It often occurred to Erik, that Suzette was a singularly remarkable little girl. This, of course, was a somewhat baseless conclusion, as he knew nothing of children and had never known another child well enough to make a fair comparison. Still, it seemed to him that there was something exquisitely beautiful and unique about this little spirit. Her passion for life was inextinguishable. So very much of their small world was wondrous to her. She loved to question and explore everything, be it the house, the garden, or the books Erik read to her. She had a most entertaining habit of giving spirit to everything she encountered and treating it as if it were a person with thoughts and emotions. For example, she would say to Erik on an autumn day, "The tree must be happy it's leaves are all red!" or she might shout to the wind after it had blown her off her little hat, "You stop being so naughty and give me back my hat!" or regarding a lost spoon that had been batted out from under the couch by the cat, "Won't his cousins in the drawer be happy to see him back?"

As is the case with most little girls, however, Suzette's euphoria for life could transform suddenly and violently into a tantrum, and it wasn't long before she discovered the most effective method of revenge on Erik was to turn away from him and refuse to speak to him. These periods of stormy silence were heart wrenching for Erik, for he wanted nothing more then her approval and affection. No matter how he pleaded or apologized, she would not speak to him or look at him any longer then to blink and squint her eyes with scorn or cast him a hateful glare. Finally, when Erik had promised her whatever she wanted and there were steaks of tears running down his face, she would relent and become his friend again. As the reader can probably imagine, this grew to be tiresome for poor Erik and after a while he was forced to find another, more efficient method of resolving these episodes.

This happened one rainy afternoon, when Erik was feeling rather poor indeed. During his many years under the opera house, he had very rarely been ill. He had simply not had enough contact with other human beings to catch any sickness. With Suzette's company, he had also inadvertently inherited the company of every germ crawling on every child in the vicinity. Each new plague attacked his inexperienced immune system without mercy and this particular illness had been Erik's third in one season. To his discredit, Erik was not at all a good sport about the situation. He detested being sick. He hated being sore and tired. He hated how it made his face raw and chapped so that his mask was even less bearable to wear and most of all, he hated not being able to sing. It was under these circumstances that Erik lay sprawled across his bed in his nightclothes, well after mid-day, wishing that he could simply die and not have to suffer the throbbing pain in his head any longer.

At this point, Suzette peeked in on him. She hadn't had any lessons in two days and she was bored out of her mind. To her way of thinking, she had put up with about enough of this nonsense and she meant to tell him so. She approached his bed and plopped down on his feet. Erik groaned incoherently. Suzette squirmed around and said loudly, "Aren't I going to get any lessons today?"

"No, my lovely girl, not today. Your teacher is sick."

"But you were sick yesterday!" the little girl whined. When Erik couldn't find the energy to respond to this, she began to bounce up and down on his feet and chant, "Get up!" again and again. Erik made an outraged sound and kicked at her sharply. Suzette bounced to the side and climbed up beside his shoulders where she sat on her knees and began to talk to him excitedly, poking him periodically in the back. At this point, Suzette's prattling, which under normal circumstances was one of Erik's favorite sounds, became simply intolerable to him. He rolled over, pushed her ungracefully off of his bed, and bellowed, "Leave me in peace, child!"

Suzette stared at him in horror, then burst into tears and ran from the room. Erik looked up in time to see her disappear into the hall. He moaned loudly and chastised himself. He knew this little mishap would almost certainly result in a fresh bout of Suzette not speaking to him. He rose painfully from the bed and made his way grudgingly down the stairs to search for her. He found her in the kitchen sitting in the middle of the floor and clutching Othello to her breast as large tears rolled down her face. He leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed and sighed.

"I hate Erik!" she said to the cat when she noticed him out of the corner of her eye, "He is so mean to me! I wish he had never brought me here!" Erik shut his eyes and said nothing. The combined pains in his head and heart were merciless.

"I hate him, hate, him, hate him!" she whispered again into the cats ear. Suddenly Erik got an idea.

"Yes, Erik is very bad!" Suzette looked up suddenly at the sound of the squeaky voice and stared at Othello.

"Did you say something?" she asked him surprised. The cat stared at her with large, green eyes.

