Inside the Beast's Castle

Chapter 27--Lilia (2)

"Sphere?" His words were becoming clearer and more recognizable as, well, words.

Lilia laughed again. "No, silly! Zvir."

"What does it mean?"

She shrugged and stood up. "I don't know. It just sounds neat."

The edges of my vision became blurry again. I turned to Kvir "Wait! What about the rest?"

"Lizaveta, there is nothing more to see here. Let's move on."

So, that's what we did for a while. I watched my mother and the beast--or as she called him, Zvir--do different things around the castle. She went to the library and read, ran around outside, played hide-and-seek on the castle. Every new scene I saw, she was older and the beast was more human.

The next thing we stopped at was Lilia and Zvir standing face to face. Zvir stood like a human, and actually wearing clothes. Fur still covered his face, but just barely. His eyes were a new color-- chocolate brown. He and Lilia were evidently in an argument, and had been like that for a while.

My mother's hand were clenched by her side and trembling. "Zvir, I need to go home."

He shook his head. "No. I told you that. You can't leave."

"I must!" she screamed. "I miss my family--my father and even my sisters! I miss the village people, I miss my friends!"

"The friends who dared you to come here? The friends who sealed your own fate?" he roared.

"Yes!"

Zvir stepped back. "Fine. Leave," he said sadly.

The smile that crossed Lilia's face was short-lived.

"Be warned," Zvir began. "Once you leave, you can never come back."

Lilia reached out and touched his hand-paw. "Zvir, I will always come back."

He closed his eyes and shook her off. "Just leave," he whispered painfully.

I turned to Kvir. He didn't watch what was happening in front of him. Instead, he was taking great interest in the wall behind us.

I closed my eyes. "Did she ever come back?"

He was silent. "Just watch," he finally said.

I opened my eyes again. The castle was dark, with no light shining through the now-nonexistent windows. One torch hanging on the wall let off a dim, flickering light--just barely enough to see by. The beast sat in a chair, staring at the gray wall intently. He was how I knew him--stringy blonde hair; long, gangly body; a black cloak that swallowed him, silver mask, that stupid cane that he swung between his hands. The only thing different were his eyes. They were still dark brown--so dark that the brown blended in with his pupils.

"Zvir?"

I jumped and turned, along with the beast, who shot up from his chair as if he'd been shot.

"Lilia?"

My mother stood uncertainly in the doorway, clasping her hands nervously. She smiled tentatively. "Hello, Zvir."

Zvir twirled his cane around. He didn't approach her. "You didn't come back. I waited. I waited for days, for weeks. Where were you?"

Tears sprang to Lilia's eyes at his words. "I wanted to," she whispered. "They stopped me--my father, my sisters."

He nodded. "I see."

Silence descended on the room. Lilia opened her mouth and closed it again. "I'm--I'm here to say goodbye."