text: [Themes: Fantasy, mirrors, female protagonist, fantasy, ghosts, sexual innuendo, suicide, slavery, magic-object, castle, fairy tale, sexual coercion, Demon]
  
  When the seventh day comes and it is time for you to return to the castle in the forest, your sisters cling to your sleeves.
  
  "Don't go back," they say, and "When will we ever see you again?" But you imagine they will find consolation somewhere.
  
  Your father hangs back, silent and moody. He has spent the week as far from you as possible, working until late at night. Now he speaks only to ask whether the Beast treated you "properly." Since he obviously has his own ideas about what must have taken place over the past few years, you do not reply beyond a shrug.
  
  You breathe more easily once you're back in the forest, alone.
  
  There is little enough purpose in loitering outside: He and his servants never come out here, and whatever you must do, you will have to do within.
  
  An iron-barred gate leads north.
  
  [Author's Note: When the seventh day comes and it is time for you to return to the castle in the forest, your sisters cling to your sleeves.]
  
  > About yourself
  You are nontrivially the worse for your journey -- hungry, dirty, and tired. But all that can be seen to later.
  
  > examine the moat
  The moat is full of slightly oily brown water. If you had been physically imprisoned, you might have tried to swim across; so it is just as well that you were not.
  
  > examine the gate
  It is closed and unlocked.
  
  > go to the north
  (first opening the iron-barred gate)
  You shouldn't be able to open it, heavy as it is, but it swings aside lightly at your touch. The Beast said that it knows friend from enemy; and the castle, at least, still regards you as friend.
  
  There is no fire in the big fireplace, and no one is waiting for you here; the air is very cold. Over the gate, the old familiar warning sign is painted.
  
  Various passages lead deeper into the castle: north towards the central courtyard, southwest to the guard tower, east and west into the libraries, the offices, the galleries. Somewhere in this maze, he waits; and he should be told as soon as possible that you did return.
  
  An iron-barred gate leads south to the drawbridge.
  
  > read the sign
  You read: Those who seek to leave the castle depart at peril of
  their lives and souls, unless another servant be provided in exchange, or a fixed term of absence be granted by their master.
  
  > look at the fireplace
  Unlit, vacant. It is almost as though you are not expected.
  
  > Go north
  Open to a grey sky, from which a light rain falls. You have never seen the courtyard otherwise: it rains in every season, winter or summer, no matter what lies beyond the moat.
  
  It was here that you first laid eyes on the Beast: emerging from the State Rooms, snarling. He seemed angry at you for coming, even though you had had no choice. Or perhaps (you thought) he was simply violent. You did not run.
  
  The castle proper opens both north and south, and to the east a helical staircase ascends to the roof.
  
  > About yourself
  You are nontrivially the worse for your journey -- hungry, dirty, and tired. But all that can be seen to later.
  
  > go east
  The steps rise from here towards the upper rooms, and open out onto the bare courtyard.
  
  An obscene gargoyle sits where the finial of the banister should be.
  
  > examine the gargoyle
  He came up while you were bent over the gargoyle, trying to lift it. "Taking that back to your room?" he asked slyly. "It won't work, but if you're lacking companionship I could find an appropriate servant to see to your needs."
  
  You felt yourself blush. "It's ugly," you said. "I wanted to move it."
  
  "Oh. You can't." He frowned at it. "It is a remnant, left here by an angry soul who managed to take some revenge despite his enslavement. There are a few others around, mostly in the crypt. They're immovable, but harmless."
  
  You reacquaint yourself with its appearance: Not too large, but stunningly ugly: a stone about the size of an apple, carved into a monster with outsized ears and eyes -- not to mention outsized attributes elsewhere.
  
  > Go upward
  In this spot, you fell and almost broke your leg -- or some other more valuable part of you -- except that He caught you.
  
  But you are alone now, and therefore cautious.
  
  > Go east
  A sitting room of the family, in old times, and familiar territory to you now as well. Your bedroom is just south; other bedrooms, mostly smaller, in other directions.
  
  Nearby a heavy door leads north.
  
  You can also see a bentwood table (on which is a jigsaw puzzle) here.
  
