A/N: Wow, it's summer. Can't believe it! No school… WOOT! That means that I get bored more easily. And when I get bored, I write. And when I write, I write fanfiction, among other things. I already have the next chapter and most of the one after that written. I want to hear your thoughts on this one before I put it up, though. So please, review and then I can put up the next chapter! I shall now respond to the reviews from last chapter…

Mominator- Wow! Your dictionary must be a lot bigger than mine. Mine just has on definition, and no word origin. I'm glad you liked it, too!

Kchan88- I know, it can be funny to see times clash!

Arwen1604- I'm glad that you like my time travel story, and I'm glad that I'm not the only one who calls them published fanficion. (and I have seen all of the Star Wars ones, I haven't read them tho'.)

Lunasariel- I don't really think it will be a Kite vs. Alex situation. At least in this story. (ponders sequel) Sorry if that's what you were hoping for.

I don't own the wonderful story or the wonderful characters (drools over certain character) of Phantom of the Opera.

Quote:

Putting on a mask of black silk and drawing a roquelaire closely about my person…

The Cask of Amontillado, by Edgar Allen Poe (I looked up roquelaire and my dictionary said it was a cloak thing that goes down to the knees. Ah, well.)

Oh! Also, I re-tell a Greek myth in this chapter. I don't own that, and I tell the version I learned. I'm also sorry if I offend anyone (cultural stuff?)

After they had all finished eating, Kat and her new friends started to walk back to the dormitory. Kat saw Kite and Alex loitering about the door, Alex pretending to tie his shoe, though Kat could see he was just fiddling with the laces. Down the hall a bit Kat managed to slip away from the other girls, saying that she wanted a word with Christine. She hurried back to Kite and Alex.

"I think that girls giggle even more in this time than in the present, if that's possible," she said.

"What about?" Alex asked. Kat stared at him.

"Well, boys, etc." She said.

"Ah," Alex mumbled, "but can you believe that we have to do ballet? I mean, I thought we were going to sing not dance!" Kat laughed.

"You know, I said almost the same thing! But I don't think it's too bad. Madame Giry's a good teacher, better than my old one, at any rate." Alex made a face.

"We've got this old guy who's half insane teaching us," he said, "and what do you mean, better than your old one?" Kat shrugged.

"I used to take ballet in the fifth grade, but I didn't like it because I was too fat."

"Too fat?" Alex repeated in disbelief. "Even I know that half the girls at school would give almost anything for your figure. And this is me! Mr. Drama-Geek, who knows a grand total of nil about any of the gossip."

"Ah, Mr. Drama-Geek," Kite said, "I'll have to remember that." Alex glared at him.

"It's true," Kat insisted, "that I used to be fat. And short. Then in eighth grade I had this huge growth spurt, and I thinned out."

"Which middle school did you go to?" Alex asked, "Because I only met you in the high school's drama club, but maybe you went to my school?" Kat shook her head.

"No, my family moved here after I finished eighth grade, so you wouldn't have known me. But I took ballet for a year. The first half was all right, but then in the second half we actually had to dance, and that was when it started to become bad. I didn't complain though, because my parents had already paid for a year. At the end of the year I got to be in a performance.

"It was a tiny part, just big enough so that my parents could get photos, but that was when I learned what I really wanted to do. I wanted to be the person singing, not the person dancing. So when my parents asked me if I wanted to continue ballet, I said that I wanted to try something else. When I asked about singing, they signed me up for a choir, and I've been singing ever since."

"Neat," Alex said, "but on to a more pressing issue - how are we ever going to find time to talk? They seem to keep the girls completely away from the boys, and vice versa. We'll never be able to just meet somewhere and talk."

"You seem to have found a way, nonetheless," someone said. The three jumped and turned to see Christine and Meg standing in the doorway.

"Don't worry," Meg said, "it's not usually this organized. You can probably find somewhere to talk once things settle down and go back to the usual chaos." Christine laughed.

"Yes, most of the rehearsing actually takes place a few days before the performance." She said.

Over the next few days Kat began to see how the organized way of things began to dissolve. When she rushed (late) into the room where the chorus practiced only to find that it was meeting in the after noon instead of the morning, she found that she suddenly had rather a lot of free time to use up before she had to be anywhere.

Kat immediately went in search of Kite and Alex, figuring that they would also not have anything to do. She found them with Raoul, which was no surprise. What did surprise her was what they were doing.

Fencing? She thought that Alex hated fencing.

"No, Alex, hold it a bit higher!" Raoul instructed. Kat watched with amusement as Alex adjusted his hands, and then struck out with his sword at Raoul. Raoul blocked, and then returned the strike. Kat cheered and they noticed her.

"Wow, do you think I could learn too?" She asked eagerly.

"Pardon?" Raoul looked astounded. "Mademoiselle, I'm afraid that I don't know what you mean." Kat realized what he was thinking.

"Never mind, I'm not really dressed for it anyway," she said, tugging at her dress. Raoul looked relieved that he wouldn't have to explain that ladies never fenced. Kat sat and watched the swordplay, a little miffed that Alex and Kite could have fun learning, but she couldn't. Finally she stood and wandered out of the room, wondering if any of her chorus friends would be nearby.

