Chapter Two: Let the games begin
Startled by a loud ringing, Marie Giry jerked off her couch, cursing as she looked for the source of that vexing sound. Pushing through layers of material she found the cell phone below a pile of laundry. Composing herself before answering, she tried to imagine pink ponies as the wretched device continued its inhumane tintinnabulation.
"Good evening," she hissed, letting out her irritation in three syllables.
"I'm sorry for disturbing you, Madame, but the managers have ordered me to inform everyone about the meeting at eight tonight."
Marie could feel almost feel the anger course through every cell in her body. She closed her eyes and tried to visualize again, although the only images were of ponies with their heads ripped off. "And why, may I enquire are we having a meeting out of the blue, without further notice and with 'further' I mean, three days in advance and not an hour?" Her voice was calm, but not the sort that meant "happiness"; more like 'the calm before the storm'. The stage director was not perturbed by the clear hint of displeasure and smoothly replied, "Marie, I do believe you are quite free tonight as you told me this morning. I shall be glad to be your chauffer once more to the 'Conservatoire' so you have absolutely no reason to not be there. I shall pick you up in fifteen minutes."
With that the line went dead. Mrs. Giry glared at the metallic creation of modern technology before storming upstairs. This was going to be a long night.
xxxx
As the black car pulled up in front of the Giry residence, Marie patted her hair before turning to her two daughters. "I shall be out tonight, so please try to keep the house in one piece, girls." Kissing them both swiftly on the cheek, the ballet mistress made her exit as her cell phone rang once more. As Marguerite was too preoccupied in peeping through the door at her mother, Christine was left to answer it.
"Is this Marie?"
"I'm sorry she just left. May I take a message?"
"I see. Thank you, no. Good night."
Before she could reply she heard a soft click which told her that the caller had ended their conversation. "Who was it, Christine?" asked Meg turning to her. Christine shrugged before setting the phone down. The caller's voice was soft and almost like a melody floating in the air; masculine no doubt of that, but different. To be precise, ethereal. If it wasn't for Meg's loud whoop from the couch, she would have been lost in her thoughts of perfect words to describe the caller's intonation.
"What are you so happy about?" she asked plopping down beside Marguerite. Pointing to the screen excitedly Meg squealed with delight. With raised eyebrows her sister turned and found herself staring at a handsome face, blonde hair and blue eyes. Now she could see the cause of the bubbly girl beside her. "He is undeniably scrumptious isn't he?" Christine laughed as she leaned back, making herself comfortable. This was going to be a long night.
xxxx
There was something about Marie Giry that commanded respect and admiration from not only her students, but all her acquaintances. She wasn't young but she carried her age well; like Dame Judi Dench, as Meg would say. But to Nadir Khan, this teacher, who worked three floors above his office, was amusing. Yes, you read correctly, amusing. Her constant inner battles to appear compose rarely showed on the surface but he could tell (after long observation) that she was more complex that she showed.
You see, Madame Giry (as is her nick name by her students) has taught in the Conservatoire for many, many years. If anyone knew the school well, it was her. Beneath her severe smile and cat like eyes, she has stored many secrets about people and events that have taken place in the school. If one wanted to know anything about anyone, you had to go to her. But this lady would never give away confidential information to just anyone leaving most of the secrets of the misnamed building under wraps.
The drive to the school was a silent apart from the light one sided conversation attempted by the ever amiable Mr. Khan. His companion however merely answered with lady-like grunts that meant neither this nor that. Yet, he kept at it until the reached the aforesaid school where he cordially opened her door for her, being ever the gentleman. The moon seemed to cast a spotlight on Marie highlighting the silver strands of her hair and the lines around her eyes and mouth that were never too obvious in the morning sun. Huffing slightly, she walked into the building and up the stairs leaving the other smirking slightly at her displeasure.
They were headed for the office on the first floor where three men were earlier that day. Right now, it was occupied by two of the three men and three other persons. As you already know, the two men were the clearly annoyed new managers of the Conservatoire but let me introduce the three other occupants. First there was the music instructor, Grace Hahn who taught on the second floor. Beside her was the Spanish dance instructor, Gregory "Greg" Pena who flirted endlessly with his students seeing as he only took female students. Finally the last person was Kimberley Bennet, Nadir's assistant. However, these three people play a minor role in this story, but of course, their contributions cannot be ignored.
As Marie walked into the room she immediately snapped at her new "bosses" her pent up resentment unleashed in four words: "What do you want?" The two men turned a light shade of red seeing as this was the second time they were addressed in such a manner. Inhaling noisily, Richard opened his mouth to speak before the lights went out. All that was heard was a loud sputtering and a few muffled voices curious as to the sudden loss of electricity. If it was not for the moonlight that was peeking through the window, no one would have seen a tall figure dressed in a dark coat walk in silently after Nadir.
