Warning! This chapter is the result of a week of pre writing and about four or five days of actual fingers to keyboard, due to it being the first rather important chapter in the way of plot. Hence the delay. Hopefully the time spent on it will cause it to be better written than some of my other chapters. :D
Woot! I've just eaten a third of a bucket of cookies and cream ice cream. I had to put the cats in the bathroom so they would stop attacking me.
Any who, I hope that all this sugar improves the quality of my writing!
Chapter Twenty Two: Interruptions
Eric
The young woman had laid her head to rest only inches from my aching fingers.
How had she gotten so close?
Did I really care?
The deep brown of her soft hair blushed faintly in the dim lights of the stage. The gentle rippling of the soft tresses mimicked the ocean's waves.
I yearned to permit my hands to swim quietly in that toffee surf.
It would be so easy. She would never even know. There was a small opening in the dark recesses of the statues draped clothing. My lean wrist could slip through it with room to spare. Merely considering such an action triggered my body's reflexes. My abdomen clenched violently, and a fire steadily grew behind my eyes, threatening to set my sockets ablaze.
But how could I subject something so unsullied to my revolting touch?
She even smelled innocent, faintly hinting at the fragrance of lilacs. Her scent only served to fuel my need.
"She is in your Opera House. You can do what ever you want." A small, sly voice whispered to me.
"She is yours."
I could no longer contain myself.
Slowly, ever so slowly, I reached an imploring hand towards her. The heat in my skull pulsated, displaying all the erotic fantasies I had ever dared to dream of.
As I touched her, she would sigh quietly in pleasure. Then she would gently stir at my caress, wondering with delight as I emerged from the shadows. I would silently beckon her to draw near to me, and she would willingly…
A brusque bang of the box door interrupted our invented interlude, halting my fingers just centimeters from her sweet mane. She groggily lifted her head, just barely missing the brush of my glove.
Who would DARE?
This audacious intruder would pay a high price for ruining my plans. The clammy warmth in my stomach promptly rose to the cavern of my chest, fueling my anger.
Until I recognized the figure in the door.
At any other time I would have found the sight highly amusing. Her disheveled state was a definite first in my days at the Populaire. She prided herself on her well kempt appearance, taking silent strength in her impassable façade of dignity.
Now I could only bite my lip and restrain my lunging anger on a chokehold leash. Only her name saved her from my fury.
Antoinette Giry darted in to gather my young guest with a few muted words of mild reproach for breaking curfew.
Her hair was a tangle, pulled into a hasty braid of bronze and a peppering of gray. Her high necked woolen shift was primly covered by a serviceable robe. No wonder she was in her night things, I thought as I glanced at my pocket watch. It was nearly one in the morning.
"Child, why aren't you in bed with the rest of the girls?"
She sleepily blinked, trying to focus on the stern woman next to her.
"Oh, Madame!" She exclaimed guiltily. "I couldn't sleep, so I was listening to the rehe…"
"Never mind that now. Come with me to the dormitories. I need you to do something." Antoinette replied in an unusually supplicational tone that was wrought with tension and weariness.
So she was a dancer then. That sounded right, but I still couldn't put a name to her shadowy face.
Absorbed by the mystery of her retreating form, I slipped into the narrow passage that would take me near to the dormitories.
While stalking my unsuspicious prey, I silently thanked the man who had made these tunnels possible. Not only had he given me the means to travel unseen in my domain, he had also saved me from making a kill tonight.
Most of my thoughts, however, were focused on the back of my quarry. It seemed that ages passed during their journey to the dormitories.
At last, Antoinette stopped outside one of the bedroom doors, ushering the girl inside.
Something didn't seem quite right. I stood stock still, trying to excavate the memory that eluded me from the rubble of my mind. Something about that door…
Just then, it came to me!
I knew who she was. She was the newest dancer in the alternate row. I had watched her audition and she had been there that night in the kitchen. I vaguely remembered that she was rooming with Giry's daughters.
But that wasn't the right door. Why would…
I was jolted to my senses by the click of the door knob as it shut behind them.
I quickly stole down another corridor in order to discover the accursed woman's reason for interrupting our brief tryst. I arrived just in time to see said woman closing the creaking door behind her as she left the room.
"Alone at last!" I thought to myself with glee. "Surely she will fall asleep again soon."
Positioning myself near to the peep hole in the molding on the wall, I waited with bated breath for my secretive little ballerina to climb into bed.
But she didn't.
She simply sat there on top of her duvet, doing nothing.
After several minutes of frustration, I shifted my body for a better view, changing the angle of my head. Instead of the one girl I had been expecting, I found two.
