Beast Below

I stood out in the middle of the field, watching the sun slowly slip behind the tree line. Tiny droplets of warm water gently pelted my wings and made quiet pinging sounds against my metallic gold scales. Water dripped from my soft pink horns, and I blinked my violet colored eyes to keep the water from my face. I furled my light pink and gold feathered wings against me, trying to keep myself warm. From what Bennett told me, Leanza decided to make me beautiful, to make my prey over look the monster in me. She wanted people to stop and stare in amazement. She wanted them come to a stand-still in wonder, to have them weep at my beauty while I rip out their throats. Bennett saved not only Camille that day, but also me. If he hadn’t taken me away, I would have become a cold blooded killer that snared my prey with my beauty. I looked away from the setting sun and stared down at the ground, feeling the self hatred roaring through me like a wild fire.

I may not have been staring at the sun anymore, but I knew exactly when the sun set. It was like the sun rose inside of me, warming my insides like a warm summer breeze. My skin worked its way to the surface, pushing my scales out. They fell to the ground, blood coating the razor sharp edges. It started to rain harder, cleaning the blood from me while the salt from my sweat burned my wounds. Feathers cascaded down around me as my wings exuviated, the bones crumbling into ash. I don’t know why they did this, Bennett didn’t even know why and he was a sexy as fuck wizard. In a cute nerdy way. My shoulders started to burn where my new shoulder blades did a hyper growing thing that Bennett once explained to me, but I like my way of explaining it better. That and the boy spoke twenty words a second. My body started to form itself back into my normal human shape... if you could call that normal now since I have been transforming into a beast for three years now. It felt like my head was being split open as the horns slowly shrank back into my skull. A sharp pain radiated from my back side as my tail slid back into place under my skin. Pain made me cry out and roll onto my side. I curled up as tremendous waves of agony rolled over me.

I lay shivering on the ground, the rain drizzling on me. I waited for the nausea to reside before I rolled over and reached for the bag that Bennett packed for me. Before the sun sets every day, he puts together a bag of clothes for me since my clothes shred when I transform. He also includes a light snack or meal for me since I don’t get a lot to eat while I am in beast form. He lays the pack out near the pond, which is where I always transform into a beast and return to human form. I opened the pack and grabbed up the sandwich on top. I almost didn’t get all of the plastic wrap off of it before I started to devour it. While I chewed, I poked around to see what he picked out for me. I had to fight an eye roll as I saw that he had picked out shorts and a tank top for thirty degree rainy weather, but I stood up and started to shimmy myself into the clothes anyway. Fully clothed and finally done chewing, I headed towards my small cottage. Bennett was probably there already. He is there most of the time, trying to find a cure for me, and since Leanza doesn’t know that he is trying to find a cure, he made my cottage bigger and moved all of his notes and materials into the new room.

I push the door open and let it swing into the wall with a loud bang. Yes, I have made my presence known. Since there is no electricity in this cottage, the candles are all lit and the fire in the fireplace is going. Instead of a fridge, I have an ice box that Bennett used magic on to act like a fridge so it keeps my food good longer. It just doesn’t use electric. I don’t have a modern oven, but I have a brick fire oven to bake breads in. And if I feel like it, a pizza. And anything else, like soup, I cook in a cauldron over the fire. Very medieval. He buys groceries once a week so that I have food at night. Most of the time I just want to sleep since I spent all day flying or pouncing around after bugs or something, but there are some times where I just can’t sleep and a midnight snack is always welcome in my stomach. Since I don’t have a television, he has given me a bunch of books, but I mostly paint. I love to draw and paint. I used to do a lot of pretty, light paintings. Ever since Leanza cursed me, my paintings have become dark and scary.

I heard Bennett moving around in his room and went to go find something to eat. A few minutes later, I had a giant turkey sandwich with lettuce, tomato, and mayo with a slice of cheese. I went to sit on the couch just as Bennett came out with one of his numerous spellbooks. He looked up at me and pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose and waved. And down went the book. I heard him growl under his breath and he bent down to retrieve his book, only for his glasses to slip off. I chuckled and got up to help him, otherwise we would be there all night. If you looked clumsy up in the dictionary, Bennett’s picture would be directly under the word with the definition following. Mumbling thanks to me, Bennett picked up one half of my sandwich and shoved it in his mouth and perched on the edge of the couch. I shot daggers at him and went to go make another sandwich.

