Opera Ghost
Chapter Nine
Jess didn't quite follow Tony's suggestion of getting a good night's sleep and was awake before six in the morning. Fortunately, the other two were up as well. Daniel and Tony didn't say anything to her about last night and after a quick bite to eat, and they met in her room to prepare for the day.
Daniel was intent on exploring the cellars and wasted no time getting on his computer, printing out maps. Tony and Jess stuffed their backpacks with supplies in silence. They packed flares, flashlights with extra batteries, and bottles of water. Tony insisted on packing himself and extra pair of socks in case his feet got wet, and Jess threw in a can of Pepsi and a box of Milk Duds just in case. Dan explained his plan as the group drank some more coffee. "All we need is an employee to unlock the door to the basement for us, then we're all on our own." Dan said picking up the phone to page someone. "You guys ready?"
"Do you think it will be safe wandering around basically blind?" Jess asked.
"Don't worry. I got the blueprints of the cellars from Ambler." He assured her.
"Wait you got the floor plan for every cellar in the opera hose?" Jess questioned in disbelief.
Daniel started to lighten up and gave her a grin. "Well the one's up to the 3rd cellar that is."
An employee lead them down to the main entrance to the basement which was located backstage. Daniel kept the journal close by him, scanning through its pages with the beams of the flashlight. "Careful, Dan we don't want to waste all our light on your recreational reading." Tony remarked.
"But you don't understand. I've written every finding and clue in this journal. Everything I found in books, and websites on the Paris catacombs. Did you know they kept prisoners down here during the time of the Commune. Some say even torture chambers..."
"Well that's interesting... in a creepy sort of way." Tony said cutting him off.
The first two cellars had a modern look with finished floors and even light switches and fuse boxes. There were stacks of chairs, and a room stuffed with furniture from previous shows. In the second cellars some of the light bulbs had burnt out. Halls were crowed as they passed rows of old lighting equipment and piles of discarded sound boards. Crates, Tupperware tubs and cardboard boxes full of cables and wires of all sorts covered in dust and dirt. Jess leaned over to examined them with her flashlight.
"What a waste." She sighed. Daniel came behind here.
"Look, I'm sorry for the way I acted last night. Can't really say much except that . . . I'm sorry." He said.
"Apologies accepted." She replied.
"Hey come check this out!" Tony called them over to the stairs that lead into the 3rd cellar. "Look at the steps." The mortar was crumbling, unlike the other stairs they passed before. Daniel took a long whiff of the air.
"Ummm . . . musky." He suggested with a grin. Without hesitation they descended lower. There were no light switches here, so all three of the switched on their flashlights. And gasped in wonder at what was revealed to them.
A massive room full of odds and ends. Backdrops, scenery, furniture, chandeliers and tapestries hanging from the ceiling. Shelves stuffed with props and containers stacked high with hidden items. Daniel walked up to one of the large drops with a medieval castle painted on it. He touched it with one finger, removing dust and chipping paint in one accidently stroke. Tony almost knocked over some boxes as he tried to squeeze past. He steadied the wayward items and huffed. "How organized."
Jess handed her map and Daniel. "According to Delauney, this has been a set storage room for a real long time. Know one really knows how old some of these things are."
"Or how long the 'clean the prop room' chore has been on the to-do list." Tony mumbled.
"What you don't like this place?" Jess asked. "I think its kinda rustic looking."
Daniel chuckled at him "Don't mind, Tony. He's just afraid of the dark, that's all." Tony shook a fist at him.
"Are you really afraid of the dark?" Jess asked. Tony flashed his light up toward the ceiling as if someone was watching him.
"Not really, I just like to see what's coming at me." He grunted. "Like you aren't afraid of something."
"Well, I don't like spiders at all." She said covering her arms as if a swarm of spiders were trying to crawl on her. Tony smiled, proving his point.
"How about you Dan?"
"Rats." He said simply.
"Well let's hope that we don't encounter many of those things." Tony said Dan took a closer look at the map, shining his flashlight close to the page.
"According to this, there should be a stair case somewhere in this room that leads down to the next two cellars, and it's the only way down."
"Are you sure?" Jess asked. Dan nodded. "So after that?"
"We're on our own." Daniel folded the map and put it in his coat and pulled out his journal again. "Let's spread out and look for it." Jess walked over to a dark corner while the boys separated. There was so much dust in the floor, that her sneakers started to slip on the floor. She leaned on a large pile of paintings to get by another obstacle. She discovered these paintings were not props, but historical works of art. She flipped through the paintings, their thick gold frames some of the canvases as big as she. There were portraits of singers with big hats and fancy costumes. She admired them for a few second not bothering to look for the stairs. She came upon a picture of a young woman in a plain blouse. Her hair was a perfect shade of blond with curls, like Claudine's. Jess starred at the painting for a moment. There was something familiar about this woman's eyes.
