La Sirene
Chapter the First ….The mysterious guest
The Phantom of the Opera watched with wonder as did all the partygoers the woman before them.
Her long black hair wantonly curled to her waist. Her face was not hid by a mask as was tradition at the Masquerade but by a veil. She had on a dress which was full skirted and low cut. It was a delicate shade of green and blue that looked exactly like the sea. Tied at her waist was a net, a fishing net decorated with sea stars and blood red roses. She was dancing; entrancing everyone within her view.
"Who is she with? Who is she?" whispered Raoul de Chagny to the manager Andre.
"I don't know although I wish I did."
"Look" said Christine on the other side of Raoul. "The Phantom is enchanted."
He found himself walking toward the lithe figure. The crowd of onlookers parted for him. She was in mid-turn when she stopped dancing to the silent music. Her green eyes gazed straight into his.
"And who are you?" she asked slowly, smiling through her veil.
"I" said Erik. "I am the Opera Ghost. Who are you?"
She laughed and said "Ah but that is my secret for you to find out. Come Monsieur le Fantome dance with me."
She grabbed his hands and pulled him into a waltz. Everyone then began to waltz. But the talk was still about the girl. It buzzed about the room. Some people said that she was a gypsy and others said she was a patron's wife. Many though speculated that she was a courtesan.
Suddenly as the strains of music ended they noticed she was gone...Along with the Opera Ghost. Knowing chuckles ensued and whispers raged about the corridors.
Madam Giry was pale and distracted looking through the entire evening. Raoul de Chagny's widower father did his best to distract her with his boyish antics. The man looked nothing like Raoul but everyone knew that Raoul had inherited his late mother's looks.
"Come Antoinette. Dance with me." Said Pierre de Chagny, the Marquis de Chagny. He pulled a reluctant Madame out onto the smooth marble floors of the Opera House foyer. He swept Madame to the tune of the music as the managers looked on.
"It is nice to see Madame dance." Said Firming to Andre.
"Indeed. I can see why she was a Prima Ballerina," responded Andre as they watched the smoothly gliding figure of Madame.
To them the Opera House which had been hell only a year ago was now a sparkling Utopia.
The stern ballet mistress was being courted and the devilish Opera Ghost was being subdued by an Enchantress. They only hoped that the love affair blooming between their mysterious guest and the Opera Ghost would not be as turbulent as the relationship between him and Christine Daae.
"Do you know who that lady was?" asked Raoul of Meg later in the masquerade as Christine whirled by them.
"I think I know," she answered tentatively. "Yet I do not know for sure and if I tell she will assuredly get back at me," she said quickly, stringing the words together as only a teenage girl could. Raoul laughed and tried to wheedle the secret out of her as he swept her up in the elegant steps of the promenade.
Gratefully Meg handed him over to Christine his wife. Meg was a known gossip and did not wish to reveal any secrets tonight. After all, she had to keep at least one New Year's Resolution, didn't she?
Well, She knew for one thing was that the Mysterious Guest would show herself in the end and Meg would not need to reveal the identity of her new friend.