Chapter 4. =D Look I finally got it up.

Blah blah do not own etc. etc. ENJOY!

Singing lessons. I'm almost killed, kidnapped, time-traveled, and after all that he wanted to give me singing lessons?

And honestly, after the initial shock, I wasn't really buying the time-traveling bit. For all I knew a film was going on or a reenactment. It couldn't really be the 1870s.

I digress, and needless to say, I declined the offer. He argued, and tried to get me to sing anyway… and then suddenly he gave up. He apparently had a pressing engagement to attend to because he left, so suddenly that by the time I registered his absence he was barely visible on the lake in the distance.

It took me a second to realize… THIS WAS MY CHANCE. With him gone, for whatever length of time, I could make an escape.

I assumed he had various entrances to his little on-the-lake hideout, but I couldn't figure out where, and the way we came in (which was by land) was now gone. He had to have sliding walls and a manner of different things to do that, and finding the triggers for them would take to long, which meant the only exit was the one he took.

Across the lake.

I frowned. This was going to be a miserable swim. I went to jump in, and hesitated. My pants unzipped at the knee. By turning my pants into shorts I wouldn't get tangled up as I swam.

So that's what I did.

Swimming was quite a bit easier in shorts, but I was still weighed down a bit by my clothes. I swam slowly, diving under water or hiding behind support beams whenever I saw a shadow move.

I made it to the edge of the lake without getting caught… or even seeing my captor for that matter. But it didn't really matter. The entrance to the catacombs was right in front of me. I dove in without hesitating.

I was a little less careful as I tore through the labyrinth of stone but in the end it paid off. I found myself at a giant stone staircase that seemed to go on forever, but most definitely went through to the Opera Populaire's main floor.

I was about to take a step, and remembered that this guy had configured hidden doorways, what would stop him from having booby traps? I backed up a few feet, took a running start, and cleared the first three steps. From there I ran and jumped, praying that I wouldn't hit any booby-trapped steps. I hit a landing and paused to take a breath. I was almost there!

Once I had caught my breath back I proceeded, but when I stepped into the middle of the landing the floor beneath my feet disappeared and I plummeted into a body of water.

I broke the surface. The stagnant water left the room smelling horrible. It was a small stone room, there was a ledge off to the side, and a gate, dropping from the ceiling at an impressive rate. A very frightening rate rather, I definitely wouldn't be able to make it to the ledge in time to save myself. Time for a plan B.

I took a deep breath and dove underwater, praying for a way to stop the gate from killing me. I opened my eyes. Looking around for something, anything out of place. Out to my right was a wheel and axel lever. That should do something.

I broke the surface of the water again, the gate was now arm's length away from me, I took a deep breath before diving back underwater. The gate dropped below the surface right behind me as I sped toward the lever. I grabbed it near the top with both hands and pulled, it didn't budge. I tried the other direction, nothing. I went back and forth like this. The gate stopped dropping about a foot below the water's surface and I was running low on air, and thus running low on strength.

I gave one last ditch effort. Pulling on the lever as hard as I could, and with that, the last of my energy was gone, along with my last morsel of air. I fought to keep myself from inhaling water, my vision dimmed, then nothing.

I woke by the shock of cold air hitting my wet body, I felt myself drop against a stone floor, and as soon as I did I pushed myself up onto all fours and threw up all the water that I had consumed.

It was after I was done throwing up the contents of my stomach that I finally noticed the person who saved me. Though from my position on the ground I could only see black.

"Mademoiselle, I get the distinct impression that you have a death wish." It was Erik.

When I rolled my eyes up to get a look at him—there wasn't much else I could do from here, especially with my limbs fighting to hold me up as it was—they attempted to roll back into my skull.

"and?" I squeaked.

He sighed in response and I was taken back to the little hideout on the lake. Actually to be more specific, I was taken to the little hideout, into the back room with the locked door, and left there in a room. I think. It was dark inside, above me was a sky of stars, below me, sand, and around me, sand as far as the eye could see. The only thing breaking up the monotony of sand, was one lone metal tree.

I looked behind me at the door. Well, where the door was, now there was just more sand, and a cloak.

My body gave a shiver, making me realize that it was, in fact, cold in here, and I was soaking wet. I pulled the cloak over me and scooted closer to the tree.

"Hello tree." I mumbled. "You know of any way out of here?" I waited for an answer, and of course none came. "Me neither." I reached into my pocket and came up empty. My MP3 was gone.

I sighed, leaning myself up against the tree and stared at the stars until they all blurred away and I fell asleep.

Damn it, why me?

Until next time, everyone! =D