Chapter 8:

Chapter 8: His Eyes

The castle was very busy. Everyone was doing his, and her, share to clean up the castle. For that night was Abel's twenty-first birthday. Ion ran down the hall with a bundle of old curtains in his hands. He darted around a corner and collided with another small body. Both bodies fell backwards with an "oomph!" The bundles of curtains had fallen to the floor as Ion had fell. He looked up to see whom he had bumped into.

There on the floor was a little girl dressed in a green play dress. She stood up and rubbed her butt as she winced.

"Seth?" Ion asked as he stood up. "What are you doing?"

"Shhh! Don't be so loud!" Seth shushed him. She glanced around the room for anybody. No one was there. "All right. Follow me." She instructed in a whisper. He nodded as she pulled him into the kitchen door.

Inside the kitchen, numerous of good smells drifted inside. Vaclav was busily working at the stove and didn't notice the two children. Seth brought Ion over to the wooden table in the center of the kitchen. Ion's eyes widened at what he saw. On the table was the biggest cake he had ever seen!

Seth reached up and slid her finger across the cake. Icing gathered up on her finger and she brought in down to her mouth and ate it. She looked at Ion slyly and he did the same.

Suddenly, Vaclav turned around and saw the two children eating his masterpiece. "What do you two think your doing?" He asked in rage.

The two of them, who had icing on the corners of their mouths, froze in fear, as they looked up, wide-eyed, at the angry cook.

"Do you know how long that took me to make?" He asked as he slowly became more and more angry. "I should kill you two!" He reached for the two of them.

They ducked and ran for the kitchen door. They screamed for their lives as Vaclav chased after them. "Come back here you brats!" He yelled.

They ran out of the kitchen and into the hallway for their lives. They turned the corner and saw Esther as she came down the hall with a book in her hand. She looked up from her book and saw the two children running toward her and the very angry cook as he came around the corner. The two children ran and hid behind her legs.

Vaclav came to a stop once he saw Esther. "Oh, Miss!" He gasped.

"What is going on?" She asked him.

"I…uh…nothing, Miss Esther." He said in defeat for he could not tell Esther about the party. It was supposed to remain a secret from her. He looked down at the two children who poked theirs heads out from around Esther's legs. They stuck their tongue out at him. "Why I outta…" He muttered as he raised a fist next to his face. The two children flinched in fear of what was to come.

"Vaclav, is something the matter?" Esther asked him as she raised an eyebrow.

He dropped his fist. "Nothing. Pardon me, but I have work to do. Excuse me." He said and turned around. Then he marched back to the kitchen.

After she had watched him disappear around the corner, she asked to the two children, "All right! Now what was that about?" She bent over to look at the children in the eye, but they were gone. "Huh?" She looked down the hall and they were running away from her. "Hey!" Then they turned around the corner and disappeared from her sight. She sighed and looked back at her open book. She continued to walk and read back to her room.

She opened the door to her room and walked inside. She looked inside the room and saw Noélle and Kate with tons of dresses. She raised an eyebrow at the two of them. "What are you two doing?" She asked.

They quickly looked at her as they gasped, "Esther!"

"So what are you two doing?" She asked as she waltzed over to the two of them.

They hid the dresses behind their backs. "N-Nothing!" They shrieked.

"Really?" She asked.

"Yeah…"

"Well, we better get going. Right, Kate?" Noélle said.

"Right, Noélle! Well, see you later, Esther!" Kate said as she and Noélle left the room with the dresses.

Esther waved bye. "Something is defiantly up." She set her book on the nightstand and set off to snoop.

Outside Esther's room, Noélle and Kate nearly fainted. "That was close!" Kate whispered as they walked down the hallway.

"You tell me!" Noélle exclaimed. "I knew we shouldn't been in her room to look for a dress style and color."

"Shhh! Not so loud! We don't her to know about it yet!" Kate shushed her.

Esther walked around. She had wandered outside and toward the stables. The snow had melted and only a little remained. She walked inside the stable and found Tres as he shoveled some hay. "Hello, Tres.'

"Hello." He replied.

"So have you seen Philippe?" She asked him like she did every day. Philippe had been missing ever since that day of the snowstorm.

"No. I haven't."

"Awe. I really miss him. You know everyone has been acting really weird today."

"All right."

'I think something is up."

"Okay then."

Her round-the-bush strategy wasn't working as it was planned. She pout slightly; then regained her composure. "Tres, you know something, don't you?" He didn't answer. "You know what's going on."

He picked up a bucket of grain and began to walk over to a stall. "Positive and I'm not allowed to reveal it to you."

She followed him. "Oh, but could you? Pretty please?" She asked.

"Negative. I could not. By orders of higher authority."

She pouted. "Hm! Fine then!" She turned on her heels and walked out. "I'll see you later."

