Cassie woke up the next day and went to find the schedule…she had four hours in the morning with which the dancers were practicing and Villefort and Giles were working with the tech crew to get all the back drops and set pieces into place. This gave her, Mark, Ryan and Matt time to do whatever they wanted.

Mark went back to his dressing room, complaining that too much exploration would make them all late for afternoon rehearsals. Matt went to help with set pieces which left Ryan and Cassie to explore.

The first thing they did was to head to the foyer entrance with its marble stairs and polished columns. Cassie fell in love with it. Next they wound their way through the theater and found themselves behind the opera boxes. They made their way into box three, but couldn't get in to box five because it was locked. They watched the dance lessons for a few moments before continuing to the world behind the stage.

The bulk of the Opera was in fact behind the stage. It went up several stories and had roof access. There were four or five basements and of course, the infamous lake. Ryan and Cassie had made their way to the back stair cases that one could take either up to the lofts or down to the cellars.

"Shall we go up, or down?" Ryan asked.

"Down first…we can go up tomorrow." Cassie replied heading down the stairs into the inky blackness. They found 'the organ' the machine that in older times had been what supplied the opera house with gas for the lights. Now the room it was housed in was home to a large electric generator that was to be used in the event of an emergency. They also found where several of the old, large back drops were stored in a dry and dusty room.

"I wonder where Joseph Buquet was hanged?" Ryan asked as he tickled at Cassie's hips, causing her to jump.

"That's not funny Ryan…." Cassie felt chills run up and down her spine remembering that in Lereoux's book, Buquet had been hanged in the cellar, not on stage during Il Muto.

They continued deeper into the basements and finally came upon the lake, its black waters tinged green by pond scum and algae. From above they could hear the faint sounds of singing.

"The Siren, perhaps." Ryan said laughing.

"If you're going to joke about that type of thing, you'd do best to keep your hand at the level of your eyes, Ryan." Cassie admonished.

"Come on Cassie….isn't this cool? I mean, the famous Paris Opera House Lake…"

"It is interesting…." Cassie looked into the black water at her feet and thought she saw scrape marks in the mud at the lakes edge…like that of a boat being pushed into the water….or a body being pulled beneath the surface, never to be seen again.

Cassie turned quickly and she and Ryan made their way back up through the subterranean depths to the stage. Their excursion took them almost all the way to lunch.

Their rehearsals weren't draining, but after spending much time exploring Cassie and Ryan were tired and wished to do nothing more than return to their rooms and go to bed.

The next day the dancers had a chance to explore, while the principle leads had individual rehearsals, voice lessons and added stage instruction.

When the day was done, Matt, Mia, Ryan and Cassie made their way up to the costume loft and played a game of ERS.

"You should have taken the chance to explore yesterday, Matt. You look exhausted." Ryan said as he picked up more cards.

"I'm beat man….I'm going to sleep in tomorrow since the techies are getting all their added instruction tomorrow."

"What?" Mia asked.

"Yeah….there's no rehearsals on the stage tomorrow because of all the technical work being done. They're learning how to use the lights, the curtains, raising and lowering stuff on the winches….actually I heard Giles saying that no one would be allowed near the stage…to prevent an accident."

"So everyone is off tomorrow?"

"Yep…that's the sounds of it." Matt slapped at the cards and got beat out by Cassie.

"Good…then I can rest my poor feet….they're killing me." Mia said as she looked at her calloused feet.

The next day Matt, Ryan and Cassie decided to explore the upper lofts and see if they couldn't gain roof access. First they went through the lofts where the lesser cast members and techies were staying. They were actual rooms with solid walls filled with six bunks per room, dressers and boxes for various articles. Most people were choosing to live out of suitcases rather than unpacking completely as the leads had done.

The next level of the Opera house they found themselves in the costume area. Their racks were placed close to the door but as they walked farther back, they found costumes from other productions as well, all labeled with performers' names, dates, character names, scene's and other information. Some of it was written out by hand, while others were type written or word processed.

"Check it out…I can't tell what the name is, but the date says 1911." Matt said. "Look at the detail in these things…" He gently pulled one out of the rack and held up a green velvet smoking jacket with a tiger appliquéd to the back of it. The cuffs and neck were a heavy black silk.

"It's gorgeous." Cassie said gently brushing her fingertips over the appliqué. Matt returned the costume to its location and the three of them continued up higher in the Opera House.

They found where the old plaster works had been, back when such tasks had to have been done in house. Now anything that looked like it was made of plaster was more than likely spray painted foam and could be moved with great ease. They also found a rickety old wrought iron stair case that spiraled up towards a sky light, obviously giving them access to the roof.

"I wouldn't set foot on that if my life depended on it." Cassie said as she spotted the many rust stains eating away the metal work.

"Neither would I…it's chained off for a reason, obviously." Matt said fingering a heavy chain, equally rusted. A sign hung haphazardly from the links---words were practically obliterated by the rust patches, but they could just barely read a word that looked like 'caution' on it.

They continued to wander the opera lofts finding a props room, which they decided they would explore in greater detail some other day, and a secondary access to the roof. They spent a few moments walking across the metal roof admiring the statues of Apollo and other deities up close. When it got too hot on the roof, they went back into the blackness of the opera house.

"It's pretty cool up there….we should come up and watch the sun set…I bet it's awesome." Ryan said as he followed Cassie and Matt down the stairs. Ryan sat on the second step from the bottom while Cassie leaned against his knees. Matt leaned against a beam while they all rested and let their eyes adjust to the gloom of the inside world.

"Yeah…we should all come up here some night when we get the chance….Mia would love this." Cassie said. Ryan began to massage her shoulders while they all continued talking. Matt was scratching his back against the beam he was against when suddenly they all heard a faint clicking sound and saw the wall behind Matt's shoulder swing inwards. Matt lost his balance and tumbled into the secret passage way.