"Found it!" Tony called. Jess let the paintings fall back into place as she made her way to the sound of Tony's voice and the beam of his flashlight. Again Tony had found the stairs and pointed his light down the winding steps. "Guess I'm lucky at finding this stuff." The group walked down together, not stopping at the next level, but descending further. The air quickly became cooler and damp. The scent of mold, rust, dirt and rot crept into the atmosphere. Jessalyn reached out and grabbed Daniel's shoulder out of instinct. He turned to her, his eyes soft in the dim light.
"Sorry, I just didn't want to get lost." She lied.
He squeezed her hand. "It's all right. I'll watch out for you Jess." She couldn't think to stay mad at him. Tony kept a piece of white sidewalk chalk in his right hand as he made marks on the stone walls. The sound of dripping water echoed so long after it hit the floor and faded into the empty black abyss. The darkness was thick, that the only way Jess could describe it, like a black fog in which the light could only penetrate a few feet into. The color changed slowly from black to green with each step they took.
The sounds of dripping water gave away to gushing water. Daniel tightened his grip on Jessalyn's hand with uncontainable excitement. "It's near. I can feel it." He remarked, his pace quickening. Jess smiled as she held onto his hand, running like two kids to the candy store. The darkness lifted into a slate-gray mist which appeared before them.
And there it was. The subterranean lake underneath the Paris Opera House. Five levels below ground. Daniel Payne's personal Mecca since his freshman year. The entrance to the phantom's domain.
Tony gave a low whistle. "Wow." He said simply.
"I can't believe it." Daniel whispered, mouth wide open. "It's here. I found it." Then he threw his arms up in a triumphant pose. "I found it!" he shouted. "Woohoo!" He jumped up and down, before embracing Jess and twirling her about in the air. "I knew it Jess! I knew it!" he proclaimed. She laughed along with him as he set her down to give Tony a high five. He wasn't done celebrating after that as he raised his fist high in the air. "Take that Professor Kirksten! You said it couldn't be done!" he yelled out loud.
"Easy tiger." Tony said.
"Come on guys." Daniel called as he made his way down a stone ramp that cut off sharply into the lake. He looked around at the vast expanse of the water in amazement. "Well, there's no boat here, but that won't stop us." He laughed. Tony and Jess caught up to him. There was a pole protruding from the water, with half a length of rope tied around it. But there was no boat in sight.
Daniel dipped his hand into the water and regarded it. The water was black and reflected the flashlights over the ceiling and around the walls. Jess wondered what exactly what was under the dark surface. She could see her own reflection like looking into a mirror of black glass.
"At least it doesn't smell bad." Dan remarked squeezing his hand into a fist to rid it of the water. "And it's not cold either. You see they actually used this water back when the opera was built. It was used to power the hydraulics on the stage that's how the scenery got moved about. But those days are over thanks to electricity and stuff, so now the water just sits here."
"That's interesting, but is the water...clean?" Jess asked.
"Yes" Dan replied taking off his jacket. "It's perfectly safe." He took his flashlight and let its beam reach as far as it could over the murky darkness. Tony looked at the solitary pole sticking out of the water. He toyed with the rope.
"Wish we would have brought an inflatable raft, right Dan." But Daniel had sat down on the edge, his feet dipping into the water. "Wait, you aren't thinking of . . . " and before he could finish, Daniel disappeared into the water.
Jess gasped as her and Tony ran to the spot where Daniel fell. The water barely came up to his waist and he looked up at his shocked friends and smiled mischievously at them. "What? You didn't really think I'd fall in. Don't worry they usually drain the lake after the winter. Ambler told me yesterday."
"Daniel, you scared us!" Jess said.
"Come on in Jess. The water is fine." Daniel teased splashing her with his hands. Jess leaned down on her knees closer to him.
"Don't be stupid, Dan. We just can't go swimming around in a dark lake. We don't even know how deep it is?" she tried to reason.
Dan put his hands on his hips like a stubborn child. "Spare me, you sound like my mother. I assure you this lake can't be more than six feet deep. Now come on in, or I'll have to drag you in." He laughed and tried to pull at her pant cuff. Tony rummaged his extra socks out of his bag.
"I'm happy I brought these." He said setting them aside. Tony climbed into the water, flashlight in hand. Jess remained on the shore, still thinking this was all a bad idea, but she took off her backpack and set it on the stone ramp. She debated grabbing a flare or a walkie talkie with her, but instead she grabbed her cell phone which she had brought just in case. Not that she could be in any type of service area down here. She faced away from the boys and tucked the tiny flip phone into her bra to keep it from getting wet. She then walked to the edge, and sat on it.
