Chapter 7
Do you hear the people sing...?
"What are you going to do about that Rusty and Dinah?" the Phantom asked, busy organizing the score and libretto on the table.
"Well," Margarita thought for a moment, "I kind of need them as humans right now, since I really have no idea how I can fit trains into this story. But they will be turned back to what they were as soon as they're no longer needed."
"But they seem to be doing... poorly with themselves," said the Phantom as he took a quick look at the crystal ball, remembering what he had seen a while ago.
"We can all help them with that," Margarita smiled as she continued to run her hairbrush down her long hair. She couldn't stop grinning at the mirror, as if she had looked into it for the first time in her life. Occasionally she still wondered if she was actually awake or in a wonderful dream, and when she was sure that she wasn't, she'd let out a giggle like that of a child and hop in front of the mirror, watching the lovely figure inside the glass as if it was a dancing faerie.
"Well, we better go down there right now," said the Phantom, holding the stack of paper in his hands, which consisted of the uncompleted music and lyrics, plus copies of them that Margarita had just made.
Margarita patted her rosy cheeks and was still unwilling to move herself away from the mirror. She had changed into a beautiful, night sky colored velvet dress and put on glittery jewelry that adorned her from top to bottom. Her long nails were polished, and she had embellished her face with eye shadow that matched the color of her new outfit and lipstick, plus a good amount of powder.
"We should go now, shall we?" the Phantom looked at her and rolled his eyes. Maybe she was better off staying unsightly, he thought. When she was ugly, he had to put up with her, and now when she was pretty he still had to put up with her!
"Just a moment," Margarita said, and slipped her hands underneath her low collar to work out a perfect exposure of her cleavage. She tapped her feet, which were now wearing a pair of gorgeous dark blue high-heeled shoes, and finally stared at herself with satisfaction in the mirror. She put her hands on her small waist and made a small spin around, nearly bumping into the Phantom who was coming up behind her.
"Margarita!" the Phantom called, his voice almost demanding.
"How do I look?" Margarita made a pose that reminded the Phantom of one of those immature ballet girls back at the opera house, which made him pucker his brows a bit.
"Well?" Margarita smiled, waiting anxiously for an answer.
"You look... very nice. Now can we go?" the Phantom said, getting impatient.
"Why, thank you for saying that," Margarita chuckled and then skipped her small steps nimbly toward the door. "Let's go now!"
When Margarita and the Phantom reached the theater, inside was just what they had seen on the crystal ball. The scene was a mess, if not chaos. Frank was sitting on the edge of the stage, with red scratch marks all over his face, chest, arms, and legs, and Dinah was curled up into a ball at a far corner, with Mark's shirt torn and dangling on her, futilely trying to cover up her bear chest. Her eyes were covered with tears, and her hair messy like a chicken's nest. Not far from her was Rusty, sitting on the floor, with Eponine's long dirty coat covering him and trembling like a piece of tofu. Eponine was standing beside Rusty, now only in a sleeveless dirty white shirt and her pants since her coat was on Rusty, and she had bruises all over her face, which now looked even dirtier than before. Electra was crawling here and there, and Victoria was hiding underneath a chair, shaking. Florence was pacing on the stage back and forth, and Mark and Mimi were trying desperately to fix to torn curtain. Audrey II was still tied up in a corner, with what looked like eggs thrown all over his head, and Yonah was quietly picking up what looked like pieces of broken glasses on the floor. The theater was silent except for the sound of huffing, sighing, whimpering, and footsteps pacing. Everybody looked like a disaster so big had befallen them that they were about to face the end of the world.
"What is going on here?" Margarita asked, though she did have an idea what was going on.
Everybody's eyes turned from the floor to Margarita and the Phantom. Everybody was apparently wondering where those two came from, but everybody seemed to be either too worn out or too upset to feel alarmed. Yonah stopped what she was doing and only dared to study them through the corner of her eye, afraid that now more people would recognize that detestable mark on her forehead. Florence stopped her pacing as Mimi and Mark put down the curtain. The Phantom swept his eyes from one person to another and shook his head.
"He started it!" Electra was the first to break the silence and pointed a paw toward Frank who was staring at her with disgust. "He tried to..."
Margarita looked at Frank, who didn't look like he wanted to say anything.
"Who are you?" Eponine asked, shifting her eyes from Margarita to the Phantom. What a handsome couple, she thought. The woman's long, rippling dark red hair was draping loosely down her back, reaching well below her waist. She was wearing an elegant, midnight blue gown that carried a bit of Celtic style, with flair sleeves which half covered her hands, showing clearly her long, thin fingers and well-manicured nails, and with the skirt so long that it swept the floor as she walked. Her deep green eyes glimmered under the lights like a pair of emeralds, and her nose and lips looked so perfect that they were as if carved onto her white, delicate face. Below her trim neck, her firm breasts held high the gold embroidered, low-cut collar of her dress, and her steps were so light and refined that she looked almost as if her feet were floating. And the man, tall, stout, dressed all in black and what Eponine thought must've been a nobleman's outfit, with black hair neatly combed back and a cape draping behind him like a shadow following him and carrying a big bunch of papers in his arms, walked dignifiedly beside her, looking almost like a protective guardian. They reminded her so much of Marius and Cosette together, only their ages seemed older and they looked probably ten times richer. Were they the new victims that have been thrown on this in the middle of nowhere place like the rest of them? Has the Evil Mastermind or the O. G. or whatever still not gotten enough yet? But now all of Eponine's concentration was on the woman, whose looks and attire had dazzled her. She found herself unable to take her eyes away from that beautiful dark blue dress. How it flowed and shimmered in her eyes! She was feeling a strong urge to go up and touch its soft, smooth material, and couldn't help dreaming of herself being in something as elaborate and expensive looking as that. This lady must've been a queen to have a dress like that, she thought. All her life, she could only picture Marie Antoinette wearing something that gorgeous. She stared at her own muddy, ragged clothes, never had she felt more ashamed.
"Say, are you the new people who are joining us?" Amos asked, rising from his seat.
"Yeah, how did you come in?" Mimi asked. The others, too, seemed to be just getting a bit more interested and focused their attention on the two strangers. Obviously, Margarita's beauty was making an impression on them all, for they were now all staring at her rather wide-eyed. "We didn't hear the door. But maybe it's just us."
