman groaned and sneaked up behind Phoebe, whispering, "Maxwell. His name is Maxwell."
"Maxwell…?" Phoebe turned around, feeling weird. She thought she heard someone saying a name and muttered it to herself. Max heard her and nodded excitedly. Phoebe turned back to him and asked, "Maxwell? That's your name? That sounds kinda cute…and special. OK, Maxwell it is."
As the couple continued to glide down the sea on the humpback whale, they began to stare at each other dreamily. Nothing could get better than this. Phoebe was sure that Max was the one who saved her that fateful night, voice or no voice. She was sure now that she had fallen in love with this saviour of hers who had risked his life to get her out of the open air, and was sure that she was going to be his wife. Max, on the other hand, was trying to control his furiously beating heart. She was there, just right in front of him, her lips ready to be claimed. He had risked his life to get the payment to seal the deal, traded his voice in exchange for this new body and now all he needed was to get a kiss from Phoebe to strengthen the spell and be with his love forever. He was willing to go great lengths for this and he would do it again if he had to. Both their eyes stared and stared, seeping deep into their inner souls and seeing through what they truly want. Before they knew it, their lips came closer and closer until they were almost in the verge of touching…
Suddenly the humpback whale lurched backward and threw Max and Phoebe off its back. Norman and Robert, who were watching nervously as the two lovebirds were about to kiss, groaned in disappointment as max and Phoebe moved quickly out of the panicked whale's way. The whale swam off as if being frightened by something and left them behind. Phoebe tried to recollect herself and turned to Max, asking, "Are you alright, Maxwell?"
Max nodded, feeling weird about why that humpback whale suddenly reacted that way. He pointed at the whale with a questioning look on his face. Phoebe noticed.
"Yeah, tell me about it. I've taken rides like this since I was a kid and it never reacted this way. Weird, though. Don't worry, I gotcha. Let's go home. It's seriously late anyway. Pablio would go into a fit if I don't get home soon."
With that, Max and Phoebe swam hand in hand towards the direction of the castle, looking slightly disappointed that the steam and romantic intimacy they felt just now suddenly cut off. Norman and Robert said their goodbyes gloomily and went on their own ways. But behind their backs, a pair of smoky-looking ladies hugged each other victoriously, letting out a silent snake-like laugh as they slithered back up to the surface.
"That was close! Too close! The little tramp! Oh, he's better than I thought!"
SkullMaster was in his lair, watching Max and Phoebe from the mists emitted from the cauldron. He angrily swiped the mists away and stomped towards his potion shelves. He pushed and shoved, even making a few bottles drop and crash to the ground, looking for something. He finally found the thing he was looking for: a wilted, dried rose that he had kept in a large pink bottle. He took it out and eyed it like it was some kind of marvelous treasure.
It was the exact same rose that Max had risked his life getting from The Beastess's garden. Unknown to Max, as soon as Max had transformed into a merman and was brought down to the sea, SkullMaster had taken out the rose from his concoction as quick as he could get his hands into it before it melts down and dissolves completely in the cauldron. The rose sure meant something to him alright—he needed it so that he would be able to go back to The Beastess's castle and claim what he had longed and believe to receive for such a long time: The King of the West. The King of the West was known to rule over all the lands of the West and has been in control for many centuries until it had reached a certain generation where the ruler was a sort of disappointment to the family tree. That particular ruler ruled his kingdom with an iron fist and many suffered because of his ways. Finally the people started rebelling and fought back, bringing down the ruler. The last surviving heir of the family managed to escape and was ashamed of his tyrant father and swore never to rule the land again until there is someone worthy for the cause. He ordered his Wiseman, who was also a magician and had survived the attack, to seal the castle and all of what's left in there until fate chooses the right person to rule the West once more. But the Wiseman added an extra ingredient to the spell. He put an enchantment to all the servants who used to work for The King of the West—namely Rusty, Normie, Virgil, Junior, etc—and turned them all into animated objects and turned the last surviving convict from the dungeons of the castle into The Beastess and ordered her to guard the castle until the rightful owner returns. As she was one of the most bad-tempered and dangerous convicts arrested by the previous King, The Beastess transformation was an extra sentence to her to show her how her true bestial colours inside her were.
Of course, everyone deserves a second chance, but some people had to earn it. So before leaving, the Wiseman left The Beastess a mirror which was the only window for her to the outside world so that she can keep with the change of time. The shining rose Max saw before in the belljar was an enchanted rose and bloomed until she was about 18 years old (she was very young when she was arrested—a very dangerous crook with a bad childhood she was) before it started wilting. The rose acted as a sort of hourglass and the condition was that if The Beastess could learn to love another and earn his love by the time the last petal fell, the bestial curse on her would be broken and everyone would return back into their normal bodies again. If not, she would be doomed to remain a Beastess for all time and the servants stay as animated objects even if the true heir has returned to claim the throne.
That 200-year-old rose grew there for a reason too, but it was known only to the Wiseman. For generations, the Wiseman and his forefathers before him have predicted that this black sheep generation and this rebellion would happen. Nothing could prevent it. So his ancestor, the first Wiseman to work for the first King of the West, cast an enchantment on one particular rose among the rose bushes and claimed to it that when this rebellion happens, the rose would act as a charm to break the seal from the castle, along with a magic ring, and claim the throne. And this is where SkullMaster came in. Generations had passed and the legend of The King of the West was slowly forgotten. The only thing well known was The Beastess in a horrible-looking castle. SkullMaster had discovered a long time ago about the legend when he was in one of his voyages with his half-brother Blake. Yes, that's right. SkullMaster—or Scott, as he used to be named—was Blake's half-brother. Blake was always the favourite son of the family and it wasn't before long that SkullMaster got jealous of him. He kept thinking that there was something behind all this favouritism and believed that he should have it, not Blake. He and Blake had a crush on Virginia at the same time, but Virginia chose Blake instead, which made his jealousy even deeper.
So when Blake buying the magic ring, claiming to use it to propose to Virginia with it, he was lucky that Blake had ignored the scroll that came along with it, thinking that it was all hogwash and that it's nothing more than a ring with a little bit of destructive powers in it. He borrowed the ring and took the scroll and soon learnt about the legend of The King of the West. He was thrilled. This was his big break! Since he was just a half-brother to Blake, maybe his bloodline had something to do with this King of the West that his side of the family didn't know of! This has to be what he deserved for! 'We'll see who's the favourite son now!' he thought.
But alas, the ring was not meant for him. When Blake tried the ring out for fun in front of his crew and his trusted shipmate Norman, it glowed, just like the scroll said it would when the rightful king came to possess it. The ring can be used by anyone else of its destructive powers, but only the true heir of The King of the West is able to use it to its full potential. SkullMaster was devastated and disappointed once again to know that in the end, Blake would be King and still be the favourite son. He remembered the last conversation he had with Blake after that ring incident…
"Life's not fair, isn't it?" Scott talked to himself as he used his fork to fiddle with the noodles on his plate. "I'm always in the background, having to answer for all the mistakes my dear ol' brother does. And alas, I, who is supposed to receive my dues, shall never be king. And you, my little noodle friend, shall never see the light of another day. Adieu!"
"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to play with your food?"
Scott rolled his eyes and sighed at Norman's disgusted voice, "What do you want?"
"I'm here to tell you that Captain Blake is on his way," Norman replied, crossing his arms. "So you better give him a good excuse for not attending the ceremony this morning."
Scott knew what he meant. It was a tradition for Fishermen's FriendVillage that every newborn baby has to be presented at the village church to receive his or her family and relatives' blessing before being baptized. Needless to say, after the cruel reality of the ring belonging to Blake, he wasn't interested in any other affairs Blake had in mind. Absentmindedly, he accidentally dropped the meatball he was about to eat.
"Oh, now, Norman, you made me lose my lunch."
"Hah! You'll lose more when the captain gets through with you. He's as mad as a lion with a thorn on his paw."
"Oooh, I quiver with fear!" Scott said sarcastically as he brandished the knife at Norman's beard. He was about to give him an instant shave when Blake came in the nick of time.
"Scott, let him go."
"In perfect timing, Captain, sir," Norman noted gratefully. Scott reluctantly put the knife down and turned to his brother with a sly smile.
"Why, if it isn't my big brother descending from his heights mingling with the commoners."
"Virginia and I didn't see you at the baptism of Maxwell," Blake got to the point.
"That was today? Oh, this is simply awful of me!" Scott pretended to be shocked, then dragged his fork on the plate, making Norman cringe. "Must have slipped my mind."
"Well, as slippery as your mind is," Norman went over towards Scott and bellowed, "as the Captain's brother, you should've been first in line!"
"I was first in line, until that little hairball was born."
"That hairball is my son and your nephew," Blake said, keeping his cool. "You should be at least proud of him; he's the first grandson to be born in our family of granddaughters, lucky for our parents."
"Oh, then perhaps I should practice my tap dance," Scott said mockingly as he went off, leaving his noodles untouched.
"Don't you turn your back on me, Scott!"
"Oh no, Blake. Perhaps you shouldn't turn your back on me."
Blake stormed over in front of his half-brother and grabbed him by the collar, growling, "Is that a challenge?"
"Temper, temper," Scott replied in a cool cat way, taking Blake's hands off his collar. "I wouldn't dream of challenging you."
"Pity. Why not?" Norman asked, disappointed. He was hoping Blake could give this pain-in-the-ass a good wallop.
"Well, as far as the brains and the ship crew status go, I get the lion's share and half the booty, but when it comes to brutal strength…" Scott glared his cold yellow eyes at his half-brother's sky-blue ones, then sighed tiredly and walked off, saying, "I guess I'm just the shadowy end of the gene pool."
As he disappeared out of sight and hid at one corner, he heard Norman and Blake talking to each other.
"There's one in every family, Captain, sir," Norman said. "Two can't be competent together. They always manage to ruin special occasions."
"What am I gonna do with him?" Blake sighed.
"Well, he’ll make a very handsome throw rug," Norman suddenly suggested.
"Norman, that's not funny!" Blake scolded playfully.
"Hey, just think. Whenever he gets dirty, you just take him out and beat him."
SkullMaster shook off that memory. He and Blake never clicked. There's always something that they had to fight about, and he was always to blame. Never once was Blake punished—maybe once or twice—for the things he did. It was always him. He hated it. Even when Blake tried to make peace and be friends with him, he refused to acknowledge it, thinking it was all just for show. He wasn't even satisfied when Blake had made him his first mate on ship.
He had his share of watching Max grow up, though he knew that little blonde hairball was afraid of him. Max had no idea that SkullMaster was his half-uncle, but he called him 'Uncle' just the same. He had a few words with him once when Max only the wee age of 6…
"Hey, Uncle Scott! Guess what?" Young Max asked as he bounded excitedly towards the musing Scott.
"I despise guessing games," Scott muttered through gritted teeth.
"I'm gonna be the Captain of Virginia," Max grinned delightedly. Virginia the ship was named after his mother by his love-sick father when he was younger.
"Oh, goody," Scott said in mocking way.
"Dad showed me all the ships in the jetty, and he said that our ship Virginia is the biggest and the strongest of all ships. When I grow up, I'm gonna be the Captain of Virginia and King of the Sea. And I'm gonna rule it all!"
"Yes, but forgive me for not leaping for joy. Bad back, you know."
Max rushed towards Scott who had his back turned to him, tugging on his sleeve and asked, "Hey, Uncle Scott. When I'm the Captain, what'll that make you?"
"A monkey's uncle."
"You're so weird," Max chuckled, taking the comment humorously. Scott turned to him with a mysterious grin.
"You have no idea. So, your father showed all the ship in the jetty, didn't he?"
"Everything."
"He didn't show you the ol' rundown sooty-looking boat over there now, did he?" Scott jerked his head at the ship that looked almost like the Black Pearl ship in Pirates of the Caribbean. Everyone feared that ship and never dared go near it. It was, of course, belonging to the rich eccentric bachelor man who had committed suicide. It had a really bad vibe over it and no one even dare to buy or use that ship. It even had a really dark name: Dementor (A/N: Sorry, this name just so happen to appear in my head after the experience of watching Prisoner of Azkaban ).
"Well, no," Max replied, disappointed. Always the adventurous one. "He said I can't go there."
"And he's absolutely right. It's far too dangerous," Scott replied half-truthfully, fearing that ship a little. "The owner had been to many places with the wretched ship of his. Really dark and gloomy places too, I must say, although he had been to other more beautiful places. But then again, only the bravest sailors go there."
"Well, I'm brave. What beautiful place…"
"Oh, sorry, Maxwell, I just can't tell you."
"Why not?"
"Maxwell, Maxwell," Scott said in a pretend concerned voice, patting Max's head. "I'm only looking out for the wellbeing of my favourite nephew."
"Yeah, right. I'm your only nephew. Adopted nephew, that is."
"Which is why I'm a little bit more protective. Besides, a mermaid world is no place for a young boy…Oops!" Of course, Scott actually did that deliberately.
"A mermaid what?! Wow!!" Those words sure got Max's attention.
"Oh dear, I said too much. I suppose you'll find out sooner or later. You've been so clever, but just promise me one little thing," Scott brought Max closer to him, making his voice cute. "Promise me you'll never visit that dreadful ship."
"No problem," Max replied, but Scott could tell from his eyes that he had his fingers crossed.
"That's a good lad. You run along now and have fun. And remember, it's our little secret."
Needless to say those words sure got Max into trouble and earned his father's scolding, which of course, Scott backed Max up, like the 'good uncle' he should be. He realized that this child has a formidable mind and if he got into his good side, he'll have his favour in everything and soon might even get Virginia's attention. So his evil mind came up with a plan to kill Blake at sea and make it look like an accident. That fateful night before he pushed his half-brother to his death was so victorious to the end…
The winds were strong. The sails couldn't bear the wind and the strong waves that shook and rocked them like a small matchbox. The crew was hanging on for their dear lives not to die and Blake was yelling out orders to keep the boat afloat, and that means dumping unnecessary cargo. Soon, it was evident to everyone that the ship was about to sink. Blake yelled for everyone to abandon ship and quickly led his crew towards the small boats on the sides of the ship. While he was lowering the last boat for himself and letting Norman and the last batch of crew into the boat first, he accidentally slipped and was hanging desperately on the deck. By then, Norman and the crew were already on the boat and were rowing about a few feet away from the ship. Blake was about to climb back up the ship when he saw Scott standing near the deck with his yellow eyes staring coldly at him.
"Scott! Why aren't you on the boat?! I thought you've gotten on!"
Scott didn't reply. He continued to stare at Blake, ignoring Norman's frantic cry to stay there and don't move while he rowed the boat closer to the ship.
"Scott, please! Brother, help me up! Norman will come get us! Help me up!"
Scott remained there for a few moments before finally reaching over and grabbed his wrists. But instead of pulling him up, he leaned closer to him and hissed, "Long live the King!"
Blake widened his eyes, not understanding what he meant. It was obvious he still had no idea about the King of the West legend. Before he could comprehend, Scott had already let him go. He could still remember Blake's scream as he plummeted towards the sea and carried away by a sudden wave that coincidentally swept along. Norman yelled for Blake and Scott yelled too, pretending to look guilty for being unable to save his half-brother. Just when he was about to yell again, another wave hit the ship and tossed him overboard.
He soon found himself sinking deeper and deeper, not knowing when to stop…
The bubbling cauldron woke him up from his memories. The potion was ready. He plucked one petal from the rose and the concoction immediately turned from green to a bright blue. He stirred the potion some more and, when it was quite ready, scooped some of it into a bottle. He muttered an enchantment and the potion turned crystal clear, like water.
"Blake's throne will be mine! And I'll make his son suffer for what he had done to me! I'll take whatever that's rightfully mine and I'll see that little hairball wriggle like a worm on a hook!"
SkullMaster's menacing laughter rang throughout the whole village that night and even reached the ears of the worried-looking WarMonger who was getting ready to toll the midnight bells.
