When breakfast was over, Rose went over to the main foyer to wait for Chip to finish up in the kitchen, so they could go out and play, while it was still nice out. Very soon, however, she got bored waiting and decided to go wandering to pass the time.

As she went up the stairs, she was in the East Wing and found Raymond and Amelie's art studio. She peeked through the door and found Raymond busy carving a stone sculpture, Amelie was piecing together some broken plates and Sophie was lying on the floor, drawing what looked like some shapeless blobs with her crayons.

'Good morning, Aunt Amelie, Uncle Raymond and Sophie,' Rose said from the doorway. They immediately turned around and bowed, with Raymond knocking over an easel as he did so, and then resumed their work.

'Good morning, Princess' Amelie said, painting a border on the plate she was holding.

'Morning, Princess,' Raymond said, not looking at what he was doing and hit his thumb with the hammer he was using.

'YEOWWW! MY THUMB!' he yelled, before sucking it.

'Oh, Raymond, not again! That's the sixteenth time you've done this! I told you not to do the sculptures, especially after you broke both your thumbs the last time! And don't try to deny it, because I've got it written in my journal!' Amelie said, sighing.

'Which one, cherie?' Raymond said, with a surprising hint of sarcasm, looking at the shelves with various books, no doubt filled with entries of accidents he had over the years.

'Any one really, I can't remember, but its there somewhere.' Amelie said, getting up from the table, her dress swishing around her ankles, and tended to his latest injury.

'Honestly, Raymond, can't you go at least one day without injuring yourself or breaking things? Already, you've had eight accidents today and it's not even midday!' Amelie said.

'Don't start, Amelie,' Raymond said, 'and I'll thank you if you didn't keep track of all my accidents!'

Sophie then eased the tension, by chirping

'Hi, Rose! Come look at my drawing!' as she showed it to her.

'Sophie, you don't call the princess by her name, it's bad manners. You should know that.' Amelie scolded.

'But it's okay, she's my friend!' Sophie said.

'It's alright, Aunt Amelie, she's allowed to call me by my name.' Rose said, as she often felt uncomfortable when her friends referred to her by her title and wanted them just to call her Rose.

'What do you think of my drawing, Rose? Isn't it pretty?' Sophie then said, giving the picture to Rose.

'It's…very nice, Sophie,' Rose said, faltering, upon seeing the blobs but trying not to hurt Sophie's feelings, 'what is it supposed to be?'

'It's me, you and Chip playing together outside in the garden!' Sophie said, pointing to various blobs on the paper.

'That's lovely darling,' Raymond said, calm again and with his thumb bandaged up, as he looked at the picture. Sophie giggled.

'Oh, dear, Uncle Raymond, have you hurt yourself again? 'said Rose.

'I'm afraid so, but don't worry, Princess, it's just harmless tomfoolery.' Raymond said.

'Speaking of playing, are we going out to play with Chip today?' Sophie asked, 'As much as I like to stay with Mama and Papa and draw, I want to go out on this lovely day!'

Rose thought for a minute. She had originally planned to play with just Chip but it wouldn't be fair if Sophie was left out and the most fun that she had playing games was with her two best friends. She was sure that Chip wouldn't mind, since he had a soft spot for Sophie.

'Of course, Sophie, you can come out and play with us. Chip won't mind one bit.' Rose said.

'Yay! Thank you, Rose; you're the best friend ever!' Sophie squealed, hugging Rose.

'That would be wonderful, Princess,' Amelie said, 'Raymond and I have a lot of work to do today and I want to paint that portrait for the guest bedroom near us that I've meant to do, so we won't have time to keep Sophie amused and out of trouble, which I'm sure you and Chip will do.'

'We will, Aunt Amelie,' Rose said.

'Thank you, Princess, we really appreciate it,' Amelie said.

Then Chip's voice could be heard downstairs.

'Rose!' he called, 'I'm finished in the kitchen! Are you ready to go outside?'

'Oh, look at that!' Rose said, 'we better get going, Sophie, Chip's waiting for us!'

'Okay, see you later, Mama and Papa!' Sophie said and followed Rose, while Raymond continued on his sculpture (and hit his other thumb) and Amelie finished the plates and wrote a new entry in her journal-

'October the twenty-third. Raymond had eight accidents before midday and hit both his thumbs while working on a sculpture, despite what I told him before. He hasn't learned from earlier experience!'

