Music: The Gravel Road (from The Village soundtrack) by James Newton Howard

Chapter XII-Promises and Lies

It was only as they reached the crest of the hill that Thomas let go of her hand. Anne stopped and watched as her brother continued walking for a few paces before stopping and staring out at the landscape, his back to her. Anne stood very still, hands clasped in front of her as a chill breeze came and twirled her skirts back and forth, her hair obscuring her face one moment then being pushed away from it the next. She didn't know what to stay so she stayed silent, looking at her brother as he ran a hand through his hair before turning to look at her.

"Whatever happened to that flower I gave you?" He asked suddenly. Anne raised an eyebrow, whatever she had been expecting it hadn't been that.

"It's dead." She told him simply. "It's been wilting for the past couple days but it turned almost completely brown yesterday."

"Dead." Thom repeated and for some reason the thought made him laugh a little. "Yes, it would be wouldn't it?"

Anne didn't say anything and after a few moments Thomas continued. "I wasn't completely honest, you know, about how I came by that rose."

"What do you mean?"

"I didn't find it on some stray bush on my way back. I found it at a castle."

Anne stared at him, why was he making up something up like this? She started to get angry. I've been worrying about him for days on end and he's going to feed me some fairy story about roses in a castle? She thought in frustration. Seeing her expression Thomas held up a hand.

"Let me explain." He said quickly. And he told her all about riding through the storm and getting lost in the forest before coming across a castle hidden between the trees. "It was beautiful inside, I spent the night there. The horse refused to go in though, but I didn't realize why until it was too late."

"What do you mean?" Anne asked worriedly, still not sure if she completely believed what he was saying. "What happened?"

"I was walking back towards the gate, everything around me was dead, it was so unnerving, and then I saw the roses." Her brother started to look desperate. "I didn't know, Anne. I didn't know I wasn't to touch them."

He looked so lost and it scared her. This was her brother, the one who'd broken the nose of Lord Prescott's son when, as a child, he'd pushed her face first into a mud puddle. She'd seen him thrown from a half crazed horse only to brush himself off and laugh about it a few seconds later. He'd never been scared of anything in his whole life, so what was it now that had him looking so frightened?

"I saw them and I thought of you, thought you might like a few for planting. So I took one. The next thing I knew there was this… this monster standing next to me."

He took a shuddering breath and before she could say anything continued. "He was dressed like a person, but he had claws and-and fangs." Thom paused to take another breath. "He was so angry, told me that I'd stolen from him. That- that…" and he turned away, crossing his arms over his chest.

"What did he say?" Anne whispered.

He looked back at her and there were tears in his eyes. "He said he was going to kill me." Thom answered in a voice as soft as hers.

Anne flinched and felt as if someone had slapped her in the face. A monster in a castle? It was ludicrous, if her brother hadn't looked so scared and serious she wouldn't have believed a word of it. Monsters, real monsters didn't exist. They were made-up stories and half truths created to frighten children into behaving and going to bed quietly. Only liars and fools spoke of monsters as if they were real. But as she looked at her brother, remembered the way his eyes were always twitching towards the King's Forest and back she suddenly remembered the story Mr. Bishop had told her so many months before.

That's The King's Forest. The whole place is haunted…a terrible monster came and killed him. Ate him up in one swallow….

"But… but isn't there something we can do?" Anne asked in an urgent voice. "Maybe if we tried-"

"There isn't." Thom said, slowly shaking his head. "He told me I could spend a month with my family and then I had to go back."

"Then run away." Anne told him, starting to cry. "Don't stay here, just go."

"I can't, he'll look for me, he'll come here and try to track me down."

"Then we'll lie; say we don't know where you've gone. Or we can… or we can…" But her brain didn't seem to be functioning properly, it was like everything was slowly closing in on her, her sobbing had grown louder now. She felt like she was suffocating and her hands shook as she tried to remember how to breathe. And then, like a marionette whose puppeteer had suddenly let go of the strings, Anne dropped to the ground

Thom knelt down quickly grabbing her arms and she reflexively clutched his. "I'm going to go back." He told her, he sounded calm but his voice still shook as he said the words. "In two days I'll go and then… and then it'll be over." Anne couldn't think what to say, her heart was pounding in her head and with each beat all she heard was Dead. Dead. Dead.

She shook her head. "We have to do something Thom, there must something we can do."

"There isn't." He said and still his voice was deathly calm, as if he had already given up, as if all he was doing now was waiting, waiting for it to come.

