I. Angel of Music

"There is something about him I don't understand", Christine said, taking a seat on Meg's bed. "The moment I look into his eyes… everything changes. It's like a trance. I can't think straight around him. Even if he doesn't look at me. He radiates… heat, you could say, yes, but cold at the same time. It makes me afraid."

Meg smiled. "Yes, he is rather good-looking, isn't he?"

"Meg! Really!"

"Oh, yes, sorry, I forgot you don't go that much for the dark type", Meg continued, still smiling mischievously. "You like the slender, fair-haired ones, don't you?"

Christine sighed. "No, Meg, I'm serious. And if you have encountered him recently, as it seems you have, you'll surely have realized you have to be careful. He's not just another ensemble member you can goggle at when he's not looking. And he will know when you're goggling at him, trust him to that."

Not to be cheered up, then. Meg very nearly sighed herself. And to think that Christine usually enjoyed whispering about ensemble members and giggling together as much as she did… Oh well, the Phantom was indeed not an ensemble member, even though he belonged to the Opera more firmly than many a singer or dancer. To Meg, this didn't matter, because she felt he could still secretly be goggled at, although he had indeed noticed, but maybe for Christine her past experiences with the Phantom were in the way of any such thing. How was she to know, if Christine didn't speak about it? Very well, no discussing the Phantom's looks, then. And maybe Christine would prefer to avoid the topic altogether. Meg hoped she would not; after all, Christine was probably the one who knew most about the Phantom. Except her own mother, as it seemed, but Meg was somewhat reluctant to inquire too much from her mother. Her mother would find out about goggling at him. Her mother always found out. "I bet he does", she replied to Christine's last remark. "He surely enough did when I did."

Christine raised her eyebrows at her friend slightly. "Meg… is there something I ought to know, and your mother definitely ought not?"

Meg giggled, and was glad to see that the corners of Christine's mouth pulled up into a little smile. "I saw him in a soaking wet shirt, you know. I suppose you get the picture."

Obviously her friend did, for her eyebrows went up a little further, and her smile widened. "Oh. Fancy that." Now she giggled just as well, and to Meg, everything was back to normal again. "Such lovely ideas you give me. I might have to pushed Raoul into the bathtub fully clothed tonight just out of curiosity."

Meg positively snorted with laughter. "Poor Raoul! I can imagine the look on his face."

"Yes, poor dear", Christine agreed. "He'll surely think he has done something wrong. But he'll certainly go and lie in the tub with his clothes on if I ask him nicely enough. Anyway", here her expression turned serious once more, "what have you been up to?"

Immediately Meg launched into a full account of her adventures under ground during the last days, and Christine listened expectantly. When Meg ended her tale, she shook her head in wonder. "And he really wasn't angry about the mask? Believe me, he's extremely touchy about it normally."

Meg shrugged. "Not at all. He was surprisingly friendly. And this morning, when he woke me to get all the details about those scary eyes in the darkness, he was a bit fierce, but still not unpleasant. Of course, he had my mother with him, but all the same, he hasn't been acting like some dangerous and violent madman with me."

"Let us hope he never will." Christine touched Meg's arm lightly. "For years, he has been very tender with me, and I truly believed him to be an angel, although his presence frightened me sometimes. But then… His moods can change very suddenly, and when his eyes light up like that, you never know what he'll do next. You wouldn't put it past him to kill you, then."

Meg nodded, remembering the Phantom's expression at the mention of Christine about to be married. Had her mother ever seen him like that? Maybe she should really ask her about him. And the way he had looked at her this morning while she told him of the eerie pair of green eyes in the darkness behind her… It had been rather difficult to interpret. Had it been concern for her? Perhaps that also, but there had been more to it. Rage, of course. No, much more. Wrath. Fury. And something else still, something she could not put a name to, but somehow she was sure it made the connection between his concern and the latter feelings. What was it he had said? "He told me he would not allow anyone meaning any harm to come near me."

"Indeed." Christine's expression was very serious. "That's how it begins. At first he is just protective about you, but then he starts being possessive. Be careful with such promises, for in the end they might mean no good."

Possessive. Yes. Possessive was just the word. He had looked at her like at a treasured possession he would guard jealously against any intruder. Meg nodded slowly, at once not quite certain anymore what she should make of his promise, which had earlier this morning given her comfort. "I'll keep that in mind", she said.

Would he try the same thing with her he had tried with Christine? Would he at first gently make her grow accustomed to him, then entrance her and manipulate her and at last make her his own? Somehow this was hard to believe, when she thought of how he had acted this morning, and of the way he had winked at her when he had slipped a certain scarlet item of clothing under his jacket, so her mother would not see what exactly she had been allowed to borrow from him. But Christine would know, of course. At first the Angel of Music, then a creature from Hell. She really had to be careful around him.

But as she remembered those eyes, shining from the shadows like glowing embers, she found herself wishing very much that the Phantom would be her Angel, too, even if just for a little while.