Page 33 of Beau and the Beast

to blacken and to rot.

Slowly did the weed creep in,

a small and thorny knot.

The change was slow, the fog rolled in

to cloud the young man’s heart

Til naught remained but blood and bone

and cold and damp and dark.

And now the truth is shown at last,

the claw and horn and hide,

A warning to the world beyond

of hate that lurks inside.

Wolfram found himself holding back the stanza about time, the piece of the riddle that explained the watch on his wrist.. He thought it but didn’t speak it aloud, finishing up the riddle.

But mercy for the man with none

he still can be released:

Light can lift his shadowed soul,

when beauty frees the beast.

Beau certainly knew he was there to break the curse. If Wolfram told him about the time limit—the time that was quickly drawing to a close—would it impact their work together?

Wolfram left out the golden watch from his story, didn’t tell Beau about the way that the timepiece counted not hours but the days left that they had to break the curse before Wolfram died. Instead, Wolfram moved forward to describe the way that his staff had been cursed too, how neither Wolfram nor his staff could leave the confines of the penthouse without their hearts ceasing to beat.

He told Beau about the staff member Beau would never be able to meet, Ryan, who had pushed the boundaries of the curse by trying to leave—how they had never seen him again after that day.

Finally, he told Beau about the way he had changed—claws and horns and fangs erupting cruelly from his body, his mind reforming itself, everything transforming that day.

When Wolfram ran out of things to say about the curse, his chest felt light and his mind was exhausted.

* * *

"That's a fantastic story."

"You believe me?"

"I have no reason not to believe you," Beau said with a shrug, as if Wolfram had just told him a dry story about going to law school or buying a used car.

"No reason except for the fact that it goes against all science and logic."

Beau hitched his shoulder again. "Science and logic aren't the only things that are real," he offered. "Maybe I've always hoped there was more to the world than that. And the fact that I'm sitting here drinking tea with you is proof of that, isn't it?"

"Proof and then some."

Beau finished his tea and set the cup down on the edge of the table.

"May I ask you a question?"

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