Chapter Five

Ethan had expected to see the gate first thing. And if not the gate, then the wall that surrounded the manor. What he hadn't expected was the dark figure that rose up before him. It had come out of the darkness. He wasn't able to see much of it because of the rain. And whenever lightning flashed, it was just a big, dark blur.

But he knew danger when he saw it.

He started to turn and run back the way he had come, but he tripped on something, falling face first into the mud. And when he looked back, he saw that he hadn't tripped on anything. The dark thing had grabbed him.

Ethan let out a terrified scream as the thing started to drag him. His imagination got the best of him and he was convinced this thing was taking him back to its cave where it would precede to skin him alive before devouring him.

A flash of light that wasn't lightning caught his attention. Ethan screamed for help repeatedly as he was dragged along the muddy ground, each time louder than the last. He wasn't sure anything could be heard over the storm.

Then something attacked the dark creature from behind. It let go. Ethan scrambled away as fast as he could when he saw claws appear, swiping at whatever had attacked it.

Ethan screamed again when something grabbed him, but relaxed when he saw that it was the butler. Benjamin was holding an umbrella over them, shielding them from the rain. He was also holding a flashlight. The flash of light he had spotted.

"We need to get inside," Benjamin said, helping Ethan to his feet. He shined the flashlight in the direction they needed to go.

"What the -" Ethan started, pointing back toward the struggle that was happening. Benjamin grabbed his arm and started away without saying anything. Ethan didn't resist. The last place he wanted to stay was here.

Ethan didn't relax fully until they were back inside. Benjamin left the door open, keeping an eye outside. Other people had shown up, all looking surprised to see Ethan, but they did as they were told when Benjamin gave them instructions.

Soaked and dripping, Ethan walked over to where Benjamin was standing at the open door. Servants returned with towels, part of Benjamin's instructions, but Ethan ignored them. "What the hell was that thing?" he asked.

"The curse that keeps us here," Benjamin said, shining the flashlight outside. Ethan looked out, but couldn't see anything. "It scratched your friend."

Those claws reappeared in his mind's eye. Ethan shivered, from the cold or fear, he didn't know. "I'm surprised it didn't tear him apart," he said.

Benjamin looked at him. "It didn't tear you apart," he said then looked down.

Ethan followed his gaze and saw that the legs of his jeans were torn from the knees down. He saw scratches on his legs, but was in too much shock to feel any pain.

"Go with the servants," Benjamin said. "You're safe now."

Ethan looked back at Benjamin. "What attacked that thing?" he wanted to know.

"The Master."

Ethan was cleaned up and given a new set of clothes. The servants seemed like they wanted to get away from the unwanted guest as fast as possible, yet they seemed eager and relieved to be doing something. He was taken to his room where the clothes had been dropped off and then he had been left alone.

The clothes were a bit baggy, but at least he was clean and out of the rain. And away from whatever creature had tried to drag him away.

Ethan headed out of his room. He wasn't sure what he was planning to do or where he was going, but he felt like he needed to find the Master. He had saved Ethan's life. Of course, he had also been the one that had scared Ethan off in the first place, but Ethan was willing to overlook that detail.

He didn't see any sign of anyone as he walked down the hall. He headed downstairs and over to the stairway Benjamin had said he wasn't allowed. If the Master was nowhere else, he had to be up those stairs.

"Ethan."

He turned when he heard the butler's voice. Benjamin walked over, glancing up the stairs once as if he had known Ethan had been about to go up there.

But was it actually still forbidden? Ethan had just figured he hadn't been allowed to go up because his presence was supposed to have been kept secret from the Master.

"The Master would like to speak with you," Benjamin said then turned and walked off, expecting Ethan to follow.

Ethan followed and he was led to the den where he had been first brought to. A fire was going now, but what caught his attention first was the portrait hanging above the fireplace. The blanket that had been covering it was nowhere in sight.

He jumped, startled at the sound of the doors sliding closed behind him. Benjamin had brought him here then left. Ethan was now alone with the Master. He was suddenly nervous, remembering the last time this had happened...

"Are you going to sit down or stand there the whole time?" The voice came from the chair in front of the fireplace. It was a high-backed chair, so Ethan would have to walk around it to see who was sitting there.

Ethan cautiously walked forward, stepping around the sofa that was placed beside the chair. There were no other lights on, but the fire cast plenty of light to see by. So he was able to clearly see the man sitting in the chair.

It was another sight he hadn't been prepared for. He couldn't determine how old the man was because his face was covered with scars. Ethan's first thought was the creature outside had done this to him, but the scars were aged. His hair was long enough to hide a lot of it, but putting it bluntly, the man was disfigured. And he made no move to hide it, so he was used to someone looking at him. Well, he did have a lot of servants.

"People used to stare at me a different way," the Master said when Ethan just stood there. "With adoration. Now it's just with horror or disgust." He looked back up at the portrait. "I prefer being alone now."

Ethan looked at the portrait, guessing that it had been a self portrait. "I'm only here because of my friend," he said.

"I don't see your friend here," the Master said. "Benjamin sold you that bullshit story, I know. That you can't leave unless someone stays in your place."

"That's not true?"

"It's better than the truth," the Master said. "You can leave at any time. I recommend during the day, though. Dark's a nasty son of a bitch."

"Dark?"

"A little pet name for what you met tonight," the Master said. "Better than calling it the Curse."

Ethan sat down on the sofa, facing the chair. "Thanks by the way," he said. "For saving me."

"Should've let it drag you away," the Master said. "But I was told you had family on the outside."

"You don't strike me as the type to care about family," Ethan said, speaking before thinking.

The eyes that turned to him were hard and angry. "You assume too much."

