Chapter nine
Meg had eyes for nothing but her own feet, they flitted about beneath her carrying her weight with, what she hoped was elegance and grace.
"Meg Giry! Take your eyes off your feet and look ahead." Madame Giry said sharply, glaring at Meg with harshly arched eyebrows. It was her job to be overly strict with the ballet girls, and her own daughter was no exception. But even Madame Giry, with her straight and emotionless persona, could not hide her overwhelming happiness at the return of her daughter. A smile crept past her tight lips as she watched Meg look straight ahead as she performed endless movements with a precision that Madame Giry herself would have been proud of.
Raoul watched the morning rehearsals from off stage, waiting for Meg to come near enough so he could pull her away from her dancing. She hurried off stage for a quick costume change for the next scene but her business was cut short by Raoul standing in her was to the changing rooms.
"Raoul! What are you doing here?" Meg asked, attempting to squeeze past him, but he caught her arm quickly.
"What are we going to do?" He asked spontaneously, giving Meg a short shake. Her face was painted with confusion.
"Um…I don't know what you're going to do, but I'm going to get my costume on for the next scene, I'm rehearsing…"
"No, about Christine!" Meg carefully prised his fingers off her bare arms and took a step away from him. His eyes looked too frantic to be looking into so she once again looked at her shoes deeply.
"You know what Erik said, 'a while', he isn't going to keep her down there forever."
"He might!" He gripped her arms again.
"He won't!"
"He will."
"Don't be so stupid! It would make Christine unhappy." She began to wander away from Raoul, but she turned back after a while and shouted to him rudely, "Even if he did, you're not exactly going to be able to get her back are you?"
Raoul had half a mind to pursue her and demand what she meant by that comment but he decided against it. He asked himself who he could possible request help from. Madame Giry? No, she was also busy with rehearsals. He considered telling the managers about the whole affair, he did after all know the way down to "Erik's" house, he could just tell them and leave the police to deal with it. No…Christine would never forgive him. Just as he was heading towards the foyer, to leave the opera house, Madame Giry brushed past him, he called to her.
"Yes Monsieur Vicompte?" She said slightly irritably, but that was her normal air, one of irritation.
"Are you busy?" Raoul asked eagerly but with wariness, Madame Giry seemed like the kind of woman who looks weak on the outside but is unbelievably strong, especially as she was a ballet teacher. He was always worried that if you said the wrong thing she would deal you a sharp blow to the head before you could pardon yourself.
"Not currently, I will be in an hour and fifteen minutes though so please enlighten me quickly." Raoul guided her by the elbow to one of the boxes and sat her down in the chair that was there.
"You know Erik don't you?" Madame Giry didn't look the slightest bit alarmed at this question and she responded quickly.
"I am his oldest friend, well, second oldest."
"Then you must know he has Christine."
"I assumed as much, she has after all been gone for three…four days now."
"What can I do to get him to let her go?" It was strange, while Raoul was a nervous, worried, jittering wreck, Madame Giry was watching him with little interest, almost boredom. She talked as if a girl being forced to live underground with a disfigured musical genius was an everyday topic of conversation.
"Christine is an intelligent girl Monsieur, and Erik loves her more than you could ever understand, if it will make her happy he will let her go." With that Madame Giry stood up and began to leave the box, Raoul stopped her.
"You do not expect me to sit and wait for Christine to come back do you?" He asked desperately, he just couldn't understand why everyone was so calm about the situation. Anything could happen to Christine while she was down there, and the danger seemed to grow with every second. But still, with his obvious will, Madame Giry dismissed him with a disdainful look.
Raoul left the opera house in a horrible mood, he got into his carriage and directed the driver to his estate, but he was sure that after the evening performance he wouldn't be going home without knowing Christine was safe above ground.
- - - -
"Checkmate." Christine gave a sigh and began to return the chess pieces to their starting positions on the chequered board. Erik had a smug smile on his face. He was sat, leaning back on his chair lazily, his fedora casting shadow over the top half of his face.
"I'm never going to beat you, you know." Christine said, leaning over to collect the white pieces that belonged on her side of the board.
It had been an enjoyable morning so far, Christine had woken to a full breakfast and a wardrobe full of beautiful clothes. She had chosen a simple dress and eaten with Erik's amiable company. They had spent the morning playing chess and discussing various things, he also played a few pieces on the piano that sat in the drawing room. Neither of them had sung however. Since the night before, Erik and Christine were comfortable together, they talked like old friends and there was nothing between them, nothing conflicting anyway. Erik watched her go about her business all morning,
"So this is what it would be like to have my own wife." He told himself. She was after all almost as good as a wife, she washed the dishes after their breakfast without a single complaint and they had the kind of conversations two people who had nothing between them would have. There was something between them, no matter how blind Christine was to it, Erik knew there was still one barrier he wished to destroy. He wondered if it would ever be destroyed, he was reminded of it every time he thought of Christine as beautiful and every time her hand brushed his or she walked past him closely. He wished there was a way to rid himself of that horrible wall.
"Would you like to watch the opera tonight?" Erik asked, pushing his troubling thoughts as far away as he could get them.
"Oh yes please!" Christine practically shrieked, her eyes were wide with happiness. But they faded when she began to run the logic of the situation through her mind. "But how? Madame Giry told us that when you are in you're box there is no one there."
"There isn't." Erik answered simply, a smile playing on his lips.
"Then how can we watch the performance?" she frowned at the knowing smile that had worked its way across Erik's face. She placed her hand on his shoulder and prompted him to answer her with a short shake.
"I don't sit in the box, I sit in the pillar next to it." Before she could ask him a question he answered it swiftly. "It is hollow, and there is room enough for two people on a ledge I have constructed. You can hear every note perfectly." He said, full of pride for his own invention.
"But I won't be able to see!" She exclaimed, she didn't really think about the impact her words would have on Erik.
"Is music nothing, if you can't see its beauty?" Erik said, his voice raised and a growl building in his throat. Christine let go of his shoulder like it was red hot and backed against the wall.
"No!" She cried, her voice full of over sympathetic apologies. "I just meant…oh it doesn't matter." Christine's shoulders sunk in submission and she let out an exasperated sigh, but Erik clutched tightly to the point in his argument.
"See how you move away from me when you are reminded of Erik's face! It won't go away from behind this mask…If you go to the opera tonight, it will be right next to you!" His voice built to a crescendo which Christine cut short by disappearing to her room, but she turned before she slammed the door behind her to call something else out to Erik.
"Well then I guess I won't go then!" The noise of the door echoed throughout the house and left it as silent as if Erik was alone. He was as good as alone.