The large snake looked at her with wide eyes and dropped the fish. Then promptly fell out of its chair.
Marinette recognised those eyes. Startling green, practically glowing, framed by dark, glossy scales. The memory of being lifted from the forest floor, spirited away by something large and swathed in night-black. Her kidnapper!
A high-pitched scream pierced the air, and it wasn't until her throat stung that Marinette realised it was hers. The snake scrambled up onto what looked like a pair of scale-covered legs, as though it had recently eaten a full-sized man whose limbs were pushing against the stomach. It was as big as her father and covered in scales, black, green, and teal. Its face was caught somewhere between a serpent and a man, like a horrible chimera, an abomination against nature. The mouth opened, exposing long fangs, and the snake-man hissed before surging from the room.
Marinette staggered backwards, slipped on her heels, and fell over. "T-Tikki!" she yelped. The floor was like ice beneath her hands. "What- who?"
Tikki had the humility to look slightly abashed. "That was the master. Maybe I should have mentioned… I just didn't know if you'd go down if you knew…"
"If I knew about him being a…a…a whatever he is?" Marinette jumped to her feet and scampered back to the door. "I can't stay here!"
"Marinette, please!" Tikki begged, chasing after her. "The master, he's not that bad really. He won't hurt you!"
But, fuelled by terror, Marinette soon disappeared from sight.
The master didn't stop until he had reached the safety of his room, at which point he slammed the door and pressed his head against a wall.
"Sass," he croaked after a few minutes of heavy breathing. "What the hell just happened?"
"Asssssk him," his valet replied, smirking as his bright yellow eyes turned to the small cat-creature that had followed his master through the door. "It was hissss idea."
"Plagg…" The master turned to the floating footman and mustered the firmest glare he could in his current state of shock.
"I don't know, I wasn't watching," a whiny voice replied. "I was distracted by that wheel of Camembert."
"Of course."
"But it sounded like a girl joined you for dinner and you ran away."
"Funnily enough I worked that much out for myself." The master turned around and let his back slide down the wall. "I mean why was there a girl in the castle at all?"
"Oh, right… Well, uhh, you know that plan you had? To rescue a young maiden who could help us break the curse?"
The master sighed loudly, already dreading what story Plagg had to tell. "Yes…"
"And you know the household had enough magic left for one return journey outside the castle, with a passenger?"
He shut his eyes and nodded. "Yes."
"Well, we decided to give the plan a little push."
"We?" He swung around to glare at Sass who was rapidly shaking his little head.
"Okay, I did," Plagg admitted.
"Please don't tell me you kidnapped her," the master sighed. "I specifically banned you from doing that!"
"I didn't kidnap her. I saved her!" Plagg replied indignantly. "And you only banned us from taking girls from the village. I found her in the forest."
"Plagg!" the master moaned, eyes flying open.
"He hasss a point, masssster," Sass pointed out.
"I rescued her! Just like you wanted!" Plagg continued, pouting and crossing his arms. "It was dark and she was alone. And there were wolves, you know, around. Ish." He glanced around shiftily, turning his body away. "They might have eaten her if I hadn't intervened. Maybe."
The master opened his mouth to yell but caught himself. "So… without even telling me-"
"You like surprises," Plagg interjected.
"-you went out to the forest, found a young maiden… and just brought her here."
"Away from the wolves, yes."
"The wolves which were around. Ish. She didn't know they were there!" the master hissed, resisting the urge to grab the tiny flying cat and chuck him out the window. "She doesn't know we rescued her!"
"We?"
"Plagg!" He glowered.
"Don't give me that look. We can't return her: no magic left. Only way to get her home is to break the curse."
"Sass," the master muttered, "how could you let him do something like this?"
"I didn't realisssse he had until it wassss too late," Sass admitted. "Tikki ssssaid she'd look after her."
The master frowned at this. "Am I the only one who didn't know she was here?" he asked, and by the looks he received from the two servants he took the answer to be yes.
"In my defencccce, massster," Sass said, "I thought Plagg wassss going to tell you before dinner."
"How would that have helped?" Plagg replied, shrugging. "She still would have freaked."
"What's her name?" the master asked.
"Hm?"
"The girl. The one you kidnapped."
Plagg and Sass exchanged embarrassed looks. "Oh. Uh…" Plagg grinned. "I don't actually know… Tikki probably does, I'll go ask her!"
He disappeared in a flash of green.
LINEBREAKLINEBREAKLINEBREAK
"Marinette? Marinette! Please come back!" Tikki cried, whizzing around the castle as fast as she could, determined to leave no room unopened, no corridor unexplored. But the human had completely vanished. "Oh, I knew I should have warned her first… Marinette!"
