Chapter 1.
My name is Rachel. At the moment, I was in Cassie's barn, with the others.
"I'm bored," Marco said. "Let's use the Time Matrix to take us somewhere fun!"
Jake shook his head. "I'm not sure that's such a great idea."
But not long after, we found ourselves standing in front of the off-white sphere.
Everybody, put your hand on, Ax instructed. Tobias landed on top of the Time Matrix.
Suddenly, I saw things I had never seen before. I could see inside things. I could see the others' thoughts. We all imagined places in time we wanted to go. I could only think of one thing- the Paris Opera House, in 1881. Sure, there was a crazy Phantom running loose. I mean, he was a reckless, murderous, sociopath; he was a lot like me.
Suddenly, things started to swirl. I shut my eyes, afraid of what I might see. When I opened them, I gazed around in wonder. I was in a place I knew all too well. I stood up, and looked down at the stage. My friends came to join me. There was nothing being preformed.
Where are we? Tobias wondered.
"In one of the subscribers boxes, I think," I said. "And I'm pretty sure I know which one, too…" I added.
What is this place? Ax asked.
"A theater," Cassie replied.
"But what theater?" Jake said. "There are tons of theaters in history."
I grinned. "It's the Paris Opera Populaire!"
Marco groaned. "No!"
I glared at him. "What?"
"This is a death sentence!"
I still don't get what this is all about, Tobias said.
"The Phantom of the Opera," I replied.
Oh.
I do not follow, Ax said.
I quickly told him the story, and by the end, Jake and Marco were practically asleep, Tobias and Ax were staring at me, and Cassie was crying.
An interesting story, were Ax's only words.
"I guess we'd better get going," I sighed. "We came to have fun, so let's have some fun!"
"And how are we gonna do that?" Marco asked suspiciously.
"We're going to find that Phantom!"