Ch. 11
He just blinked again, and sat up straight.
"We need another singing lesson.", he said absentmindedly, and I followed, pining after him.
Finally, eventually, we stopped again, and ate dinner. The mute had come back already. I was so tired from today, that I went to bed. The Professor, for some reason, did not object to this. I was glad he didn't.
I didn't dream at all that night, but when I woke up, I had the distinct impression that something black was covering my eyes. I couldn't hear anything either and I was being shaken somewhat harshly.
I opened my eyes.
The Professor and the mute stopped shaking me, their eyes wide as they looked at me.
"What?", I asked.
"…Julia…", the Professor said, somewhat worried.
"Hmm?"
"…You…You were screaming bloody murder in your sleep…What happened? Was it a bad dream?"
He didn't say this tauntingly, but as if he was worried.
"Oh, really?...Cool! How loud was I?"
They exchanged a glance.
"Quite loud. I wanted to wake you up before anyone heard, you were so loud."
"I only did that once before. I wonder why."
"You never found out why?"
"Unfortunately, no."
Then his rejection from last night came back to my memory, and I instantly quieted and grew sad.
The day went on as usual: the Professor continued to play his music as the dwarf led me out the secret passage. I nodded sadly, thanking him silently. He had a slightly worried expression on his face, but I waved him off and walked out of the room. I only looked back at the sound of the "door" shutting.
He hadn't followed me.
I sighed heavily and made my way to the band room.
As always, the director Mr. Rossi was worried and anxious. Immediately upon seeing me, he stuffed a pile of papers in my hand and said, in a breathy voice, "Please pass these out." Then he went back and mumbled nervously to himself.
I did as he asked, and passed the sheets of paper to the flutes, who in turn passed each paper back until all the musicians had one.
Only then did I bother to read the single sheet of paper I had left in my hand.
It read:
To All Opera Employees, Affiliates, and to whom it may concern:
Due to an increasing number of accidents, missing articles, and reports of a "ghost", all workers will be subject to an interrogation with the owner and the detective of his choice. All interrogation dates and times are to be post on the main board at 2:00 p.m. next Monday, and will take place in the owner's office.
Great freaking marionettes of hell., I grumbled in my mind. The professor doesn't like me and I have to be interrogated by that mean fool they call an owner, and with a detective of his choice, no less!
I looked up with this mad scowl on my face to see other people's reactions to this. As far as I knew, no accidents had happened, no articles had gone missing, and I'd never heard one report of a ghost since I got here. I knew perfectly well that the "ghost" was Professor Petrie and his mute friend. This interrogation thing was ticking me off.