So.... 6 chapters uploaded. 8 more until you're all caught up. Hopefully by then I'll have time to write on Ch. 15, so... Yeah. Enjoy.
Chapter 6
When Max woke, the first thing she saw was the soft face of Christine Daae. She gasped and sat up, which made her dizzy.
"My head hurts." She complained. She looked back to Christine. "Where am I? What happened?" She asked, feeling the anxiety creeping into her voice.
"You are in the house on the lake. Lay back down now. You have a huge bruise on your head." Christine whispered, comfortingly. Max obediently laid back down and looked around the room.
"Is this your room?" She asked. Christine's expression changed. Christine nodded and stood, heading towards a door that Max hadn't noticed before.
"Where are you going?" Max panicked. Christine didn't answer, but instead left and shut the door. Max's breathing sped up as she tried to think of what might happen.
The door opened again, but instead of Christine, the black shape she had seen the night before entered, his back to her. After he closed the door, he turned around. Again, Max saw a pair of blazing golden eyes beneath a black mask. Max clutched her throat with out thinking.
"Why are you here?" the black shape asked, his musical voice thundering through the room.
"I… I was… looking for a man named Erik." Max stuttered. The black shape began to chuckle.
"You have found me, Madame! And if my dear Christine hadn't wished that I let you be, you would be dead." He laughed. "But, Christine has threatened not to come back if you weren't here and alive the next time she came down. So, since I must let you live in my house, it would be appropriate to know your name." Erik unfurled his hand as he said this. Max shivered as he made his gesture.
"My name is Maxine. Please, call me Max." She replied softly, still terrified. "Well, Max, I hope you enjoy your stay." Erik laughed again, leaving the room. Max's heart was beating loudly in her chest. She was sure Erik and Christine could hear it, even though they weren't in the same room. She stood and walked around the room. She found a bathroom and began to wash her face.
When she came back into the room, Christine was sitting on the bed.
"Erik has agreed to let you stay," she said, apparently unaware that Erik had already talked with Max about the matter. Max nodded, unsure of what to say. "I begged him to let you go back to your normal life. He simply replied that you know too much now and that you'd tell that blasted Persian. So I told him that if you were not here and alive when I come next time, I wouldn't return." Christine continued.
Max knitted her brows in frustration.
"He sees everything that goes on in the Opera." Christine explained when she realized that Max must be wondering how he'd known.
"Why do you willingly come down here?" Max asked, changing the subject. Christine's face went even paler than it had been.
"That is a matter that concerns me and Erik only." Christine said bitterly. Max asked nothing else about that. She sat on the bed next to Christine.
"Will I have to stay in this room for the rest of my life?" She was curious if she would ever be allowed to leave it.
"That is for Erik to decide. But he'll probably find a use for you." Christine replied with a forced laugh. Max still had a million questions that needed answering, but Christine stood and left the room again. Max sighed.
"What would I do if I did stay locked up in this room forever?" She asked herself quietly. "I really must stop talking to myself!" She laughed. She lay on the bed and closed her eyes, letting sleep carry her away to the land of dreams.