I followed the king away from the party. There were two of his men in our wake.

What could I have done that he wants to speak with me?

The music from the ballroom faded gently behind us as we walked briskly through the castle halls, our own party of eerie silence.

I raked my mind for any possible wrongdoings I may have committed—and then realized in horror that I had been with Stefan when he had given away all of his money in the village. Surely the king wanted to ask me about it—but where was Stefan?

We traversed a tower and entered a room that overlooked the outer-lying gardens and hedge maze. To my surprise, King Peter dismissed his men and instructed them to wait outside the door. I looked around; this room appeared to be a private study. Formal meetings would never be held in this small, disorganized space.

The king nodded towards a chair next to the window and near the fire for me to have a seat. I slid over to it quietly and sat up straight and still, waiting for any further indication of why I was there.

"Don't be nervous, child, you are safe here," he began calmly. The king began searching through a deep desk drawer for something. I watched him curiously as he pulled out a sealed envelope and tore it open, taking out its contents: a piece of parchment paper folded up like a letter, and a small vial. The king scanned the letter's message privately, his face unreadable, holding the vial in his grasp.

After an extended moment, he set the letter down upon his desk and then took the seat opposite of me. "Tell me, Lady Mary, might you have any magic in your blood?"

I stared at him blankly. What kind of conversation is this going to be?

"Not that I know of, your majesty," I said.

He twirled the vial in his hand, peering at it oddly. "From what I have heard, you are a remarkable girl."

I blushed. Heard from whom?

"I was brought here by your son," I explained in my best manners, "and he has given me safe haven here while I-"

"—try to remember?" he finished, giving me a knowing smile.

"Yes," I said honestly, unsure of what he knew of me or how, "something like that."

The king's eyes locked onto mine as he looked at me profoundly. "I know you've forgotten something—something very important to you. I know the pain of wonder, and bearing that missing piece inside of you can be most afflictive."

I nodded, our eyes still locked in an odd gaze. "You've forgotten something too?"

"I've forgotten something very important," he responded mildly, "but I chose to do it. It was a curse I placed on myself. You did not choose to forget, and therefore you are the one who deserves this." He revealed the vial to me as it rested in his palm. As I studied it, he said, "I've hid this serum for almost a lifetime. Its power is to conquer such forgetting spells and bring back what was lost."

I looked up at him, startled, my heart beginning to thump.

"But as I said," the king continued, "I had made a choice. This serum won't work on me. It's you who must drink it."

He placed the vial into my hand. I gaped at it, afraid and intrigued. And then a terrible thought crossed my mind. "Your majesty, what if I had chosen to forget?" I remembered the face of the boy who pursued me. He insisted that I had forgotten him, and so I wondered if it was true.

But he didn't even know my name.

"Then, I'm afraid, all hope would be lost," he answered.

Meaning?...

The vial was small and delicate in my palm, and the liquid inside amounted to no more than a few drops. It was obviously a rare item, one to treasure or pay a huge price for. And I had nothing to give.

"To remember," I murmured aloud, "could be a curse."

"Oh, no," the king replied immediately, shaking his head vehemently, "to forget will always be the curse. And to forget who you are is the worst of them all."

I could feel in my heart the truth of his words. My eyes fell upon the silver ring I still wore on my left hand; how badly I ached to know why I wore it.

Then it is time to remember.

I opened the vial and poured the contents down my throat, and then I felt as if I were falling.

Images rushed through my head like ghosts rising from their graves. I heard the screaming of a boy, and perceived him transforming into a terrible beast. There were warm, loving faces surrounding me—faces of enchantments who did not know they were dead. The image of a portrait that depicted two fairies returned to my mind, like the golden mushrooms I had almost died from eating. There was a castle, black and mysterious. The looking pool was where he first saw me. He gave me this ring in the rose garden.

Who? Who was that?

The whirring in my mind came to a complete, sudden halt.

Adrian.

I returned to full consciousness screaming.

The king took my hand, "Calm down, it's okay! It's okay! Tell me what you remember!"

I jumped to my feet, panic rising inside of me, threatening to spill out with all my sanity. "Adrian!" I exclaimed, "I forgot Adrian! Please—there was a boy here earlier, he had won the tourney-"

"Yes!" the king said quickly, "he is my son! It was you who broke his curse, was it not?"

"Your son? What do you—yes, yes he was once cursed but we defeated it, only not the Enchantress herself… He's gone now—I must find him!"

"I will help you," the king said intently, "and now that you remember, Severa will surely be dealt with soon."

"You know?" I asked him, confused and preoccupied with panic. How much time had I lost? Where was Adrian now? How could I have forgotten him?

Stupid girl! The answer was there the whole time!

I looked down at my ring again, the one he had given to me as a lover. My eyes welled with tears of sorrow. How painful it must have been, that I did not know who he was. It was the sort of hell one could not fathom.

"I am Adrian's father," the king said, "I only learned it today. And he is in great trouble, and so is my kingdom and my two other sons. The fairy said you could help me by remembering what happened."

Adrian's father? The king? That would make Adrian a prince, and I always knew he was…and not only a prince—but Stefan's brother, too.

The world; the strangest place I had ever encountered, growing stranger every day.

But I could remember now.

"Did you say fairy?" I asked, my memory piecing itself together gradually, "which fairy?"

There was a peculiar sound of bells—a sound I had heard some time ago. A spark of light materialized before me, and a voice came with it. "We meet again, Mary." In a flash, my fairy stood before me again—beautiful and glowing, as I had remembered her.

But my memories of her brought on fearful thoughts. I stepped away, "You tried to kill me with golden mushrooms," I said incredulously.

"No, that was my sister, Severa," she trilled, "I'm Pandora. She enchanted herself to appear to you as I did once she locked me away. And then she cursed you and made you believe the mushrooms would save you later."

Sisters. Pandora was the light fairy, and Severa was the dark one.

"Mary," Pandora said, "your destiny was written so you would go to the ball and marry the prince, leaving your imprisoned life behind forever. But I had to change it. That is why you had those dreams about the lost prince, and that is why you met him and broke his curse. Severa couldn't foresee that. I am sorry for the part you had to play in this, but you will save so many now. You are to be a hero."

If what she said was true, than I had been destined to be with Stefan, originally, just as my mother had wished it. But Stefan was no longer my destiny, and Adrian was. That was why I had become someone else, someone named Belle.

You are still Belle.

"Severa killed my step mother," I suddenly realized aloud, "golden mushrooms had poisoned her tea. I was tricked into believing it was my fault."

I involuntarily began to pace, my mind racing.

"Everything I had run from was just an illusion. I didn't have to leave myself behind—because I'm not a killer!"

The king and the fairy beheld me silently as I spoke, furious tears streaming down my face. "I hated myself to the point where I couldn't even tell Adrian who I really was. I was so afraid, and he was the only thing I trusted… and then I just saw him, and I turned him away!"

I turned to the others. "We have to help him. Please," I spoke in sheer desperation, "Please, I need to find him right away, or it may be too late!"

"His curse," King Peter said, stepping forward urgently, "it is broken, isn't it?"

"Severa cannot make him change into a beast," Pandora said calmly, "but she will have other ways of drawing it out of him. I don't know where she has taken him, but we must start looking at once."

I wiped the tears away from my cheeks, trying to catch my breath again.

I'm so sorry, Adrian. I failed you when you needed me most.

At that moment, a dark bird landed upon the windowsill of the tower, squawking once to draw attention to itself. I glanced over at it, another stream of memories flooding through my mind. And then it winked at me.

That clever bird…

"I think I know how to find him," I said.