“So I have been thinking, that maybe we are going about this all wrong. What if we just call up the guardians of the old and ask them for help,” Bennett said from the couch. I had just about given up on ever being human again. I was going to be stuck in this half-of-a-life nightmare forever. But I never said anything to Bennett. He felt guilty enough that I didn’t want to tell him that I don’t believe any of his spells, charms, or chants are going to work. The one night, he made me a potion that took three days to brew and then it had to sit for a full night under a full moon. It was just awful. It looked like turpentine, it smelled like indian ink. I held my nose, I closed my eyes. I took a drink, and gagged. It tasted somewhere between a rotten big mac and a dirty shoe. Another time, I had to sit in a tub of liquid that he couldn’t really explain, but kept telling me he saw it in a dream. I sat in this thick blue liquid that was almost like a syrup for almost three hours before he finally said that it was supposed to turn purple after five minutes. My skin was dyed blue for three weeks.

“Earth to Freya!” Bennett snapped his fingers in front of my face and I jumped. I realized then that I had been spacing out and he had been talking to me this whole time. That seems to happen a lot because once Bennett starts talking, nothing less than a natural disaster could stop him. I happen to have a semi-small attention span. Bennett normally just laughs it off, but a few times I could tell that it really annoyed him. I brush off the fact that his laughing at me hurts my feelings. Whenever he does, I feel as if he thinks I am stupid and slow. But I never say anything, because I know he isn’t trying to hurt my feelings intentionally.

“Sorry Bennett, what were you saying?” I finished making my new sandwich and sat down next to him, the other half of my first sandwich had also vanished. I bit into my sandwich and glared at him, daring him to try taking this one from me. Bennett shoved one of the books into my lap and pointed down at the page. I chewed on my sandwich and looked over the page that Bennett pointed out. Summon, Stir, and Call was hand-written in neat cursive letters at the top of the page. Written below that was a really long incantation on summoning the God and Goddess, the elements, and the ancients. “What’s this do?” I asked before I took another bite. Bennett rolled his eyes at me.

“It says so right in the incantation, Freya.” I looked back down at the script again.

“Yeah... but I don’t want to read it....” I said, looking back up to smile innocently at him. He scowled at me.

“Basically we cast a circle and then say this incantation, and it summons the ancients and they aid us with whatever we need. I am thinking that if we ask them, they can just undo the spell.” Well, that sounded simple enough. I continued eating my sandwich and read the ritual. After three years of reading Bennett’s rituals and spells, most of what I read made sense. I think. I handed him back the book and stood up. “Okay, anything that I need to do before the ritual?” He nodded and went to rummage around in his room for a bit. He came back out with a stocking full of herbs.

“Go run a bath, seep this stocking in the water so that the water becomes infused with the herbs inside. It’s got hyssop, parsley, and carnation leaves that have been soaked in orange oil. And it has some dry milk to make your skin smooth. Anyway, go soak in this for about an hour, then dress in that white robe that you wore for that one ritual I did last summer and meet me at the ritual spot.” He handed over the stocking and headed towards his room again. I ran to the bathroom and ran the water, ready for the warmth of the bath. I wanted to take one, and it was just perfect that he needed me to take one before the ritual. I threw the stocking in under the running water, letting the water seep into the bath. The hot water produced a nice steam which filled up the room like a sauna.

When the bath was full, I took off my clothes and stepped into the bath. I sat down and a sigh of ecstasy escaped me. I was trying not to get my hopes up. It’s been three years since I have seen my family and friends. Three years since I have been able to lay out in the sun and have the sun’s rays beat down upon my human flesh. It’s been three years since I have painted a picture that wasn’t full of darkness...hurt...anger. Oh, the places I would go see if I was a human again. I would travel to Ireland, Japan, Africa, Australia, Italy, and many other places. I would leave this place and never look back. And I would never climb over another evil sorceress’ wall again. But then again, I would never see Bennett again. Bennett and I have become friends in the past three years. I would miss him. Maybe he will leave with me. I glanced at the clock and realized that I have been sitting in the tub for over an hour. Letting out a gasp, I scrambled out of the tub. I worked my hair into a loose braid and wrapped myself in a towel. Hurrying to my room, I searched for the robe that Bennett made me for the first ritual he ever did with me. I found it wedged under a pair of shoes in my closet. I threw the robe on and raced out the door. A few minutes later, I was out of breath and standing next to a very impatient looking Bennett.

“I thought I said about an hour, not over an hour and a half!” I glared at him as my breathing finally became normal. I looked at the circle he had drawn on the meadow’s ground. There was a feather in a circle facing the east representing the element Air. A line connected that circle to a circle facing the south with burning coals in a circle to represent the element Fire. Another line connected that to a circle with a bowl of water facing the west to represent the element Water. And a last line connected that circle to the last circle filled with rich, brown earth facing the north to represent the element Earth. From each of these circles, a line stretched inward to a last circle where I was supposed to stand while he read off the incantations.

“Ready?” I asked him. He nodded and I took my place in the circle.