Chapter Seven

SpongeBob comes running back in, with toilet paper stuck on his shoe, and joins Patrick on the couch.

"Are you ready for me to finish?" Squidward asks them, annoyed.

"Uh-huh," they said in unison. The octopus sits back in his chair, and proceeds to tell the story.

"Nobody has heard from the Phantom in about six months..." The sound of Patrick loudly munching on popcorn, causes Squidward to stop. "Patrick, do you mind?"

"Nope," he replied, oblivious to the meaning of the question.

"Get rid of it!" Squidward shouts, angrily. Patrick then eats all the popcorn in one bite, including the bag. Squidward sighs in annoyance, then continues. "Nobody has heard from the Phantom in about six months. M. Krabs decided to have a masquerade ball at the opera house."

…

M. Plankton, dressed as a skeleton, enters the Krusty Krab Opera House. It's dark and quiet. The Vicomte had invited him to the masquerade ball. He had heard rumors of a Phantom haunting this place. In fact, he might have been the reason for the fallen chandelier, now replaced with a new one. He didn't really believe in him, but he was still nervous. As he reaches the staircase, he sees a masked shape, giving him a little start.

"M. Krabs?" He asks warily, hoping that it wasn't the Phantom.

"M. Plankton?" M. Krabs asks, lifting his mask. "Why are you here?" He was dressed as a skeletal pirate. M. Plankton lets out a sigh of relief. The lights go on.

"Your precious patron invited me."

"Fine, but if I catch ya causin' trouble..."

"Relax," said M. Plankton. "I'm just here to party." A few minutes later, all the guests arrive, in colorful costumes, and the party begins. Pearl, Patangi, Mme. Puff, and many others are there, enjoying themselves. They eat, dance, and just have a good time, forgetting their fears. They sing the "Masquerade" number. Sandy and SpongeBob arrive shortly after, in their costumes. Sandy wore a pink and blue star goddess costume, with silver boots, and a tiara on her air helmet. SpongeBob wore a Hussar costume with gold braid detailing. (I thought it would be funny to see him in Raoul's masquerade costume)

"Remember to keep this a secret engagement," Sandy whispered to SpongeBob. She had the engagement ring on a chain, around her neck.

"A secret engagement?" SpongeBob nearly shouted. He was silenced by her hand covering his mouth. She held her mask in her other.

"Wait till the time is right." She removed her hand.

"When will that be? I wanna scream it to the world!" He pumps his fists up.

"You will understand in time..." Sandy answered in song. They join in the dancing. As Sandy dances, switching partners, every so often, she becomes jittery. Every face of her partners, seem to have the face of the Phantom, and each spins her around with increasing force. She finally stumbles away and finds SpongeBob. She dances with him at the song's climax. Everyone sings:

"Masquerade! Grinning yellows, spinning reds... Masquerade! Take your fill, let the spectacle astound you!" At the height of the activity, a grotesque figure suddenly appears at the top of the staircase. Everyone turns around to look at him. He was dressed in an extravagant Red Death costume, complete with skull mask, long red cape, and a big red hat. With dreadful wooden steps, he descends the stairs, to the center of the room. The Phantom has crashed the party. SpongeBob shrieks and jumps inside of an urn.

"Oh, you thought that I had left you for good?" The Phantom asks, mockingly. "Well you thought wrong! I have written you an opera." He takes from under his robe, an enormous bound manuscript. "Here I bring the finished score, 'Don Juan Triumphant!'"

"Hey, you weren't invited!" M. Krabs yells. The Phantom throws the manuscript at M. Krabs, it hits him in the face, and it knocks him over. The Phantom sings:

"I advise you to comply, my instructions should be clear. Remember, there are worse things than a shattered chandelier..." M. Krabs sits up and looks up at the new chandelier. He groans at the idea of having to buy another one.

Sandy, mesmerized, approaches as the Phantom beckons her. He reaches out, grasps the chain that holds the secret engagement ring, and rips it from her throat. "Hey!" She objects.

"Your chains are still mine, you will sing for me!" He replied in song. Everyone cowers in suspense as the music crescendos until, suddenly, fire emits from his tentacles, and his figure evaporates in it.

"My chains are still his?" Sandy says aloud, to herself, clenching her fists. "I ain't nobody's slave!"

M. Plankton couldn't believe what had happened. He was running back to his own opera house. "So there really is a Phantom," he thought aloud. "That's why everyone attends M. Krabs' opera house, instead of mine. They hope to catch a glimpse of him." An idea formed in his head. "Everyone loves haunted buildings, they are a huge attraction." He couldn't wait to tell his wife, Mme. Karen.

As Mme. Puff is hurrying to leave, SpongeBob jumps out of the urn, he was hiding in, and calls after her.

"Mme. Puff, wait."

"Monsieur, don't ask me, I don't know anything." She moves off again.

"That means you do know something."

"No I don't." He runs after her, and clings onto her legs, desperately.

"Please, please tell me! For all our sakes..."

"Alright, just get off me!" She gave in and kicks him off. Trance-like, she retraces the past. "Years ago, there was a freak show, traveling through Bikini Bottom. Bearded ladies, two headed eels, sea-life oddities. There was... I shall never forget him...an octopus...locked in a cage."

"A cage... Sounds uncomfortable," the vicomte added.

"A prodigy, Monsieur. Scholar, architect, musician..."

"A composer?" SpongeBob piped in, piecing the puzzle together.

"And an inventor, too. I heard he had once built for the Shah of Persia, a maze of mirrors."

"All these talents? Are you sure we're not talking about his high-school rival?"

"I'm sure." Mme. Puff reassured. "He was a freak of nature... more monster than cephalopod..."

"Was he deformed?" He asked.

"From birth, it seemed..." She answered. "He sure was ugly."

"Dear Neptune!"

"Then he escaped. They never found him, it was said he had died."

"But, he didn't die, did he?" Asked the sponge, already knowing the answer. "Our Phantom is this cephalopod! That's it!"

"I have said too much," Mme. Puff starts. "There have been too many accidents. You didn't hear it from me." She runs off.

"Mme. Puff! Accidents?" SpongeBob notices he is alone, in the dark. A gust of wind blows the double doors open, and knocks the urn over. It shatters. The vicomte runs out of the building, frantically waving his arms and screaming.