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Rell

A few hours after we'd all eaten, Cat lay sleeping on the couch, and Lorcan's head had dipped into his chest, the book still propped open before him, but his eyes closed. I could have woken him, but I didn't. The fire had died down to embers, the sounds of the rain above growing into a steady rhythm, but I wasn't tired.

Bastien and I lay side by side on the thick rug before the fire, staring up at the patterns the rain made on the glass above.

"You know," Bastien said, suddenly. "You don't have to leave The Dark Realm. High school sucks, but I've heard college is different. They accept people for who they are, even if they're different."

"Are you saying I'm different?" His cheeks reddened, but I only laughed and bumped my shoulder into his. "I'm kidding Bastien. I know I don't fit in here."

He suddenly propped up on one elbow, staring down at me with a determined look on his face. "That's not true. Everyone has a hard time in high school. I grew up with these people and I can't wait to get out. College is different, better."

I smiled at him and the determination in his eyes. "And how is this fabled college different?"

He shrugged, that soft, faraway look coming over his eyes as he stared into the distance. "You can be whoever you want. Leave behind your past mistakes. Decide who you want to be."

What if it's not up to you to decide who you are? What if all I am and ever will be is a Beast-Slayer. But I didn't want to break this moment, so instead I said. "And who would you be?"

He hesitated, and then shrugged, laying back down again. "Someone happy...maybe a journalist. Someone devoted to finding the truth and sharing it." His shoulder was warm against mine, and I found myself wishing I could stay in this moment forever.

"You know, I actually can't believe I didn't guess you were from the Dark Realm earlier," he said suddenly, and this time I turned to him, puzzled.

"How would you have known?"

"My mother used to tell me a story about the Dark Realm. A sort of fairy-tale." And then he grinned, his eyes lighting up. "Would you like to hear it?"

There is nothing I would like more. I smiled back, and settled down, breathing in the scents of fire, rain, leather, and most intoxicating of all, the young man beside me. "Tell me."

He shifted closer and then began to speak, his voice weaving a spell all it's own.

Once upon a time, in a place with no sun or stars or clouds, there lived two princesses. Though they were sisters, they were different in every way save their love for eachother. The elder princess was tall, with dark hair like a river of ink. The younger was equally lovely, with mismatched eyes, one brown as the river mud, one blue as the sea. No princesses before them or after loved The Dark Realm realm the way as they.

The princesses loved to swim with the dark mer, race the centaurs through the Dark woods, dance with the fairies, and ride dragons over the mountains. But most of all they loved the magic that pulsed through the land like life blood. In turn, the magic favored them, gifting them each with powers and strength others couldn't imagine. Each day they grew more powerful, more beautiful and more dangerous, until one day they came across a small, green creature, with large inquisitive eyes, so that they wondered if he held the mysteries of the universe.

And it was called a frog.

"Surely you two are the most powerful and beautiful sisters in all the land," said the small, green creature, (which was indeed a frog). "But where does this power come from?"

Neither of the beautiful princesses had wondered this before. And so they began to follow the magic's pulse, tracing it like blood flowing back to the heart. They followed it across a roaring river, jumping from stone to stone. They followed it through thorns and briars tall and thick. They followed it to the darkest part of the forest, and when they stopped they beheld a single, beautiful blood red rose.

And to their surprise, the rose spoke to them.

Should they prick their finger on its thorns, and feed it a single drop of blood, it would reveal the path to their hearts desire.

The older sister pricked her finger first, and suddenly felt the urge to return to the castle and seek out her father. When she came into the empty throne room she realized her greatest desire: Power. There was only one person in all the land more powerful than her in the Dark Magic; her father, The Dark King. She resolved at that very moment to find a way to make the throne her own, no matter the cost.

The younger sister, second to her sister in all, pricked her finger next. And because the rose was capricious and cruel, it decided her path would lead her to the most horrid, most evil, most dangerous of all desires.

Love.

After the younger sister pricked her finger on the thorn of The Blood Rose, she felt the sudden urge to visit the Dark Ocean. When she came to the shore, the black waves were filled with the wreckage of a ship. The dark mer played with the wood never having seen anything like it, but when the princess asked if any had survived, they pointed to a single man who lay face down in the sand. The princess rushed to his side, and when she turned him over, found the face of a young, handsome sailor. One of his arm's had been crushed in the wreck, and he was near-drowned, but the princess leaned forward, and with a single kiss bestowed him with the Dark Magic. He opened eyes the oddest shade of periwinkle blue and the younger princess realized she had found her deepest desire: Love.

The two sisters, whose hearts had once been alike, now began to grow different and strange from the other. The younger sister began to disappear from court life to spend time with the sailor, and fell more and more in love. But while his kisses were sweet and his arms strong, the sailor longed to leave the Dark Realm, and to journey to lands far and wide. But there were no stars or moon in the Dark Realm, and without their light to guide him, he had no way to find his way. The older sister grew in power, shadowing her father, growing ever more greedy for the throne. But the King was strong with the Dark Magic, and the older sister feared he would live forever and she would never gain the throne.

