I gasped as the bus stopped in front of the building. It was even more beautiful then I'd imagined. "Come on Rhoddy!" Angie said as she grabbed my arms and pulled me along. We all hurried inside. I couldn't believe I was actually here, inside the Opera Populiare in Paris. It was like a dream. What I wouldn't give to have seen this place in this prime, when there were only gas lights and no microphones.

The tour guide took us on the stage. Looking out at the seats I could just imagine what it would have been like to perform here in the 1800's. Of course performances still take place, but it wasn't the same. I paused to take a picture, but it was ruined when Melissa "accidentally" bumped into me. "Oops. Sorry...not," she said with an evil smirk. I swear that girl had more money than she knew what to do with. Most of these kids did. I grimaced. For some reason Melissa and her posse of girls, which was all of the ones on the trip minus Angie and me, loved to torment me. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I requested a room to myself. They all thought I was a snob, when it was really so I wouldn't wake them up when I woke up screaming from my nightmares.

"Hello? Earth to Rhoddy!" Angie said, tapping on my head. " You there?"

" Yeah I'm here," I replied.

"Just checking. It looked like you had spaced out for a moment. Melissa isn't getting to you is she?" She turned around and stuck her tongue out at the back of Melissa's head. I loved Angie. She didn't care what anyone thought of her. She was loud and crazy and obnoxious, the opposite of all my friends back home. Exactly what I needed. Like me, she was here on a scholarship. Besides the fact that Melissa and her group instantly hated both of us, we immediately bonded over our love of Phantom of the Opera.

"Its surreal isn't it?" she asked. " I mean think of it Rhoddy. Meg was here! Christine was here! Raoul was here! They were all here!"

"Aren't you forgetting someone?" I teased. She gave me a confused look. I looked at her in mock horror. After a few minutes her eyes got wide and she staggered around clutching her heart moaning, " Forgive me Erik, forgive me!" We both collapsed in giggles, until our chaperone hushed us up.

As we were going down the hallway I noticed a number on a door. " Oh my gosh! Angie its box five!" I yelled, a little too loudly. The tour guide smiled. " Yes," he said. It is in fact the famous box five. Unfortunately I can't take you inside. Come along now."

Angie looked furious. " One of us has got to get in there."

"I know," I said. "But how?"

"I'll create a distraction. You go in. Then come back and do the same for me."

" Okay," I said excitedly and I headed off towards box five. A few seconds later I heard Angie scream and had to stifle a giggle. I quickly slipped inside the door and I was in. I looked around. It looked just like all the other boxes, but there was just something about this one. It had a mysterious feel to it. I sat down and looked over the balcony, down at the seats below me, empty except for a maid. Then it hit me. I was in the actual box that Erik had watched so many operas! I smiled euphorically, humming Angel of Music. Just when I was about to return and let Angie have her turn there was a flash of light.

I was blinded for a second, then I felt a cold tingling all over. Finally the spots cleared out of my eyes. That was weird. A soft buzzing reached my ears, and I realized I was hearing people. I looked over the balcony, and there were hundreds of people occupying what had been empty seats seconds before. And not just any people. They were all wearing old fashioned clothes from about the 1800s. Did I fall asleep? Was this some sort of reenactment or something?

"HOW DARE YOU ENTER MY BOX!" a deep, furious voice sounded behind me. I jumped up and turned around. Towering over me was a man, over six feet tall with dark, slicked back hair. His amber eyes seemed to pierce straight into my damaged heart, straight through all the walls that I had worked so hard to build. Covering the left side of his face was a white porcelain mask...

Alarm bells started going of off in my head, buy I was too startled to pay any attention to them. " I-I'm sorry," I stuttered. " I didn't, I didn't know." He gazed at me for a second, his expression unreadable.

"Leave," he said, then he turned and stormed out of the box. I hesitated for a moment then followed. Something was seriously wrong here, and I needed to figure out what it was. An idea was floating around in the back of my mind, but I was too frightened to listen to it.

"Please, wait!" I called just before he rounded a corner, my voice cracking. To my surprise he stopped. "Where am I?" I asked.

" The Opera Populiare," he answered me curtly.

"I know that," I said, starting to panic. "But it's different. I came on a educational trip and when I entered the box it was just us here. But then there was a light and then there were all these people wearing old fashioned costumes." I stopped. Any further and I would have to let that dreaded idea form fully.

"What are you wearing?!" he asked suddenly. "How are your parents letting you go around here wearing almost nothing?" I noticed he was avoiding looking at me directly, out of respect for my modesty maybe? And, was he blushing? I looked down at my mid-thigh length shorts and tank top. Perfectly acceptable, but apparently not here. I thought of all the girls in the floor length dresses. Oh no. No no no no no no no! I couldn't ignore the idea any longer, it was undeniable. But at the same time it was impossible.

"Sir," i heard myself unwillingly ask. " What year is it?"

He looked at me strangely. " 1875," he said frowning. 1875....1875...1875! "I told you so," said the voice in my head. Suddenly the room was spinning; I couldn't seem to get enough air. The floor seemed to jump up to meet me, and I felt myself sliding into the cool dark blackness.