Erik

I looked up at the drab peeling wallpaper of our cabin, then closed my eyes in pain, I hadn't removed my mask in quite some time the gods only know how many blisters have formed upon my malformed flesh. I stood up and stumbled over to the small sink which had a mirror just above it I looked at each cracked crevice of my mask wondering how it had still stayed in one piece I reached up with my good arm and undid the ribbon at the back catching the porcelain in the process of it falling, I placed it down beside the sink and looked up at my excuse for a face, first I examined my mismatched eyes, the blue one had been corrupted with white due to that Man's dagger the green one stood out from the black borders which surrounded it. My exposed skull had a bruise surrounding it, the gaping hole served where my nose should of been, purple and red scars crisscrossed over the marred flesh too, it was sore to the touch, and having a piece of heavy porcelain hanging over it and pressing into the worst parts of my face, made it bruise and blister very easily.

I heard thumping down the hallway, which caused me to jolt and secure the mask to my face again. Just then Nadir burst through the door before falling to the floor.

"Watch yourself man!" I shouted

I walked over to him and knelt down.

"Are you alright?"

He rolled over onto his back, and as he let out a sigh I could smell the brandy off of his breath

"Nadir, stand up and go lay down...whilst doing that sober up and tell me what happened, for now I'm going up deck to get some air."

I stepped over the man and walked out the open door, before closing it behind me.

I stumbled through the dark hallway and towards the stairs, halfway up I could see the light and smell the sea, I squinted my eyes in the bright light. There was hardly anyone above a apart from a few people walking about talking whilst looking out to sea.

I approached the railing of the ship and clung onto it with my good arm and looked into the sunset. but sharply turned after a few moments due to being tapped on the back. There standing in front of me was a young red headed woman.

"Hello sir." she said

"Hello M'am, can I help you?"

"oh, by any chance, do you know a man called Nadir?"

"Yes I do, infact He is laying passed out in the middle of my cabin floor."

She giggled and smiled.

"You must be Nadir's friend Erik"

"Indeed I am."

"You must be very Brave."

"I wouldn't say that..I'm quite the opposite actually"

"How so? you were in the sudanese war...weren't you?"

"Yes I was"

"Then how are you not brave?"

"Because..I left the one I loved the most due to me being a coward...the Girl who saved my life too."

"Tell me what happened, Erik."

"Perhaps another time"

I said before pushing away from the railing then making my way towards the stairs, but she grabbed my arm and stopped me from moving.

"Erik, please!"

"No!"

I stormed down the steps before returning to my cabin."

Christine

After I was sure that Raoul was still asleep, I took the key from my sleeve and approached the cellar stairs I unlocked the door and swiftly ran towards my bedchambers..praying Raoul wasn't sleeping there, i opened the door he wasn't..He must be in 'that' room, I opened the wardrobe and pulled out a blue dress with beautiful embroidery and pulled it on discarding the newly made rags on the floor, I walked over to my vanity and quickly brushed my matted curls. when leaving I pulled my blue satin cloak off of the coat rack and ran downstairs, and out of the estate.

once in the street I slowly paced myself making sure that it would look as though I wasn't running away from something. I pulled the hood of my satin cloak over my hair keeping my head down.

I started picking up the pace as I walked past the foreign shouting merchants selling things like, cheese, bread, fruits and many more exotic things. I looked around making sure none of Raoul's 'friends' were looking for me. The alleys were all mysterious filled with strange characters. Through one of the alleys, I could see a grand carriage with graceful floral patterns climbing up it.

I directed my eyes away from the alleys and kept walking past about seven alleys before I suddenly felt the need to stop. I turned my head.

'Come here, my dear Christine.' An old woman was saying.

The old woman was hunched over and I couldn't see her face as it was covered by a purple hood attached to a cloak, the whole thing was bordered by golden embroidery. She held out a gnarled hand a golden snake ring with a green liquid oozing out of the fangs. I took a step back but the old woman walked forward just staying out of the light and snatched my wrist.

'My pet, I know who you are running from.'

Who is this woman, I snatched my hand out of her wrist, 'Who?'

'Raoul De Chagny, he stole you as his bride and moved over here to England.' Her crackly voice reminded me of my own grandma.

'How do you know this?'

'Do not speak, follow.' She took my wrist in her hand gently.

She lead me through the alley making sure I kept my head down to make sure nobody saw me. She tapped thrice on an old, battered door before it creaked open revealing a vast, deserted room with a brightly coloured, purple door at the end. She started to pick up the pace and half way through the room she swiped the air and the door behind us slammed shut.

'Hurry my pet, through here.' She called to me.

She gave me a hard tug and threw me past the purple door and out onto a sea of golden crops. She ducked down and pulled me down with her, the old woman crawled through a slim path cloaked by wheat. The old woman found a hole and managed to weasel her way way underneath it dragging me behind. For an old woman she was fairly strong.

Once we had popped out of the hole I saw a single caravan in the middle of no-where. I darted my head back around and the tunnel was gone. The woman started breaking into a run towards the caravan and suddenly started sprinting.

'Hurry!' She screamed in a shrill voice.

She waved her hand in the air and the door opened with a gust of wind. She threw me into the caravan and toppling over with me. The door slammed shut with a loud bang following the closing. She stepped up and started walking about. I scrambled up off the floor startled. The caravan was much larger than it had seemed on the outside, there were three rooms to it, a bedroom, a toilet room and a kitchen, the only place to sit was on her bed which did not look comfy. From the ceiling dangled about thirteen birdcages all filled with birds of different species. I could identify all the species seeing as I was taught them at a very young age, three hummingbirds in one cage, a macaw in another, two pigeons in a cage at the far left, a great owl hooting, one buzzard, one toucan, a kiwi wandering about on the floor, one kookaburra, four wrens battling against each other in a cage right above the kitchen sink. A blue tit and a great tit sitting on a nest of eggs in another cage, two swifts in another cage, a kingfisher, an Arctic skua and one grand pheasant.

Eventually, after about three minutes of her scavenging through drawers she stepped back and pulled down her hood revealing a grey, messy mop on top of the old woman's head. Suddenly, a raven came soaring through a tiny slit in the window and landed on the shoulder.

'What is it my dear?' She asked the raven who cawed replying. The old woman turned to me and stared at me, finally I got a good look at her face. Her eyes were fully white like a winter's morn, her nose was crooked and her lip had a notch in the upper right corner where you could see a slight hint of her canine tooth. 'Does he scare you, my pet?' She asked me.

'What is your name?' I asked her trying to avoid the talk about my fears.

'They call me Blind Mag but I see more than any of them.'

'How do you know me?' I asked her another question.

'You ask me a lot of questions my pet. All will be revealed.'

Hey everyone! I'm getting an operation tomorrow..so next chapter might not be up till monday..I will try sunday night, but I promise you will all love next chapter! Until next time my lovelies!