Chapter 5

A knock at the door interrupted Elle's practicing. She took her slender fingers from the keys and asked in a melodious voice, "Yes?"

"Excuse me Mademoiselle," the cultured voice of Madame Giry replied. Elle found that although the woman seemed stern on the outside, and probably would treat the girls that way, she was kind and polite to her and her family. "But I wanted you to meet my daughter."

"Of course," Elle said, getting up from her piano and closing the sheets of music before heading to open her door. When she did, standing in front of her was Giry and a woman who looked about a year or two older than her. She had a youthful face and pale blonde hair. Elle could not see any resemblance of the mother in her daughter.

"This is my Meg," Giry continued, directed towards Elle. She seemed satisfied with the introduction, and turned to leave. "I'll leave you two to your own devices, I have to go check up on something."

"Hi," Elle said to the young woman with a friendly smile, although she really had no interest in meeting Madame Giry's family. "My name is Elle. It's nice to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine Mademoiselle," Meg responded. "Would you like to come with me and meet the other girls? They are all huddled up in the ballet foyer. We don't start rehearsals for a couple of days, so now everyone is sitting around telling stories."

Not wanting to be rude, Elle agreed and walked with her new acquaintance down to the foyer. There were girls ranging from about seven years old all the way up to Meg's age, and she was sure that there were more than just who was there. They walked in during the beginning of a story, which a girl that looked about a year younger than Elle was telling while surrounded by the little ones.

"Persephone was a beautiful young woman. Everyone loved her for her beauty, and none put next to her could compare. She was so lovely that even Hades, the dark God of the underworld, was entranced by her and decided that he wanted her for himself," the young woman said, emphasizing certain parts as every good story-teller knows to do.

The girls urged her to continue. "So, one day, Persephone went out to collect flowers on the plain of Enna. Right as she was bending down to pick another flower, the earth suddenly opened up before her. Out of the gap came Hades himself. He kidnapped her and brought her with him back down to the underworld."

"So what happened?" an innocent sounding little girl asked, and Elle's eyes traveled from her back to the story-teller. She had never heard this tale before, and she was interested in what was going to happen as well.

"Well, her mother Demeter was very upset at the disappearance. She loved her daughter and wanted her back. When she found out what happened she withdrew into loneliness, and the earth ceased to be fertile. Zeus, Persephone's father, sent Hermes down to the underworld in order to get Hades to send Persephone back. He finally agreed to, but first he gave her a pomegranate. She ate it, thinking it harmless, but from then on she was bound to the underworld forever."

"Wasn't there anything she could do?" another girl asked.

"No," she answered, and continued the story. "She had to stay there one-third of every year. The rest of the year she would stay with her mother. When she was with Hades, her mother would be miserable and refuse to let anything grow. That is why we have winter."

The room grew silent for a second, and Meg spoke up. "Everyone, this is Elle. She is the owner's daughter."

Some welcomed her and others fell into their own private conversations. The girl who had been telling the Greek myth stepped forward and joined Elle and Meg over in the corner of the foyer. "Hello, I am Nadia."

"I loved your story," Elle commented truthfully. She noticed Meg wander off, but she kept her attention on who she was talking to. "Where did you ever learn of it?"

"My father was interested in mythology. Every night before he put me to sleep when I was little he would tell me a story, and they were always about the gods and goddesses. The one I told is my favorite out of all of them; it was the last one he told me before the accident."

"Accident?"

"He was a fisherman. One day his boat got caught in a storm and he never came back home," the girl sadly answered.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Elle replied, feeling bad about bringing up the death of the girl's father. She was lucky that she had never lost someone so close to her, and she could not even imagine what it must feel like for that to happen to someone.

"Yes," Nadia responded. Her head looked back up from poignant memories and a smile spread over her face. Elle noticed that she had honey brown eyes that a mischievous glint in them. Her pale skin had quite a contrast with her midnight black hair, which shined like it was wet, but it wasn't. "I have a brilliant idea. Come with me."

Elle had no idea what her new friend was talking about, but she followed her nonetheless. Even if she had not intended on following, it was too late, for the girl had grabbed her hand and pulled her along after her. Nadia led her through various hallways and rooms that she had only been to once before, during the tour, yet they kept walking.

They went up several sets of stairs, further and further until they were as far away from the ground as possible. Then, abruptly, they stopped. Elle bumped into the girl in front of her, surprised at the quick stop. Nadia opened the one door ahead of them, and walked through without waiting for her companion. Elle followed after her, not wanted to be left alone in a part of the building that she was not yet very familiar with.

How her acquaintance had gotten to be in such a short amount of time she did not know, but she stepped through the threshold and immediately felt like she was being blinded. They were on the roof of the opera house, and the sun was brightly shining its rays down on them. After a few moments Elle's eyes adjusted to the large amount of light, and she looked for Nadia.

