Chapter 11

Danielle was prepared for the Opera in nearly half an hours' time. But, Lady Baybridge felt it necessary to evaluate her hair and make sure the pleats of her dress fell just perfectly for the next three hours. It also became a lesson on proper etiquette to be employed by young ladies of fashion. By the time it was nearly ready for Danielle she felt as though the marrow had been drained from her bones. Enjolras was to come escort her, and Raul was chomping at the bit to leave for the Opera. There was something different in him tonight. It was difficult for her to place the exact emotion that played on his face, but it was there nonetheless.

Enjolras finally arrived, and the threesome set out of the house. Danielle had ignored the reprimanding looks from Lady Baybridge when she had given her betrothed a chilly greeting at best. It was simply the her nature to be overly repellant when she was expected to be warm and welcoming. Enjolras helped her into the carriage and didn't meet her eyes. The journey there was a silent one. Raul was lost in thoughts of the events of the night and Danielle was pondering how she should act when they disembarked. It was, after all, her and Enjolras' first social gathering as a 'couple'. Not that it mattered overly much to her. She just refused to hang off his arm and simper and be witty as Lady Baybridge instructed. But, she also couldn't think of a suitable course of action to properly defy Lady Baybridge, and yet not humiliate herself or Enjolras.

The Opera was buzzing as they ascended the grand steps to its' entrance. Raul paved the way, while Enjolras tucked Danielles' hand in the crook of his elbow and followed. She was too busy observing their fellow guests and the beautiful façade that she didn't even pay him any mind. She had been to many functions such as these in England, but it was always interesting to her to see the differences between people and places. When she looked to her right she was a young girl, probably in her first season out, blushing and giggling and surrounded by suitors, while to her left she saw an affluent couple making their way slowly forward, both seemingly bored with each other and looking for some other acquaintance to amuse themselves. She also saw Enjolras, standing far too close, holding her hand, and looking straight at her.

"Are you well, Mademoiselle?" He asked.

"Um, yes. Thank you. Although, I must say you are in such a close proximity to me that I find it difficult to move freely." She replied bluntly. He smirked at her. It disconcerted her. His smile almost frightened her out of her wits, it was so foreign.

"I'm afraid this is what typical engaged people tend to do. Do consider, they usually like each other for the most part." He teased. The topic of conversation was quickly becoming uncomfortable to her and unsuitable for any proper lady.

"Well, they shouldn't make the rest of us subject to their childish romanticism. It's nauseating." She replied pompously. Hopefully that would dissuade him from pursuing the conversation.

"And yet, they are happy and content with their lot while the rest of us are..." He allowed her to finish his thought.

"Perfectly fine." She commented dryly. He chuckled. She was deeply unsettled by this new, charming Enjolras.

They entered the great hall and made their way to the De Chagny box. They were fortunate enough, because Raul was the main sponsor, to have the best view of the stage from that vantage point. Enjolras helped her to a chair and she sat impishly in the one next to the one he offered. She smiled and waited for the Enjolras typical glare. But it didn't come. He simply dipped his head to her and sat down next to her. She began to seriously doubt his well being. But she didn't ask about his health. She would prefer silence.

Raul joined them as the lights dimmed and the Opera, Don Juan, commenced. Christine played the lead wonderfully, although Danielle was quite taken aback by the risqué nature of the play. Granted, Raul wouldn't think of it, but he was in love with a common singer. Specifically, one who took part in Operas of a racy nature. It annoyed her how he was perfectly able to love whomever he chose, but she had to have someone 'suitable' chosen for her because of her apparent poor judgment.

Danielle couldn't help but remember the last time she was here and met Jehan. It was much more lively and entertaining then. Now, with Enjolras by her side, it all seemed so dark and foreboding. Raul watched intensely, and once the final act began he stood abruptly and left. Something was happening. Christine entered the stage singing and was soon joined by the male lead, Piangi, wearing a black cloak that covered his face. They sang and danced together in perfect choreography, but something suddenly changed. Christine seemed almost to be trying to get away from him. They reached their final crescendo together and Christine reached to him, pushing the cloak back from his face as their voices cut off.

There was a collective gasp as the man revealed was most definitely not Piangi. The man who stood in his place was tall, and handsome. But, most remarkably, he wore a white mask that covered half of his face. Danielle had heard of the opera ghost, and that was the fervent whisper that rose up now. It sent chills down her neck. She looked to her right and saw that both Raul and Enjolras were gone. She was alone.

She looked back to the stage to see the ghost trying to get away, but there must have been officers in the wings, because he didn't go far. He turned instead to Christine, and gave her a ring from his finger and began singing again.

Say you'll share with me
One love, one lifetime
Lead me, save me from my solitude

Danielle watched in fascination. The ghost loved Christine. And Christine, too, felt something for him. She seemed sad and frightened, but not as scared as one would expect a girl to be after seeing that the very man she had just been singing and being racy with was a homicidal maniac.

Say you want me
With you here
Beside you
Anywhere you go
Let me go too
Christine that's all I ask of...