"Good-bye, Miss Esther."

Outside, Esther thoughtfully looked up at the sky. "Hmm, who should I ask next?" She wondered. She looked around her surroundings. She had wandered into the gardens. She found a small, white gazebo and took a seat inside it.

"Miss Esther?" Someone asked.

Esther looked in front of her to see Hugue, who wore a brown cloak to shield himself from the UV rays, as he was carrying a tin tub filled with water.

"Oh! Hugue! You know everyone has been acting really strange today."

"Really?" He asked as he placed the tin tub down. He dumped a tin watering can into the water to fill it up. Then, he began to water the flowers.

"Yeah, I think that something is up. Do you know what it is?"

"I haven't a slightest idea as to what." He told her as he poured some water on a petunia.

Knowing that she wouldn't get any more information out of him, Esther slid off the bench inside the gazebo and left the garden, saying, "Oh, okay. Goodbye."

"Goodbye." Hugue said, almost like he was lonely.

Esther pouted as she walked into the castle. No one would tell her just what was going on and she felt like she needed to help what ever it was. She rounded a corner and entered a new hall. There she saw the backs of William and Leon as they walked down the hall. "Oh, Leon! William!" She called and rushed over to two them of them. They turned to her.

"Oh, hello, Miss Esther. What bring you here?" William asked.

"Say, do you know anything about what is going on here?" Esther asked. "No one would tell me."

William automatically switched into defense-mode. "I know nothing about a party or anything!"

"A party?" She gasped.

"Nice one, fool." Leon hissed at him.

"Did I say 'party'? No, I meant I partly know anything about this place!"

"Hm? But it was you who showed me the entire palace. How could you not know anything about this place?"

"Ah, well… I do know, but… There really isn't a party going on for Abel's twenty-first birth––"

"I think we have work to do." Leon said as he clasped a hand over William's mouth to silence him from any more talking. "Excuse us." He said and dragged Leon down the hall.

Once they disappeared from her sight, she smiled. "So that's what is going on." Even though she now knew what was going on, she still kept it a secret of what she learned. And so, she headed back to her room to finish her book.

Abel sat in a room, one that was far cleaner that his own, and stared into his reflection in the mirror before him. "I look horrendous," he thought. He saw his long teeth, messy silver hair, and pale skin. It was all too familiar to him, but still it scared even him.

"Tonight is the night, Abel" Catrina told him as she looked at him seriously.

"I don't think that I can do this." He looked at her. "I mean, just look at me."

"Stop being such a baby, Abel. You know that she is your friend."

"I know, but still…"

"You don't have the time to be timid. Today is your twenty-first birthday. You must confess your love tonight, Abel." She told him as she crossed her arms in front of her chest.

He looked back into his reflection. "Yes, I-I… No, I can't."

"You care for Esther, don't you?" She asked him.

"Yes, I do. With all my heart, but what if she doesn't like me the same. I don't what to keep her here against her will."

"But, Abel…"

The door creaked open. William stood at the doorway. "Your lady awaits you."

Abel stood up and walked to the doorway. He stopped before entering it and took a deep breath. Then, he walked out the door.

"He's grown up so much." Catrina noted.

"He has. He sure has."

Esther entered into the doorway to the flight of marble stairs. She wore a white dress that perfectly fit her figure. The dress was both immodest and modest at the same time for the neckline ran low but not too low. The hems of the dress nearly touched the floor. A ruby was sown into the neckline. It perfectly matched her hair. She walked down the stairs and onto the bridge that connected the two flights of stairs in which they then became one. She stopped there and looked up the other flight of stairs ahead of her. There, Abel stood.

He was nervous. He took another deep breath to calm himself down. After he let it go, he walked down the stairs to met Esther. She walked over to him and curtsied a little. He bowed before her and held out his warm to her. She took it and they walked arm-in-arm down the flight of stairs.

They ate dinner in the dinning room. The place seemed even grander. Vaclav had made a special dinner for them. Only the finest of his recipes, along with a delicious lemon cake filled with sugary goodness just for Abel.

After the wonderful meal, Esther playfully dragged Abel into the ballroom. William took up a violin and began to play a waltz. They stood in the center of the ballroom under a grand chandelier. Esther slid her hand into Abel's giant clawed hand. It was warm, but still had a touch of coldness to it. She took his right hand and placed it on her waist. She looked up at him and smiled. He could only look down at her in doubtfulness. They began to dance.

They seemed to fly with the tempo and notes of the music. They danced around the whole ballroom, twirling in and out. She could only look into his wintry-blue eyes and smile. They were the most beautiful things about him. His eyes. She could get lost in the sea of blue of those eyes. How wonderful they were.

William's piece finally came to the end. With one last chord, he slowly slid his stick across the strings.

