Page 307 of Castings & Curses

“I did. I was in the forest when I turned into the beast you’ve stumbled upon. When I saw my reflection, I thought I was going mad. I clawed at my face to make it untrue, but no luck there. The house did what it could to save my eye, but the scar has remained ever since, a token of my failure to protect myself against evil assholes. There’s so much magic can do, am I right?”

She’s defeated. But I’m here now. I’ll take care of her and protect her. I want to.

As I dream of our life together, her demeanor shifts. She pushes her chair away from the table, eager to put some distance between the two of us.

“You’ll probably want to go home now. You have a life to go back to. It’s horrible of me to deprive you of your freedom.”

Where the fuck did that come from? Had she wanted to slap me, she couldn’t have hurt me more.

“Wait, what are you on about?” I stand up too and approach her, but she avoids me and heads towards the door. “Bella!” The tone of my voice stops her.

She stands on the threshold, head down, biting at her nails. I edge towards her again, gently, like she’s a wild animal I’m trying to tame. She tenses at my hand on her shoulder but turns around when I press her to.

“Bella,” I whisper, a soothing drone this time. “Look at me, please.” I lift her chin and uncover her sunken visage. No beast there, just a frightened, subdued, beautiful woman. “What’s wrong, hun? Why the sudden shift?”

Tears fill up her eyes. “Because I’ve been a bitch. I can’t keep you here. It’s kidnapping. And I’m not a monster like him. I don’t do that kind of things.”

“Of course not! And I’m not accusing you of that. I’m not even thinking like that.” I keep my voice reassuring because it’s true. “I’m here because I want to be. Now, that is.” I smirk, but her despair overshadows my weird humor. “Hey. I want to stay here, even if just for a little longer.

“But don’t you have people who'll worry about you not coming back?” Her distress stretches her features. She appears so much younger, and so lost.

“Well, sure, they’ll worry. But there’s not much I can do about it now, can I? It’s not like I could send my roommate a text or give her a call. There’s no cell reception here, remember?”

I smile as reassuringly as I can. The truth is, Nola must be pissing herself with worry as we speak. It’s been what, five days since I’ve left for that stupid job? She has probably called Interpol by now, and sent for MI6, at least. Fuck, she’s gonna kill me when I finally go back.

“There may be a way.” Bella stares at me, melancholy and defeat splashing across her sapphire eyes. “Follow me.”

CHAPTER14

Bella takesme through the great hall back to the corridor leading to the entrance. She stops across the parlor I slept in that first night—it seems like forever ago—and searches inside her pants pocket. She takes out a knob and introduces it inside the hole in the wall. She had the key to the hidden door all that time. Makes sense. It’s probably her lair we’re about to step into. I shudder with anticipation. She’s all mysteries and damn good fingers, this one.

The door opens onto a wooden staircase. The staff’s stairs. We climb the steps to the second floor and the third—right under the roof. A narrow hallway leads us past a few empty attic rooms full of dust and cobwebs, furniture all covered with sheets after sheets, wallpaper torn apart, and carpet eaten by moths. We reach the end of the hallway and a nondescript door. Bella cracks it open, then halts.

“I just want you to know, I cannot thank you enough for last night.” She stares up at me from her defeated posture, her eyes filled to the brim with tears.

She opens the door fully. Her room is desolate, devoid of anything personal, grim, and borderline macabre. A single bed with torn sheets that’s been slept in recently but never made. Clothes strewn across the wardrobe askew doors, littering the floor, and crowding the lonely armchair in the far corner. It screams of loneliness and depression. My heart tightens in my chest.

Bella ambles towards the dressing table, whose looking glass rests under a dusty cloth. She opens the middle drawer, takes out a small silver mirror and gazes at it with longing and sadness. She hesitates before swirling around and handing it to me, reluctance fighting her willpower.

I examine the mirror. Its polished silver frame is carved with an intricate rose pattern, thorns prickling like real ones. The glassy surface is clean and shows no sign of wear. Something is off, though. It shows no reflection. I give Bella a quizzical stare.

“It’s no ordinary mirror. It’s not even a mirror, really.”

I wait for more details, but she just stares blandly at the piece of metal and glass in my hands, fingers fidgeting as she pulls at invisible skin bits around her nails.

“What is it then?”

“Oh, er... it’s a magical device. It’s what tells me when people trespass on my property.” She pauses, hesitating to continue. “I also use it to watch what’s out there in the world. Like a television. Or...” She bites her lower lip so hard it whitens. “Or like a smartphone, I guess.”

I start at those words. “You mean... I could talk to someone through this?”

“No, not talk. Not really. Maybe. I don’t know.” She gets all agitated, a mix of nerves and excitement. “But you could find people, like your roommate. To see if she’s doing okay. Or something.”

The perspective of seeing Nola fills me with unexpected joy. “Can I?” I’m beaming, but Bella winces and turns her back on me.

“Go ahead.”

I should care about her reaction, but I’ll address it later. I need to learn if Nola hasn’t lost her shit about my disappearance yet. “Er... Show me Nola, please?”

---