~Beauty~

Teigan was one of the most quiet people Beth had ever known but somehow the house was significantly more quiet without him.

It had been a couple of days with him in the city and his absence made her whole experience at the house feel like an episode of The Twilight Zone. The house wasn't a prison without the Beast. Without him, it was just a beautiful house with a friendly maid. Beth could close her eyes and pretend she had earned the house through years of hard work or she had inherited it from a long, lost rich relative. She was the queen of the castle.

Somehow, the daydream was not as satisfying as she hoped it would. The bliss of it all wore out the first day. She loved speaking with Carina but it was different from speaking to someone around her age. She kind of missed Teigan.

It was a thought that made her cringe at herself and question her sanity. On the outside looking in, it was an insane thought. When people started missing their captors, it was called an illness. Yet, knowing what she knew, it wasn't the most radical thing. He hadn't taken her to hurt her but to save his own behind from the cops. It was a life insurance policy gone wrong and he was working to free her as soon as possible. He was kind to her, generous even, though they bumped heads at the start.

Besides all that, he was good company. He let her speak without interrupting or judging and though he was awkward he made her feel like he cared about what she talked about. He was gentle too. Never had she thought that a crime fighting vigilante could be so gentle. She remembered how lightly he held her when they danced at the masquerade and how he held her after the night went sour. He was the tranquility in the midst of her suffering.

She missed her daily mission of getting him to roll his eyes at her. It was becoming increasingly difficult as their days together went on. Either she was falling off her game or his tolerance for her was growing.

He did call her every night.

Sometime around nine in the evening, probably when his day of crime fighting was just kicking off, the house phone ran. The first time it did, she stared at it from her place on the couch. It was sitting on the fireplace mantel, shaking the whole thing with its high pitched tone. The only time she had ever seen it ring was when Tyler Daniels called the house. She didn't like the idea that someone was calling the phone Teigan said no one ever called. Carina was already tucked in and sound asleep so she couldn't let it go on ringing. Beth had gotten up and placed it to her ear, not saying a word.

"Hello?"

She felt the tension release from her body as she recognized his voice.

"Hey, Spiderman. What have you been up to?"

From then on, they'd talk for a couple minutes about what he was doing to try and save someone in the city. Then she would tell him about one of the books she was reading or about something that happened between her and Carina. It wasn't the same as seeing him in person but it would do for the meantime. Having him call to check on her inexplicably filled her with delight.

It was sunset and Beth was sitting on her usual spot on the couch. Though her mind was trained on the mystery thriller she was reading, she couldn't help but notice something moving around in her peripheral. She glanced up and into the backyard.

There stood a deer.

The fence was high, almost too high for a human to climb. She couldn't think of how a deer could have gotten in. The white tail stared at her through the window glass as still as a statute. After admiring its beauty, she rose from her seat to investigate.

She threw a jacket over her t-shirt and leggings, zipping up as she stepped outside. There was snow on the ground that was half melted. Her sneakers would have to do for quick exploration.

She only had to turn her back to the deer for a second to put on her things and exit the house. In that blink of an eye, the deer disappeared. Beth was standing outside in the exact same spot it had stood with the creature nowhere in sight. She would have thought she had imagined it had it not been for its prints in the snow. Curiously enough, the deers prints only extended for a few steps making it impossible to track where it came from or where it was going. It was almost like it grew wings and flew away.

She rubbed her head, deciding she would not hurt her brain trying to figure it out. Instead, she walked over to the rose garden Teigan had made for his mother.

There was an iron archway at it's entrance with roses and vines wrapping around it from top to bottom. The roses were a light shade of pink when they were in bloom. At the moment they were covered in snow with few buds. All of the bushes that lined the small area were barren as well. She wished she could have seen what it looked like in springtime.

His mother's rose or his mother trapped in the form of the rose - Beth hated to think about the concept too deeply - rested in the middle of the rows of bushes. She sat on an elegant garden stand in a black vase. It was usually covered with a glass lid to keep it from the elements though Beth had assumed its enchanted nature would keep it safe. As she gazed upon it, she observed the glass lid was discarded on the ground and a bluebird was hopping dangerously close to the flower.

"Shoo! Shoo, bird!" She waved her hands at the bird to scare it off but rather than fly away, it perched itself onto her outstretched fingers. Beth held her hand closer to herself. It was not startled in the least bit. It cocked its head to the side as if Bethany was the one acting strangely. "What is with the wildlife today?"

The bird fluttered its wings and landed on the ground a few paces in front of her, watching her from its spot. She took a tentative step towards it. It did not move. When she had almost reached its side, it took off again and landed further back into the garden. It stared back at her, expectantly.

"Are you trying to lead me somewhere?" Beth didn't definitively know the intelligence levels of birds but this was beyond what she thought they were capable of. Perhaps it had grown used to other humans feeding it and wanted her to give it some bird seeds.

She followed the bird to the end of the garden where it perched on the top of the fence. The white painted boards were a few inches taller than Beth but a step ladder was conveniently placed beside it like someone had climbed over it already. Seemingly displeased with her lack of action, the bird flew around the step ladder in a frenzy.

