Fran raced ahead of her two friends, giggling cheerfully. The drama of the past few weeks had all but been forgotten, and the three friends had happily resumed their normal pattern of dancing and running rampant around the large opera house. There was so much to explore, Fran reasoned, that the three of them could never canvas the entire opera house before they turned 16. But she was going to make sure they tried their best.
Today's expedition was slightly more dangerous than their usual – they had decided before falling asleep last night that the first chance they got, they would visit some of the portions of the building unused after the great fire. The trio had yet to find one that could hold their interest, however… they had entered several dressing rooms and found nothing of great import aside from a few dust-covered chairs and dressing-tables. Eddy, however, had found a little hand-mirror, untouched by the fire albeit by dust. She was busy polishing the glass on her skirt, pausing in this operation every few minutes to blow on the rapidly-clearing surface and admire her reflection. Danielle dallied along only a few paces behind Fran. She seemed very distracted… something she had been more often than not lately. Fran watched as her friend saw without seeing, ambling along in the preoccupied walk of those with a load far too heavy bearing on their minds.
"Dany?" Fran said, turning her little blonde head towards her distant friend. Danielle's head snapped towards Fran with a quickness that suggested her gentle query had startled the girl.
"Yes, Fran?" Danielle answered, grey eyes widened and pupils dilated.
Something was definitely wrong. "Nothing. Nevermind." Fran said, and turned around again. She spied a door handle dead ahead, and sprang forward quickly, grateful for something to talk about. "Look!" she cried, fingers grabbing at the tarnished gold handle.
Eddy looked up from the little mirror, and fairly leapt to Fran's side. "This one looks fair gor'geous! Lookit the flowers painted ohwn!"
Danielle came up slowly behind her two friends, steps measured and cautious.
"It is pretty, I suppose…"
"You suppose?!" Eddy gasped, mouth wide in mockery. "I've ne'r seen much of anything this pretty in my life!" a finger, grubby with dust from the mirror, traced the outline of one of the pink flowers. "Lets go in." Eddy said impulsively, and pushed down on the door handle. To the surprise of all present, it gave easily, and the double doors swung wide open to reveal an elegant dressing room. Although the room was covered in a fine layer of dust, it still retained much of what must have been its original brilliance. It was completely untouched by the fire, no smell of smoke pervaded the air, no sooty black trails went up the walls. A lingering smell of dead roses hung in the air, a sickly sweet smell that seemed to hit Danielle right in the stomach. Her face blanched, and a fine layer of sweat covered her forehead, but she followed her friends into the dressing room despite her discomfort.
"Lookit!" Eddy cried triumphantly as she held aloft a thick, black ribbon.
"Its black, Eddy. Black is ugly." Fran sniffed as she rummaged through a dresser drawer. Small, dried rose petals fell unnoticed at her feet, some of which were gently crushed with her soft ballet shoes.
"… s'not…." Eddy said, a little crestfallen. She tied the ribbon around her wrist in one deft movement, securing it tightly with her teeth. Fran rolled her eyes.
Danielle paced the room as if in a trace, completely unaware that her friends were even speaking. "I know this… I know this place… I know this room… why do I know this?" she stopped her frenetic circling of the room infront of a large, full-length mirror, and placed a hand to her forehead. Eddy and Fran had completely stopped exploring the room, and their fearful eyes were trained on their friend.
"Dany… what's the matter, love?" Eddy queried, taking a step closing to the panicking adolescent. "Tell us, we can help ye."
"You can't help… you cant possibly help me…." Danielle's eyes flew around the room "You can't help because I don't know what's the matter… I don't… I don't know…" shaking hands reached out behind her to brace her body against the wall. She wanted to be sick, to run away. Why was she in such a panic?
"Calm down Dany, it'll be okay." Fran said in a collected voice, hand outstretched to her friend. "Come on, come sit."
Danielle's breath was coming in gasps, and her searching hands connected not with the hard plaster of the wall, but the smooth surface of the floor-length mirror. She pressed her back against it, and it shifted slightly under her weight.