Christine ripped the mask from his face, revealing a terrible, disfigured face. The ghost screamed, grasped her arm, and pulled her to a staircase, throwing fire as he did so to keep followers away. Raul flew across the stage to follow, but the fire was too great, he couldn't follow that way. There was a moment of complete, confused silence, and then all was chaos. People were streaming en masse out the doors, the sound of their clamor and screams filled her ears. Smoke rose up from the burning stage. People were assembling to go into the bowels of the Opera House to recover Christine. Danielle didn't see Raul or Enjolras anywhere.

A woman's imagination is a difficult thing to comprehend. It can jump from the mundane to the impossible in mere minutes. Danielle briefly courted the romantic idea that Enjolras could be the phantom. Why he would be, she didn't know, but it amused her greatly. Perhaps these notions were why people automatically assumed she couldn't make informed decisions for her life.

Danielle didn't know what to do. On stage, Raul was gesturing wildly with a woman and young girl who looked to be a member of the ballet. He dashed off to who knows where, but definitely not to rescue his sister. Danielle felt as though it was some bad reflection on her personality that both Raul and Enjolras left her to reenact some monster novel in their imaginations. She could picture Enjolras as the scientist Frankenstein while Raul was his own Van Helsing hunting down the elusive and insufferable Dracula. Danielle hoped it wasn't some sort of cosmic pattern that heroine's in those novels had such a hard time trying to survive.

She closed her eyes and tried to devise some sort of plan. She couldn't simply sit around and wait for a rescuer. Not only did that course of action rarely work out well for heroines, but her pride wouldn't allow it. She wouldn't run the risk of Enjolras seeing her as a typical, pathetic and helpless society lady. It simply wouldn't do.

The box she was in was rather large, with heavy flammable red curtains and a heavy wooden door leading out. There was a loud bustling coming from the aisle out the door of the masses clamoring to the nearest exit. Perhaps she could get out that way, but the thought of being crushed by a mob of people didn't seem that appealing. Likewise, if she stayed in this tinder box there was a great likelihood that she'd have to outrun a fire. She carefully went to the door and opened it. The great fleeing had ebbed a little, and she inserted herself in the first person sized space she saw.

To her left was a girl no older than herself who was moving against the current, headed in the direction of the fire and chaos. It piqued Danielle's curiosity, and she turned to follow in the other girls' wake. They went around many corners, but followed the same downward slope. The crowd finally thinned so much that Danielle was certain to be caught in her amateur detective game. So, she walked quicker to catch up.

"Excuse me? Excuse me, Mademoiselle?" She reached for the other girl, who whirled around with her hands to her neck in a protective gesture and eyes wide.

"Oh, forgive me. I thought you were something else." The girl smiled sheepishly and lowered her hands.

"What are you doing down here?" Danielle inquired.

"I'm going after the Phantom to help Raul rescue Christine." The girl answered matter of factly. As she nodded her head her golden curls bounced emphatically. Danielle really had no idea what the girl was talking about, but she knew her brother needed help.

"I'm coming with you." She asserted.

"It will be dangerous mademoiselle. Your gown will become dirty." The girl seemed skeptical.

"It's a price I will have to pay, then." Danielle smirked.

"Keep your hand at the level of your eyes." The other girl cautioned as assent and walked ahead. They journeyed mostly in silence; they didn't want to alert this "Phantom" to their presence if they could help it. From the way the girl spoke, this ghost commanded complete respect, and complete fear. Danielle was vigilant to never drop her hand. For whatever reason, it was the biggest warning the other girl had given her, and she didn't want to risk whatever was so terrifying.

"We're almost there." The girl whispered, pulling her long hair out of her face. Danielle nodded quietly. There was a melancholy melody playing in the cold air. The two girls rounded a bend and came upon an immense underground lake. It was magnificent and breathtaking in it's own sort of morose and dark beauty.

"Come, this way." The other girl gestured towards the bank. There was a narrow path that would take them silently around the lake to the twinkling lights on the other side. They started down the way and tried to be as silent as possible.

By the time they arrived at what appeared to be the home of the Phantom, there was no one there. There was shouts behind them, as though a mob was following. They searched through the whole lair, but all they found was a white mask on a winged back chair. Raul, Christine, and the Phantom had all disappeared. The blonde girl held up the mask reverently and looked to Danielle.

"We will not see the Phantom again, Mademoiselle. I don't know where Christine and the Vicompte could have gone." She furrowed her brows.

The voices of the crowd grew louder than before.

"We should leave. They will think we're involved somehow and that will not do." Danielle asserted.

"We can leave that way. It's a shortcut." The girl nodded to a shattered mirror that had a heavy tapestry behind it. Danielle pushed it back and saw a hidden staircase. She entered the dark and let her hands guide her way.

The two girls emerged some time later in the Christine's dressing room. There was no signs that she had been there recently. They parted ways and Danielle went to the entrance to the Opera House to call her carriage. Enjolras was still nowhere to be seen. The carriage came and Danielle made her way to it unescorted. It had been a very strange and eventful night, indeed.

Enjolras was inside the carriage as Danielle entered. She wanted to be furious at him for leaving her, especially after all his insistence that she be protected and escorted everywhere. But all she could do was glare at him mercilessly and ignore his existence for the entire ride home. He didn't even make an effort to explain himself, as usual. He merely flashed her that smirk and ignored her in return.