IV. The Voice which calls to me

"There is no need to be afraid", the Phantom said gently, as they were huddling together in Christine's old changing room. "No need at all."

Meg nodded, wondering if there was any possibility of hiding under his cloak, and remaining there for the rest of the day and the night. No, small chance of that.

"Because we're going on alone now, from now on", Raoul continued. "Him and me. And you girls stay here until we come back."

What? What did they intend to do? Leave them behind? She started to protest at the same time as Christine did. They had no right to do so!

"You're not going, and I mean it", Raoul told Christine at the same time as the Phantom told Meg, "This time you're staying. End of discussion."

"You planned this beforehand!" Meg accused him, jabbing her forefinger into his chest. "You –"

"Did they?" Christine asked, surprised. "Those two? Do you think they –"

Raoul sighed. "Yes, we did. We agreed on not letting you get involved again. So you two will stay with Meg's mother while she practises with the little ones, and wait quietly for our return."

"We're not little children anymore!" Meg cried furiously. Wait with her mother! And watch her train the little ones! Certainly not!

"You might well need us", Christine argued. "You may need somebody to cover your back."

"We can cover each other's back", Raoul said, though without much enthusiasm. It was clear that he would not enjoy watching the Phantom's back for him, and that it was just the same the other way round was not even worth wondering about.

"Your safety is more important", the Phantom insisted. "Think what Créon is capable of." Meg felt a twinge of jealousy at the tenderness with which he regarded her friend. "I don't want to scare you, but the conditions of the second corpse they found make me believe that it takes him nothing but a thought to kill. A thought! Do you understand? You're not going anywhere near him, not again."

"I'm not afraid", Meg said stubbornly. Yet Raoul could go, now could he? It was so absolutely unfair!

"Can't you do the same?" Christine asked quietly.

Meg, previously busy with glaring at Raoul, who had just begun squirming so very satisfactorily under her gaze, now swivelled around to stare at the Phantom, and Raoul did the same. What had Christine just suggested? No, this was impossible! Nobody could do that! Nobody! Well, perhaps Créon, but Créon was a monster and deserved to be killed. But nobody else, nobody else in the world!

For a moment, the Phantom was silent, and he met nobody's eyes. Then, at last, he answered, very softly, "I think I can."

There was a gasp, but Meg was not sure if it had come from Christine or Raoul, or maybe from herself. Her feet took a few steps back all of their own accord, before she got a grip on herself and made them stand still. Something inside her clenched to a painful knot. She had grown to like him. She had thought he was a friend. She had fallen asleep in his comforting embrace last night, while he had sung to her. And now… Now it turned out that he was a creature from Hell.

She shivered as her eyes met his – so bright, so terribly bright, just like the cold diamond glint of snow under the moon – but he turned away and lowered his head. "I know", he said, his voice rough with bitterness, "I deserve to die for it, just like Créon. And if you want me to, I will. Just grant me one last wish: Let me kill Créon first."

There was a moment of ringing silence, and Meg bit her lips. How could she have reacted like that? It was not his fault, after all. She had no right to blame him for what he was – whatever that might be. All he had given her until now was affection, and still she turned her back on him as soon as she learned what he could do with his powers? He had never done so! And it was not his fault that he could! But she stood frozen, unable to move, and still terror held sway over her.

"Erik…" Christine's voice sounded thin, yet determined as she approached him, and he did not pull away as she touched his shoulder and gently turned him to face her. "A man can't change what he was born as, so it's not right to judge him by it. But you can show us who you are by acting like it. And up until now, you were doing well. Don't give up on yourself." She hesitated, and Meg saw her blush slightly before she added, "Because I haven't given up on you yet."

He said nothing to this, but a little smile appeared on his lips, and it did not go away.

"Why, that's jolly good", Raoul cried, though he still sounded somewhat shaken. "Can you kill that horrible Créon this way?"

The Phantom gave him a dark look. "It's not that easy. I'd need to get into his head first."

"And deep down into his head", Christine added, and then, for some reason, her cheeks reddened some more.

"That's right." Christine got another look of utter fondness. "And besides, I never tried it."

"Right", Raoul said, shrugging. "Just a thought."

Meg realized that she was the only one who had not spoken since Christine had asked that one question which had briefly unhinged her world. Had she hurt him by her reaction? She assumed she had. She must have.

So she needed to do something about it… and in her mind there already was an idea forming, quite a lovely idea. Could she really do that, in front of all the others? Yes, she decided, she could. Her mother wasn't watching, so what the hell. Marching up to the Phantom, she wrapped her arms around him. "I'm sorry, Erik", she said, then, before he had the chance to answer or protest to her using that name, she stood on tiptoe – Heavens, why did he have to be that tall, or why couldn't he lower his head a bit when she needed him to? – and kissed his lips.