'There you are, Rose! I was wondering where you got to! I finished ten minutes ago.' Chip said, as Rose and Sophie came down the stairs to meet him near the main doors.

'Sorry, Chip, I got bored waiting for you and decided to pass the time and I went into the art studio.' Rose said, 'Oh is it okay if Sophie comes too? Her parents are busy working and she wants to play with us.'

Chip gave a small grimace. It wasn't that he didn't like Sophie, far from it, but she never got the rules of any game they played and was too energetic.

When they played hide and seek or tag, she would always be the first to be found or caught and cry about it. However, since Rose wanted to her to join them and she being one of the masters of the castle, his step-niece and best friend, he couldn't refuse her, and put on a smile.

'Of course, Princess, Sophie can come and play with us,' Chip said. Sophie gave him a huge hug, while Rose grimaced at hearing 'Princess'.

'Chip, you know you don't have to call me 'Princess'. You're my step-uncle and best friend. Just call me Rose, I don't feel comfortable with my friends calling me by my title.' Rose said.

'Sorry, Pri-Rose, force of habit,' Chip said, embarrassed, 'Come on, let's go out and play while it's still nice out. We wouldn't want to waste it, wouldn't we?'

'No, we don't' both girls said.

Belle and Cogsworth came into the main foyer, she on her way to the library, he was going to the West Wing to work with Adam on his correspondence and answering letters from neighbouring regions and kingdoms.

'We're going out to play now, Mama and Uncle Cogsworth,' Rose said.

'Have fun, you three,' Belle said, as she gave the children a hug and gave her daughter a warm hug and kiss, 'I'll see you later, darling. Love you!' to Rose

'Love you too, Mama.' Rose said, as she watched her mother head off.

'Chip, keep an eye on the princess and Sophie. And remember to stay within the castle grounds. Don't wander off.' Cogsworth warned them.

'We won't,' all three chirped, as they went out the door.

'They'll be fine, Cogsworth, there's nothing to worry about. Chip is a very responsible young man; he'll take good care of them.' Mrs Potts said, coming through, wheeling the tea-tray.

'Yeah, Mrs P's right, I mean, what's the worst that could happen?' Remy said, while carrying laundry hampers.

'You should NEVER ask that question, Remy! Because ANYTHING can happen, mark my words!' Cogsworth snapped.

'Come on, Remy, the laundry isn't going to do itself, you know!' George called from the laundry room.

'I wish it did,' Remy muttered to himself, as he and everyone else left to resume their work, leaving Cogsworth getting tangled up by Sultan and Lila chasing each other.

He fell down on the ground and sneezed since Lila was on top of his head. She then jumped off as Sultan barked at her, revealing Cogsworth's baldness to his embarrassment and hopped on her favourite cushion on the windowsill.

'Darn cat,' Cogsworth said, as he grabbed his hairpiece, sneezed twice and walked off in a huff, while Lila hissed at Sultan, who yipped in response and went outside, and settled down to sleep.

In the gardens, with Sultan in the background sniffing and digging in the flowerbeds, Rose, Chip and Sophie were deciding what games to play, and so far, hadn't agreed on anything.

'How about we play tag?' Chip suggested.

'No,' both girls said.

'Chase Sultan?'

'He's too busy digging in the garden!'

'Oh, Bert's not going to like that!' said Chip, seeing the dog's 'handiwork', knowing that the gardener would have a fit if he saw it.

'Hopscotch?'

'No girls' games!'

'We can go on the swing,' Rose said.

'Too boring!'

'We can go swimming in the lake!' Sophie said.

'It's October, Soph, it's freezing cold! No one goes swimming in autumn, you'll be crazy to!' Chip said.

'How about a tea party?' Rose suggested.

'Oh, no! I draw the line at tea parties!' Chip said, 'Maybe you and Sophie can, but it's not for me! Besides, I already said, no girls' games!'

Having made no progress, the three sat in silence. Then Rose said,

'How about we play hide and seek?'

'That's a great idea, Princess- I mean Rose. We haven't played that for a while,' Chip said, 'Is that okay with you, Sophie?'

'Yes, I love hide and seek!' Let's play!' Sophie said.

To decide who would be the 'seeker' and who would hide, they played 'Rock, Paper , Scissors' which took about fifteen minutes (due to Sophie not getting the rules and using 'rock' every time) Rose and Sophie were to hide and Chip was to be the seeker.

'One, two three…' he counted behind a tree, as the girls went to hide. Sophie chose a bush near where her mother was on a balcony, painting.

