The early morning air was fresh and crisp, but she wasn't thinking about that. No, her thoughts were somewhere else entirely. Back at home, where she should be, still snug in bed.
With a sigh, she sat down on her trunk. She hadn't expected this to be so hard. In all the books she had read and movies she had seen, escaping was a fairly easy thing to do. Getting out the house was usually the hard part. Guards and traps to get past, walls to climb over, and all those kinds of things. But she hadn't had any trouble getting out of her house, even with her trunk. It was all the walking that was hard. She had been tired after only 25 minutes, and she hadn't even gotten out of her own yard!
She had walked all night, and was thoroughly exhausted by dawn's first light. After what seemed like ages, she reached a main road. And so here she sat, trying to figure out what she should do. It was still too early for many people to be out and around, but she decided to give it a try. Looking both ways down the road, she lifted her arm and stuck out her thumb.
A car drove by, but didn't stop. After a few uneventful minutes, she put her hands back in her lap. She was too tired to walk very far, but no cars were coming, and nothing guaranteed that they would stop, even if they did drive by.
"I might as well just sit here," she thought with a sigh.
"All alone, Miss Dagmar?"
She turned to see a tall man standing behind her. She hadn't heard him come up, and for a moment she was speechless.
"Who...who are you? And how do you know my name?"
"I know many things about you." the man replied. "I am someone who can help you."
"Help me do what?" She didn't know why she kept talking. Every instinct in her body was telling her to run, to get away from this green-haired man, but something was keeping her there.
"Find what you're looking for, of course," he replied, taking her hand.
His hand felt cold in hers, and she wanted to pull away, but she didn't. "I don't even know what I'm looking for; how could you help me find it?"
"I have my ways." Was it her imagination, or was she floating? Somehow, it didn't seem strange at all. It felt very natural, as if this was where she was meant to be. Wherever 'here' was.
"Come with me, and you will know what it is you desire most." At these words, she looked deep into the man's eyes. Or she tried to. She hadn't noticed until now that he was wearing a mask, and she couldn't stop staring at it. She felt her surroundings change, but she couldn't take her eyes off the mask. The more she stared at it, the more natural it became. She wasn't surprised when he gave her a small mask of her own, and it was only then that she saw where they were.
She didn't know where she was. With the mystery man, she was standing on a circular platform that was both moving and not moving. There was no scenery, only an oddly glowing purple color. It was almost like a tube.
"This is the Timeflow." The mysterious man explained. "From here, all time," he suddenly took her hand, "is at your fingertips."
Was it her imagination, or did she see a small glimmer where his eyes should have been? She was paralyzed for a moment, as images seemed to fly before her eyes. Images of beautiful scenes from history, but other images as well. Two figures in romantic poses, like pictures from a storybook. She tried to figure out who the people were, until she realized that it was herself! And the Mysterious Man!
A little unsettled by this, she pulled herself away. "What's going on here?"
"What do you mean?"
"Those...those things I saw! I was there, and you were, too!"
"Anything you saw was of your own doing, I assure you." He told her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "The timeflow has that effect on people. They see what they want the most." She couldn't see his face, but she had feeling he was smirking. She pulled away, disgusted.
"I don't want that! Get away from me!" She shouted. She tried to run, but the platform was too small for her to go anywhere. Instead, she almost fell off. The only thing that stopped her was the man's grasp. He held her tightly, letting her dangle for a moment, then pulled her back on the platform.
"You should be more careful." He reprimanded her. "If you fell off, you would stay in the timeflow forever, lost and adrift."
She hadn't noticed, but she was up against his chest. As she caught her breath, she leaned in closer, listening to his heartbeat. It was very faint, and she had to listen hard to make it out at all. "Oh," she let out a sigh.
"Are you ready now?" He asked.
"I am." She told him, picking up the mask he had given her. It had fallen from her hand when she had seen the images.
"You and I." He held her close. "Us, together."
She nodded her consent. "Yes. Dancing, forever and forever."
The man took her hands and began to dance with her.
"Round and round til the break of day.
Candles glow; fiddles play.
Why not be wild if we fill that way?
Reckless and terrribly gay.
