As Cogsworth took us on the tour, accompanied by Lumière, he was describing the walls and ceilings, saying that some of the artwork was inspired by the style Baroque. We barely paid attention. As we walked down a hallway, suits of armor that lined the walls turned their heads as they watched us.

"This isn't what I had in mind," I grumbled to my friends, referring to Cogsworth's 'tour'. "I was hoping he'd stick with the locations of the rooms and wings."

"Wings…?" Hermione muttered to herself.

"…And I always say: 'if it's not Baroque, don't fix it'." Cogsworth joked.

The team and I rolled our eyes, realizing why Harry left.

"Now where was I…? As you were!" Cogsworth suddenly said sternly to the suits of armor.

The suits of armor turned their heads back to their original positions.

Cogsworth was about to continue, but then he noticed that Belle and I were heading for some stairs. He and Lumière ran in front of us, trying to block our way.

"What's up there?" Belle and I asked.

"Where? There? Oh nothing, nothing of interest at all in the West Wing. Dusty, dull, very boring." Cogsworth said quickly as Lumière nodded enthusiastically.

"Ah, so that's the West Wing." Belle and I smiled.

Cogsworth gave a sort of 'oops' noise without actually saying "Oops." Hermione frowned, noticing the look on Belle and my faces.

"Nice going." Lumière said dryly to Cogsworth.

"I wonder what they're hiding up there." Belle said.

"Hiding?" Lumière said. "The masters are hiding nothing."

"Then it wouldn't be forbidden." Belle and I pointed out, walking past them.

"Perhaps the mademoiselles would like to see something else." Cogsworth said. "We have exquisite tapestries dating all the way back to…."

"Maybe later." Belle and I replied.

"Uh, the, the gardens?" Lumière suggested. "Or, or the, the library perhaps."

"You have a library?" Belle and I said, interested.

I didn't know about Belle, but I was only pretending to be interested.

"Oh yes, yeah, oh indeed!" Cogsworth said.

"With books!" Lumière said.

"Gabs of books!" Cogsworth said.

"Mountains of books!" Lumière agreed.

"Forests of books!" Cogsworth added.

"Cascades!" Lumière said.

"Cloudbursts!" Cogsworth said.

"Swamps!" Lumière added.

"More books than you'll be able to read in a lifetime!" Cogsworth finished.

Well sort of, both Lumière and Cogsworth continued on even after they were out of our earshot.

Cogsworth and Lumière led us down the steps, but they were obviously distracted with describing the library for they didn't see Belle and I turning around to go up the steps. Hermione quickly hopped onto Rip Claw.

"Hey!" Rip protested.

Hermione ignored him and flew him to the top of the first half of the staircase. This didn't stop Belle, who of course could go right through them, but she did wait for me a bit down the hallway.

"Hermione move." I said sort of nervously.

"Oh no! Belle might be able to go through us but I know you can't!" Hermione said.

"That's not what I meant." I said.

"What…*yooooooowww!*" Hermione cried.

A big electric shock coming from Rip Claw sent Hermione flying off him and back into her own compartment!

"Jack and I are the only ones allowed to ride Rip Claw." I explained sheepishly. "Didn't you tell them Rip?"

"Actually I did, but apparently Hermione didn't quite get it." Rip muttered.

"You could've been more specific!" Hermione snapped.

"I thought that the mere mention of who was allowed to ride me was enough!" Rip retorted.

"Okay both of you calm down." I interrupted.

"An electric guard." Jenny said, understanding the purpose of the shock. "Used to shock everyone except for the true riders unless if I miss my guess."

I nodded: Jenny didn't miss her guess.

"That's an extremely effective security device, but maybe you should limit the energy on the voltage." Velma added.

"Trust me, you don't want to know how powerful the electricity gets when an enemy tries to ride Rip. The electric guard has a scanner that can tell the difference between a goodguy and a badguy." I said. "Well, time to get going."

"What are you talking about?" Jackie asked.

"Yeah, you can't go through us." Misty pointed out.

"I don't have to go through you, I can go over you." I explained, jumping right over them.

Hermione and some of the other serious ones frowned disapprovingly.

"Miranda this is a bad idea." Hermione said.

"Even I'd have to agree," Ron W said. "You don't want the beast to get mad at you."

"Besides, there can't be anything important up there." Hermione pointed out.

"Oh no?" I disagreed. "According to one of Boss's books, there's a perfectly good reason for why I'm going up there."

"Boss's books on evolution, physics, and the basic laws for everything?" Hermione said dryly. "I thought it was out of curiosity."

"Yeah, right, sure, a curious dog." I said sarcastically. "I don't have any of that in me! Look, according to the book, whenever there's an enchantment, there's always a key to the enchantment: something you have to destroy or tells you what to do to break the enchantment. Now, why do you think the West Wing is forbidden?"

"I don't see what that has to do with the enchantment, but obviously because it's the beast's bedroom." Hermione said.

"Right, now if you had a key to an enchantment, where would you put it if it had to be in your house?" I asked.

"Well I'd put it in a safe area in my bed…. Oh I get it!" Dongwa said.