'Sophie! What are you up to, sweetheart?' she said, looking down at her.

'I'm hiding, Mama! Don't tell Chip I'm here! We're playing hide and seek!' Sophie said.

'How fun!' Amelie said and resumed her painting.

Rose, meanwhile had wandered off from the garden, into the woods, determined to find a good hiding place, despite what Cogsworth had said earlier, but she didn't go too far, as she could still hear Chip counting, so she could find her way back easily. She found a small garden quite close to the castle, which had a little red cottage beside it, but it didn't seem to have anyone living in it, at least that was Rose thought when she looked in the window and the garden itself looked horribly neglected, save for a few bushes full of roses.

'Ready or not, here I come!' came the voice of Chip nearby. Quickly, Rose found a small rose bush and hid underneath it, so as not to get her clothes torn and dirty.

'No one will find me here,' she said, unaware that in the cottage, contrary to her belief, a mysterious, sinister figure was watching her.

Chip then started his search for his friends. Walking around the garden, he was getting fed up. He was hoping that it would be like it usually was, with Sophie finding a pathetically easy place to hide and being found first. But it seemed this time they were getting smarter. He saw Sultan still digging in the flowerbeds, and then being chased by Bert, his face red with anger as he waved his spade around.

'You miserable mutt, get back here! I'll teach you to dig in the flowers!'

Chip laughed to himself and kept on searching, not aware that Rose had gone out of the garden into the woods. He then saw Amelie painting, holding her palette with paints that matched the blobs on her apron.

'Amelie, have you seen Sophie and Rose anywhere?' he asked her.

'Why no, Chip, I haven't,' Amelie said in mock surprise. Just then, the bush where Sophie was hiding moved.

'Found you, Sophie!' Rose heard Chip say, as she lay under the rose bush. She gave a small chuckle.

'You got to do better than that, Sophie,' she said to herself. She then heard Chip say,

'Sophie, do you know where Rose went hiding?'

'No Chip, I just thought she would be still in the garden. She wouldn't go that far.'

'Come on, we better go look for her.'

As she waited for Chip and Sophie to find her, in the bush, something suddenly caught her attention. Amongst the plain pink roses on teal green stems, one single rose stood out, giving off a bright pink glow with white sparkles, almost like dew. And it was enticing Rose, drawing her closer, as if to say 'Pick me,'

'What a beautiful rose!' she said, getting nearer to it. Yes, it was beautiful, but there was something about it that seemed familiar to her but she couldn't remember it, something that she heard her parents and servants talk about, but think nothing of it.

But she wanted to pick it so much, the glow drawing her in, her arm reached out and.. Her fingers wrapped around the stem and for a moment, she hesitated. What if it had thorns? she wondered.

The last time she had wanted and tried to pick a rose, the thorns scratched her hand, leaving a cut which hurt terribly and she sat crying on her mother's lap while Nana and Babette tended to her wound and told her not to pick roses with her hands again and to be careful handling them because of the thorns.

However, although this rose did indeed have thorns, they did not hurt when she touched them, so it was safe to pick. The flower itself wasn't fully bloomed, its petals only slightly open, but since it gave off a glow, it probably didn't matter.

It was like a magic rose, which made the desire to pick it even stronger for Rose, who had her fingers now firmly wrapped around the stem, tugging it slightly.

Wait! Rose had another thought, What if it belonged to someone? The bushes were well looked after, the only healthy plants in the otherwise overgrown, neglected garden, so the rose could well be someone's.

Then again, it couldn't. There was no one in the cottage, she had seen that for herself and there were plenty of roses in the bushes, so what if one would be missing? It'll grow back and it had been well hidden in the bush, so no one would ever know.

'Do I dare?' Rose whispered, 'Do I dare pick this rare rose?'

The desire in the end proved too strong for the princess, and without any more thoughts (or common sense), she gently pulled at the stem, until the rose completely came away from the bush, still glowing, still perfect and had no ill-effects of being plucked prematurely and when Rose checked her hands for any scratches, the rose levitated in the air, like magic.

As soon as she picked the flower, the sky turned from sunny and blue to dark grey clouds, with thunder booming, like something nasty was brewing in the air.

'Found you!' Chip said, approaching Rose, startling her, Sophie behind him. Rose quickly hid her flower behind her back, hoping that Chip hadn't seen it, but he seemed more annoyed at having to go out of the grounds to find her, than what she had hidden behind her.

