A tightly wound clock was deeply engaged in berating a candelabra, "Irresponsible, devil-may-care, waxy eared, slack jawed..."

Cogsworth's stream of insults stopped mid-speech. His old ears must have been plying tricks on him again. The old pendulum could have sworn he heard a girl's voice. Cogsworth rewound his minute hand, and opened his mouth to continue to reprimand his sometimes friend, sometimes annoyance, Lumiere.

"Couldn't keep quiet? Just had to invite him to stay? Have some tea. Sit in the master's chair. Pet the pooch!"

"He was cold, worn and hungry," the candlestick defended, in his thick French accent, "I was just tying to be hospitable."

"Hospital," fumed Cogsworth, "now look at what you've gone and done! The master is furious, and..."

"Monsieur Marceaux? Are you here?"

"What was that?" the clock asked nervously.

Both Cogsworth and Lumiere cautiously peered around the corner of a cold stone wall. Neither one was prepared for the sight that bombarded their unusual, little eye sockets.

"Sacre bleu!" exclaimed Lumiere, "they are girls!"

"I know they are girls," the clock replied with irritation, "but what are they doing here? The master is sure to be furious, especially since we've already had one intruder today. Just look, there's dozens of them!"

"C'est magnifique!"

"Are you mad?" Cogsworth asked incredulously.

"Don't you see?" Lumiere continued, "one of these girls can be the one."

"The one?"

"Oui, mon ami," explained the talking candle, "the one we've been waiting for. The girl to break the spell!"

Before either Lumiere or Cogsworth knew it, they were joined by Mrs. Pots and her son Chip, a tea pot and tea cup combination, and Fifi, the feather duster.

"There are girls in the castle!" Fifi chirped, with a thick French accent of her own.

"Oh my, my," Mrs. Pots clicked, "the master isn't going to like this."

"What are they doing here, Mama?" asked the little teacup.

"I don't know, Chip dear."

"We have to find a way to get them out of here before the master sees them," Cogsworth conveyed to the group.

The servants listened as the collection of footsteps grew louder, and louder. Finally, their curiosity got the better of them, and they each stole another look at the young women, who had so mysteriously appeared.

"Look at them," whispered Fifi, "they are all filthy, and their hair is tangled and knotted with twigs!"

"The poor dears look like they've been through quite the ordeal," Mrs. Pots added with empathy.

"Monsieur Marceaux?" the one leading the group, a girl with brown hair pulled into a pony tail, wearing a modest blue dress, called out.

The servants all flinched and quickly hid themselves behind the gray, stone wall. Fifi, Cogsworth, Chip, and Mrs. Pots all pressed themselves as flat against the wall as was physically possibly. Except, Lumiere, the others could already tell that he was formulating some sort of plan in that cylinder shaped head of his.

"Lumiere, come here this instant!" ordered Cogsworth.

"No can do, mon ami," the candlestick replied.

When he was fairly certain that none of the girls were watching, Lumiere scuttled across the dreary corridor, and hoisted himself upon, a ledge, blanketed in years worth of dust. His friends called to him, urging him to come back and quit all the nonsense, but Lumiere remained steadfast, and waited for the moment when the girls would come across him.

Belle took the lead, and the other nineteen girls followed closely behind her. They were in uncharted territory, for sure. It was best if they all stuck together, for the moment. The castle that the young women had ventured into, was excessively dark, making their experience that much more frightening. The collective footsteps of the twenty mademoiselles, echoed loudly against the dusty tiled floor. Belle imagined that all together, they must have sounded like a herd of African elephants.

"Monsieur Marceaux?" Belle called out once more.

Their driver, yet again did not reply, but Maladie did let out a prodigious sneeze.

"Achoo, achoo!" Malaide wiped her nose on the sleeve of her dress.

"Quiet, Malaide," Belle reprimanded.

"Excusez-moi," apologized Maladie, "but all this dust is affecting my allergies ."

"Honesty, Belle," Odieux began, scraping her finger against the wall, and displaying the residue, "this castle is obviously uninhabited! Judging by its condition, I'd venture to guess that no one has lived here in years, maybe even decades. Why, just look at the..."

"Then who opened the door, Odieux?" Belle was beginning to loose her patience.

"I beg you to look at the facts," the girl challenged, "There has been absolutely no sign of life, anywhere in this castle. The door was probably in need of maintenance, from being unused all these years, that it must have opened itself when you knocked. It's simply logic really..."

"A lit candle!" proclaimed Belle, "look!"

"I dare say, that is odd," Odieux sounded dejected.

"Finally, we can have a light source," Belle murmured to herself, as she walked over to the ledge where the candle was sitting, "perhaps it was lit by Monsieur?"

Belle grasped the candlestick by its middle, and she along with the rest of the girls continued their exploration of the castle. The stoney silence was interrupted only by one astoundingly absurd comment form Nouille.

"Witchcraft!" the girl shrieked, pointing directly at the candelabra.

"Non, Nouille," Belled corrected, "it's a candle."

"But I saw it move," the girl insisted.

"That is quite frankly, impossible, Nouille," Odieux, began in a superior tone, "it is an inanimate object, which means, it isn't alive. Therefore it has no mind or free will, and cannot possibly move by its own accord. Someone must move it, if the candle was to move at all."

For the first time, since they had began their journey to L'académie de Agréable Demoiselles, Belle had found herself agreeing wholeheartedly with Odieux. Just as she was about to mouth this view, she felt a tap on her right shoulder. Belle immediately turned her head in the direction of the tap. to find Isolé at her right hand side.

"What is it, Isolé?" Belle asked gently.

Isolé simply looked at her feet, as her cheeks blushed furiously.

Understandably, Belle was confused, "But didn't you just tap me on the shoulder a minute ago?"

Isolé shook her head in an almost imperceptible, no.

"Then who..." Belle was interrupted by another tap on her shoulder.

"Allo!"

Belle instantly dropped the candelabra with a shriek. An inanimate object was talking to her!

"But you.. ah.. but I," stuttered Belle, "this is impossible!"

Now, all the remaining nineteen girls were growing concerned for their leader. Belle was acting almost like a mad woman.

"Belle," Odieux began, "are you feeling well?"

"But this is impossible!" Belle repeated.

"What is impossible?" several of the girls asked in unison.

The girls of L'académie de Agréable Demoiselles, did in fact, receive an answer, but it didn't come from Belle.

"I think you will find, mes chéries," Lumiere soothed, "that nothing is impossible, non?"

Quick French Lesson

Sacre bleu! = (roughly) Oh my!

C'est magnifique = (for this context) This is great!

Non ami= My friend

Excusez-moi = excuse me.

L'académie de Agréable Demoiselles= (the school the girls won scholarships to) The Academy of Pleasant Young Ladies.

Une Note Intéressante

Salut!

I do hope you have been enjoying the story this far. I did in fact use several quotes from the Disney film, although they do appear out of order. Check back soon for the next chapter, and don't forget to leave a review!

Don't you disrespect me little man!
Don't you derogate or deride!
You're in my world now,
Not your world,
And I got friends on the other side!

xJadeRainx