Something clicked her mind.

This was a test. Not one that the bird set up but one that had created itself by accident.

Teigan was hours away, Carina was heavily distracted and a ladder marked her means of escape. If Beth wanted to, she could leave. No one would be able to stop her. She could run through the woods until she reached the next house or saw a car driving down the road. She could be home by the end of the day.

She took a step back from the fence.

This had been what she wanted once but not anymore. She wanted to stay.

Beth despised the idea of putting Teigan and Carina in danger. She was not desperate to leave anymore. She was safe where she was and though it stressed her out to think about how far behind she was with her college classes, how it hurt her to think that her family and friends were suffering not knowing where she was or if she was okay, she liked Teigan's plan.

Beth turned her back on the bird and the fence, walking back to the house.

A cry shredded through the orange glow of the evening. It was coming from beyond the fence in the woods surrounding the house.

"Help!" the female screamed.

Beth would not leave the house to try and escape but she would to help someone who needed her. She rushed up the steps and dropped herself onto the ground on the other side of the fence. She landed in a crouch position, her ankle almost giving way underneath her weight.

She charged into the woods towards the voice. Her arms were pumping at her sides as she followed a natural dirt path that winded through the trees. It worked well at getting her through the area but there were a couple of low hanging branches that threatened to scratch her face or poke out her eye. The person continued to scream, making them easy to locate. Beth should have been seeing them now. The woman's voice was the loudest it had been.

Beth paused, spinning in a circle to scan her surroundings.

The woman stopped shouting.

When she turned in the direction she had been headed in once more, she nearly fell back. In front of her appeared a woman with long blonde locks and piercing green eyes. It took Beth one glance and she could place her. She had seen her through a vision, the vision she received when touching Teigan's rose.

"It's you," was all Beth could manage to say.

The enchantress kept her chin so high she had to look down her nose to see Bethany. She scowled. "I knew it. You can escape but you won't. Why won't you?"

Bethany was trying to sort out what had happened in the last ten minutes. It must have been some sort of a trick. The enchantress had lowered her out of the house with the deer and then the bird. She was trying to help her escape and pretended to be someone in danger to get her to do it.

Beth crossed her arms, her ears feeling hot despite the low temperature. "Why haven't you lifted the curse yet? Teigan has changed dramatically since you cursed him!"

What the enchantress had done to Teigan left an especially bitter taste in her mouth. Teigan had acted horribly those few years ago, she would not argue against that, but the position he was put in? The small chance he had to make things right again and the torment that resulted from it all? She had gone overboard. Teigan would have learned his lesson sooner or later had she just left him alone. If the enchantress had wanted to curse someone, she should have cursed his father. Beth wondered if the enchantress had even known the first thing about Teigan's life before making such a rash decision. She had powers, so what? It didn't mean she had morality.

"The curse will be broken whenever I see fit. Now tell me, why won't you leave?"

Beth shook her head while smiling joylessly. "I'm not answering until you answer me!"

"You are testing my patience," the witch said, sharpening her gaze. Beth found it ironic how she could shapeshift into an animal as docile as a deer despite her obvious need to dominate.

"What are you going to do? Curse me too?"

She was hyper aware that could be a possibility but she couldn't find it in her to let herself be bullied by someone who flaunted their power in order to control others. It made her sick. On top of that, Beth was growing tired of being scared. If one more person like this witch or Ryan Daniels tried her, it might end up becoming her villain origin story.

"I'm going to ask one more time. Why do you stay?"

Bored of the conversation and conscious of the sun vanishing on the horizon, Beth threw her hands up in the air. "I don't know, okay? I don't know."

Bethany did know. She had worked it out minutes prior to climbing over the fence but the enchantress wouldn't understand it so it wasn't worth getting into. Besides, Beth didn't owe her a single explanation.

She pointed a finger at Bethany. Her words carried like thunder in the serenity of the woods. "The only prison you are in is a prison of your mind. It's too bad that it's the toughest one to escape."

Beth was over this conversation. She wouldn't stand there and listen to some freak tell her about her mental state when she didn't know the first thing about her. Bethany might have had some frightening experiences over the last few months, the kinds she will never be able to forget. Despite that, she was thinking far more clearly than she ever had. In a weird way, she needed this. She needed a break from her mother - her life. She needed this new perspective. Had the last few months never happened, she would have been stuck in the constant losing battle with her mother. It was after her mother let her down so crucially that she realized if she didn't break free from her soon, she would be trapped in this endless loop for the rest of her life. She would never travel, she would never move out, she would never make new friends, she would never have any journalism opportunities because she would be tied to someone who wasn't looking after Beth or themselves.

It was living with Teigan that made her realize she had grown up too fast. It was the nights playing board games and the cheesy movie dates that showed her that from a young age she was on survival mode. Study hard because college is your only way out, don't visit your cousins in Mexico because Mom might need you, do anything and everything you can to make sure Grayson never leaves you because he is the only person out there who looks after you.

Beth had been in a prison of her mind but that was previously. Whether she remained with Teigan and Carina or went back home, she was free. She wasn't going to let anything or anyone imprison her again.