Abel led Esther over to the pair of glass doors and walked through them into the night. All of the staff (Kate, Catrina, Noélle, Princess Seth, William, Leon, Vaclav, Tres, Hugue, and Ion) watched the two of them head onto the balcony.

The night air was cool, but lovely. Crickets and over insects hummed in the background. The stars shone all around them It was just heavenly. Abel led her over to a white marble bench near the white marble railings. The beautiful redhead sat with grace and poise. He sat down next to her and slowly inched his way over to her. He took both of her hands in his. She looked up at him with love, yet shyness.

"Esther? Are you happy… here with me?" He asked her.

She looked at him with a puzzling, yet happy, look. "Of course I'm happy." She told him. She looked down at her feet. "It's just…"

"What is it?" He asked dying to know the answer.

"It's just I wish that I could see my mother again for one last time. I miss her dearly." She told him with such a longing look on her face.

He thought for a moment and remembered his mirror. "There is a way." He told her with hope.

"There is?" She asked.

He nodded. "Come with me." He said as he stood up and led her to his room.

Inside his room, by the table with the rose near the balcony, he took the mirror off the table. "This mirror," he explained, "will show you anything," he held it up to her face, "anything you wish to see."

She took it and looked into her reflection. "I'd like to see my mother, please." The mirror glowed a light green and soon her reflection morphed into a picture of her mother. Laura lay on the path in the woods. Philippe was nowhere to be seen and a cold wind blew harshly. Laura coughed wickedly. Esther expression grew horrified at what she saw. "Mama?" She gasped. "Oh, no. She's sick. She may be dying and he's all alone." She told him.

Abel turned to the balcony and led onto the table. He gripped hard on the wood. His claws dug into the wood as he narrowed his eyes. He looked at the rose behind the glass. It was wilting. He could just make her stay and he would be normal. But that would be cruel just like the monster he looked like. He made up his mind. "Then, you must go to him." He told her even though it was painful.

"What did you say?" She asked not believing what she had heard.

"I release you." Each word was like a punch in his gut. "You are not longer my prisoner."

"You mean," she gasped, "I'm free?"

"Yes." He choked out.

"Oh, thank you." She told him and turned to walk out the door. "Hold on, Mama. I'll be right there." She told the image in the mirror. Then she turned back to the beast behind her. She walked back up to him and handed him the mirror.

"Take it with you." He told her as he pushed it back toward her. "So you'll always have a way to look back and remember me." He ran a clawed hand through her gorgeous red hair.

She placed a petite hand on his thinned cheek. It was clod, yet warm at the same time. She caressed his cheek. "Thank you for understanding how much she needs me." She told him as she looked into his wintry-blue eyes one last time. She had been wrong, very wrong. Her mother needed her so much. How could she just leave her? Then, she turned and left the room.

Esther passed William on her way out as he entered Abel's room. "Well, Your Highness, I must say that everything is just going great. I knew you had it in you, Abel ol' chap!"

Abel looked into the starry night sky. "I let her go."

"Yes, yes. Splen… You what? How could you do that?" William asked in disbelief.

"I had to." He looked into the rose on the table before him.

"Yes, but… Why?"

"Because… I love her, William, I love her." A bloody tear from Abel's wintry-blue eye slid down his cheek and landed on his pale white hand as another petal from the magical rose fell.

"He did what?" Kate, Catrina, Leon, Noélle, Seth, and Ion gasped after William had told them.

"Yes, I'm afraid it's true." William told them.

"She's going away?" Ion asked.

"But he was so damn close!"

"After all this time," Catrina said, "he finally learned to love."

"Love is pure and genuine." Noélle remarked.

"That's it! That should break the spell!" Leon exclaimed.

"Oh, but it's not enough, Leon," Kate told them. "She has to love him in return."

Seth and Ion exchanged the same sly look. They each had the same plan. As William said, "Now it's too late," the two of them sneaked off together. They each were going to follow Esther.

Abel watched from his balcony at the front gate of the castle. There, Esther was running to the castle gates. He would never see her again. And if he did he would forever more be stuck like this monster being. "I guess I'll always be damned for eternity…" He muttered hopelessly. His only hope had left him. "Esther, I'll always love you still."

and so Abel confesses his love. all right he didn't tell Esther yet, but he told you readers! :3 hehe i'm so weird. but anyway look! i told you that i would update soon! it's not that soon, but it's less than a month's wait! now the next chapter will a bit longer to wait for because i'm not sure how to do a few scenes… speaking of which I am sad to say that there are only 2 or 3 more chapters left! i am happy to say that because 1) i won't have to write anymore (i'm in a lazy mood lately) and 2) i'll have one more story that i've exactually completed!! woohoo! so on a further note: please review! i love to hear from you readers! it doesn't even have to be about my story! it could just be about you. I don't care! just give me something to read, but please nothing bad like nasty stuff... anyway until next time!