"Forgive me for my late arrival. I was ill informed," the man whispered, his voice traveling across the room in the sudden silence. It was Andre who regained his senses first. Squinting in the darkness, he said, "Perhaps we should postpone this meeting to another time seeing as we can barely see anyone." There was a sniff of disproval from the left side of the room when a woman, Grace Hahn if I'm not wrong, replied in a level tone, "I am assuming this meeting was for us talk and not goggle at each other, sir." Nadir was glad for the lack of light at that moment for he could not help but grin openly at her wit. Richard had finally reacquired his composure and blinked rapidly, his eyes adjusting to the dark room.
"Well, then. As you all know, I (here an audible cough from Andre was heard), sorry, we are the new managers of this school." He paused here for effect, almost expecting with fading hope for applause. When he received none he pushed forward, "Right. So now, we would like all of you as the heads of each department, to know that there will be some changes in this institution. Mr. Lefevre, as we understand has always taken a hands-off policy in running this place. Today, I am glad… we are glad to announce that we shall be active in the process of the school's productions, so as to be able to understand and to be a part what is going on in our knowledge box. You are now looking at the new stage directors of the 'Conservatoire'."
At first no one spoke and the two businessmen took it as a sign of acceptance to their decision. Sadly, they had no such luck. In fact while all of them were supposedly "silent", they were looking at the dark cloaked figure whose face (or what they could see of it) did not betray any emotion. In fact he merely smiled and spoke again, this time in a clear voice that rang with a challenge, "If both of you choose to take Nadir's place, I'm sure he will gladly oblige. I applaud your daring to take on such a task and wish both of you the best of luck. Now that that is settled, I'm sure there is no other reason for you to detain us this evening?"
And with that, he exited the room and assumedly the building leaving two stunned managers in his wake.
xxxx
"That was a clever move you pulled earlier."
The other turned to look at his companion, a smirk playing on his lips. "It was wasn't it?" Nadir shook his head as he looked at the retreating figures of the two businessmen below. The wind blew gently across their faces as the clouds floated silently above. Marie stood leaning slightly on the wall as she huffed at the short exchange. The meeting had ended just a few minutes ago as the managers decided to "cut it short" (as Andre said).
The stage director and his passenger for the night immediately headed for the roof where the bright moonlight was much welcomed from the darkness of the office they were just in. "And what do you have planned?" asked Mrs. Giry as the vocal director turned slightly towards her. Erik Destler's gaze never wavered as he met Marie's blue eyes with his own green ones. "What do you think I have planned?" It was Marie who broke their contact as she looked up sighing slightly before looking at him again.
"I don't know. You're letting them interfere when the show is going on in two days time. I've always had my suspicions on your mental health and now you have confirmed it."
"My dear lady, do not worry. I have everything under control," he said softly, a dangerous smile on his lips once more. "So, you are going to let them take over the production?" asked Nadir, raising his eyebrows.
"Of course, I will."
"Are you completely out of your mind?"
"I am a man of my word."
Marie scoffed. "Are you sure you don't want me to call the Mental Institute. I hear they have a great program for the musically gifted." Their masked friend's smile grew even wider. "Do you not trust me?" he asked, his voice mocking. The two exchanged a glance before simultaneously saying, "Of course we do."
"Then, I shall not fail you. I'm going to let these businessmen have a taste of the arts before making them wish they had not left their office. Andre Giles and Richard Firmin will soon realize that without our help, they cannot survive. And once that is settled, there won't be any meddling of inexperienced buffoons in our productions ever again." Marie pursed her lips before walking over to the stairs. Halting at the steps she looked at Erik her gaze steely, "If you're sure, I'll go with your 'idea'. You've never failed us before, so I hope you don't start now. I'll wait for you downstairs, Mr. Khan," she said addressing the last line to the smiling Persian.
As the sound of Marie's shoes died away, Nadir looked at his friend, his face serious. "Everything has been done as you've asked. Hopefully, it'll all go as planned." Nodding slightly the taller man looked out before him, his gaze falling on the roof tops of the other buildings, enjoying the mysterious aura they exuded. Nadir stood a while longer before patting Erik on the shoulder and making his exit. The lone figure closed his eyes and inhaled the clean evening air. "I believe it shall."
xxxx
"How was it, Mom? What happened?" asked Christine as Marie hung her coat on the stand. Marguerite's face was turned slightly to her mother's direction though her eyes remained glued on the television screen. She watched her daughters a second longer, as she contemplated the right words to say. "There are going to be some changes for Tuesday's production."
A/N: I apologise profusely for such a long wait. It's been a month and sixteen days and I really do apologise. This chapter is slightly longer than the last and I'll hopefully be bringing the story to a different stage soon enough. Thank you for waiting and I hope you enjoyed it. Before I forger, have a blessed Christmas and a brilliant New Year 2008!
The Sceptic
P/s: don't forget to review