It was the night of the masquerade ball. Christine was pensive. She didn't know what could or would happen that night. She prayed that nothing would go wrong. Her plan, as much as it hurt her, was to escape during the ball with Raoul. Carlotta was happy for the moment, and so Christine was not leaving the opera house in the lurch. This comforted her, but she was afraid of what Erik would do if he found out too soon that she was leaving. Would he hide away and feel sorry for himself? Would he take his wrath out on an innocent bystander? Christine simply didn't know.

The ball began, and everyone was having a lovely time.

"Masquerade! Paper faces on parade . . . Masquerade! Hide your face, so the world will never find you! Masquerade! Every face a different shade. . . Masquerade! Look around - there's another mask behind you!" Everyone, it seemed was singing.

"Flash of mauve . . .Splash of puce . . . Fool and king . . . Ghoul and goose . . . Green and black . . . Queen and priest . . . Trace of rouge . . . Face of beast . . ."

"Faces . . . Take your turn, take a ride on the merry-go-round . . . in an inhuman race. ."

"Eye of gold . . . Thigh of blue . . . True is false . . . Who is who . . . ? Curl of lip . . .Swirl of gown . . . Ace of hearts . . . Face of clown . . ."

"Faces . . . Drink it in, drink it up, till you've drowned in the light . . .in the sound . . ."

"Masquerade! Grinning yellows, spinning reds . . . Masquerade! Take your fill - let the spectacle astound you! Masquerade! Burning glances, turning heads . . ."

"Masquerade! Stop and stare at the sea of smiles around you! Masquerade! Seething

shadows breathing lies . . . Masquerade! You can fool any friend who ever knew you!"

"Masquerade! Leering satyrs, peering eyes . . . Masquerade! Run and hide - but a face will still pursue you!"

Christine froze as the song ended. Raoul enveloped her in his arms and she relaxed. "Come!" he whispered into her ear. He led her away from the lights, the sounds, and finally, to the chapel where she had a candle lit in prayer for her father. "I need a moment." Christine told Raoul.

Christine knelt at the candles, and gazed at her father's tintype.

"You were once. . .my one companion. You were all that mattered. You were once my friend and father; then my world was shattered. . ." Tears streamed down her cheeks, and as she bowed her head they splashed onto the peach gown she wore.

"Wishing you were somehow here again; wishing you were somehow here. . ." It was so true. She wished he was here. She missed her Papa so much! "Sometimes it seems, if I just dream, somehow you would be here! Wishing I could hear your voice again, knowing that I never would. Dreaming of you won't help me to do all that you dreamed I could!" M. Daée dreamed that his daughter would be the toast of Paris one day, and as she remembered this, she realized that running away from all this would be disappointing her father.

"Passing bells and sculpted angels, cold and monumental, seem, for you the wrong companions - you were warm and gentle . . . Too many years fighting back tears . . .
Why can't the past just die . . .?" Christine remembered vividly the cemetery where her father was buried was cold and forbidding. It seemed wrong for him to lay in a snow laid cemetery when he was such a warm and good man.

"Wishing you were somehow here again . . . knowing we must say goodbye . . . Try to forgive, teach me to live . . . give me the strength to try . . ." Christine knew that her father would not want her to fulfill a dream of his if it meant risking her life and others' in the process.

"No more memories, no more silent tears . . .No more gazing across the wasted years . . .
Help me say goodbye. Help me say goodbye!" She rested her head in her lap as she wept bitterly. She missed him so much—but he was gone.

"Don't cry, Angel." A voice materialized in the room. Christine snapped to attention. Raoul rushed in as he heard her cry out. In the opposite doorway from Raoul stood Erik himself, with a rapier in his hand!