It was just a brief kiss, and nothing compared to what he had done with her the last evening, but all the same, he seemed to like it. When he pulled her into his arms and allowed her to rest her head against his shoulder, she had to suppress a triumphant grin. Top marks in Phantom-handling! She wondered if her mother had ever been that good at it.

There was a pause, and Meg realized what kind of looks the others must be giving her at the moment, but she didn't mind. Christine was her friend, and Raoul was her friend, too, so she had nothing to hide from them. If she chose to like the Phantom, why should they be bothered by it? And besides, Christine – and especially Raoul! – certainly liked to see him occupied with another woman.

At last Raoul cleared his throat. "Well, right… I admit I might have been a bit wrong yesterday."

"About me and her?" The Phantom chuckled, and Meg felt the vibrations of his ribcage. "You might have been, kid, yes."

"Thought so this morning when I saw that mark on your neck", Raoul remarked cheerfully, no doubt in the tone he used to tease someone. "Bet you haven't noticed it yet, pal."

Meg felt the Phantom stiffen, and she froze herself. There was a mark on his neck? One of those traitorous red spots? Impossible! She had certainly not given him one of those! All they had done was a little bit of snuggling, and that kiss – which he had started, anyway – but there had been no other… activities. He wasn't her lover, for Heaven's sake!

And what did Raoul know about it? What were they discussing?

The Phantom let her go with one arm and massaged the side of his neck, and as Meg looked up, she really saw a slight spot of red on his skin. This certainly wasn't from her, but it hadn't been there last night, either! She was quite sure about it. Funny, that. It only left one candidate… Finally letting go of him, she turned her head slightly and saw just what she had more or less expected, though it surprised her greatly: Christine was blushing furiously now, staring at her feet hard.

And how he had known immediately which spot to rub…

Could it be that Christine was… carrying on a love affair with two men at the same time? Could it be that she was cheating on Raoul? This was not what she would have thought her friend capable of. Not Christine. Somebody else any time, but not Christine.

Yet still… that spot seemed to originate in some kind of… activity of her friend's.

Raoul wouldn't like it when he found out. And he would know when he turned to look at her. From Christine's red cheeks, he would be able to read the answer immediately. And then… The men would be at each other's throat again, no doubt, and maybe Raoul would blame Christine, too, and…

No. She couldn't let this happen. She would have a word with Christine later on, but now… she would cover up for her. Raoul was a friend, after all, and he wouldn't think any different of her. At least she hoped so. "Whoops", she said, shifting her features into the best awkward grin she managed. "I didn't realize you'd see that later on."

Raoul snickered, obviously amused at her reaction. "Naughty, naughty." And to her enormous relief, he did not look at Christine.

Meg shrugged. "He just looked so tasty to me."

The Phantom grinned. "Was I?" Meg was glad he did not rub his obvious success with Christine under Raoul's nose. "From the way you tried to eat me, I guess you didn't get enough dinner."

Now that was overdone; he need not have said that! Meg felt the heat rise in her cheeks. But then she saw the grateful look in Christine's eyes and answered, "Yes, quite." She even managed a giggle.

But to Hell with it, as soon as they turned their backs, she would kick the Phantom!

And if Raoul really believed they were lovers, she would kick him, too.

"We-ell", Raoul said brightly, and Meg decided that for his idea of changing the topic he would not be kicked after all, "shall we go, Master Ghost?"

"Probably the first intelligent thing I ever heard from you, Master Fop."

Raoul rolled his eyes at him. "So, ladies, you'll go and spend a nice afternoon, and we'll see you later on."

He would still be kicked! "Why can't we come?" Meg protested.

"Because this is men's work", Raoul replied. "By the way, you might change back into a dress now."

That idiot! Lost for words, Meg stuck out her tongue at him furiously.

Christine frowned at him. "Raoul… what are you planning to do, anyway?"

To Meg's astonishment, Raoul looked at the Phantom. "Well, I thought we might…" When it became clear that the Phantom was not going to help him, he finished, "Well, we might sneak up on them."

"Sneak up on them!" Meg repeated with a snort. Really, couldn't he do better than this? "You have no idea what you're going to do!" she accused them both. "But still you think you can handle it, just because you're men and you think that makes you extra clever!"

"You needn't think I don't know what to do only because the kid doesn't." Though he seemed to be doing his best to restrain himself, the Phantom still shot Raoul a look of contempt. "In fact, I know perfectly well what I intend to do."

Meg raised her eyebrows at him. "And what might that be, my Lord Phantom?" she asked sarcastically.