"Only that Erik is the worst man in the world! He is terribly mean and bad. If I were you I should run away and never see him again!"

"Humph!" said Suzette and then glanced at the door. Erik had withdrawn from view and was presumably hiding somewhere in the hallway.

"He should be thankful that he has you around because anyone else would leave him alone to rot in the gutter!"

"They would?"

"Of course they would! Who needs a mean, grouchy old man always telling them to put on shoes and do school work?" Suzette dropped the cat on the floor and scrunched up her face.

"He is only grouchy because he is sick today and I like the lessons he gives me!"

"Well it isn't your fault that he is sick! That's no reason for him to yell at you is it?" Suzette seemed to mull it over in her mind.

"Last week I was sick and Erik took care of me, reading to me and bringing me soup..."

"Well, what of it?"

"Maybe Erik needs me to take care of him, so he will feel better! Then he won't be cranky!"

"I still say that you should leave him alone to die," said the cat in an authoritative voice, "Then there will be no more question of him and you can go about as you like."

"Oh, be quiet! I am going to make a pot of tea!"

Yes, Suzette was an uncommon girl. She was an extraordinarily pretty child, with soft golden curls, warm, pleasant coloring, and deep, sapphire eyes, but she never cared for "dressing up" or "acting like a lady". This was quite apparent to Erik as he watched her over his teacup and bowl of hot cereal. She stood on a dinning room chair in a rumpled nightgown with her tangled hair cascading down her shoulders. Her feet were bare and smudged and there was a sticky patch of raspberry preserves on her chin. She had grown quite a lot taller over the past year and Erik had to strain his neck in order to watch her while sitting at the table.

She was holding a large bit of paper, the "newspaper", from which she was reading with great relish. This had become something of a morning tradition for them, ever since Erik began to read to her from real newspapers. Suzette had found the Parisian paper to be boring and much too full of grown-up business. One morning Erik had emerged from his room to find her scribbling furiously, working on her own newspaper. Suzette's paper was published daily and always began with a report of the weather from the day before. This was generally followed by a procession of pretend advertisements, crime reports, and other stories which interested her. Erik found the ritual charming and encouraged it by giving a great many interviews for her reports.

On this particular morning, Suzette was reading aloud from a sort of social column of which she was the main subject.

"Last Wednesday," she read aloud, "Miss Suzette entertained a Miss Prudence Peabody, daughter of the rich, well-known British gentleman Dr. Lawrence Peabody, who is spending the summer with his mother's family. Miss Suzette met Miss Peabody as the later was going for her afternoon walk with her governess. Miss Suzette, being a most pleasant and charming young lady, invited the honorable Miss Peabody in for a cup of tea. Unfortunately, as the ladies sat chatting together, a most scandalous event occurred; their tea was interrupted rather rudely by the voice of a ghost." Suzette paused here and glanced at Erik, who looked up from his bowl in surprise.

"Miss Peabody is rumored to have told her governess after the unfortunate events occurred, that as she sat in Miss Suzette's bedroom, bragging about the various lovely things her papa had purchased for her in Paris, she heard a horrible low moan, like that of a creature in pain. Shortly after, the girls began to hear loud banging noises coming from behind the walls. Miss Peabody became quite frightened, and poor Miss Suzette didn't seem know what to do. Gradually the sounds grew closer and closer to Miss Peabody until they seemed to be upon her. This was followed by a long and eerie silence, during which Miss Suzette tried to come up with some sort of plausible and non-alarming excuse for having such sounds in one's bedroom. Before she could come up with anything good, the disreputable phantom let out a fearsome wail that rattled every windowpane in the house. At this point, Miss Peabody let out a cry of her own and after shouting several disrespectful and unladylike phrases at Miss Suzette, she ran crying from the house. When questioned about the events Miss Suzette said, "I don't care a fig for Miss Prudence Peabody or her rich, British papa!" While it may be true that Miss Peabody has a most abysmal sense of humor, the question of whether or not Miss Suzette will ever be able to make a friend with such an unreasonable and rampageous ghost as her companion still remains to be seen." Here, Suzette paused again and looked at Erik. He had finished his cereal and placed the mask on his face so that his reaction was unreadable. He sat a long time in silence, looking at her through his mask. Suddenly, the silence was broken by the shrill voice of Othello, who sat on the floor nearby, staring at one of the tropical birds above them. "Oh, very well done, you great humbug of a ghost! You've gone and spoiled the little girl's fun! I am ashamed to be called your cat!"