"And how do you know it's safe." She asked Dan. Daniel didn't say anything at first but held up his arms. Then he opened his mouth to speak. "And don't tell me you saw it in a movie once." She added. Finally she slid off the side into his awaiting grip. "Yikes its cold in here! Dan if I get the flu or something, it's all your fault."
Both Daniel and Tony chuckled at her. "Come on Jess. This will be fun, like Indiana Jones stuff." Dan said holding her hand and pulling her along. The lake seemed the size of a football field, a mass of columns sticking up from the waters like a life size impression painting. An intimidating maze of black and white.
"The water usually reaches almost to the ceiling, so there would e no way we could get through. But every couple years they drain the water so they can do an inspection of the foundation." Dan explained
"But then how would the Phantom, or anyone for that matter be able to live down here if it was flooded all the time? What is the Phantom, a mermaid?" Tony joked.
"No, because back then this water was used for a purpose so the level would naturally be lower, perfect for a boat." Daniel reiterated.
"Too bad we don't have a boat." Jess mumbled. She regretted not wearing a sweatshirt or something warmer. All she has was a thin raglan shirt with a black tank top underneath. The water had splashed over her top, and was soaking her down to the bone. Tony was the tallest in the group so the water only came to the middle of his thigh. But on her the water almost covered her hips and was climbing higher. Holding her flashlight in one hand, she used the other to cover her body for warmth. Daniel was far too excited now to be concerned about her comfort.
They marched through the lake, and from Jessalyn's view point it only seemed about 150 yards long. But that was just a low estimate. She held up her watch and pushed the light button to illuminate the time. They had been down in the cellars for almost two hours, and Jess wondered how long the batteries in their lights would last them. Daniel rushed forward at an incredible pace, as Tony and Jess dragged behind. Tony took a look back at Jess, and could see that she was shivering and uncomfortable. Plus both of them were wearing long pants with heavy material which was slowing them down. "Dan, wait up." Tony shouted voicing his concern. Daniel finally agreed to stop and travel slower. His flashlight beam was buried in his little journal.
"There should be an outlet or at least a hole in the wall somewhere. At least that could give us a hint to where the Phantom's home could have been." He paused and flipped through some more pages. "Lets spread out and look for clues, like a large crack or a nook in the stones or . . . "
"Or how about an island?" Jess asked softly. They all starred up at where her flashlight was pointing. There toward a back wall, a platform of flat concrete protruded from the water. It was big enough to hold a small dwelling and it seemed clean and white in contrast from its surroundings.
"It can't be . . . " Daniel whispered. He started toward it slow at first. Jessalyn reached out and grabbed his hand. His palms were drenched in sweat not water, and she could feel his pulse racing beneath his fingertips. He started to run to the makeshift island, Jess close behind. He scaled up the platform with insane effort. "This could be it!" He exclaimed. "Jessalyn I think you found it!" Now that Jessalyn had gotten a closer look at what she 'discovered', she didn't like what she saw and her lips crossed into a pout.
"But Daniel, there is nothing here." She said. And it was true, it was nothing more than a large cement block, with scattered piles of rubble here and there. Tony was already on his hands and knees, inspecting the area.
"Jess is right. There is no sign of even a foundation here." Tony remarked rolling chalking dust between his fingers. "And I don't think the phantom pitched a tent either."
Daniel brushed some of the debris with his foot. There were bits of wood, plaster and paper piled in tiny and large sections of the area.
"But there must have been something here." Dan protested as he bent to pick something up. "See look at this." He exclaimed holding up a tiny brass knob to the light. "This could have belonged to a cabinet, or a desk drawer. Look around, see if you can find anything else." Soon all of them were crawling around on all fours looking for artifacts. Tony found a long plank of wood with some decoration on it
Dust clogged her nostrils as chalky white grit embedded itself under her nails as Jess crawled through the rumble. Her fingers came in contact with something soft, as she gently pulled a large piece of paper out of a pile of garbage. She tried to make out what was on it. But despite her delicate handling, the paper crumbled into pieces before her eyes.
Then her flashlight went out.
She gasped, smacking it with the side of her palm. "Jessalyn? Everything all right?" Dan asked. Jess tried to get up on her feet.
"Well I thought I found something, but then it just fell apart. Then for no reason my flashlight stopped working. The batteries must be dead." She explained
"That's okay. Where are the extra batteries?" he asked.
Jess sighed feeling very foolish. "In my backpack, on the shore."
