I have made you all suffer enough on the fate of our tiny Jacqueline. Will she be found or will she suffer more within the darkness of her grandfather's domain? Well you'll soon see.

Chapter 63: Search and Rescue

It wasn't till the following morning that Christine shifted in her sleep knocking the toy from her hand. The sudden movement caused her to sit up and look around. Right away her eyes went to the floor where the toy now lay. Quickly she jumped up pulling the cape along with her, awaking Erik, as she grabbed the toy and ran into Jacqueline's bedroom.

Frantically she threw the blankets aside hoping this was just one of Jacqueline's games, but the bed was empty and so were her other hiding places. "Oh my god," she whispered as she looked at the toy once again. "Erik! Erik, come quickly!"

Erik was in the room the minute she called for him. He looked first at her then to the empty bed. Christine was clutching the toy tightly to her breast and tears were coming to her eyes.

"Jacqueline's gone. She's never done this before Erik."

The second "gone" had reached his ears Erik feared for his granddaughter's life. He quickly left the room and went to the water's edge; walking up and down along the shore in a panicked frenzy searching for her just in case she got to close to the water's edge. But he was grateful when no sign of her was apparent in the water. But there weren't many places she could go if that was her plan. All the mechanisms on the mirror were too high for her to reach.

Christine came out to him and looked at him. "What do we tell Lotte?"

Erik said nothing as he brushed past her and took up the cape, draping it over his shoulders. As he sat down on the couch to tie his shoes he gave her some very simple instructions. "Tell her the truth, but that I'm going out to look for her. Seeing as I built these tunnels I'd know which are accessible to her and which aren't. I'll bring her back," he said standing up.

"Bring who back?" Lotte asked as she came out of the bedroom dressed in a robe. "I heard raised voices."

Christine gulped and Erik grew pale. Neither of them had the heart to tell Lotte what had happened, but finally Christine went over to her daughter and explained everything. As Lotte listened her eyes grew wide with fear and her hands began to shake.

"…don't worry your Father is going out to look for her. He'll bring her back safely."

"I'm going with you!" Lotte demanded.

"No, you don't know half of these tunnels like I do. It's not safe," Erik said as he studied a blueprint of the cellars. "I won't allow someone else to get trapped down there. It's bad enough that she's down there now."

"I don't care. You always told me I would understand some day what's it like to have my child take off when I'm not looking and now I understand how you felt every time I disappeared. Please Father; I have to find my baby."

Clearly an understanding had taken place between the two of them just now. Erik had witnessed so many firsts for his daughter, but the fact that she now knew what it meant to be a parent hit hard and he smiled at her. "All right; hurry and get ready. I don't want to leave her down there much longer."

Lotte hurried into her room and got dressed arousing Pierre from his sleep. She explained to him what happened. Right away he too volunteered, but Lotte explained that it was best he stay behind with her mother and his parents. She knew the tunnels better than he did and she didn't want him to get hurt.

Pierre was reluctant, but finally agreed. "Bring our baby home Lotte."

"I will." They shared a long kiss before Lotte donned a cloak as well and followed her father up the tunnel.

"Do you have any idea where to look?" she asked as Erik went on ahead with the torch.

"I have one idea where and we're not far from it, but we have to be quick. This particular tunnel is usually empty, but once in awhile the water from the lake is lowered to make room for more. Seeing as the Opera House didn't function for so many years it has remained empty and dried out, but seeing as it's up and running again…" he trailed off thinking of what could happen.

"What? Are you saying it's possible that she could drown in sewage if we don't get her out of there?"

"Not exactly those words, but yes."

Lotte gasped as Erik started pushing on the stones along the wall at about the height of his knee. Finally he found the panel and pushed in the stone making the entire wall disappear. Holding out the torch he saw the jump wasn't too bad, but getting back out was going to be a bit of a problem.

"I'll go first than I'll help you in," he said handing her the torch. Gripping the sides of the wall he jumped into the lower tunnel and crunched up like a cat as he hit the ground. He ended up landing in the same puddle Jacqueline had and he growled for now his gloves were all wet.

He reached back and had Lotte sit on the edge of the opening, so he could gently lift her down and settle her on the ground. Taking back the torch he looked down at the ground to see that the water was rising. "We don't have a lot of time. It takes about an hour to fill the tunnel and judging by how much water is in here already it'll take another 50 minutes before it's full."

"Then let's hurry."

They chose one of the tunnel paths and hurried down it calling out Jacqueline's name as they went. The water began to rise every now and again and it smelled awful. Rats scurried past them trying to escape from the rising water as well.

"JACQUELINE! WHERE ARE YOU?" Lotte screamed into the darkness.

"JACQUELINE!" Erik called as well hoping she would hear them.

xxxxx

Jacqueline had gotten up some time earlier. Luckily, even though she didn't know it, she was far enough down the tunnel that the water hadn't reached her yet. She looked out into the darkness feeling so lonely. Her stomach growled in hunger and she clutched it as it wretched with pain.

"Mama," she sobbed sadly as she walked back up the tunnel with no idea where she was going; the need to eat being the only thing driving her to go on. The smell of the sewage finally drifted past her nose causing her to gag.

That's when the familiar voices of her mother and her grandfather reached her ears from up ahead. "Mama! GRANPA!" she shouted as loud as she could and started running towards them, but the water was rising even higher and her feet were swept from under her. "Mama!"

"This way," Erik said leading the way through the water which was now up around their legs. "This is where I heard her."

They soon stood where Erik had heard the voice when a hand popped up over the water. Erik reached into the water pulling Jacqueline up. She coughed and clung to him tightly. "Granpa?" she squeaked softly.