Eddy and Fran stopped moving to her, and their eyes became as wide as saucers.
"Dany…. The mirror…."
Danielle turned around slowly. Her grey eyes latched onto the black abyss that lay behind the mirror, a small but promising crack into another world. "I see it Fran… I see it." Trembling, girlish fingers grasped the exposed edge of the mirror, and tugging, opened it further.
Eddy stepped forward cautiously, none of her usual brashness evident in her careful movements. "… what should we do?" Her fingers joined Danielle's at the opened edge of the mirror, and their eyes locked with silent accord.
"Open it." Danielle said simply, and tugged once more at the heavy glass.
Fran stared at the two of them, wide eyed. "Have you both gone completely daft?" she said, her voice a quick whisper.
"No." Eddy answered simply, voice strained with the effort her arms were exerting to open the mirror, which seemed to be nearly stuck shut.
"Well I think you have." Fran said, eyes flickering towards the door. "What if someone sees us?"
"Be sensible Fran, no one knows we're even in this wing. No one ever goes into this wing anymore, remember? No one would ever notice us." Danielle's voice was calm and steady now, the previous panic had fled. "it wouldn't be for long… look, Eddy! Stairs!"
The girls had succeeded in cracking the mirror open wide enough for their small bodies to pass through, and Danielle wiggled through in a flash. Eddy followed closely, reaching into a pouch sewn inside her skirt for a match, and to secure the little mirror she had been grasping so tightly. "Cor, its dark in here." She said quietly, her small match the only bit of illumination they had. "Will you be joining us, dear Frances, or should we leave you to wander the corridors alone?"
France's groan was somewhat muffled by the mirror that stood in-between them. "I'm coming…" she wiggled through the gap with a little more difficultly than Eddy or Dany, her slightly stockier frame proving an impediment. She joined her two friends on the stone stairs, shivering miserably. "I hope you're happy. And that we don't fall down a pit and are trapped. You're right, you know, no one would come for us." She said glumly.
"Stop being such a wet blanket, Fran. And take Eddy's hand, or that may be a self-fulfilling prophecy." Danielle said, a hint of mirth colouring her voice. All traces of near-hysterical panic had left her voice and her demeanor, and she led her friends through the passage as if she had been traversing its dark depth her entire existence.
Eddy and Fran made eye contact for only an instant, both eyes reflecting their concern over their friend and the wonder they felt in these passages beneath the opera house. The walls were grimy and streaked with something that smelled decidedly unpleasant, and they could feel the dampness of the ground through their thin ballet shoes. Both girls surmised they would have to obtain a new pair after this adventure was over with – if the grime on the walls also coated the floor, they doubted they would ever be able to return their shoes to an acceptable state. To add to their discomfort, the girls could hear the scuttling of rats somewhere up ahead. Fran swallowed a cold lump of fear, and gripped Eddy's hand all the tighter. She hated rats.
Danielle gripped the little match bravely, casting a thin beam of light into the damp walkway ahead. It was almost out, but she knew she wouldn't have to call for Eddy to find another. Her footsteps echoed oddly in her own ears, and a watery, gurgling sound matched it. She knew where they were, and her anticipation grew with every step.
"Only a bit more girls – you wont believe what I'm going to show you." She said cheerfully. Fran and Eddy exchanged another look. A light had begun to grow in the dark stairway, and both of them had noticed it. The match had died a few moments ago; its little flicker was not missed. Something was ahead, something… big.
Danielle turned the last corner and stopped short, holding a hand out behind her to steady Eddy and Fran if they did not do the same. Soon, all three of them stood together on the stones, soft shoes wet and soiled.
"Dany…. Whot is this place?" Fran asked, the awe she felt echoed in her tone.
"Someone's home." she said simply. "Or rather, their drive-way."
