Authoress: Hello lovelies! I was not able to finish the next chapter by today, so you will be getting two chapters next week! Yay! I have also realized I've spent too many chapters on one day, so I will try to speed things up a bit.

Erik: Plus, some free time had arisen in her life, so she is able to update more.

Authoress: Thank you, Erik. Take it away!

Erik: Authoress does not own Phantom of the Opera, no matter how hard she wishes she did. Ooh, chocolate!

I must have jumped 10 feet into the air when I heard the familiar notes. I had no idea that Erik was awake, much less able to sing. I turned around, furious. He had sat up and covered the imperfect side of his face with his hand.

"F- Damn it, Erik, why did you have to scare me like that!" I shouted. Meanwhile, an amused smile had taken residence on his face. It was obvious he was trying not to laugh.

"Well," he responded, "I just wanted to congratulate you on lovely singing. I would clap, but, well…" He gestured to his face. "On another note, you wouldn't happen to know where my mask went, would you?"

I laughed, my anger melting away at his bashfulness.

"I would," I said, walking up to the bed. I reached under the mattress to a hidden drawer, opened, and gently grasped the porcelain mask. I handed it to him, and his eyes thanked me for not taking his wig off as well. As he put it back on, I asked,

"Erik, just out of curiosity, why do you wear the mask and the wig? You actually look much better without them. If your friends prefer the covering of your face, then they are not your actual friends."

He looked down, his eyes pensive, then blurted out, "Are those my clothes?" I laughed again.

"Um… yeah. I took a bath and forgot to take my clothes off, so they are drying in the bathroom. I do hope you don't mind. The only other thing of yours that I used was the comb, as my hair needed to be untangled."

"And your… um… undergarments?"

"I borrowed from the stash you had. I'll give them back once I get my own. I assume they were for Christine?"

"Yes," he whispered. There was a pain in his eyes. I knew this whole conversation was to avoid my question, but I respected his privacy, even if I did know everything about him already. At the same, I had opened wounds either way, and I wanted to make it up to him.

"So… you were talking about my sinning?" He looked at me as if I had suddenly birthed a puppy.

"What?!" I realized my mistake. I burst out laughing, and he laughed with me.

"Ah- singing, not sinning!" My cheeks were as red as an apple.

"Good, I thought you had-" His face suddenly went slack.

"-killed someone…" he murmured.

Great. Another wound reopened, I thought. What will cheer him up? Oh! Maybe a rather horrendous rendition of one of his future compositions will take his mind off things.

"Who knows when love begins," I sang softly. "Who knows what makes it start?" He lifted his head, a slightly hopeful gleam in his eyes.

"One day it's simply there, alive inside your heart.

"It slips into your thoughts, it infiltrates your soul. It takes you by surprise, then seizes full control.

"Try to deny it and try to protest. But love won't let you go once you've been possessed."

There was silence. A sudden understanding between us, the fact that he had heard it in his mind.
"Mademoiselle, y-you…"

"I sang something from your mind of music."

"How?" I shrugged. I knew perfectly well how, but I could not reveal that I was from a different time period.

" I don't know. Did I duplicate the words, too?"

" Yes. Even the language was the same. I knew some words from the song you sang when I woke up. What was it?"

"English. My native language. I also know French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, as well as basic German and Latin."

"Quite well versed for a… 16-year-old."

"17 actually. I was in a special academic program in 6ème and 5ème, or as we say in America, 6th, and 7th grade. It helped me to get into a… special school for girls, and from there I focused on my studies. I never really had time for any extracurricular activities, though I would have loved to be able to be in musicals and the like. By the way, I told the managers that I was Italian, so please uphold that lie. I've always wanted to be Italian."

"What was your favorite subject?"

We went back and forth like that, Erik getting to know me and asking many questions. I had to do a lot of diverting my actual life into late 17th-century life to avoid any suspicion. I was right in the middle of answering what felt like his 15th question when I realized that one of my favorite inventors lived in this time period.

He waved his hand in front of my face.

"Mademoiselle Amethyst?", he asked.

" Sorry, just lost in thought. What was your question again?"

"I asked if you had any vocal training."

"I have corresponded with several, and they have given me pointers on how to sing, but never actually taken a lesson," I lied. In reality, I had only seen YouTube videos on singing.

"So, would you be open taking one?" I was so shocked I had to physically stop my jaw from dropping.

"YES!" I shouted. Practically jumping off the bed, I pranced around the room. I was so happy. First, I had been magically transported into the musical, then had been asked to be the pupil of one of the greatest composers in all history, fiction or not. What would come next?

Authoress: There you go, the long awaited chapter 10. The inventor mentioned would be Nikola Tesla, a bit of a forgotten genius. I actually Erik and him would get along very nicely. I gave him a chocolate bar for being good in the intro and do he is off having a sugar rush. I lock him out of my room when he does that. Remember to review, favorite, and follow, as the constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated, and there seems to be a lack. Have a wonderful week!