Beauty and the Beast-Newsies!

Chapter 4

Connie had been right. The master had 8 spindly legs and 8 large, wet eyes, each pointed in a different direction. From where she was perched on a large windowsill behind the curtain, Katherine didn't really want to spy on the master to much, once she was out from the curtain, she'd be pretty damn hard to miss. Holding her breath, she sat rigid as she felt the master getting closer and closer to where she was hidden with Jack. Her breath caught before she exhaled and she squeezed her eyes shut. Jack set a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to reassure her, but the tension in his hand and the strain of his white knuckles only made her more nervous.

For what felt like hours, they sat in complete silence, the Master darted across the room with his pointed legs. Katherine could clearly determine when one of his large beady eyes was blinking from the disgusting wet sound that seemed to happen every few seconds.  Katherine shrank herself into Jack's chest, maybe because he'd managed to calm his breathing and his heartbeat was much more relaxed than her own. Or maybe because he was warm and she was cold and he wasn't shaking quite as severely as she was.

The door slammed shut.

Katherine slowly turned her head to look at Jack, her eyes silently asking 'is he gone?'. Jack slowly shook his head and began mouthing a silent prayer in a language she was unfamiliar with.

And then somehow, the door opened and the spindly feet scuttled away. And somehow that made them feel worse. Jack jumped down from the windowsill and gestured for Katherine to follow her, his arms out to catch her, save her falling on her still bad legs. After waiting for her to try hurrying out of the room, he scooped her up in his arms effortlessly and together they went in the direction the Master had just gone.

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He was by the door to the mansion, elevating himself so each of his eyes got a look through the small glass circle in the door, spying into the outside world.

"Excuse me?" Katherine froze, recognising the voice immediately. "Anyone in? I hope you don't mind me coming by, I'm just looking for my sisters..." Her heart soared. They weren't dead. Well, not all of them. Katherine smiled at Jack and he just frowned in confusion, not understanding who was on the other side of the door. Katherine was overwhelmed with happiness.

Until the Master opened the door.

She heard a scream. A door slammed. Another scream, this one stopped short. There was a clattering sound and the unmistakable noise of a large beast devouring their dinner.

Then the Master scuttled off again.

Katherine didn't move. She didn't want to look, to see what the Master had done. Her brother had come to find her and he'd never even known she was there. Why didn't she step out - why didn't she distract the Master, to let her brother get away. Jack noticed her tears before she even knew she was crying and he wrapped his arms around her to lift her away from the scene.

"No!" After spending so long sat in silence, the word echoed around the room, bouncing back from every wall, every staircase and door. Jack stopped still, his arms around her. She didn't want to be lifted away. She didn't want to come out of the curtain. She didn't want to see. She couldn't see - she couldn't.

More footsteps. Two sets of footsteps, human this time. "What's going on, are they alright?" No. No, no, she had to get away. Just like Katherine, her sisters footsteps stopped short at the sight.

"Jo?" Connie's small voice didn't carry the way it usually did when she was happy, smiling and confident. Jack seemed to piece things together as he lifted Katherine out of the curtain, his back to the view, shielding her dead brother from her sight.

"Connie, let's go." He tried taking her hand but the little girl just curled up on the floor, sobbing. Katherine opened her eyes.

"Connie, come on." As Jack set Katherine beside her sister, she managed to pull Connie into a warm hug, her arms around the shaking frame of her little sister. In an attempt to keep her eyes from the body by the door, Katherine found herself looking to Davey, Les and another boy who were stood paralysed by the sight.

Katherine couldn't help but turn around to see what she knew was already there.

Surprisingly, there wasn't much blood, not that that made her feel much better. There was still a gaping whole in her brothers body where his stomach and his liver and his intestines and his heart should've been. The Master had made a meal out of him. But the most haunting part - his face remained untouched. His eyes were still wide in fear, his cheeks were still cold and red from the wind and snow raging war outside, his mouth was slightly open, his thin, chapped lips were almost frozen and blue.

Connie's sobs broke her from her trance and Katherine managed to lift her sister to her feet, the pain in her legs was almost nonexistent compared to the heartbreak she was feeling.

"Let's go, lets get out of here." Davey said, lifting Connie as Jack caught Katherine, he held her again to stop her tumbling to the ground on her weak legs.

"What about-? We can't just-! We can't just leave him.." Katherine's tears flowed quickly down her cheeks and fell from her chin onto Jack's thin, scruffy shirt.

"We have to. I'm sorry, the Master will be back, he'll know we've taken his body, we have to go, Kath. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..."