Suzette turned back to the paper, "In is the opinion of this columnist, however, that if Suzette is ever to make a friend, she must be allowed to leave the garden and go to the village by herself."

"My word!" Erik exclaimed, "That is a rather plucky writer!"

"It's the least you can do, you scoundrel! I've never heard of such disgraceful behavior!"

"Quiet you!" said Erik, "I have no intention of being lectured by a cat!"

"You great humbug!" Othello repeated under his breath. Suzette looked at him with her wide, blue eyes.

"Please? I am thirteen years old now, aren't I? Thirteen is very nearly grown-up!" Erik pondered the question for a moment. It had been nearly three years since they had moved to the house in the sun and they had yet to see even a shadow of their adversaries. Suzette was much bigger now and it was important that she get the chance to play with other children.

"Very well then my dear little Suzette. You may go out and have your adventure on the conditions that your return before sunset, and that you always remember that no matter what happens out there, I am always your friend." Suzette laughed and embraced him.

"Humph!" exclaimed Othello as he winked his green eyes at his master and mistress, "Some friend indeed! I've got my eye on you, you detestable trouble-maker!"

"Quiet, cat!" Erik retorted.

"Quiet yourself, ghost!" the cat grumbled.

And so it was that Suzette set off for the village, eager for the very first adventure she'd ever had on her own. She followed the road down a little ways, keeping an eye on her surroundings. She didn't want to get lost on her first time out. Erik would be beside himself with worry if she didn't come back on time, and if he had to come looking for her in the middle of the night, he might never allow her out again. She resolved that as long as the remained on the road into town, she would not get lost.

The day was a little chilly, but the sun was bright and warm and she could feel its rays on her shoulders and hair. The road was broken and rutted from decades of wagons traveling through mud, and here and there she found a piece of a broken wheel or axle. At one point, such a wagon went by and she waved to the driver, who looked at her curiously, then smiled and waved back. She had been walking for nearly an hour when she came to a little footpath that branched off the road to her left. She had meant to go to the village to see the school there and hopefully find other children to play with, but something about this quiet little path enchanted her. She resolved to continue down the path a bit and see where it led.

She hadn't been walking very long, when she noticed the sound of a stream. She thought there must be some water running parallel to this path and she quickened her pace, hoping to find a place where she could get close enough to the water to get a drink. Suddenly the trail divided again and an even smaller trail veered off in the direction of the water, and up a steep hill. She used branches and the roots of trees to pull herself to the top and peaked through the weeds and brush and saw a little stream gurgling a few feet away, below her. She lowered herself down slowly and removed her shoes before stepping into the cool water. She knelt down and filled her hands with water so she could drink. When she had her fill, she straightened up and listened around her. She was certain she heard the sound of voices, but was uncertain of the direction they came from. Where they further downstream in the creek bed, on the path above her, or somewhere in the woods on the other side? Forgetting her precautions to keep from getting lost, she headed downstream to where she thought she heard the voices.

As she moved closer she heard the voices growing louder. She rounded a bend and beheld several boys and girls in ragged clothing, playing together in the creek bed. She peeked out at the children from the shadow of a large tree trunk that had toppled over to form a natural bridge across the rocky stream. She saw three large boys running and splashing through the water. They were barefoot and laughing as they stumbled clumsily over the slick stones beneath them. Two girls sat on a rock ledge, just above the water's churning surface watching them and shrieking indignantly whenever they came close enough to splash them with icy water. Suzette could hear the shouts and see the forms of other children racing through the brush on the other side. Every now and then, a boy or girl would emerge on the trail and run down to the bank, shouting gleefully. Suzette observed a smaller boy take a running start and catch hold of a rope that someone had fastened to a tree branch above. The woods were then filled with his exclamations of joy as he swung wildly back and forth over the creek bed. Suzette watched with excitement and yearned to give it a try.

