Cassie's dreams that night were nightmarish. She dreamt of the lake below the opera house and someone pulling her down into the inky depths. Ryan stood on the bank and just watched her as she was taken into the water.
"Help! Please!" She called to him, but he turned from her as if he could neither see nor hear her.
"You see, he doesn't care for you." A voice whispered at her from the water as she was taken beneath the waves. "He doesn't love you like I do." She could feel a breath at her throat, just below her ear, as if someone were right beside her.
Cassie sat up quickly and felt cold, as if she'd been dunked in ice water. She rubbed her neck where in her dream she had felt the person whispering to her….it was eerie, she still felt as though someone had just been whispering to her. This was just too much to bear. She wrapped a blanket around her shoulders and wandered to the stage and sat to think.
What did the dream mean? Did it mean anything, or was the exploration of the opera house getting away with her imagination? She was pondering this last thought when she felt as if she were being watched; that inexplicable feeling when you know someone's eyes are upon you but you don't know from whence the stare comes. Cassie rose slowly and stared out into the shaded theater. Few of the house lights were on and she could only see a few rows back before the theater was plunged into complete darkness. She stepped away from the edge of the stage, her heart pounding so hard in her chest, she was sure she'd wake the whole of the Opera house. She had just reached the curtains at stage right when a figure stepped in front of her.
Cassie screamed and retreated back to the stage. Mr. Villefort stepped forward, concern etched across his face.
"Cassandra? Are you alright?"
"Mr. Villefort? Jesus, you scared the crap out of me." Cassie said pressing her hand to her chest in an effort to keep her heart from busting through her rib cage.
"What are you doing out of bed? Why aren't you sleeping like the rest of the cast?"
"I….I had a nightmare." Cassie said quietly. "I just wanted to clear my head, but this place…it's so…"
"Haunting?" Villefort said when Cassie couldn't find the words.
"Yes….I guess that's it." Cassie looked up into Villefort's dark green eyes and saw something in them that sent an even deeper chill down her spine than even her nightmare had. "But I should probably get back to bed….no sense in standing here all night…catching cold or something." She slipped past Villefort without looking at him again and when she knew she was out of his line of sight she sprinted for her room, closing and locking the door behind her.
"Cassie? Cassie, are you awake yet?" Cassie opened her eyes slowly and looked at the door. It had taken her most of the night to go back to sleep. She was laying on the settee in the rose room. She felt disoriented at first, but managed to rub the sleep from her eyes and went to the door.
"Good morning Mrs. Giles." Cassie said when she answered her door.
"Are you alright dear? Mr. Villefort said you weren't feeling well last night."
"Oh, I feel fine, I just had a nightmare…must be the stress."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Then you better get ready, rehearsals start in half an hour." Cassie looked at her watch and swore under her breath.
"I'll be right down…thank you Mrs. Giles." Cassie quickly dressed for rehearsals and ran for the stage.
Dressed in her dance clothes she grabbed her shoes and sprinted back to the stage barefoot and joined the cast.
"We'll start from Masquerade…now we have more space on this stage, so don't be afraid to use it ladies and gentlemen." Mr. Giles yelled. People shuffled to their spots on the stage, avoiding as best they could the tape marks which were there to mark where props were to be placed during the performance and dress rehearsals. "Don't worry about singing yet…just go through the steps and get the feel for the bigger stage." Ryan and Cassie stood off to one side as the beginning of the performance started and everyone tried to use the whole stage to the best of their abilities.
"You OK? You look a little flustered this morning." Ryan said as Cassie put on her shoes and stood up to get ready to enter the stage with him.
"I'm alright, I'll talk to you about it later, OK?" Ryan and Cassie whirled onto the stage and waltzed across the whole thing and joined in the whirl of other students.
"Watch your steps Andrew! For goodness sakes Glide…don't stomp!" Mrs. Giles said walking between the couples and avoiding some as they spun across the stage. "Cassie stand up straight…don't slouch." She said as Cassie and Ryan hit their mark on the right side of the stage for their solo. Cassie threw her shoulders back as Ryan started the spin to bring her back into the middle of the ball. The next thing she had to do was a series of spins as everyone around her would have phantom masks on during the performance. She was nearly finished when her eyes caught something in one of the boxes above the stage. She stopped mid spin a little off balance and looked up to the box again where she was sure she saw a man retreating back into the deepest recess of the box. Suddenly Christian and Colleen collided with her and sent her flying on her hip across the stage. Cassie rose as quickly as she could and looked up to the box again but could see no one. Everyone else was rushing to see if she was OK.
"What is it Cassie?"
"I saw someone up there…."
"That's preposterous Cassandra, there's no one in the theater."
