Chapter 8: Thief
The Phantom's letter turned out to contain a few requests for changes to the performance being rehearsed. They were not changes Nataly would have thought to make, but they were reasonable and she brought about all but one of them.
She and the opera ghost did not see one another for some time after she had wandered into his privacy; at least two months. She lost the habit of warily glancing up at the ceiling or at mirrors but always spoke in conversations as if he were listening so as to make sure not to accidentally offend him. Since he was unknown and invisible to the crew they had lost much of their fear of his specter and whether Nataly heard jokes being made at his expense, she always called for him to be spoken of with respect.
There were a few times she caught herself wishing she would find him when she rounded corners or that he would come upon her in her office, but he did not. As the rehearsals began to tighten and wind toward an impressive final product, she found one more letter on her desk one morning and she implemented the few final adjustments that he asked for.
Society was courting her in the buildup to her next show, and she had dinner sometimes three evenings a week with different notable personages. She enjoyed the company of some and tolerated the others. The price to pay for giving offense was high in those circles, and generally unnecessary given the courtesy and gratifying admiration that she was met with.
Still, she was often lonely in her house with her mother and father gone from it, so she spent most of her days with her cast and crew at the Populaire.
It was only an hour and a half after she had finally seen a touring society couple from a few districts away out the front door and Nataly was tired after a long day. She was waiting beside the grand front doors for her carriage to arrive so that she could go home and go to bed when one of the men who took care of the property burst in the door.
"MademoiselleBenoit!" he cried. "We've apprehended a criminal in the stables!"
"What?" She gathered her skirts up and followed him at a rapid pace out into the moonless night toward their small stable where visitor's horses were kept and where one of the neighbors of the opera house was allowed to keep his horses at night.
She followed into the unfamiliar place that smelled of hay and saw two other men with their backs to her in the back of the stable, one holding a horse whip and the other a long block of wood. They were facing a man on his knees in the hay.
"He looks like a thief!" said the man leading her. He looked a little too happy about this probably brutal capture of a trespasser. Nataly's expression was puckered in displeasure until she grew close enough to recognize the bound and slightly-beaten man on his knees.
"Alright," she commanded, keeping a cool head. "I will call the appropriate authorities in a discreet manner. I appreciate the initiative of you three in apprehending this man. Please return to the opera house and tell no one about this incident—I should not like word to spread that masked thieves wander into my stables. Go, please."
"Mademoiselle, you sure you don't want a man to stay with—"
"I will have others join me shortly."
"Yes, mademoiselle."
"Thank you for your work."
"You're welcome, mademoiselle. Be careful, mademoiselle."
The three left.
Nataly watched them return inside and then dropped to her knees beside the Phantom. His head was hanging and he was fighting for consciousness. She unbound his hands and he shook himself a little. His head was bruised and bleeding from what looked like a blow from the block of wood. He was not wearing his usual fine clothing, but a white undershirt and dirty black pants. He had on a black mask over both sides of his face. Nataly took his face in her hands to inspect the injury. He put his hands gently on her arms.
"Thank you," he said quietly.
"Of course. I'm so sorry that happened."
"I wasn't expecting anyone to return to the stables and they… I haven't been overpowered like that in a long time."
"I'm so sorry."
"You handled it well…I…the…" Consciousness slipped from him and his upper body fell slowly toward her. She caught him gently and let his head fall to her shoulder. She pulled him over to a less noticeable corner of the stable and then attempted to rouse him. She touched his cheek and patted his chest. "Phantom? Monsieur Phantom?"
His eyes opened slowly and he looked up at her from her arms.
"Nataly?"
"You're not alright. We should get you inside. How can I enter unnoticed?"
He closed his eyes and sat up a little, gingering touching his fingers to his head. He groaned softly and answered, "There's a side door with stairs directly inside…"
"Would it take me to the attic?"
"Yes, it can."
"Come, I'll help you." She put his arm around her shoulder so that she could support his weight, and they snuck out the back way and in the side entrance. She was glad it was so dark a night—no one watching would be able to see them. The flights of stairs were on ordeal but finally they reached the attic. Nataly sat him down on her bed in the darkness and lit a couple candles so that they could see. She wet a cloth from the washbasin and began to clean his face and head and swatted his hand away when he tried to do it instead.
Blood had stained his mask and had dripped beneath it, but when she made to remove it he caught her hand fast.
