Beauty and The Beasley

Chapter 35

"so. . . you're the unlucky maiden that's broken my spell." Anita said slowly standing up from her seat. Bree, on the other hand, froze on the spot. She opted to dousing Anita with poppies again but a cloud of green smoke entwined dangerously around her fingers like poisonous snakes. Bree had encountered snakes before - not a nice memory - even though she'd come out alive.

"How do you know that?" Bree asked.

Anita made a cute pouty face and placed a finger on her lower lip. "Let's see... When i woke up on your homely furniture, you put up a good amount of courage for a few minutes which prevented me from sniffing my magic around you. Then your little shield of courage broke and voila, i could smell my magic on you. Isn't that interesting?!"

"I don't care what you're talking about, get out of here. You know you don't belong here."

"Oh, don't i now?" Anita asked with a chuckle. "dearest me, i've walked this earth long before you were born."

"Like i said, i don't care. Leave!" Bree said more boldly this time.

"Just give me the young prince and i'll be on my way." Anita said admiring her smoky fingers.

"He's not here and you can't have him. You've had your fun. Give it up!"

Anita's chuckle became full on laughter. "How brave you are! No wonder you broke my spell."

"It wasn't that hard." Bree muttered.

"Oh but it is. You have to understand the concept of my magic." Anita said proudly.

Bree tilted her head, a fetus sized idea forming in the back of her mind. "Please, i would like to know. Explain how your wonderful magic works."

Anita smiled genuinely and walked over to the sketch of Beasley lying carelessly on the kitchen counter. Bree couldn't remember putting it there or even the last time she'd held it but it was there anyway looking as neat as when she'd first drawn it.

"You see. That rascal of a Prince refused my hand. . ."

"Aren't you a little too old for him?" Bree interrupted with a hint of disgust. She expected another deathly glare from Anita but the witch only smiled like she was proud to be geriatric. Frances had mentioned she was possibly an old lady but Bree did not need any further proof. Anita acted like a grandma and she had that ancient look in her eyes, like she was there when civilization first arose.

"He told you eh? Well, it doesn't matter with my magic around me to keep me youthful for ages." Anita said and tweaked the edge of the sketch paper.

"Oh, right. Go on!" Bree urged. She glanced at her phone screen. Her squad had been gone an hour and that was a good thing unless they found answers quickly then decided to come back home early. That would lead to very a awkward reunion.

"Anyway, my spell was like no other and it was supposed to be impossible to break. Frances stumbled across the continent for years alone, dispirited and wherever he went, he was feared and cast out. Rejected in the same manner he'd done me. I was kind enough to allow my spell be a reversible one otherwise he would've suffered alone until his demise. I made sure though, to hone the spell so it would reflect on whoever could break it and i would have no trouble finding them in this realm like that modern thing people do. GPS, no?. Anyway, i had hoped that that lousy royal scoundrel would remain an animal for life. He mistreated me. Disrespected me when our marriage was supposed to be for the good of both our kingdoms. I'm used to getting what i want when i want it and if i don't get what i want, well, bad things happen."

"So that's why you turned him into a beast, because he was on your wishlist and you couldn't check it off?" Bree asked innocently.

"He rejected me." Anita snapped. Her eyes clouded with anger and burned a bright green. Bree had a sick feeling of déjà vu. "Nobody! Nobody turns me down! He dared and he had to face the consequences."