Chapter seven
As Christine embraced Raoul for the third time, she felt a terrible emptiness in the room, it struck her suddenly like a bitter breeze. A chill writhed its way down Christine's spine as realisation struck her. Meg was no where to be seen. Christine pulled herself away from Raoul and threw herself into a frenzy of panic.
"Where is she?" she shrieked, running through her room and searching every corner as her worry grew. Raoul didn't know where to look, one minute he had been holding Christine near him and the next she had pushed him away and was turning her room upside down for some unknown reason. He grasped her arm firmly and tried to calm her for just a moment, but Christine seemed beyond calming.
"Christine, calm yourself! What on earth is wrong with you?" Raoul questioned her, he feared what could have struck her with such horror.
"Meg left with me and she isn't here now!" Christine shook her way through her explanation, tears welled up in her eyes and she began to sob silently. "It's the only r-r-reason I w-went down there! Madame Giry is going to hate me…" She raised her head to look into Raoul's eyes and gripped his hands tightly. "I'm going to have to go back to find her." She declared quickly and turned to run straight back down into the cellars, but Raoul clung to her hands insistently.
"No!" Raoul cried and he pulled her by the hands back to his side. He had been sure that if she had returned that morning that she need never go back, every time she went away she came back filled with more love for that monster and Raoul worried that if she went back again, she would love him so much that she had no room left to yearn for the world above and she would stay down there forever, and never think a single thought about poor Raoul! "You can't go back Christine, not when you've only just returned." He insisted, barring another of her attempts to dash for the mirror. Christine turned on her heel and, with great desperation, wrenched herself away from Raoul and disappeared through the mirror, back into darkness. She was pursued by Raoul so quickly the young man had not a second to think.
- - - -
Meg cast another hot breath on to the freezing mirror and started to write meaningless words in the clouds her breath had formed. She was unbelievably bored, Erik was focusing his attention on finding the switch that opened a trap door to the cellar bellow and was not company. The tiny room lay silent, apart from the crunching of glass under Erik's feet and the steady breaths of the two people. Meg found herself looking for someone to blame for her boredom. Perhaps it was Christine's fault, she should have noticed Meg's absence and be looking hard for her. Perhaps it was Erik's, he had after all invented the room they were imprisoned in. But she realised, reluctantly, that it was her fault. She had gone through the door and shut it behind her, she had pushed Erik so the door slammed close for a second time and she had let Erik believe she was Christine, a mistake that cast an uncomfortable silence throughout the tiny chamber and confiscated and possible conversation.
Erik cut his hand for about the millionth time on a shard of mirror as he fumbled about in the darkness for the switch that would grant him freedom. Every movement of his hand triggered another of his wounds to crack through its scab and begin to bleed, he felt his skin being butchered further with every twitch of his fingers. Awkwardness hung like a thick blanket of fog throughout the room, he couldn't be sure what had happened, and he wasn't going to risk his dignity by asking. There were a few noises beyond the wall of the torture chamber, mostly the shutting of doors and footsteps from the floors above, but one particular noise made Erik shoot up from his sitting position. A songbird's voice travelled through the darkness like a sunrise cutting through deep night sky. As Erik was happily floating with that voice, another joined it that made him crash back to earth suddenly. A snarl escaped Erik's mouth despite his gritted teeth, he had the sudden urge to smash another mirror, anything to get rid of the raw loathing that burned inside him. He snapped round and saw that Meg had pushed herself as far from him as she could, like prey that had been cornered by its predator. Her not understanding his anger made him furious further, and to siphon away his unsustainable anger he gave a roar like feral animal. Meg pulled herself further into the corner, wanting to sink into the glass, but she pulled herself out of her hiding when she heard the voices of Christine and Raoul calling to her. She threw herself at the wall that was nearest to their voices and replied to them, crying, begging and pleading for them to open the door to her. The muffled footsteps grew nearer to the wall Meg had flung herself to. A knock answered the silent pleas Meg was running through her mind.
"Is that you in there Meg?" said Christine warily, for she did not know what lay on the other side of the door.
"Yes!" Meg answered brightly, she returned to her normal, bubbly self when she felt the relief that came with the knowledge of her release.
