Chapter 4
Lina flinched as a massive crack of thunder resounded through the air, shaking, she was certain, the very foundations of this grand, rather massive establishment.
Perhaps Lina did not put her ponderings quite into these words. Perhaps it was something more Lina-ish, something along the lines of,
'Dammit! If this thunder keeps up, this whole place is gonna shake down! And Amelia and Meg aren't even back with the chocolate yet!'
As this last thought might have chased its way through her brain, a frown wrinkled her brow. Gazing absently at the driving rain pelting against the glass of the window, she shook her head. What on earth could be keeping those two? How long could it possibly take to get chocolate, anyway?
With an irritated sigh, she crawled from her cot, hauling herself to her feet.
'Knowing Amelia, she's probably got herself into some kind of trouble, and dragged that poor Meg girl along with her. Well, I guess I'd better go find them; after all, I don't want my chocolate to get hurt!'
Shuddering in horror at the mere thought, Lina threw on her cape, shoulder guards, gloves, and boots, and set off into the long, darkened, winding hallways of the opera house.
As she shut the door behind her with a soft click, another clap of thunder, more intense this time, rang out above the building. Startled, she jumped involuntarily, not quite able to hold back a startled screech.
'Eheh...maybe I'll stop by and pick up the guys,' she reflected, taking a deep breath to slow her suddenly-racing heart.
"Zelgadis?"
"Gourry, go to sleep," the chimera commanded sternly, if very, very sleepily from the cot across the room.
"I heard something. I wondered if it was you."
An irritated grumble as the sound repeated itself.
"No, Gourry, it was the door. Someone seems to be knocking."
"Oh! I'll get it."
"Fine. And I'll stay here and sleep."
"I knew I could count on you, Zelgadis," Gourry chuckled, springing to his feet and swinging the door open. "Lina?"
"Lina?" the pile of blankets perched on the cot echoed.
"Hey, guys," the sorceress greeted both with a self-deprecating grin, scratching the back of her head.
"Lina, what are you doing here? Is everything okay?"
"Where's Amelia?" the blankets demanded.
"Zel, would you just come out already? I can barely hear you under there!" Lina told him, annoyed.
"Fine," the chimera huffed, throwing back the blankets and climbing from the cot. "So, why are you here?"
"Actually, I'm looking for Amelia and Meg. I sent them to get chocolate a while ago, but they haven't come back yet. I was kinda hoping they'd be here."
"Why would they have come here?" Gourry wondered, scratching his head.
"Well, I figured that Amelia would consider it 'unjust' to eat all the chocolate by ourselves without sharing with you, and..."
"Lina," Zelgadis interrupted, climbing from the cot and crossing his arms with a small smirk, "that's a pretty weak excuse."
"Oh, fine!" the petite redhead exploded, throwing up her arms. "I went to look for them, but I got a little spooked."
"So...why did you come here?" Gourry inquired slowly.
With an impatient roll of her eyes, Lina smacked him upside the head.
"You yogurt-for brains! I was afraid of the storm!"
Gourry's eyes softened at this, and he put a comforting arm around her shoulders...which, after an angry glare in his direction, she determinedly shoved away.
Zelgadis sighed and crossed his arms more decidedly. It was, he decided, far too late to be awake.
"Look, you two, it is far too late to be awake," he informed them, somewhat lacking in imagination, due to the aforementioned fatigue, "and I would much rather not be. So, Lina, if you need us to come with you to find Amelia, can we please get started?"
"And Meg," Lina reminded him with a sly grin.
"Uh...what?"
"Amelia AND Meg. You said, if I needed you to help me find Amelia. I'm just reminding you that you forgot Meg."
"Right, right," he sighed, colouring slightly beneath the wide grins of a sorceress and a swordsman. "And Meg. Now, can we go?"
With that, he stepped carefully around two and out the door.
"Uh..." Gourry began slowly, coming to a stop behind him just outside the door of their room. "Maybe I'm crazy, but I'm pretty sure that door was closed before."
"Are...you sure?" Zelgadis asked hesitantly, peering through the darkness, eyes narrowed.
"Yeah, pretty sure," the blond replied, frowning.
"Someone probably just closed it as they were going past," Lina hypothesized with a shrug.
Gourry shook his head.
"Yeah, I'd say that, too, but...Zelgadis, what did Meg say about everyone keeping away from this door?"
"She said several times that we should stay away from that room, and Firmin mentioned something about a 'sentimental madman,'" the chimera replied.
"I...I wonder if that was the Phantom," Lina spoke up uneasily.