"Oh, you must have gotten here all like the rest of us," said Florence, coming toward the end of the stage, "oh, my God! That Mastermind slash O. G. thing! When is she gonna have enough fun?"
Margarita and the Phantom turned to look at each other, and then simultaneously toward Florence, and then the rest of the group. Margarita was wondering what on earth was the 'O. G.' that they were talking about.
"I'm sorry. I just walked into this mess and didn't even have a chance to introduce myself," Margarita cleared her throat, trying to get the attention of the group. "I'm Margarita, who invited you all here," Margarita said clearly and loudly, "and this is Erik, otherwise known as... the Phantom of the Opera."
Everybody was looking at Margarita as if she was speaking Chinese.
"Wait a minute," Florence jumped off from the stage and walked toward Margarita, "you are the Mastermind? You're kidding, aren't you?"
"No, I'm not kidding," said Margarita, "I just... look different now," Margarita said, not really knowing exactly how to put what she wanted to say into words. "I am still what I've been saying I am. Only what the couple of you had seen before was... the old me, before my change, that is," She smiled, remembering when she saw the expression on the Phantom's face that made her turn around and look at the mirror, and how she had thought she had been dreaming, how she gazed at the woman standing in front of her in the glass up and down and not believing that it was herself whom she was looking at. Yes, she was not the Evil Mastermind whom a few of them had met a few days ago. She was now different, different in both appearance and character. She was now young and beautiful, who appeared more like a goddess than a witch.
Florence studied her over and over with her mouth in a perfect O, and muttered something like "I don't believe this" under her breath while the rest looked from one to another with the same question marks on their faces. Mimi and Mark were shrugging their shoulders, while Victoria had come out of her hiding place and was sniffing at Margarita and the Phantom's feet. Dinah wiped her tear-filled eyes and blinked them at Margarita and the Phantom, wondering if she was hearing herself right.
"You are the Evil Mastermind?" Eponine walked over and asked with incredibility. "And the Phantom of the Opera? What is that?"
"Gee wiz, we really have Phantom of the Opera here?" Mark jumped to his feet and gaped at the Phantom, "Jesus Christ, man! Are you sure? 'Cause you certainly don't look like the Phantom of the Opera that I have been familiar with, at least not the pictures that I've always had in mind!"
"Yeah, isn't the Phantom of the Opera supposed to be a ghost or something like that?" Mimi also rose from the floor and fixed her eyes on the Phantom's face, "and, isn't he supposed to wear a mask or whatever?"
"Things change, children," said the Phantom simply, eyeing them as if they were really just a bunch of kids not knowing what they were talking about. He didn't feel like going into the details of what had happened in the last couple of hours. "And often in life, things might not always be the same with the pictures in your minds."
"Hey, who are you calling children?" Eponine asked, with her hands on her hips and chin lifted high. The Phantom immediately recognized the French accent and couldn't help giving her a small smile.
"All right, not you, mon Cherie," he said.
"I am not your Cherie!" Eponine cried indignantly, stumping her feet so hard that it caused a loud echo in the theater.
"All right, Mademoiselle, I apologize," the Phantom bowled.
Yonah was glancing furtively at everyone, not sure what was going on and exactly what everybody was talking about. She noticed that Dinah and Rusty were just as confused as she was, like her, they were absolutely speechless facing all these.
"This is simply great!" Florence flung her arms around, "look at all the fun we're having! First, we got trains, then we got cats, then we got an alien transvestite, and now we got the Phantom of the Opera! Aren't we just the best group you can find?"
"And she's the so-called Evil Mastermind?" Amos pointed at Margarita and asked, "the woman or witch or whatever whom all of us have been wondering and talking about this whole time?"
"Are you really?" Eponine asked, still somewhat skeptical. This beautiful, mystical looking lady in front of her did not give her a bit of the feeling of being someone "dark and evil".
"Before I showed myself to all of you, you were all so eager to see me and know who I am. And now I'm finally standing in front of you, and nobody wants to believe me now?" Margarita swept her eyes across the theater and asked. Victoria's nose was moving up her velvet skirt, and Margarita slapped her away.
"Enough of your nose, cat!" she yelled. Victoria crawled with great speed behind Eponine's legs and shook with fear, covering her face with a paw. Eponine bent down and patted her head lovingly, signaling her to come out from behind.
"Don't you treat the kitty this way!" Eponine cried.
"Whatever, we are all damn confused," Frank whined at the side, and ran his hand through his hair that was no neater than Dinah's. "Why does it matter if she's some mastermind or some witch from outer space? We're all in an utter madness, and that's what it matters right now!"
"It was all because of you!" Electra hissed accusingly at Frank, and then looked back at Dinah, who was now looking at her startled.
"Oh yeah? Well who started clawing me like a mad cat?" Frank jumped to his feet, and Victoria immediately backed off to her old hiding place.
"But you were trying to... trying to... mate with Dinah! And you know she didn't like that!" Electra squealed, not backing off a bit, "had I not been here on time she would have been..."
"All right, all right, that's enough!" Margarita cried. Her high-pitching voice spread through the entire theater. Immediately Electra shut her mouth and Frank went back to his old spot, sulking with his arms folded.
"And that damned cat ruined my favorite outfit!" he grunted, looking at his leather clothes which showed scratch marks everywhere.
Margarita walked over to Dinah with inaudible footsteps and looked down at the nervous girl with her head tilted as if she was looking at a lost puppy. "You haven't been a naughty little girl, have you?"
Dinah perked her head up suddenly and looked up at Margarita, with eyes filled with fear and with the faintest idea about what to say with her suddenly appearing over her like this, for she wasn't even aware that someone was coming toward her until she suddenly saw this dark blue shadow towering right above her head!
"It was not her, I swear!" Electra cried.
"Will you shut it?" Frank yelled. He was getting sicken tired of Electra.
"You shut it!" all the fur on Electra's body was standing up and she was shaking with rage at being treated this way. "Who do you think you are to tell me what to do?"
"Both of you shut it!" Margarita turned around and ordered, while Dinah quivered at the sound of her floor shaking voice with her arms still right around her knees.
Frank and Electra became silent, but continued to glower at each other as if any moment one of them would attack the other. The Phantom tossed them a look of warning, and the two retreated.