"Tikki, there's my favourite lady's maid!"
Tikki stopped half way down the corridor, sighed, and turned to face the cat-footman. "Plagg."
"Did you by any chance get that girl's name?" he asked, with the most charming smile he could muster. "The master would rather like to know."
"I'm sure the master would have liked to know there was a girl here in the first place," Tikki snapped. "Then maybe he wouldn't have run away like that!"
"But he loves surprises!"
"Plagg! I thought you said you were going to tell him!"
"I did. Just…after he saw her."
Tikki groaned and eyed a candelabra, wondering what sort of damage it would do if she slammed it into the valet's head. "Her name is Marinette. But she's gone missing."
"You lost her?!"
"Not my fault," Tikki growled. "Now help me find her."
The two servants split up to search. Neither thought to go through the closed door they had stopped next to.
Marinette sat on the other side, eye against the keyhole. She hadn't seen much, but she'd been able to make out Tikki's red body along with another small, floating servant. The second one—Plagg?—looked like a black cat.
When she was sure they'd left, Marinette backed away from the door and peered around the room. She had darted inside just in time to avoid being seen.
The room was a similar size to her bedroom, but with two windows on adjacent walls. Patches of moonlight stained the floor silver and picked out the shapes of several instruments. A grand piano sat in the centre; a harp was propped up in the corner; and other stringed instruments were stacked in another corner. One wall was covered by a large bookcase, but when she explored it further she found the shelves were full of sheet music.
Marinette wished she could play an instrument, but the daughter of a baker could hardly afford to take lessons. Adrien, however, had shown her a few tunes on the piano, and had played a song on the lute once. She padded over to the stringed instruments and rifled through: a cello; two violins; a larger violin—a viola? And… Aha, a lute. She pulled it out of the pile, cringing when one of the violins slipped and twanged on the ground.
The lute was horribly out of tune, and so was the piano. After a few experimental tugs at the tuning pegs on the headstock, Marinette left the lute propped up in a chair and sloped back to the door. Perhaps now it would be safe to sneak back out and look for the exit.
They'd never said why she couldn't leave; surely it was merely a matter of them not wanting her to.
Marinette creaked the door open and glanced up and down the corridor. It was dark and silent. Perfect.
She slipped through and crept down the corridor, wishing she had a candle or a lantern to light the way. The windows in the music room had shown her that she was on the ground floor, so no need to look for stairs.
Eventually she came across what looked to be an entrance hall: a wide, sweeping space with grey flagstones leading to a shallow staircase. Portraits studded the walls, all of them murky with little brass plaques beneath. An opulent chandelier dangled above, glistening in a pale shaft of moonlight. And there, opposite the stairs, a massive set of double doors.
"Aha," she murmured, hurrying over and placing her palm flat on the wood. "This must be it."
She pushed, but the doors didn't budge. She pushed again, harder, but to no avail. Pursing her lips, Marinette pressed her fingers to the iron keyhole. "Of course it's locked," she muttered. "I wonder who has the key…"
"That would be me."
Marinette gasped and whirled around.
The chandelier burst into life, revealing the snake-creature standing on the bottom step. Its mouth pulled up into a smirk as it slunk towards her. It was even more monstrous now. Sharp teeth glinted beneath those gleaming green eyes. Its body, long, wiry, and covered in scales, bright in the candlelight. It held itself up on two legs, which were bent the wrong way like a cat's, and each limb ended in long, silver claws. A long tail curled around one of its feet. It wore the ragged remains of black trousers, and a long, dark cloak swept behind it.
"Don't be afraid," the monster said. Was it her imagination, or was there a predatory look in those eyes—a far cry from the startled creature she'd found at the dining hall.
Don't be afraid—as if Marinette would fall for such an obvious ploy. The moment she let her guard down the monster would strike, unleashing its fangs, dripping with poison. Even though she knew they were locked, she pushed against the doors again, as if by some miracle her terror might afford her the extra strength needed to break the bolt.
She looked back; the monster was closer now. It's eyes—bold as emeralds against black scales—were almost sad—another trick, no doubt. "I'm sorry for frightening you," it continued, a long, forked tongue flicking out on the 's'. "No one in this castle means you harm."
Maybe there was a back door, or a window. The creature was barely two steps away. There was no more time—she had to move now. Marinette ran, skirting around him as fast as she could but she soon tripped on her heels and fell heavily against something cold and prickly. Something sliced her arm, cutting straight through her dress sleeve and biting into her flesh.
She looked up. The snake-man stared at her with those horrible eyes. That voice, thin and rasping, hissed in her ear. "Are you alright, mademoiselle?" That tongue, cold and pink, flicked out between deadly fangs and touched her cheek.
