Thank you for the reviews. I assure you, there will be catfights between Riley and Erika. Hahahahahahahahahah. sic! Ok, here goes:

Ch 3: "Chris?"

Meg awoke with a start, a nightmare shaking her from her dreamy state. She quickly picked up her candle, igniting it, careful not to wake the other girls. They were packed into the dormitories like sardines, so any loud movement could set off a volley of complaining and thumps on the head. She decided to visit Chris, who usually slept near the catwalks.

Striding silently down the dark corridors, she felt her heart rate quicken. She knew someone, or something, stalked these hallways at night. Running into that person was not something she wished to experience, lest she die of fright.

As she made her way to the catwalks, a great snore startled her. Joseph Buquet was slumped against the wall, his surrounding littered with rum bottles. Meg rolled her eyes, giving Buquet a kick for good measure. The man was a creep, as far as she was concerned.

Surprisingly, she found Chris's cot empty, the cotton blanket cast to the floor. Alarmed, she scampered to his dressing room. To increase her astonishment, the door was locked. Meg rapped on the door gently. " Chris?" She whispered into the keyhole. From her nightdress she produced a ring of keys. Selecting the correct one, the door creaked open. The room was empty. A strange detail caught her eye. One of the paintings lay… ajar. Raising her thin eyebrows, she pushed the painting open. An elegantly lit passageway lay before her. Holding her candle with a quaking hand, she began the walk down the mysterious hall.

The candles that lit the passage were nearly snuffed, but the stones shone with an eerie golden brilliance. Coming to a case of stairs, she looked down over the rail. There seemed to be no end to the descent. At the foot of the stairs, there was a lake. How odd. Even odder, the lake seemed to be singing, a ghostly melody drifting over the water. Meg's candle then flickered out, throwing her into darkness. A bluish light appeared over the dark water. Meg, for one, was dumbstruck. What the hell was all this?

Suddenly, a noise like water lapping against the side of a boat caught her attention. Along with that noise, a woman's sang through the darkness. It was in a language she could not understand, but it chilled her right to her mended garters. Without another moment, Meg fled, dropping her candleholder, not to stop until she was in the safety of her bed.

He looks so peaceful, Erika thought as she punted the boat through the dark water. Chris had finally come to her domain, only to touch sharp object that was riddled with, what else, sleeping potion. Alas, he had keeled over like a rag doll within minutes. The only upside to this was that now she was sure that her sleeping serum worked.

Erika was no ordinary girl. Unlike an ordinary girl of the time, she was incredibly strong. She landed the boat, scooping up Chris into her arms. The sight might have been fairly comical to those who were not terrified of her black clothing or white death's head. Chris was bigger than her. As she made her way up the stairs, Chris snored loudly. Erika smiled. He was so much more than a student to her. She was his angel, his heavenly protector. He had been her best friend since she had first seen him as a shy seven year old. She had only been eight at the time, but she had known he was special. Now twenty, she was very much in love with this shy chorus boy. She had been there for his entire life, comforting and friendly. She had watched him become a handsome young man from a distance. I have been watching him more than he will ever need to know, she mused with a smirk on her face. She would take her observations to the grave.

Setting him down on his cot, she brushed a lock of ebony hair from her mask. Gently, she ran one of her leather-gloved fingers over his chin. She loved this boy for what he was, human. This Riley, she thought as se receded back into the shadows, will have to be dealt with by any means necessary.