"I think we're already beginning to get on her nerves," Mark whispered to Mimi.
"Who knows? If we piss her off really bad, she might get sick of us and let us go quicker," said Mimi, looking toward Margarita to make sure she wasn't listening.
Margarita turned back to Dinah and smiled; another little girlish smile. "Are you afraid of me or something?"
Again, no answer came out of Dinah. Electra carefully crawled a few steps and squeezed passed Margarita and moved to Dinah's side, rubbed her furry head against Dinah's arm, and crouched down closely next to her.
Margarita shifted her eyes to Rusty, who looked no less on edge, and then to Eponine, who was back by Rusty's side and looked as if she was shielding him like a bodyguard. Rusty was staring at Dinah, and occasionally, moving his eyes to steal a look at Margarita. She was indeed a beautiful passenger, he thought; probably the most beautiful passenger lady he has seen up to this point. Pearl would perhaps even be jealous of her.
"She's terrified," Electra said on the side, and threw Frank another glare.
"But ask her," Frank stood akimbo and gave a wily smile, "she liked it, didn't she?"
The Phantom looked from Dinah to Frank, then back to Dinah, feeling disgusted. Eponine wiped her face and rubbed those bruises, while at the same time, her eyes looked like they were on fire.
"You shameless, despicable scum!" she pointed a finger at Frank and glowered at him, restraining herself from rushing to him to give him two good slaps across the face. She suddenly noticed the Phantom staring at her face.
"What are you looking at?" she asked, even more irritated, "you think I'm not right in saying that about him?"
"What happened to your face, girl?" the Phantom asked.
"Why do you ask him?" Eponine glanced at Frank.
"Not like it's my fault that you fell face down!" said Frank.
"Had you not pushed me..." Eponine was shaking as well, barely finding the right words to say through her fury. "And wasn't it you that punched me right here?" Eponine pointed at her upper chin, where a big purple spot was clearly visible.
"You were getting in my way!" Frank howled.
"You were getting out of hand!" Eponine screamed.
The Phantom and Margarita swung their heads back and forth between Frank and Eponine, while Florence suddenly strode over.
"Shut up! Shut up! For Heaven's sakes!" she cried, pushing her hands against her ears. "Oh, God! What a mess we've made here!"
"It was not our fault!" Eponine said under her breath.
"Are we gonna settle this, or are we just gonna fight till the end until everyone of us lies down dead?" Mimi stood up and yelled. Suddenly all eyes were on her.
"You are not leaving until the work that you were brought here to do is finished," Margarita said calmly, "you can choose to get along and allow everything smooth during your time here, or you can choose to fight and kill each other before you leave. I'm fine with either way. It's up to you, my dears."
Again all eyes were swung on her.
"When are you gonna let us go?" Florence fired at Margarita, "how much longer do you plan on keep us here as a bunch of prisoners?"
"I think you know the answer to that as well as I do, Miss Florence Vassey," Margarita smirked, "and you are not prisoners, I can assure you all. You are all here as my honored guests."
"What exactly do you want us to do?" Florence cried.
"In the name of my sanity! All you need to do is put a musical together for me, is that gonna kill you?" Margarita snatched the pile of papers from the Phantom's hands and waved it up and down as if she was trying to fan out a fire.
"But why us?" Florence asked, "why couldn't you have chosen some other people, people who might know what they're doing much better than us?"
"It is my business to pick who shall be in my musical!" Margarita hollered "and I chose you, so accept it! You should be feeling honored, all of you!"
"Feeling honored?" Florence cried, "feeling honored about being abducted from our homes and the worlds that we were familiar with not even knowing when or how and brought here knowing nobody and understanding nothing and pass our days like hostages under your fingers?"
"How else do you want me to do it?" Margarita roared like a tigress, her voice growing louder and louder that some from the group couldn't help covering their ears. Everybody was staring at Florence and Margarita flabbergasted. "I decided I'd choose you to be in my musical, I've made my decision, and I wanted you all to come here and work with me. Now is this that hard to get?"
"Did you even ask us?" Florence walked closer to Margarita and the two stood there eye to eye. "Did you even get any of our consent? You just kidnapped us and stranded us here in the middle of nowhere and treat us like a bunch of dogs and cats! You must be very proud of yourself, aren't you? Have you ever thought of our places?"
The others' visions fluctuated between Florence and Margarita with both fear and doubts in their eyes. God knows what Margarita might do!
"Oh, for goodness sakes!" Margarita took a couple of steps closer toward Florence and screamed in her face that made her step back a few feet. "I haven't done any of you any harm, have I? I've been treating you humanely and provided you with what you needed, haven't I?"
"Humanely" Florence rolled her eyes two rounds and stared at the ceiling, "For Christ's sakes and may Heaven be my witness! Humanely? You abducted us from our homes and put us here in the middle of nowhere, knowing nobody and nothing, and without the faintest clue of where we are and what we're doing here. You give us no food but those wild fruits growing out in those woods and we don't even have any idea if they're poisoned or not! You give us no place to sleep but this darn auditorium with nothing but small chairs! You allowed us to bring nothing along with us, and at the same time, give us no clean clothes to wear and even no place to wash! You leave us here alone, in total confusion and aimlessness, with each one of us coming from a different world and a different life and are unable to understand one another, and we end up causing wars among ourselves when we have nothing on this damned island but each other. And still you're not having enough fun! You had to turn these poor things into something they're not, make them lost and frighten the daylight out of them, and even let this poor girl end up being raped by that damned alien drag queen, who also happened to be one of your 'honored guests'! Humanely? If you call this 'humanely', then I wonder what you would call dumping us all into an oven and toast us alive!"
With a sudden gesture of her hand and before anyone even had time to notice, Margarita flung Florence up through the air as if she had struck her with an invisible force coming out of her palm. Before anyone could have a reaction, the sound of Florence crashing into the wall on the other side of the theater could be heard. Everyone suddenly cried out in terror, and the Phantom stepped up and grabbed Margarita's wrist hard and pulled her to the side, where she staggered and fell to the floor. She froze on the spot, glaring at Florence's direction with eyes that looked like they would be shooting out arrows the next second. The phantom was staring down at her with a look of disbelief on his face, while Margarita slowly shifted her eyes to her hand that she had lifted to send Florence flying as if she had been hypnotized by it.