Suddenly, she was alarmed by a snapping sound which came from the massive tree roots behind her. She backed off from it, praying it wasn't a snake. Then she looked above her and saw a small, fair-haired boy with large blue eyes, not two meters from where she sat hunched beneath. His handsome face was twisted with concentration as his hands reached timidly for some branches a foot away from him. He was clearly afraid of falling onto the rocky surface beneath him and Suzette noticed that the pupils of his lovely, blue eyes never stayed fixed, but trembled back and forth constantly. Suzette wondered if he were blind. Suddenly, he called out to the other children.

"Help me, Etienne!" One of the bigger boys glanced over and laughed.

"You got yourself up there, Mathieu, now you may get yourself down!"

"Martine, please?" Whether either of the girls on the bank was Martine, Suzette couldn't tell, for neither of them stirred or even looked in the boy's direction. Suzette looked up again and saw that the boy had inched close enough to grab the roots and his small frame was now handing from one of them as he struggled to get his footing on another branch which was feet further then he could ever stretch his little legs. Before Suzette could even shout a warning, the root gave way and Mathieu collapsed to the ground so close to Suzette that she could have reached out to touch him with very little trouble. He landed square on his feet, but then toppled over forward and landed on his hands. He gave a little cry and then slowly got back to his feet. He drew his breath sharply and Suzette saw that his hands were scratched and covered with mud. He stepped forward slowly, toward the water, reaching out until his bare feet found the cool water. He then reached down and rinsed his hands in the stream. Suzette came a bit further out from the tree trunk and watched him, hoping he wasn't too badly hurt.

Suddenly the boy turned about and his eyes fell upon Suzette. She froze and stared at him, wondering if he could see her. His eyes stared straight at her, but the boy was silent for several long moments. She was nearly sure that he couldn't see her at all and it was only coincidental that his eyes seemed fixed on her, when he said in his small voice, "What are you doing back there?"

"I-I was just watching," Suzette stammered. He remained still and Suzette began to wonder if he had even heard her, when he replied rather softly, "Oh." The boy crept closer to her and seemed to drink her in. The merry voices of the other children continued, but Suzette felt swallowed by silence.

"I'm called Mathieu, what is your name, please?"

"I'm Suzette," she replied, relieved that the silence was broken.

"That's a nice name," Mathieu said politely, "Where do you live?" Suzette pointed in the direction she had come from and said, "That way, a good bit out from the village."

"Oh," said Mathieu and he pointed as well, "That's my Aunt Anne's house just back there. I live with her now. My parents are dead." Suzette was somewhat taken aback at the blatant way he said this and she struggled to come up with a response.

"Do you like it there?" Mathieu was silent for a long time again before he answered, "Yes. I do." Suzette was relieved, because she didn't want this pleasant little fellow to have any more unhappiness.

"Those are my cousins, Etienne and Martine," he told her pointing to the crowd of children. Suzette nodded and there was another long silence. She wondered if Mathieu had seen her nod or not.

"I am an orphan as well," she said. Mathieu's expression changed to one of surprise.

"Did you run away from the gypsies?" he asked in an amazed voice.

"No, I've never with any gypsies."

" My Aunt Anne says that orphans who don't have any Aunt Anne are often sold to gypsies."

"How horrid!" Suzette exclaimed, "But I didn't go to any gypsies. I went to the orphanage, and then I was rescued by Erik."

"Who is Erik?" Mathieu asked. Suzette wasn't sure what to tell him.

"Erik is a ghost," she said with uncertainty.

"A real ghost?" he asked as his eyes lit up with excitement.

"Fairly real. I live in his house now."

"Is it a haunted house?"

"Well, I suppose it is." Suddenly, Mathieu's look of amazement became on of suspicion, "Are you a ghost too?" Suzette laughed.

"Well of course not!"

"Are you sure?"

"If I were a ghost, would I be outside playing in a creek bed?" His face brightened and he said, "No, of course not!"

"Mathieu, may I ask you a question?" she asked timidly.

"Certainly."

"Can you see?" Mathieu smiled at her and said, "Some things I can see."

"Can you see me?" she pressed.

"Yes."