A Mix of Fairy Tale Cocktail-Chapter 14
The sea was bubbling with life. There were sea creatures everywhere swimming around in the sea like it was nobody's business. There were all kinds of sea life in there including dolphins, sting rays, sea urchins, sea horses and much, much more. If those sea creatures were able to talk like humans do, you could hear a great big commotion of sounds, like a market or something.
That was when Max was awakened by the sound of faraway chattering and chit-chatting. He opened his eyes groggily and the first thing he saw was a pair of angelfishes whispering to each other and pointing at him. He was surprised to find out that he actually was able to understand what the fishes were saying and furthermore, he saw that he was surrounded by water and actually breathing in it! It was marvelous! Could it be...?
He sat up tentatively and took a look at his legs, only to see that they weren't legs anymore, but a long tail that shimmered slightly as he moved. He gaped in awe at the colour of his tail: a bright mixture of blonde and blue, like a mixture of his hair and eye colour. He waved the fins about and was excited to see it moving to his will. He had to try this out.
"Woah, look at who has dropped in this place! It's my dear ol' friend Maxwell Deanhart!"
Max turned to see his childhood sea friend Robert the seahorse gliding down from above his head towards him. The seahorse was actually a real life talking seahorse, as in able to talk in human tongue. He was one of those victims of sea pollution when he scorched his throat after accidentally eating polluted plankton (thanks to chemical waste dumped into the sea) and after going through a near death experience, he suddenly found himself able to understand and speak human language. He, Max and Norman were close friends as he provided information about the merpeople life he claimed he knew. He had introduced loads of things and told Max the names of those items he had discovered during his underwater trips and Robert would explain elaborately what does this and that do.
"Look at you, Max! Look at you! You have changed!" Robert said as he landed on Max's shimmering tail. "Now let's see, what's different about you, hmm? Wait, wait, don't tell me! It's a...new...haircut! No, not a new haircut...A new swimming gear! A new breathing thing-a-majigure? A new set of clothes? A new..."
"He's having a new tail, you dimwit!"
Max and Robert turned around to see Norman scowling at them. Only that Norman was not the huge, tough guy, barbaric-looking Norman, but the Norman with fins and scales and a tail and gills and all that. It seemed like SkullMaster had turned him into a fish as a payment to cure Virginia from her coma predicament, and a huge fat catfish at that! Max stared at him in awe while Robert rolled over the floor and laughed like a maniac.
"Oh my sea urchins! What exactly happened to you, Norman?!" Robert laughed non-stop. "You look...You look..."
"Stupid, I know," Norman muttered grudgingly. "I dunno why I've turned like this, but I sure don't like it."
"Well, what's this business about Max having a new tail, huh? Isn't he supposed to be human or something?"
Norman sighed and explained the whole story to Robert. While he explained, Max decided to try out the tail. He got up and tried to balance himself while flipping his fins to keep him like a standing position in the sea. So far, he was so used to swimming the human way that he couldn't keep his balance. He soon fell headlong onto sandy sea floor, sending the sand flying all over, covering Robert and Norman.
"Just look at him!" Norman exclaimed in horror, rambling on and on about how disastrous it was. It was obvious that he had finally lost his cool. "His tail...Scum merman tail! This is not good! Really not good! This is a catastrophe! What will his mother say? I tell you what his mother will say. She'll say she's gonna kill him, that's what his mother will say! I'm going straight right back up and go tell his mother..."
Max was horrified. While Norman was rambling, Max finally got the hang of swimming up straight and was dusting the sea sand off his body when he heard Norman threatening to go up and tell Virginia on him. He grabbed Norman's tail and pulled him close, shaking his head in fear, not wanting him to tell.
"And don't you shake your head at me, young man! You're just like your father, getting into trouble all the time! And I always had to back him up, just like what I'm doing right now for you! No more, Max, no more! We'll go back to that SkullMaster of yours and cancel the deal! Maybe he would renegotiate. Maybe you'll get back your voice. And then we'll all go home and you'll just be...just be..."
Max frowned sadly, begging him with his eyes not to make him change his mind about things. He looked so sad, as if like if this whole thing doesn't go happily, he was going to regret it. Norman sighed.
"Just be miserable for the rest of your life, I guess. Alright, alright, I'll help you to go and find your princess. Can't go up in open air anyway since I'm a fish."
Max hugged him gratefully and let him go. Somehow, the fish instinct set in and Norman was actually swimming naturally like all the other fish. Robert finally broke the sad ice and grabbed on to some seaweeds around the area.
"Well, it sure ain't decent for a merman to not have something on his body. One thing we gotta figure out is what to decorate you up with. Now let me see..."
Meanwhile, Princess Phoebe was riding on her pet dolphin around the sea. She greeted a few other merpeople passing by and played with a few fishes along the way, but nothing could keep her mind off her saviour that fateful night. She couldn't help thinking that there's something charming about the person who saved her and the voice that sang to her. It sounded so nice, so melodic, so suave and gentle...He has to be a very charming man to be able to rescue her and sing so beautifully. She hummed the song he sang for her to herself by memory.
As she hummed, the dolphin suddenly chirped and increased its speed. It had spotted something in the distance and was quite excited to go and find out about it. Phoebe was taken by surprise as she was dragged along for the ride. She clung onto the dolphin for dear life, hoping that she wouldn't fall off, all the while trying to slow it down. While the dolphin came in closer, Max was already quite decorated up with a necklace fashioned out of corals and seashells and a crown made out of seaweeds and pearls. He had to admit, he looked pretty good in it.
"Sensational!" Robert grinned as he marveled his piece of work. He was interrupted with the loud chirp of Phoebe's dolphin. Norman and Robert ran for cover and Max wanted to swim some place higher. He was quite shocked to see the dolphin coming up to him in such friendly manner and was butting its beak-like mouth at him.
"Reynard, stop it!" Max's heart skipped a beat when he heard Phoebe's voice. He saw her riding on the dolphin and was apologizing to him for Reynard's behaviour. He was stunned. There she was, his dream princess, lovely as ever with her chocolate-brown hair and jade-green eyes. The wonderful princess was actually up close and personal and actually talking to him! What a bliss this was! He couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the Phoebe that he had been watching from afar actually standing just right in front of him! All he could do was smile.
"I'm sorry about Reynard. He's always..." Phoebe continued to apologize when she stopped to look at Max's face. That blonde hair, those blue eyes...it's like she seen that face somewhere before. She muttered, "You seem very familiar to me...Have we met?"
Max nodded excitedly. Of course they have met! How could they not be? It was during the night he saved her.
"Yes, you're the one who rescued me! You're the one! The one that I've been looking for!" Phoebe said excitedly, finally meeting her saviour. "What's your name?"
Max wanted to tell her but no voice came out. He could only mouth out his name. He then realized that he had traded his voice to SkullMaster for this new body. He held his throat, disappointed.
"What's wrong? What is it?"
Max patted his throat.
"You can't speak?"
Max shook his head.
"Oh...then you couldn't be who I thought."
Max huffed. He was utterly disappointed. Of all payments, SkullMaster had to ask for his voice. 'Why couldn't he ask for an arm or a limb or maybe his eyes or something?' he thought, frustrated. 'I'd rather give him those than unable to actually talk to Phoebe and tell her how he feels. As if body language was enough...'
Then the thought struck him. Why not? He could use body language! He had played charades before when he was a kid. That shouldn't be too hard. He waved at Phoebe to get her attention, then made loads of gestures to tell her that he really was the one who saved her that night and that he really had sang to her. Phoebe was trying to guess what he was trying to tell her.
"What is it? You're sick? No, you need help? Woah, careful!"
It seemed that out of excitement and desperation for Phoebe to understand him, he had lost his balance from the rock his was sitting on and fell into the arms of his dream princess. Their eyes met—jade-green with blue—and were locked onto each other, staring as if the whole world was theirs and that time had stopped just for them. They both couldn't believe that they're looking at each other this close—Phoebe staring at her could-be saviour and Max at his princess he had longed to be with for so long. After what seemed like forever, Phoebe finally broke the ice.
"This could seem like a mysterious adventure for us. Come on. I'll take you to my castle. Careful now."
As they mounted onto Reynard and headed towards the direction of Phoebe's castle, Norman sneaked up behind and came in between Phoebe and Max, making Phoebe chuckle. She asked if he were his pet and he nodded absentmindedly. Max turned around to look for Robert and saw him giving him a thumbs-up behind where he was hiding.
Things sure looked pretty bright from then on.
Inside the castle, he was led into the cleaning room where he was cleaned off all the sea sand he fell on and was redecorated with other ornaments less organic like the seaweed by two of Phoebe's brothers Pjer and Pac. While he was being prepared, Phoebe and the rest of her brothers were in the dining room discussing seriously about matters.
"Are you really sure that he is the one who saved you?" Pablio asked. "I mean, you did say that your saviour sang to you before he disappeared mysteriously. But this guy can't even talk."
"Yeah," Peter agreed. "For all I know, you could've mistaken this young man for someone else."
"I'm telling you, brothers," Phoebe said indignantly. "He's the one. The one that I've been looking for. And I'm gonna marry him."
"What? You can't be serious, can you?! Have you forgotten about Prince Drakeb?" Pince asked in horror.
"I thought you guys are a couple," Pad said. "You can't be saying that you've fallen for a guy you barely know and just so happened to save your life!"
"Yeah, Father even arranged to let you and Prince Drakeb be betrothed and all! You can't just let it go!" Pablio tried to talk his sister out of this.
"Well, for your information, I decide my own love life, not Father," Phoebe replied. "Besides, I didn't see Drakeb saving me from being fried from the open air I fell onto. I saw him."
"Come on now, pal," Pjer's playful voice could be heard from the far end of the dining room as he and Pac tried to coax a quite nervous Max inside. "They're not gonna bite you."
"Yeah, come on. Don't be shy," Pac ushered him inside. Phoebe widened her eyes in wonder as she saw Max with his hair handsomely decorated by tiny butterfly-shaped seashells and wearing a necklace made out of shiny pearls and corals, his tail shimmering gallantly as he swam in with a nervous smile. Even her brothers couldn't help marveling at the way Max looked in his attire.
"Wow, I have to say, sis," Pablio said as he went over to get a closer look at Max. "He sure is quite a wonderful creature. I mean, we don't see people with that kind hair and eye colour. Only humans have that."
Max shuddered a little, afraid of his true identity be found. Norman, who was following from behind, winced as well. SkullMaster sure knew how to make deals; he got exactly what he wished for. No more, no less. And that means only his legs and internal organs changed to suit merman life, yet everything else stayed the same. It was true about what Pablio said—he could tell that all merpeople had strange hair and eye colour. None of them looked normal, and yet none of them looked bad either. He sure was the odd one out.
"Please, please. Don't let's stand here. Take a seat," Phoebe said hurriedly after snapping out of her trance. Everyone took a seat, and as expected, Phoebe and Max sat side by side. As they chit-chatted, Max surveyed the place. He marveled at the tapestry of the wall and the jewels of the sea that decorated the whole place. He took a look at the table and realized that it was actually made from a naturally-formed rock that was carved into a shape of a table. The chairs were also fashioned out of rocks carved and decorated with corals and whatnot. Then his eyes spotted on the Fringlers. It was actually a fork fashioned out from a coral but Robert had introduced it wrongly as a merman's comb (and made up that stupid 'Fringlers' name for the fork), so it wasn't surprising that everyone stared weirdly at Max when he picked up the fork and started combing his hair.
Robert sure needed to get his facts straight.
Max put down the fork awkwardly, embarrassed. He then shifted his gaze towards Pad who was sucking something out of a seashell. Max lit up. He remembered Robert telling him that this seashell was a Gurom, a type of flute-like musical instrument of the merpeople. Pad noticed Max was staring at it in interest and handed it over to him. Max took it eagerly and put it in his mouth. 'This has to be right,' he thought. 'For once let Robert be right.'
"You like it, don't you? It's really delicious and it's filled with..."
He didn't get to finish his words as Max suddenly blew at the seashell, sending black liquid spilling at his face. Everyone laughed in amusement at Pad's sooty-looking face glaring accusingly at Max. Needless to say, Robert seriously needed to get his facts straight. It was actually called Numnack, a type of tidbit for merpeople where they put in sweetened black ink of a squid into a seashell and they suck it through a mouthpiece. Max grinned apologetically as Pad rubbed his face clean. Luckily, Pad was able to take it humorously. The rest of the meal went by pretty smoothly. The food tasted great and Max liked all of them. He was mute, so he couldn't ask what they were made of. But then, come to think of it, it could be made out of something outrageous. He'd rather be left in the dark.
Later that night, Max was shown by Phoebe to his room. King Benedict and his wife were on a trip to the other side of the Pacific, so they wouldn't be home for a week. Phoebe asked Max if he would like to go downtown with her to see the sights. Max, of course, nodded happily. Phoebe smiled happily and gave him a peck on the cheek, wishing him a good night's sleep and a pleasant dream. Max could just die of happiness right here, right now.
"I wonder if Virginia's OK," Norman talked to himself as Max got ready for bed. It was actually a huge oyster with its tongue as a blanket, really soft and nice. "If she has awakened like SkullMaster said she would, what would happen if she finds us both gone? She might go into a frenzy and black out again. I'm worried, Max. What do you think?"
He turned around and saw that Max had already fallen asleep peacefully in his oyster bed. The oyster remained open, as if waiting for Norman to hop in and sleep. Norman smiled weakly and shook his head. It's been a while since he had seen Max so happy. Maybe it is his destiny after all to be with his lovely dream princess of the sea. If only he could kiss her in time. That would mean the world to Max to be able to stay with Phoebe happily ever after.
"Well, we'll just have to see what happens then," Norman sighed as he slipped into the tongue of the oyster and crawled closer beside Max.
As he, too, fell asleep, the oyster closed slowly.
That was when Max was awakened by the sound of faraway chattering and chit-chatting. He opened his eyes groggily and the first thing he saw was a pair of angelfishes whispering to each other and pointing at him. He was surprised to find out that he actually was able to understand what the fishes were saying and furthermore, he saw that he was surrounded by water and actually breathing in it! It was marvelous! Could it be...?
He sat up tentatively and took a look at his legs, only to see that they weren't legs anymore, but a long tail that shimmered slightly as he moved. He gaped in awe at the colour of his tail: a bright mixture of blonde and blue, like a mixture of his hair and eye colour. He waved the fins about and was excited to see it moving to his will. He had to try this out.
"Woah, look at who has dropped in this place! It's my dear ol' friend Maxwell Deanhart!"
Max turned to see his childhood sea friend Robert the seahorse gliding down from above his head towards him. The seahorse was actually a real life talking seahorse, as in able to talk in human tongue. He was one of those victims of sea pollution when he scorched his throat after accidentally eating polluted plankton (thanks to chemical waste dumped into the sea) and after going through a near death experience, he suddenly found himself able to understand and speak human language. He, Max and Norman were close friends as he provided information about the merpeople life he claimed he knew. He had introduced loads of things and told Max the names of those items he had discovered during his underwater trips and Robert would explain elaborately what does this and that do.
"Look at you, Max! Look at you! You have changed!" Robert said as he landed on Max's shimmering tail. "Now let's see, what's different about you, hmm? Wait, wait, don't tell me! It's a...new...haircut! No, not a new haircut...A new swimming gear! A new breathing thing-a-majigure? A new set of clothes? A new..."
"He's having a new tail, you dimwit!"
Max and Robert turned around to see Norman scowling at them. Only that Norman was not the huge, tough guy, barbaric-looking Norman, but the Norman with fins and scales and a tail and gills and all that. It seemed like SkullMaster had turned him into a fish as a payment to cure Virginia from her coma predicament, and a huge fat catfish at that! Max stared at him in awe while Robert rolled over the floor and laughed like a maniac.
"Oh my sea urchins! What exactly happened to you, Norman?!" Robert laughed non-stop. "You look...You look..."
"Stupid, I know," Norman muttered grudgingly. "I dunno why I've turned like this, but I sure don't like it."