As my eyes adjusted to focus on their faces, I inwardly cursed her unexpected companion. If only Leah had been alone! I would have had a perfect opportunity to…
My thoughts instantaneously became mute as I studied the child next to her on the bed.
Now I wished that Leah was the one absent from the room, though for entirely different reasons.
As the bedraggled woman shut the door behind her, she whispered a hushed prayer to the heavens.
"Lord, help them both. I can only do so much for them." She sighed, as a familiar emotion choked her throat. "I can only hope that they will be less lonely now. I know how deeply that hurts."
"Please Father, they need you." Her voice wavered with emotion as a small tear made its journey down her cheek.
Steeling herself, she turned down another hallway in search of a bath to wake her sluggish body and calm her anxious mind.
Leah
My sleepy bearings were gone in a twinkling once Madame's puzzling request had snagged the threads of my curiosity.
As we made the winding trek to the dormitory hall, I half expected her to lecture me on curfew or inform me that I had earned myself extra hours of exercise. Instead, she mutely led me to the unused room next to ours. My interest spiked, she refrained from opening the door. Turning to me, she spoke in no more than a whisper.
"Child," she began, "I have decided to place you in a new room."
A tide of questions roared inside my skull. Why? Have I done something wrong? Have I displeased her? Are Beth and Meg sick of…
They were interrupted and cut short as my instructor continued.
"A new student has been accepted to the academy tonight, and I wish for you to room with the girl."
Still mildly perturbed by my estrangement from my friends, I began to wonder just who this girl was. She must have been important to be admitted in the middle of the night. But what did that have to do with me?
"As you know, normally the entrance procedures take several days. This, however, was an unusual, and rather difficult, circumstance."
I narrowed my eyes and raised my eyebrows, trying to understand what she was telling me.
"She has just been through a very difficult loss, and I have high hopes that you will be able to comfort her and make her feel at home."
Comfort her? Make her feel at home? I had no idea how to even begin! I had never done anything like this before. Why had she chosen me? And what circumstances would push her to be so careful with this girl?
"What kind of lo…" I began without thinking.
Madame turned sharply to me, and spoke in a tone that was even more quiet.
"Her father died." She muttered. "She is an orphan now. Completely alone. She needs a shoulder to cry on."
"Oh God!" I half prayed. "What am I supposed to do? I don't even have a father. How could I possibly know what to say?"
I desperately searched for some way to avoid Madame's plan, but she had already cracked open the door.
Author's notes: Cliffy! Muhaha! Ants in your pants!
It has been a little while since I've advertised about this, so I thought I'd give it another shot. I am in need of a beta. (Kind of obvious, no?) If you are willing to submit to said torture, PLEASE contact me! I will send you an out line of where I am planning to go with this story, and we can go from there.
Well, it's a happy day! Eric and Leah finally get out of the blasted box! I'm sorry they've been there so long, but hey, you can't complain. You are going to get to meet a certain weepy little girl! (She puts words into your non existent collective mouths)
Also, last chapter, I wrote a line saying that Leah could hear 'hell's harpies' singing. In that scene of Orpheus et Euridice, there are people acting and singing the roles of hell's harpies. I didn't mean to imply that the chorus sounded bad or something, I was talking about actual parts that were being sung. Hope that clears it up for you!
Responses:
Allegratree: Well, they're out!
I've decided that I am going to hold off on the major editing until I am done with the first draft, but yeah, those chapters will probably end up being one long chapter. By the way, I think it's great that you can joke about having ADD. I can definitely understand. I live with an entire house full of people with ADD. Always keeps life interesting if nothing else:D
Thank you for saying it's historically accurate! (Well, mostly) That is one of my pet peeves also. As for Eric's name, firstly, I have a god complex. I did it because I can. :D More importantly, I did it to tie into part of the plot. In short, you will have to keep guessing about that one until the final chapters, if not the epilogue itself. Sorry, but hey, its suspense. AND, an incentive to keep reading I might add!
As to procuring floor plans, YOU ARE A GODDESS! (I think you are a woman that is. If you are a guy, I am very, VERY sorry!) Thanks for the article you sent me, it was quite helpful. And yes, I am trying to find plans for the entire opera house, but whatever you can get your hands on it VERY much appreciated! I hope you enjoyed your Friday night!
JPT: I guess you'll just have to keep wondering if they'll ever meet, now won't you! Sorry, but the anticipation always makes for better reading later on. As to being disowned, it had less to do with pride and love and more to do with the culture of the time. If you read closely, you will see that they are still kind of taking care of her, so it's not a black and white situation.