"Don't."
"I've seen you unmasked, remember?"
"Please don't," he whispered. Nataly sighed but dropped her hand.
"Then here." She handed the cloth to him and turned her back.
"Alright," he said after a few seconds. She took back the cloth and continued cleaning his forehead. When he was relatively free of blood she put the cloth in the basin to soak and sat down next to him again. His eyes were closed. She gently pushed him down onto the bed and he did not resist. He groaned and put a hand to his head which she pushed away.
"Please don't gut my stable hand for this," she said to him.
He grimaced. "If not a gutting, a beating then."
"Not that either."
"Whipping?"
"No."
"Can I hang him?"
"No."
"Call his mother a wine-guzzling whore?"
"…Yes."
"And then hang him?"
"No! I am asking you do not administer punishment to any of these gentlemen."
"'Gentlemen'!"
"Stop yelling, you've undergone a hefty blow to the head."
"I wasn't yelling."
Nataly laughed a little under her breath. The Phantom sighed, his eyes still closed. Nataly gazed at him, caught up in how much in that moment she wanted to lower her mouth to kiss any part of his face.
"Well, I guess we're even now. As far as taking care of each other," he muttered. When she said nothing he opened his eyes a crack and saw the heat on her cheeks.
"Er, what?" she mumbled.
"We're even," he murmured back.
"Yes." She lowered her eyes with a gust of willpower. She moved away from him.
"You should probably stay lying down for a while, but I have a carriage that is probably waiting outside for me by now… You may stay here but please shut the door when you leave."
"I think I'm fine." He stood and immediately put a hand to his head. "Oof. Perhaps not…" He sat back down. "I don't want to get blood on your sheets…"
"You haven't gotten any on them and you're not bleeding anymore," she said gently. "It's fine."
The Phantom heaved himself backwards so that he was completely on the bed and then closed his eyes and lay down with a groaning sigh. Nataly touched his head once more to double-check his wound and then left him in her room, closing the door behind her when she left.
…
Nataly wasn't able to return to the opera house until the evening of the following day but the moment she entered her office, the Phantom came in after her, silent as a ghost as always.
She turned toward him and asked, "How are you feeling?"
"In full health, thank you."
She looked at him suspiciously.
"Really? I think probably you're still achy but too proud to admit it."
He scowled, but then it relaxed again into a half-smile.
"Correct, as usual."
"Most certainly not as usual," she replied. "Especially when it concerns you." She looked over at her desk. "I have your salary early if you'd like it."
"It can wait."
"Well, I shan't leave an envelope of bills on my desk, but when you'd like it" —she tucked it in between books on her small bookcase— "it's in here."
"Alright." His gaze rested on her again. "You've installed a window in the attic. I hadn't noticed it last night."
"Stained glass." She smiled. "It took some time for the men to put in, but it's lovely."
He nodded.
"How do you like the performance?" she asked him. It's almost ready. Everyone's been working hard and Lousia has been stepping up."
The Phantom nodded. "It will be an excellent performance and will be very well received, as I think you know."
"It's still nice to hear it." She smiled. "So, monsieur. May I ask what you were doing in the stables last night?"
"My business is my own."
"Of course…I don't mean to pry."
The Phantom opened his mouth to say something else but there was a knock on the door.
"Who is it?" Nataly asked.
"Only me," came Madame Giry's voice.
"Just you?"
"Yes."
"Do come in."
Giry opened the door and looked unsurprised to see the Phantom—his presence would be the only reason Nataly would ask who it was.
"Evening, monsieur Phantom," she greeted him, then turned to Nataly. "I apologize for the interruption, but the cast wanted your approval of a few last-minute changes before they went home for the night."
"Of course," Nataly replied, nodding. She looked to the Phantom. "Evening, monsieur."
"Evening, mademoiselle."
She followed Madame Giry out and to the theatre. While she sat in a row in the middle watching parts of the performance, she saw the shadow of the Phantom in box five. His presence was distracting; she wanted to be near him, talking with him, immersed in their back-and-forth instead of watching her cast.
"I have no complaints!" she called out when they were finished. "I don't think complaints are possible. I love the changes and Friday night's show will be magnificent!"
The cast cheered, self-satisfied, and then broke apart to change out of costume and go home. Nataly went to the far side of the theatre and climbed the narrow stairs to box five, but when she got there, the Phantom had gone.
