Chapter 7: A Mysterious Character
Christine and Meg sat upon the stage in the theater as they often did, waiting for Andre, Firmin, and Madame Giry to come in. It had been a week since the wedding, and Marie Claire and Arthur were due to return in a few days. The two had been chatting about the wedding, but as was inevitable, the conversation fell on the Phantom 's return. Meg's blue eyes darkened slightly as she brought up the subject.
"Christine, I've been wondering, are you alright? I mean to say, the Phantom has returned. Are you worried?" she asked concerned.
The sunny smile fell from Christine's dainty features as those words reached her ears. She looked up at her dearest friend's worried face and sighed.
"I just don't want to be trapped in that darkness again Meg. I don't want to lose my family, that I came so close to losing two years ago." she said as a slight shiver ran across her back. "I'm just so happy now Meg, and I want to keep it. Is that so wrong?" she asked, her dark eyes pleading for an answer.
"No," said Meg sincerely, "Its not. You were so unhappy for those years after your father died Christine, you deserve to be happy now." she said as she hugged her friend. "Raoul seems very worried about you as well."
"He is. He's so worried about Marie and I that I catch him pacing around the room, rubbing his head. He has tried so hard to understand Erik, but its getting harder, after all that has gone on over the past two years. He just wants to protect us, and I know Arthur feels the same way." said Christine, her voice brimming with emotion, "I don't know what I'd do without Raoul, I love him so much. He and the children brought the light back into my life, the light that was extinguished when my father died. The light that burned out when I found that there was no angel of music. I'm so afraid Meg. All I want is for Erik to realize my love for Raoul and Marie's love for Arthur, and leave us alone. Then perhaps he will find his own happiness."she said, her voice tremulous.
Meg put her hand on her friend's shoulder in a comforting fashion, but before she could open her mouth to speak, Lizzie came running up to them.
"Mama, Christine! Andre and Firmin have hired a new vocal intructor!" said Lizzie, breathless with a curious excitment.
"They did?" asked Meg with a puzzled expression, "Who is it?
"I didn't catch his name," answered Lizzie, "But he seemed like a quiet, covert sort of person. A bit of an odd fellow. But it was very sad, his house caught fire, and he recieved third degree burns," I heard Andre and Firmin say, "So he has to wear a bandage on his face for three months!"
"Oh that's awful!" said Christine, eyes wide.
Then the doors came open and the managers came in, along with the new man.
"Oh here they are now." said Christine. She was feeling uneasy as she gazed at the new man, but she didn't know why. She shook her head. She was being overly worried.
Everyone gathered around the managers as they introduced the man. He was tall and slim, with brown hair to his shoulders. He looked like he was aging rather rapidly, but he didn't look old. He was dressed quite well, in a brown suit, but a bandage covered part of his face, and his hair hung down in his face. He bowed to the cast as he entered.
"Everyone, this is our new vocal intructor, Pierre Moncharmin. He will be helping Monsieur Reyer with the vocal instruction for this production of 'Roberto le Diable.' " announced Firmin as he made his way over to where Christine and Meg were standing.
"Monsieur Moncharmin, this is Madame Meg, and her daughter Madmoiselle Elizabeth. They are the daughter and granddaughter of our ballet mistress, Madame Giry, and are our prima ballerinas." he said smiling.
"Pleased to meet you Madame, Madmoiselle." said Moncharmin politely as he kissed each of their hands.
"And this is the Vicomtess Christine de Chagny, our leading soprano for many seasons now." said Andre proudly.
"I have heard your angelic voice before Madame, it sounds so lovely." he said as he kissed her hand.
"Thankyou very much Monsieur. Perhaps we can work to make the music of this production even more phenomenal than usual." she said, curtseying politely. But inside something felt wrong. This man reminded her of someone that she didn't want to be reminded of, not because of the bandage on his face, but because of the angry look in his eyes.
"Our other leading soprano, Christine's daughter Marie Claire will be returning in a few days. " said Firmin, "She is on her honeymoon with our leading tenor, Arthur Page'."
What seemed a forced half smile appeared on the man's face.
"How lovely. Well I cannot wait until I have the pleasure of meeting them. They have excellent voices. In fact Madame de Chagny, I must say, your daughter sounds just like you, it must run in the family." he said, his gaze resting on Christine.
Just then, the door to the theater came open and Raoul came in with Felix laughing by his side.
"Oh there you are Raoul," said Firmin, smiling as he turned to Moncharmin," Monsieur Moncharmin, this is our head patron, The Vicomte de Chagny. Raoul, this is our new vocal instructor, Pierre Moncharmin."
Raoul bowed and shook the man's hand, a curious grin on his face. But as the man shook his hand, the grip felt tight and his gaze seemed cold. Raoul was a little startled by this, but greeted the man with enthusiasm nonetheless.
"I am pleased to meet you monsieur. I am sure that you will work to make the singing of this production magnificent. Welcome." said Raoul.
"Thankyou Monsieur le Vicomte, I appreciate your confidence." said Moncharmin, smiling a smirkish smile. "So, I take it that you are Madame de Chagny's husband and young Marie Claire's father?"
"Yes," said Raoul, becoming uncomfortable under the man's harsh gaze. "I am." he said as he felt Christine gently take his hand. She to seemed taken aback by this man.