"Well, what's this business about Max having a new tail, huh? Isn't he supposed to be human or something?"
Norman sighed and explained the whole story to Robert. While he explained, Max decided to try out the tail. He got up and tried to balance himself while flipping his fins to keep him like a standing position in the sea. So far, he was so used to swimming the human way that he couldn't keep his balance. He soon fell headlong onto sandy sea floor, sending the sand flying all over, covering Robert and Norman.
"Just look at him!" Norman exclaimed in horror, rambling on and on about how disastrous it was. It was obvious that he had finally lost his cool. "His tail...Scum merman tail! This is not good! Really not good! This is a catastrophe! What will his mother say? I tell you what his mother will say. She'll say she's gonna kill him, that's what his mother will say! I'm going straight right back up and go tell his mother..."
Max was horrified. While Norman was rambling, Max finally got the hang of swimming up straight and was dusting the sea sand off his body when he heard Norman threatening to go up and tell Virginia on him. He grabbed Norman's tail and pulled him close, shaking his head in fear, not wanting him to tell.
"And don't you shake your head at me, young man! You're just like your father, getting into trouble all the time! And I always had to back him up, just like what I'm doing right now for you! No more, Max, no more! We'll go back to that SkullMaster of yours and cancel the deal! Maybe he would renegotiate. Maybe you'll get back your voice. And then we'll all go home and you'll just be...just be..."
Max frowned sadly, begging him with his eyes not to make him change his mind about things. He looked so sad, as if like if this whole thing doesn't go happily, he was going to regret it. Norman sighed.
"Just be miserable for the rest of your life, I guess. Alright, alright, I'll help you to go and find your princess. Can't go up in open air anyway since I'm a fish."
Max hugged him gratefully and let him go. Somehow, the fish instinct set in and Norman was actually swimming naturally like all the other fish. Robert finally broke the sad ice and grabbed on to some seaweeds around the area.
"Well, it sure ain't decent for a merman to not have something on his body. One thing we gotta figure out is what to decorate you up with. Now let me see..."
Meanwhile, Princess Phoebe was riding on her pet dolphin around the sea. She greeted a few other merpeople passing by and played with a few fishes along the way, but nothing could keep her mind off her saviour that fateful night. She couldn't help thinking that there's something charming about the person who saved her and the voice that sang to her. It sounded so nice, so melodic, so suave and gentle...He has to be a very charming man to be able to rescue her and sing so beautifully. She hummed the song he sang for her to herself by memory.
As she hummed, the dolphin suddenly chirped and increased its speed. It had spotted something in the distance and was quite excited to go and find out about it. Phoebe was taken by surprise as she was dragged along for the ride. She clung onto the dolphin for dear life, hoping that she wouldn't fall off, all the while trying to slow it down. While the dolphin came in closer, Max was already quite decorated up with a necklace fashioned out of corals and seashells and a crown made out of seaweeds and pearls. He had to admit, he looked pretty good in it.
"Sensational!" Robert grinned as he marveled his piece of work. He was interrupted with the loud chirp of Phoebe's dolphin. Norman and Robert ran for cover and Max wanted to swim some place higher. He was quite shocked to see the dolphin coming up to him in such friendly manner and was butting its beak-like mouth at him.
"Reynard, stop it!" Max's heart skipped a beat when he heard Phoebe's voice. He saw her riding on the dolphin and was apologizing to him for Reynard's behaviour. He was stunned. There she was, his dream princess, lovely as ever with her chocolate-brown hair and jade-green eyes. The wonderful princess was actually up close and personal and actually talking to him! What a bliss this was! He couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the Phoebe that he had been watching from afar actually standing just right in front of him! All he could do was smile.
"I'm sorry about Reynard. He's always..." Phoebe continued to apologize when she stopped to look at Max's face. That blonde hair, those blue eyes...it's like she seen that face somewhere before. She muttered, "You seem very familiar to me...Have we met?"
Max nodded excitedly. Of course they have met! How could they not be? It was during the night he saved her.
"Yes, you're the one who rescued me! You're the one! The one that I've been looking for!" Phoebe said excitedly, finally meeting her saviour. "What's your name?"
Max wanted to tell her but no voice came out. He could only mouth out his name. He then realized that he had traded his voice to SkullMaster for this new body. He held his throat, disappointed.
"What's wrong? What is it?"
Max patted his throat.
"You can't speak?"
Max shook his head.
"Oh...then you couldn't be who I thought."
Max huffed. He was utterly disappointed. Of all payments, SkullMaster had to ask for his voice. 'Why couldn't he ask for an arm or a limb or maybe his eyes or something?' he thought, frustrated. 'I'd rather give him those than unable to actually talk to Phoebe and tell her how he feels. As if body language was enough...'
Then the thought struck him. Why not? He could use body language! He had played charades before when he was a kid. That shouldn't be too hard. He waved at Phoebe to get her attention, then made loads of gestures to tell her that he really was the one who saved her that night and that he really had sang to her. Phoebe was trying to guess what he was trying to tell her.
"What is it? You're sick? No, you need help? Woah, careful!"
It seemed that out of excitement and desperation for Phoebe to understand him, he had lost his balance from the rock his was sitting on and fell into the arms of his dream princess. Their eyes met—jade-green with blue—and were locked onto each other, staring as if the whole world was theirs and that time had stopped just for them. They both couldn't believe that they're looking at each other this close—Phoebe staring at her could-be saviour and Max at his princess he had longed to be with for so long. After what seemed like forever, Phoebe finally broke the ice.
"This could seem like a mysterious adventure for us. Come on. I'll take you to my castle. Careful now."
As they mounted onto Reynard and headed towards the direction of Phoebe's castle, Norman sneaked up behind and came in between Phoebe and Max, making Phoebe chuckle. She asked if he were his pet and he nodded absentmindedly. Max turned around to look for Robert and saw him giving him a thumbs-up behind where he was hiding.
Things sure looked pretty bright from then on.
Inside the castle, he was led into the cleaning room where he was cleaned off all the sea sand he fell on and was redecorated with other ornaments less organic like the seaweed by two of Phoebe's brothers Pjer and Pac. While he was being prepared, Phoebe and the rest of her brothers were in the dining room discussing seriously about matters.
"Are you really sure that he is the one who saved you?" Pablio asked. "I mean, you did say that your saviour sang to you before he disappeared mysteriously. But this guy can't even talk."
"Yeah," Peter agreed. "For all I know, you could've mistaken this young man for someone else."
"I'm telling you, brothers," Phoebe said indignantly. "He's the one. The one that I've been looking for. And I'm gonna marry him."
"What? You can't be serious, can you?! Have you forgotten about Prince Drakeb?" Pince asked in horror.
"I thought you guys are a couple," Pad said. "You can't be saying that you've fallen for a guy you barely know and just so happened to save your life!"
"Yeah, Father even arranged to let you and Prince Drakeb be betrothed and all! You can't just let it go!" Pablio tried to talk his sister out of this.
"Well, for your information, I decide my own love life, not Father," Phoebe replied. "Besides, I didn't see Drakeb saving me from being fried from the open air I fell onto. I saw him."
"Come on now, pal," Pjer's playful voice could be heard from the far end of the dining room as he and Pac tried to coax a quite nervous Max inside. "They're not gonna bite you."
"Yeah, come on. Don't be shy," Pac ushered him inside. Phoebe widened her eyes in wonder as she saw Max with his hair handsomely decorated by tiny butterfly-shaped seashells and wearing a necklace made out of shiny pearls and corals, his tail shimmering gallantly as he swam in with a nervous smile. Even her brothers couldn't help marveling at the way Max looked in his attire.
"Wow, I have to say, sis," Pablio said as he went over to get a closer look at Max. "He sure is quite a wonderful creature. I mean, we don't see people with that kind hair and eye colour. Only humans have that."
Max shuddered a little, afraid of his true identity be found. Norman, who was following from behind, winced as well. SkullMaster sure knew how to make deals; he got exactly what he wished for. No more, no less. And that means only his legs and internal organs changed to suit merman life, yet everything else stayed the same. It was true about what Pablio said—he could tell that all merpeople had strange hair and eye colour. None of them looked normal, and yet none of them looked bad either. He sure was the odd one out.
"Please, please. Don't let's stand here. Take a seat," Phoebe said hurriedly after snapping out of her trance. Everyone took a seat, and as expected, Phoebe and Max sat side by side. As they chit-chatted, Max surveyed the place. He marveled at the tapestry of the wall and the jewels of the sea that decorated the whole place. He took a look at the table and realized that it was actually made from a naturally-formed rock that was carved into a shape of a table. The chairs were also fashioned out of rocks carved and decorated with corals and whatnot. Then his eyes spotted on the Fringlers. It was actually a fork fashioned out from a coral but Robert had introduced it wrongly as a merman's comb (and made up that stupid 'Fringlers' name for the fork), so it wasn't surprising that everyone stared weirdly at Max when he picked up the fork and started combing his hair.
Robert sure needed to get his facts straight.
Max put down the fork awkwardly, embarrassed. He then shifted his gaze towards Pad who was sucking something out of a seashell. Max lit up. He remembered Robert telling him that this seashell was a Gurom, a type of flute-like musical instrument of the merpeople. Pad noticed Max was staring at it in interest and handed it over to him. Max took it eagerly and put it in his mouth. 'This has to be right,' he thought. 'For once let Robert be right.'
"You like it, don't you? It's really delicious and it's filled with..."
He didn't get to finish his words as Max suddenly blew at the seashell, sending black liquid spilling at his face. Everyone laughed in amusement at Pad's sooty-looking face glaring accusingly at Max. Needless to say, Robert seriously needed to get his facts straight. It was actually called Numnack, a type of tidbit for merpeople where they put in sweetened black ink of a squid into a seashell and they suck it through a mouthpiece. Max grinned apologetically as Pad rubbed his face clean. Luckily, Pad was able to take it humorously. The rest of the meal went by pretty smoothly. The food tasted great and Max liked all of them. He was mute, so he couldn't ask what they were made of. But then, come to think of it, it could be made out of something outrageous. He'd rather be left in the dark.
Later that night, Max was shown by Phoebe to his room. King Benedict and his wife were on a trip to the other side of the Pacific, so they wouldn't be home for a week. Phoebe asked Max if he would like to go downtown with her to see the sights. Max, of course, nodded happily. Phoebe smiled happily and gave him a peck on the cheek, wishing him a good night's sleep and a pleasant dream. Max could just die of happiness right here, right now.
"I wonder if Virginia's OK," Norman talked to himself as Max got ready for bed. It was actually a huge oyster with its tongue as a blanket, really soft and nice. "If she has awakened like SkullMaster said she would, what would happen if she finds us both gone? She might go into a frenzy and black out again. I'm worried, Max. What do you think?"
He turned around and saw that Max had already fallen asleep peacefully in his oyster bed. The oyster remained open, as if waiting for Norman to hop in and sleep. Norman smiled weakly and shook his head. It's been a while since he had seen Max so happy. Maybe it is his destiny after all to be with his lovely dream princess of the sea. If only he could kiss her in time. That would mean the world to Max to be able to stay with Phoebe happily ever after.
"Well, we'll just have to see what happens then," Norman sighed as he slipped into the tongue of the oyster and crawled closer beside Max.
As he, too, fell asleep, the oyster closed slowly.
A Mix of Fairy Tale Cocktail-Chapter 13
It was quite a frenzy when one of the fishermen of Fishermen's Friend Village found Max lying on the clear sand near the jetty. The oar-less boat was nowhere to be seen. It was only Max and his tightly clutched rose. Everyone was frantic as they carried Max to the clinic and rang for Norman to go and see him. Luckily, unlike his mother, Max only suffered a minor dehydration and would be up and about in a few days time. Norman was allowed to take him home to rest.
Max soon woke up after being replenished of his lost fluids. The first thing he asked was about his mother, Virginia. Norman led him to her and he soon found himself standing in front of her bed. He knelt beside her bed and stroked her hair, but she didn't wake up. She remained sleeping there without even moving an inch.
"She's been like that ever since we found her on the shore looking almost like you, only worse. We've tried everything but she still never woke up. We almost had given up hope."
Max continued to stroke her hair. He almost felt sorry for all the bad stuff he had ever did to her and all those things she told him not to do but he did it anyway—like going out to the sea, for example. And now, he felt guilty for what he was going to do next, but he had to do this. It's about time he decided his own love life. He leaned over and whispered, "Hey, Mom. It's me, Max. I'm home now. If you're wondering how I escaped, I didn't. The Beastess let me go. She's very different now, really. She's changed somehow, and she let me go free. If you wake up, forgive me if you don't see me. I have a destiny and a love life to live. I'm sorry."
Norman wanted to ask what had caused her trauma and where he had been all these while, but Max didn't have the mood to answer him that. Besides, he didn't want Norman to freak out on him when he knew that he had been venturing into the depths of The Beastess's lair. He still felt a little guilt for hurting The Beastess's feeling. He also refused to tell him about the rose he held so protectively all the while when he was unconscious. Norman was suspicious but he let him be—he’ll answer in due time. Later that night, Max was awakened by the familiar hissing sounds of the black-smoky girls out of his yard. He had been expecting them to come. SkullMaster knew that he had a crush on Phoebe; he should know when he has returned with the rose. He got out of bed, grabbed the rose he put on the table and followed the sound of the smoky girls. He so happened to pass by Norman's room and the tall, muscular butler was still awake, so Norman ended up following behind him. He saw the smoky girls a few feet ahead and called out to Max.
"Max, where are you going? Max, where are you going with those weird creatures in the middle of the night?"
"I'm going to see SkullMaster," Max replied, not looking back and not stopping his running. Norman caught up with him.
"Who's SkullMaster? I've never heard of such name. Is it something to do with this rose and your disappearance?"
"Sort of."
"Max, tell me the truth and tell me now. Where have you been all this time? Why did you disappear all of a sudden and why didn't you come back home?"
Finally, Max decided to tell Norman the whole story. Since he was following him to SkullMaster's lair, he's pretty much involved already. Max told him exactly what had happened: his deal with SkullMaster, his journey to The Beastess's island, him trading places with Virginia, his stay with The Beastess, everything. By the time he finished, Norman was more awed than freaked out.
"You seriously did all that just to become a merman for Phoebe? You even gave The Beastess, the legendary most dangerous, most lethal creature throughout land and sea, the hicks for you! Man, you really are into that mermaid princess, aren't you? The things that occur because of love. You'll never cease to surprise me."
"Like you would do anything for Mom, I would do anything for Princess Phoebe."
Norman blushed, shocked that his secret has been found. He muttered, "This SkullMaster guy sounds sinister. I don't think you should be doing business with him. He scares me."
"Normie, he's my only ticket to my true love. Evil or not, I have to do this."
After what seemed like an endless run, they've soon reached SkullMaster's lair. Norman stared in horror and pointed at it, wanting to say that this house was the legendary haunted house, but Max has already went in without a word. Norman rolled his eyes and followed suite. He was as adventurous and as fearless as his father Blake, that's for sure. Once inside, SkullMaster greeted him with his usual evil gleam in his yellow eyes.
"Welcome back from your journey, young Maxwell. You must've gone through a lot of trouble to get what we need. And I see you've brought a friend with you. Please, take a seat, my friend. You look like you could use some."
So saying, an armchair suddenly appeared out of nowhere and forced Norman to sit. Straps came out of the hand rests and the feet of the armchair and wrapped itself around Norman's wrists and ankles, holding him in place. No matter how much he struggled, he couldn't move. Max turned to SkullMaster questioningly.
"I thought I've made it very clear to you that you are not supposed to reveal me," SkullMaster said in disapproval as he stirred his staff in the huge cauldron. "I seriously like my privacy and my low profile."
"He followed me," Max replied. "I had no choice."
"I so happen to hear that your mother has been quite ill. In a coma, I suppose."
"It would make Norman here very happy if you can wake her up."