"The...Phantom," Zelgadis repeated, his tone indicating that, had one bothered to look, an eyebrow would have been raised.
"Yeah...if this is the room that Meg told me about, it belonged to a singer named Christine. She was beautiful, and a mysterious man known as the Phantom of the Opera living beneath the opera house was infatuated with her."
"A silly folk-tale," Zelgadis scoffed. "Nothing more."
"Meg tells me that she was there after he kidnapped Christine. She followed them down to his lair to warn them about a mob coming to kill him."
"Wow," Gourry laughed uneasily. "Meg's sure got...uh...an imagination."
"Imagination or no," Zelgadis put in impatiently, "she obviously believes it. I don't think she could have feigned the sort of terror she showed at the thought of Firmin putting one of us in that room. That said, I don't think she would have set foot in that room for anything."
Lina smirked.
"No, you're right. Meg wouldn't have gone in there. But remember, Zel, Amelia was with her."
"Oh, Gods..." Zelgadis groaned in despair. "Well, let's go."
"Hold on," Gourry interrupted, holding up a hand. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"Gourry," Lina began, "what is the one word you would use to describe Amelia?"
"Rich," Gourry replied immediately.
"Besides that!"
"Happy."
"Try again."
"Just."
"Keep going."
"Uh...VERY rich?"
"INSANE!" Lina howled, quite fed up with standing in a darkened corridor in the middle of the night, particularly outside of the former dressing room of a madman's obsession.
"Oh, right!" Gourry exclaimed, a nearly visible light breaking over his face.
"I'm glad we're on the same page," Lina commented dryly. "Now, what does that mean?"
"Uh...um...er...uh..."
"It means that the first thing she'd do is go in there to explore!"
"Yeah! That's a really good point."
Another impatient sigh from Zelgadis.
"Now that we all understand," he began coolly, "what do you say we go in to investigate, find Amelia, and hopefully get some sleep tonight?"
"And Meg," Gourry added, his grin even wider than previously.
"What?" Zelgadis sighed wearily.
"Find Amelia AND Meg."
An irritated noise from Zelgadis echoed through the darkness as Lina stepped forward to carefully ease open the door, a readied fireball flickering in her other hand. Gourry's hand flew to the hilt of the Sword of Light, and Zelgadis reached for the hilt of his own weapon.
The tension in the air was palpable as the door creaked open, ever so slowly...a little more...a little more...
Lina breathed a sigh of relief, letting the fireball flicker out of existence as it became clear that nothing was going to welcome them to the room by leaping out at them and dig sharp, pointy teeth into their necks and such. Then, as a though occurred to her, she chanted another spell, and the next minute, the faint glow from an orb of light held in her hand cut the darkness, casting eerie shadows about the room.
Hands still hovering near their weapons in case the opportunity should present itself to use them, Gourry and Zelgadis crept into the room behind her, glancing furtively about.
The room was a tiny one, making the rooms given to them seem palatial by comparison, and from what they could see through the enshrouding darkness, the furniture shabby and limited to a dressing table, a stool, and a couch. All in all, a first glance about the room didn't seem to present anything out of the ordinary. On the second, however, Gourry stopped still as something caught his attention.
"Hey, guys, do you think a giant, gaping hole in the wall means anything?"
"What?!" Lina exclaimed, bouncing over to him, followed closely by a less bouncy Zelgadis. All three gazed for a time at the long, oblong opening in the wall, and the mirror standing aside from it.
"A secret passageway behind the mirror?" Zelgadis sighed, rolling his eyes. "What a terrible cliché."
"Cliché or not, Zel," Lina smirked, "I think we may have found what we're looking for. I mean, why would the owners have just boarded the room up with the mirror still open?"
"I don't know; why do people drive on parkways and park on driveways?" Zelgadis, in a frightening show of anachronism, demanded, arms crossed.
"Oh, shut up, Zel! Look, they wouldn't have. That means, Amelia and Meg could have been snooping around in here, and Amelia could have pretty much stumbled onto this passage."
"Meg might've opened it, too," Gourry spoke up, uncertain if it was in defence of his young friend or not.
Lina shook her head sceptically.
"Maybe, but we all know that Amelia has a talent for happening on things like this."
"True," Zelgadis conceded, nodding, a small smile playing about the corners of his mouth.
"So, naturally, they accidentally opened the mirror, and went to explore."
"Naturally."
"Only Amelia," Gourry sighed.
"Alright; now that we know what happened, let's go!" Lina suggested, stepping boldly through the opening in the wall and starting down the long passageway.
