Hidden Beauty

Chapter 7

Mable woke up very early the next morning, the alarm on her phone buzzing next to her head. Groggily, she climbed out of the bed and looked out her window. There was just the barest of light on the horizon, enough so Mable could see that the snow had stopped and there wasn't so much as a cloud in the sky.

Good. It was time to leave.

She grabbed her old clothes from underneath her pillow, dragging her jeans on as the cold bit her legs. There was no point in taking a shower this morning, and besides, it would slow her down. She pulled on her sweatshirt and coat, and glanced ruefully at her sneakers, remembering how easily they let in the wet. Sighing, she went the closet and tugged the door open. After a quick search, she found a pair of heavy, fur-lined boots hidden behind the soft slippers and heels.

She shoved them on her feet, ignoring the voice in her head calling her a thief. She'd find some way to return them, she told herself.

She checked for her keys and phone—both in her coat pockets—made sure her hat was situated properly on her head, and took one last look at the room. The coat had big enough pockets that she could shove her sneakers in them and still fit her hands if she needed to. She did so, one in each pocket, and pulled on her gloves.

She felt bad for leaving like this. She had genuinely liked Maddie, Monsieur Lune, Monsieur Carnier and Madame Cecile, and she bet she would have liked Madame Labelle once she had gotten to know her more. But she knew if she stayed, they would just keep pushing her to be someone she wasn't; their savior, the one who could break the curse and set them all free.

She knew she wasn't what they needed, and she sure as hell wasn't who Master Theo wanted. Better to leave now, before they got their hopes up much higher.

She fretted briefly over which door to sneak out. It was still early, but she bet that Monsieur Carnier was in the kitchen preparing for breakfast. She punched down the tug of remorse she felt for missing what, she was sure, would be a fabulous breakfast made especially for her.

So the door in the kitchen was out. Perhaps the front doors, in the foyer.... but they would hear her open the doors. That was if she didn't run into someone beforehand.

She studied the closet door thoughtfully. It could bring her to her bathroom at home. She wondered if it could bring her to the outside of the castle instead.

She strode over and thought of the outside, trying to picture what the scene would be like standing in the doorway. There was the usual shock on her hand, and she pulled the door open, grinning when she saw the shadowed pine trees in the distance. Apparently the closet didn't know or care that she was technically still on the fifth floor.

She walked out into the snow, tugging on her gloves. She went to close the door behind her, but couldn't find the knob. Turning, she saw nothing but the pale marble walls of the castle.

Well, there was no chickening out now.

She supposed that someone else would have a plan in mind, a direction they could follow. She didn't have either of those, but she hoped that if she walked far enough she'd eventually find civilization. After all, she hadn't been that far into the woods when she had found this place.

She trudged along, admiring the way the early dawn played on the tops of the trees and the soft, bluish glow on the fallen snow. Without the sun it was bitterly cold, and she shivered at the nip of an icy breeze when it kissed her cheeks. She pulled her hat a little lower over her ears, silently thanking Madame Cecile for returning most of her things. The boots she had borrowed—stolen, really—were well-made, and her feet and shins were comfortably warm even as she shuffled through a foot of powdery snow. She only wished she could have stopped for a snack in the kitchen before she left.