"Hidden weapons, if this pleases you, my Lady I'm-currently-playing-at-tart", he answered with a mock little bow.

"Jerk", Meg muttered. One of these days she would really kick him. Playing at tart! At tart! As if she had ever done that!

"Hidden weapons?" Christine asked. "What do you mean?"

"That I've got something which might surprise them." Again that smug look had appeared on his face. Why did he always have to look smug? Arrogant git!

"But we ought to be going now", Raoul insisted. "Don't worry, we'll be back with you soon."

"Agreed, kid." The Phantom tugged at his cloak impatiently. "I'd like to finish this as soon as possible, and then be gone again."

Christine's features took on an expression of worry. "It's those threads of darkness again, isn't it?"

He looked at her slowly, almost calculatingly. "Can you feel anything?"

For a moment Christine closed her eyes, then she opened them again and shook her head. "Nothing. Just your uneasiness. But that's dimmed, too. Foggy."

When his features relaxed, Meg realized that he had been clenching his jaws while waiting for this answer. "Good. Listen, when you feel anything change… run for it. Both of you. Run for your lives."

Meg exchanged a look with Raoul, who seemed to be just as perplexed as she was. Of course she knew about the threads of darkness, because the Phantom had explained about them. And Christine had admitted to having a… connection of some kind with him, but of what nature this connection might be, she had not said. Those two shared something nobody else had. Somehow, this made Meg feel left out, and she wondered what it must be like for Raoul.

Poor Raoul.

"Erik… there's something wrong, isn't there?" The concern showing on Christine's face had increased, and it was mirrored on Raoul's features. "I know there is."

"There is", he admitted, one hand resting on his sabre hilt.

"Tell me", she said quietly. "Please."

Shifting his weight from one booted foot to the other, it was obvious that he was not comfortable. "Can you do me a favour?" he said at last. "Could you perhaps have a look into my head and tell me I'm just paranoid? I'll shield you, of course."

Although Meg had no idea what he meant by this, Christine's face showed her that her friend knew exactly what he was talking about. And she did not like the idea too much. The Phantom waited patiently for her answer, and at last she nodded. "If you want me to… But please make sure I don't… do anything stupid." For some reason, she blushed and averted her gaze.

He touched her shoulder gingerly. "I'll do my best."

Nodding slowly, she raised her head again to face him, then, for a moment, turned to give Raoul something like an apologetic, but nonetheless radiant smile, which left her fiancé grinning somewhat sheepishly to himself for a little while, before he resumed frowning. Then she met the Phantom's eyes again, and her quiet intake of breath was clearly audible to Meg, just as if her friend were going to dive down into cold, deep water. For a few seconds they held each other's gaze, then Christine closed her eyes. At first she swayed slightly, seemingly unaware, but the Phantom steadied her with a hand on her shoulder before Raoul could even make a move to start towards her. Then they just stood in silence.

Meg turned to look at Raoul, who shrugged. Apparently he knew no more of this than she did. And he did not like what he was seeing, either; though they did not touch, apart from the Phantom's hand on Christine's shoulder, it probably looked too much like an intimacy to him. Moreover, from what had been intelligible of their words, it was easy to deduct that the Phantom was messing with Christine's mind again – or maybe the other way round, as it had sounded, but Meg couldn't possibly imagine Christine messing with anyone's mind – and Raoul, of course, wouldn't trust him in that area. Meg couldn't blame him for it.

At last Christine opened her eyes again and took a step backwards, breaking their contact. For a moment she looked as if waking from a dream, but her expression was serious, Meg noted with concern. Very serious. "You're not just paranoid", Christine said softly.

"Just as I feared." His eyes had narrowed to slits. "May she burn in Hell for all of goddamn eternity."

Heavens, the man could curse! Meg was not sure who he was referring to – Niobe, she suspected, as this was the only major female enemy she knew of – but she made a mental note to remember his exact wording.

"Are you quite sure it's her?"

"Absolutely." His voice was grimmer than ever. "I can hear her calling to me. All the time."

Christine looked doubtful, while, at the same time, very concerned. "But Erik, you're shielded against her. Against all of them. She can't possibly know you're here." Her delicate eyebrows lowered a fraction, and as she spoke again, her lips trembled. "Can she?"

"No, it's not that. I don't think they're aware of me at all. It's just… some remnant of her touch. Some shadow of her spirit, still trying to gain access to my mind. I can hear the echo of her whispers resounding in my head. Damn it, I can hear her voice! And I don't know how to get her out!" Those last two sentences were spoken in a snarl, with his teeth bared.

Surprisingly, it was Raoul who walked up to him and gave him a gentle nudge. "Let's be done with the bitch, then, eh?"