'Why did you go here?' he said, annoyed, 'You were supposed to stay in the garden! It's dangerous out in the woods! What if I wasn't able to find you?'

'I'm sorry, Chip, I didn't mean to go that far. It's still near the garden and I was able to hear you and Sophie and nothing bad happened to me.' Rose said.

'I suppose so. Still, you're safe and well, seems no harm was done. Just don't do it again, all right? I promise I won't tell Cogsworth.' Chip said, not wanting to add more strain to Cogsworth's already high blood pressure if he were to know that they disobeyed him.

'Thanks, Chip,' Rose said, gratefully.

'Come on, let's go back home. The weather looks really nasty and we don't want to get caught in the storm.' Chip said and the trio made their way to the castle, unaware that the figure in the cottage had actually seen Rose take its most precious possession the enchanted rose it had hidden in the bush and was watching them leave, in anger.

'You, Princess Rose, have made a very big mistake,' the figure said in a malicious female voice, 'a mistake that will cost you dearly.'

At the moment that Rose had picked the flower, there was a disturbance among the servants in the castle, one that made them stand still and have an uneasy feeling, as they saw the sky turn dark.

'Aunt Estelle, are you alright?' Katrine said, seeing Madame Armoire stand still and flinch, while arranging a half-made dress on a mannequin.

'Oh, yes, dearie, I just had a bad feeling of déjà vu.' Madame said, 'Like something is wrong.'

'Are you remembering the enchantment again? Is that it?' Katrine asked.

'Maybe,' Madame said.

'It's just a bad memory, Aunt Estelle, that's all. I'm sure it's nothing, there's no way that another enchantment can happen, can it?' Katrine said, although her aunt didn't look convinced at her reply.

'Mrs Potts, what's the matter? Is something troubling you?' Rebecca asked Mrs Potts, who had a tense look on her face, as she poured the tea. Rebecca was holding a ragdoll she had made and had been going to the kitchen to do her duties when she saw Mrs Potts.

'This is just like what happened last time. Something bad is going to happen. I only hope Chip, the princess and Sophie come back soon, safe and sound.' Mrs Potts said.

'What is?' Rebecca said, worried, but got no response.

'Oh, shoot, the weather's changed and I didn't even get to finish my painting!' Amelie said, frustrated as she put her palette away.

'That's a shame,' Raymond said, carrying an easel, 'Hope the children come back before it rains, wouldn't want them to get caught in the storm.'

'Let's hope so,' Amelie said. She then saw Babette looking dazed outside the studio, Lumiere comforting her.

'Ma cherie, what is wrong?

'Lumiere, I just had a horrible feeling! Something sinister is in the air that I don't know , but I'm so scared!'

'Don't worry, Babette, I'm here to comfort you, non?' and Lumiere started to kiss Babette, making her giggle.

'Why don't you do that to me, Raymond?' Amelie said, 'Act all affectionate towards me like Lumiere does to Babette?'

'I do!' Raymond said defensively.

'Anyway,' Amelie continued, 'Is it just me, or is everyone acting strange?'

'Only Mrs Potts, Lumiere, Cogsworth, Babette and Madame Amoire are. Do you think that it has something to do with…'

' No that's just a silly tale. It didn't really happen, the sky is just messing with them that's all. Imagine being scared of a fairy tale, I mean, how ridiculous is that?'

'You're absolutely right dear,' said Raymond, although he didn't sound sure at all.

'Oh dear,' Cogsworth muttered, as he walked down the West Wing, 'History is about to repeat itself.'

'Have you noticed, Georgie that Lumsie, Cogsie, Mrs P, Babs and Moiry have gone into wacko mode?' Remy said to George, as he washing some sheets with his washboard, which he called 'Fifi' (for reasons unknown only to him) 'I mean one minute they seem to be fine and the next thing- wham! They're mindless zombies! What's up with them?'

'I don't know Remy, your guess is as good as mine,' George said, wringing out some shirts into a washtub. The two men didn't say anything more, as they carried on with their work.

Even Adam felt a disturbance in his study, as he was writing a letter to a king of a neighbouring region about a trading deal, making him shiver and sick to his stomach.

'Adam, darling, what's wrong?' Belle said, concerned, as she went over to him.

'I have a bad feeling,' he managed to say, holding Belle close to him.

'About what?' Belle said, starting to feel uneasy as well.

'About history repeating itself,' he said, 'and it involves our daughter.'