"That, my child, is a different deal." SkullMaster noted. "Your friend has to make this deal separately, and he has to pay the debt. You're here for your part of the deal, are you not?"
"Yeah, now that you've mentioned it," Max held out the rose to him. "Here's your darn rose. Now when can we start?"
"Soon, my child, very soon. But there is no need to rush. Let me tell you what the real deal is: I will turn you into a merman for a time span of 3 nights. Got that? 3 nights. Now this is important. Before the moon rises on the 3rd night, you must get a kiss from your little sweet mermaid princess you love so much," SkullMaster stirred his staff and the mists that formed out of the steaming cauldron showed a scene where Max and Phoebe kissed. Max blushed. SkullMaster smirked and continued as he showed him more animated scenes with the mists, "Just a kiss, but, mind you, not just any kiss. It has to be a kiss of true love. If she does kiss you before the moon rises on the 3rd night, you will become a merman permanently. But if she doesn't, you'll turn back into a human and…you belong to me."
"No, Max, no! Don't do this!" Norman exclaimed, only to be silenced by SkullMaster's wave of the staff. His mouth moved but no sound came out. Max began to have second thoughts about everything.
"Have we got a deal?" SkullMaster turned to Max.
"If I become a merman…" Max contemplated. "I will never be with my mother and Normie and my friends again."
"That's right. But you have your woman. Life's full of tough choices indeed. Shall we start now?"
Max stole a look at Norman and could see him shaking his head. He thought long and hard. If he becomes a merman, he'll have to give up everything he was used to on land, because he would be, like other merpeople, prone to sensitive skin on open air. He would dehydrate if he doesn't remain in water for a certain time. That will mean that contact between he and the land would be limited. But then he will have Princess Phoebe by his side. And he was sure that she wouldn't mind him unable to talk. Like SkullMaster said, there is always body language. There's no harm in trying.
"Alright, I'll do it," Max replied, much to Norman's dismay.
"It's done then," SkullMaster's lips creased to an evil smile as he waved his staff around the cauldron. With his magical powers, he materialized a scroll that read all the terms and conditions and the oath for Max to read. He then materialized a fishbone and gestured Max to sign the contract. Max knew that once he signed it, it would be a binding deal. He took a deep breath, gritted his teeth and snatched the fishbone that was hovering in the midair and, with his eyes closed, he signed his name on the dotted line. As soon as he was done signing, the scroll flew back into SkullMaster's hand as dematerialized when SkullMaster grasped it. His hand glowed, signifying that the contract was done. He then mumbled loads of weird spells while throwing in elixirs and potions that exploded and shone almost as bright as the sun as soon as it fell into the cauldron. He took the rose from Max's hand and plucked the petals one by one, dropping them into the cauldron. As the mixture in the cauldron glowed blood red, SkullMaster began to chant his devious spells.
"Boggers and rouges, winds and cast imps seal!!" the mists in the cauldron came out and made rings around Max, sealing him in his place. "Black ogres and wings of a titan, now serve only to me!!!"
Max gasped when he saw reddish-black smoke from the cauldron appeared in the shape of a pair of huge grotesque arms as SkullMaster chanted his spells and raised his arms. With a wicked gleam in his yellow eyes, SkullMaster bore deep into Max's blue ones and commanded, "Now sing!"
Automatically, Max opened his mouth and sang. He couldn't stop. He couldn't control it. It was as if his voice had a mind of its own. SkullMaster commanded him to keep singing as the reddish-black arms inched closer towards him. He could feel something warm down his throat, beating in the same line as his heartbeat but he dare not stop singing. The arms came closer and closer towards him and they looked threateningly scary. Max wanted to back away but there was no place for him to go. Slowly the arms slipped in Max's mouth and slithered down his throat, almost choking Max. He could feel the arms grabbing some sort of a lump down his throat—like they were taking his Adam's apple or something and slithered out of his throat as fast as they went in. Max widened his eyes and swallowed nervously when he saw in the reddish-black hands was his voice, glowing a bright blue and beating like his heart, and it was continuing to sing. Max held his throat; he couldn't believe he was staring at his own voice. Was that it? Has his voice been taken away? This adventure was getting weirder and scarier than he could possibly imagine.
Before he could test try whether he could talk or not, he was surrounded by a huge water droplet and was submerged in the water. He was lifted off his feet and he could hear a muffled laugh from SkullMaster. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain on his legs. His jeans and underwear tore, exposing his naked lower half of his body. He felt an electrical current running through his legs and was searing through his bones. It hurt him so bad and he wanted to scream but no sound came out. His lungs suddenly burned like fire and his heart was beating even faster, like some sort of heartattack. Somehow, he felt like he could breathe in the water droplet he was trapped in. He could feel the skin of his legs tearing and coming closer together. Before he knew, he felt his legs conjoined together as one and his feet had stretched itself into fins on a tail. The water droplet burst and Max fell onto the floor, his skin beginning to burn under the ray of the moonlight. By then, SkullMaster has released Norman from his seat and returned his voice.
"Max!" Norman yelled as he went up to Max who was shivering from shock. "Are you alright?!"
"Better hurry up and get him into the sea before he dries up like a prune, Norman!" SkullMaster laughed out loud. "And in return for your deal to wake your friend's mother up, you'll have to pay something as well!"
Norman wanted to ask what he meant by that, but he had to save Max's life first. He picked Max up and made a dash towards the jetty. As he ran, he could feel his body shrinking and that he began to grow gills and fish scales. His feet begin to falter as they slowly shrank and conjoined themselves to one, just like Max's. He was getting out of breath and could feel the suffocation coming, as if the air that he breathed wasn't suitable for him anymore. When he saw the jetty just a few meters away from him, he gathered whatever strength he had left and jumped into the sea, holding Max protectively in his arms. Max was slowly faltering into unconsciousness when all this happened.
He could still hear SkullMaster's malicious laugh as his body fell deeper and deeper into the deep sea…
Max soon woke up after being replenished of his lost fluids. The first thing he asked was about his mother, Virginia. Norman led him to her and he soon found himself standing in front of her bed. He knelt beside her bed and stroked her hair, but she didn't wake up. She remained sleeping there without even moving an inch.
"She's been like that ever since we found her on the shore looking almost like you, only worse. We've tried everything but she still never woke up. We almost had given up hope."
Max continued to stroke her hair. He almost felt sorry for all the bad stuff he had ever did to her and all those things she told him not to do but he did it anyway—like going out to the sea, for example. And now, he felt guilty for what he was going to do next, but he had to do this. It's about time he decided his own love life. He leaned over and whispered, "Hey, Mom. It's me, Max. I'm home now. If you're wondering how I escaped, I didn't. The Beastess let me go. She's very different now, really. She's changed somehow, and she let me go free. If you wake up, forgive me if you don't see me. I have a destiny and a love life to live. I'm sorry."
Norman wanted to ask what had caused her trauma and where he had been all these while, but Max didn't have the mood to answer him that. Besides, he didn't want Norman to freak out on him when he knew that he had been venturing into the depths of The Beastess's lair. He still felt a little guilt for hurting The Beastess's feeling. He also refused to tell him about the rose he held so protectively all the while when he was unconscious. Norman was suspicious but he let him be—he’ll answer in due time. Later that night, Max was awakened by the familiar hissing sounds of the black-smoky girls out of his yard. He had been expecting them to come. SkullMaster knew that he had a crush on Phoebe; he should know when he has returned with the rose. He got out of bed, grabbed the rose he put on the table and followed the sound of the smoky girls. He so happened to pass by Norman's room and the tall, muscular butler was still awake, so Norman ended up following behind him. He saw the smoky girls a few feet ahead and called out to Max.
"Max, where are you going? Max, where are you going with those weird creatures in the middle of the night?"
"I'm going to see SkullMaster," Max replied, not looking back and not stopping his running. Norman caught up with him.
"Who's SkullMaster? I've never heard of such name. Is it something to do with this rose and your disappearance?"
"Sort of."
"Max, tell me the truth and tell me now. Where have you been all this time? Why did you disappear all of a sudden and why didn't you come back home?"
Finally, Max decided to tell Norman the whole story. Since he was following him to SkullMaster's lair, he's pretty much involved already. Max told him exactly what had happened: his deal with SkullMaster, his journey to The Beastess's island, him trading places with Virginia, his stay with The Beastess, everything. By the time he finished, Norman was more awed than freaked out.
"You seriously did all that just to become a merman for Phoebe? You even gave The Beastess, the legendary most dangerous, most lethal creature throughout land and sea, the hicks for you! Man, you really are into that mermaid princess, aren't you? The things that occur because of love. You'll never cease to surprise me."
"Like you would do anything for Mom, I would do anything for Princess Phoebe."
Norman blushed, shocked that his secret has been found. He muttered, "This SkullMaster guy sounds sinister. I don't think you should be doing business with him. He scares me."
"Normie, he's my only ticket to my true love. Evil or not, I have to do this."
After what seemed like an endless run, they've soon reached SkullMaster's lair. Norman stared in horror and pointed at it, wanting to say that this house was the legendary haunted house, but Max has already went in without a word. Norman rolled his eyes and followed suite. He was as adventurous and as fearless as his father Blake, that's for sure. Once inside, SkullMaster greeted him with his usual evil gleam in his yellow eyes.
"Welcome back from your journey, young Maxwell. You must've gone through a lot of trouble to get what we need. And I see you've brought a friend with you. Please, take a seat, my friend. You look like you could use some."
So saying, an armchair suddenly appeared out of nowhere and forced Norman to sit. Straps came out of the hand rests and the feet of the armchair and wrapped itself around Norman's wrists and ankles, holding him in place. No matter how much he struggled, he couldn't move. Max turned to SkullMaster questioningly.
"I thought I've made it very clear to you that you are not supposed to reveal me," SkullMaster said in disapproval as he stirred his staff in the huge cauldron. "I seriously like my privacy and my low profile."
"He followed me," Max replied. "I had no choice."
"I so happen to hear that your mother has been quite ill. In a coma, I suppose."
"It would make Norman here very happy if you can wake her up."
"That, my child, is a different deal." SkullMaster noted. "Your friend has to make this deal separately, and he has to pay the debt. You're here for your part of the deal, are you not?"
"Yeah, now that you've mentioned it," Max held out the rose to him. "Here's your darn rose. Now when can we start?"
"Soon, my child, very soon. But there is no need to rush. Let me tell you what the real deal is: I will turn you into a merman for a time span of 3 nights. Got that? 3 nights. Now this is important. Before the moon rises on the 3rd night, you must get a kiss from your little sweet mermaid princess you love so much," SkullMaster stirred his staff and the mists that formed out of the steaming cauldron showed a scene where Max and Phoebe kissed. Max blushed. SkullMaster smirked and continued as he showed him more animated scenes with the mists, "Just a kiss, but, mind you, not just any kiss. It has to be a kiss of true love. If she does kiss you before the moon rises on the 3rd night, you will become a merman permanently. But if she doesn't, you'll turn back into a human and…you belong to me."
"No, Max, no! Don't do this!" Norman exclaimed, only to be silenced by SkullMaster's wave of the staff. His mouth moved but no sound came out. Max began to have second thoughts about everything.
"Have we got a deal?" SkullMaster turned to Max.
"If I become a merman…" Max contemplated. "I will never be with my mother and Normie and my friends again."
"That's right. But you have your woman. Life's full of tough choices indeed. Shall we start now?"
Max stole a look at Norman and could see him shaking his head. He thought long and hard. If he becomes a merman, he'll have to give up everything he was used to on land, because he would be, like other merpeople, prone to sensitive skin on open air. He would dehydrate if he doesn't remain in water for a certain time. That will mean that contact between he and the land would be limited. But then he will have Princess Phoebe by his side. And he was sure that she wouldn't mind him unable to talk. Like SkullMaster said, there is always body language. There's no harm in trying.
"Alright, I'll do it," Max replied, much to Norman's dismay.
"It's done then," SkullMaster's lips creased to an evil smile as he waved his staff around the cauldron. With his magical powers, he materialized a scroll that read all the terms and conditions and the oath for Max to read. He then materialized a fishbone and gestured Max to sign the contract. Max knew that once he signed it, it would be a binding deal. He took a deep breath, gritted his teeth and snatched the fishbone that was hovering in the midair and, with his eyes closed, he signed his name on the dotted line. As soon as he was done signing, the scroll flew back into SkullMaster's hand as dematerialized when SkullMaster grasped it. His hand glowed, signifying that the contract was done. He then mumbled loads of weird spells while throwing in elixirs and potions that exploded and shone almost as bright as the sun as soon as it fell into the cauldron. He took the rose from Max's hand and plucked the petals one by one, dropping them into the cauldron. As the mixture in the cauldron glowed blood red, SkullMaster began to chant his devious spells.
"Boggers and rouges, winds and cast imps seal!!" the mists in the cauldron came out and made rings around Max, sealing him in his place. "Black ogres and wings of a titan, now serve only to me!!!"
Max gasped when he saw reddish-black smoke from the cauldron appeared in the shape of a pair of huge grotesque arms as SkullMaster chanted his spells and raised his arms. With a wicked gleam in his yellow eyes, SkullMaster bore deep into Max's blue ones and commanded, "Now sing!"
Automatically, Max opened his mouth and sang. He couldn't stop. He couldn't control it. It was as if his voice had a mind of its own. SkullMaster commanded him to keep singing as the reddish-black arms inched closer towards him. He could feel something warm down his throat, beating in the same line as his heartbeat but he dare not stop singing. The arms came closer and closer towards him and they looked threateningly scary. Max wanted to back away but there was no place for him to go. Slowly the arms slipped in Max's mouth and slithered down his throat, almost choking Max. He could feel the arms grabbing some sort of a lump down his throat—like they were taking his Adam's apple or something and slithered out of his throat as fast as they went in. Max widened his eyes and swallowed nervously when he saw in the reddish-black hands was his voice, glowing a bright blue and beating like his heart, and it was continuing to sing. Max held his throat; he couldn't believe he was staring at his own voice. Was that it? Has his voice been taken away? This adventure was getting weirder and scarier than he could possibly imagine.
Before he could test try whether he could talk or not, he was surrounded by a huge water droplet and was submerged in the water. He was lifted off his feet and he could hear a muffled laugh from SkullMaster. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain on his legs. His jeans and underwear tore, exposing his naked lower half of his body. He felt an electrical current running through his legs and was searing through his bones. It hurt him so bad and he wanted to scream but no sound came out. His lungs suddenly burned like fire and his heart was beating even faster, like some sort of heartattack. Somehow, he felt like he could breathe in the water droplet he was trapped in. He could feel the skin of his legs tearing and coming closer together. Before he knew, he felt his legs conjoined together as one and his feet had stretched itself into fins on a tail. The water droplet burst and Max fell onto the floor, his skin beginning to burn under the ray of the moonlight. By then, SkullMaster has released Norman from his seat and returned his voice.
"Max!" Norman yelled as he went up to Max who was shivering from shock. "Are you alright?!"
"Better hurry up and get him into the sea before he dries up like a prune, Norman!" SkullMaster laughed out loud. "And in return for your deal to wake your friend's mother up, you'll have to pay something as well!"
Norman wanted to ask what he meant by that, but he had to save Max's life first. He picked Max up and made a dash towards the jetty. As he ran, he could feel his body shrinking and that he began to grow gills and fish scales. His feet begin to falter as they slowly shrank and conjoined themselves to one, just like Max's. He was getting out of breath and could feel the suffocation coming, as if the air that he breathed wasn't suitable for him anymore. When he saw the jetty just a few meters away from him, he gathered whatever strength he had left and jumped into the sea, holding Max protectively in his arms. Max was slowly faltering into unconsciousness when all this happened.
He could still hear SkullMaster's malicious laugh as his body fell deeper and deeper into the deep sea…
Friday, May 5, 2017
A Mix of Fairy Tale Cocktail-Chapter 12
Max woke up the next morning by the sunlight that seeped through the curtains of his room. He stretched himself as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He then remembered about last night's incident—how he tried to steal the glowing rose from The Beastess and how he ran out into the woods in fear and got attacked by hungry wolves. And it was truly surprising for him to be saved by the very person that had been mean to him ever since he got here. He still couldn't get over the fact that he had been saved by the meanest, most dangerous creature known throughout land and sea and that he had done the same thing to her as well.
