"Miss Soloviova!" Messieurs Andre and Firmin's voices rang through the early morning stillness of the dormitory, right outside my door. It brought both Bill and I out of our sound sleep and we both jumped awake at their sudden voices. The banging on the door was quite loud; we almost though they'd break the door.

Our hearts were in our throats. Seriously – what could they want this early from a ballet dancer?

But we both knew the answer to that. As if the night of the masquerade, hadn't been bad enough, we knew my name had to have come up again somewhere. In a letter or something akin to that, most likely.

"Miss Soloviova!"

"How dare him! That girl does not have the voice for such a role!" I heard Carlotta's voice over the other voices. "Or the stage presence!"

"Well, he requested that you be left out of the leading roles."

"That bastard! How dare he choose someone less qualified that me!"

The bickering went on and I whispered to Bill to hide somewhere, when the door opened and quickly closed. We both froze, until we saw that it was Frau.

"Christina," she started. "We need you."

I gave Bill a quick, confused glance, before following Frau into the hysteria outside.

"Ah, here's our little flower," Carlotta sneered on my arrival.

I felt a tap on my shoulder. When I turned my head, I saw Tom. I gave him a small smile.

"Ah, Miss Soloviova's quite the lady of the hour," Monsieur Firmin said. "She's seemed to have secured the largest role in this Don Juan."

Horror-shocked, I mean, I'd known this, but hearing it out loud, confided it; almost like a death sentence. I wrapped my arms around Tom's waist, burying my face in his chest. I was glad I had support right now with me; Bill was most likely pressing his ear up against the door.

"Christina Solovoiva? But she doesn't have the voice!" Carlotta sneered, rezoning a death glare at me.

"Signora, please," Andre tried to calm her.

"Then I take it you're agreed."

"She's behind this."

"It appears we have no choice."

"SHE'S THE ONE BEHIND THIS! CHRISTINA SOLOVIOVA!"

"How dare you!" I snapped back at Carlotta.

"I'm not a fool!"

"You evil woman," I snarled. "This isn't my fault! I don't want any part of this!"

"But why not?" Monsieur Andre asked.

"What do you mean "why not"?" I snapped.

"It's your decision, but why not?"

"She's backing out?" Piangi said his eyes wide on me.

"You have a duty!" Monsieur Firmin argued with me.

"Duty or not, I can't sing it," I put my foot down.

"You don't have to, Chrissy," Tom whispered to me. "We all know that it's dangerous. No one can make you sing that part."

"Please messieurs," Frau reappeared from somewhere. My heart jumped to my throat when I saw Bill trailing sauntering silently behind her. "I bring you another note."

"Yes, and who might this be?" Monsieur Firmin gestured to Bill.

"A new dancer of mine. He's an orphan, like the rest, though a good friend of Christina's," she gave me a small smile and I left Tom to go cling onto Bill for dear life, though I kept Tom close by me.

I was beyond thankful Frau had a legit excuse for Bill's being here.

Firmin eyes Bill suspiciously. "Wouldn't I have known about a new dancer coming here?"

"Not necessarily," Frau responded. "Everything that has to do with the ballet, like new dancers, goes through me."

"What's your name, boy?"

"My name is Bill, sir."

"And where are you from, Bill?"

"I'm from Vienna, sir."

"And how do you know Miss Solovoiva?"

Bill gulped. "I met her when I first came here. She was nice and we became good friends very quickly."

"I'm taking you don't care at all about the new note I bring you?" Frau raised an eyebrow.

Then all attention switched very quickly from Bill, back to Frau and the piece of folded up paper in her hand. It was stamped with red ink the shape of a skull.

My stomach did a scared little flip. I wasn't sure if it was really my stomach, or how early does a baby start moving?

Well, my unborn child wouldn't know at all what was going on. I felt guilty. I was such a bad parent to bring a little boy or girl into this world during our horrible time of such turmoil. How could Bill and I had been so blind to this risk?

It didn't matter now. What's done is done and there's no way to reverse it.

"Well, what is it?" Carlotta asked impatiently, to Monsieur Firmin, who was reading the note.

"It's a cast listing. It has everyone's name and the part they're playing. Just a reminder, it says at the bottom. But…he seems to have left the place of Don Juan empty….."

"He wants us to choose the Don Juan?" Andre concluded.

Firmin was silent for a moment before his eyes glances to Tom.

"You," he pointed. "What's your name?"

"Tom Kaulitz, sir," he replied promptly.

"Can you sing?"

"We need Tom," Frau jumped in. "he's one of the best male dancers we have."

"Very well," Firmin nodded. Then his eyes flickered to Bill. "What about you, new one? Can you sing?"

Can he sing? Of course, I knew that bill could sing like an angel, but….

"I guess, sir," he replied sheepishly. I could tell in his eyes that he didn't want any part in this, either.

"Why are you asking all these young whippersnapper dancers to play the role of Don Juan?" Piangi thundered. "For one, there're way too young. And they're orphans who have not had any proper training to be good singers."

"The how do you explain Miss Soloviova's voice? She's an orphaned dancer, yet her voice exceeded all of our expectations," Andre pointed out.

Great.

"Yes, but Signor Piangi has a point. He's been singing for us and he's one of the best baritones we have on staff and he know he can pull it off. The dancers, maybe not so much. Even Christina has some experience singing onstage in front of a large crowd."

"But I'm not singing it," I pointed out once more.

"Christina, please," Andre begged with me. "Please sing for us."

"Why should I put myself at risk?"

"Because, Miss Christina," Firmin answered sheepishly. "It says by your name: Should she not sing this role, a disaster beyond your imagination will occur."

"Then he's leaving me no choice."