Petra felt light as a feather, pulled along by the mysterious man, twirling and swirling round the platform.
"Round and round 'neath a magic spell.
Velvet gown; pink lapel.
Life is a colorful carousel:
Reckless and terribly gay!"
"I'm ready anytime!" She proudly told him. "If you take me, I'm ready to go.
So, show the way to me
I will try to be ready to go."
The platform came to a bright spot in the timeflow, and they went through it.
"Where are we?" she asked, looking at the strange surroundings.
He quickly gave her a reply.
"I seem to see Venice, we're on a lagoon
A gondelier's crooning a gondola tune
The air makes your hair billow blue in the moon."
"I could swoon!" And she nearly did.
"You're so blue in the moon." he told her as he kept her from swooning.
Even though they were on a gondola, they kept dancing. Petra looked out whenever she could and saw many things.
"Oh! Look at the peasants! They're lighting candelabras. No, they're lighting torches. Yes, see, they've started burning the palaces!" she didn't know why she found this exciting, but she did. "Oh, there goes the Doge!" she cried, waving to the peasants. Turing to her mystery man, she said, "Oh what fun! I adore pyrotechnics!" Then she noticed something else. "Oh! That man! Look how he's burning!" She was worried about that man, barely still a boy, even though she didn't know who he was. "My gosh, he's on fire!"
The green-haired man wasn't worried. "Keep on dancing."
She was shocked at his nonchalance. "But he's burning!"
"Just put up the mask, and it's pretty."
"help." the burning boy's plea for help was not unheard, but she already put on her mask.
"Oooh, isn't he beautiful? He's all sort of orange. Red-orange! That's one of my favorite colors!"
"help!"
"You look lovely!"
Still dancing on the platform, they entered the timeflow again. Whirling and twirling, Petra began to sing a long aria, in accompaniment to what her dear, mysterious man was singing. As they danced, she slipped the mask into her pocket.
"We'll just dance; we'll kick up our heels to music and dance
Until my head reels with music, just like a lovely real romance
See, the mood is fading fast...
All we'll do is just dance." Giving her an extra twirl, the man nearly caused her to fall off the platform. "All we'll do is just dance. All we'll do is jus-"
She nimbly danced back to him. "Whee! I'm exhausted," she annouced, falling into his arms.
"But you can't be! The evening's just started!" he replied, pulling her back into the dance.
"Round and round 'til the break of day
Candles glow; fiddles play
Why not be wild if we feel that way?
Reckless and terribly gay?"
"I'm ready anytime!" she again confirmed, treading lightly around the platform. Was it her imagination, or had it gotten bigger? "If you take me, I'm ready to go. So, show the way to me. I will try to be ready to go."
Before she knew it, they were out of the time flow again.
Their dance stopped for a moment, and he put his arm around her shoulder.
"I seem to see Athens; it's terribly chic
Atop the acroplis it's terribly greek." He began to point out various statues.
"There's Venus, Adonis, 'n' us, cheek to cheek."
"Oh, how chic!" she shouted, holding him tightly.
"To be greek cheek to cheek." He replied, returning the gesture.
"Observe the friendly natives." she waved to a few, who responded with 'Hi's' and 'How are ya?'s.' "La, how gay. Look, dear, they're beating a monkey! Isn't that fun? I wonder why anyone should be beating a monkey?" She looked closely at the spectacle and made a horrifying discovery. "Oh, no, that's it; it's not a monkey at all. It's a man dressed in a monkey suit." she turned to the mysterious man, as if she expected him to do something about it. "Oh, that man, that man, they've hurt him!"
His only response was "Put up the mask."
"But he's wounded!"
"The mask! The mask!"
"help." The boy (was he the same one as before?) gave a feeble cry to her, but it was too late, she had put on the mask.
"Oh, isn't that cute?" she leered. "They're beating a man in a monkey suit. It's a show! La, how jolly!"
She then cried out to the beaters, "Don't stop, it's charming! Don't stop."
"help!"
"That's it! Writhe some more!"
She turned again to her darling partner, and he took up the dance again. Once more they entered the timeflow, once again Petra began her aria, and once more the mask slipped into her pocket.