"That's really clever!" Jade smiled.

Now almost everyone agreed it was a good idea, though Hermione still frowned disapprovingly. I actually was a little amazed at first that Uncle seemed to be okay with this, but then 'cranky old goat' or not he's still wise.

"What about the beast?" Hermione pointed out.

"Remember, we can send messages through the mind whenever there's no other way to communicate, in other words telepathy." I pointed out. "Just warn me when the beast gets near and I'll have Belle and I safe before the beast reaches the stairs."

"Yeah?" Hermione said. "What about the beast noticing us first?"

"Jade?" I smiled.

"Never mind." Hermione muttered as Jade handed Rip the snake talisman.

I started to leave….

"Miranda wait!" Numbuh Four called, running up to me. "I want to come."

"Wait for me, I want to come too." Numbuh One said.

"I'm coming too." Lizzie said.

Numbuh Two ran up to us, obviously wanting to join in as well.

"All right." I smiled. "Let's go."

After catching up with Belle, we walked down the hall. As we looked around we saw creepy indoor wall statues, and what was creepy about them was that they seemed…well, alive, like living gargoyles even though they didn't move an inch. But then the gargoyles we saw earlier had the same feature... Obviously the castle was also affected by the enchantment. Belle, Numbuh One, Numbuh Four, Lizzie, and I also saw a badly cracked mirror, but there was no mystery behind that one. We soon reached the only doors at the end of the hallway, but Belle seemed reluctant to open it. I could tell it was because the door handles, put together, formed some sort of demon face, but unlike the gargoyles we passed this face didn't seem that alive.

"Oh come on, it's only a doorknob." I sighed.

"Fine, you open the door." Belle replied.

I did.

"After you." I smiled.

Belle looked back before opening the other door and going inside.

"Why did she look back?" Lizzie asked.

"To hide the fact she was rolling her eyes." I grinned.

My three companions grinned back, and we went inside. Numbuh One, Numbuh Four, Numbuh Two, Lizzie and I were a bit startled to find ruined draperies, furniture, and beds. It was dark too, Belle accidentally bumped into a table but she caught it before it fell over.

"Hermione was right," I said. "This is the beast's bedroom."

"Considering the look of this place I'd say it should be called a 'mess room'." Numbuh Two joked.

"You have a point, if my parents saw this room they'd never bug me about my room again." I agreed.

We then noticed a pair of closed doors to our right, but instead of going through the doors we stopped to look at a couple of slashed portraits. One was a human and the other one was a white wolf.

"Hey guys, look over there." Numbuh One said.

We rushed over to where he was, except for Belle since she was almost mesmerized by the portrait of the human.

"Belle!" I called.

She gave a startled gasp, and then walked over to where we were: in front of a floating, glowing rose under a dome!

"This is definitely the key to the enchantment." I whispered.

"Since roses symbolize love, maybe the beast has to fall in love with Belle and vice-versa." Lizzie whispered back.

Belle never overheard us, she was too into the rose's beauty. She took the dome off and seemed ready to touch the rose...

"Actually, I think you're right," I agreed with Lizzie, even though I knew she was partly joking. "But it'd take a long time for the 'vice-versa'…. Ow!" I cried, clutching my head.

"What's wrong?" Numbuh Four asked.

"I got static, Hermione must have been interrupted…." I froze.

"Uh-oh." My three companions and I said.

A dark, large shape burst in front of us…the beast! He angrily grabbed the dome and recovered the rose with it.

"Guys! Get out of here!" I ordered, sounding a little nervous.

"But what about you?" Numbuh One protested.

"Just go!" I ordered. "If you guys got hurt I'd never forgive myself!"

They started to run, but Numbuh Four stopped at the door.

"Uh Numbuh K9, we're ghosts…." He started to remind me.

"GO!" I snapped.

"Going!" He said, startled, as he ran away.

My friends ran right through the door, being ghosts, and went right back to the others. There they learned that it was Double Dee who interrupted Hermione when he tried to YELL a warning to me, which of course made the beast rush in.

"Why did you come here?" The beast growled to Belle and me.

"We're sorry." Belle and I said, sounding a bit nervous.

"I warned you both never to come here!" The beast continued, ignoring us.

"We didn't mean any harm." Belle and I said desperately.

"Do you realize what you could have done?" He growled, his anger rising.

He smashed some furniture.

"Wait stop!" Belle and I cried.

"Get out!" The beast roared, smashing some more furniture. "GET OUT!"

This was too much: Belle and I rushed out of there, completely scared. We soon met Lumière and Cogsworth on the bottom of the stairs. Apparently they had just figured out where we were around this time.

"Where are you going?" Lumière asked me and Belle.

"Promise or no promise, we can't stay here another minute!" Belle replied.

"Oh no wait, please, please wait." Cogsworth pleaded.

No use: Belle and I rushed outside, shutting the door. Ron W, Hermione, and the team were really shocked, at that moment I didn't seem like myself. Suddenly, Harry rushed up to the stairs. When he learned what had happened he told the others to try to convince Belle and I to come back while he had a talk with the beast. RonW, Hermione, and the team agreed.