Maybe…Maybe The Beastess wasn't so bad as everyone thought her to be. Maybe inside, she's just human…
Max's thoughts were stopped short by the sound of barking. He looked down and saw that it was the footrest dog wagging his tail and having its front legs on the side of bed. Max grinned and stroked the footrest.
“Hey there, little buddy. Good morning to you too. You wanna go for a walk?”
The footrest yipped gleefully in reply.
“Alright, pup,” Max chuckled. “A walk it is.”
After freshening himself up and got into his T-shirt and jeans (and a jacket to match-the morning air was quite cold), Max took the footrest outside in the yard to play. The footrest barked happily, running around trees and going about in a frenzy without even a care in the world until finally jumping into Max’s arms. If that footrest dog had a tongue right now, he would’ve slobbered all over Max.
Max laughed out loud; he had never felt so relaxed and happy since he got here. He stole a look at the castle and realized that it didn’t look so creepy and grotesque after all. In fact, it looked mighty nice and magnificent, well, ignoring the gargoyle statues and stuff, that is.
The Beastess was standing at the verandah of her East Wing quarters with Rusty and Virgil while she watched Max continue playing with the footrest dog. She stared long and hard at Max’s features: golden blonde hair that shone under the sun magnificently and blue eyes as clear as the sea. She never thought she’d see such a sight. For many long years, she had been looking at things the glum, dark way, but to see Max with such radiance, now that was different. She couldn’t help thinking that there’s something inside her blooming for this little teenager.
“I’ve never felt this way about anyone…” The Beastess said quietly, then clenched her fists in determination. “I want to do something for him…but what?”
“Well, there’s the usual things,” Virgil suggested. “Flowers, chocolates, promises you don’t intend to keep…”
“Ah, no, no,” Rusty shoved Virgil playfully. “It must be something really special. Something that sparks his interest…Wait a minute! I got it!”
Soon, Max could be seen standing in front of a white door with The Beastess. For once, The Beastess was talking in a slightly friendly tone.
“Max, there’s something I want to show you. But first, you have to close your eyes.”
Max raised an eyebrow, suspicious.
“It’s a surprise,” The Beastess noted.
Max finally closed his eyes. After making sure he couldn’t see anything, The Beastess opened the door with a leap in her heart she had never felt before and led him in. She took his hands and led him until they stood in the middle of the dark room inside. When they stopped, Max’s curiosity got the better of him.
“Can I open them?”
“No, no, not yet,” The Beastess replied. She led him further into the room, then stopped and said, “Wait here.”
So saying, she ran across the room and pulled all the curtains. Max was getting a little impatient with the suspense as he heard the sound of curtains being pulled. Finally he asked, “Now can I open them?”
“Alright, now!”
As Max opened his eyes and tried to adjust to the light, he gasped when he saw that he was standing in a glass room with walls made out of pure glass that could see through the whole place. He could see that the room was facing the sea and the scenery was just immaculate. But the most interesting thing of all was that it was packed with shelves upon shelves of books that stood tall and reached up to the ceiling. When he took one book out to read, he saw that they were actually comic books! This was the comic studio Rusty has been talking about! She actually had every single issue for every cool comic he had seen back in the comic house at Fishermen’s Friend Village, including his favourite comic ‘The XYZ Men’. He bet even the comic house wouldn’t be able to beat this.
“I can’t believe it! I’ve never seen so many comics in all my life! Where did you get all this duff!”
“I had free time, and these comics are the entertainment I’ve got nowadays,” The Beastess replied sheepishly.
“I didn’t know you read comics!”
“Well, not all the words. I’m quite illiterate. But the pictures make me understand the whole story.”
“You must’ve run across the world and spent loads of cash to get all these stuff, man! You’re magnificent!”
“You…You like it?”
“Like it?! Man, this is awesome!!”
“Then it’s yours,” The Beastess announced. Max gaped in disbelief. The Beastess nodded, assuring him that she meant what she said. Max jumped onto her and gave her a bear hug.
“Thank you! Thank you so much!”
The Beastess blushed. She had never had this much close contact with anyone, least to say a guy, and now Max was actually hugging her willingly. She smiled and let him hug her for as long as he wanted.
In the background, hiding behind the door, the animated objects grinned as they watched, hope sparkling in their eyes.
Since then, Max and The Beastess were in good terms. Sure, there may be occasional fights and stuff, but they got back again pretty quick. Max taught The Beastess lots of things, from reading to table manners to just try and have fun. There was once when they were having breakfast of oatmeal and rye and Max was horrified to see The Beastess gobbling the whole lot, like the beast she was. She tried using the spoon, but she had been so accustomed to eating savagely and that her hands were too big for the spoon that she dribbled all over the place. Finally Max gestured her to drink it from the bowl instead, and it worked out pretty well.
As the days went by, The Beastess’s anger management was handled pretty well. She seldom lost her temper at everyone now and she had become very tolerant. When Max requested her to put aside eating those noisy cashew nuts while he was reading, she patiently obliged, even though those cashew nuts were her favourite. It was a great improvement.
Probably the best and most fun challenge would be how to handle small animals. There came a day when Max asked The Beastess out in the yard to get some fresh air and feed the birds. He started by putting some birdseed onto The Beastess’s hands and let her have a try. But the way she shoved her arms towards the birds to give them the birdseed scared the birds and moved them further from her. Max shook his head and showed her how it’s done—he had seen his mother do it: he lay The Beastess’s hand-filled seeds on the ground and scattered some of the birdseed on the ground near her hands. The birds pecked on the seeds on the ground first before miraculously jumping onto The Beastess’s hands to peck some more.
Seeing The Beastess looking so happy brought a smile to his face. He never thought he had seen her so happy. It was as if he had become his best friend in the whole world. Well, come to think of it, he probably was his only friend that ever made her happy. He felt a sense of accomplishment and a deep feeling of friendship for this creature.
As he continued to contemplate about her changes, he almost laughed out loud when all the birds came flying and perching on The Beastess wanting their share of birdseed. The Beastess shooed them away and looked up, only to receive a face full of mud. Needless to say, it was Max’s doing. It was raining the night before and Max had fashioned mudballs from the wet soil on the ground. Soon it was a battle of mudballs as Max and The Beastess tried to out-dirt each other with the dirty muck of mud. They really had a lot of fun throwing mudballs at each other and making each other look like they were swamp monsters or something, much to the delight of the animated objects who were watching their every move. They could tell that there were some certain feelings their Mistress were having for Max, and they sure were intimate ones.
Later that evening, after their mud war, they were ready to clean themselves off the gunk when The Beastess, looking all muddy and soiled, asked Max if he would like to have dinner with her. This time Max agreed willingly, much to The Beastess and the animated objects’ delight. The Beastess almost ran inside towards the East Wing excitedly, anxious to look good for tonight. She went to the huge bathroom she hadn’t used since, like, ever and requested the warm bathing water for her bath. Rusty was in the bathroom with her, giving her moral support.
“Tonight is the night!” Rusty exclaimed as water was poured on The Beastess to wash off the soap. It sure wasn’t easy to wash dirt off a huge 10-feet tall ogress that hasn’t actually been bathing for, well, ages.
“I’m not sure I can do this,” The Beastess replied, her stomach having butterflies.
“You don’t have time to be timid!” Rusty scolded. “You must be bold! Daring!”
“Bold. Daring,” The Beastess repeated her words, shaking herself off the water like the animal she was. Rusty grimaced as she, too, tried to flick off the water got on herself. The Beastess walked towards the mirror to be wiped dry.
“There would be music,” Rusty continued. “Romantic candlelight provided by myself. And when the moment is right, you confess your love.”
“Yes,” The Beastess muttered, then turned to the mirror, saying, “I con…I…I…no, I can’t.”
“You care about the boy now, don’t you?” Rusty asked as The Beastess, for the first time, received a proper haircut from a coat hanger.
“More than anything.”
“Well then, you must tell him!” Rusty said.
“But…aren’t boys supposed to make the first move or something?”
“Move-shmoves! This is the new age! Men don’t exactly make the first move nowadays. People don’t date anymore like the old-timers did.”
“Well, if you say so…” The Beastess was still skeptical.
“I know so, Mistress!” Rusty replied confidently. After the cutting was done, it didn’t exactly turn out the way they expected it to be (A/N: Her haircut looked exactly like the girly, crazy-looking stupid haircut The Beast got in Beauty and the Beast XD). Rusty hesitantly commented, “Voila! Oh, you look so…so…”
“Stupid,” The Beastess couldn’t agree more to this haircut.
“Not quite the word I was looking for, but perhaps a little more at the top,” Rusty clapped her hands and the coat hanger continued cutting. By the time she was done cutting, Virgil has already come in, clearing his throat deliberately loud.
“Your man awaits.”
After The Beastess was all dressed up in her finest ballroom gown of pale pinkish-blue, she came out of her room and saw standing at the staircase opposite hers was Max, dressed in a dark gray one-set suit. His handsome blonde hair and blue eyes shone under the chandelier above them and both of them looked magnificent. The Beastess adjusted her curls and went down the stairs as Rusty ushered her to. Soon both of them stood face to face. For the first time, The Beastess was smiling at him sweetly and lovely.
“You look wonderful tonight, Beastess,” Max commented, looking impressed. He bowed as gentlemen always do to ladies. The Beastess curtsied as well.
“So do you, Max.”
“Shall we?” Max asked as he offered his arm for her to hold.
“Of course, Your Grace,” The Beastess said jokingly and took his arm.
They went down the steps, occasionally bugged by the barking footrest, towards the dining room. During dinner, The Beastess finally got the hang of using the cutlery without dribbling or spilling anything. Soon, another coat hanger came in playing the violin. It was playing a ballroom dance version of the song ‘My Heart Will Go On’ and Max got off his seat to ask The Beastess for a dance. He led her down to the ballroom and showed her how to put her hands on the right place before dancing to the beat. He had been to enough courting ceremonies to know how ballroom dances are supposed to be like. Surprisingly, The Beastess never stepped on Max’s feet at all when she danced. It was as if she was reliving something she had long forgotten in the past. They danced and danced and were enjoying every moment of it. When Max brought her closer to him, this was it. The Beastess was sure of it. Their feelings were mutual. Rusty was shaking her hands with glee and Virgil was giving her a thumbs-up.
Soon, the dance ended. Rusty dimmed the lights and the door to the verandah opened by itself, gesturing them to come and sit under the starlit sky. Max and The Beastess moved towards the verandah and let her take the seat first before him. They sat side by side with an awkward silence between them before The Beastess inched closer towards Max and took his hands.
“Max…uh…are you…happy here with me?”
“Oh yeah, definitely,” Max replied. His eyes wandered out the yard until finally, they set upon a large greenhouse. It was really large and long, not to mention wide, and inside it was a vast garden. It was like a house built exclusively for the garden and it seemed like it could be acres and acres vast. It was separated and secluded from the rest the yard and was only visible if you’re in higher ground. It was a surprise that he hadn’t noticed this in the first place. The Beastess saw the look on his face and was curious.
“What is it?”
“That greenhouse over there. I didn’t know that it existed.”
“Except the gardeners that tend the garden,” The Beastess replied as she, too, gazed at the greenhouse. “We grow the finest plants in there, even my favourite roses.”
“Many people say that there’s a particular rose that bloomed the freshest, the reddest and the biggest. Is it true?”
“Yes. There is one. It’s our prized rose. It just so happened to grow there just like that and it pretty much is the oldest rose among its kind. It’s about 200 years old, if I’m not mistaken, and it’s still standing.”
“Re…Really…?” Max replied in awe. His heart pounded with excitement. ‘So that’s where it had been all this while!’ he thought.
“Is there something bothering you, Max?” The Beastess asked.
“Uh, no, no, really,” Max replied quickly, trying to make up an excuse. “It’s just that…well, I do wish to see my mother again. Just for a moment. I kinda miss her. I’ve been away for quite a long while now and she must be frantic.”
The Beastess looked away, hesitant. It’s true that Max has been here in the castle for quite a long while, isolated from everyone else in the world, and it’s not uncommon to feel a little homesick. But she didn’t want him to leave. She wanted him to stay forever and love her like she loved him. She didn’t want to let him go, and yet she didn’t want to see him hurt.
Suddenly, an idea clicked. She turned to Max and said, “There is a way.”
She took him to her private quarters in the East Wing. Ever since they’ve got along fine, Max was allowed to venture into the East Wing, just as long as he didn’t question anything about the room, the portrait, the rose or anything else that was there. Inside, The Beastess picked up the ivory mirror and passed it to Max.
“This mirror will show you anything. Anything you wish to see.”
Max stared at the mirror and at the reflection on it. He was skeptical at first but since the whole castle was enchanted anyway, it wouldn’t hurt to give it a try. He spoke to the mirror timidly, “I’d like to see my mother, please.”
The reflection in the mirror soon changed. In its place was his mother, lying on the bed sleeping. But it wasn’t the sleep normal people do at night. This kind of sleep was not right. He noticed his mother looking very pale and had a face of malnutrition. There was a tube stuck to her elbow with fluid dripping in. Beside her was Norman nursing her and beside him was the village doctor.
“When will she exactly be out of her coma?” Norman asked.
“I’m afraid I cannot tell,” the doctor shook his head. “If she continues to stay unconscious like this, I’m afraid we’ll have to do euthanasia on her.”
“No!” Norman stood up abruptly. “There is no way you are going to kill her just like that! She will wake up! She will! She has to…”
Max’s heart ached. He could tell that her worry and her trauma must be so great to fall into a coma like that. The Beastess looked at him, wanting to know what he had seen.
“My mom…She’s sick. She’s fallen into a coma and is into it bad. She might die and she’s all alone…”
The Beastess was afraid of this. She knew that if she let him see his mother, he would surely request her to let him go. She looked out of the verandah, not wanting to meet his face. She had to confess to him. She had to tell him now.
“Max…I’m sorry. I can’t let you go.”
“Wh…What? Why not?” Max asked.
“Because…Because I say so,” The Beastess replied hastily. “And also because I…I…have deep feelings for you…”
Max sighed sadly. He knew this would come. He had guessed it all along. He went over and lay his hand on her shoulder and whispered, “I’m sorry, Beastess. I cannot give you what you want. You are, to me, just a dear friend. A best friend. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“Wha…?” The Beastess turned around, looking at him in disbelief.
“I’m really, really sorry. Whatever reason you thought I was here for, it’s not. I had no idea that my mother was captured here in the first place. My intention to come here is to get the rose from your garden—the one you said is about 200 years old. I need it for my debt, because in truth…I have someone else in my heart…”
“No…No! It can’t be! It can’t be! I thought you liked me! I thought…!”
“Yes, I do like you, but not the way you think I am. I’m sorry. Really I am. I didn’t mean to hurt you, but this is my true intention of being here. I’m so sorry. We can still be friends…right?”
“NO!!!” The Beastess roared as she grabbed Max by the waist. She stomped out of the East Wing and brought him all the way up to the tower. Once there, she threw him inside and locked the door. Max ran towards it and pounded furiously.
“Beastess, please! Please let me out! Don’t do this to me! I thought we were friends! I’m sorry I can’t be what you want me to be, but please don’t hold it against me, please!”
“If I can’t have you, no one can! You’re staying here from now on, and this time you are my prisoner forever!”
Max wasn’t sure how long time had passed. He first counted by the rising and setting of the sun, but soon he lost count. He got his meals through the opening below the door and that was it. There were no conversations between him and whoever was bringing him his meals. He didn’t know how he was going to get it through The Beastess that he didn’t mean to hurt her feelings. He understood how it feels like to be rejected, but he and The Beastess were just not meant to be. They were two different worlds living in completely different lifestyles. There is no way he and The Beastess can be together.