And so each princess, neither recognizing their own foolishness, neither patient enough to wait for their hearts desires, returned to The Blood Rose once again.

"I wish to be the greatest ruler the Dark Realm has ever seen," said the older sister.

"I wish for my love to be able to see the stars once again, so that he can journey where he wishes and we can finally be happy together."

But before they could reach out to prick their finger, the Rose stopped them. With these gifts, came a price. Should either fail, to find true love, or to be the most powerful ruler in the land, they should incur a powerful curse every full moon. But both the princesses only laughed, for the moon never shown through the mist of the Dark Realm. The younger sister was sure that she had already found true love, and the older sister was sure she would be more powerful than any other ruler.

Both agreed to the Rose's terms, that should they fail, they would incur a terrible curse.

A curse that they would pass to their sons, and the sons after them, everytime the full moon shown.

The curse of the Beast.

Then, with a single drop of blood, both sealed their fates forever.

The older sister returned to the throne room, to find her father fallen ill. The magic that has once given him power, had now turned on him, poisoning him and weakening him with every beat of his heart. Knowing the magic would soon kill him, the Dark King fled, never to be seen in the Dark Realm again.

And so the eldest sister took the throne.

The younger sister journeyed to the Dark Shore, to find her handsome sailor was gone. The dark mer told her that a beautiful ship had sailed into the harbor, and far, far on the horizon, a single star shone bright to guide his way. He had left her only a simple message that he would return for her when he had a ship and crew of his own.

The younger sister was heartbroken for she knew what he did not; that he would never find his way back, and she now carried his unborn child. As her elder sister grew in power and ambition, the younger sister feared she would kill any child that threatened her reign.

And so the younger sister returned in secret a final time to the Blood Rose. She begged the rose grant her passage out of The Dark Realm, to a Realm without magic where she could raise her child in peace.

And so the Blood Rose demanded a final, terrible cost.

Should she pick a single petal from the rose, it would guide her to a new Realm without magic, where her son would be safe from her sister's growing power and ambition. But the sailor, who had left her with a child and broken heart, would be stranded forever in the Never Lands, a place between Realms, until he was given a single petal from the Blood Rose.

Seeing no other way, she accepted. This time not for herself, but for the child growing inside her.

The child would never know magic—and never know the pain it had cost her.

But when she came to the new Realm, the petal shriveled up, and died, forever stranding her in the new Realm, and the sailor to a life between worlds. She gave birth to a beautiful son, and swore than one day, she would find her way home again.

Unbeknownst to her, her son grew stronger each day, the Dark magic coursing through his veins.

And everyday, the curse of the Beast grew stronger.

"The end," Bastien said with a small smile, and the spell his words had created was broken.

I laid back on the rug; I had been leaning closer and closer to him with every word without even realizing it. "So, not exactly a Happily Ever after tale... I've never heard it before." Actually, I'd never heard anything like it. Why would his mother tell him such a tale?

Bastien seemed to be thinking the same thing, because he shrugged, his face becoming a bit pained. "Mother was always odd like that... Like she wasn't all there." Even in the dim light of the fire, I could see the pain written in his face.

"What happened to her?" I'd never dared to ask before, not after seeing the rage in Bastien's eyes when I'd first stumbled upon him and his mother.

A sudden bolt of lightning cracked directly over us, and the corresponding thunder came almost immediately after, so loud and deep in shook the house.

Lorcan sat upright, and the flames in the grate suddenly glowed a bright green. He gave a sudden cry, and thrust the book away from him. It landed with a thunk on the ground, and Cat, who had miraculously not woken at the thunder, cracked an eye open.

"Could you guys keep it down?" She said in an annoyed voice. Then she turned over. Lorcan, however, stared wide-eyed at the book.

"What happened?" I said, staring down at the book.

"I was having a dream... and the book started to burn me," Lorcan stared wide-eyed at the book. I reached over, and touched the back of the book.

"Seems normal to me... Did you learn anything?" I said to Lorcan. At once his face turned angry, and he shot an almost accusing look at Bastien.

"The book is enchanted. It's made to confuse the reader, to lead them on and then to tell them nothing, or to keep them reading until they fall asleep. It will reveal nothing of value except to it's true owner." He paused, and this time looked at Bastien, as if for the first time he saw him... and didn't like what he saw.

"How did you come upon it?" His voice was accusatory, and Bastien eye's hardened in response.

"I found it in the library. It must have belonged to my father."

"How interesting," Lorcan said coldly, his eyes narrowing further.

"Well, I think it's probably time we all went to sleep," I said loudly, hoping to steer us away from some sort of male showdown. Lorcan glared at Bastien, but then nodded. I settled back into my blankets, realizing too late that I was just a tad too close to Bastien. Lorcan didn't miss it either.

"Goodnight to you both," I stared at the wall and after a few moments, I heard the both of them settle in.

I slept deeply, but at some point in the night I woke for a moment to see Bastien reading the book by the light of the fire like he was lost in another world. But when I closed my eyes the image drifted away, and when I woke in the morning I'd forgotten it.