Lina flinched as a massive crack of thunder resounded through the air, shaking, she was certain, the very foundations of this grand, rather massive establishment.
Perhaps Lina did not put her ponderings quite into these words. Perhaps it was something more Lina-ish, something along the lines of,
'Dammit! If this thunder keeps up, this whole place is gonna shake down! And Amelia and Meg aren't even back with the chocolate yet!'
As this last thought might have chased its way through her brain, a frown wrinkled her brow. Gazing absently at the driving rain pelting against the glass of the window, she shook her head. What on earth could be keeping those two? How long could it possibly take to get chocolate, anyway?
With an irritated sigh, she crawled from her cot, hauling herself to her feet.
'Knowing Amelia, she's probably got herself into some kind of trouble, and dragged that poor Meg girl along with her. Well, I guess I'd better go find them; after all, I don't want my chocolate to get hurt!'
Shuddering in horror at the mere thought, Lina threw on her cape, shoulder guards, gloves, and boots, and set off into the long, darkened, winding hallways of the opera house.
As she shut the door behind her with a soft click, another clap of thunder, more intense this time, rang out above the building. Startled, she jumped involuntarily, not quite able to hold back a startled screech.
'Eheh...maybe I'll stop by and pick up the guys,' she reflected, taking a deep breath to slow her suddenly-racing heart.
"Zelgadis?"
"Gourry, go to sleep," the chimera commanded sternly, if very, very sleepily from the cot across the room.
"I heard something. I wondered if it was you."
An irritated grumble as the sound repeated itself.
"No, Gourry, it was the door. Someone seems to be knocking."
"Oh! I'll get it."
"Fine. And I'll stay here and sleep."
"I knew I could count on you, Zelgadis," Gourry chuckled, springing to his feet and swinging the door open. "Lina?"
"Lina?" the pile of blankets perched on the cot echoed.
"Hey, guys," the sorceress greeted both with a self-deprecating grin, scratching the back of her head.
"Lina, what are you doing here? Is everything okay?"
"Where's Amelia?" the blankets demanded.
"Zel, would you just come out already? I can barely hear you under there!" Lina told him, annoyed.
"Fine," the chimera huffed, throwing back the blankets and climbing from the cot. "So, why are you here?"
"Actually, I'm looking for Amelia and Meg. I sent them to get chocolate a while ago, but they haven't come back yet. I was kinda hoping they'd be here."
"Why would they have come here?" Gourry wondered, scratching his head.
"Well, I figured that Amelia would consider it 'unjust' to eat all the chocolate by ourselves without sharing with you, and..."
"Lina," Zelgadis interrupted, climbing from the cot and crossing his arms with a small smirk, "that's a pretty weak excuse."
"Oh, fine!" the petite redhead exploded, throwing up her arms. "I went to look for them, but I got a little spooked."
"So...why did you come here?" Gourry inquired slowly.
With an impatient roll of her eyes, Lina smacked him upside the head.
"You yogurt-for brains! I was afraid of the storm!"
Gourry's eyes softened at this, and he put a comforting arm around her shoulders...which, after an angry glare in his direction, she determinedly shoved away.
Zelgadis sighed and crossed his arms more decidedly. It was, he decided, far too late to be awake.
"Look, you two, it is far too late to be awake," he informed them, somewhat lacking in imagination, due to the aforementioned fatigue, "and I would much rather not be. So, Lina, if you need us to come with you to find Amelia, can we please get started?"
"And Meg," Lina reminded him with a sly grin.
"Uh...what?"
"Amelia AND Meg. You said, if I needed you to help me find Amelia. I'm just reminding you that you forgot Meg."
"Right, right," he sighed, colouring slightly beneath the wide grins of a sorceress and a swordsman. "And Meg. Now, can we go?"
With that, he stepped carefully around two and out the door.
"Uh..." Gourry began slowly, coming to a stop behind him just outside the door of their room. "Maybe I'm crazy, but I'm pretty sure that door was closed before."
"Are...you sure?" Zelgadis asked hesitantly, peering through the darkness, eyes narrowed.
"Yeah, pretty sure," the blond replied, frowning.
"Someone probably just closed it as they were going past," Lina hypothesized with a shrug.
Gourry shook his head.
"Yeah, I'd say that, too, but...Zelgadis, what did Meg say about everyone keeping away from this door?"
"She said several times that we should stay away from that room, and Firmin mentioned something about a 'sentimental madman,'" the chimera replied.
"I...I wonder if that was the Phantom," Lina spoke up uneasily.
