“I need my yo-yo!” Jax yells. “It’s very powerful! And it’s raining outside! And I don’t have an umbrella! It’s not fair! Everyone else has it so easy and my life is so hard!”

“You made your life hard,” I tell him through the open door. “You shouldn’t have turned Mike into Mr. Beast. You shouldn’t have turned me into a beast. You shouldn’t have turned all the guests into beasts! You need to apologize.”

“No way am I apologizing! I don’t apologize for anything!” Jax hollers. “You can tell my cousin I’m not sorry for what happened in Wallenta!”

Huh? What is he talking about? “What happened in Wallenta?” I ask. “What is Wallenta? Who’s your cousin?”

Ignoring me, Jax gets up and stomps his way through puddles and into the forest, while muttering to himself.

When I’m about to close the door, I spot an older man approaching the castle. His hair is gray and his eyes look weary and tired.

“Excuse me,” he says. “It’s raining and I’m lost. Can I come in?”

Hmm. I’m not supposed to let strangers into a house. But what if he’s a wedding guest?

My internal debate is interrupted by Beauty. She yells “Dad!” and runs into his arms.

Dad?

“Honey!” Beauty’s father says, looking shocked and delighted.

“I thought you were on a work trip,” Beauty says.

“I was,” Beauty’s dad says, patting her hair. “I was on my way home. But I got lost. And it started to rain. This castle was the only place around for miles. What are you doing here?”

This all sounds familiar … oh!

“Jonah, look!” I cry, pointing to Beauty’s father. “It’s the beginning of the original story! Beauty’s dad — the merchant — is lost and looking for a place to stay!”

“Does the whole story start over again, then?” Jonah asks me. “Is that how this works?

“No,” I say sadly. I can’t believe Jonah still doesn’t have his fairy tale memories back. We’ve been here over a day. “Now … well, we go home.”

“Good-bye, everyone!” Jonah calls out to the guests. “It was nice to meet you! But my parents are going to wake up soon and we have to get back to Smithville through the magic mirror upstairs!”

The guests look a bit confused. Understandably.

“I’ll come see you guys off,” Beauty says, looping her arms through ours.

Mr. and Mrs. Butler take Beauty’s dad to get something to eat.

We find Mr. Beast in the kitchen with Freckles. They’re making mac and cheese.

Cute.

“We have to go,” I tell them. “But it was really nice to meet both of you!”

“How will you get home?” Mr. Beast asks.

“The magic mirror upstairs should do the trick,” I say.

“We’ll walk you up, then,” Freckles says.