AN: I had to remove the lyrics so the full chapter can be found at this web page (remove the spaces):
www. geocities. com/ gerrysmistress/ index. html
Sara approached Mme. Giry's room quietly. She bumped into the door, and cursed herself for not bringing her cane with her. She knocked on the door and could hear Mme. Giry moving around inside.
"I'm sorry Sara, but Christine cannot be disturbed right now." Mme. Giry said when she opened the door.
"I haven't come to see Christine." Sara said. She held out the note that Erik had given her. "I found this on my pillow."
Mme. Giry knew that Sara was lying, but took the note and opened it. "Meg! Sara, come with me."
Meg exited the room and the three women walked down to the main lobby of the Opera house. Sara heard everyone talking excitedly, and knew it was because of Erik's notes.
"Miss. Daae has returned." Mme. Giry told the group in front of them.
"I hope no worse for wear as far as we're concerned." Firmin said.
"Where precisely is she now?" Andre asked.
"I thought it best she was alone." Mme. Giry responded.
"She needed rest." Meg added.
The Viscomte looked past Mme. Giry at Sara before walking down the stairs. "May I see her?"
"No, Monsieur, she will see no one."
Raoul looked past Mme. Giry at Sara, who could feel his gaze and shifted uncomfortably. Firmin began to read the note that Mme. Giry had handed to him, and Raoul walked down the stairs to Sara.
"Where is Christine?" Raoul asked her.
Sara shook her head. "I don't know M. la Viscomte. But if Mme. Giry says Christine should be alone, then it is best to respect her wishes." Before Raoul could ask her anything else, Sara excused herself and walked away.
She climbed the stairs of the dormitories, praying that they would be empty. She was pleased to find only one dancer, rummaging around in the room.
"Don't worry Sara; I'll only be a minute." Anna-Maria told her.
Once Anna-Maria found the spare shoes that she was looking for she quickly left the room. Sara sighed as she lay down; hoping that the sleep she needed would come quickly.
"Did you deliver the note?" Erik's voice sounded in her ear just as she was starting to drift off to sleep.
Sara sighed and ran a hand over her face, frustrated that she was being kept awake. "Yes I delivered it." Erik said nothing in return and Sara wondered if he was still with her. She knew that he was, she could sense his presence, but his silence was unnerving her. "Erik?"
He tenderly picked up the arm that Joseph Buquet had held tightly the night before. She now had a large, dark bruise on her arm in the shape of his hand. Sara whimpered softly when Erik gently pressed on it.
"Whose hand print is this?" Erik demanded.
"What do you mean?" Sara asked him innocently.
The tone of his voice shocked her. Even when Christine had removed his mask, his tone was not nearly as angry as it was now. She didn't really want to tell him what had happened. After all, this was the same man who could drop a background painting on Carlotta simply to make Christine's career progress. She could only imagine what he would do to someone out of anger.
"This mark on your arm, it's from someone holding onto you very tight. Who did it?" Erik's voice echoed menacingly off the walls, making Sara flinch at the sound.
"Joseph Buquet." She whispered softly.
She heard Erik growl in anger and the swoop of his cape as he disappeared. Sara sat up, her hands shaking, wondering if she had just condemned Buquet to some horrible fate.
Meg walked in minutes later and glanced over at Sara's bed. She could see her friend was deathly pale and trembling like mad. Meg crossed the room and sat down next to Sara. "Are you alright?" Meg asked, taking one of Sara's hands.
"What? Oh, no, I'm fine. I just have a bit of a headache." Sara told her. "Why are you up here?"
"I came to grab some stockings for Christine's costume. The performance will be starting in just under an hour and her stockings are ripped beyond repair." Meg explained.
"Is she still playing the Page Boy tonight?" Sara asked.
"Yes, M. Firmin and M. Andre refuse to give into the Phantom's demands. I'm afraid of what might happen tonight."
Sara bowed her head and said nothing. Meg stood and retrieved the stockings from Christine's beside bureau and moved to walk out once more. "Wait, I'll come with you. I'm sure your mother will need my help with something."
The two girls walked down the stairs arm in arm, Sara remembering to bring her cane with her this time. "You know, I find something very odd." Meg said after several long minutes of silence.
"What's that?"
"I think my mother knows who the Opera Ghost is."
Sara was taken aback by Meg's announcement. "What makes you say that?"
"Well, he's always leaving his notes in her care, or he leaves them for her to find. An, she's always defending him to people like Joseph Buquet." Meg told her.
"Well, maybe he trusts her to deliver the notes, and so she doesn't break that trust, she defends his character. That way, she always knows what is going on." Sara explained.
Meg didn't have the chance to respond to Sara's theory, as they walked into the busy stage area where everyone was getting ready. Sara moved off to one side, dancers bringing her pieces of their costumes that need minor repairs to be done before they were put on.