"The...Phantom," Zelgadis repeated, his tone indicating that, had one bothered to look, an eyebrow would have been raised.
"Yeah...if this is the room that Meg told me about, it belonged to a singer named Christine. She was beautiful, and a mysterious man known as the Phantom of the Opera living beneath the opera house was infatuated with her."
"A silly folk-tale," Zelgadis scoffed. "Nothing more."
"Meg tells me that she was there after he kidnapped Christine. She followed them down to his lair to warn them about a mob coming to kill him."
"Wow," Gourry laughed uneasily. "Meg's sure got...uh...an imagination."
"Imagination or no," Zelgadis put in impatiently, "she obviously believes it. I don't think she could have feigned the sort of terror she showed at the thought of Firmin putting one of us in that room. That said, I don't think she would have set foot in that room for anything."
Lina smirked.
"No, you're right. Meg wouldn't have gone in there. But remember, Zel, Amelia was with her."
"Oh, Gods..." Zelgadis groaned in despair. "Well, let's go."
"Hold on," Gourry interrupted, holding up a hand. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"Gourry," Lina began, "what is the one word you would use to describe Amelia?"
"Rich," Gourry replied immediately.
"Besides that!"
"Happy."
"Try again."
"Just."
"Keep going."
"Uh...VERY rich?"
"INSANE!" Lina howled, quite fed up with standing in a darkened corridor in the middle of the night, particularly outside of the former dressing room of a madman's obsession.
"Oh, right!" Gourry exclaimed, a nearly visible light breaking over his face.
"I'm glad we're on the same page," Lina commented dryly. "Now, what does that mean?"
"Uh...um...er...uh..."
"It means that the first thing she'd do is go in there to explore!"
"Yeah! That's a really good point."
Another impatient sigh from Zelgadis.
"Now that we all understand," he began coolly, "what do you say we go in to investigate, find Amelia, and hopefully get some sleep tonight?"
"And Meg," Gourry added, his grin even wider than previously.
"What?" Zelgadis sighed wearily.
"Find Amelia AND Meg."
An irritated noise from Zelgadis echoed through the darkness as Lina stepped forward to carefully ease open the door, a readied fireball flickering in her other hand. Gourry's hand flew to the hilt of the Sword of Light, and Zelgadis reached for the hilt of his own weapon.
The tension in the air was palpable as the door creaked open, ever so slowly...a little more...a little more...
Lina breathed a sigh of relief, letting the fireball flicker out of existence as it became clear that nothing was going to welcome them to the room by leaping out at them and dig sharp, pointy teeth into their necks and such. Then, as a though occurred to her, she chanted another spell, and the next minute, the faint glow from an orb of light held in her hand cut the darkness, casting eerie shadows about the room.
Hands still hovering near their weapons in case the opportunity should present itself to use them, Gourry and Zelgadis crept into the room behind her, glancing furtively about.
The room was a tiny one, making the rooms given to them seem palatial by comparison, and from what they could see through the enshrouding darkness, the furniture shabby and limited to a dressing table, a stool, and a couch. All in all, a first glance about the room didn't seem to present anything out of the ordinary. On the second, however, Gourry stopped still as something caught his attention.
"Hey, guys, do you think a giant, gaping hole in the wall means anything?"
"What?!" Lina exclaimed, bouncing over to him, followed closely by a less bouncy Zelgadis. All three gazed for a time at the long, oblong opening in the wall, and the mirror standing aside from it.
"A secret passageway behind the mirror?" Zelgadis sighed, rolling his eyes. "What a terrible cliché."
"Cliché or not, Zel," Lina smirked, "I think we may have found what we're looking for. I mean, why would the owners have just boarded the room up with the mirror still open?"
"I don't know; why do people drive on parkways and park on driveways?" Zelgadis, in a frightening show of anachronism, demanded, arms crossed.
"Oh, shut up, Zel! Look, they wouldn't have. That means, Amelia and Meg could have been snooping around in here, and Amelia could have pretty much stumbled onto this passage."
"Meg might've opened it, too," Gourry spoke up, uncertain if it was in defence of his young friend or not.
Lina shook her head sceptically.
"Maybe, but we all know that Amelia has a talent for happening on things like this."
"True," Zelgadis conceded, nodding, a small smile playing about the corners of his mouth.
"So, naturally, they accidentally opened the mirror, and went to explore."
"Naturally."
"Only Amelia," Gourry sighed.
"Alright; now that we know what happened, let's go!" Lina suggested, stepping boldly through the opening in the wall and starting down the long passageway.