Besides, his heart was only for Princess Phoebe, and he was only willing to transform himself for her, not for The Beastess.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, the door opened. There stood The Beastess, tall and strong like the ogress she was. In her left hand held the ivory mirror and in her right hand held the rose that he had been yearning for since the day he arrived to this castle. Both of them stared at each other in silence, no one saying a word to break the ice. Slowly, The Beastess came up to Max and knelt down before him.
“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and I realize that keeping you here is not going make you change your mind about your feelings for me,” The Beastess said quietly. She took a deep breath and continued, “You must go to your mother and sought after the love you have been yearning for.”
Max stared at The Beastess’s eyes in disbelief, “What did you say?”
“I release you,” The Beastess replied sadly. “You’re no longer my prisoner.”
“You mean…I’m free?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you. Thank you so much, Beastess. You know how much this means to me. I’m sorry things didn’t turn out the way you wanted. I…”
“I understand,” The Beastess said. She passed the things she was holding to Max and said, “Here’s the rose you wanted. May it be in good use to you and worth your effort to come here. 200 years. I hope its death wouldn’t go to waste. And take this mirror with you, so you’ll always have a way to look back…and remember me.”
“Thank you for understanding how important this is for me,” Max said as he got onto his feet.
“And I thank you for giving me such wonderful memories for me to live by. As a return for your favour, I pledge myself to be your loyal guardian, and a faithful friend.”
Max smiled. He leaned over and kissed The Beastess on the forehead and was soon heading out of the tower, down the steps and towards his freedom. The Beastess remained kneeling there. Virgil, who had listened to everything, crept in.
“You understand, Mistress, that this would be a permanent decision.”
The Beastess nodded.
“Why, Mistress? How could you let him go just like that?” Virgil was in a state of disappointment. “You know that he could be the key. How could you do that?”
“I had to.”
“Yes, yes, but…why?”
“Because…I love him.”
The animated objects were quite shocked and disappointed to hear from Virgil that The Beastess had let Max go. They were glad to hear that their Mistress had finally learned to love, but were sad that it was not enough. Max had to love her in return to break the bestial curse she was placed upon by the very mysterious person who told her to guard the castle for the rightful owner of it to return.
As Max made a dash towards the island shore to where the oar-less boat was waiting, his heart ached as he heard the agonized, heartbroken roar of The Beastess.
Maybe…Maybe The Beastess wasn't so bad as everyone thought her to be. Maybe inside, she's just human…
Max's thoughts were stopped short by the sound of barking. He looked down and saw that it was the footrest dog wagging his tail and having its front legs on the side of bed. Max grinned and stroked the footrest.
“Hey there, little buddy. Good morning to you too. You wanna go for a walk?”
The footrest yipped gleefully in reply.
“Alright, pup,” Max chuckled. “A walk it is.”
After freshening himself up and got into his T-shirt and jeans (and a jacket to match-the morning air was quite cold), Max took the footrest outside in the yard to play. The footrest barked happily, running around trees and going about in a frenzy without even a care in the world until finally jumping into Max’s arms. If that footrest dog had a tongue right now, he would’ve slobbered all over Max.
Max laughed out loud; he had never felt so relaxed and happy since he got here. He stole a look at the castle and realized that it didn’t look so creepy and grotesque after all. In fact, it looked mighty nice and magnificent, well, ignoring the gargoyle statues and stuff, that is.
The Beastess was standing at the verandah of her East Wing quarters with Rusty and Virgil while she watched Max continue playing with the footrest dog. She stared long and hard at Max’s features: golden blonde hair that shone under the sun magnificently and blue eyes as clear as the sea. She never thought she’d see such a sight. For many long years, she had been looking at things the glum, dark way, but to see Max with such radiance, now that was different. She couldn’t help thinking that there’s something inside her blooming for this little teenager.
“I’ve never felt this way about anyone…” The Beastess said quietly, then clenched her fists in determination. “I want to do something for him…but what?”
“Well, there’s the usual things,” Virgil suggested. “Flowers, chocolates, promises you don’t intend to keep…”
“Ah, no, no,” Rusty shoved Virgil playfully. “It must be something really special. Something that sparks his interest…Wait a minute! I got it!”
Soon, Max could be seen standing in front of a white door with The Beastess. For once, The Beastess was talking in a slightly friendly tone.
“Max, there’s something I want to show you. But first, you have to close your eyes.”
Max raised an eyebrow, suspicious.
“It’s a surprise,” The Beastess noted.
Max finally closed his eyes. After making sure he couldn’t see anything, The Beastess opened the door with a leap in her heart she had never felt before and led him in. She took his hands and led him until they stood in the middle of the dark room inside. When they stopped, Max’s curiosity got the better of him.
“Can I open them?”
“No, no, not yet,” The Beastess replied. She led him further into the room, then stopped and said, “Wait here.”
So saying, she ran across the room and pulled all the curtains. Max was getting a little impatient with the suspense as he heard the sound of curtains being pulled. Finally he asked, “Now can I open them?”
“Alright, now!”
As Max opened his eyes and tried to adjust to the light, he gasped when he saw that he was standing in a glass room with walls made out of pure glass that could see through the whole place. He could see that the room was facing the sea and the scenery was just immaculate. But the most interesting thing of all was that it was packed with shelves upon shelves of books that stood tall and reached up to the ceiling. When he took one book out to read, he saw that they were actually comic books! This was the comic studio Rusty has been talking about! She actually had every single issue for every cool comic he had seen back in the comic house at Fishermen’s Friend Village, including his favourite comic ‘The XYZ Men’. He bet even the comic house wouldn’t be able to beat this.
“I can’t believe it! I’ve never seen so many comics in all my life! Where did you get all this duff!”
“I had free time, and these comics are the entertainment I’ve got nowadays,” The Beastess replied sheepishly.
“I didn’t know you read comics!”
“Well, not all the words. I’m quite illiterate. But the pictures make me understand the whole story.”
“You must’ve run across the world and spent loads of cash to get all these stuff, man! You’re magnificent!”
“You…You like it?”
“Like it?! Man, this is awesome!!”
“Then it’s yours,” The Beastess announced. Max gaped in disbelief. The Beastess nodded, assuring him that she meant what she said. Max jumped onto her and gave her a bear hug.
“Thank you! Thank you so much!”
The Beastess blushed. She had never had this much close contact with anyone, least to say a guy, and now Max was actually hugging her willingly. She smiled and let him hug her for as long as he wanted.
In the background, hiding behind the door, the animated objects grinned as they watched, hope sparkling in their eyes.
Since then, Max and The Beastess were in good terms. Sure, there may be occasional fights and stuff, but they got back again pretty quick. Max taught The Beastess lots of things, from reading to table manners to just try and have fun. There was once when they were having breakfast of oatmeal and rye and Max was horrified to see The Beastess gobbling the whole lot, like the beast she was. She tried using the spoon, but she had been so accustomed to eating savagely and that her hands were too big for the spoon that she dribbled all over the place. Finally Max gestured her to drink it from the bowl instead, and it worked out pretty well.
As the days went by, The Beastess’s anger management was handled pretty well. She seldom lost her temper at everyone now and she had become very tolerant. When Max requested her to put aside eating those noisy cashew nuts while he was reading, she patiently obliged, even though those cashew nuts were her favourite. It was a great improvement.
Probably the best and most fun challenge would be how to handle small animals. There came a day when Max asked The Beastess out in the yard to get some fresh air and feed the birds. He started by putting some birdseed onto The Beastess’s hands and let her have a try. But the way she shoved her arms towards the birds to give them the birdseed scared the birds and moved them further from her. Max shook his head and showed her how it’s done—he had seen his mother do it: he lay The Beastess’s hand-filled seeds on the ground and scattered some of the birdseed on the ground near her hands. The birds pecked on the seeds on the ground first before miraculously jumping onto The Beastess’s hands to peck some more.
Seeing The Beastess looking so happy brought a smile to his face. He never thought he had seen her so happy. It was as if he had become his best friend in the whole world. Well, come to think of it, he probably was his only friend that ever made her happy. He felt a sense of accomplishment and a deep feeling of friendship for this creature.
As he continued to contemplate about her changes, he almost laughed out loud when all the birds came flying and perching on The Beastess wanting their share of birdseed. The Beastess shooed them away and looked up, only to receive a face full of mud. Needless to say, it was Max’s doing. It was raining the night before and Max had fashioned mudballs from the wet soil on the ground. Soon it was a battle of mudballs as Max and The Beastess tried to out-dirt each other with the dirty muck of mud. They really had a lot of fun throwing mudballs at each other and making each other look like they were swamp monsters or something, much to the delight of the animated objects who were watching their every move. They could tell that there were some certain feelings their Mistress were having for Max, and they sure were intimate ones.
Later that evening, after their mud war, they were ready to clean themselves off the gunk when The Beastess, looking all muddy and soiled, asked Max if he would like to have dinner with her. This time Max agreed willingly, much to The Beastess and the animated objects’ delight. The Beastess almost ran inside towards the East Wing excitedly, anxious to look good for tonight. She went to the huge bathroom she hadn’t used since, like, ever and requested the warm bathing water for her bath. Rusty was in the bathroom with her, giving her moral support.
“Tonight is the night!” Rusty exclaimed as water was poured on The Beastess to wash off the soap. It sure wasn’t easy to wash dirt off a huge 10-feet tall ogress that hasn’t actually been bathing for, well, ages.
“I’m not sure I can do this,” The Beastess replied, her stomach having butterflies.
“You don’t have time to be timid!” Rusty scolded. “You must be bold! Daring!”
“Bold. Daring,” The Beastess repeated her words, shaking herself off the water like the animal she was. Rusty grimaced as she, too, tried to flick off the water got on herself. The Beastess walked towards the mirror to be wiped dry.
“There would be music,” Rusty continued. “Romantic candlelight provided by myself. And when the moment is right, you confess your love.”
“Yes,” The Beastess muttered, then turned to the mirror, saying, “I con…I…I…no, I can’t.”
“You care about the boy now, don’t you?” Rusty asked as The Beastess, for the first time, received a proper haircut from a coat hanger.
“More than anything.”
“Well then, you must tell him!” Rusty said.
“But…aren’t boys supposed to make the first move or something?”
“Move-shmoves! This is the new age! Men don’t exactly make the first move nowadays. People don’t date anymore like the old-timers did.”
“Well, if you say so…” The Beastess was still skeptical.
“I know so, Mistress!” Rusty replied confidently. After the cutting was done, it didn’t exactly turn out the way they expected it to be (A/N: Her haircut looked exactly like the girly, crazy-looking stupid haircut The Beast got in Beauty and the Beast XD). Rusty hesitantly commented, “Voila! Oh, you look so…so…”
“Stupid,” The Beastess couldn’t agree more to this haircut.
“Not quite the word I was looking for, but perhaps a little more at the top,” Rusty clapped her hands and the coat hanger continued cutting. By the time she was done cutting, Virgil has already come in, clearing his throat deliberately loud.
“Your man awaits.”
After The Beastess was all dressed up in her finest ballroom gown of pale pinkish-blue, she came out of her room and saw standing at the staircase opposite hers was Max, dressed in a dark gray one-set suit. His handsome blonde hair and blue eyes shone under the chandelier above them and both of them looked magnificent. The Beastess adjusted her curls and went down the stairs as Rusty ushered her to. Soon both of them stood face to face. For the first time, The Beastess was smiling at him sweetly and lovely.
“You look wonderful tonight, Beastess,” Max commented, looking impressed. He bowed as gentlemen always do to ladies. The Beastess curtsied as well.
“So do you, Max.”
“Shall we?” Max asked as he offered his arm for her to hold.
“Of course, Your Grace,” The Beastess said jokingly and took his arm.
They went down the steps, occasionally bugged by the barking footrest, towards the dining room. During dinner, The Beastess finally got the hang of using the cutlery without dribbling or spilling anything. Soon, another coat hanger came in playing the violin. It was playing a ballroom dance version of the song ‘My Heart Will Go On’ and Max got off his seat to ask The Beastess for a dance. He led her down to the ballroom and showed her how to put her hands on the right place before dancing to the beat. He had been to enough courting ceremonies to know how ballroom dances are supposed to be like. Surprisingly, The Beastess never stepped on Max’s feet at all when she danced. It was as if she was reliving something she had long forgotten in the past. They danced and danced and were enjoying every moment of it. When Max brought her closer to him, this was it. The Beastess was sure of it. Their feelings were mutual. Rusty was shaking her hands with glee and Virgil was giving her a thumbs-up.
Soon, the dance ended. Rusty dimmed the lights and the door to the verandah opened by itself, gesturing them to come and sit under the starlit sky. Max and The Beastess moved towards the verandah and let her take the seat first before him. They sat side by side with an awkward silence between them before The Beastess inched closer towards Max and took his hands.
“Max…uh…are you…happy here with me?”
“Oh yeah, definitely,” Max replied. His eyes wandered out the yard until finally, they set upon a large greenhouse. It was really large and long, not to mention wide, and inside it was a vast garden. It was like a house built exclusively for the garden and it seemed like it could be acres and acres vast. It was separated and secluded from the rest the yard and was only visible if you’re in higher ground. It was a surprise that he hadn’t noticed this in the first place. The Beastess saw the look on his face and was curious.
“What is it?”
“That greenhouse over there. I didn’t know that it existed.”
“Except the gardeners that tend the garden,” The Beastess replied as she, too, gazed at the greenhouse. “We grow the finest plants in there, even my favourite roses.”
“Many people say that there’s a particular rose that bloomed the freshest, the reddest and the biggest. Is it true?”
“Yes. There is one. It’s our prized rose. It just so happened to grow there just like that and it pretty much is the oldest rose among its kind. It’s about 200 years old, if I’m not mistaken, and it’s still standing.”
“Re…Really…?” Max replied in awe. His heart pounded with excitement. ‘So that’s where it had been all this while!’ he thought.
“Is there something bothering you, Max?” The Beastess asked.
“Uh, no, no, really,” Max replied quickly, trying to make up an excuse. “It’s just that…well, I do wish to see my mother again. Just for a moment. I kinda miss her. I’ve been away for quite a long while now and she must be frantic.”
The Beastess looked away, hesitant. It’s true that Max has been here in the castle for quite a long while, isolated from everyone else in the world, and it’s not uncommon to feel a little homesick. But she didn’t want him to leave. She wanted him to stay forever and love her like she loved him. She didn’t want to let him go, and yet she didn’t want to see him hurt.
Suddenly, an idea clicked. She turned to Max and said, “There is a way.”
She took him to her private quarters in the East Wing. Ever since they’ve got along fine, Max was allowed to venture into the East Wing, just as long as he didn’t question anything about the room, the portrait, the rose or anything else that was there. Inside, The Beastess picked up the ivory mirror and passed it to Max.
“This mirror will show you anything. Anything you wish to see.”
Max stared at the mirror and at the reflection on it. He was skeptical at first but since the whole castle was enchanted anyway, it wouldn’t hurt to give it a try. He spoke to the mirror timidly, “I’d like to see my mother, please.”
The reflection in the mirror soon changed. In its place was his mother, lying on the bed sleeping. But it wasn’t the sleep normal people do at night. This kind of sleep was not right. He noticed his mother looking very pale and had a face of malnutrition. There was a tube stuck to her elbow with fluid dripping in. Beside her was Norman nursing her and beside him was the village doctor.
“When will she exactly be out of her coma?” Norman asked.
“I’m afraid I cannot tell,” the doctor shook his head. “If she continues to stay unconscious like this, I’m afraid we’ll have to do euthanasia on her.”
“No!” Norman stood up abruptly. “There is no way you are going to kill her just like that! She will wake up! She will! She has to…”
Max’s heart ached. He could tell that her worry and her trauma must be so great to fall into a coma like that. The Beastess looked at him, wanting to know what he had seen.
