Belle reentered the room she had first looked at for renovation. Old portraits and paintings covered most of the floor space. Belle looked at the same painting she had examined earlier. The pale face and piercing blue eyes prodded her. She took her hand to the glass cover, brushing the dust off. She had time to examine it more closely now as Adam was busy talking to another French architect. He and Belle decided he would keep looking until he found the best architect in France and if necessary, all of Europe. Belle found herself bored by it and told Adam she wouldn't mind if he made all the decisions. What she had not told him, however, was that she would use this time to find out what Adam was hiding. She couldn't fight her curiosity. It was like the time when she explored the west wing. Something told her she just had to. She focused in on the eyes in the painting, hoping for some clue, some hint to Adam's secret history, but nothing was coming to her. Belle turned the painting over placing it on the pile. She let out a sigh, not knowing how long this would take. Glancing back over it, she noticed the closing back piece was bulging. Now why wouldn't this close over a piece of canvas? She knew there was something weird about this painting.
Belle poked her fingers under the back edges of the frame, trying to ease out the back piece without damaging anything. After a bit of tugging and prying, the piece popped out. Inside was a note. Belle couldn't make out most of the writing. The alphabet was familiar, but many of the words looked like gibberish. She noticed at the end of every couple of lines there were words she recognized, but the phrases made no sense, at least not contextually. She eyed down the page recognizing terms, "for fire", "for silence". Most of them continued in the same fashion, but the two lines in particular haunted her, "For death to those who breech the sacred oath", and "long live Ezerius Mordonaut". Belle couldn't help wonder who this person was, or why this not would be kept in some old painting or what any of it meant. She studied the note and decided to keep it in her pocket to look over it later. As she stood up, she heard footsteps coming down the hallway.
"So monsieur, these are the rooms which you want to renovate." Belle knew Adam was going to show the architect the room. She did not want him to see her snooping around. As a last minute decision she bolted into the closet, deciding to hide there until the two of them had finished discussing. Then she would have a talk with Adam about the mysterious note.
Gaston found himself exhausted from the search. How many rooms are there in this castle? He and Genevieve had searched through endless hallways, furnished rooms, and garden space. Staring at the endless stretch of corridor, Gaston wondered how anyone in the castle could stand trying to find anyone else inside it.
"Haven't we been here before?" Gaston tried to hide his breaths of exasperation.
"Yeah, Jacques, I'm kind of worried. I've never had this much trouble finding them. Do you think they left the castle grounds?" She glanced over at him, the worried expression plastered on her face.
"Uh…" Gaston wasn't sure how to respond. He was not very intent on journeying through the forest on what might be a wild goose chase.
"Will you just come with me to look? I don't really want to go out there by myself. It's kind of dangerous." She glanced over at him, her eyes full of worry.
"Sure," Gaston replied reluctantly. Great. Gaston was not ready to get attacked by some wild animal and find himself incapable of defense.
"Ok, follow me." Genevieve led him out through a back door. "If anyone in the castle sees us, they'll think I'm irresponsible, and never let me go away to school. Thanks for helping me find them." She continued on about school in Paris and retold stories about people in the castle while leading Gaston further into a very eerie part of the forest. "Jacques, something isn't right here." Gaston knew exactly what she was talking about. The two of them had just come from a beautiful sunny patch. Somehow the forest in a few feet managed to transform entirely. Grey haze soaked the branches of the trees. Purple darkness enveloped them and the normal forest sounds had gone silent. The atmosphere seemed too familiar to Gaston. If this is another bearer of bad news, I'm going to re-hurl myself off of the edge of the castle. Before Gaston could even think he heard familiar voices.
"Cecilia, it's okay. Someone will find us. Don't cry." Gaston could hear a child's whimpering in the darkness.
"Jacques, that's them! We have to do something. Chip! Cecilia! It ok we're-", but before she could finish Gaston clasped his hand over her mouth.
He leaned in closely to her and began to whisper. "Genevieve, I don't think we should make our presence known. I think there is some kind of sorcery going on here." Genevieve understood exactly what he was saying and didn't protest. Gaston could barely see her nodding through the cold darkness. She gently tugged on him, following the direction of her sibling's voices. Gaston hoped this wasn't some sort of trick. He had been through enough of this before. He was surprised at how brave Genevieve was. He never knew any young girls like that. As they inched forward they noticed the glimmer of what looked like green fire.
"Genevieve, where are you?" Chip's voice came between tears. Gaston knew how much Genevieve probably wanted to respond but was relieved when she didn't reply. Finally they could see the glow of the faces in the fire. When Gaston could finally make out the whole picture, horror gripped him. He hadn't felt this kind of fear since he could remember. Chip and Cecilia were dangling inside a cage. Below them were what looked like freshly bloody carcasses. Gaston didn't stare long enough to see if they were human. Chip was barely holding himself together as Cecilia clung to him letting out a mixture of sobs and wheezing.
"We have to cut them down Jacques." Gaston was shocked when Genevieve wasn't absolutely terrified. He didn't want to seem like a wimp, so he nodded and searched his pockets for a blade. "Don't worry I've got it." Genevieve pulled out a small dagger and glanced up, her concentrated expression gleaming in the fire. "I can't reach up there, Jacques. Can you do it?" Her voice was barely audible, as she didn't want to be heard.
Without answering Gaston took the knife from her. He had longed for this, to feel heroic again, even if that meant risking his life. It wasn't much of a life anyways from his standpoint. He inched around the fire bearing the dagger in his hand, and began slicing away at the cord. Chip looked too terrified to speak at this point. Gaston then heard a deep voice bellow from behind him.
"What do you think you're doing?" Slowly Gaston turned around. Glowing eyes peered at him through the darkness, and it looked as though Genevieve had vanished. Gaston had no response. Chip and Cecilia went completely silent.
"You want to take my prizes here from me?" The eyes pierced every bit of haze, clearly looking at Gaston. "Put down the blade, and I'll let you go safely." Two huge beasts appeared beside the figure, whose shape was still unclear. Gaston slowly lowered the knife, not loosening his grip on it. His fear was fighting him. Gaston felt something press into his lower back. Gaston heard Genevieve's voice, weirdly inside his head. Don't move.
"Put the weapon down!" The voice was horrifying but Gaston felt compelled not to let go of the blade. The eyes came closer to him, and the shadowy beasts began to emerge from the darkness. Gaston was sure he and the others would die right there. Suddenly a beam of light shot out from behind him. The two beasts recoiled back in pain. The glowing eyes widened and vanished. Gaston aware of the time he now had, cut down the cage. It was made out of wood, so he was able to cut through it as well. Chip and Cecilia came out looking terrified. Gaston turned behind him to see Genevieve's body sprawled across the ground. He knew they had to get back to the castle, and was not going to risk waiting any longer. He reached under Genevieve's back with all the strength he could muster and slung her limp body over his sagging shoulders.
"Come on we need to get back to the castle." Chip and Cecilia continued in front of him, and Gaston prayed that Genevieve would regain consciousness soon enough to tell him what had just occurred. They moved as fast as they could and entered the castle through the same back door they left from. He led them to the place he thought they could talk in most secretively, Chip's bedroom. He laid Genevieve's limp figure across the bed.
"Why were you two out there?" Gaston's sweat drenched hair hung over his face as he pushed them for some hint as to what had happened. "And what on earth were those creatures?"