Little Vipers

Ever since that first night, the night I was captured I mean, the Phantom has been distracted and prone to this endless, annoying pacing. He doesn't say much to me, and most often seems to forget I'm even here. It's pretty boring for me; I'd gotten over my fear of him by the end of the week, so at least I had that. But in place of fear I was now plagued by this immense sense of restlessness.

The Phantom was either ignoring me or working intensely on his latest opera at any given time, so I would wander around his home and, after what I speculated to be about a month, the tunnels surrounding it. My night vision seemed to have developed substantially since I came here, so I could see fairly well if I brought a candle along.

It wasn't really the tunnels that were the worst part; I navigated those with a surprising amount of ease. It was the winding stone staircase I found soon after which required some bravery. And I usually found myself in short supply of that.

I knew it was booby-trapped, because the Phantom had made a good deal of gloating about it on one of the rare occasions he hadn't been pretending I wasn't there. He of course hadn't gone into detail about the traps specifically, but I took it as more of a concerned warning not to go looking for them as opposed to a dare.

Even still, here I was at the base of the staircase, staring up through the unending spirals, imagining I could see the light of day far above me. I turned my eyes back to the steps in front of me slowly, thinking. I knew there were traps, but not what, or more importantly where, they were.

I remembered back to the first time I'd stepped onto the staircase. Of course the very last step (or in my case, going from bottom to top, the first step) would be rigged. It was very much in character for the phantom to blindside you just when you think you're in the clear. The second I tentatively pressed a foot onto the step it had fallen out, swinging away from the rest. I had scrambled to grab onto something, but had hit my head onto the next highest step, effectively knocking me unconscious.

I don't remember anything about the trap. I hadn't woken up until I was being carried away from it by the Phantom.

"Stupid girl." I repeated to myself, coming out of my memory. That was the only thing he'd said to me for the rest of the day, even though he had to spend a good time with me after the incident. I needed stitches on my forehead and wasn't a very complacent patient.

I shook my head and hopped decisively over the first step. I by-passed another pressure switch a few more steps up, which I'd discovered by accident the second time I'd gone this way. Much farther up the staircase I barely avoided a third trap I knew released poison darts by climbing onto the stone railing on the outside of the steps.

I was a good ways up now, but didn't know where any more traps were. I figured I was safe to dismount the railing by the time I reached a landing, thinking it was a much too obvious place for the clever Phantom to put a trap. However, as soon as I dropped down, I slid right through the floor, into a trapdoor. Once again he'd outsmarted me.

I fell right into a small room full of water. Knowing enough to look for the trap release (I knew he liked toying with his victims, and always put a way to reverse the trap somewhere in the chamber), I took in a huge breath of air and dived under. A turn-valve made itself pretty apparent on the wall. I resurfaced to take the biggest breath of my life before swimming to my means of escape. If it were as easy as figuring out how to turn a valve, it at least wouldn't be easy to actually do so. I would be down here for a while.

I was right. Through the years of rusting and disuse the valve wasn't going to budge for me. I felt like I needed another breath, but a grate not dissimilar to the large gate in the Phantom's home was already lowering past the water level. I instead tried to keep my mouth firmly shut and braced my back against the wall adjacent to the valve. I pushed forward with my feet on the valve and backwards with my arms and back against the wall; the combined force was enough to twist the stubborn valve. I swam up to grab the quickly ascending grate and broke the water's surface just as water started to enter my lungs.

I pulled myself up through a narrow opening in the wall and hacked out the old, stagnant water onto the stone. I flopped down onto my ass and breathed shallow but grateful gasps of air. My hair was as soaked as my clothes and pressing to my face in a tangled mess. My overalls clung to my slender frame and dripped dirty water in a puddle around me. It took me a few moments before I noticed the Phantom a ways to my left, standing in the tunnel with his hands behind his back. He may have looked a little amused.

"I'm not stupid." I grumbled, anticipating what he'd say as I stood up, "I got out, didn't I?"

The Phantom didn't say anything, but followed me as I backtracked to the main room. I was feeling a little vulnerable with my clothes clinging to me and him following along behind me like that, so without a word I plucked another candle out from a holder and reentered the tunnels. I found the staircase and retraced my steps. Jump over the first step, dodge the next pressure switch, climb up onto the railing. I was doing well enough, and making pretty good time, until my wet boots slipped on the stone. I fell backwards onto the very same landing, once again splashing into the water trap. Thankfully the valve was much easier to turn now; I was out in the tunnel before the grate even lowered into the water.

"Back so soon?" I heard the Phantom tease me from the shadows, "At least you're clean now."

"Oh hush." I growled as he actually chuckled.

"Have you learned your lesson yet?" He asked, following me along the tunnel again.

"Probably not." I admitted, clutching my arms around my now freezing body. My teeth chattered a little before I clamped them down tightly.

"How many more times will it take of you falling into the same trip then?" He continued, "Perhaps just one more time, just to be sure?" I felt his smirk behind me, as well as his gaze.

"That was an accident." I said, embarrassed and flushing with color. We reached the main cavern once more. I decided to cut my loses and stay put his time.

I looked down at my sopping wet clothes. I had been wearing the same things since I had first come here. The Phantom was right, unfortunately; even though that water was full of dirt, rust, and other unknown particles, I was much cleaner now than I had previously been. But it came at the price of me getting soaked, probably along with a nasty cold if I didn't change into something dry soon. But I didn't have anything else to wear. I sighed, defeated.

"I'll be needing more clothes." I said quietly to the Phantom, who was looking as though he'd suspected this request.

"I thought you'd never get the courage to ask." He teased, smirking again. He then led me up into the silent and dark Opera Populaire by the hand, making sure I didn't have a third run-in with the dreaded and now very familiar water trap.