“My mom…She’s sick. She’s fallen into a coma and is into it bad. She might die and she’s all alone…”
The Beastess was afraid of this. She knew that if she let him see his mother, he would surely request her to let him go. She looked out of the verandah, not wanting to meet his face. She had to confess to him. She had to tell him now.
“Max…I’m sorry. I can’t let you go.”
“Wh…What? Why not?” Max asked.
“Because…Because I say so,” The Beastess replied hastily. “And also because I…I…have deep feelings for you…”
Max sighed sadly. He knew this would come. He had guessed it all along. He went over and lay his hand on her shoulder and whispered, “I’m sorry, Beastess. I cannot give you what you want. You are, to me, just a dear friend. A best friend. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“Wha…?” The Beastess turned around, looking at him in disbelief.
“I’m really, really sorry. Whatever reason you thought I was here for, it’s not. I had no idea that my mother was captured here in the first place. My intention to come here is to get the rose from your garden—the one you said is about 200 years old. I need it for my debt, because in truth…I have someone else in my heart…”
“No…No! It can’t be! It can’t be! I thought you liked me! I thought…!”
“Yes, I do like you, but not the way you think I am. I’m sorry. Really I am. I didn’t mean to hurt you, but this is my true intention of being here. I’m so sorry. We can still be friends…right?”
“NO!!!” The Beastess roared as she grabbed Max by the waist. She stomped out of the East Wing and brought him all the way up to the tower. Once there, she threw him inside and locked the door. Max ran towards it and pounded furiously.
“Beastess, please! Please let me out! Don’t do this to me! I thought we were friends! I’m sorry I can’t be what you want me to be, but please don’t hold it against me, please!”
“If I can’t have you, no one can! You’re staying here from now on, and this time you are my prisoner forever!”
Max wasn’t sure how long time had passed. He first counted by the rising and setting of the sun, but soon he lost count. He got his meals through the opening below the door and that was it. There were no conversations between him and whoever was bringing him his meals. He didn’t know how he was going to get it through The Beastess that he didn’t mean to hurt her feelings. He understood how it feels like to be rejected, but he and The Beastess were just not meant to be. They were two different worlds living in completely different lifestyles. There is no way he and The Beastess can be together.
Besides, his heart was only for Princess Phoebe, and he was only willing to transform himself for her, not for The Beastess.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, the door opened. There stood The Beastess, tall and strong like the ogress she was. In her left hand held the ivory mirror and in her right hand held the rose that he had been yearning for since the day he arrived to this castle. Both of them stared at each other in silence, no one saying a word to break the ice. Slowly, The Beastess came up to Max and knelt down before him.
“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and I realize that keeping you here is not going make you change your mind about your feelings for me,” The Beastess said quietly. She took a deep breath and continued, “You must go to your mother and sought after the love you have been yearning for.”
Max stared at The Beastess’s eyes in disbelief, “What did you say?”
“I release you,” The Beastess replied sadly. “You’re no longer my prisoner.”
“You mean…I’m free?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you. Thank you so much, Beastess. You know how much this means to me. I’m sorry things didn’t turn out the way you wanted. I…”
“I understand,” The Beastess said. She passed the things she was holding to Max and said, “Here’s the rose you wanted. May it be in good use to you and worth your effort to come here. 200 years. I hope its death wouldn’t go to waste. And take this mirror with you, so you’ll always have a way to look back…and remember me.”
“Thank you for understanding how important this is for me,” Max said as he got onto his feet.
“And I thank you for giving me such wonderful memories for me to live by. As a return for your favour, I pledge myself to be your loyal guardian, and a faithful friend.”
Max smiled. He leaned over and kissed The Beastess on the forehead and was soon heading out of the tower, down the steps and towards his freedom. The Beastess remained kneeling there. Virgil, who had listened to everything, crept in.
“You understand, Mistress, that this would be a permanent decision.”
The Beastess nodded.
“Why, Mistress? How could you let him go just like that?” Virgil was in a state of disappointment. “You know that he could be the key. How could you do that?”
“I had to.”
“Yes, yes, but…why?”
“Because…I love him.”
The animated objects were quite shocked and disappointed to hear from Virgil that The Beastess had let Max go. They were glad to hear that their Mistress had finally learned to love, but were sad that it was not enough. Max had to love her in return to break the bestial curse she was placed upon by the very mysterious person who told her to guard the castle for the rightful owner of it to return.
As Max made a dash towards the island shore to where the oar-less boat was waiting, his heart ached as he heard the agonized, heartbroken roar of The Beastess.
A Mix of Fairy Tale Cocktail-Chapter 11
Later that night, the door of Max’s room slowly creaked open. Max peeked out of the door to see if The Beastess was still around. So far, so good. He was quite scared to death when the Beastess suddenly banged his door and yelled her lungs out at him when he refused her dinner invitation, and he was so pissed off at her that he was determined to stay there and not come out. But in the end, his anger made his hunger worse, and he had to admit, before The Beastess even invited him to dinner, he was already a tad hungry. Slowly, he crept out of his room and made his way downstairs to the kitchen.
On his way, without him noticing, he passed by the hallway where Rusty and her boyfriend the broom were behind the curtains playing romantic games with each other. When Rusty noticed Max out of his room, she was horrified and immediately dumped her boyfriend in the mid-game and chased after Max. By then, the steam between her and her boyfriend were broken off rudely and the broom was left there to pout.
Inside the kitchen, all the animated objects were cleaning up after themselves. The uneaten dinner was all stocked up in the food shelves and all the culinary were put away. While Normie tucked Junior into the cupboard to sleep (Junior insisted that he wasn’t sleepy, but fell off to sleep anyway), the stove complained loudly to himself.
“I work and slave all day long and for what? This culinary masterpiece gone to waste!”
“Oh, stop your grouching. It’s been a long night through for us,” Normie stopped him short.
“Well, if you ask me, that boy was just being stubborn,” Virgil said as he wiped his hands and threw the towel onto the rack. “After all, the Mistress did say ‘Please’.”
“But if the Mistress doesn’t learn to control that temper, she’ll never break the—”
“Splendid to see you up and about, Little Master!” Virgil cut Normie’s talk short when he saw Max stepping in slowly into the kitchen. He reached out to shake his hand, saying, “I’m Virgil, master butler of this castle and…” this is where the frantic Rusty jumped in front of him, much to his distaste, “this is Rusty.”
“A great pleasure to see you, Little Master,” Rusty said as she kissed Max’s hand. She can be sentimental and over-romantic at times.
“Is there—stop kissing him—anything we can do to make your stay more comfortable?” Virgil cut back in front of Rusty, earning a serious burn from her candle.
“Well, I am a little hungry,” Max admitted, scratching his chin sheepishly.
“You are?” Normie asked, sounding delighted. “Hear that? He’s hungry! Start the fire! Bring out the silver! Wake the china!”
“Remember what the Mistress said!” Virgil hissed. He was a work-to-rule kind of person and really disliked things that didn’t go into order, especially when it comes to breaking the Mistress’s rules.
“Oh, pish-posh! I’m not going to let that poor child go hungry!”
“Oh, alright! A glass of water, a crust of bread, and then…”
“Virgil,” Rusty shoved Virgil’s shoulder. “I’m surprised at you. He’s not our prisoner; he’s our guest. We must make him feel welcome here. Right this way, Little Master.”
“Well…keep it down,” Virgil finally relented. “If the Mistress finds out it’ll be our necks, you know.”
“Of course, of course,” Rusty waved Virgil’s worries away. “But what is dinner without a little…music?”
So, despite Virgil’s disapproving protests, Rusty and her fellow animated objects entertained Max with a little song and dance while Max gorged himself to all the food laid before him. Max tried a little of everything that was served there: beef ragout, cheese soufflé, pie and even pudding ‘en-flambé’. There was so much for him to eat that he couldn’t keep track. By the time the entertainment was done, he was practically stuffed. The music was pretty cool and he was impressed at how well Rusty sang, including Normie and a few dubbing from Virgil himself (he seems to be enjoying it). Max clapped his hands with glee.
“Bravo! Encore, encore! That was way cool, guys! Great show!”
“Thank you, thank you,” Virgil bowed humbly. “Good show, wasn’t it? Oh, goodness, look at the time! Now it’s off to bed, off to bed.”
“Man, I don’t think I can sleep a wink right now!” Max chuckled. “It’s my first time in the enchanted castle.”
“Enchanted? Who said anything about the castle being enchanted?” Virgil laughed nervously, then turned to Rusty accusingly. “You, wasn’t it?”
“I, uh, figured it out quite by myself, actually,” Max grinned in amusement as he watched the candelabra and the clock bickering and fighting with each other. He stood up and said, “I’d like to look around, if that’s alright with you guys.”
“Oh, would you like a tour?” Rusty offered, but was stopped by Virgil.
“I don’t really think it’s such a good idea. We can’t let him go…poking around in certain places, if you know what I mean.”
“Perhaps you’ll like to take me,” Max pointed at Virgil. “I’m sure you know everything there is to know about the castle.”
“Well, he he…actually, I’m…” Virgil tried to be humble but in the end admitted, “Well, yes, I do.”
Soon Max was taken around the castle and was being introduced by many of the things displayed there. Virgil explained longwindedly about how the fabric of India was made and how the paintings of warriors came to be and how the statues symbolized something and all the whatnot. Max wasn’t exactly interested in these things but he admired them politely all the same. His main reason here was to look for the rose for SkullMaster’s payment to turn him into a merman so that he could be with Phoebe. He had to act fast if he wanted to keep the offer from going expired. While Virgil continued to blabber about the suit of armour in the hallway, he silently sneaked off and decided to try his luck in the forbidden East Wing. Maybe whatever was forbidden in there could prove to be the one he was looking for. Halfway up the stairs, she was stopped by Rusty and Virgil. His suspicions were aroused further.
“What’s up there anyway?” Max asked.
“Oh, nothing really,” Virgil replied, trying to talk him out of it. “It’s all in the East Wing, all the dusty, dirty grime…Very gory, really.”
“Ah, so that’s the East Wing,” Max grinned.
“Nice going,” Rusty said sarcastically, glaring accusingly at the petrified Virgil.
“I wonder what she’s hiding up there.”
“Hiding?” Rusty laughed nervously. “The Mistress is hiding nothing!”
“Then it wouldn’t be forbidden,” Max took another step up but was stopped again by Virgil and Rusty.
"Well, maybe, Little Master, you would like to see something else," Virgil suggested. "We have great tapestry all the way back to..."
"Maybe later."
"How about the gardens?" Rusty asked, desperate. "Or, or, uh, the comic studio, perhaps?"
"You have a comic studio?" Max asked, interested. Comics never failed to catch his attention.
"Yes, yes, of course, with comics!" Virgila and Rusty were relieved that they have caught Max's attention. "Gallons of comics, moutains of comics, forests of comics, cascades even! More comics than you can ever read in a lifetime! Comics on every subject and..."
Max followed them for a while at first, then slowly backed away and went back to the steps of the East Wing, leaving the two rambling animated objects behind. 'The comics can wait,' he thought, 'My future happiness is at stake here.' He went up the steps slowly and was walking down a long, long corridor where it was decorated just as horribly as the ones he had seen when he was led to his room by The Beastess. He even passed by a mirror that was already shattered into pieces, reflecting dozens of his faces on it. He shook his head and mentally noted the 7 years bad luck ahead for The Beastess.
Finally, his journey came to a dead end. He found himself standing in front of a huge door probably standing about 10 feet tall with a battered lion's face as the door handle. He stood there, not sure whether this was the right thing to do; barging into people's private property sure wasn't his good side, but then again, he dared to enter SkullMaster's lair without even a single fear, why should this be any different. Besides, the thing he was looking for could be right inside there. Taking a deep breath, he held his hands fast onto the door handles and pulled the door open.
As the door creaked open, he took a peek inside to see if there was anybody there. When he was sure that all was silent, he went in. He was shocked to see that the whole place was totally trashed down to the ground. Everything was in a mess and everything that used to something was torn to smithereens, save a few chairs and tables and the bed, but then again, the bed looked like it had seen better days. He noticed a portrait with its canvas all torn up. He could only make out the eyes and the hair but the rest was just unrecognizable. When he tried to bring the torn canvas together and see clearly, something else caught his attention. It was a shimmering of light somewhere near the verandah and it made a slight tinkling sound as it went. It sounded almost like the wind chimes hung on the comic bookshop he used to go to back home.
He followed the light and was awed to see a hovering, glowing rose kept in a belljar on a round table near the verandah. It shone bright pink and looked as if it was beating like a heart. He came closer and had a real good look at the rose. He was anxious: could this be the rose SkullMaster was talking about? It sure didn't look very big, fresh and red like SkullMaster said, judging by its wilted look and the fallen petals, and it sure wasn't in the garden where it's supposed to be. Could SkullMaster be mistaken? Could it be that The Beastess has already plucked the rose and kept it in here? Well, whatever the reason, the rose was just hovering there ready for him to take. He wasn't going to take any chances. He took down the belljar and held out his hand to take it...
Suddenly, a large shadow covered him. He gasped when he saw The Beastess standing before him with her eyes gazing dangerously at his. She saw the belljar off the rose and quickly replaced it back, holding it protectively. She turned and glared at Max, letting out a lion-like growl.
"Why did you come here?" The Beastess demanded.
"Hey...Hey, I'm...I'm sorry, OK?" Max replied nervously.
"I've warned you never to come here!!!"
"Hey, look, I didn't mean any harm..."
"Do you realize what you could have done?!" The Beastess exclaimed as she smashed a nearby chair. Max was horrified. He backed away, afraid that the splinters might get to him.
"Please...stop it..."
"Get out!!!" The Beastess yelled, thrashing everywhere and beating at everything to make her point. "GET OUT!!!"
Max didn't need to be told twice. He immediately made a dash for it. He was out of the East Wing and was getting ready to get out of the castle. After The Beastess let out her anger, she was horrified to realize what she had done. She covered her face with her big hands in agony and shame, feeling terribly bad at how her hot temper led her to. Rusty and Virgil heard the sounds coming from the East Wing and could've guessed what had happened but when they saw Max running towards the front door, they were horrified.
"Wh...Where are you going?" Rusty asked.
"Promise or no promise, deal or no deal," Max said as he opened the door, "I can't stay here another second!"
"Oh no, wait, please wait," Virgil pleaded for him to stay but Max shutting the door behind him made it clear to him that he wasn't coming back.
Max ran and ran, stumbling over roots and stones in the woods, not sure where he was going. One thing was for sure, he wasn't going to go back to the horrible castle and stay with that horrible, monstrous Beastess. He was sure that if he stayed one more day in there, he was going to get mauled by her sooner or later. He would find another way to become a merman. He could bargain with SkullMaster or even try another remedy, just anything, to fulfill his desire. If all fails, he would succumb to going down the sea and watch her from afar. That would do just fine. Anything to keep him away from this hellish nightmare.
Suddenly, he realized he was being chased by the wolves that had attacked his mother before. He tried to outrun them but they were much faster. Soon he was surrounded by them. They looked pretty hungry and were ready to bite him into chunks as they growled at him and bared their fangs at him. He tried to pick up stones and throw at them but they kept coming back and coming closer. He tried using a stick to fight them off but one of them bit it into two. One of them pounced on him and forced him onto the ground, tugging at his T-shirt. The rest of the wolves cornered him, ready for the kill. This was it. He was done for. He was going to die before he was able to share a love life with his Princess Phoebe. He covered his face, bracing himself for the worse.
Surprisingly, the wolves' hungry fangs didn't get to him. He heard a loud lion-like roar and uncovered his face to see The Beastess actually roaring threateningly at the wolf that tugged at Max's shirt. The Beastess actually came out of the castle to save him! She threw the wolf away and shielded Max with her huge green scaly body. Soon a fight between The Beastess and the wolves broke loose, roaring and snarling each other as the wolves swarmed all over The Beastess, trying to maul her into pieces. They fought teeth to teeth, claw to claw but it was evident that the 10-feet Beastess was much stronger. Finally the wolves gave up and retreated, whining pitifully as they made their escape.
