(A/N Sorry this took so long! Finals and all that jazz held me up. But I'll update more often now that it's summer. Finally.)
Boston peered around the curtain for a second to see the stage.
The show had been running for almost a week now, and had been sold out almost every time. If there had been any doubts about the success of the show, they had been quelled by that point.
No strange occurrences had interrupted any rehearsal or performance since the rose, and Boston's fears were beginning to rest.
"Remember that too…?" Rio was saying, or singing, or chanting, or whatever it could be called. Raoul was visiting Christine in her dressing room.
"Little Lotte thought: am I fonder of dolls," Eric sang as softly as one could sing into a microphone.
"Or of goblins or shoes," Rio's voice joined in. Both voices were lovely. "Or of riddles or frocks…" Rio continued on her own.
"Those picnics in the attic?" Eric moved closer to her, smiling. "Or of chocolates…"
Rio smiled back. "Father playing the violin…"
"As we read to each other dark stories of the North…"
"I didn't know Eric could read…" Jess whispered under her breath by Boston's shoulder. Boston stifled her giggle while the two were silenced by Brianne's angry glare.
"No, what I love best, Lotte said, is when I'm asleep in my bed…" Rio adopted Christine's fanatical 'Phantom-obsession' gaze. "and the Angel of Music sings songs in my head…"
"The Angel of Music sings songs in my head…" Eric joined her.
He should be so lucky. Boston thought.
"Father said, "When I'm in heaven, child, I will send the Angel of Music to you".
Well, father is dead, Raoul, and I have been visited by the Angel of Music." Rio said, still looking a little crazy.
"There's no doubt of that," Eric had no problem being the ignorant Raoul then, "But now, we'll go to supper!"
"No, Raoul, the Angel of Music is very strict…"
"I shan't keep you up late!"
"No, Raoul," Rio didn't have any trouble with her acted either; she was always annoyed by Eric off the stage.
"You must change. I must get my hat." Eric got up and made his way towards the opposite side of the stage. "Two minutes, Little Lotte."
"Raoul!" Rio called as he disappeared. "Things have changed, Raoul."
Aaron's formidable voice started up behind the curtain, causing Boston to jump.
"Insolent boy! This slave of fashion, basking in your glory! Ignorant fool! This brave young suitor, sharing in my triumph!" Boston always found herself a little surprised by Aaron's ease at feigning temper. He was usually an easy-going man.
Rio stood and pleaded with her teacher. "Angel! I hear you, speak – I listen! Stay by my side, guide me! Angel, my soul was weak, forgive me. Enter at last, Master!"
Aaron's tone changed. Even the Phantom is subject to Rio's puppy-dog eyes. Boston chuckled. "Flattering child, you shall know me – see why in shadow I hide! Look at your face in the mirror, I am there inside!"
Rio advanced on the mirror, looking utterly enchanted. "Angel of Music! Guide and guardian! Grant me to your glory! Angel of Music! Hide no longer! Come to me, strange angel…"
She reached out and took the outstretched hand, and the stage went black as the 'creepy organ rock music' started.
"In sleep he sang to me, in dreams he came... that voice which calls to me and speaks my name..." The couple reappeared, coming towards the Phantom's gondola. "And do I dream again? For now I find the Phantom of the Opera is there - inside my mind..."
Eric took up the tune, sending more shivers down Boston's spine. "Sing once again with me our strange duet... My power over you grows stronger yet..." Every time she heard this song she got the eerie feeling another voice was singing – a voice more powerful and beautiful than she could imagine. "And though you turn from me, to glance behind, the Phantom of the Opera is there - inside your mind..."
Jess didn't seem to share Boston's sixth sense: she looked a little bored as Rio took her part of the verse. "Those who have seen your face draw back in fear... I am the mask you wear..."
"It's me they hear..." Boston took a couple of steps away from the stage – she wasn't hearing Aaron.
"My spirit and your voice in one combined: the Phantom of the Opera is there -
inside your mind..." Said the voice that wasn't Aaron's.
"He's there, the Phantom of the Opera... Beware, the Phantom of the Opera..." Boston sang the chorus numbly along with the other misc. characters that now played the company.
"In all your fantasies, you always knew that man and mystery..."
"... were both in you ..."
"And in this labyrinth, where night is blind, the Phantom of the Opera is there, inside your mind ..."
"Sing, my Angel of Music!" Boston herself almost sang, such was the feeling she got that the voice was speaking to her.
"He's there, the Phantom of the Opera ..." Rio sang for Boston.
"Sing for me ... sing." Rio obeyed in a high-pitched but controlled manner. "Sing my Angel ... sing. Sing for me."
Their journey-by-gondola over, Aaron, swishing his cloak dramatically, stepped into the Phantom's stage-lair. "I have brought you to the seat of sweet music's throne..."
I wonder if the seat of sweet music's throne is still beneath the opera house…
"To this kingdom where all must pay homage to music... Music... You have come here for one purpose and one alone..." Boston found herself almost involuntarily backing away from the stage. "Since the moment I first heard you sing, I have needed you with me to serve me, to sing for my music... my music..."
Aaron's voice could still be heard as she moved further and further backstage, wanting to be away from the crowd.
"Night-time sharpens, heightens each sensation…" Boston locked herself in Christine's dressing room (which was now Rio's), and tried to ignore the voice that was a little louder than it should've been. "Darkness stirs, and wakes imagination, silently the senses abandon their defenses…"
Boston relaxed in Rio's chair, burying her faces in her hands and covering her ears with her fingers.
"Slowly, gently, night unfurls its splendor… Grasp it, sense it, tremulous and tender…" Boston pressed her fingers against her ears, but couldn't block out the glorious sound. "Turn your face away from the garish light of day, turn your thoughts away from cold, unfeeling light."
"And listen to the music of the night…" Boston trembled for a moment, then obeyed, removing her fingers. Just as she looked up at the shadow in the mirror, the door slammed open.
"What's the matter with you?" Brianne hissed. "You're on in two minutes!"
"But I haven't been here that long…" She started, but was talking to no one. Brianne was gone, the mirror was empty, and the music of the night had left in mind.