Book Two: The Veil of Concealment
I. The Mask you wear
II. The Prison of my Mind
III. Anywhere you go
IV. Wishing I could hear your Voice again
V. In this Labyrinth
Author's Note: First of all, I would like to thank all of my reviewers. Your support is very encouraging, and I'm very delighted every time another review alert turns up in my inbox – when I saw three in it just now, I couldn't believe my luck! Thank you very much!
Second, I'm really, really sorry about the punctuation problem. Please don't think that I'm too dense to know what a question mark is; in fact, I've got all of the nasty little signs typed – but somehow throws them out, I have no idea why and how. I try to replace them on the editor, but I'm afraid I occasionally miss some.
That you think my characterizations are correct is very comforting, I always worry about that. But that some of you seem to think I'm especially good at Madame Giry (does she have a first name, by the way?) surprises me, I always feel like a blundering lout around her. My favourite point of view is the Phantom's, of course – as I write these lines, I have most of Book Two typed already, and it contains the first chapter of his very own. I'm really going to enjoy writing Book Five, where eight of nine chapters will be his!
Which leads me straight to my next (and final) point: Yes, you've seen me through, I've got all of this very carefully planned. Because if I don't, stories have the tendency to get out of my hand rather quickly. I've got all the Book and Chapter titles, the plot outline, the character lists and the point of view listing for each chapter, which means a great lot of paperwork on my desk. And my mother hasn't yet even complained, but I expect that to come any moment now… While I leave you to wonder about who the hell the Lost Ones are, I know it all exactly (evil cackle included in this place, of course, it just has to be here when I make such a statement). Well, at least you know now who it was Meg saw in the beginning.
Oh, and by the way: The titles above may show you that I know a tiny bit more of the lyrics than it could be expected from someone who, before he saw the movie, believed quite firmly that the Phantom was an undead (they left that bit out, and it was my bloody favourite stanza!)…
