CHARLES

"What in the world!" Maddie exclaimed, clinging to me. I had completely forgotten about the mirror.

"It's some sort of secret passageway." I said, and she looked up at me. "Come on Maddie, let's see where it leads!" I said, suddenly inspired.

"But…it's dark…" She said, looking at me if I were crazy. I looked over at the candle on the vanity.

"Here…" I said, leaning over to the vanity to grab the candle. "Now it's light." I said and she rolled her eyes.

"Alright Charles…but if we see rats, it's over!" I couldn't help but laugh.

"You've got a deal…" I said and stepped through the mirror, holding her hand.

Silently, we seemed to walk forever down this passageway as it curved and turned until we came to a flight of winding stairs. I looked at Maddie in the dim light. She shrugged. I began down the stairs, slowly, unsure of what I would find there. I was surprised when I saw a slight gleaming at the foot of the stairs. Water.

"It's some kind of a lake or a river!" I said and Maddie looked at me in wonder.

"Beneath the opera house? This is so absurd!" She cried and I hesitantly stepped forward, holding her against my side. It was very slight but I could something across the lake. There was an old boat tied here at the foot of the stairs with a small lantern on it. I looked at Maddie.

"No Charles! Are you crazy?" I begged her with my eyes until she sighed loudly.

"Fine!" She said and got into the boat with my help before looked up at me. "It's comfortable!" She said, motioning to the cushions laid in it. I leaned down to light the small lantern and handing the candle to Madeleine.

"Uh Charles?" She suddenly said as I stepped into the boat, which was a gondola.

"What?" I asked, and she sighed.

"Do you even know how to move this thing?" I hesitated for a moment, because truthfully I had been in one of these once, but never had paid attention.

"Yes…we'll be fine." I lied, picking up the pole. It was surprisingly easy. With a little hidden effort I pushed us through the caverns across until we hit shore with me practically falling into the water. I covered nicely though and moved forward before I could fall backward, ending up stumbling onto the shore. Maddie gave a small snort. I leaned down to help her up, but she refused and got out herself. She lit a few of the candles that were lying around.

"What is this place?" She asked. I could only stare around with my mouth open.

"I don't know, but someone lived here…they…" I stopped cold, because on the wall were numerous drawings of a woman. My mother.

"Charles!" Maddie cried, also seeing the woman who looked so much like her adorning the walls. I began to move around the chambers observing everything. In the dim light, I noticed what was obviously an organ covered in dust and cobwebs. I pressed one of the keys, causing Maddie to nearly jump out of her skin.

"Jesus!" She said and I laughed at her.

"Sorry…" She shook her head and we began to examine random pieces of sheet music and architectural sketches when she picked up a piece of black fabric with the strangest look on her face.

"I've seen this before…" She said and I turned to look. It was a velvet cloak of some sort.

"How have you seen this before?" I asked her and she shrugged.

"I don't know…I think it was in a dream…strange." I eyed her for a moment, but held the cloak.

"Charles, look at this!" She said turning her head. I gasped when I saw numerous mannequin heads with all variations of masks on them. Four words kept running through my mind. Architect, musician, magician, composer…My first visit to the opera house when we had come back from England. I had been sixteen.

"What a magnificent building! I wonder if the men who built it are still alive to marvel at their great achievement!"

"Erik has been dead for seventeen years…"

"Erik? Was he a friend of yours Dad?"

"Your mother knew him rather better than I."

"Was he an architect?"

"Architect, musician, magician composer-a genius in very many fields…so I was once told."

"I wonder why Mother never spoke of him. It's a pity he died, isn't it? I'd have liked to know him."

"Yes…yes, my dear boy…I rather think that you would."

Erik! Of course! Mother's good friend! The man who had inspired me to become an architect myself! Maybe this had been his creative domain. Oh God! I thought, suddenly a bit uncomfortable. Had my mother's friend died down here? Was his body still here? I stole a glance at Maddie who was enraptured in some of the random sheet music and began to slowly creep around. If there was a dead body down here, I would have to get her out before she saw it too. There were a few stairs and a door, which led into a small bedroom with a huge sprawling bed in the shape of a swan. Black lace curtains hung around it elegantly and I breathed in relief when I saw there was no body on the black satin sheets of the bed! I stole a glance into the other small rooms surrounding this room. There was a bathroom and another room which looked quite like a large closet. There was an empty coffin in the middle of it. My hair stood on end.

I quickly shut the door to that room and went back into the beautiful bedroom. There was a wardrobe hanging open with endless beautiful dresses hanging in it. On the night stand next to the bed were three syringes and a bag with some clear fluid in them. Drugs of some sort. Next to the syringes was a leather bound book of some sort. The front of it read, Don Juan Triumphant. In the right hand corner of the book was the name E. Destler. Erik Destler. At least I assumed since I had assumed this was his studio, which was scarily looking more and more like it was his home too. I opened the night stand drawer to reveal a man's wedding ring and a piece of paper. I picked it up carefully and opened it.

My heart foreseeing your condemnation, into this tomb I made my way by stealth, and here, far from every human gaze, in your arms I wished to die.

I folded it back up and placed it in my pocket. How sad. How very sad, and I knew well it was from Aida, but it chilled me to my core. Slowly I picked up the leather bound book and opened it. It was a score. An opera. I began to read it and instantly was pulled into the story of Don Juan. I thought for a moment before leaving the bedroom and sitting at the organ. Maddie looked up at me from where she had been inspecting something, as I came toward her.

"What is that?" She asked and I smiled.

"We're about to find out." I said, motioning for her to sit next to me, which she did. I began to pound out the notes in the score on the organ, the chords and notes sometimes so violent, we became short of breath. I only played about sixteen bars, but when I had finished, I felt drained and I think Madeleine did too. We looked at each other wide eyed for a moment.

She rose, and motioned for me to follow her and I could tell by the serious look on her face that she'd found something. Please don't let it be a body…I prayed. I walked over to her and she pulled back the velvet curtain to reveal something I would never in all of my life forget. It was a life sized doll of my mother, and consequently Maddie, although Maddie looked different enough to where you could tell it was my mother. It was strange, in some ways, Madeleine was the epitome of my mother. But when you got up close to her and got to know her, she was a completely different person. That's when the cold realization came over me as I looked around this place, this underground home. Erik had been overwhelmingly in love with my mother, but the worst part of this realization was that I had a feeling she'd loved him too.

I turned away, sighing and sat at the organ again. Maddie came up behind me and put her arms around my neck, resting her cheek on the top of my head. It was one of the most beautiful things I had ever felt.

"Are you alright Charles?" She whispered. Her voice. Suddenly, I needed to hear her sing. I craved it. I looked up at her, I'm sure my eyes had gone dark.

"Sing for me Madeleine…" I said, flipping the score to Don Juan Triumphant open. She began to protest, but I held my hand up.

"Sing!" She looked at me a moment before sitting beside me again.

"Here?" She asked, pointing to the page I had opened to. "For this Aminta?" I nodded, numbly, almost not feeling like myself. Drunk with power and curiousity. I played and she began to sing, looking straight at me and hardly struggling with sight singing the notes.

"You have brought me, to that moment when words run dry… to that moment when speech disappears into silence…silence. I have come here, hardly knowing the reason why. In my mind, I've already imagined our bodies entwining defenseless and silent. And now I am here with you…no second thoughts…I've decided…decided…"

She stopped then, noticing the small smile on my face.

"Oh God, I'm afraid to ask…" She said, but the smile only grew bigger. "Charles…what are you thinking?" I could only grin.