"But I saw…"
"Cass…there's nothing there."
"I saw someone standing there!" Cassie wheeled on Matt and Ryan who were standing behind her staring at her as if she had seriously lost her mind. She shook her head as Mr. Giles dispatched MR. LeBesprit to see if there was anything behind Cassie's statement. The Opera was on lockdown to keep the press from getting pictures of the performance before the release date. When Mr. Le Besprit came back, he assured Cassie that no one was there and that no one could get in. Cassie was still unsure, but went about the rest of rehearsals without any further difficulty. When they were dismissed for lunch Ryan, Cassie, Matt and Mia stopped in a darkened hall to discuss what Cassie had seen.
"And last night, I had this horrible nightmare…" Cassie relayed her dream to her friends as well. She saw the pain it caused Ryan to think that she'd dreamt he didn't care, but she knew she needed to get the nightmare off her mind and tell it to others.
"The voice in the water said that he loved me….but it wasn't Ryan…"
"So what do you think it all means?" Matt asked.
"It means Cassie's losing it." Mia said shaking her head and grasping Cassie's shoulders. "It means nothing…she's just stressed out like the rest of us. Right Cass?" Mia asked with a reassuring shake. Cassie nodded.
"It must be…I just feel better knowing I can tell you guys about it…."
"OK, let's go get some lunch then, I'm starving!" Matt said dragging Mia off.
Two nights later, after a long game of ERS up in the costume loft Cassie fell gratefully into her bed. She was so tired after days of rehearsals and practicing a special song for the gala performance. Villefort said that almost everyone would be showcasing their talents at the performance. It was an easy enough song for her to do, but it was in Italian and she had to learn the proper pronunciations for the words of the aria. Absent mindedly she began to sing through the words of the song and was very quickly asleep.
She was running through the subterranean passages of the Opera house. Her heart was pounding but Cassie knew she had to keep running because someone was chasing her. None of the tunnels connected the way they were supposed to and Cassie was soon up in the lofts and running across the catwalks. She ducked onto the stage and cowered behind some of the props hoping her pursuer would fall off the chase. The man ran past where Cassandra was hiding and she heaved a sigh of relief. She was rising from her hiding place when the man leapt over the props and landed with a heavy thud in front of her. He gripped her arms tightly pinning her to a wall. His eyes glowed a horrible red and the lower half of his face was covered with a black scarf.
"You shouldn't have told…you shouldn't have told them about me." He hissed at her. "You shouldn't have told them I loved you."
Cassie screamed and woke up to find that someone really was pinning her arms to the bed…a man with his face half covered by a black scarf his eyes great black holes. Cassie screamed again and fought off the man pinning her to the bed. Before she could do much else he released her and disappeared into the dark shadows of her room. She tried to follow the figure even as she reached for the light beside her bed and ran for the door at the same time. She knocked the lamp to the floor in her hurry and heard it break. Suddenly something caught her eye in the mirror. It was flames…but there were no flames in her room. And then, as the flames moved in the mirror's reflection she saw a body, charred and blackened by the very flames dancing in the reflection hanging from a noose. It took up the full length of the big mirror and Cassie, pressed against the door as she was, could see every horrible detail of the dead body. Cassie screamed louder and reached for the knob on her door, but couldn't get it to open from the inside….the door was locked! She could hear someone run down the hall on the other side of the door and she screamed for help all the louder. The door burst open behind her and she tumbled backwards into Ryan's arms. Mark and Matt were just behind him. Mia was sprinting up the hall yelling for Mr. Villefort who was on evening patrol. The door slammed shut as Cassie exited but not before Ryan and Mark saw the dead body hanging in her mirror's reflection.
Mr. Giles and Mia were down the hall way in an instant where they found Cassie shaking uncontrollably in Ryan's arms and staring wide eyed at her door.
"Cassie, what happened?" Mr. Giles asked looking at the terrified girl. But Cassie couldn't answer.
"What the hell is going on down here?" Mr. Villefort came down the hall while everyone stared at Ryan and Cassie.
"There was a body…..hanging in Cassie's mirror." Ryan finally managed to get out. "I've never seen anything like it."
"What?" MR. Giles stepped back from the two of them. Mark stood staring at the door as well.
"I saw it too Mr. Giles….I wouldn't believe them if I hadn't….but I saw it."
"There were flames…and He was there." Cassie whispered, finally able to find her voice. "He was there…the man from my dreams…the man from the box…he was in my room." She started to sob quietly.
"Cassie are you sure?" Mr. Giles asked.
"He had pinned me to the bed…I screamed." Cassie looked up at Ryan, tears straining her cheeks. "He's still in there…he's got to be!"