"Well I had best be going. I will see you all in a few days." said Moncharmin. And with that, he swept on his hat and headed towards the door.
"Well," said Andre as he handed out scripts, "I believe that is all for today. We will see you all later."
People began milling around, talking to one another as they made their way towards the doors. Raoul and Christine bid their goodbyes to everyone as they walked outside with Felix. But as they did, they heard a frantic yell. They looked back inside to see the chandelier being moved up and down, and the lights flickering. They had to usher stunned Andre and Firmin out of the theater before they were injured. Everyone gathered in a huddle as they heard a laugh ring out across the room.
"Remember there are worse things than a shattered chandelier!"
Then the chandlier stopped moving, and everything returned to a seemingly normal state.
"What the hell was that!" yelled Andre. "Dam, if I'm not tired to death of this Phantom buisness!"
Firmin nodded, still shell shocked.
"I think," said Madame Giry wisely, "That we should all go home."
All noddded and made their way quickly out of the opera house. Christine held Raoul's hand tightly as they walked, and he squeezed it, trying to reassure her. Felix walked silently by their sides, scared of what had just happened. Christine put her arm around him, trying to make him feel better.
"Christine my darling are you alright?" asked Raoul sweetly.
She smiled at him and kissed him softly, Felix saw this and made a face.
"I'll be alright. Just a bit startled is all." she said in a whisper. She didn't want to say anything about the Phantom, for fear that it might scare Felix. He was after all, only ten.
Raoul rubbed his thumb over the top of Christine's hand that he held secure in his own, trying to calm her. The warm summer breeze blew around them, as if it to, were trying to soothe them.
"Don't forget my love, that I am here for you, to guard you and to guide you." he said warmly as he winked at her.
"I will never forget it, love." said Christine feeling a little better, as she always did when she was with Raoul. He made her feel so warm, so safe, so loved. With him, she was always her true self. "What did you think of the Monsieur Moncharmin?" she asked.
"Well he seems like he knows quite a bit about opera, so I'm sure he will do an excellent job." said Raoul, "But he seems a bit cold, not really a people person."
"It does seem that way, he made a bit uneasy. But he seems to be quite well versed in opera. Raoul, do you think that you could stay in the theater during rehearsals over the next few weeks? I know you already do most of the time, but on the other days could you perhaps stay in there to?" she asked hopefully.
"Of course dear." he said, his blue eyes worried. "I'd be glad to. I'll stay in the theater instead of going to the office with Andre and Firmin. I love sitting in on rehearsals. I just hope that Madame Giry dosen't kick me out, as she often does Andre and Firmin." he said laughing.
Both Christine and Felix laughed at this comment. How true that was.
"I'm sorry for being so overly paranoid." said Christine. "I would just feel better knowing that you were there. And I think that Marie will too, when she finds out about this chandelier incident."
"You're not being overly paranoid." said Raoul comfortingly, "After all that our family had been through, you have a right to be worried. You are the bravest woman I know for going through all of this. After all, we must be careful."
She gazed up at him again, her soul warming at his words. She brushed a stray golden brown hair from his face. She loved him so.
"Mama, Papa?" Felix suddenly piped up, "Who is that Phantom of the Opera?"
Raoul and Christine looked at each other, knowing that they had to tell him.
"Its a very long story my boy, but you need to know." said Raoul seriously, "But do you think that you can wait until morning?" asked Raoul tiredly.
"Yes," said Felix " I can."
Christine smiled at their son as she touseled his hair. He laughed, and ran towards the de Chagny estate, which was coming nearer. Raoul and Christine ran after him, laughing themselves, having no idea that they were being watched.
Erik turned from his posistion watching the de Chagnys. Playing this double role as Moncharmin and himself would prove to be difficult, but it would work perfectly as a part of his perfect plan. And it appeared that young Felix was now wondering who he was. He knew that playing this double role would confuse them immensly, and would prevent them from finding out that he was actually Moncharmin. It was a perfectly constructed plan, and now it was in motion. The de Chagny family was going to be wrapped around his finger. Or so he hoped anyway.
A/N: I am so sorry that I took so long to update, I had exams, and I had to do community service work at my cathedral parish festival. But yay, I'm through with school for the summer. Yay I'll be a senior next year! Anyway, I hope that you like this chapter. I am so excited about this story! And thankyou so much to all of my reviewers! By the way, Marie and Arthur will be returning in the next chapter, Yay!
TheTrinityJ- Isn't suspense great?(lol) I'm writing rapidly! Sorry for the long delay in updating!
msmistoffelees- Thank you for reading, I love getting new reviewers! Get ready, there is a lot more to this story.
Samantha- Thanks. Ya I really wanted the wedding scence to go well, I didn't want to ruin it for Marie and Arthur, so I put the Phantom in at the reception.That way it went well for them, and it wasn't cliche. I'm glad you like it!
I am the Angel of Music- I never really knew what Madame Giry's first name was, but Catherine seemed to suit her, so I used it.Thankyou so much for supporting my story, it is much appreciated.
Guitarprincess- I am glad you liked it! Yay, I love RC. RC forever and always.
Blaze-LoganLover- Yay, a new reviewer! I'm glad that you like it.