"What the---" Cassie and Ryan ran to where Matt was pulling himself up from the ground and dusting himself off.

"It's a passage way---what the hell did you hit to trigger it?" Ryan asked as he pulled a pen light from his pocket and shone it down the hall way.

"I dunno…let's see." Matt went back out and noticed that just where his shoulder blades had been rubbing, there was a knot in the wood on the beam. The center was actually a spring backed button that released the catch and allowed the wall to swing open.

"Cool." Matt and Ryan said when they figured out how it worked.

"Now let's see where it goes." Matt said. Matt took the light from Ryan and he led the way, Cassie following and Ryan taking up the rear. They went down a series of stairs until they could hear the people on stage shouting orders. They looked through a tiny window and found themselves above the catwalks looking down onto the stage where Mr. Giles, Mr. Le Besprit and Mr. Villefort were directing the placement of certain items on the stage and how they would move on and off it during the performances.

"Look here, there's a switch here…I bet it opens up onto the cat walk." They decided not to throw the switch in case someone saw themand continued on going up and down the stairwells getting thoroughly lost but always managing to orient themselves through tiny windows or peep holes. One looked out onto the backside of the dry wall of the dorms of the cast. They could hear someone moaning on the other side of the wall.

"Is someone sick?" Matt asked as they listened to the moaning. "God, they sound awful."

"I don't think they're in pain, Matty." Ryan answered. "I think it's a feeling of…shall we say…pleasure?" They listened again and this time could make out voices on the other side of the wall. They couldn't tell who it was exactly, or what they were saying at first but as their ears adjusted they could make out quite a bit.

"Mmm…Chris….Oh God…"

"Colleen….ooooh….shhh."

"Mmmm…harder Chris….do it harder….oooooooh." Matt's hand flew over his mouth as he tried not to laugh. Cassie's eyes were wide with shock.

"God Colleen, you're so---so…" But before they could here what Colleen was, they heard a high pitched scream of pleasure as she orgasmed.

"Holy shit…that's Colleen O'Malley." Ryan whispered. He and Matt were both laughing.

"I didn't know she was going with Christian Jones." Matt laughed. "Giles is wrong! Cast members are Dallying!" There was a little more moaning and finally it got quiet and the three of them had to move on before they were discovered.

They came to a T in the hall. They'd been to the right, but not the left. Matt pressed the button on his watch to make the light work and noticed it was almost time for his private rehearsal.

"I gotta go. You two keep exploring and let me know what other interesting things you hear."

"Are you sure you can get back on your own, Matt?" Ryan asked. "Maybe we should walk with you…"

"Nah..remember that door down here that opened up behind the stage a little bit, into the drapes? I'm going to exit there rather than all the way up at the roof or something."

"Ok, and you're sure you can find it?"

"Yeah, no biggie." Matt wandered off, using his indiglo light as an aide in the dark.

"Well, so off to the left, madame?" Ryan asked, shining his pen light down the corridor.

"Sure." They continued down and looked in on many more windows before finding something disturbing.

Ryan noticed a window opening high on one wall. When he stood on a ledge at knee level he could just barely see through the two holes punched in the wall. It looked out into an office. From the looks of it, it was the one Giles and Villefort were using.

"Creepy." Ryan said as he looked out. "I think these holes are in the eyes of that painting."

Farther down they could hear Mark coughing in his room.

"We're close to our dressing rooms." Ryan said as they looked in on Davette who was reclined on her bed listening to a CD. They continued around and then found their way down a set of stairs, across a long hall and back up another flight of stairs. They walked around a corner, not finding anything that looked interesting and finally went down a hall that stopped abruptly at the end.

"There's levers here…on either side." Ryan said looking at the chains and weights that would allow the doors to swing open once the mechanisms were worked. "We should be at our rooms…." He pulled the lever down and leapt back as dust flew off the weights as they fell and the wall opened into Ryan's room.

"Holy cow….now try that one." Ryan said. Cassie pulled with all her might and eventually got the door to spring open. It opened into the Rose room.

"Wow." They entered their dressing rooms and tried to find the mechanisms by which to open them from the inside of their rooms. Ryan's worked when he pressed his foot down on a knob in the wainscoting. But Cassie's would not open from her side.

"Maybe it's a one-sided deal…like you could get into this room from the tunnel…but not out." Ryan said. "No matter…it works from my side…that's cool enough." Cassie nodded. Somehow though, she no longer felt comfortable in her room.

Later that night after their dinners were finished Cassie, Ryan, Matt and Mia went up to the roof and sat staring out at the Parisian sunset. Colors of red and pink faded into beautiful purples and a blue-y green. Cassie lay her head in Ryan's lap and looked up at the enchanting sky. The first stars blinked into view as the sky became darker and darker in it's shades of purple.

"Let's make a wish." Mia said as she was pulled to her feet by Matt. "I wish…."

"Don't say it aloud, or it won't come true twinkle toes." Cassie admonished. Matt spun Mia around in a fast waltz on the roof top. They laughed and talked until a chill wind blew through the gables and brought with it the smell of rain.

"We should get down stairs before we get caught in the storm." Ryan said helping Cassie up. She looked up at the statue of Apollo, the moon light glinting off the gold. Cassie just thought she could see two red stars through the strings of the lyre. Words from leroux's book bounced through her head and she made a rush for the door. The four of them exited the roof just as the rain began to fall.

A/N: To my reviewers, many thanks. I really appreciate the input and I've taken a lot of what you said into consideration and edited some of my chapters a little bit. I hope I'm succeeding bit by bit. Enjoy...