Marinette shrieked. She reared back, out of its arms, and fell straight onto the flagstone floor. The snake flinched, pupils so thin she could barely see them against the green of its eyes. It made another move towards her but backed away.
"What am I, dessert?" she shouted. "Were you planning to bake me into a pie? Or just have me raw?"
"I…wasn't going to…I'm sorry." It's eyes flickered down—the pupils somehow grew even narrower. "You're hurt. Let me-"
Marinette scrambled to her feet and lurched away from the claw it reached towards her. She touched her cheek to her neck and shivered in repulsion when she felt a wet patch. "Get away from me!" she yelled. "Don't touch me!"
"But-"
Ducking under his arm, Marinette sprinted towards the stairs, but skidded to a halt when Tikki appeared in front of her.
"Marinette! We've been looking all over for you!"
"Wah!" She retreated rapidly, heard a quiet hiss behind her and span to find the master reaching for her shoulders. Marinette lurched away. "I want to leave!"
"That's going to be difficult," said a familiar voice. It was the small cat, suddenly floating by her ear. "Door's locked."
"Unlock it then!"
"The massssster's the only one with a key," said yet another creature, a bright teal serpent, floating by the snake-man's head.
"Besides, we don't have any magic left to transport you home," Plagg added.
"I'll walk. Open the door."
"On your own!" squeaked Tikki, covering her mouth. "You can't—you'll get eaten by a wolf."
"I'd rather be eaten by a wolf than by him!" Marinette jabbed a finger at the monster.
If she didn't know any better, she might have thought the creature looked embarrassed, as though it was blushing beneath its scales. "I wasn't going to eat you..."
"You licked me!"
Plagg and the smaller snake immediately burst out laughing whilst the master shrunk in on itself. Tikki approached Marinette and peered at her arm. "You're bleeding! Let me help you. I'll take you back to your room and we'll clean that up. Please, there's no use trying to leave tonight."
Marinette looked back at the locked door—if the master did indeed have the only key then she'd have to find some other way out. She sighed, nodded, and followed Tikki up the stairs.
It didn't take long for Tikki to address her injury. There was one long cut on her arm where the master's claws had scratched her as she fell. Once the lady's maid was satisfied, she helped Marinette change into a nightdress and ordered her to bed.
"Can I get you anything else before you go to sleep?" Tikki asked softly. "Perhaps something to eat?"
Marinette opened her mouth to say no, but her stomach gave a low rumble. "Actually, I am a little hungry."
"Of course, Marinette. I'll be back—I just need to have a quick word with Plagg, Sass, and the master," she said darkly.
Tikki's quick word took nearly half an hour. When she returned, depositing a tray laden with hot rolls, two apples, and a cup of tea on the bed, she looked to be in a foul mood.
Marinette took two bites of a roll—it was delicious but she would rather have had a roll from her own bakery—then cleared her throat. "Uh, Tikki? Could you tell me why I can't leave? I know you say it's complicated but…I can't stay here. Not after that monster—"
"The master," Tikki corrected sternly, but with a small smile. "And don't you worry about him."
"You're sure he's not going to eat me?"
Tikki frowned and drifted over to sit on the pillow next to her. "He wasn't trying to eat you. He, well...he couldn't control that."
"Why? Because humans are so delicious?" Marinette said bluntly.
Tikki laughed and shook her head. "No. It's...Sass would be able to explain this so much better…Just be assured he wasn't trying to hurt you. He was...trying to make friends with you."
"But kidnapping then licking me?"
"The master's not the one who kidnapped you."
Marinette blinked. "But you said I was here by his 'invitation'," she countered. "And when I was kidnapped I remember seeing a pair of green eyes. It must have been him."
"No, it wasn't the master. He didn't even know you were here. Plagg was the one who brought you here—he was always one for dramatic flairs… And don't think I haven't told him off for that!" she added, face hardening. "The master and I were both furious with him. Grabbing you like that when you weren't even in danger."
Tikki refused to answer any more questions after that. Marinette managed to wolf down two rolls, one apple, and half the cup of tea before Tikki whisked the tray away.
"You need your rest. You've had a rough day, Marinette. I know things seem tough but it'll be better in the morning. Good night."
"Good night," Marinette replied, burrowing into her blanket and squeezing her eyes shut. She thought she heard a man whisper, sweet dreams, and a soft pair of lips press gently against her forehead. But when she opened her eyes, expecting to see her parents' faces, there was nothing but impenetrable darkness.
It's so weird not updating everyday as I'm used to with my other multichapter Lukanette pieces. I might have to half-give-in and update biweekly instead. I've already finished it. Mostly. Nearly...