Book Five: The Mists of Time

I. Sculpted Angels
II. The Devil's Child
III. A Mother's Fear and Loathing
IV. Make your Choice
V. Down once more
VI. Long ago
VII. Rich Desire
VIII. You cannot win
IX. You are not alone

Author's Note: First of all, breaking news: I've started on the book! Be proud of me.

I've been looking forward to this. Nine chapters, and eight of them from the Phantom's point of view! I like that prospect… And it will give me the chance to explain some things you pointed out. Don't worry, everything happens for a reason. )

As you know, I've spent a few days on skiing holidays at Bad Gastein (lovely village in the mountains, but damn cold – we had -19° C on the last day!), but I did not want to be parted with this story, so I took the Phantom skiing, swimming and out for walks. I daresay we had some fun. g I managed to get him to take some clothes off in Book Five for your entertainment, but he fought me fiercely, so maybe if you ladies cheer him on a bit, he'll be more eager to do so in the future. ;-)

Right, this time I'm going to mention names.

We'll start with Reading Redhead. For your taste, the Phantom gets out of character in Book Four, Chapter II. Maybe Chapter IV explains some things for you. If not… well, here's my statement: Of course I value your opinion, but for my taste he remains in character all the time, he's just in control of himself for once. If he weren't, he'd simply bash Raoul's skull in (which might have been enjoyable to write actually…), but this time he keeps a calm, cold façade, while still looking for a possible way to feed Raoul to the vultures. Yet he is not entirely sure how to deal with him, as hurting him would mean hurting Christine, and in his controlled moments he keeps that in mind, and it makes him hesitate. So what he does is mainly intimidation, and raining disdain on Raoul. I'm only working with the concept from the movie, so maybe that's the reason why I portray him as more outgoing, as you put it, and I'll readily admit that I have the habit of bringing in stuff of my own, especially if I haven't read the book. He just strikes me as someone who can jump from one mood into the next with barely a pause, and who is even worse than I am as far as this is concerned, so I thought it might work out. But thanks for not giving up hope in me. ;) Don't worry about school getting in your way, I know how it is. :) And how exactly can I drive you insane? g

As for Lady Razorsharp: You haven't been around since Book Two Chapter IV, it seems (box my ears if I'm wrong), but I trust you will turn up again soon. I like the way you manage to capture the whole situation in a few well-placed words. Thanks for being a faithful reviewer. :)

A.E. Hall seems to find it amusing, which is very reassuring, because I was actually aiming to be funny in places. The concept I'm using is a little like The Mummy, where horror is thrown in with comic relief (though there's a great lot more of humour than I am using).

Venus725: I don't know about being a straight female lol but I assumed pretty much so when I saw the movie. Well, actually a (female) friend of mine told me so beforehand, when I said I was going to take my sister to see the movie. She said she had been drooling all over the Phantom while in the cinema (she always does that, it's a bit of a trademark of hers), and when I put down the phone, I scratched my head and seriously wondered about it, because I remembered Gerard Butler from Reign of Fire (seriously, guys, I knew the name), but I couldn't quite recall his face, and I wasn't even entirely sure if he was Creedy or Jared, which led me to the assumption that he must be plain (sorry, ladies, don't hit me), but I reconsidered this after seeing the movie. Will you let me join your club of Raoul-Kickers, by the way? ;) And yes, I know the Phantom's real name is Erik. But I wouldn't run around telling people my name was Erik if they already called me Phantom, now would I? ;)

sbkar: Now that's a marvellous new reviewer! My already inflated ego is going to explode someday soon! ) And you keep spotting stuff, you've seen me right through down to the core of my black soul (sorry, it just sounds so good). What you've noticed about the language the characters use brought me to the very verge of doing a happy little jig, because that's exactly how I try to bring in some additional characterization. Trust Meg to be clever and Raoul to do something foolish, you're perfectly right about them (especially Raoul, of course). And trust Madame Giry to box people's ears, or at least continue threatening them. With your tension breaker idea, you actually foresaw the punch-line from one of the last chapters… but I can say no more here. Thanks for offering a first name for Madame Giry as well, but I've already picked one for this Book; I hope it's to everybody's liking. Thanks even more for advertising this story among your companions. No, my sister hasn't read it yet, because her birthday is on March 23rd. And yes, it's always the ring… it came to me, my own, my love, my own, my precioussssss… gg (By the way, while re-reading The Hobbit recently, I had a sudden fit of mirth when I came to the passage which reads: Down there by the dark water lived old Gollum. lol I just can't help it.)

The pairing seems to be of interest to several among you. And I assure you, it's more complicated than I said in my last note. I was just too lazy to write a long explanation. ;-) Red spots a love triangle, which is absolutely correct (just wait for Book Seven Chapter II, I bet Venus725 will absolutely love that one! g), but not because I'm a fan of love triangles, they usually tend to get on my nerves, but because it sort of comes with the story. I can't help it. Which hopefully assuages Venus725's worries a bit. No, it's certainly not going to be that simple, not even in the end. I'm merely throwing in Meg to make it a bit more complicated. smirk Besides, my sister came up with the idea of involving Meg, and as this is for her, I'll have to keep it. Laura Kay sees the possibility of a relationship with Madame Giry, and I seriously considered this concept before I discarded it. A past involvement with her might get in the way later on, I'm only saying this much. Besides, it might make him Meg's father, and we don't want that. ;)

Viresse430: Hate me, I'm such a faithless, wicked lad. g Currently I'm trying hard to get as far as possible until my sister's birthday, but after that I might finish that fifth chapter of "Junior Agent Redmount" I've been working on already.

Nako-chan: Chatter at me, I love it when you do that. ) But I'm afraid Othello won't come in until Book Seven. Can you wait that long? ;)

And now the one I saved for last: Slytherin Shieldmaiden/Krissy, of course. You know I value it greatly that you faithfully come over and read this although you haven't seen the movie. Your compliments and encouragement mean a lot to me, and you're the closest thing to a muse I have. hums to himself happily: Help me make the Music of the Night… This is not the place for love pledges, so I'm saving them for a different time, but you're getting them again, don't worry. All the time. Christine, I love you… (yes, I know it's Kristina, but I just can't help it gg)

To the rest of you, thank you very much for reviewing.