Chapter 11

"Did you dears enjoy the opera house?" Sorelli asked the girls, as they sat in her dinning room, enjoying a simple meal.

"Oh, yes!" Kathrine exclaimed, then took a sip of her red wine.

"Would it be possible for us to return again tomorrow, while Mother and father are at the wedding?" Sasha asked hopefully.

"Well," She turned her gaze to Phil, "Phil has his studies... If you think you could handle being by yourselves, I don't seem why not." A beaming smile spread across each girl's face, while Phil scowled at them.

"But mother..." He started to protest, but he was stopped when Sorelli raised her hand to silence him.

"Phil, don't be rude, they shall be fine. The opera lifestyle runs through their blood, I think they could handle themselves." She commented, as she did, Sasha shot a triumphant grin at Phil, who gave her a disgusted look back.

"We will certainly behave our selfs." Kat reassured them. Sorelli nodded her head in acknowledgment.

"It's getting late, if your finished with your meal, you may go up to your room." The girls bowed their heads, and made their way towards the room they were staying in. After the were out of earshot, Sasha whispered her plan to her sister.

"So we'll tour the cellars right? And the lake?" Kat looked around the corner, to make sure Phil wasn't ease dropping on their conversation.

"Of course, what else would two high class young women do but explore a filthy, haunted labyrinth?" she joked, as they entered their room, and began to changed into their nightgowns.

"I over hear some of the stagehands taking, and I think, assuming I understood correctly, that I can get us down there, without running into any one who might stop us." Sasha helped her sister untie her corset.

"Assuming we get down there." Kat commented sarcastically, "What do you purpose we do while we are there?"

"well, while you were flirting with Phil-"

"I wasn't flirting!"Kat protested, as her face turned red.

"Well, as I was saying, I was talking with one of the dancers, Madame Jammes I think her name was, and she told me the story of the opera ghost, he lives down in a hidden home on the lake. We could try to find it." Kat nodded her head at the thought. While Sasha spoke, her already pale face turned to an even lighter shade of off white, as she remembered the Dancer's words.

"The ghost haunts the Opera house, especially the young ballerina's dormitory, he is always being seen there, I saw him many times when I lived in those dormitories, he had the head of a decaying corpse, his skull is so white, that the the birch trees look gray in comparison, and he has fiery golden eyes that glow in the night, like the devil's black cat. No one had such a look at him than a young Prima Donna, A Mademoiselle Christine Daae. He kidnapped her right of the stage, and she hasn't been seen since. The entire Opera House went looking for her, but they never found his home, on the underground lake. The poor dear, she was older than me, and had just started her singing career. It was funny, when she first started to sing. I had lived with her since she first came, and never had I heard her sing, no one knew what a wonderful voice she had, except the ghost. He caused La Carlotta, the Prima Donna before her, to leave, giving Miss Daae the chance, and he told the managers to cast her, but when they refused, he made Carlotta loose her voice, and killed one of the stagehands. Since he stole her away, the managers have paid him his required fifty thousand francs, and gave him his private box back. There hasn't been any trouble from him, except for some harmless scaring of the younger girls since then."

The words rang through her mind, and she wanted to tell her sister the story so urgently, but something kept her mouth shut despite her desire, it was like when her mother would teach her a beautiful song that she wished to sing until the her voice gave way, but couldn't because her father was in the house.

'My mother, she knew the ghost? Why didn't she ever mention it? She told us that there was a ghost, but never any details, all she ever spoke of was her angel of music, who gave her a voice-"

"Sasha?" Kat shook her shoulder, bringing her sharply snapping her back to reality. Without realizing it, she had finished changing, and was just standing in the middle of the room, starring blankly into a full length mirror. For a spit second, she imagined she saw the ghost, standing before her, but it was only her reflection.

"Hey, Sasha, are you alright?" Kat asked with concern.

"Oh, yes, I was just thinking." She flashed a fake smile for her sister, than climbed into her bed.

"About what?" Kat said, as she collapsed onto her own bed.

"Oh... a story mother used to tell us." She lied.

"Which one?"

"The one about the nightingale."

"I love that one. The nightingale has to decide what to build it's nest with, the leaves of the strong, ugly, old oak tree, or the soft, beautiful, young fir tree. The bird knows that the oak leaves with withstand the harsh climate, but the fir leaves looked more appealing, the nightingale chooses the fir in vain, not caring about the harsh weather that is rapidly approaching, that destroyed the weak structure."

"The bird is left homeless, and must find a new place to hide from the elements, and predictors, but it is unsuccessful, and is killed by a hungry fox." Sasha finished the tale, then blew out the candle that sat on the nightstand, enclosing the room in complete darkness, except for the faint glow of Sasha's exposed Golden eye.