The week went by fast and Beauty barely thought of her Beast but on the seventh day, Beauty woke up as Nellie huffed and whinnied.  Beauty reaches over to scratch the horse’s nose and realized that her hand appeared slightly bigger than it did a few days ago but the horse made no judgment.  Nellie welcomed any attention she could get.

“Odd but I don’t feel any different,” Beauty said to the horse and Nellie just whinnied some more.

Beauty stood up, careful of the rafters as she has been since the first day she entered the barn.  She hit her shoulder and realized that the space of the barn appeared smaller today than it did last night.

“I’ve grown,” Beauty tells the horse.  “Louie is right, I am growing.  My gown still seems to fit,” Beauty said as she spied her shoes.  She slipped her feet into them and noticed that the shoe still fit.  She pulled a dress out of the trunk and slipped out of her nightgown.  The dress fit perfectly.  Beauty then came to a revelation.  “I am enchanted!  Louie is right,” she said to the horse again.

Beauty noticed that no one else was awake and so she decided to wake her brother Louis.  Louis shared a room with Anton just as she used to share a room with her sisters.  Beauty gently tapped on the brothers’ window that she now stood slightly above.  It was only yesterday that Beauty stood eye level with the second story windows.

“What the devil Beauty?”  Louis exclaimed as he opened the window.  His jaw dropped when he realized he was eye level with Beauty’s collarbone.  “You grew,” Louis exclaimed as he stared wide eyed at his sister.  Beauty frowned.  Anton came to the window and stared too.

“I am cursed just like the Beast,” Beauty sobbed.  “I never asked to be this big.”

“Oh Beauty, if there was anything we could do to help you, we will.  What do you think caused this?” Anton said, playing the part of the understanding older brother.

“I don’t know?  I’ve been having these dreams and I miss the Beast,” Beauty said and just as she said she missed the Beast, she grew again ever so slightly.  Beauty seemed unaware but Anton and Louis took notice.  Beauty only realized it after she straightened up and noticed that the peak of the thatch roof was closer to her line of vision.  “Not again,” she whispered.

“Beauty, I think I know what’s causing this.  Tell us about your dreams,” Anton said and Beauty told him in detail about her dreams.  Anton and Louis both pondered this for a moment.

“I know what is making you grow,” Louis declared.  “You miss the Beast.  You need to return to his castle.”

“Oh Louie, you really think that is what it is?” Beauty asked.

“I’m sure of it,” Louis responded.

“I must get my ring.  I can return if I have my ring,” Beauty declared as she headed back to the barn.

What Beauty wasn’t aware of is that she grew so much she had to crawl into the barn.  The more she thought of her Beast the bigger she grew.  It wasn’t just her size that worried her but the Beast’s warning that he would die if she never returned.  Beauty became upset when she couldn’t find her precious ring.  She was also unaware of how cramped the barn had become in the short time she had crawled through the door.  The door had become far too small for her as she felt the walls closing in on her.  She managed to open Nellie’s stall and the horse promptly exited the unstable building shortly before Beauty’s head came crashing through the thatch roof.  No matter how much she tried, Beauty couldn’t help but not think of her dying friend.

“Beauty,” she heard her father yell.  “Are you alright dear?”

“I can’t seem to stop growing!  I’m stuck,” she tells her father.

“Beauty, that barn is going to fall apart anyway.  You might as well stand up,” Maurice tells his daughter.

The three sisters ran out of the house to see what the commotion was.  They all ignored Beauty as much as they could all week.  Anna never told a soul about the ring she buried but at the sight before her, she was going to have to crack soon.

“Good Lord!” Felicia gasped as she saw the walls of the barn collapse as Beauty stood up and up from the rubble.  Beauty still appeared to be growing but stopped eventually.

“She is as big as a whale!” Marie declared. 

Beauty still thought of her Beast but the growth had stopped.  She looked around her at the splintered building.  Tears began to form in her eyes when she looked down at her family.  Anton, who was the tallest, stood just past her ankle.  She had truly become as big as the legendary giants now but she didn’t appear as hideous as the giants in the tales.  Everything about Beauty was still Beauty.

“I am a monster,” Beauty sobbed.  “I need the Beast and I cannot find my ring.”

Tears began to fall from Beauty’s eyes.  She was ready to admit defeat but Anton and Louis gave their greedy sisters a frown.  Beauty’s brothers suspect the sisters had something to do with the lost ring.  Maurice wanted to embrace his crying daughter.  Finally he just tugs on her skirt.  Beauty looked down at her father and bent down to as close to his level as she could.

“Beauty, please pick me up dear,” Maurice tells his enormous daughter.  Beauty puts her hand in front of him and that was when she noticed her new size was that of her size in her dreams.  Maurice fit into the palm of her hand.  She was careful and slow as she rose to her new height.  “We will help you find the ring, I promise,” Maurice warmly tells her.

“I think we may already have,” Anton said as he eyed Anna.  Anna hung her head low in guilt.

“She never deserved such a grand ring,” Anna said with her last bit of courage.  She didn’t have the nerve to look up at her gigantic sister.

“Anna!  How could you!  Beauty needs that ring,” Louis scolds his sister.  Anna just hung her head down in defeat.

“That’s quite alright.  Anna, I need you to tell me where you hid the ring,” Beauty said calmly to her sister.  Beauty wasn’t quite sure if she could fully forgive her sister if it is too late but she needed that ring.

“Please Anna,” Maurice pleaded from his lofty position.

“You better tell her or she’ll crush us all,” Felicia mumbled quietly.  The two other sisters frowned at the petite Anna.

“It’s buried under the willow by the creek,” Anna said in defeated and collapsed to her knees crying.  She never meant to harm her sister but now she may have if Beauty can’t return.  Giant killers from all over will come after Beauty if she doesn’t return.  Anna didn’t want to harm Beauty in such a way.

Beauty slowly lowers Maurice toward the ground but he stops her.  Maurice offers to help his daughter as does her two brothers.  Since Beauty great size made her faster than any steed, Anton and Louis decided to ride in the pockets of her apron.  Maurice thought it would be safe to do the same and so he shared a pocket with his youngest son Louis.  Beauty then ventured to the creek with part of her family secure.  The sisters all stayed back hoping for Beauty never to return.