As everyone took their places, Mme. Giry wrapped her arm around Sara and guided her over to the side of the stage where they always stood. Sara remained lost in thought as the performance started, praying that for once Buquet was where he was supposed to be, and not off somewhere on his own.
"You've been awfully quiet tonight." Mme. Giry said. "Is something the matter?"
Sara shook her head. "I'm just curious to know what the notes meant by 'great misfortune' and 'a disaster beyond your imagination'."
Mme. Giry sighed and smoothed down Sara's hair. "I'm sure that it means nothing, he probably just wants to scare…."
"Did I not instruct that Box Five was to be kept empty?" Erik's booming voice filled the auditorium, causing everyone to gasp.
"He's there, the Phantom of the Opera." Meg whispered to those standing around her.
"It's him." Christine muttered.
Sara grabbed onto Mme. Giry's arm. "What's going on?"
Mme. Giry stared upwards, her eyes wide in shock. "I don't know. He's never done anything like this before."
"All is well, Joseph Buquet is up there, he'll catch him!"
"No!" Both women exclaimed.
Carlotta began the set once more, and before long her voice was cracking horribly, which brought Sara's attention back to the stage. She knew that sound, she had heard a man demonstrate it one day while at a market place with Erik. The man had explained that the liquid was meant to paralyse the vocal chords of animals that were used on stage to keep them from making noise. She hadn't realized that Erik had bought some, and she now knew that he must have slipped some into Carlotta's throat spray.
"I have to go and help Christine change. Stay here." Mme. Giry whispered into Sara's ear.
Sara obeyed Mme. Giry and didn't move from her spot. The ballet that was meant for act three started up, to give Christine enough time to change into the countess costume.
Meg glanced across the stage at Sara and saw her friend's head suddenly tilt up, a look of confusion on her face. Meg wondered if perhaps Sara had heard something over the music and laughter of the crowd and turned to mention it to the girl beside her.
In actuality, Sara hadn't heard anything. However, something told her that Erik was above her, and that intuition hadn't been wrong yet. When Meg turned back to look at her friend, the body of Joseph Buquet dropped from above, a noose tight around his neck. Sara jumped as the sounds of terrified screams flooded her sensitive ears.
She felt someone bump into her, and grabbed onto the person's hand. "What happened, what's going on?" She asked.
"It's Buquet, he's been murdered!" The man exclaimed.
Sara dropped his hand as her hands flew to her mouth in shock. "Christine." She muttered quietly to herself. She knew that her best bet of finding Erik was to find Christine.
It took Sara several minutes to get through the crowd that was surging forward. She broke into a brisk pace when she cleared the crowd, only to have someone grab onto her arm.
"Where are you going?" Mme. Giry demanded. "It's not safe!"
"I need to find Christine. I can't explain why."
Mme. Giry sighed, "She was heading to the roof with the Viscomte." She said after several tense minutes.
Sara nodded and moved towards the roof as fast as she could manage without tripping and falling. She was about to open the door, when Christine and Raoul's voices floated through the door to her.
The door opened and Sara had to step back quickly to avoid being hit. "Forgive me, I did not mean to intrude, but they need Christine back downstairs."
Christine giggled as Raoul kissed her hand, "Thank you Sara."
Sara waited until she could no longer hear the pair before stepping outside. "Erik?" She called softly, before walking over to where she could sense he was. She almost tripped on his foot, and reached out to touch him. Her hand met nothing but air, so she slowly lowered it, finding Erik's head. She slowly slid her hand down the side of his mask as she knelt beside him, and closed her hand over his shoulder.
Sara wrapped her arms around him, her hand bumping the rose that he had pressed to his lips. She could feel a tear run down his face and drop onto her hand.
Sara felt his body start to shake in anger and quickly released her hold on him.
Sara stayed where he had left her, silently collecting the petals of the rose that he had crushed. She heard him returning to him and she quickly slid back from him. It wasn't that she was scared, but he had been angry only seconds ago, and she didn't want to get caught in his wrath.
"What are you going to do?" Sara asked him from where she sat.
"Nothing, she belongs to me."
Sara sighed, "But, she's in love with the Viscomte."
Erik turned and began to walk away. "That doesn't matter. I will do to him what I did to Buquet."
Sara waited until she heard the creak of the door. "Why did you do it?" She asked, making him stop. "Why did you kill Buquet?"
Erik didn't look back at her. "Because, he followed me."
Sara heard the door slam behind and sobbed into her hands. "I'm so sorry, Joseph." She said to the night.
Erik could hear the sounds of her tears through the door. For the first time, since he could remember, he felt anguish for someone other than himself. He hadn't thought that the death of Joseph Buquet would upset Sara this much and each sob was cutting him to the core.
"I did it because he hurt you." He said, turning back and touching the door gently before returning to his lair.