Author's Note: Sadly, I can't promise exactly when I'll post again because this is my last post before the Alaska trip. My cellular modem will work free of charge in Juneau, but not in Skagway and certainly not in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. I'm not sure if I'll have a chapter ready by Juneau. I THINK we'll be in Juneau on Sunday... so, if I have a chapter ready, and if the cell service really does work and really is without charge and I really do have a chapter ready, then I'll post. But the trip is pretty packed with things to do, so there's no guarantee. I'd also like to promise to post pictures of Alaska to my DA, but that will have to wait until I return because pictures eat up data transfer even faster than stories. Oh well.
Disclaimer: It rather seems this part has become unnecessary.
Humor Warning: Still about as funny as usual, I hope. All warnings in effect.
I have spoken previously of the obvious rooms in the house on the lake, but I have not yet mentioned those that are not so obvious. We realized early on that if were ever to be caught in such a place it would be disastrous. Those who worked for the Opera might be fired; those of us who didn't, arrested. We worked at all costs to avoid that. One way in which we avoided being caught was to create secret hidden rooms into which we could retire should the house proper ever be discovered. Of course, those hidden rooms were a last resort. It was far preferred to ensure that the house was not discovered.
To that end, Henri installed an electric bell that rang whenever someone crossed the lake. Rémy told stories of a siren to those who were not in on the secret, and Erik devised a way to sing from beneath the water by means of a reed to give credence to Rémy's story.
I heard him practicing one night before he showed me how he'd done it, and I searched the water for him, trying to determine where he was, assuming it was a mere ventriloquist's trick. But he was right beneath me and apparently in the mood for a prank. He reached up and embraced me quite suddenly and I toppled headfirst very naturally from the small boat, which capsized above us. Naturally, I gasped in surprise and inhaled quite a large amount of water, which I coughed and spat back up in a most ungentlemanly fashion on the far shore of the lake when Erik "rescued" me and positioned me on my hands and knees to pound sharply upon my back—and which I continued to cough up for days afterward, always at the most inopportune times.
When he wasn't drowning me with it, Erik's reed trick was a delight, for it was possible to remain submersed for hours on end, breathing through the reed, whose end was above the water level. Even those of us who did not sing so well found some use for them or another. It is a well-known fact that there were several pools on the roof, which, in the summer, were sometimes used to teach the boys of the corps de ballet to swim. Oh what delightful pranks can be played on the unsuspecting when the surface of the pool appears unbroken and yet there is something below which reaches out with human-like arms to lightly caress a swimmer suddenly!
On the hottest days of summer I found it an absolute delight to submerse myself in the cool refreshing water and simply remain there indefinitely. More than once I brought an extra reed and a lady friend. We slipped beneath the surface of the pool and remained there doing wondrous things until our skin pruned.
As far as I can tell, the reed trick never actually apprehended anyone en route to the house on the lake—except me that time. But I digress.
The house on the lake had no mirrors, for obvious reasons. By this time all the involved stagehands knew Erik's mirror trick, and it would be only a matter of time before the technique leaked. (As a matter of fact, I heard some twenty years later that a man in America patented "two way glass" as though he himself had invented it. Honestly, those people have far more nerve than culture! But I digress, yet again.) Erik outlawed mirrors in the house on the lake early on; he specifically wished to avoid being spied upon through his own invention.
When I realized the Christine Daaé challenge commenced immediately, I took my bottle of wine with me and made my way to one of the hidden rooms to listen silently.
One would imagine, from the way Erik behaved next, that I had challenged him to toy with the girl's mind in every way possible for it certainly seems he did his best to drive to girl to madness.
He provided her a half a glass of Tokay then told her a ridiculous yarn about having visited the Koningsburg cellars himself. I imagine she should have been quite impressed, had she believed him, but a moment later he was pointing out that they were frequented by Falstaff, and I concluded that she had never heard of Koningsburg at all. Poor Erik, I thought. Sometimes it is a detriment having too much knowledge; no one comprehends enough to laugh at your jokes and at times even your boasting goes completely without understanding.
Based on the lengthy silence, I would say the girl ate quite a bit of the chicken wing and prawns meal I'd thrown together. She complimented Erik's cooking. I did not get too flattered; I assume she was simply polite.
Erik declined to eat which left me baffled. When I'd departed after observing Michel's chandelier trick, Erik had not yet had lunch. He indicated he was going below to clean the house, which probably took him all afternoon and well into the evening considering he must have scrubbed every surface with ammonia. That evening he attended the opera to sit near Richard's valet and play doctor. He had somehow escorted the lady home and yet returned in time to know that Christine was terribly upset about the chandelier. There is no way I can be certain how long he had been in the passageway when I encountered him there with the unconscious singer, but I had the impression it was quite some time and he didn't seem to have packed a picnic meal. I could not imagine how he might have squeezed a meal into the rest of the day suggesting that he very likely had not eaten since breakfast the day before—and as Erik rarely eats breakfast, that meant supper the night before that.
My own stomach growled as I did the calculations. Surely it was madness to forgo so many meals! He must be famished! It occurred to me that perhaps he was concerned that she might see his face if he ventured to slip something beneath the mask, but that really didn't see reasonable as she was seated across from him. Whatever the case, he didn't drink anything either, I am certain, for when he set the table he had not even provided himself a glass. Peculiar, I decided.
Meanwhile, the girl had finished her meal and Erik offered to show her around his home. I repressed a chuckle. What peculiar new personality had he invented this time, that lived underground and kept his face hidden from the world? "Do you think I'm mysterious?" he had asked me before I punched him in the jaw. But if he wished to play mysterious, why should he show her around the home? I sulked and wished I could see them rather than only hear them.
Erik was playing a role that was perhaps still more bizarre than the one in which we met in Persia. Now Erik had been living there beneath the opera, alone and in secret because he was a man without a country. I considered the possibilities. Foreign, exotic, a bit tragic... It might just work, I conceded, and wondered if I might try the foreign and exotic bit myself sometime. I did have a bit of an exotic look with my mother's swarthy complexion and my father jade-green eyes. As to those eyes, I could feel them narrow as I thought through my next exploit.
Meanwhile, Erik was telling Christine his name wasn't really Erik in an attempt, I'm sure, to rectify the mistake of telling her it was. Yet, he declined to offer her another name as well and allowed her to continue calling him Erik. I shook my head. His ruse was seriously off from his usual confidence. Could it be he was so enamored with the girl in reality that he did not think through things clearly?
The girl cried out and Erik mumbled, "Oh, I beg your pardon" or some such nonsense. Naturally, I wondered what impertinent thing he might have done, but as I could not see, I had to merely sit and wonder. I admit that when he told me all he had done was reach to take her hand, I did not believe him in the slightest. It was not until I later heard the same words from her lips that I conceded that he had not deceived me.
In the meantime, Erik had taken he girl to his room, where no doubt he intended to impress her with his organ.
Shameless Begging: I don't leave until Friday morning, so I'll be checking back to see how you like it! Please do comment!