"Miranda! We can't abandon Harry!" Hermione cried when she and Ron W and the team caught up with Belle, who was riding Philippe, and I.

I didn't show any reaction, instead I kept on running. Ron W, Hermione, and the team were at first confused, but then they saw in my eyes how scared I was. Actually, my fellow operatives noticed it first and then they pointed it out to the others. Before anyone on the team had a chance to try to calm me down, we heard howls: wolves! And unfortunately, these wolves did not seem friendly. Philippe and I ran even faster. Leaping over logs, we tried to escape. At one point Belle managed to lead Philippe so that he made a wolf hit a tree, but the pack wasn't giving up. Suddenly, Philippe and I fell and I disappeared! We had run onto ice-covered water and the ice broke, I was now completely underwater! Ron W, Hermione, and the team were at first worried, but fortunately I swam back up to the surface without any trouble. Philippe and I swam to the shore on the other side.

Philippe and I reached land again and kept on running, but then some more wolves trapped Philippe! He reared up, accidentally threw Belle off, and got his reins caught on a branch! Philippe managed to kick a wolf aside, but another wolf leapt onto Philippe! Belle grabbed a large stick and knocked the wolf off, but it didn't help for long, one of the wolves broke it in half!

I had been trapped when the wolves blocked Philippe so I collapsed on the ground near a tree, waiting for the wolves to attack me. They didn't, a larger wolf got there first and tossed the alpha wolf aside into a tree! More scared than hurt, the alpha wolf ran away with his mate. The rest of the wolves, however, turned to an even larger creature: the beast! The beast and Harry had come to save us!

"Uh, Miranda," Harry said as the beast fought the wolves. "Why didn't you protect yourself or even Belle from the wolves?"

"I-I can't hurt wolves," I explained. "No matter what."

Rolph actually seemed a bit confused by that for some reason, though Ron W, Hermione, and the rest of the team immediately understood.

At that moment, the rest of the wolves took off, the beast had won! But then he collapsed, hurt, onto the snow. Concerned, Harry rushed over to him. Belle, however, was about to ride off on Philippe again, but I stopped her by grabbing her skirts and letting out a whine. Belle jumped off, and put the beast on Philippe.

"Uh Miranda," Hermione said, as we started going back to the castle. "I still don't understand why you were about to abandon Harry like that."

"I wasn't!" I replied sternly. "Why would you think that?"

"You…you were running away…." Hermione explained, seeming to be a bit confused.

"That's just because the beast yelled at us." I explained.

"Huh?"

"Numbuh K9 has very sensitive hearing," Numbuh Two explained. "Even for a dog."

"Yes." I agreed. "I even have sensitive hearing in the Main World. Whenever I hear a loud noise, the only thought I get is that I have to get away from it. I didn't snap out until I fell underwater, but by then I had to run away from the wolves."

"Numbuh Five hopes the wolves chasing you and Belle didn't, well, hurt you." Numbuh Five said sympathetically. "You hate that sort of thing…what?"

She was unexpectedly interrupted by Rip laughing for some reason.

"Those wolves weren't going to hurt Belle or Miranda, they were just trying to keep them at the castle!" Rip laughed.

"HUH?" Most of us said.

"I don't get it, why would the wolves care about that?" Ash said. "Or even know about the enchantment for that matter?"

"Yeah," Brock agreed. "And how did you end up thinking that?"

"When the wolves were 'chasing' Belle and Miranda I noticed that the two alpha wolves had interesting markings on their shoulders." Rip smiled.

"Wait, wouldn't one mark happen to be crossed arrows and the other to be a club?" I smiled, suddenly getting what Rip was saying.

"Very good guess," Rip teased good-naturedly. "How in the world did you know?"

This time I laughed. The rest of my friends stared at me.

"That was Silverarrow and Clubdance!" I laughed. "They're the alpha wolves for Boss's assistants."

"WHAT?" Everyone else cried, shocked.

After the shock though they, bit by bit, started laughing too.

As soon as we reached the castle, we helped Belle carry the beast into his sitting room. Belle prepared to care for the beast's arm, which had been scratched badly at the battle. The beast however was taking care of his wound his own way: licking it.

"Here now," Belle said gently. "Don't do that."

She tried to put a towel soaked in hot water on his arm, but he held back.

"Just…hold…still." Belle struggled to put the towel on his arm.

She succeeded, and the beast roared. Ears hurting, I rushed off to a far corner. Cogsworth and the others were there too.

"THAT HURT!" The beast roared.

"If you'd hold still it wouldn't hurt as much." Belle pointed out angrily.

"If you two hadn't run away, this wouldn't have happened." The beast argued.

"If you hadn't frightened us, we wouldn't have run away." Belle explained angrily.

There was a slight pause as the beast groped for a retort.

"Well you two shouldn't have been in the West Wing." The beast retorted.

"Well you should learn to control your temper." Belle retorted. "Now hold still, this might sting a little." She patted the beast's arm with the towel.

He cringed, but didn't roar this time thank goodness.

"By the way, thank you, for saving our lives."

"You're welcome." The beast said.