Finding Beauty

Bonus Chapter: Curses

~The Enchantress~

Mental note #1: Be careful who you curse and how you curse them.

Seriously. I was so angry when I first found Gale that I didn't think things through. I was a student at the police academy he was attending when I met him. Strange, I know. What is a witch doing at a police academy? Well, being alive for hundreds of years gets boring after a while. I wanted to spice things up.

Anyways, Gale was by far the snobbiest guy in the class. He walked around like he was God himself and stepped all over everyone else. This alone is not why I cursed him. No. If this was all it took for me to curse someone then half the planet would be beasts.

What really bothered me was the way he used others and threw them under the bus for his own sake. There was one instance where he had broken an academy rule. It was enough to get him expelled but he didn't let that happen. He pinned it on another student that ended up loosing their entire scholarship.

At that point, I knew I had to act. I decided to do some investigating and learn more out about his life. I learned he came from an abusive home. Now it became more apparent to me why he acted the way he did. Still, it was no excuse. If anything, it made me want to curse him more. He needed to learn a lesson in order to break the cycle of abuse or he would end up just like him father.

I am a lot of things but one thing I am not is unfair so I gave him a test. On that cold night he was on patrol I transformed into a deformed little girl. I wanted to see if there was any mercy left in him. If he had a heart, some kind of beauty in him that suggested I should spare him. I found none.

I admit, I should have invested more time into planning a curse to cast. I improvised that night and went by my emotions. Therefore, there were some complications.

I gave him the ability to hurt others with his claws and super strength. Should have thought that one out. Then, I gave him the ability to turn others into roses as an alternative to death. That was reckless. If Gale wasn't careful, people could have figured it out. They would know magic was real and trust me, the human world is not ready for that. They never will.

My mistakes came back to bite me because instead of continuing my free life as an enchantress I was forced to be responsible and keep an eye on him. My name became Carina, an aged maid sent by Gale's father who abandoned him right after the curse.

Now, I don't curse people for the fun of it or for revenge. No. I curse people to teach them lessons. I hoped Gale would learn his and break the spell soon but instead he got worse. He found a new, harsher way of being a police officer. He fought crime by turning criminals into roses.

This appalled me. He had hurt them bad enough for them to die and in change turn into roses. I confronted him in my enchantress form. I met him on the balcony of his apartment in New York. He had rented a place there so he'd be closer to the criminals.

Of course, he refused to stop like his stubborn self. I kept my cool but on the inside I really didn't know what to do. I created a monster. I needed to know if it would get better. So I looked into the future right then and there in the middle of our conversation.

There is a limit to what I can see but I didn't need to see much. The image of him, no longer a beast, dancing with a beautiful young woman in a yellow ball gown was enough for me. I knew it would be okay eventually.

I told him that something big was coming, his second chance.

If only I had stayed that faithful the whole time. It wouldn't have resulted in me dragging Grayson into the whole mess by dropping clues.

Mental note #2: Don't drag others into your own mess.

I helped Grayson get out of his legal trouble but who knows what lies ahead for him emotionally. I'm pretty sure he's lost Belle forever and isn't in a good mental state. I know I'm responsible for some of that damage by fueling his wild goose chase to find her. I should have known better. Nothing good resulted from it, only more trouble. I could have figured out a different way that involved me and only me. Now, Grayson's hurt.

Maybe I should take a little peek into the future? Just to make sure things will work out.

I hope I like what I see.

I close my eyes and sit down on my bed focusing on the memory of his face. Then I focus on the image of his eyes. Their brown color with it's hazel flecs. In his eyes, I see a reflection of his future.

Grayson stands in the middle of a forest looking up. His eyes hold humor and disbelief. "How are you getting down? Nevermind, I know. Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair!"

A young woman groans and my vision is directed up at the top of a lighthouse where a girl with waist length blonde hair is rolling her eyes. "No! I'm climbing down using a rope you fool!"

She begins to let the rope down and then shouts back. "Keep quiet! If Helena comes back and sees us we're  dead!"

He shakes his head chuckling a bit. "Helping a girl escape from her kidnapper who trapped her in a lighthouse . . . Not how I expected to spend my healing time."

I gasp as I come back into reality. Looks like Grayson has an adventure ahead of him. I'll leave him to it.

Mental Note #3- Get gift for Belle and Gale's going away party.

Maybe I'll get them a travel planner. Or a map. Maybe something magical from my old magic shop? I don't know. I'll figure it out. I always do.

Those two are sweet. I'll miss them.

And after all that, what will I do? I'm an enchantress. Things are bound to get interesting soon enough. I'll be off on another journey, off to cast another curse.

Author's Note- Hey! I hope you enjoyed this bonus chapter in which you got a peek into what the Enchantress was up to during the course of this story!

You also got a peek into what lies ahead for Grayson which ties into an announcement I have for you.

I'm writing a spin-off book! It'll be called The Tangled and The Free. Here's the blurb:

"My whole life was that tower. Now that I'm free. . . I'm struggling to figure out what freedom means exactly."

"I get it. I feel lost too. Our lives are as tangled as that hair of your's."
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After Grayson's break down back in New York City, he figures a get away is just what he needs to gain some perspective and heal. However, when he finds a kidnapped girl stuck in a lighthouse, his calm plans are swapped out for a rescue mission to travel across the country to bring her home. Little does he know that he may be the one who needs rescuing.

A modern twist on the classic story of Rapunzel.

(A spin-off to Finding Beauty)

I'm not sure when I'll be publishing this but hopefully soon!

What do you guys think?