Erik smiled at her, then felt the water come up along the back of his legs. "We can't go back the way we came. We'll have to go out through the end of the tunnel. Quickly this way."

Carrying Jacqueline and making Lotte take the lead he instructed her in which way to go. Traveling as quick as they cold through the icy sewage, which was now up to their waists, they soon came into an area where the tunnel seemed to shoot up towards the ceiling. A raft was floating a top the water.

Erik instructed Lotte to climb onto it and then handed her Jacqueline. Sitting in the middle of the raft so as to counterweight it they watched as Erik climbed up on to the raft and slowly came over by them. "Now we wait until the water rises and takes us up the tunnel."

"Where does it lead to?" Lotte asked.

"There's a stairwell up above us and another one of my torture rooms. But the tunnel and the room were built away from each other, so we don't have to worry about drowning or anything like that. We just need to be aware that at the top is a trap door that we have to pull open and pull shut before the upper levels flood."

"So what's this here for?"

"I already told you the tunnel drains out…"

"No, I know about the tunnel. I mean the raft. Why is that here?"

"Oh, well let's just say I ended up in here a few times and do you know how hard it is to pull open a trap door and pull yourself out while treading water? So I built the raft in case it happened again. This is an updated version however seeing as the last one I made wasn't very sturdy and old."

Jacqueline sat in her mother's arms shivering. She couldn't understand how it was they were so calm about this while she was terrified beyond reason. The thought of nearly drowning back there in the tunnel was frightening. "Granpa?" she murmured

"Yes, Princess?"

"Thank you for saving me," she said looking up at him.

"Why did you run away in the first place?" he asked her.

"I wanted the fighting to stop. Everyone was fighting over me, so I thought if I left the fighting would leave too."

"Why didn't you just say so? We would have listened to you," Lotte said calmly.

"I was scared," Jacqueline said futzing with her nightgown.

Erik reached over and took her into his arms. "It's okay to be scared sometimes. I was scared today."

"You were?"

Erik nodded. "I almost thought you drowned in the lake. I frantically searched it praying to god it wasn't true. I would hate if something happened to any of you."

Jacqueline felt awful scaring him like that and reached up to touch the mask. "I'm sorry Granpa. I didn't mean to scare you."

A tear slide down the mask and fell onto her hand. She looked at his eyes and saw he was crying. "I'm just glad to see that you're okay. I would have hated not being able to hold you or play with you again. I love you Jacqueline."

"I love you too Granpa and Mama."

The three of them shared a loving hug. Three generations of underground inhabitants waiting to reappear in the outside world. For awhile nothing mattered more than the three of them there together cheating death once again. Safe from harm as it should be.

"Father look there's the trap door," Lotte said pointing up towards the ceiling of the tunnel.

Erik looked up and saw they weren't far from it. "Sit in the middle and stay still. This has to been done fast and slipups are not allowed at this time," he said handing Jacqueline back to Lotte and waiting till they were in the middle of the raft before he stood up.

Reaching up he grabbed the handle of the trapdoor and gave it a sharp tug, but it didn't budge. Putting all his weight into it he gave a few good tugs easing the trap door open. "Okay Lotte I'll boost you up first, and then I'll hand you Jacqueline."

"Okay." Lotte said. She instructed Jacqueline to stay put and stood up making sure to keep her balance upon the raft. Erik cupped his hands together and allowed Lotte to lean on his shoulder, so she could step up and disappear through the hole.

"Mama!" Jacqueline cried out.

Lotte poked her head over the opening. "I'm right here darling. Come up to Mama," she said reaching out her arms.

Erik lifted Jacqueline up and Lotte grabbed onto her pulling her up to the opening and placing her on the steps next to her. Once Jacqueline was settled Lotte looked back down into the tunnel and reached her hands out to her father. "Grab hold I'll pull you out," she said a spark of determination in her voice.

Erik grabbed hold and used all the upper body strength he had to pull himself up without pulling Lotte back in. As soon as he was on solid ground he reached back in and pulled the trap door shut. He fell against the railing panting. "We did it," he said weakly.

"Where do we go from here?" Lotte asked taking Jacqueline into her arms again.

"Just down these stairs and through the mirror in your bedroom. Up above us are the dormitories."

"Impressive. You thought of everything didn't you?"

Erik stood and gave a smirk. "Probably not everything. There are still a lot of things I don't know about and wish to learn. Someday I'm sure I will."

Together they traveled down the stairs and reappeared in the bedroom. Jacqueline was glad to be home and she hugged her mother tightly. Erik ushered them out into the music room where they were greeted with hugs and kisses except when Christine hugged Erik and stepped back in disgust. "What is that smell?"

"Sewage. Jacqueline found her way into the drainage tunnel," Erik said. "That explains the smell."

"Remind me to take that suit to the cleaners tomorrow. Lotte I'll take yours and Jacqueline's also."

"Thank you my love," Erik said hoping for a kiss, but Christine pushed him back.

"Not till you take a bath and wash twice."

"Yes Mother," Erik mocked.

"So why did she run away in the first place?" Charlotte asked looking in Jacqueline's direction.

"She's sick of us fighting over her. Everything was brought up way to quickly and she just needs some time to adjust to what's going on around her," Lotte replied.

Charlotte understood and held out her hand to Jacqueline. "How about we wipe the slate clean and start all over again sweetie? Friends?"

Jacqueline looked to her mother for reassurance and Lotte nodded. Jacqueline turned back to Charlotte and with a smile took her grandmother's hand. "Friends!"

Awwww, isn't that cute? Another happy ending for the family living below the Opera House. Next chapter Jacqueline gets a bit older and we find out what happened to Andre and Firmin. Please review!