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18
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Jack and Erik stood over the creature... whatever it was... waiting for it to wake up. It had been passed out the entire carriage ride. It had not even woken up when Jack had fumbled with the bundle while trying to get it up the gangplank and it had fallen down the bumpy piece of wood, hitting the ground. It's black silk turban had slipped from its head, rolling away into the water. If its chest weren't steadily moving up and down with the intake of air as they watched it closely, they would think it to be dead.
Erik's little health scare with the poisonous dart had been taken care of upon their arrival within the ship once again. After paying a visit to the ship's doctor and having been injected with a strange serum, his feelings of sleepiness fell away and, in fact, he then felt quite the opposite. He was bursting with energy and didn't want to lay his eyes upon another bed or pillow for a long time.
"I'm sick of waiting. I'm waking him up," Jack said impatiently, placing a hand over the door of the jail cell.
Erik pulled him back. "No, let's just wait it out. I'm sure he'll wake up soon enough."
Jack sighed. "Fine."
They watched the thing for several minutes more, then heard small footsteps approaching from behind. They turned around to see that Christine had woken from her own slumber at least. She yawned and rubbed her eyes as she made her way to them.
In that moment, while their backs had been turned to see Christine's entrance, the thing on the floor had finally stirred and woken up. It climbed to its feet, spinning around and taking on the form of Raoul de Chagny.
Christine removed her hands from her eyes and saw her love, Raoul, in the brig. She ran to him, clutching onto the bars tightly. "Raoul!" She cried. "Oh, where have you been? You've worried me sick!"
Raoul opened his mouth to reply, but Jack pulled her grip from the bars and stood in Raoul's way. "Don't fool yourself, lassie. It's not him. I think it would be best if you just went back to the--"
"Of course it's him!" She cried, pawing her way past Jack. He nearly toppled over but caught his balance just before he could fall. Christine reached her hands through the bars, taking Raoul's hand in hers.
Erik placed a hand on her shoulder and pulled her back, her hand dropping from Raoul's. "No! Don't touch him!" He yelled.
Raoul nodded. "Yes... It is I," he replied. Suddenly his features began to change before their eyes and his head became the massive head of a lion. It's eyes sparkled a neon green, sparks coming out through the pupils. It's large mouth opened to emit a piercing roar which shook the entire boat.
Christine shrieked in horror, moving behind the two men and hiding behind them. "What is that thing?" She asked. "Where's Raoul?"
Erik shook his head, recalling how the creature had tricked him in his most vulnerable of states, pretending to be Christine. Their lips had come so close... "We don't know."
She peeked over the men's shoulders to see the lion's eyes spark. Suddenly the creature began to spin around to transform again. When it stopped it had taken on the form of Christine once again. Christine looked at herself in shock.
The fake Christine waved and hand and smiled. "Hi!" It said happily.
She backed away, looking at the exact copy of herself. "I think that maybe you are right... I'm going to go back over there..." She said slowly, pointing down to the darkness where Erik's ship lair lay. She took off quickly in its direction and disappeared.
Jack and Erik turned back to the monster, seeing it had turned back into Raoul. "Where's the real Raoul de Chagny?" Jack asked the thing.
A devilish grin formed over its lips. It's mouth transformed into an oyster shell, snapping open and shut with little clicks. But instead of a pearl being tucked away in its innards, it was filled with spiders. The black, hairy arachnids crawled from the oyster shell, moving down his face and chin, down his body and onto the floor, scampering off into the darkness.
Jack winced and turned his head away. He thought he would be sick. Turning back, "Okay... that's a really nice magic trick but can you uh... keep the spiders to yourself. I don't need them roaming around my ship. Thanks."
The oyster shell, where his mouth should have been, snapped shut, the spiders ceasing to drop. Raoul began to spin around, stopping and becoming none other than Will Turner. Jack scratched his head. "Oh, this is all so confusing!" He said, staring at Will.
"He's in Maple Cay," Will suddenly said.
Erik approached the cell, staring at Will. "Raoul? On Maple Cay?"
Will nodded, smirking.
"Where on Maple Cay?"
The creature spun around, its head turning into that of a sheep's. "Baaaah!" It exclaimed in a deep tone. It's arms lifted up, Jack and Erik expecting to see hooves underneath the large sleeves of the robe. But instead of hooves it had giant lobster claws. They clicked open and shut. Then it spun around again, turning into a rather appealing female.
Jack looked up to see a familiar face. "Giselle!" He yelled, stepping in front of Erik and grabbing onto the bars.
Giselle slapped Jack across the face and threw her head back, emitting a soft, sexy laugh.
Jack moved back, rubbing his face and staring at the Giselle-thing. "Even if it's not her, I suppose I did deserve that," he admitted, frowning.
She nodded and put her laughing to a halt. "I don't know where exactly he is, you handsome devil, you. My pretty little head doesn't allow me to think so widely," she explained to Erik, smiling and tossing her blonde, flowing hair to the side.
"Who are you? Really?" Erik asked, annoyed by all of these tricks.
Giselle's smile faded and turned into a look of sadness. Her head lowered and she stared at her feet glumly. She shook her head softly to herself and raised it to look at them again. Whiskers had spouted from her face, her eyes had grown wide and a reflective orange color. Pointed ears grew from the sides of her head. She had begun to look cat-like.
"Tell me who you really are!" Erik yelled at the cat girl.
She shook her head in disappointment again and sighed, reaching a hand into her robes and pulling something out. As she brought whatever it had been that she had gathered to her lips, Jack eyed it curiously, reaching his hand into his own pocket and fetching his large keyring. As he shoved the proper key into the lock and turned it, throwing the door open, he was too late.
It had been a pill that she had taken from her robes, most likely poison. She had taken it before Jack had been able to open the door. Her body fell to the floor in disarray right in front of his eyes. Erik walked into the cell and they both watched in disbelief as the cat girl's skin turned into that horrible green leathery texture. The entire body seemed to wither and shrivel, rotting away. It shrunk, squeezing in the shape of small ball, until there was nothing left of the creature except an empty set of robes. Smoke raised from the robes as they sizzled.
"Well, that's it, I guess," Erik said, shaking his head. "Now we'll never know who it was."
Jack nodded. "Well, at least he... or she... will never inflict harm upon anyone ever again. And I think that was the main reason for going after... it."
They sighed and left the heap of sizzling robes on the floor, closing the door behind them. Several spiders passed over them and disappeared once again into the darkness.