Chapter II: Into the Phantom's Lair
What Adam did not know was that the Phantom had taken Teela through the mirror to the Cellars beneath the Opera House.
Teela and her angel first traveled down a large flight of steps where at the bottom a white horse waited for them. It was Spirit a horse that went missing earlier today.
The de Grayskull family donated Spirit to the Opera; The Opera used him whenever an opera called for a horse.
However, at 3:00pm he went missing, the lead handler, a man named Monsieur Fisto had told M. Mekaneck about the theft.
The manager thought that it was the work of a simple Horse wrangler, but Fisto said it was something more sinister.
"It's him," Fisto told Buzz-Off in a hushed tone, as if by telling the manger this story he would invoke this him.
"Who is him" Mekaneck asked curious as to find who this mysterious horse thief was.
"It's the Opera Ghost sir," Fisto told the manager, "My men saw him with their own two eyes, well sort of at least."
Mekaneck was getting annoyed; he had enough of this 'Opera Ghost' nonsense and asked the handler "what do you mean 'sort of'?" he asked as he stood up.
"Well all they saw was his shadow," Fisto explained to Mekaneck in an eerie tone of voice.
"Did you chase after this shadow?" Mekaneck asked, hoping that at least they caught this thief.
"We tried sir but they were too fast," Fisto said, "Can you do something about it?" he asked before getting up.
"I'll file a complaint with this 'Opera Ghost,'" Mekaneck said as he dismissed the handler. When he was sure Fisto left, he said "What nonsense, Opera Ghost" and sat down on his chair.
Deep below the Opera House, the Phantom and Teela rode for miles and miles until they came to an underground lake. It was vast and seemed to stretch for miles, on the dock they were two small rowboats.
"You did not know there was a lake down here did you, ah but there is, it is as real and terrible as the lake in Despondos," the Phantom said pointing to the boat.
Teela looked at the boat with trepidation, why he was taking her down to the lowest levels of the Opera House, what could possibly be down here in the old cellars that he wanted her to see.
"Where are you taking me, angel?" she asked her guide, this was a bit too creepy for her liking.
"Why, I'm taking you to your Kingdom of Music, where you will be worshipped as a queen," he said as he helped her into the boat and began to row across the lake until they reached the other side.
"Welcome to your palace of music" the Phantom said to her as he helped out of the boat and took her to a large door which he opened by saying a word which Teela did not hear.
The Phantom took her into the room; it was a large room, darkness filled the room except for the candles that shone like stars throughout it. The whole place felt like a tomb, it was decorated with skulls and bones; in the center of this monument to death was a large ornate pipe organ.
He took Teela to a corner of the room that was literally a shrine to her. The shrine had newspaper clippings, pictures and playbills from the earliest days of her career.
"Long I have worshipped you Teela, from the moment I heard you sing I knew I needed you here to give life to my music," he told her, taking her hand and showing her small a nook where he had a mannequin of Teela in a wedding dress on display.
The sight of this was too much for Teela and she fainted, The Phantom took her inside and laid her on a couch to rest.
"Soon you shall not fear the dark but embrace it as I do, and soon you shall open yourself to my music," he whispered to her as he left her to work on some composition he was writing on his organ.
Meanwhile, up on the stage, the ballet girls were rehearsing when they saw a shadow streak across the stage. The shadow was of a man in a cape and hat.
"It's the Opera ghost," a young ballerina with violet hair and beautiful multicolored butterfly wings, Flutterina, said to her friend a ballerina with green hair and blue tail feathers with eye spots named Peek-A-Blue.
"You always see the Opera Ghost; everyone knows there is no such thing." Peek-A-Blue scolded Flutterina.
"I wouldn't say that," A deep voice said from the shadows.
The ballerinas jump in unison from fright when they heard the voice; they thought it was the Opera Ghost coming back to scare them for not believing in him.
"I've seen him," the voice said as a short man wearing a red tunic with green trousers and a sliver helmet came out of the shadows, it was Joseph Ram-Man, the chief sceneshifter.
"What did he look like?" Flutterina asked him, eager to hear more about the Phantom.
"His face is hideous like the skin of a leper, and he has no nose," he told them in a hushed tone of voice, the little Ballerinas hanging on his every word.
"You must always be on your toes, or else he will get you with his enchanted noose", he continued as he took a piece of rope pretending it was the noose.
Backstage Mme. Angella was listening to the story; she came out and went up to Ram-Man.
"I would keep quiet if I were you Ram-Man, those who have told the Phantom's secrets pay with their lives" she warned him and walked away.
Back in the Phantom's lair, Teela woke to the sound of a music box playing softly. She found herself in a strange room, and when the music box stopped, she could hear an organ playing. She got up and followed the music to its source, when she found where the music coming from she found a man sitting and playing the organ.
"No, that's not it!" the man yelled to himself, frustrated that he could not get the tune right. He erased the notes he played and wrote some new notes on the sheet music. He was engrossed in his work and seemed oblivious to his surroundings.
Teela could see that this man was wearing a black mask over his face; her curiosity got the best of her. She walked slowly towards the man, half-curious to see who he was and half entranced by the music.
"Ah, you are awake my dear" the man said turning to look at her, unaware of her intention.
Teela looked at the music on the organ, the title was 'King Hiss Triumphant'; she crept closer to the man, slowing working up the guts to remove the mask and find out who her mysterious lover was why he worked down here in the cellars.
"Soon My greatest work will be finished" the man said turning to face his guest once more. "It speaks of a victorious king and his conquest of the universe and love." He explained to her as he turned back to his work.
Finally, she got close enough, worked up enough courage, and was able to snatch the mask from his face.
The man spun around in anger, and it was that she saw that his face was deformed, "CURSE YOU!" he spat at her, "is this what you wanted to look at, yes I know, my face is a skull' he taunted her. It was then he fell to his knees in self-pity.
"Do you think I wanted to be born this way, oh no. You have seen my heart and now you who have seen my hideous face can never leave, oh poor Teela" he said as Teela handed him his mask.
"Come we must go, those two morons who manage my theater will wonder what happened to you." He said as he took the mask, placed it over his face and led Teela back to the surface world.