She was standing by the edge, looking out at the city. Elle joined her, but was too weary of heights to lean as far out as her carefree friend did. The sight was something, and it is not everyday that one can get quite a view such as a tall building is willing to offer.

"It's beautiful," Nadia said, still looking out. "Isn't it?"

"Indeed," she answered. "I did not know that this was here. How did you?"

"Exploration, of course," the lighthearted girl responded with a laugh. "And my father's excellent sense of direction. We shouldn't stay long, the others may wonder where we have gotten to. Although, who knows, they may have forgotten about us by now."

Elle could perceive the humor in her voice, and even if her friend had been serious, the situation was highly improbable. They stayed there for a few more minutes, and then left the way they came. Nadia lead the way, even though Elle remembered clearly the path they had taken.

The girls parted at the foyer, Nadia returned to the other girls and Elle wandered back to her family's quarters. As she walked down the hallway, the sound of her father's voice caught her attention, and so she stopped to listen.

"You expect me to pay this man, or whatever he is, twenty thousand francs a month and give up a box to him at every performance?" Elle heard her father ask in a rather loud and incensed tone of voice. She could hear him pacing back and forth in the room.

"The previous owners did not listen to him," Madame Giry responded calmly. "And look what happened."

"Someone must be playing a trick on me," his voice stated, he sounded as if he were calming down. Elle heard someone plop down on a chair. "Even if this Opera Ghost existed at one point in time, he would have perished with the Opera Populaire or fled for his own safety."

"That may be Monsieur, but I know for a fact that he is back because I received a letter too."

"When were you going to tell me?" He did not wait for her to answer. "Well, what did it say?"

"Only that I should bring him his monthly pay myself, and leave it for him in box five," the woman explained. The sound of paper being snatched out of someone's hand could be faintly heard if she were to press her ear to the door. "Read for yourself."

There was a couple seconds silence. "How do I know that you didn't write these letters yourself?"

"That is up to your own judgment, but remember that you said yourself your office was locked the whole day and yet you found the letter there waiting for you on your desk. The only key to your office is in your own possession. There was no way I could have put the letter there."

"That is true. I must be going mad… It couldn't have been you. No, no, I believe you. That is why I hired you after all."

"Monsieur D'aubigne, I would not worry about him. If you do what he asks then he will not cause any problems for you or the opera. I know this from experience, I have spent most of my life working in this opera house."

"A lot of money will be lost…" And soon the voices turned into low mumbles and no matter how hard Elle strained her ear, she could not understand a word of it. Soon the sound of footsteps distracted her, and she hurried off to her room.

The conversation she had overheard, which she admitted to herself was rude of her to do, between her own father and Madame Giry was one of a curious nature. At first she had not understood why herfather sounded so distressed and upset, but then things became slightly clearer to her. Elle's interest was not completely peaked though, until the mention of the Opera Ghost. So he had contacted her father as well, and wanted to be paid monthly. Yet she herself was still not sure who this man was.

She was sure that he was a man, unless her memory deceived her. Although, now when she looked back at her first lesson with him, she was not sure if she had seen him at all. Maybe Elle had hallucinated, or fallen asleep on the stage. It was late at the time, and she had been quite tired. Yet she could still hear his soft voice in her ear…

Was he a man or was he indeed the Opera Ghost that he said he was? Elle was beginning to doubt herself. Perhaps he was a ghost, but then why a ghost would want money was beyond her. Whoever it was, they had found some way of breaking into her father's locked office, and she felt bad for her father. He had sounded so, so not in control.

She did not know enough about the situation to judge anyone involved in it, but now she became even more inquisitive about her new instructor. Elle was stuck between two sides of her, the quietly obeying one and the nosy one. She knew that she could never ask him anything herself, because that was the one rule of her lessons. She gets to learn how to sing properly, but she can never question him. To that she had readily agreed and there was no going back on her word.

The only new information she had now was that Madame Giry did know of the ghost, and had dealt with him indirectly before. Maybe she had even seen him herself once, but that was not clear. Also now her father was aware, and the future of the opera house rested on his shoulders. Elle did not understand why they left their countryside for such a burden, but in a way she was happy they did.

Elle would have to learn to be content with things how they were, and be ready for lunch. She remembered that the directors were coming back again, and along with them Hector. It would not be a surprise if they showed up soon, so she wanted to gather herself together. She secretly wondered if her dad could do the same in his current condition.

So she waited, as it would soon be time for lunch in the dining room, and she busied herself with looking over the music once more. For her lesson she would be ready, but she felt like she was still not in control of her own voice.

A/N: Thank you all for reviewing. Please review!

PopcornShirimp- Thank you. Lol, damn straight, in the movie anyway.

gamegirl13- Gracias, glad you like.

lizzard- Thanks for reviewing.