A thick silence filled the hallway. The only sound in the space was Cogsworth's own footsteps, but even that sound was slow with long pauses between each click on the tiles. The impatient part of Cogsworth's mind insisted that he move faster while the rational part of his mind continuously reminded him not to hurry, for his whole body still ached from last night.
Then, the sound of more, faster footsteps echoed down the hall. Cogsworth turned to see Chip fall into step beside him. For a short while, the two walked side by side in silence. Eventually, Chip tore the curtain of silence between them.
"Cogsworth, why did that man hurt Joseph last night?" Chip asked.
"You see, Chip, the normal people fear us, or to be more specific, they fear our magic. They are afraid of the control we have on the world and what we could do with such control. That is why I always met with the others in secret. No normal person could know the truth about us because it would put our safety – or even our lives – at risk." Cogsworth explained.
Chip did not reply and only stared at the floor. After that, they walked the rest of the way to the dining hall in silence. Cogsworth glanced once at the boy as they slowly made their way through the castle. He felt horrible knowing that Chip would have to live such a dangerous and risky life.
Oh, the sweet irony of it all, Cogsworth thought bitterly. I've been dodging normal people's notice for centuries, maybe even a millennia or two, but Joseph was the one who had to die. The boy was only fifteen. Why did his life have to be taken instead of mine?
Once the long, slow walk throughout the castle had reached its end, Cogsworth and Chip finally stood at the dining hall's door. Cogsworth reached for the doorknob, but his hand froze when Chip asked him one last question.
"Do you think that Shyla will be alright?" Chip wondered.
"I don't know, Chip," Cogsworth admitted. With that said, Cogsworth pushed open the door and the two elementals entered the dining hall where all of the other servants were already waiting for them.
At first, neither of them seemed to notice the other servants in the room. Their focus had instantly locked onto another person in the dining hall. She was seated across from Babette, ignoring the fact that the maid was giving her a cold glare. When she saw the two of them in the doorway, she smiled warmly at them.
"Brooke!" Chip exclaimed. The young boy raced towards her and threw himself into her arms. "You're okay."
"Of course I'm okay, Chip." Brooke said, pulling him into her embrace. After he released her and ran to his mother, Brooke looked up to see Cogsworth seated next to her.
Cogsworth held back laughter each time he looked at Babette's reaction to Brooke. Her brown eyes continuously flickered between Brooke and where Lumiere sat next to her, glaring all the while. Of course, with Lumiere's flirtatious behavior, Cogsworth couldn't blame the maid for being overly protective.
"So, what exactly happened last night?" Lumiere asked the question that they were all wondering.
With a sigh, Cogsworth began to reluctantly recount the events of the previous night. Shock filled the room when he explained that he and Chip were elementals. However, now was the time to speak of Joseph's death, a topic that Cogsworth really didn't want to discuss. Thankfully, Brooke spared him the painful explanation by continuing the story herself.
Everything had been explained, and the servants all fell into silence. No one knew what to say about everything they had just heard. Though he had a great gift for staying positive in almost any situation, even Lumiere had nothing to say. It was the first time in his life that Cogsworth recalled all of the servants being completely silent.
Using has time magic to pull him away from the present, Cogsworth delved into his memories. Soon, an image appeared before him. Joseph and Shyla were younger, probably around the age of nine, and Brooke was there as well. Cogsworth even saw himself there (like he always did), though there was no visible difference between his current self and his self from this six-years-past memory. The twins were beginning their training, but after a few seconds, the memory was too painful to watch any longer. It melted away, leaving Cogsworth right back where he started.
Though she had not seen Cogsworth's memory, Brooke knew he had been spectating something from his past. Every time he watched one of his many memories his eyes would become misty as if he was looking somewhere far away. Whatever Cogsworth had seen didn't last long and was clearly unpleasant, for he pulled himself away from the memory quickly and there was a haunted look in his eyes.
Shyla leaned against the leafless oak tree. She was still sobbing even now, thinking back on the events of the previous night.
After she had left the clearing, Shyla had ran as fast as she possible could have. Lost in her grief, Shyla had not cared about where she was going. She had continued like that until she was completely deprived of energy between sobbing and running. At that point she had collapsed. When she had woken this morning, she had found herself at the bottom of the oak.
He's gone. He's really gone, Shyla thought, still trying to tell herself that it had really happened and that it hadn't been a nightmare. That's what my life is now, she realized, a nightmare. The normal human tore my brother, my only family, away from me, and now I don't know where I am. My life has turned into a waking nightmare. And that's what I'll do to them. They destroyed my life, and now I'll destroy theirs. I'll make the humans pay for what they've done to me!
There is chapter 4. I'm sorry if this was confusing at the part where Cogsworth was spectating on his memories. That will be explained more later on in the book.
Also, side-note to Babetteisawesome, I promise that I'll use Babette more in the future (and use her better). For now, I just wanted to do something that wasn't as heavy and serious as the rest of the chapter, and Babette gave me that opportunity.