"Cassandra, are you sure he's in there?"
"There's no other way out!" She cried, sobbing hysterically now. She briefly thought of the passage but the thought was gone as soon as it had entered her brain. She began to shake again and Ryan held her tighter. Giles and Villefort tried in vain to open the doors to her room and finally managed to barge in using a little shoulder power.
They exited the room soon after entering seeing nothing except the broken lamp.
"There's no one there." Villefort announced. "It must have been a dream." Ryan's hands moved down Cassie's arms as he started to argue with Villefort and Giles about what they'd seen. Cassie pushed away from Ryan and pulled her sleeves up. There on her arms were faint purple hand marks, that of the man who had pinned Cassie to the bed.
"Is this a dream too?" Cassie asked, as she sniffled. Everyone turned to look at her and gasped for all could clearly see the hand prints.
"Call the police Mr. Villefort…there's someone in this opera house." Mr. Giles said, his voice distant as he stared at the bruises on Cassie's arms.
Everyone was assembled in the theater and had to wait for the police to arrive. Most of the cast had been awakened and were now back asleep in the plush scarlet chairs of the opera house. Cassie, Ryan and Matt were standing off to one side. Cassie was wearing Ryan's St. Mark's sweatshirt and he was still holding onto her. Everyone was questioned by the police but nothing could be done.
"I suggest the young people be drug tested." Ryan heard the inspector say to Mr. Giles. "Ils doivent l'avoir halluciné."
"And the bruises?"
"Peut-être elle et son amant était un petit rough….ceci pourrait être un canular soigné pour couvrir leurs activités." (Maybe she and her lover were a little rough….this could all be an elaborate hoax to cover their activities)The inspector tipped his cap to the teachers and left.
"I didn't hallucinate it." Cassie said loudly and defiantly. "I know what I saw….and felt."
"I believe you Miss Davagé, but the good inspector and his men turned the opera house upside down and found nothing. Now, I suggest you go back to bed before I seriously consider the inspector's suggestion of a drug test." Mr. Villefort's words were cold and his stare sent daggers in Cassandra's direction.
It was still relatively early when the rest of the opera house returned to their beds. Rehearsals were getting pushed back a few hours to allow everyone to catch up on their sleep. Ryan walked Cassie back to her room and watched as she stood at her door, hand upon the knob, but wouldn't turn it.
"He was in there Ryan…I know it."
"I believe you Cass."
"Oh God…I'm so scared…" Cassie whispered more to herself than any one in particular. She took a deep breath, shook her head, and pushed the door open forcefully, closing it equally as forcefully on Ryan.
Cassie looked at her room. Someone had picked up the fancy lamp and had replaced it for the time being with an old lamp that looked as if it might have come from a 1960's Opium den. Cassie let her gaze wander all around the room and stared hard into every dark corner. When her eyes came across the mirror, she grabbed an afghan and dashed to it flinging the blanket over the mirror and making sure that not the slightest bit of glass could get a view into her room. She was covering the mirror over her dresser when she heard a rapping at the secret door and Ryan's voice announcing his presence.
"What're you doing Cass? Shouldn't you be asleep?"
"Yes…but how can I sleep when I know that someone could be watching?"
"You think the mirrors are like the ones in the movie?"
"Yep. IT would be easy to look in from that secret passage."
"WE'll check that out tomorrow…but for now you need some sleep."
"I do…I know I do…but how can I when every time I sleep, He's there?" Cassie grasped her arms and shivered. The idea that the man from her dreams had come to life, or that this man in life was also in her dreams terrified her. He had no business being in both locations…she liked it better when he was only in her dreams and she could wake up and know she was safe. Ryan wrapped his arms around Cassie and held her as her mind chased its demons.
"I won't let anything happen to you." He whispered. "I'll stay up all night and stand guard over you, you know that right?" Cassie nodded and relished the feeling of his warm, strong arms around her.
"I can't sleep here Ryan…..let's go back to your room…." Ryan nodded and led Cassie back through the wall, closing it behind him and led her into his room.
Ryan's room was as opulent as Cassandra's, but in a very masculine way. Everything was a deep mahogany color, and all the fabrics were done in tranquil greens and gold's. Even the old oriental carpet was predominately green. Cassie went to the settee and made to lay down when Ryan spoke up.
"You can take the bed Cass, I'll sleep on the couch."
"I couldn't…"
"You can and you will…you need to sleep." Ryan pulled the covers up to Cassie's chin and kissed her forehead. "I'll be right over here on the couch."
"Won't you stay? Please?" Cassie pleaded. Ryan was quick to obey and leapt into bed beside her, wrapping her in his arms, knowing that he could protect her for now.