The two of them sat on a ledge by the water for some time talking about ghosts and swapping stories. "I like ghost stories!" Mathieu said mischievously. Suzette was in the middle of a highly fabricated version of the events surrounding Prudence Peabody's abrupt departure from her bedroom, when Mathieu pointed his tiny, thin finger toward the water's edge and cried, "Whatever is that?" Suzette followed his gaze and ran down to the stream to investigate. She came back with her arms dripping wet and clutching a very handsome turtle, which she proudly showed to Mathieu.

"He's so pretty," Mathieu cooed as she admired his textured shell and wrinkled appendages. "Let's go show him to the others, Suzette!"

Mathieu, Suzette, and the turtle made their way toward where the other children were.

"Look, Martine! Look at this turtle!" Martine glanced at the turtle and let out a piercing shriek.

"Augh! Mathieu! Get it away! Put that ugly thing back in the water!"

"He's not ugly!" Mathieu exclaimed with indignation.

"Hey, let me see that!" said Etienne boisterously as he snatched the unfortunate turtle away. Suzette noticed with dismay that Mathieu's cousin was even larger up close.

"Give him back!" Mathieu cried.

"I have a better idea!" Etienne said calmly, "We can use this turtle to play a game. You wanted to play with us didn't you Mathieu?" Mathieu nodded slowly. Suzette had a sick feeling in her stomach. She didn't even want to imagine what this great bully intended to do to that turtle. The unfortunate creature seemed to realize his precarious situation for he had stuffed himself completely into his shell and sealed it shut.

"Well right now we are going to play pirates," Etienne continued, "And this turtle is going to be the hostage!" and with that he tossed the turtle to his friend, who caught it sloppily, and hollered, "To the pirate cave, mate's!" and the creek bed echoed with their war cries as they ran off into the woods.

"No, bring him back!" Mathieu screamed as they disappeared, "Make them come back, Martine." Martine just shrugged and said, "Don't be a baby, Mathieu. It's only an ugly old turtle." Mathieu looked to Suzette with tears streaming down his face.

"Don't cry, Mathieu," she said softly, trying not to sound as uneasy as she felt, "I know exactly how to deal with pirates."

Mathieu led Suzette through a maze of paths until they came to a deep hole in the earth. Suzette saw that it was the stone foundation of a small building, which had been covered with spare bits of wood that generations of boys had found and strung together.

"They're in there," Mathieu told her and he showed her the entrance. Suzette mustered up all her courage and then called into the den, "Come out pirates! I've come to rescue the turtle!"

"Aren't you going in there?" Mathieu asked.

"No. You should never follow a pirate into their cave." At last, Etienne and his accomplices showed themselves.

"Go away, girl! You can't fight us!"

"I don't intend to fight you," Suzette said, trying to imitate Erik's cold, angry voice, "A gentleman should never fight a lady. But I will defeat you none the less." Etienne scowled at her.

"What, aren't you scared of us?"

"No, I'm not afraid of anything." Etienne stalked up to Suzette so that his nose was inches away from her own. "You're afraid of me. I'll wager I could make you scream, right enough." Suzette felt anger boiling inside her. No one had ever tried to intimidate her in this way.

"I'm not afraid of you or anyone, pirate," she hissed, "You don't know who you are dealing with."

"Very well then, me proud beauty," Etienne announced in his most terrifying pirate voice, "I will make you a deal. If you can make me or any of me mates scream first, then you may have the turtle back, but if you scream first…then you will have to walk the plank. Do you agree?" Suzette glared at him defiantly.

"I agree."

The boys spent the next hour coming up with ways to torture and terrify Suzette. The terms included that neither party could intentionally cause pain to the other, but anything else was fair game. Mathieu watched in horror as they boys tied her up and blindfolded her. They jumped out from behind trees and shouted boo! Then they searched the woods for horrible things to make her touch, telling her, "This is brains." Or "This is guts." They removed the blindfold and placed a small green snake on her lap. Etienne found an large and rather hairy spider and placed it on her forehead. One of the boy, called Peter, cringed at this for he secretly feared spiders above all else. "Oh, stop whimpering," said Suzette, "It's only a spider!" Next, they replace the blindfold and made wolf howls and shouted, "Oh no lads! It's a pack of wolves. Run for it!" and even Mathieu was taken in by this and scampered into the woods to escape the "wolves" before he realized that it was a trick. Suzette remained very calm through all of it. She was extraordinarily brave for a young girl, most likely due to her years of experience living with the most unreasonable of ghosts. The boys' admiration of her grew as she passed each new trial without as much as a shriek. When the boys had at last exhausted their imaginations they let her go and Etienne said haughtily, "Well you still shall not get your turtle back me lady, for you will never make us scream."