She didn't find her friends, but she did find a large group of the young children who were in ballet. Several of them begged her to stay and play with them since they were bored. Kat smiled and obliged. When she heard a church bell tolling noon, she managed to get away from the children and go to see where the chorus was having practice. Alex and Kite rushed in slightly late, but nobody noticed, they were all to busy trying to watch the carpenters putting up the new scenery.

"Everyone, attend!" Someone cried, but no one paid any attention, and the next attempts to gain order were drowned in the applause that followed the lowering of the new backdrop. Kat agreed that it was very beautiful and looked lifelike. Nothing much got done that day, except some weak scales, but Kat had a lot of fun.

The next day, much to Kite and Alex's relief, there was no ballet again. They asked Kat if she minded if they spent the time with Raoul, learning more fencing. Kat shrugged, and said she didn't mind.

"Are you sure?" Alex persisted. "We don't want you to feel left out," Kat smiled but shook her head.

"No, I can see that you really want to. Don't worry, you go have fun, and I'll see you at dinner."

"See, maybe, but speak to? Not a chance." Alex said. Kat shooed them off and then went to see if she could find the children she had played with the other day.

As Kat walked down the hall she heard footsteps behind her and turned. She grinned when she saw almost all of the young girls who were in ballet converging on her. She had never been overly fond of children, babysitting was just a job. But she always seemed to be a kid-magnet, using the term her mother had thought up.

"I guess some things never change," She said to her self as she braced for impact. The group of kids glomped onto her.

"Kat, Kat!" They cried, "Kat, play with us! Tell us a story!" Kat smiled.

"A story, hm?" She asked. They all nodded.

"Yes, yes, please, Kat! Wonderful ones, like the ones you told yesterday!" She picked up one of the youngest.

"Weeeeeeell," she said, "I guess there might be time for just one story." The children shouted with joy. "Where shall I tell it?" Kat asked. They led her to the room that she had met them in. She settled down, and they all sat around her.

Kat thought rather desperately. She had already told many of the Disney stories the other day, and she was running a bit short. Then a story from her English class popped into her head. She smiled. It was slightly fitting, after all...

"Well," she said, "I'll tell you a Greek story, a myth that is how ancient Greeks explained the summer and winter. Would you like to hear that?" All of her audience nodded eagerly. "So," Kat began, "There was once a goddess of grain. Her name was Demeter. Demeter had a daughter who was very beautiful, and her name was Persephone...

One day Persephone was out gathering flowers. She was singing and dancing in the field. Suddenly the dark lord of the underworld, Hades, saw her. He immediately fell in love with her, and decided to make her his bride, his queen of the underworld. Persephone was singing and dancing, when a giant crack opened up in the earth! Out of it came Hades, in his black chariot drawn by four black horses. He grabbed Persephone and was about to take her down when a herdsman arrived. He had heard Persephone's screams, but when Hades saw him, he rode him down and killed him. Hades didn't want anyone to know where he had taken Persephone.

When Demeter came to look for her daughter, she was dismayed by her absence. She found the scattered flowers that Persephone had dropped, and she found the dead herdsman. She began to search the meadow, calling for her daughter, but Persephone was nowhere to be found for she was in the underworld where Hades had taken her. He kept her there, and she walked in his gardens, but she missed the real sun and her mother. Demeter was full of grief, and while she was so, nothing would grow. The earth became cold, and all of the food ran out. Zeus, the king of all the gods and goddesses, saw that everyone was starving, so he looked for Persephone as well. When he discovered that Hades had her, he commanded him to give her back to her mother so that things would grow again.

Hades was deeply in love with Persephone, and he agreed that she could return but only if she had not eaten anything in the underworld. He brought Persephone to his chariot, which he had parked next to a pomegranate tree. He went to get his horses, and Persephone looked at the fruit. She was overjoyed that she would soon be back under the sun with her mother. To celebrate, she took a pomegranate and ate some of it. When Persephone and Hades arrived back on earth, she and her mother rejoiced. But then Zeus asked if she had eaten anything in the underworld. Persephone confessed that she had eaten some of a pomegranate.

When she heard this, Demeter - who knew the condition Hades had set down - started to weep. She swore that if she and her daughter would be parted, she would die. Zeus decided that since Persephone had eaten six of the seeds of the pomegranate, she would stay in the underworld with Hades for six months every year. The other six she would spend with her mother. And that's why the world grows cold, and nothing grows during the winter. Because Persephone is down in the underworld, and Demeter is weeping, wishing for her back. Then when she returns, everything bursts into life and it is spring.

Kat smiled. The ballet girls all nodded. "It's like Christine, and the Phantom." One of them whispered. Kat grinned, she had wondered if any of them would see the parallels.

"Only a bit," she admitted.

Behind the wall the phantom turned away from where he had been listening. Hades and Persephone, he mused. That girl certainly had a strange sense of humor, telling such tales in his opera house. He returned to his home in the cellar and proceeded to ponder the script he had borrowed from Kite. After reading it several times and humming a few bars of one of the songs, he started to inspect the strange disk he had also taken.

It was rather reflective on one side and it showed the rainbow when held to the light correctly. He couldn't figure out what it was for. With a sigh of annoyance he tossed it aside with the script, before sitting down at his organ and starting to play.

Yes, that thing he stole is a CD. Did you guess? And the myth plays a part in the next chapter, so please try to remember it! Review!