Eddy said nothing, but simply gawked in a way only Eddy could. "Cor…"
The three girls stood on the edge of an underground lake, which stretched as far as they eye could see and then even further. It narrowed into a tunnel between the columns which supported their beloved opera house, and seemed to continue in even more volume beyond that. Its waters were dark and looked frighteningly cold, and seemed to be incredibly deep. This was not a place to swim, that much was certain. Melting candles lined the walls, giving the place an unlikely illumination. Eddy leaned down carefully, and brushed the water with her hand. It was cold, frigid even.
"Do you know a way around this, Dany? I want to meet whoever it is who lives beneath the opera house. 'magine, Dany! How much fun 'ould that be?" her eyes sparkled with amusement.
Danielle thought for a moment. "I don't know that we can get around it, Eds. I think the only way is to go across it.
"I am not swimming in that." Fran said, backing away slightly.
"Did I even suggest that?" Eddy rolled her eyes. "Daft."
Fran stared meekly at her toes. "I would like to see the house, though."
"Cheer up Fran, we'll figure out something." Danielle said, not unkindly. Fran was not nearly as adventurous as her or Eddy, and sometimes needed a little assurance and some kind words to continue when things became difficult. Despite her tendency to be a wet blanket, Danielle was still incredibly fond of the girl.
"Whot about a boat?" Eddy suggested "Surely the occupant of said house has some way to cross this, and the only way I can imagine 'ould be a boat."
Danielle smacked a palm against her forehead, leaving a streak of black grime behind. "Of course! How could I forget the boat!" she scurried down a steep path neither Fran nor Eddy had previously noticed, though they quickly followed their friend, beseeching her to wait for them.
Danielle stood triumphantly at the water's edge, beside a large black boat. A pole was braced against the wall and held in place by a small silver hook, which Fran assumed was used to propel the vessel across the cold depths of the lake. "See? We can go across! And you can meet the angel." Danielle nodded gleefully, and began to size up a way to get into the rather unsteady contraption.
"Who?" Fran said, not comprehending the words that her friend had just spoken.
"She has gone completely mad." Eddy whispered to Fran, in a tone she hoped their dark-haired companion could not hear.
"The angel. And no, Eddy, I'm not mad. Just you see, you'll believe me before this is through." Danielle was so assured. "And you mustn't be frightened of him, no matter what you think of him at first. Yes, I'm speaking to you, Frances. It would hurt him horribly. He really is frightfully nice. He gave me tea and played the piano for me. He's a wonderful piano player."
"Oh really." A strong, masculine voice made all three girls turn and stare in shock. The masked man stood behind them, his arms crossed and tall body leaning against a support pillar. Danielle couldn't tell if that posture meant he was amused or if it denoted his anger. The looks that graced her friend's faces assured her they had not taken her counsel to heart in the slightest. Fran had by that point turned completely white and looked a quite a fright, mouth completely agape. Even brave Eddy had lost some of her colour, although she stood straight and met the man's eyes with a bold sincerity that only Eddy could posses.
Danielle stepped away from the boat and moved to stand beside her two friends, taking Fran's hand in her own to assure the deathly pale girl that all was fine. She was surprised at the clamminess of the hand she held in her own, and just how tightly Fran could really grip. Attempting to ignore the fact that Fran was crushing her fingers, she dipped her head politely to the man that stood before them, and smiled kindly. "Hello, Angel."
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your author says... okay, I PROMISE it picks up after this. Hopefully this was better than the last few chapters have been. I realize how frusterating it is when things dont move along quick enough haha. The next chapter will be rife with... something. Something action-y! I hope you shall be pleased and ignore the fact that I have, once again, given you a somewhat fluffish chapter. Next update will be soon, also, as this next chapter has been swimming in my head for ages and needs to be let out. It should hopefully shed some light on many things. And its either going to be oen really huge chapter, or two medium ones. I havent decided yet. I apologize for updates being somewhat arbitary lately, Ive just started a job and its been a little crazy. Bear with me :P reviews and crits always welcomed, thank you to my readers who review! 333 you are loved :P once again, I do not own POTO or any of its cannon charecters, depsite my wishes to the contrary.