Of Beast and Beauty (Complete)

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: The Mysterious Forest

"What on Earth are you doing out here?" Alina woke to Mary as she opened up the balcony doors. "Good Lord, Alina! Do you want to catch your death? What would the Master say to me if I let that happen?"

"Is Christian back?" Alina mumbled, wiping the sleep from her eyes and finding it hard as ice.

Mary looked startled at the use of her lord's name, but quickly recovered. She hastily helped Alina up and into the room, shutting the doors soundly before.

"Jamie, go and get someone to fetch another pile of firewood," Mary instructed her son before ushering Alina to the chair closest to the fireplace. "Alina, you are as cold as an icicle. What were you thinking?"

"I just fell asleep. I didn't mean to be outside all night."

Mary just shook her head and tsked before grabbing the quilt off of the bed and throwing it over Alina.

"I'll get you a warm cup of tea. That and the added firewood should have you toasty in no time."

"Wait," Alina called, halting Mary in her path. "Did everyone make it back okay last night?"

"Yes." She frowned. "Although, the Master, Louis and William are out investigating something strange this morning."

"Strange? What? What are they investigating?"

"Well, this morning when we all... when we were all human once more we notice that there was something odd about the estate. It appears as though a whole new part of the forest grew... overnight."

"Overnight?"

Alina threw off the blanket and ran over to her balcony door and back onto the balcony despite Mary's protests. She looked over the vast estate and there, she saw, on the eastern-most border there was a large part of the forest that had not been there before.

Was the curse growing?

As she thought that, light snowflakes begin to fall from the sky. They danced their way down and landed on the balcony in front of her. The first snow of the season.

-----------------------------------------------------------

A glimmer of light caught Alina's eye as she paced before her large windows. Squinting, she turned to investigate the source of the disturbance. Something glimmered in the forest again – so fast that she was sure that she had imagined it. A strange feeling overcame her. The hair on her arms stood on end, covering them with gooseflesh. The light came again, this time more sustained. It twinkled in the part of the new part of the forest like starlight. The air around her shifted and the little stars seemed to call out to her.

Come play with us, they beckoned.

Curiosity peaked, Alina grabbed her cloak and ventured out into the snow.

The newly grown forest was disturbingly close to the castle. It had sprouted in a clearing only a few hundred meters from the castle and bled into the existing forest as though it belonged. As though it had always been there.

As Alina took her first steps into the forest she was overwhelmed by a sense of familiarity. It wasn't the trees, but something more intrinsic. The woods permeated the air, the combined smell of fir, pine and snow. Alina pulled her cloak tighter as she carried on as a cold breeze rushed through. Her breath appeared before her in a fist of mist.

She could no longer see the lights that had drawn her into the forest, no matter where she turned. Alina was beginning to believe that she had imagined the entire thing, or it had been a trick of the light. She ventured further into the wood, just to satisfy the curiosity.