During the whole episode, Suzette had been wracking her little brain for a way to make the boys scream. Erik had played every sort of terrifying trick on her, and by the time it was her turn, she knew exactly what to do.

"I can make you scream with this!" she declared triumphantly as she reaching in her pocket. All the boys drew back, but then laughed when they saw that all she held was a pack of cards.

"You are going to make us scream with a pack of cards?"

"Yes I will," said she, "Come and get in a circle around me and I will show you. You as well, Mathieu!"

Suzette showed them the pack and they passed it around and all agreed that it was an everyday pack of cards. She fanned the pack upside-down so they couldn't see the faces and said to Etienne, "Draw a card but don't show me the face." Etienne did as he was told smugly. He drew a two-of-clubs.

"Now take this lead and mark it so you will know it, then place it back, anywhere in the deck." Etienne obeyed.

"Now I will show you your card," she said and she flipped the deck over and to their surprise, every one of the cards was a two-of-clubs.

"That's not a very good trick!" said Etienne, "You just switched the deck somehow."

"Oh, really? Yes, I switched deck just like this. Mathieu, would you be good enough to wave your right hand over the deck?" Mathieu looked puzzled, but did as she asked. Suzette then flipped the deck once more and the backs of all the cards, which had previously been a deep blue, oriental design had become a black spider-web. All the boys gasped in astonishment.

"But what good would a spider-web be without a spider?" Suzette asked and she turned to Peter and said, "Please wave your left hand over the deck." Peter raised his hand timidly and waved it over the deck and there on the back of his hand was the same ugly, big spider that they had set on Suzette earlier. Peter screamed so loud that every bird in the vicinity took flight. The poor spider, who had spent a weary afternoon being the entertainment of mindless children, tumbled to the ground and scampered off into the dust. The boys drew their breath and stared at her in amazement.

"That was a brilliant trick!" Etienne exclaimed at last, "Where on earth did you learn it?"

"From Erik," Suzette replied blushing.

"Who is Erik?" they asked.

"He's the ghost she lives with," Mathieu piped, "Now give me back my turtle!" The turtle was returned to him, and Suzette spent the rest of the day telling ghost stories to Mathieu and the other boys.

"I love ghost stories!" said Mathieu happily.

At sunset, Suzette returned from her adventure to find the main floor of the house in a shambles. There were glass orbs and coils of wire everywhere and someone had drawn several lines and arrows all over the wall.

"Erik?" she called into the dark, gloomy room and suddenly she was blinded as each and every orb filled up with the brightest light she had ever seen. Momentarily her sight came back to her, though there were little yellow specks on everything she saw.

"Oh there you are, dear! How was your trip into town?"

"Very nice. What are you up to in here?" Erik laughed and said, "What this? I was bored with you gone so I set to wiring all the rooms in main floor for electric lights. The dining room already had some, but I wanted it everywhere. I much prefer it to the old gas lamps. It'll be much cooler in the hot weather and you don't have that awful smell all the time. I hope to have the whole house done by this summer! Aren't they lovely?"

"They are very bright!" said Suzette, still blinking profusely.

"Yes they are indeed. All the better for one's eyes." Suzette giggled at that.

"Erik, you can see just as well in the dark as Othello can!" Erik laughed again and said, "Oh, that reminds me! I think that your old cat is warming up to me after all! Earlier, when I was trying to thread the wiring through the walls, he kept batting at the switches and making the lights go on and off. He was trying to help me, the little dear! Would you believe that, Suzette?"

"I did nothing of the sort, you impertinent monster!" came Othello's angry voice from the hallway, "I was hoping to electrocute the blackguard!"

"Oh, dear!" Erik exclaimed and Suzette giggled again.

"Don't worry." she whispered solemnly, "Othello can't electrocute you if he expects to be fed."

"That's right!" he responded cheerfully, "Dead people rarely feed their pets!" and together they started on setting the room straight while Suzette told him about Mathieu and the turtle.