"No!" She said, standing suddenly. "No, there must be something! Something we're overlooking there's got to be another way."

"Anne, please." Thom said, standing up as well. "Please just come back inside with me."

"I will not!" She shouted, feeling hysterical. "Not until we figure this out Thom. There must be some other choice besides this."

"I cannot think of the alternative." Thom said, quietly, almost to himself. Anne had begun to pace but at his words her head snapped back to look at her brother.

"What did you say?" She asked.

He looked up at her, a worried expression on his face. "I said 'I cannot think of an alternative'. I've been trying for weeks, believe me."

"No." Anne said, feeling as if she had just caught a rope that had been thrown to her. "No, you said you couldn't consider the alternative. As if there already was one." She moved closer to him. "What are you not telling me Thom? What is this other choice?"

"There aren't any choices Anne." And he began walking away from her, but she blocked his path and gripped his shoulders so he couldn't turn away. "Tell me, tell me what it is."

"No." He said, no longer pretending he didn't know what she was referring to. "I can't Anne. I can't."

"You can and you will." But he remained silent. "Tell me!" She screamed, shaking his shoulders.

"He wants you, Anne!" He yelled and it sounded as if his words were being ripped from his chest.

Anne's eyes went wide and her hands dropped away from him."What?"

"He wants you." Thom repeated and he looked suddenly as if he were exhausted. "I told him who the rose was for and he told me that in return for it he wanted you. That's why I was allowed to come back Anne. So we could make our 'decision'." He scoffed at the word. "But there is no decision; there is no choice in this matter. I am going and no one else." And brushing past her he quickly walked away and back towards the house.

She watched him as he moved quickly down the hill before going into the house and slamming the door behind him. Sitting down she stared at the massive expanse of forest only so far away and began to cry, wishing that they'd never come to this place and were still far away and safe in their home in the city. But despite her tears and the horror that was slowly growing inside her as she thought of how this impossible thing could be true she suddenly heard a small yet calm voice whisper to her. "He must not go." She glanced up to see who had spoken and realized it had been herself. Standing up she wiped the tears from her face. She stayed outside until her red rimmed eyes became clear again but as she walked back towards the house she repeated the words to herself, like they were some sort of magic spell that would protect her. He must not go.

The next night as Anne lay in bed she heard a soft creaking noise coming from above her. Opening her window and holding onto either side she craned her neck out to see Thom sitting on the house a few feet away from her room. Climbing up onto the ledge she grabbed the rafters and heaved herself up, knowing that if she fell the drop wouldn't be too dangerous. Delicately she sat down next to her brother and put her head on his shoulder. Without looking down he took her hand and held it tightly in his.

"What are you doing?" She asked him softly. Since their conversation on the hill they'd hardly spoken at all. The whole family would simply sit and let the silence cover everything. Nobody wanted to say a word because it would somehow mean admitting what was going to happen, the finality of what Thom's decision meant for them all.

"I came up to watch the sunset. He answered, shifting his feet a little.

They didn't speak after that, just sat together and watched the moon as it went slowly across the sky.

"I'm going to miss you Anne." Thom said, still not looking at her. He felt that if he did we would begin to cry and he didn't want her to see that, wanted her to remember him as brave.

"You know you don't have to go." Anne replied, and though her voice was soft the determination was still there and the little voice in her head whispered once more He must not go.

"You know I've already made up my mind."

"But Thom if I…"

"No, Anne." His voice was still quiet but an edge had come into his words. "You're not paying the price for something I did." And suddenly turning towards her he wrapped her in his arms and they held each other as tears began to drop down Anne's face. "Please don't bring it up again." He said, pulling away so he could look her in the eye. "Please don't try and stop me from going."

Seeing the desperation written on his face Anne knew that it was no use trying to persuade him. And because she couldn't bring herself to look him straight in the face and lie she hugged him again and whispered in his ear, "I promise."

A/N: Jeez, I don't know about the rest of you but I sure as hell feel depressed. I never understood why in the original story the father is so forthcoming about what happens at the Beast's castle. And I always felt that in a way he was subconsciously guilting his daughter into going in his place by basically telling her "I'm going to die if you don't go." So here Thom tries really hard not to tell her until it just pops out. I'm no doctor but I'm gonna go ahead and say that's due to a combo of emotional stress, guilt about lying to his sister, and anger that she keeps bugging him about it. Oh and Thom feels like the flower is representing his lifespan right now, that's why he's laughing (ironically) when she says it's dead. SYMBOLISM!