Phantom Child

18. The great finale

Sincerely sorry for being late again. My excuse is: Yesterday my friend from the camp spontaneously dropped in and so we watched "Love Never Dies" together and it got late so she equally spontaneously stayed for the night and we had an unplanned sleepover, but it was awesome (I finally got to make all the Phantom references, because noone, but her understands them). I regret nothing. Anyways here's the story:

"Monsieur le Vicomte, I know where they went!" I shouted, grabbing Raoul's hand once we were both backstage. The people were running around us in chaos.

Raoul brushed off my hand and shot me an incredulous look. I sighed and explained:

"You have to trust me, Monsieur, please!"

"How can I know? You look just like him!" He shouted in response. It was really hard to communicate in all of this noise.

I looked at him and realized the presence of the mask on my face. I hadn't been taking it off much and now I just wasn't paying attention to whether it was there or not. I quickly took off the mask and looked around, as if a proof of my trustworthiness would just walk up to me itself. Surprisingly it did. I saw Piangi stumbling our way with a silver goblet in his hand.

"Signor!" I exclaimed, running up to him "I saved you, remember?"

Piangi only managed to nod his head, a gesture almost unnoticable, before collapsing to the floor. I tried to catch him, but it was a useless effort. The goblet fell out of his hand, I picked it up and examined it.

He wasn't just drunk. The cup smelled suspiciously. Looking inside I saw words engraved in the metal:

Always be one step ahead of everyone

"This clever spook!" I shouted, throwing the goblet away in rage "There is no time, Monsieur, you're going to have to trust me!" I said and pulled Raoul behind me, regardless of his reaction.
I found the quickest passage and led him into the tunnels. When we entered, he seemed to put a little more trust in me. But I knew that he would start asking questions, that I would not be exactly comfortable with. And soon enough my concerns turned out to be true.

"How do you know this place so well?" He asked, still following close behind me.

"I've been living here for... half a year now." I hesitated, but finished the sentence.

"Why?"

"Because I had no home before." Was all I could say, and even though it was only a fraction of truth, it was truth after all.

"Watch out!" I exclaimed and pushed the Vicomte to the side, just in time to save him from falling into a hole in the ground as a trapdoor had been activated right under his feet. "This place is rigged with traps like this." I remarked.

Suddenly there was one more thing, that came to my mind, and that I had forgotten about. And my God, was I grateful for remembering it.

"Monsieur"

He looked at me with a questioning look.

"Keep your hand at the level of your eyes."

He smiled with a frown as if he thought the idea silly, but I was dead serious. I raised up my own hand, to prove that I am not joking.

"Monsieur, it's crucial if you don't want a lasso around your neck." I recited slowly, like he was a little child, that doesn't understand. Raoul seemed to consider it a threat and did as I said.

The journey through the dungeons continued; The journey during which I had to save Raoul's butt more than once, regardless of how many times I told him to watch out for the dangers and reminded him about the "hand at the level of your eyes" rule. Even limping, I was still more skilled in this place than anyone, except maybe the Phantom himself.