I don't own The Phantom of the Opera.
Christine found that she was splitting her time between two different worlds and fearing whether they would clash. She had been waiting for something horrific, like the chandelier crash, to happen because of the master plan Erik alluded to. At the same time, she had begun to wonder if he was just enjoying scaring her. There were enough things that went missing to make her believe that the Phantom wasn't completely idle, but she feared that the ballerinas would notice the opera ghost never seemed to take anything from the current prima donna.
Christine was talking to Meg while a scene they weren't in was being rehearsed, and some scenery that was being painted fell. It somehow managed to end up in the orchestra pit, making a mess of the musicians. The ballerinas screamed, and Madame Giry instantly called for quiet.
"Erik?" Meg asked Christine. The clamor from the falling set assured them that no one would overhear their conversation.
Christine replied, "I have no idea."
"Leave her alone," a voice rang out, "If you don't leave on your own I may have to make you. It's not going to go away." The speaker was Erik, and he was making a strong message to someone in the opera. The question was, who?
"Look at Henri," Meg said, jerking her head in his direction.
Christine saw that he had become suddenly pale, and he looked angry and seemed to be shaking. He saw her looking at him and smiled, but the smile looked more like a strange grimace.
"What was Erik talking about?" Christine asked, though she doubted Meg knew anymore than she did.
"Isn't it obvious?"
"No…"
"You've been talking to Henri a lot lately. Erik's probably jealous," Meg said.
"But Henri was the only person who would actually talk to me when we came back here," Christine said.
"Then tell Erik that."
"He should know better."
"Look at what happened with Raoul."
"That was different."
"Mademoiselle Daaé," Reyer called, "we need you to rehearse act three."
Christine spent the rest of the rehearsal with her mind in another place, but nobody seemed to notice. The only person who would have noticed was Henri, but he was just as preoccupied as she was. Monsieur Reyer saw that both of the leads were making more mistakes than usual, and he ascribed it to the shock of the scenery falling and the "mysterious" voice. He decided to end practice early so that everyone could rest.
Christine went down to the house on the lake as soon as Reyer said she could go. It was probably reckless of her not to go to her dressing room first, but she cared more about talking to Erik. He had been watching the rehearsal from one of his "additions" to the opera house, and she met him in a secret passage before she got to the lake.
"What was that all about today?" she asked him.
"Henri Michel needs to leave the opera immediately," Erik said.
"Why?" Christine said, "He's a perfectly good singer. He's probably better than Piangi."
"He's going deaf," Erik said shortly, "But he's been keeping that fact from the management. He shouldn't be lying to them that way. And he's been-"
Christine cut him off bluntly, "He's been what? Just say it."
"Henri Michel is obsessed with Meg Giry."
"Really?"
"Yes, really. He doesn't show it because he's got too much sense."
"How strange." Christine shuddered; it was hard to believe that someone who seemed so nice could be keeping so much from everyone he knew. "Is that really it?"
"What do you mean, you curious girl?" Erik said, laughing, "How many secrets could one man have?"
"Meg said that you only want him gone because he's nice to me," Christine said with a blush.
"He's only been nice to you because he wants to get closer to Meg."
"You're only doing all of this because you want to protect Meg, correct?"
"And I don't want the opera to have the embarrassment of finding out they have a deaf tenor."
Christine smiled. "That's so… gallant, Erik." Only Erik would force a singer to leave the opera because he's lying, and pretend to be a ghost to do it. He was full of contradictions, and she loved him for it.
"Do you really think so?" Henri Michel said.
"What are you doing here?" Erik said, taking a step forward so he stood in front of Christine.
"I merely wanted to see if Mademoiselle Daaé really does know the Opera Ghost," Henri replied, "It's all that the ballerinas seem to talk about."
"Leave us alone, Henri," Christine said.
Henri taunted, "I don't think that I will. Now that I know where the Phantom of the Opera resides, I think it would be the honest thing to do to would be to turn him over to the police."
"What do you want?" Erik asked.
"To be left alone," Henri said simply, "If you bother me or Meg Giry again, then I will just turn you into the police."
"Since when did he bother Meg? He nursed her when she was sick," Christine said, "You must not know anything about her."
"I know that he's getting in the way of Meg and me," Henri said, "and that's all that really matters." He walked away from them, and his footsteps echoed in the passage long after he was out of earshot.
"I should kill him," Erik muttered menacingly.
"Don't do that!" Christine cried, "There've been enough deaths already."
"I don't think I can promise that anymore," Erik said.
"How do the managers fit into this?" Christine asked.
"I told them that if they don't listen to me, I'll tell everyone that they knowingly hired a man losing his hearing to sing in the opera. They couldn't bear for everyone to know what fools they are."
"And what if they figure all this out?"
"Then I'll have to be creative."
The word "creative" sounded so much more sinister when Erik said it.