"We'll just dance! We'll kick up our heels to music and dance!
Until my head reels with music, just like a lovely real romance
See, the mood is fading fast. All we'll do is just dance!"
As she twirled, she thought she saw instruments on the platform, but no one was playing them.
"All we'll do is just dance!"
But if no one was playing them, were was the music they were dancing to coming from?
"All we'll do is jus-"
She tried to stop the dance, but didn't succeed. She wanted to see whether there were musicians there or not, but wasn't able to get a good look while dancing. "Couldn't we sit this one out?" she pleaded.
"Ridiculous, when there's music to be danced to?" He turned to the unseen musicians. "Play, gypsies!"
Now more than one voice joined his, as he and she continued to dance. She lagged, and couldn't play her aria. She had always loved to dance, but this was wearing her out!
"Round and round in a magic spell
Velvet gown, pink lapel!
Life is a colorful carousel:
Reckless and terribly gay!"
"I'm ready anytime." she told him, trying not to step on his toes. The unseen musicians continued to sing 'Round and round' as she sang, "If you take me, I'm ready to go. So, show the way to me. I will try to be ready to go."
Luckily for her, they exited the timeflow. This time they were in a jungle locale.
"We'll be in Benganzi, or maybe Bombay. I understand India is terribly gay. The natives assemble on feast day and play."
"With their snakes?" she asked, with a shudder, which he didn't notice. If he did, he ignored it.
"Yes! What a racket it makes!" He also didn't notice the way she tensed up as they passed a snake charmer.
Once they were past, she relaxed considerably. "Oh, I think I'm going to love India. Such a big population; I adore crowds. Oh, look! There's a fakir! Hi, fakir!" she waved happily at the fakir, though she was a bit confused by his response of 'Arividerci!' "See, he's there with all his assistants. They all know yogi, it's just loads of fun! Oh, look, there's a young one." She pointed to a boy who looked oddly familiar. "They're putting him down on some nails. If he fails, he'll be cut to bits by those nails!"
"help." the boy looked at her with pleading eyes.
She instantly turned to her mysterious stranger. "Somebody help him!" she begged, pulling a little on his cape.
"The mask!" he ordered her.
"But he's bleeding!"
"Mask!"
"Horrible!"
"Mask!" He forced it on to her himself. A cruel smile spread over her face.
"Oh, go on, sit down harder!" she jeered. Then she turned back to her dear darling. "He's a sissy! I don't believe he's real fakir; they never complain. He's a fake fakir!"
"help!"
"Fake!"
She didn't even notice entering the timeflow this time, the dancing and music sweeping over her. The unseen musicians continued their chantlike singing as she sang her aria and the dear, sweet man serenaded her.
"We'll...just...dance! We'll kick up our heels to music and dance!
Until my head reels with music just like a lovely real romance
See, the mood is fading... I can see the friendly natives...
All we'll do is just dance!"
"Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-aaah!"
"All we'll do is just dance!"
"Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-aaah!"
"All we'll do is just...Round and round in a magic spell..."
The unseen musicians voices climaxed, "Round and round and around and round..." just as the dance reached it's fastest point. Petra barely had time to get one note out!
"All we'll do is just-"
"Ah!"
"All we'll do is just-"
"Ah!"
"All we'll do is just-"
"Ah!"
"All we'll do is just-" The dance suddenly slowed. It happened so quickly that she barely kept herself from tripping over her still-flying feet. He held her steady, and she looked up at him as they sang in perfect unison, "All we'll do...is just.."
Somewhere in the back of her mind, the boy's voice came to her. "help..." She fought the part of her mind that wanted to remember, trying to gain control, to continue the song. Some things mattered more to her, and the time to choose was now. The boy, or the man?
"Dance!" Yes, she had made her choice. But was it the right one?

Author's Notes: Ok, I hope this wasn't too confusing. But I was listening to the Fantastiks, and this song ("Round and Round") leapt out at me. It was perfect for Petrafina and the Dark Lord! Especially the part about the masks. I tried to portray how her impression of the Dark Lord changes as she goes through the different scenerios. As always, Read and Review!