Il Muto rehearsals were well under way, and Christine moved about like a zombie. She had little heart in her roles, and rarely smiled except when talking about or to Jack.
"Alright, take a break, everyone," Moe instructed her dancers. Autumn walked over to Sarah.
"Are you alright?" she asked. "You still seem unnatural."
Sarah shrugged. "I don't know. I just… I don't really know." She sighed softly.
"What's the matter, Sarah? You can tell me," Autumn persisted.
Sarah looked at her friend carefully. "My father used to speak of an Angel of Music, and I used to dream he'd come to me. Now, as I sing, I can sense him with me, and I know he's here." She looked like she was in a trance. "He calls to me softly while I'm in my dressing room, hiding somewhere inside it. Somehow I know he's always with me… the unseen genius."
"That night, the night you sang, I watched you from the shadows, distant through all the applause. I hear your voice often in the darkness after a rehearsal or a performance, but the words aren't yours," Autumn told her uneasily.
Sarah's eyes were closed, and she wasn't listening. "Angel of Music, guide, and guardian, grant to me your glory…" she said in a prayer-like voice, her face fearful.
"Who is this Angel, Sarah? This 'Angel of Music'?" She took one of Sarah's hands in hers.
"He's with me, even now, Autumn."
"Your hands are cold…"
"All around me…"
"Your face is white, Sarah…"
"It frightens me…"
"Don't be frightened," she reassured her friend, putting her arm around her shoulders. Sarah looked at Autumn fearfully.
Moe walked in right then, spoiling the moment. "Autumn Jenkins, are you a dancer or aren't you?"
Autumn nodded.
"Then come and rehearse with the rest of the dancers." Autumn stood and ran over to where the dancers were running over their sequence repeatedly. "Sarah, you're wanted backstage to rehearse with Socks." Sarah nodded, and stood up.
"Thank you, Madame," she whispered, and went backstage to work with the temperamental Diva.
"I'm worried about her," Autumn confided to Tunes and Princess. "She's talking about that Angel of Music again, only now she talks about him as if she's half terrified of him. I don't understand. It scares me."
"That's creepy," Princess commented, tripping over her foot, then correcting herself. "Maybe she should see a doctor."
Tunes shrugged. "I don't know. She seems just fine when Jack's around. Maybe she's in love with him."
"He can't sing a note. She's definitely not talking about him as an angel of music," Cats informed them over her shoulder.
"How do you know he can't sing? Have you had him sing for you lately?" Hades commented sarcastically.
"Nobody asked you," Cats retorted. Hades shot a glare in her direction and lost concentration, bumping right into Marissa. She looked at Marissa carefully. The girl hadn't recovered from the shock of Swifty's funeral yet, and was like a robot. She had no expression on her face, and no emotion in her movements.
Hades waited for the volcano to erupt, as would normally have happened had she run carelessly into Marissa, but nothing happened except that Marissa just stopped dancing. She then dropped to her knees on the floor and started to sob. The corps stopped dancing, and many just stood and stared at her. Peppermint went and put her arms around her sister, followed by Siscily and Lotus Blossom.
"That's the first time she's cried since He died," Aki told Hades.
"Poor girl," Illusion commented to nobody in particular.
RiffRaff tapped her foot irritably, but said nothing, for once. She knew what it was to lose somebody one cared a lot about.
"Are we a ballet corps or a gossip club?" Moe commented, returning. "Get back to your sequence girls. Peppermint, take Marissa somewhere else for now. Tell her she may return when she feels up to it."
Siscily and Lotte looked uncomfortably at Moe. They wanted to follow their friend and comfort her, but didn't want to lose their jobs. "Are you two statues? Dance," Moe commanded, and they reluctantly took their spots.
"So, was she really his sweetheart? He never said anything to me about it," Pyro commented.
"They weren't being public about it. His mother didn't want him to see any girls while she was living," Siscily answered.
"How do you know she wasn't just saying that to get attention?" Martini asked skeptically.
"Ask his best friend. The only person he told was Snoddy," Lotte defended her companion.
Holiday shrugged. "It's still very suspicious that nobody else ever knew of it. Did you two know of it?"
"Yes," both answered.
"Before he died?" Cats asked.
"Yes!" both exclaimed.
"Cluck, cluck, cluck! Do you all never stop talking? If you're going to dance, dance! If you're going to talk, get off of my stage!" Moe exclaimed with frustration.
At that moment, the managers entered accompanied by a lady no one present had ever seen. "Madame Jenkins, may we have a word with you?" She turned to them, looking angry, then sighed.
"Yes, gentlemen." She turned back to the dancers. "Keep going over that. I will return momentarily." She walked off the stage to where the Managers were standing.
"Madame, we think that your time here has been served well, but that you have become ineffective as an usher and dance instructor," David began.
"Therefore, we regret to inform you that we will be replacing you. Please meet Miss Spadey Lawrence. She begins immediately. Take as much time as you need to remove your things," Specs finished.
Moe stared at them in complete shock. "You're firing me?" she asked quietly. The managers nodded. "Alright, then, I'll go and collect my things." She looked at her replacement. "I will tell you what we have been doing, and how things have been run in the past, so that you will know."
Spadey nodded. "Thank you," she replied, amazed at how calmly she was taking what the managers said.
On stage, Fool had heard the whole conversation, having been in the front. "She's been sacked! They sacked Moe!" she hissed to the others in an excited voice. "Things are going to change around here!"
Autumn stopped dancing and looked at her mother. Her face was calm, but determined. Autumn began to dance again, half-heartedly.
RiffRaff shook her head at Fool. "She is a good teacher. Hasn't she taught you most of what you know? I've heard of this new person. She ruined one Opera House, and didn't do a whole lot for another one. Hopefully, I can save us so that we're not the biggest laughing stock in town." She nodded at her comment as if all should agree with her.
"Because you know everything about dance, right?" Singer commented sarcastically.
"Yes, of course," RiffRaff replied matter-of-factly.
Moe and Spadey walked onto the stage. "Silence," Moe said strictly. She began to explain the mechanics of the way the dance portion of the opera was run. "And, this is very important, you must keep Box 5 empty. The Managers might try to fill it, but you must make sure that it remains unoccupied."
"For what reason?" Spadey asked curiously.
"The Phantom demands that it remain empty for his personal use," she replied, straightforwardly.
"The… Phantom… got it," Spadey replied, looking at Moe as if she were insane. "I'll remember that one."
Moe sighed. "I'm going to go remove my things from the downstairs dressing room. Take care of my girls." With that, Moe turned and exited, leaving Spadey to her own devices.
"That looks horrible, we'll have to re-choreograph the whole thing," she said of the sequence the girls were doing. The girls exchanged frustrated glances. It was going to be a long month.