Chapter 24
It ended up being a joyous day for the whole village, except maybe a select few. The beasts came out of the forest, standing tall and proud, and were greeted heartily by their families. Only the beasts born in Spring Meadow came, but Selene was told that the rest of the beasts went home to their own villages, where they were easily gaining support. The woman had been without their men for too long. It was like everyone knew that it was time for a change.
Max, Domino, and Rocky were welcomed home by a teary Frieda and grinning Selene. Andy was probably the most excited to see them, and he ran outside, overjoyed to not only have his brothers with him once more, but also to be free. There was a lot to celebrate.
The sight of all the beasts around brought tears to Selene’s eyes, and she only wished that Tornado was there to see such a wonderful moment. He would have been proud. Selene could picture his face in her mind; grinning wildly and suppressing tears of his own after finally seeing that they had somehow made a difference, and they had done it together. Selene knew that without Tornado, none of it would have been possible.
When Jenson arrived home Selene ran into his arms, and they embraced as if for the first time. Selene laughed joyfully, and when she looked into her love’s eyes, they were smiling and brimming with tears. He laughed too, and he picked Selene up and spun her around. To him, seeing her happy was the most wonderful thing in the world.
The mayor certainly wasn’t happy about what was going on, but she stood alone. Even Amber abandoned her aunt, especially after catching the eye of a rather interesting-looking beast, who didn’t remain a beast for very much longer.
Just to be on the safe side, the watchers themselves locked Mayor Thornwood away in one of their cells, where it was reported that she screamed for hours, demanding for someone to let her out. Only the watchers were around to listen, and they were lucky to have poor hearing.
That day was just the beginning. What happened in Spring Meadow started a revolution. Eventually, word of what was going on got to the queen of the kingdom. Having several sons herself, Queen Henrietta secretly rejoiced over the news. Having been threatened years ago by Wicesla, she had been powerless to do anything to free the beasts. After a second visit from Wicesla, however, she made a few changes to the law.
That was the day the most extraordinary thing of all happened. Selene was in the meadow with Jenson, Andy, Rocky, and Dahlia. It was beautiful day out, with a brightly shining sun and hardly a cloud in the sky. They were sitting on a large red blanket and were having a picnic. The others in the family would have joined them, but they were off at work. They were very close to beginning construction on the house, and needed all the money they could get, especially after the three newest additions to the family.
Jenson was lying on his back, with his shoulders propping up his upper body. Selene was sitting in front of his abdomen. She was sitting on her feet again, and they were starting to tingle already. Dahlia sat across from her, with a brother on either side. Andy was busily eating some sliced fruit, and Rocky was watching an ant make its progress across their blanket to the basket of food in the middle.
“Did you see the look on her face?” Dahlia said, giggling at the image in her head.
Andy grinned. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone look so furious before in my life,” he said.
“I hope Mayor Dewbug knows what she’s doing,” Selene said, her face tight with worry. “She seems fairly accepting, but I don’t know...”
Jenson nudged her playfully with his elbow. “There’s no way she’ll be worse than Thornwood was. Just relax, and we’ll see how things turn out.”
That was when it happened, right before her eyes. One second she was smiling at Andy, and the next his features began to transform. She looked at Rocky, and saw that he too had begun to change. In mere seconds they were both looking back at her from human faces, wondering why she was staring. She laughed out loud, and thought that her heart might burst with the strength of her happiness. She was delighted to see that Andy was a redhead, just like her.
She realized something in that moment. There was always a way to overcome a curse, and Selene finally knew what it was. Varla’s words suddenly made sense as they came back to her: ‘I thought the curse would have been broken a long time ago. I now have even less faith in humanity than I had before.’
All it took to break the curse forever was acceptance. For centuries the beasts had been living in separation, shunned by the rest of the world, who were unable to see them for what they were. Now, that had changed. They were openly welcomed into society, and they were finally and truly accepted. The moment they really stopped being seen as beasts by the majority of the kingdom was the moment they stopped being them.
Selene got up on her knees and threw her arms around Rocky, who protested feebly. “What’s going on?” he asked.