In one second, everybody seemed to have woken from their shock and realized what was going on. Bewilderment soon turned into hysteria. Mark was the first to rise and rush to Florence's side, followed by Eponine. Florence wasn't hurt, but shock and unexpected terror had put her in a state of subliminal. Her eyes were staring widely and blankly into space, and not a sound came out of her when her name was called and not a flinch was shown when she was touched and shaken. Eponine took off her hat and began fanning it above Florence's face, and Mark was repeating her name over and over while checking if she was injured. Electra and Victoria crawled toward Florence and meowed, and Yonah took out what looked like a handkerchief from her apron pocket and started wiping Florence's forehead. Mimi began searching everywhere in the theater, hoping to find some water. Dinah and Rusty had no idea what to do as they sat there and gawked, and Amos joined the low conversation of whether Florence was ok and where she might be hurt by busy asking the two former trains whether they knew anything about first-aid. Even Frank had come over to see what was going on, and Audrey II was trying to stretch his neck higher to see above the bunch of shoulders.
"She killed her..." Victoria said in a whisper.
"No, she's not dead," Eponine said, still busy flapping her hat up and down. "She's still breathing."
"She doesn't appear to be hurt," said Mark, examining Florence's head. "Maybe she's just in shock!"
"How can we wake her?" Mimi was digging through every corner she could get into, hoping to find anything.
"Don't any of us know any first-aid procedures?" Amos called loudly, and Dinah and Rusty were staring at him wondering what he was talking about.
"I know CPR and how to stop bleeding and how to treat a burn, and that's pretty much it," said Mark, lifting Florence's hand to check her pulse, "but I don't think she needs any of those right now."
"Yeah, we'll save those until one day when the Mastermind or whatever decides to give us heart attacks or bleed us to death or burn us alive, when things can't get any worse!" Mimi muttered.
"Is her heart beating?" Eponine asked.
"Feels like it to me," Mark uttered.
"She's not going to die, is she?" Electra gently tapped Florence's leg with her paw.
"Don't say that!" Eponine cried, "none of us will die here!"
"I'd rather die back home in the flood than at a place that I don't even know and don't like a bit," Yonah mumbled as she wiped the sweat off of Florence's face.
"God Damned! Can we all stop talking about dying?" Mimi cried, flipping an old box on the floor over. "If we don't stop being so friggin' morbid, we're all gonna die before we know it!"
The group that surrounded Florence suddenly noticed a shadow hanging above them. Eponine's hands slowed down with her hat and she raised her head little by little. The man who called himself the "Phantom of the Opera" was standing over them. She let out a gasp at the dark sight of him.
"Oh, hi there!" Mark looked up when he heard Eponine's sound. "You... uh... think you can give us a hand here?"
Yonah stared at the Phantom with fear in her eyes. Was he looking at that red mark again? Immediately she lowered her head again and tried to tend to Florence and avoid the Phantom. But his looking down at them was making her feel more and more insecure about what she was doing.
Another shadow was added to the Phantom; a much smaller one. When everyone looked up, Margarita was standing over them, without anyone having an idea how or when she had gotten here.
With a wave of Margarita's hand, a small breeze suddenly blew over Florence and her eyes suddenly blinked. Eponine stared at Margarita and then Florence in wonder and slowly put down her hand that was holding the hat. Florence coughed a couple of times and her head moved. Mark held her hand tight and she slowly sat up holding onto Mark.
"What happened?" she glanced around her, as if she had forgotten who those people were already.
"Gee, that was quick recovery," said Frank, "looks like we got an Amazon here."
"Are you all right?" Yonah asked as she stuck the handkerchief back into her pocket.
Florence nodded, staring up at the Phantom and Margarita.
"She's fine," Margarita broke the silence. "And now, everyone, since Florence is again conscious, shall we begin what we have to do? Erik here has partially completed the musical score. We should try it."
Everybody was again staring at her as if she was speaking Chinese.
"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!" Mimi came over and cried, "you almost killed someone, and now all you can think about is that shit head musical of yours?"
"At least allow her to have a rest and calm down!" Eponine cried.
"Does she look a bit hurt to any of you?" Margarita asked.
"She might not be hurt, but why don't you think a bit more carefully about what you just did to her?" the Phantom, after remaining silent almost this entire time, suddenly stepped forward.
"Well, blame herself first!" Margarita cried, "I can't tolerate anyone being so uncouth and disrespectful in front of me!"
"If anyone is uncouth and disrespectful, it would be you!" Amos walked toward her. "Florence was not the one who just threw someone across the room and bang into a wall and knock unconscious!"
"Watch that big mouth of yours, boy, or someday you will be sorry," Margarita scowled at Amos. "And didn't you hear what I said? Everything is under control now, so let's get to work!"
"She might be having a concussion," Mark argued, "Can't you at least wait a minute? What if she can't get to work now?"
"If she can't I can make her," said Margarita, "and besides, all she did was hitting a wall, and she's not even hurt a bit! What are you all freaking out about? It's all over now, so let's get back to normal."
"You make that sound so easy, lady," the Phantom looked hard at Margarita. "Do you have the least conception of what you have just done?"
Margarita folded her arms under her breasts and huffed.
"Exactly. You've scared the hell out of her if you didn't hurt her!" Mimi cried, "and you've also scared the damn hell out of us! At least an apology would be more than nice!"
"Uh-huh, I'd like an apology, too!" said Frank, looking from Margarita to Electra.
"Shut it, Freak!" Mimi yelled.
"My name is Frank!" Frank howled at Mimi.
Florence looked from here to there while all this excited talk was going on around her. She stroked her hair and blinked her eyes hard, remembering what had happened.
"All right, all right!" Margarita cried, stumping her feet hard. "Fine, I apologize then, for the sake that if I don't, none of you is gonna move and my musical is gonna drag on until next year! Now are you all ok now?"
"A bit more sincere might be nice," said Amos.
"You know," Margarita glanced at all of them, a sneer suddenly appeared on her lips. "If you wanna hang and drag around here, I guess I can accept it. But keep that in mind, the longer you wait to get to work, the longer you'll have to stay here!"
Heads began turning toward one another.
"All right then!" Eponine suddenly stood up and roughly put her hat back onto her head. "Just so that we may be released from this nightmare earlier, let's move!"