As soon as he saw that they were all out of harm's way, Max got up and got ready to leave when he saw The Beastess standing weakly a few feet before him. She was slouching and was staggering to stand up straight, her copper-brown eyes looking sadly and apologetically at him, as if telling him that she was sorry about her outburst and begging him not to go. Finally, The Beastess couldn't stand still anymore. She slumped and fell with a thud onto the ground. Max couldn't help feeling sorry for her. 'She must've hurt real bad,' he thought. 'But what do I care? I gotta get outta here! I don't belong here! I have nothing to do with her! I...'
But The Beastess's eyes came to his mind. So sad...so desperate...so...alone...
In the end, Max could be seen running towards the castle to bring in the castle's horse-less carriage to take him back to the castle where she belonged.
Growls could be heard as Max and The Beastess, together with the animated objects, were at the living room near the fireplace. Max dipped a cloth into hot water Normie had prepared and was thinking of using it to disinfect the wound The Beastess had on her arm when he saw her licking it like the animal she was. Max reached over to stop her.
"There now. Oh, don't do that."
The Beastess growled, taking her arm away from his touch. The animated objects backed away a little in fear. Max ordered the fidgeting Beastess to hold still as he pressed the hot wet cloth onto the wound. As soon as the cloth got in contact with the wound, The Beastess roared in pain, shaking the whole living room.
"That hurts!!!"
"If you hold still, it wouldn't hurt as much!" Max argued.
"Well, if you hadn't run away, this wouldn't have happened."
"If you hadn't frightened me, I wouldn't have run away now, would I?"
"Well, you shouldn't have been in the East Wing!"
"Well, you should hold the chili dogs and learn to control your temper, babe!"
The Beastess didn't know what else to rebut Max, so she pouted and propped her chin, looking dissatisfied. Max took the wounded arm and said, "Now hold still. This might sting like crap."
The Beastess gritted her teeth and braced herself, able to keep herself from bringing the house down. As Max continued to nurse the wound, he stole a look at The Beastess. Now that she was pretty much helpless and in his mercy, he realized that she didn't look so scary and ferocious after all. She looked just like a typically normal ogress who was trying to live her life the way she wanted, how unconventional it may seem.
"By the way, thanks...for saving my life."
The Beastess was surprised. Maxwell Deanhart, a boy who showed a serious disregard for his safety and was too curious and adventurous for his own good, actually thanking her? It has been a while since anyone had ever thanked her before. This was something new.
"You're welcome."
On his way, without him noticing, he passed by the hallway where Rusty and her boyfriend the broom were behind the curtains playing romantic games with each other. When Rusty noticed Max out of his room, she was horrified and immediately dumped her boyfriend in the mid-game and chased after Max. By then, the steam between her and her boyfriend were broken off rudely and the broom was left there to pout.
Inside the kitchen, all the animated objects were cleaning up after themselves. The uneaten dinner was all stocked up in the food shelves and all the culinary were put away. While Normie tucked Junior into the cupboard to sleep (Junior insisted that he wasn’t sleepy, but fell off to sleep anyway), the stove complained loudly to himself.
“I work and slave all day long and for what? This culinary masterpiece gone to waste!”
“Oh, stop your grouching. It’s been a long night through for us,” Normie stopped him short.
“Well, if you ask me, that boy was just being stubborn,” Virgil said as he wiped his hands and threw the towel onto the rack. “After all, the Mistress did say ‘Please’.”
“But if the Mistress doesn’t learn to control that temper, she’ll never break the—”
“Splendid to see you up and about, Little Master!” Virgil cut Normie’s talk short when he saw Max stepping in slowly into the kitchen. He reached out to shake his hand, saying, “I’m Virgil, master butler of this castle and…” this is where the frantic Rusty jumped in front of him, much to his distaste, “this is Rusty.”
“A great pleasure to see you, Little Master,” Rusty said as she kissed Max’s hand. She can be sentimental and over-romantic at times.
“Is there—stop kissing him—anything we can do to make your stay more comfortable?” Virgil cut back in front of Rusty, earning a serious burn from her candle.
“Well, I am a little hungry,” Max admitted, scratching his chin sheepishly.
“You are?” Normie asked, sounding delighted. “Hear that? He’s hungry! Start the fire! Bring out the silver! Wake the china!”
“Remember what the Mistress said!” Virgil hissed. He was a work-to-rule kind of person and really disliked things that didn’t go into order, especially when it comes to breaking the Mistress’s rules.
“Oh, pish-posh! I’m not going to let that poor child go hungry!”
“Oh, alright! A glass of water, a crust of bread, and then…”
“Virgil,” Rusty shoved Virgil’s shoulder. “I’m surprised at you. He’s not our prisoner; he’s our guest. We must make him feel welcome here. Right this way, Little Master.”
“Well…keep it down,” Virgil finally relented. “If the Mistress finds out it’ll be our necks, you know.”
“Of course, of course,” Rusty waved Virgil’s worries away. “But what is dinner without a little…music?”
So, despite Virgil’s disapproving protests, Rusty and her fellow animated objects entertained Max with a little song and dance while Max gorged himself to all the food laid before him. Max tried a little of everything that was served there: beef ragout, cheese soufflé, pie and even pudding ‘en-flambé’. There was so much for him to eat that he couldn’t keep track. By the time the entertainment was done, he was practically stuffed. The music was pretty cool and he was impressed at how well Rusty sang, including Normie and a few dubbing from Virgil himself (he seems to be enjoying it). Max clapped his hands with glee.
“Bravo! Encore, encore! That was way cool, guys! Great show!”
“Thank you, thank you,” Virgil bowed humbly. “Good show, wasn’t it? Oh, goodness, look at the time! Now it’s off to bed, off to bed.”
“Man, I don’t think I can sleep a wink right now!” Max chuckled. “It’s my first time in the enchanted castle.”
“Enchanted? Who said anything about the castle being enchanted?” Virgil laughed nervously, then turned to Rusty accusingly. “You, wasn’t it?”
“I, uh, figured it out quite by myself, actually,” Max grinned in amusement as he watched the candelabra and the clock bickering and fighting with each other. He stood up and said, “I’d like to look around, if that’s alright with you guys.”
“Oh, would you like a tour?” Rusty offered, but was stopped by Virgil.
“I don’t really think it’s such a good idea. We can’t let him go…poking around in certain places, if you know what I mean.”
“Perhaps you’ll like to take me,” Max pointed at Virgil. “I’m sure you know everything there is to know about the castle.”
“Well, he he…actually, I’m…” Virgil tried to be humble but in the end admitted, “Well, yes, I do.”
Soon Max was taken around the castle and was being introduced by many of the things displayed there. Virgil explained longwindedly about how the fabric of India was made and how the paintings of warriors came to be and how the statues symbolized something and all the whatnot. Max wasn’t exactly interested in these things but he admired them politely all the same. His main reason here was to look for the rose for SkullMaster’s payment to turn him into a merman so that he could be with Phoebe. He had to act fast if he wanted to keep the offer from going expired. While Virgil continued to blabber about the suit of armour in the hallway, he silently sneaked off and decided to try his luck in the forbidden East Wing. Maybe whatever was forbidden in there could prove to be the one he was looking for. Halfway up the stairs, she was stopped by Rusty and Virgil. His suspicions were aroused further.
“What’s up there anyway?” Max asked.
“Oh, nothing really,” Virgil replied, trying to talk him out of it. “It’s all in the East Wing, all the dusty, dirty grime…Very gory, really.”
“Ah, so that’s the East Wing,” Max grinned.
“Nice going,” Rusty said sarcastically, glaring accusingly at the petrified Virgil.
“I wonder what she’s hiding up there.”
“Hiding?” Rusty laughed nervously. “The Mistress is hiding nothing!”
“Then it wouldn’t be forbidden,” Max took another step up but was stopped again by Virgil and Rusty.
"Well, maybe, Little Master, you would like to see something else," Virgil suggested. "We have great tapestry all the way back to..."
"Maybe later."
"How about the gardens?" Rusty asked, desperate. "Or, or, uh, the comic studio, perhaps?"
"You have a comic studio?" Max asked, interested. Comics never failed to catch his attention.
"Yes, yes, of course, with comics!" Virgila and Rusty were relieved that they have caught Max's attention. "Gallons of comics, moutains of comics, forests of comics, cascades even! More comics than you can ever read in a lifetime! Comics on every subject and..."
Max followed them for a while at first, then slowly backed away and went back to the steps of the East Wing, leaving the two rambling animated objects behind. 'The comics can wait,' he thought, 'My future happiness is at stake here.' He went up the steps slowly and was walking down a long, long corridor where it was decorated just as horribly as the ones he had seen when he was led to his room by The Beastess. He even passed by a mirror that was already shattered into pieces, reflecting dozens of his faces on it. He shook his head and mentally noted the 7 years bad luck ahead for The Beastess.
Finally, his journey came to a dead end. He found himself standing in front of a huge door probably standing about 10 feet tall with a battered lion's face as the door handle. He stood there, not sure whether this was the right thing to do; barging into people's private property sure wasn't his good side, but then again, he dared to enter SkullMaster's lair without even a single fear, why should this be any different. Besides, the thing he was looking for could be right inside there. Taking a deep breath, he held his hands fast onto the door handles and pulled the door open.
As the door creaked open, he took a peek inside to see if there was anybody there. When he was sure that all was silent, he went in. He was shocked to see that the whole place was totally trashed down to the ground. Everything was in a mess and everything that used to something was torn to smithereens, save a few chairs and tables and the bed, but then again, the bed looked like it had seen better days. He noticed a portrait with its canvas all torn up. He could only make out the eyes and the hair but the rest was just unrecognizable. When he tried to bring the torn canvas together and see clearly, something else caught his attention. It was a shimmering of light somewhere near the verandah and it made a slight tinkling sound as it went. It sounded almost like the wind chimes hung on the comic bookshop he used to go to back home.
He followed the light and was awed to see a hovering, glowing rose kept in a belljar on a round table near the verandah. It shone bright pink and looked as if it was beating like a heart. He came closer and had a real good look at the rose. He was anxious: could this be the rose SkullMaster was talking about? It sure didn't look very big, fresh and red like SkullMaster said, judging by its wilted look and the fallen petals, and it sure wasn't in the garden where it's supposed to be. Could SkullMaster be mistaken? Could it be that The Beastess has already plucked the rose and kept it in here? Well, whatever the reason, the rose was just hovering there ready for him to take. He wasn't going to take any chances. He took down the belljar and held out his hand to take it...
Suddenly, a large shadow covered him. He gasped when he saw The Beastess standing before him with her eyes gazing dangerously at his. She saw the belljar off the rose and quickly replaced it back, holding it protectively. She turned and glared at Max, letting out a lion-like growl.
"Why did you come here?" The Beastess demanded.
"Hey...Hey, I'm...I'm sorry, OK?" Max replied nervously.
"I've warned you never to come here!!!"
"Hey, look, I didn't mean any harm..."
"Do you realize what you could have done?!" The Beastess exclaimed as she smashed a nearby chair. Max was horrified. He backed away, afraid that the splinters might get to him.
"Please...stop it..."
"Get out!!!" The Beastess yelled, thrashing everywhere and beating at everything to make her point. "GET OUT!!!"
Max didn't need to be told twice. He immediately made a dash for it. He was out of the East Wing and was getting ready to get out of the castle. After The Beastess let out her anger, she was horrified to realize what she had done. She covered her face with her big hands in agony and shame, feeling terribly bad at how her hot temper led her to. Rusty and Virgil heard the sounds coming from the East Wing and could've guessed what had happened but when they saw Max running towards the front door, they were horrified.
"Wh...Where are you going?" Rusty asked.
"Promise or no promise, deal or no deal," Max said as he opened the door, "I can't stay here another second!"
"Oh no, wait, please wait," Virgil pleaded for him to stay but Max shutting the door behind him made it clear to him that he wasn't coming back.
Max ran and ran, stumbling over roots and stones in the woods, not sure where he was going. One thing was for sure, he wasn't going to go back to the horrible castle and stay with that horrible, monstrous Beastess. He was sure that if he stayed one more day in there, he was going to get mauled by her sooner or later. He would find another way to become a merman. He could bargain with SkullMaster or even try another remedy, just anything, to fulfill his desire. If all fails, he would succumb to going down the sea and watch her from afar. That would do just fine. Anything to keep him away from this hellish nightmare.
Suddenly, he realized he was being chased by the wolves that had attacked his mother before. He tried to outrun them but they were much faster. Soon he was surrounded by them. They looked pretty hungry and were ready to bite him into chunks as they growled at him and bared their fangs at him. He tried to pick up stones and throw at them but they kept coming back and coming closer. He tried using a stick to fight them off but one of them bit it into two. One of them pounced on him and forced him onto the ground, tugging at his T-shirt. The rest of the wolves cornered him, ready for the kill. This was it. He was done for. He was going to die before he was able to share a love life with his Princess Phoebe. He covered his face, bracing himself for the worse.
Surprisingly, the wolves' hungry fangs didn't get to him. He heard a loud lion-like roar and uncovered his face to see The Beastess actually roaring threateningly at the wolf that tugged at Max's shirt. The Beastess actually came out of the castle to save him! She threw the wolf away and shielded Max with her huge green scaly body. Soon a fight between The Beastess and the wolves broke loose, roaring and snarling each other as the wolves swarmed all over The Beastess, trying to maul her into pieces. They fought teeth to teeth, claw to claw but it was evident that the 10-feet Beastess was much stronger. Finally the wolves gave up and retreated, whining pitifully as they made their escape.
As soon as he saw that they were all out of harm's way, Max got up and got ready to leave when he saw The Beastess standing weakly a few feet before him. She was slouching and was staggering to stand up straight, her copper-brown eyes looking sadly and apologetically at him, as if telling him that she was sorry about her outburst and begging him not to go. Finally, The Beastess couldn't stand still anymore. She slumped and fell with a thud onto the ground. Max couldn't help feeling sorry for her. 'She must've hurt real bad,' he thought. 'But what do I care? I gotta get outta here! I don't belong here! I have nothing to do with her! I...'
But The Beastess's eyes came to his mind. So sad...so desperate...so...alone...
In the end, Max could be seen running towards the castle to bring in the castle's horse-less carriage to take him back to the castle where she belonged.
Growls could be heard as Max and The Beastess, together with the animated objects, were at the living room near the fireplace. Max dipped a cloth into hot water Normie had prepared and was thinking of using it to disinfect the wound The Beastess had on her arm when he saw her licking it like the animal she was. Max reached over to stop her.
"There now. Oh, don't do that."
The Beastess growled, taking her arm away from his touch. The animated objects backed away a little in fear. Max ordered the fidgeting Beastess to hold still as he pressed the hot wet cloth onto the wound. As soon as the cloth got in contact with the wound, The Beastess roared in pain, shaking the whole living room.
"That hurts!!!"
"If you hold still, it wouldn't hurt as much!" Max argued.
"Well, if you hadn't run away, this wouldn't have happened."
"If you hadn't frightened me, I wouldn't have run away now, would I?"
"Well, you shouldn't have been in the East Wing!"
"Well, you should hold the chili dogs and learn to control your temper, babe!"
The Beastess didn't know what else to rebut Max, so she pouted and propped her chin, looking dissatisfied. Max took the wounded arm and said, "Now hold still. This might sting like crap."
The Beastess gritted her teeth and braced herself, able to keep herself from bringing the house down. As Max continued to nurse the wound, he stole a look at The Beastess. Now that she was pretty much helpless and in his mercy, he realized that she didn't look so scary and ferocious after all. She looked just like a typically normal ogress who was trying to live her life the way she wanted, how unconventional it may seem.
"By the way, thanks...for saving my life."
The Beastess was surprised. Maxwell Deanhart, a boy who showed a serious disregard for his safety and was too curious and adventurous for his own good, actually thanking her? It has been a while since anyone had ever thanked her before. This was something new.
"You're welcome."
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