"Am I wrong?" Ethan asked. "You've been trapped here for fifteen years. Benjamin's like a whipped dog on a leash."

"Careful or I might regret saving you."

"Sounds like you already do."

Ethan knew he was just lashing back because this wasn't how someone was supposed to react to thanks. He should just be grateful that he was still alive after what happened.

"I brought you here to tell you that as soon as it's light out, leave," the Master said. He stood and walked over to the window, his back to Ethan.

"Why don't the people who work for you know that I can leave whenever I want?" Ethan asked. "Why did you let them believe something other than the truth?"

The Master was silent for a long time. Ethan realized he didn't even know the man's name. He had never wondered until this point. But did it matter if he was going to be leaving soon?

"You have your reasons," Ethan said before the other could say anything. "And now I have my reasons for staying." He stood up. "I know about the curse and I know that curse is on more than just you. Even though you seem to have gotten the worst of it."

"Your point being?"

"I want to help," Ethan said. "There's a lot of people here who can't have regular lives. I want to give them that."

"You don't know what you're getting yourself into," the Master said. "How do you know that this curse can even be broken?"

"Benjamin said -"

"Benjamin told you a lot of things," the Master said, turning away from the window. With no other light besides the fire, he was standing in shadow. "Some things he might even be guessing at."

"Do you believe you'll be cursed forever?" Ethan asked. He couldn't see the man's eyes in the shadows, but he saw his head turn. Ethan followed that gaze, looking at the portrait hanging above the fireplace. He didn't have to ask to know what the other was thinking.

The scars and deformity were part of the curse. Ethan could easily put it all together and guess that the Master had once valued his appearance above everything else. Why else would someone hang such an elaborate self portrait in a room they spent a lot of time in? He wondered how many other portraits were on display. Would they all be destroyed like this one? Or would there still be one untouched to show what the man had once really looked like?

"Looks were important in my line of work," the Master said, lifting one hand to his face. "It landed you the part."

"You were an actor?" Ethan asked. It had explained the Master's earlier comment. That people had looked at him with adoration. "Popular?" He was only asking that because if this guy had been popular, he would have heard about him. Especially since Brian and Kathryn worked in the show business scene.

The Master chuckled. "I was popular way before your time," he said. "You wouldn't have heard of me. My fans were the only ones who loved me. Once I disappeared...the people I worked with probably just let me fade away."

"It's been longer than fifteen years, hasn't it?"

"It's been twenty-seven years, in fact," the Master said. "The servants don't know. If they did..."

"You're afraid they'll leave," Ethan said. "You've been doing a lot of lying to them. Time isn't just moving slow for you all."

The Master gave a slight nod. "We're frozen in time until the curse is broken or..." He looked away, trailing off.

Ethan knew how curses worked. In fairy tales, of course. He had seen enough movies. "You have a time limit," he said. "I'm guessing that time's almost up."

"It's best if you just leave."

"Maybe," Ethan said. "I told Benjamin I could help break the curse. He told me I had to talk to you about that."

"This isn't a fairy tale," the Master said. "This is real life. Happy endings don't exist. You'll gain nothing by staying here. In fact, you might end up cursed yourself."

"And what happens when I leave?" Ethan asked. "They'll know you lied to them. Then they'll start asking questions. And then they'll leave. If you're gonna be cursed forever, you don't want to be alone."

The silence stretched on for a long time.

"Better get used to seeing me around," Ethan said then left the room.

He never saw the ghost of a smile on the Master's face.

Brian went straight to the apartment he shared with Ethan and Kathryn. When he walked through the door, Kathryn was relieved to see him, but then started asking questions about Ethan. He didn't have the time for that. He asked to use her phone since his own was dead. He called the police, knowing they hadn't helped him before, but he wanted to try again.

He didn't know how to explain the situation. Ethan technically wasn't in any danger. The police said they couldn't help him. And then hung up when he gave the address of the manor. He should have expected that since they hadn't helped last night.

"What's going on, Brian?" Kathryn asked.

Brian knew she wouldn't believe him. Not unless she had been there and he wasn't about to get her stuck. He wasn't sure what else to do.

Then an idea struck him.

"Everything's gonna be fine," Brian said then left the apartment once again.

The colonel sat in his office. There was a party going on in his house. A party he felt he hadn't needed to attend. The people here were all people who thought they liked him. If he was anyone else, they wouldn't have even bothered to come. But he was okay with that. This was the way it was always meant to be.

The door opened and Abe walked in, followed by another man. "Someone here to see you," Abe said. "His name's Brian." The Colonel had known the Detective for years. If things had turned out differently, Abe never would have been working for him.

Will picked up his martini glass. "Does he have an appointment?" he asked, amused. He had always wanted to ask that.

"He says he's here about Ethan," Abe said. That got Will's attention. He put his drink down, gesturing them over.

"Come in, come in," Will invited, looking at Brian. He had never met him, but he could remember seeing him around with Ethan. "Has Ethan accepted my job offer?"

"Uh...yes," Brian said, sitting down at the invite. "But he's hit a bit of a snag. He accepted another job offer that he can't get out of."

"Unless he goes to court?" The Colonel guessed. After a brief reluctance, he was answered with a nod. "I'll take care of it. Where is he working?"

Brian gave him the address and he could practically feel the silence that descended on the room. He wasn't sure what else to say, so he stayed quiet. He absolutely couldn't say what was on his mind.

That if the Colonel went and Ethan somehow got him to stay in his place, then a lot could be solved in one swoop. Ethan wouldn't have to worry about the Colonel badgering him for a job anymore.

Easy.

"We'll take care of it," Will said. He nodded and Abe led the other out. He sat back in his seat behind his desk, thinking. He had his mind made up by the time Abe came back alone.

"It looks like our dear friend Mark has returned," Will said.