Mark sighed and gently pulled Florence up from the floor. Florence stared at Margarita with fury hidden beneath her eyelids, while Electra and Victoria gave Margarita a small hiss to vent a bit.
"And I mean everybody, which include you two!" Margarita pointed at Dinah and Rusty's direction.
Dinah and Rusty looked at each other and sighed, and simultaneously rose to their feet. Dinah moved at the pace of a snail, still unable to control her balance, while Rusty followed behind, not keeping his eyes off of his feet.
"Whoa, whoa!" Mimi cried and ran toward Dinah, opened up her arms to try to shield her completely behind her. "First of all, for Christ's sakes, anyone has any clothes to spare?"
Dinah looked at Mimi, still dazed. Frank was staring at Dinah with a smile on his lips, trying hard to get his eyes behind Mimi.
"I only have one coat," said Eponine, gazing at Rusty, "and that's really all I can take off of me."
"She's got my extra shirt, which isn't doing any good now," Mark shook her head and then looked at Margarita. "Hey, can't you get this girl some clothes to at least cover her up rather than letting her going around stark naked?"
Margarita gazed at the Phantom, as if not understanding what they were asking.
"You might want to put some clothes on those two if you want them to remain human, Margarita," said the Phantom as if telling it to a child.
"Clothes?" Margarita stared at Dinah and Rusty, "they did fine without clothes when they were trains, didn't they?"
"But it's different now, can't you see?" the Phantom said, already looking a bit frazzled. "They're not trains anymore. They're humans, and humans need to wear clothes! Haven't you ever thought about that when you made them?"
"Um, ok then, if you say so," Margarita shook her head, "so, what kind of clothes do they need?"
"Anything that can cover them up, if you need someone to teach you that!" the Phantom yelled. "Clothes like the rest of them, can't you see?"
"Ok, ok, stop yelling at me, please!" Margarita said, and stared at Dinah and Rusty, who were at the same time, staring at her.
"You want me to put clothes on them, I'll do it then," said Margarita, eyeing the Phantom. "If that's really the biggest necessity..."
"How do you suppose they can perform on stage naked?" the Phantom asked.
"Well, I was planning on having them all have costumes anyway," said Margarita.
"Well, I don't ever want anyone singing my music without proper attire at anytime!" said the Phantom.
"Fine, fine!" Margarita said, and turned to Dinah and Rusty. "If Erik says so, then I guess it must be done!"
"But why can't you just turn us back?" Rusty asked.
"Not until what we need to do is finished, like I've said before," said Margarita, "we need you as humans here. There's no way that I can fit two trains into my musical!"
"Then why did you bring us trains here in the first place?" Dinah cried. It was the first line she's spoken in the longest time.
"Because I felt you two were special," Margarita smiled, "I wanted you here, and that's all you need to know."
Rusty wanted to curse her, but remembering what had just happened to Florence, he kept himself cool.
"All right, damn it, are you gonna get them some clothes or not?" Mimi asked.
"Actually, they look fine the way they are to me," said Frank on the side, glimpsing at Dinah and Rusty. "I actually like them better this way."
The Phantom gave Frank a harsh look, implying for him to be silent. Margarita chose to ignore Frank.
"What kind of clothes do you want?" Margarita asked, glancing Dinah and Rusty indifferently.
Dinah and Rusty again looked toward one another, not knowing what to answer.
"Oh God, when are you gonna get the picture?" Amos cried, "If they were trains, they wouldn't have a darn idea about what clothes are! You're asking them? How under God would they know?"
"Well, if they don't know, why do they need them?" Margarita asked, glimpsing at the Phantom.
Eponine eyed the Phantom carefully, hoping that he would not explode.
"Again, I will tell you this," everybody could see that the Phantom was trying hard to control his temper. "They were once trains and therefore don't understand nothing about clothes, but they're now humans, and humans need to wear clothes, but they don't know this because they have never been humans before. Whether they know it or not, they need it. Now is that clear enough for you?"
"Stop lecturing me like a school girl," said Margarita, looking a bit embarrassed. She closed her eyes for a second and then tapped her fingers. In the blink of an eye, Dinah was clad in a sky blue dress, and Rusty a brown overall.
Dinah stared astounded at herself. All of a sudden, she was covered in something that looks and feels completely different had puzzled her. For a while, she found herself unable to move. Then, curiously she ran her fingers down the dress, feeling its fabric, studying its embroider. It was a very pretty dress, at least to her taste, for she has only seen passengers with money wearing a dress like this. She was actually glad that it was blue, for how she missed her beautiful blue outer frame!
Rusty at the same time was studying himself closely, wondering what it was that was on him. It was too soft, softer than what he had long been used to. But at least it was something on him rather than nothing. He stood there nervously, wondering if something would happen if he moved. Eponine gave him an assuring nod, and he relaxed a little. Eponine picked up her coat that was now lying by Rusty's feet and put it back onto herself. She felt warmer and securer with it on.
"All right," Margarita clapped her hands, "looks like everybody is satisfied now? Shall we begin?"
Again, heads turned at one another and no response came from anywhere.
"Let's see," Margarita flipped through the pile of papers, ignoring the expressions on the others' faces, "we should all begin by learning the songs and getting familiar with the music, right? So, why don't we all sit, and I'll give you each a copy of the score, and we can all start learning them!"
With perhaps the heaviest steps, everybody moved to sit down in a chair. Dinah and Rusty dragged each other slowly behind, still attempting to skate on their bare feet. Had Eponine not been there, the two would've fallen onto each other. Finally, they managed to move their feet so they could reach the chairs. Audrey II was still tied up and was unable to stand without his hands. He let out a loud moan.
"Oh, god, we forgot about him!" Mimi cried.
"I don't think I can trust him enough to let him loose!" said Florence.
"Yes, he might try to eat me again!" Dinah suddenly cried.
"Oh, don't be silly. How is he gonna eat you? He's no bigger than you!" said Margarita, then turned to Audrey II, "if we untie you, would you promise to be a good boy and work with all of us?"
Audrey II nodded. He looked like his entire body was getting soar.
"You're not gonna snap and try to bite?" Margarita asked again.
Audrey II again nodded.
"All right then, we got a deal!" said Margarita, "but if you dare misbehave again, I'll have to tie you up from top to bottom and throw you into a cage and keep you in there!"
