Winter had come and gone again a second time since Seto had lived in the castle under the monster's rule. He'd grown accustomed to the life there, and though he never left the arms of the tall stone walls, he grew strong through the work of clearing the boulders. The end of the task began to be within his sights, and he wondered what would happen when he finished. Would he be allowed to go free? Or would she dispose of him through death or petrification? Perhaps all he was doing was clearing space for the statue he would one day be.

Those thoughts pressed in at the back of his mind, but Seto refused to let himself dwell on them too harshly. He was trying to shake the worries from his head one day as he made the trip from the dungeon room to the courtyard, blindfolded as always, when he crashed into someone going the opposite way.

There was only him and the monster in that place, so he was terrified, but the squeak of surprise was that of a young girl's, and sounded nothing like the beast.

"Hello?" Seto called, holding his hands out like a blind man. As he took a step forward, something small shifted under his foot and he slipped, crashing to the floor. Wincing in pain, he removed the blindfold.

What he'd fallen on had been a small metal key, plain and undecorated except for the long ribbon tied through the loop at the end. When he picked it up, it was warm, like it had been clasped firmly in a hand before his.

"Is this yours?" he asked, looking up at the stranger.

She was his age or maybe a year older, and she looked terrified. She wore an unremarkable blue dress that was threadbare at the elbows, and she was barefoot. But perhaps the most shocking thing about the stranger was her hair, which was white as snow and fell far beyond her waist, though it was difficult to judge now with her sprawled on the floor like she was.

She was covering her eyes. Seto realized with a surprise that she must think him the monster as well. He moved forward to kneel next to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I'm a prisoner here," he told her, hoping it would reassure her. "I've got your key."

Slowly, the girl lowered her hands.

"Are you also trapped?" he asked, lowering his voice as he realized the monster might hear them somehow. "If you're not, you should get out of here as soon as possible. Whatever you're looking for isn't worth getting turned to stone."

Somehow, that seemed to help her find her voice. "I'm also…trapped here," she said quietly, her eyes darting around the hallway. "I've been unable to leave as long as I can remember." Seto supposed that if he'd grown up with the monster, he too would be afraid to look someone in the eye. It wasn't entirely strange that they'd never crossed paths before; Seto had been there a little over a year, but the castle was massive and he never went anywhere other than the dining hall, the dungeon, the courtyard, and the library. It would be possible for him to live here many years and never seen the entirety of what the fortress had to offer.

Seto offered her his hand. If they were prisoners together, that made them comrades, in a way. She took it, and he pulled her to her feet. "My name's Seto," he told her cheerfully, holding out the key.

She took it carefully, curling her fingers in the ribbon and lowering it into a hidden pocket of her apron without touching the metal. "Please call me Mary," she said in a soft voice when she was done.

"What you do here?" he asked, curious. He had to get to the courtyard, but it could wait a little while.

"Um…" Mary looked down, clasping her hands in front of her chest. "I make sure there's food in the hall. I clean, sometimes."

Every inch of the castle that Seto had seen so far had looked dusty and cobwebbed. He chuckled. "That's a big job for a kid! All I'm responsible for is the courtyard, that's way easier. Maybe I should help you clean sometimes?"

Mary looked at him for the first time, staring in surprise. She looked like a kid who'd found candy they knew they shoudn't be eating; delighted and shocked, but also guilty. "Maybe…"

"Do you think the monster would let me? I'm almost done with my job at this point…" Seto's motives were not entirely selfless; he wanted to help her, sure, but he also wanted to make sure the beast didn't destroy him when he'd finished the task.

That seemed to startle Mary even further, and she looked down at the floor. "I can ask," she said quietly, and Seto marveled. His conversations with the monster were brief, when he wasn't reading to her or telling her stories. He would never think to ask for a favor. This girl was either incredibly brave or she knew the monster much better than he did, having been here for so long.

Mary pointed up the staircase. "I was going up there. To the second floor."

Seto moved out of her way. "Hey, you can probably see the courtyard from up there! I'll wave up at the windows just in case." He wouldn't be able to see her, of course, because they were stained glass, but she might be able to peer through the clear panels and catch a glimpse of him. Mary nodded, and without another word scurried up the stairs and out of sight.

He retied the scarf around his head, placed one hand on the rough stone wall, and continued on the familiar path to the courtyard. When he reached it, there were even fewer boulders then he remembered, and most of them were so large he would probably have to roll them. Before he got started, however, he shielded his eyes from the sun and waved up at the windows above him. Maybe it was just his imagination, but he thought he saw a flicker of movement in the stained glass window above him.

With a warmth in his heart that helped stave off the early spring chill, he set to work, leaning his shoulder against the first and largest of the stones. It was comforting to know he wasn't alone.

…

A few days later the boy was waiting for the monster in the library and straightening the scarf, trying to keep it straight on his eyes, when he felt something strange. The yarn seemed to be unraveling under his fingers, and he fought with it desperately, finally yanking it off his head to try to knot the fibers and stop it from coming apart.

Finally he managed to tie it in a way that he hoped it would stop unraveling, but the damage was already done. The scarf was maybe half the length it had originally been, and tears welled up in his eyes.

It was the last thing he really had from home, a reminder that his siblings were always with him, and here it was coming apart in front of him. Though he tried to be strong, his shoulders began to shake and the tears rolled down his face, landing on the red yarn in his lap. He clamped his hands over his eyes, as if trying to push the tears back in.

Familiar whispers filled the room, but he couldn't stop crying. The voices spoke to him.

"Why are you crying?"

The young girl's voice was concerned, but those of the grown woman and the crone were scornful and dismissive, and he shrank back in his chair, trying to swallow his sobs.

"My scarf's coming apart," he managed, and the whispers slowed. He kept his hands over his eyes as he heard her come closer, then felt the weight of the scarf vanish from his lap.

There was a long pause, and he managed to get his tears under control, already hating himself for the moment of weakness that he was far too old for. He felt the scarf being laid across his knees again, but something else joined it. His head jerked up in surprise, though he didn't lower his hands to find out what the second strip of cloth was.

"Take this. It will stop you from turning to stone at least."

Seto gulped down the last tears before they could fall, trying to keep a tremor from his voice. "Thank you. But, it's more than that. I miss my family. The scarf was a reminder of my sister."

He expected to be told to shut up, to be told he was being foolish. But the monster seemed to be thinking about it. "I'll send you a mirror," she said, "it will be in your room by tonight. Just by requesting a sight from it, you will be able to see whoever you like. That way you can keep your family in your heart."

Seto hadn't expected such kindness. Had Mary been right when she spoke of talking to the monster like it was such a simple thing? "Thank you," he said, stunned.

"I won't need you for the rest of today, so you can spend it however you like. I saw you finished in the courtyard. I'll give you new instructions tomorrow."

And before he could respond, the whispers were gone, and he waited several seconds before lowering his hands. The monster was surprisingly kind, he thought.

But the strip of fabric in his lap was pink and lace-edged at one side, and as he lifted it to examine it closer, he saw it seemed to be cut from a little girl's dress. A white hair clung to it, and a chill ran down his spine as he remembered the other prisoner in this place.

As long as he and Mary were captive here, he couldn't let himself relax around the monster, not even for a second. Steeling himself, he tied the pink fabric around his eyes and rose to leave the library. He would somehow find a way for them to get out of there, he was sure of it.