Chapter Seven : That Man and Mystery

The candlelight showed dimly only a few feet and beyond that the room was shadowed into blackness, giving her the sense that her surroundings faded into oblivion. Elissa looked up at the dark over her bed. A black cloud resting over her. How appropriate, she thought. It was the next afternoon and she had not moved from the bed since she had wakened up. With the awakened memories of her childhood before she'd had to go live with Madame de Loncrae, and the newfound information about Pierre, her mind was quite drained and it took awhile to figure out what she should do now.

Erik had come into her room earlier. She'd felt his presence as he'd come in and silently set a tray of food on the table beside the bed, next to the candle. Elissa had stared upwards blankly, no moving or saying a word as she still wanted time to sort out her thoughts. She heard his sigh before he left the room, closing the door gently behind him. With a sigh of her own Elissa sat up, crossed her legs, slouched over and looked glumly around. As easy as it would be to stay longer in the dark chill of her tormented thoughts, she knew she had to come up with some solution.

She grabbed a piece of toast off the tray and started to nibble at it as she thought and was surprised to discover how hungry she was. After she'd finished the rest of the toast, the fruit and the glass of water, she stepped out of the bed with a new determined look in her eyes. She straightened her dress, ran a small brush through her hair, washed her face with the water in a small basin and dried it and then strode out of the room. Erik stepped into her path as she headed straight towards his room.

"Where are you going?" he asked mildly, blocking her way to his bedroom. 

"Ah, there you are," she said, pleased. "I need to leave now."

Erik didn't say anything, but stared down at her waiting for an explanation. Realizing he wanted more details, she added," I have to travel." Then she looked off in thought, "I wonder when the train leaves. Too far to walk obviously. Definitely need a schedule for the trains; that would help."

"Elissa, come into the library with me," Erik said finally, holding her arm as he turned her around and led her into the library. The fire in the fireplace crackled and warmed the room. He guided her to a seat and walked over to the desk before turning to look at her. "Now, if you would be so kind, can you explain to WHAT is going on?" His voice was calm on the surface but anger was creeping out right below that.

"What's going on?" she repeated.

"Yes…"

"Oh, about Claude," she nodded, understanding.

"Claude?" he stared at her for a few seconds confused, "Who the hell is Claude?"

"Claude is Pierre," she informed him. Just as he was about to explode with frustration at her, she continued. "Claude Rouland is Pierre's real name. When I was little, I lived with my father in a small apartment building- my mother had died before I could remember her. There was a boy in the flat above ours, Claude Rouland. He lived with his uncle, who, if I remember correctly, enjoyed the drink a little too much. On the after noon of my sixth birthday, I ran to the park two streets away when my father lay down to take a nap. I wanted to go by myself; I wanted to feel grown up. I was so engrossed in playing that I stayed there for longer than I should have and when I finally looked up at the sky I saw smoke rising. I ran home and saw the building on fire. The fire seemed so loud…I stood on the sidewalk in my birthday dress with my hands over my ears, screaming for my father. The fire had killed him."

She paused and Erik let himself digest this information before asking," But you said that Pie- Claude had killed your father."

"Claude set the fire."

"He set the fire on purpose? At the age of- how old was he?"

"Eight."

"Why would he set the building on fire?" he asked, thinking she might have been wrong about Claude killing her father. Surely an eight year old little boy…but Erik remembered himself at the age of eight.

"I don't know. I remember the police found evidence in the Rouland flat that let them know Claude had done it. His uncle had also been killed in the fire, as well as several other tenants. Most, though, had been able to escape it. One of the women who had survived, Madame de Loncrae, took me in and raised me as her daughter. She never told me what had happened to my father after it was discovered that I'd made myself forget it. Repressed it. Until last night when it came back rather violently as you saw."

Erik nodded. It must have been quite painful to suddenly remember in detail the horrible death of her father. She'd nearly brought down the opera house with her in her agony. Which brought him to another question. "Elissa…the scenery falling, the angel statue from the roof, the chandelier in the lobby…that was you, wasn't it?"

She licked her lips nervously before nodding.

"How?"

She shrugged," I don't know. Just that, for as long as I can remember, stuff like that has happened when intense emotions come over me. I don't know why. It's hard to control, but sometimes I can."

"What will we do now? Now that you know the truth about Claude and what happened, I mean. It is obvious Claude must pay for what he has done."

Elissa was momentarily distracted that he'd asked what 'we' should do. She thought he'd be eager to see her leave after last night. "I need to go back to Ostroda as soon as possible. To talk with Madame de Loncrae and find my father's grave." She lowered her eyes respectfully at the last part.

"And then, about Claude?" he inquired, not noting the exclusion.

She looked at him then with ruthless, unwavering eyes, a smile curling her lips," I'm going to kill him." She said it so calmly and intentionally and his first thought was that she wasn't kidding around. While he would have killed Claude for her without a second thought after what he'd just learned, that she was so exacting and purposeful about it threw him for a bit of a loop. But he nodded. In Elissa's mind it was the logical thing to do. Claude had killed her father, and, therefore, Claude must be killed also to bring justice to it. Prison for him would not satisfy her.

"The midnight train leaves to Poland. You'd best start packing," Erik said before turning and leaving the room, leaving Elissa to stare at his retreating back and then at the fire when she could no longer see him.

"You thought you could hide, Claude," she murmured, staring at the flames, "but death rides the wind towards you."