Margarita snapped her fingers and in one second, the rope on Audrey II was on the floor. Audrey II carefully rose to his feet and looked at his hands, he had to stretch his arms, which he was still not quite used to.
"Ok, now, sit down with the others, and act like a good boy," Margarita ordered, "if you're good as a human, maybe you won't have to be plant again."
Audrey II slowly walked to the chair next to Frank and sat down heavily. Frank tossed him a funny look, which he didn't seem to get.
"Don't break my chair there!" Margarita cried, "You gotta have the control of a human, too! Sit down the way everyone else does! Can't you at least learn?"
Audrey II stared at Margarita with an expression filled with so much hatred that so a while, Eponine and Yonah, who were sitting next to each other, were afraid whether he would suddenly lose his control again.
"Give him a chance, would you?" Mark said, "after all, he's only been human for about a day and a half!"
"Maybe he's better off being a plant," Florence muttered.
"Anyway, we're starting!" Margarita ordered and waved her hands, and suddenly, out of nowhere an organ appeared in front of the stage. Margarita gestured for the Phantom to be seated at the organ, while herself took place beside it and held up the pile of papers in her hands.
"The title of this musical is called 'Everything Goes', and to your taste, you might find most of the material new and maybe even a bit strange. But the point of this musical is not the real world. I myself will be participating in this show, and after I have seen and heard your performance, I shall then decide the final cast!" Margarita said in the style of a formal announcement. Florence couldn't help glaring at her.
"This musical, when completed, will be a beautiful, fabulous one," said Margarita, suddenly growing excited. "I can guarantee you right now that none of you will regret being a part of this. I've already gotten the story mostly plotted, and Erik is working hard on the music. For now, we will all start practicing. And formal rehearsals will start once everything is completed!"
Margarita handed a pile of stapled paper to everyone.
"Um, so, what's the story?" Mark asked, flipping through the big sheets.
"Pardon me?" Margarita returned to her place.
"What is the story about?" Mark asked.
"It's really too complicated to explain, and I don't feel like doing so right now," Margarita yawned and cleared her throat. "You'll learn as you go along. Ok, anyway, first page. Act I Scene I starts with a small chorus, and then slowly, with the chorus still in the background, a solo will begin, which is a part that I'm going to take. The chorus will of course, include everybody! And I definitely hope that everybody here can sing well." Margarita smiled and nodded at the Phantom, who laid his hands on the organ keys in front of him and immediately, the sound of a slow, melodious music began to flow in the theater, like an angel caressing everybody's ears. Everybody was intoxicated by this magical, ethereal music, and none could believe that a heavenly hand had written these notes. The Phantom was soon absorbed in his playing, not noticing the looks of impression, wonder, and admiration on everybody's faces.
"Now, one, two, three... go!" Margarita waved her hand around as everybody started singing along with the music. The lyrics weren't that incomprehensible, which made them happy. But the more they sang the more Margarita began to frown. Never had she hear such a group before. A choir mixed with some sort of a southern accent, Hungarian accent, a man trying to mimic the voice of a woman, and what sounded like a train whistling, a cat meowing, she couldn't help bringing her hand to her temple. The Phantom turned around from the piano and glowered at the group, his fingers looking like they were about to crush each key that they pressed.
"Stop! Stop!" Margarita cried.
All looked up from their scores.
"Has any of you ever had singing lessons in your life?" Margarita asked.
Again heads turning to one another.
"Are you saying that we all can't sing?" Florence asked.
"This is not the kind of chorus that I'm looking for!" Margarita cried.
"Then what are you looking for?" Mimi asked, "The Metropolitan Opera?"
"Hey, nobody ever tells me that I can't sing!" Frank yelled.
Margarita was grinding her teeth. She turned to look at the Phantom, who was staring her back with eyes filled with contempt. She swung her head around again.
"I should've known," Florence crossed her legs and stared at the ceiling.
"Maybe bringing us here was indeed a mistake," said Amos, "you might as well have chosen some other people who really know what they're doing!"
"Shut up, all of you!" Margarita cried, "You're here now, and you ain't leaving until I've gotten what I was looking for! If you can't do it, I'm gonna make you! You're the group I have selected, and you will meet my expectations!"
"Is that a threat?" Mimi looked at Margarita lethargically.
Margarita glowered at Mimi. She was reaching the end of her tether.
"If you don't do as I say, I can easily turn you all into spiders and crash you under my feet! Don't always count on testing my patience!" she swept her green eyes that were burning with anger across the group in front of her.
"Woo, we're really scared," Frank mumbled.
"I am not kidding with you, Mister!" Margarita stared at Frank, "never underestimate my powers or it'll be too late for you to feel sorry!"
"Powers?" Frank asked and smirked at her, "I'd love to see what kinda powers you got, missy miss!"
Margarita's cheeks were reddening with furry, and she turned her head to spot a neglected wooden box on the side. In one second, she flung her hand toward that direction, and what looked like lightning sparks shot out of her fingers and the box was immediately in flames.
Everybody gasped and leaned back. Victoria and Electra again rushed under the chairs as Victoria cried, "I thought only Mistoffelees can do that!"
Margarita smiled complacently and blew at her fingers, with smoke still coming out from her long nails.
"Well?" she said, feeling satisfied at the expression on everyone's face. "Still wanting to play with my patience?"
No reply came from anyone. Eponine bent down to gesture for Electra and Victoria to come out from beneath the chairs, and Dinah slowly pulled her hands away from her eyes. Florence huddled Yonah who was whimpering in her arms and stroked her long hair.
"Anyway," Margarita smiled, "shall we go back to where we left off?"
Everyone stared at her and picked up their scores.
After about one hour, finally they were able to sing a decent choir. Although accents could not be rid of and no one was enthusiastic, Margarita still seemed more satisfied than before.
"Good job, everyone!" said Margarita as the chorus was finished. "see? I told you that you can learn fast!"
"Are we done at least for today?" Mark asked.
"Almost!" said Margarita, "and we all must work hard on this!"
"Thanks for warning us," said Mimi as she yawned.
"Listen, you little mouth piece! If you don't shut up, watch that little tongue of yours!" Margarita snapped.
Mimi stuck her tongue out at her the moment Margarita turned around.