"Thank goodness! What was that awful cry? It was truly terrible, like a bear…no, a lion!" Meg looked over at Erik, who was now positioned out of the way of the door. He placed a finger smoothly to his lips, controlling Meg's answer.
"I have no idea, probably just a dog. The acoustics down here distort sound terribly," She glanced at Erik before she continued. "I almost though I heard a male voice!" Meg thought she saw Erik's lip curl in irritation. The reply Christine gave made a dim growl escape from between his bared teeth.
"You did! Raoul wouldn't let me come back to look for you without him, so he's right here beside me." Meg was worried she was going to have to hold Erik back to stop him injuring someone, most likely Raoul. Before she could worry anymore, the door clicked open and Christine's relieved face appeared in front of her. They hugged briefly and Meg nodded to Raoul shortly, she could feel Erik fuming in the room behind her. She wondered what on earth he was going to do, he wouldn't possible let them all leave when Raoul was so near along with Christine. She decided the best plan of action was to hurry them out of there, she prompted them to start there way back up the corridor. Before she could take a single nervous step Erik clamped his hand firmly around her wrist and commanded attention from all the people present.
"I don't think any of you will be leaving so quickly." Christine felt overcome. Her knees suddenly buckled and she collapsed into Raoul, who quickly grasped her shoulders and held her upright. "Dear Vicompte, try and stop your lady from swooning. We don't want her to hit her pretty head on the floor do we?" Raoul looked as if he was trying to decide whether to be scared or furious. His face was white but it was also contorted into a grimace, like he'd smelt something bad. Christine struggled to stand up straight.
"I was not swooning!" she declared, glaring at Erik. He simply gave a knowing smile and began to walk down the hall in the direction of his house, dragging Meg with him.
"If you want to negotiate the release of this two-time trespasser and escapee I suggest you follow me..." he drawled lazily, as if he was doing Christine and Raoul a favour. Raoul clung to Christine's arm as if to support her, but he had the suspicion that if he let her go she would disappear off somewhere with Erik. He could almost feel the pull he had on her like a magnetic force and he felt every moment she grew nearer to Erik the stronger the pull was.
- - - -
They were led through a door that gave way to a huge room that was more like a cavern. There were steps that lead down to the bank of a lake and a portcullis that separated the contained pool from a huge icy black expanse beyond it. Raoul absorbed this amazing sight, an entire underworld contained beneath the opera house. He was brought back to his sentence by Erik's commanding voice. His voice seemed to bring out extremes in emotion. When he taunted people he was able to make them as terrified or as infuriated as he liked. When he was angry at someone he could break their hearts with a simple note, he could drag tears from their eyes and sobs from their throats, he could fuel their own anger until it turned to hysteria. When he tried to woo someone he could have them swooning with delight, or breathless with amazement. Erik's voice was so consuming it could manipulate every thought and emotion so that it served him perfectly. Currently he was delivering the terms on which Meg could be released.
"I understand my dear friend Madame Giry is relying on you for the return of this girl? Oh wouldn't it be terrible to let her down…" He continued to bait Raoul like this for a minute or so until Raoul was able to get enough breath to speak.
"Enough Phantom! What do you want for her?" he tried to speak confidently, but the presence of Erik caused his voice to shake terribly.
"All I want is a simple trade. One girl for another, you can take Meg up back to the opera house and her worried mother if Christine comes to stay with me for a while." Raoul gasped and gripped Christine's shoulder even harder. Christine shrugged him off and turned to Erik.
"Fine. But you let Meg go now." She looked him deep in the eyes, and there was no resistance inside them.
"Fine, we are agreed then. Meg will go with Raoul, Christine will stay with her dear Erik." Erik addressed himself, just to infuriate Raoul further. It worked, Erik was able wind Raoul up like a jack-in-a-box. Raoul stuttered and grabbed at Christine's hand as some form of protest.
"How long?" he whined desperately, reluctantly releasing Christine so she could walk away from him to go to Erik.
"I don't know, as long as I want her here for." He pretended to consider it. "A while then." He added happily. Erik didn't normally act so cockily, just when he was in the company of Raoul. Erik gave a mock goodbye wave to Raoul and took Christine's hand and waved it in the air as well. She pulled it away slightly too late for Raoul's liking, but sighing heavily he turned and gestured for Meg to follow him as he left Erik and Christine alone.