He looked over at Andy, and then his jaw fell with shock. He wrenched himself out of his sister’s arms and moved to study his brother. “Whoa,” he said.
Andy looked down at himself, and then back up at Rocky, and a slow smile spread across his face. Then he suddenly got up and did a fist pump, and began dancing around, laughing joyfully.
Dahlia laughed at him through the tears of happiness that had begun pooling in her eyes. Rocky stood and offered her a hand, and they both joined in on Andy’s spontaneous dance, laughing like children.
Selene looked down at Jenson, who was watching them. He looked up at her when he felt her gaze, and they shared a bittersweet smile. They were both thinking of Tornado, who would have loved that moment. Selene remembered how he had looked in the dreams she’d had, when he’d been human. She could imagine now how happy he would have been to look like that, and to finally be free. In a way, she realized, he had been free long before the rest.
Jenson sat up and kissed her lovingly on the cheek. “I knew you could do it,” he said.
“What makes you think I did anything?”
“None of this would have happened without you,” he said, gesturing to Andy and Rocky, who were still laughing and dancing. “You were the one who helped them get out of the forest, and I don’t doubt that that had something to do with breaking the curse. You really are the one in the prophesy.”
Selene couldn’t help but grin. “I always hoped that I was.”
There was a sudden uproar of noise from the village below as the celebration commenced. Men everywhere were finally normal, and women could see what they really looked like. Everything was going to change, even more than it already had. Men would take their place in the world again.
“There’s a valuable lesson to be learned from all of this,” Jenson said. He spoke seriously, but there was a twinkle in his eye that told Selene he wasn’t being serious at all.
“What might that be?”
“Never, ever place a curse on anyone. Ever.”
Selene laughed, and then she kissed him.
Epilogue – 2 years later
“Oh, please let me hold him,” Mrs. Redwing begged, looking at the tiny baby in Jenson’s arms, who yawned and then reached up with one hand, stretching his little fingers. Jenson grinned at him, and then reluctantly handed the baby to his mother.
“Pretty cute, isn’t he?” Selene said.
Jenson went to her side. “Yes, my darling. He’s amazing.”
She sighed contentedly, even though she was exhausted and sore. She reached for her husband’s hand. “I’m sure Kylie will love her new little cousin. Where is Dahlia, anyway?”
“She’s in the kitchen. Serena was getting into the cupboards again. I’m sure she’ll bring them both in to see our little Tornado soon.”
“I’ll be honest; I’m kind of glad we didn’t have twins,” Selene admitted quietly.
“I’m not,” Frieda complained. She was sitting in a chair in the corner of the room, looking almost as exhausted as Selene felt. She was gazing adoring
ly at her first grandson while Velkan fanned her. “I wouldn’t mind having two more adorable little babies around. Not that one isn’t enough, but two would be even better. It was quite an ordeal for Dahlia, though.”
After Mrs. Redwing was done admiring her new grandson, she handed the baby to Selene, who held him lovingly. He had bright blue eyes, just like his father, but his little wisps of hair were an unmistakable shade of red.
“Just imagine,” Selene said softly, watching him stretch his fingers again. “If it weren’t for Tornado, we would never get to see what our little son looked like. I would never have held him, nor would I get to keep him.” Tears formed in her eyes.
Jenson kissed her forehead. “It was because of both of you,” he pointed out. “I think he’d like that we named our son after him.”
“I just wish he was here to see this.”
Dahlia hurried into the room then, with a little girl in each arm. Kylie squirmed excitedly, but Serena just stared and sucked her thumb, which was a habit her mother had a hard time curing her of. Henry followed, smiling at Selene.
“It’s a boy isn’t it? Oh well. I guess I owe Max some money, then,” he said, winking.
Selene laughed. She looked back down at the boy in her arms, then up at the man beside her, and then around the room. She was surrounded by her family, and all the people she loved. She couldn’t help but think about how lucky she was. Somehow, she knew everything would be alright. The twinkle in her husband’s bright blue eyes told her that he knew it too.
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