"This next scene is a dance sequence!" Margarita clapped her hands, "now, I want everybody to get up onto the stage, and pair up, a boy and a girl, of course. Now, come one, move it, guys!"
"We need to dance, too?" Florence yawned. Slowly, everyone rose out of their chairs and walked onto the stage.
Dinah stood where she was and looked nervously at Margarita. Dance? She could hardly walk! Carefully she moved her feet, one in front of the other as she had been instructed, and spread out her arms to keep balance. The dress was making her uncomfortable, and she felt the floor cold and hard.
"Would you hurry up there?" Margarita called, "haven't gotten all day!"
Dinah looked like she was going to cry again. Yonah immediately went to her and led her up the ramp to the stage.
"Would you go slowly on her?" Amos said, "the poor girl has barely had enough time to learn to walk like a human!"
"Well, she better learn quick, or else what is she gonna do during rehearsals? Crawl?" Margarita said sarcastically and moved up center stage. Eponine stared at Margarita hatefully and directed Dinah to stand next to her and Rusty, who seemed to be now managing his steps better than Dinah.
"Ok now, everybody get a partner!" Margarita ordered.
"Rusty, you come with me," Eponine said, "if you pair up with Dinah, you two are just gonna fall on top of each other. Dinah, how about you go with Mark?"
Dinah nodded as Mark came next to her. At least she was not uncoupled, she thought. She saw Electra staring at her and Mark unhappily, but she avoided her eyes.
"I'll pair up with Victoria," said Amos and he patted Victoria's furry head, "Electra, you wanna go with Audrey?"
Electra stared at Audrey II nervously, still seemed not to trust him. But Audrey II seemed harmless now, and other than him, she seemed could not find another partner, and she definitely didn't want to pair up with Frank. So she agreed.
Now it was left to Florence, Mimi, and Yonah to decide who to go with Frank.
Florence stared at the shivering Yonah who was looking frightfully at Frank, and then the angry Mimi who was looking at Frank with disgust on her face, she shook her head.
"Yonah, I'm not gonna put you together with that creep. And Mimi, you don't have to either. I guess I'll just have to sacrifice myself," Florence sighed, then turning to Frank, "listen, you, we can be partners, but under one condition! You keep your hands off of me whenever you can and don't you have any ideas, you hear?"
Frank whistled and turned his head around.
"Well?" Florence demanded.
"Fine, fine, baby, whatever you say," Frank clicked his heels on the floor.
"If you call me that again..." Florence was trying hard to restrain herself.
"All right, we're starting!" Margarita interrupted. Florence stumped her feet toward Frank and stood sulking.
"What about Yonah and Mimi?" Eponine asked.
"Um, that's right, isn't it? They don't have a partner!" Margarita said.
"Huh, maybe you shouldn't have brought so many girls here," said Mark.
"It's ok, you girls can do a female duet," Margarita smiled, "I assume you all can dance, right?"
"Dance? Hell yeah! I'm a professional!" Mimi said and shook her hip.
"Oh, not that kind of dance!" Margarita cried, "I mean real dancing!"
"This is real dancing, lady!" said Mimi and made another dip.
"Oh, dear!" Margarita brought her hand up to her forehead. "Now stop that nonsense! I'm gonna have to make some changes to this scene. The two of you girls will have ballet roles, while the rest will be waltzing in the background!"
"WHAT?" the sound was a simultaneous chorus.
"BALLET!!!" Mimi screamed.
Yonah stared at Margarita wide-eyed, wondering what she was talking about.
"What is ballet?" she asked.
"And you want us to waltz?" Amos cried.
"Damn it..." Frank mumbled.
"Don't tell me that you can't sing and can't dance either!" Margarita shouted.
"We can dance!" Electra cried, pointing at Victoria, "who said we don't know how to dance? Us cats all can dance!"
"But waltz? How is that done? I think I've only seen my humans do something like that," Victoria said lowly.
"I can dance, but I never learned one bit of ballet!" Mimi cried, "you're asking way too much of us!"
"Exactly! Nobody ever taught us how to waltz either!" said Mark.
"Well, then, guess you'll all have to learn!" said Margarita, "I ain't changing the whole story just because of your lack of talents!"
"Our lack of talents?" Florence stormed at Margarita, "then why on earth didn't you bring some people who don't lack talents?"
"Stop criticizing me for bringing you here, you fools!" Margarita shouted, "you all should be grateful that you got chosen! Some people might want to break their necks for such a privilege!
"A privilege to come here and perform like monkeys just for your entertainment?" Florence cried, "this surely is a privilege!"
"I want you to dance! And you will do it!" Margarita shrieked at the top of her lungs. The whole theater seemed to be shaking.
"Fine! I'll dance!" Mimi strode to the center stage and moved her hands from the sides of her breasts to her thighs. "Let me show you some real thing, baby!"
Mimi made a big spin and twisted her body around, as she broke into song, "what's the time? Well it's gotta be close to midnight! My body's talking to me, it says, 'time for danger!' It says I wanna commit a crime! Wanna be the cause of a fight! Wanna put on a tight skirt and flirt with a stranger!"
Everyone was looking at Mimi as she moved her hands around her body and shook her bums up and down. Margarita and the Phantom looked as if their lower jaws would touch the floor the next minute.
"Mimi!" Mark cried, "not now! Not here! Stop now!"
But Mimi didn't seem to be listening. Her movements, on the contrary, were getting more and more sexual looking that Frank was shaking with excitement, while Yonah and Dinah covered their eyes and Electra and Victoria watched with great surprises on their faces.
"I've had a knack from way back, at breaking the rules once I learned the games," Mimi was still singing, getting more and more excited as she went on. "Get up, life is too quick! I know some place sick..."
"Mimi! All right, that's it, you've had your fun!" Amos said, "this is not the place for such thing!"
"...where this chick'll dance in the flames. We don't need any money!" Mimi raised her legs high in the air then put them down. Her curly hair was dangling by her shoulders, which were shaking with the swinging of her arms. She ran her hands across her chest and leaned back. "I always get in for free, you can get in too if you get in with me... co-ack!"
At the sound of that Mimi stopped and froze like a pop sickle. She moved her hand up to her throat, not believing that that strange sound just came out of her. She looked at the others, who were as confused and surprised by that as she was.
"Mimi, did you just make that croak?" Mark asked with eyes looking as big as two light bulbs.