There was a pause then Dan spoke again. "You can just stick close to us then. We'll find something."
That gut feeling had returned, that feeling Jess had that someone was hiding the truth from them. She was certain now that there was a cover-up and the opera was not enthusiastic about having Daniel and the rest of them here. Sure they let them live in the opera house, gave them maps, free run of the place, and supplied them with everything they needed, but did they really expect them to find anything. Perhaps this all was just a set-up.
Or worst a distraction.
Jessalyn had to finally speak what was on her mind. "Daniel, it's really hopeless. I mean if there was anything here at all, someone has gotten to it a long time before we came here." She pointed out.
Dan gave her an annoyed look from what she could tell. "So what are you saying?"
Something is going on here. Someone is pulling the wool over our eyes and leading us in circles. Can't you see it Daniel? All Jess could manage was a weak "Well . . . "
Tony butted in. "She has a point, Dan. Old wood and paper, there is nothing but trash here. Not even worth our time. This isn't what we are looking for. And besides we've checked every corner of this damn place already and there is nothing here!"
Dan raised his flashlight above his head. "Not every corner." He challenged. And is if on cue, Daniel's light went out. "Aw shit." He muttered shaking it. Nothing helped.
Tony smiled. "See, can we go now?" Dan was outnumbered two to one, and Tony had the only working flashlight. He looked down defeated.
"I guess I give in." He said looking at the rumble. "It's just . . . " he looked at his small brown journal in his grip. "I was so close." He raised the journal above his head, intent in hurling it into the water out of anger and frustration. Jessalyn could see the hurt and his eyes, and it killed her.
"Dan . . . don't." She pleased. He looked up at her is face lost in the darkness. She wondered in that moment what she must have looked like to him. "Please, we'll try again. I promise. Don't give up." Yes she knew that she had made a total change of heart, and perhaps she was only saying these things to make him happy, but she couldn't let him give up, not now. The Daniel Payne she knew never quit. She reached out her hand to guide him over the darkness.
Touch me . . . trust me
Tony handed him the remaining flashlight. "You can lead the way." All of them linked hands in a chain, Dan in front, Jess in the back. Daniel made his way to the edge carefully before setting foot into the water. Tony went to go next, when suddenly they both slipped under the water. Jess could hold the weight of them and her hand accidently slipped out of Tony's. She screamed when she saw both their heads disappeared under the black lake. She jumped in feet first, water splashing onto the her face. Thankfully she could still stand up, but the water now right under her breasts. A second later Tony pooped up and then Daniel emerged as well, flashlight still in hand. But he wasn't standing at his full height. He gasped for breath and shouted. "Something's got my foot." His eyes shut in pain. Tony still sputtering went to try and pull his leg free.
"You probably have it stuck on something." The two boys struggled finally managing to untangle Dan's foot as Jess watched, her teeth chattering. Tony grabbed the flashlight which was now flickering because of so much water and gave it to Jess.
"Now you have to get us out." He said offering the wounded Daniel a side to lean on. Jess stumbled back to the shore, praying as she trudged through the water that she wouldn't fall in any other holes of deep ends. The light flickered off and on and even though she knew it had to be her imagination, she was sure she saw a menacing shadow, reflecting against the wall following them.
"Hang on guys." She called back. But inside she was terrified. /God help me. I'm so scared./ The feeling of claustrophobia along with the suspicion that she was being followed closed tight around her, slowing each step when she really wanted to bolt out of there. Somehow she managed to find the ledge where they had entered the lake. She climbed out of the out of the water, her lower half soaked, and then went to help Tony and Daniel.
"Quick, get the batteries." Dan ordered still wincing in pain. Jess set down the flashlight as if flickered a few more times and then went out
For good.
"Perfect." Tony muttered
"No wait." Jessalyn said reaching into her shirt and pulling out her cell phone. She felt around for the power button and thankfully it turned on. She let the purple light from the small screen show as she presented it to the others. Tony gave her a thumbs up.
"Bravi Jess." Daniel complemented. Working quickly, Jess fished the other batteries out and replaced them in two of the three flashlights. She switched them on feeling again empowered by the power of light. She tossed the other to Tony with a smile.
"Come on let's get the help out of here.
A/N: Sorry for taking so long to update, but I went through about two weeks of stress hell, with school and working on productions. But I took a long Halloween weekend, and then I went and saw Phantom in Cleveland so now I have my muse and my energy back. School will be over in two weeks so expect a lot more updates over the holiday break.
Again I have never been into the cellars of the Paris Opera (who has?) So I used my research and imagination for this chapter. I hope you are enjoying it. Look out phantom coming soon, I promise.