  > examine puzzle
  His latest offering: he brings you all the most innocent toys he can find, to occupy your time and make you less miserable. This one is nearly finished, missing only one piece that neither of you could ever find.
  
  > go south
  A fantasia of gleaming and glittering, chandeliers and mirrors: all that shines or reflects has been moved here, into this room that you inhabit, which he never enters.
  
  The south end of the room is most dazzling, because of the daylight from the balcony.
  
  > look at the mirrors
  You learned, long ago, that the mirrors would keep him away; and then, when you had less need to keep him at bay, you kept them anyway, so as not to disturb him by returning them to the rest of the palace.
  
  > look in the mirror
  You look and see yourself, scratched and dirty from the long journey; and remember...
  
  He stood in the doorway, amused. "You look displeased."
  
  You, holding wide brocaded skirts. "They're very rich and very beautiful and much too fancy for me."
  
  "And?"
  
  "And--" You glanced down at them. "And they would have been out of fashion on my grandmother!"
  
  "Which is the last time the servants had a chance to practice making gowns," he said. "Do you mind? There is no one to see you but me, and I assure you that my knowledge of current Parisian fashion is nonexistent..."
  
  > examine the bed
  Unrumpled: the service keeps them neat and tidy.
  
  > Go south
  You step out into the rain.
  
  A ridiculous filigreed balcony that is like nothing so much as a birdcage: and from here you can see all the way across the moat, across the forest, the plain, to the edge of the sea, only by staring long enough in any direction.
  
  When you first came here, the balcony was full of plants in pots: poison oak, nettles, nightshade, datura. "They grow best here," he explained. "Don't touch them." And he took them away, and you have never seen them again since.
  
  > Sing
  You make a little noise, to cheer yourself. Then stop again, when you remember that it is a song he taught you.
  
  > Dance
  Despite all his lessons, you never did get the knack of it.
  
  > think about the puzzle
  You're missing an object that might be useful to resolving this problem.
  
  > go to the east
  Made up for the reception of a guest who will never arrive again. A tapestry recalls the story.
  
  Still here at the center of the room is the stool you and the Beast used, the time he tried to teach you to dance -- not a great success, but more effective than the experiment with stilts.
  
  > examine the stool
  An ordinary three-legged stool, like the one your cat at home liked to sleep on.
  
  > examine the bed
  Unrumpled: the service keeps them neat and tidy.
  
  > go west
  A dizzying prospect, the spiral of steps down to the ground.
  
  > go to the south-east
  Like a monk's chamber compared to every other part of the palace, just bare walls now. Here your father stayed, when he made his ill-fated journey to the castle. The Beast told you this, on your first visit.
  
  On the wall, as a curio, hangs an open shackle -- sign of the only person ever to have escaped the power of this place.
  
  > look at the shackle
  Your father claims to have been chained up, but the Beast never made the least effort to restrain you with chains or bars. On the contrary-- but that remains a puzzle.
  
  You reacquaint yourself with its appearance: A curious object, a broken shackle. Nowhere else in the castle are there any chains or ropes or devices of torture; there has never been a need for such physical coercion...
  
  > Go southwest
  Having more personality than most of the bedrooms, it was decorated for someone specific and has been left that way: green and white, with a simple rustic cast unusual for the palace.
  
  The chief exception is the royal portrait on the wall.
  
  He's not upstairs, then: there's nowhere in these rooms he could have been hiding, no space large enough to conceal him.
  
  Perhaps he's downstairs somewhere, in the east wing. That would make sense. You find those rooms dreary and cold, but he spends time there when he wishes to be alone; perhaps...
  
  > examine the portrait
  "That was me," he told you. "Before I was changed. Do you think I was handsome?"
  
  You shrugged. Handsome, yes, but proud, selfish, resentful, perhaps cruel. "The painter did not do justice to your personality," you replied.
  
  "You're wrong," he said. "And I put the painting here to punish the woman who slept here. She treated me with justice, and I could not forgive her."
  
  He refused to tell you the rest. "You like me more than you should, and trust me less," he said. "If I told you the rest of this particular story, you would neither trust nor like. There, that's a warning for you."
  
  You reacquaint yourself with its appearance: A portrait of a young, arrogant king: not a prince, but one who inherited early and used his power from the beginning. He stares out with bitterness, perhaps even resentment.
  