"I... I don't know, I... co-ack!"
Following the second "co-ack", which now everyone was sure came from Mimi, a heavy sound came from the organ and everyone turned to the direction. A black cape swung in the air and a black shadow was turning around. In one second, it has disappeared in the back. Mimi had hardly recovered from the shock of her "co-acks" before she was struck with fear.
Margarita flipped her eyes back and forth, and suddenly made a dart toward the direction to which the black shadow had gone. It was as if in the blink of an eye, the Phantom and Margarita had gone as quickly and invisibly as they had come.
"My God, what was that about?" Eponine asked, looking at the direction to which Margarita and the Phantom had disappeared.
"The Phantom of the Opera had made Mimi croak," Mark slowly sat down on the edge of the stage.
"What?" Mimi cried.
"Gee, you must've annoyed the hell out of him," said Florence.
"He made me croak?" Mimi asked, "how..."
"All right, whatever! It's over now," Amos said, pacing around.
"And where did the both of them go?" Rusty asked, glancing around the theater.
"Gone forever, I hope," Frank mumbled as he pushed Audrey II aside and sauntered down the stage. Audrey II hissed wildly, but was stopped by Florence.
"If you start again, I swear I'll tie you as tight as a dead nut!" she threatened and pushed Audrey II to the floor.
"Anybody know what time it is now?" Mark asked.
"It does feel like night," Victoria said, staring at everyone with her young, innocent expression in her dark, moonlit eyes.
"I'm tired," Dinah yawned and sat back down, with her legs folded. Electra crawled over to her and rubbed against her side.
"Huh! I don't blame you a bit, honey," said Florence, "who wouldn't be after all these excitements!"
"Should we all get some sleep then?" Mimi asked, with her hand still up on her throat. She couldn't believe, that with a voice like hers, she would croak like a frog!
"What else can we do? It looks like that Mastermind might not come back until tomorrow morning. Maybe we're done for the day," said Florence.
"Yeah, let's all go to sleep," said Rusty, "then we'll have energy for tomorrow."
Dinah lied down at the spot where she sat, with Electra cuddled up next to her. Gently Dinah stroked Electra's soft fur, and Electra purred as she closed her eyes. Rusty lied down on the other side of Dinah, with Eponine sitting not far from her, and Victoria had curled up at Eponine's side, purring for Eponine to pet her. Eponine sighed and put her arms around the beautiful white cat and stroked the soft velvet fur on her head. Victoria yawned and leaned tight against Eponine.
"There, there, good kitty, sweet girl," said Eponine.
"Can I sleep on your lap?" Victoria asked, "I always slept on my humans' laps back home. It's much more comfortable than the floor."
"Um," Eponine sighed, "my lap is really kind of small for a cat your size to sleep on. My lap can only be big enough for you to lay your head on."
"Can I do that?" Victoria looked up at Eponine.
Eponine stroked her two soft, pointy ears, "all right, I'll lean against something so I can fall asleep sitting." She got up and went to the back of the stage to lean against the back wall, and Victoria followed, and the moment Eponine sat down, Victoria's head came down upon her lap.
"There, comfortable now?" Eponine asked.
Victoria responded with a purr.
Eponine gently stroked Victoria's head and arm and leaned her head back against the wall. "Get some sleep now, girl. You must be tired as much as I am."
"Usually, I don't sleep at nights," said Victoria, "you know, us cats like to sleep during the days. But here, I cannot sleep during the day. So at night, I get tired."
"You miss your home, don't you, kitty?" Eponine asked.
Victoria nodded, "back home, my humans love me very much. They groom me, pet me, feed me the most delicious food, and play with me everyday. And at night, they let me out to be with Mistofelees."
"Mistoffelees?" Eponine asked. What a strange name, she thought.
"Yeah, the magical Mistoffelees," Victoria turned around so she was facing Eponine, and said dreamily, "he's a great fellow. He's small, beautiful, and black from his ears to the end of his tail. He's magical and mystical, and he's the original conjuring cat. Never was there ever a cat so clever as Mistoffelees."
Eponine stared down at Victoria, wondering if she was talking in her sleep already.
"He's shy, and he's very modest. He never shows off what great magical powers he has. Maybe he's too shy at the beginning, and that's why I didn't get to be with him right away."
"What?" Eponine asked, even more confused. Was this Mistoffelees really a cat?
"After I had mated, we grew even closer. I guess he's become afraid to lose me now since I've grown up. Then again, he is still young, like me" Victoria sighed. Her beautiful eyes were closed. "And it's true that I have been interested in other cats before. Like Tugger, every Jellicle kitten likes Tugger. But Mistoffelees is truly the one right for me, and he always refuses to show off and get attention from everyone like Tugger does. And that's what I love the most about him."
"Wait a minute," said Eponine, "you've lost me here. What do you mean 'mated'?"
"Well," Victoria smiled shyly, "you know, us cats mate, like humans do. And for us cats, we mate mostly because we have to do it in our lives, and if I don't mate, I will not grow out of kitten-hood. And unlike what I know about humans, we usually don't mate with the ones whom we love. And I did not mate with Mistoffelees, you know."
Eponine stared at Victoria, still somewhat bewildered.
"He's the most wonderful cat in the world, he's a still a young cat, but tries to behave like an adult. He's witty and sensitive, and other cats adore him, too, " said Victoria, as if slipping into a sleep already. "Oh, I wonder what he's doing now. How I miss him. I didn't even get to tell him before I left. He must be looking everywhere for me now. He must be worried!" A shiny tear slipped out from the corner of Victoria's closed eyes.
This cat's got a lover? Eponine thought to herself and gazed down at Victoria, who was now slowly sinking into a deep sleep. Cats can have lovers, too? She gently stroked Victoria's head and her small paws, while moving her eyes among the others who were stretched out here and there across the stage. She felt her eyes wet. God can grant cats lovers and friends, but not her! God can allow an animal to have a happy, loving life, but not her! A cat can have someone so wonderful loving her, but the only man she's ever loved would never even come close to her... she leaned her head back against the wall, as tears slowly poured out of her eyes. She was the only one awake now, sitting up in the dark theater like a caretaker, alone in the silence. Her hands were still lovingly stroking Victoria, who was now in a deep sleep and was probably dreaming of her Mistoffelees.