  > go north
  (first opening the heavy door)
  You get far enough to glimpse an open heavy door before being overcome: you reel back from a smell of roses and death, so powerful that you can't go forward. Until there's a breeze through here, you won't be able to stand being in the place.
  
  A sitting room of the family, in old times, and familiar territory to you now as well. Your bedroom is just south; other bedrooms, mostly smaller, in other directions.
  
  Nearby an open heavy door leads north.
  
  You can also see a bentwood table (on which is a jigsaw puzzle) here.
  
  > go west
  Open to a grey sky, from which a light rain falls. You have never seen the courtyard otherwise: it rains in every season, winter or summer, no matter what lies beyond the moat.
  
  The castle proper opens both north and south, and to the east a helical staircase ascends to the roof.
  
  > go north
  You find your way blocked by a phantom guard. Somewhere nearby you hear chimes.
  
  As soon as you back up, he disperses into smoke again.
  
  > Go south
  There is no fire in the big fireplace; the air is very cold. Over the gate, the old familiar warning sign is painted.
  
  Various passages lead deeper into the castle: north towards the central courtyard, southwest to the guard tower, east and west into the libraries, the offices, the galleries. Somewhere in this maze, he waits; and he should be told as soon as possible that you did return.
  
  An iron-barred gate leads south to the drawbridge.
  
  > go to the southwest
  A round tower offering protection to the drawbridge.
  
  > Go east
  You do not often come this way, into the older part of the castle, which is narrow and has a low roof. The walls, and the ceiling too, are deep scarlet, the color of the old king and queen that ruled here two hundred fifty years ago, when there was still a kingdom.
  
  > go northeast
  Locked in an iron cage are the house treasures not in use: the collection consists of a sceptre, a puzzle piece, and a pair of cloven shoes, at present -- he showed them to you one rainy day, telling you their many histories.
  
  Nearby a small door leads east.
  
  > examine the sceptre
  Formerly belonging to Queen Ingratitudina the First (so he said), only slightly bent where she used it to strike King Cophetua.
  
  You reacquaint yourself with its appearance: Studded with measly turquoises and semi-precious stones.
  
  > examine puzzle piece
  Something shiny has been painted on the piece.
  
  > examine the shoes
  Made for something with cloven hoofs. They bear evidence of having been adjusted to their current size by a shoemaker, and perhaps (therefore) could be again.
  
  > Go east
  (first opening the small door)
  (first unlocking the small door)
  You lack a key that fits the small door.
  
  > go east
  Here on the north wall and the south are paintings of historical events from times past: the assassination of King Elzibad in 1248; the arrival of Princess Lucrezia from the Italian State of Medici-Credenza in 1545.
  
  The gallery goes on, echoing, both east and west.
  
  > look at the King
  You see his pointy-slippered attendants wringing their hands, his wife wiping her eyes on an ermine muff, peasants grieving.
  
  Of Elzibad himself, there is only a pair of blackened feet, sticking out from under the elephant.
  
  > examine the Princess
  Lucrezia wears silk the pale blue of the morning sky, and her eyes are little currants of malice.
  
  > Go east
  A mosaic floor of black and white, like that of cathedrals, as protection against the spite of the undead: which protection might often have been needed, by those that dwelt here in former times. The way down is at the center of the maze.
  
  > Bronze1
  Save failed.
  
  > Go southeast
  A little hexagonal room, from whose narrow window you can see the moat, the lawn, and the beginning of the forest outside.
  
  On the windowsill, a helmet waits, for the use of the sentry.
  
  He's not down here, then, in the east wing.
  
  There is still the chance that he's somewhere in the kitchen wing, west of the entrance hall. Maybe he got hungry.
  
  (He never liked to eat in the dining hall alone, and took it up only when you were around. But maybe he's gone there for some reason anyway?)
  
  > look at the helmet
  A very old helmet that you have seen the Beast wear (and quite foolish it looked, perched on a head it no longer fits: it would suit your head better). He told you once that the helmet was for night watchmen, scouts, and guards, to increase their vigilance and strengthen their hearing.
  
  Lines of writing arc over each ear, but you do not know the language in question.