I really do apologize for this late update, but I've started college this september and I have a really busy scheduale. Everyday I have to get up at 6:15 am and sometimes I'm back home 7:45 pm. Sigh. I didn't had much time to write, but her it is. Enjoy.

Katerina wasn't in quite a hurry to get back to Phillipe's house. No, what she wanted was to let the information she had received only a few minutes ago in. It all made sense now. She wondered if she would ever have the chance to meet this Phantom.

"There you are," Jean-Jacques said. "What, did you miss me already?" Katerina asked teasingly.

"Who wouldn't miss you, even if you were gone for only a while," was his swift response, a response that made Katerina blush. "I just wanted to know how Melody's doing. She's acting a little out of the ordinary today. Did she perchance told you anything?" "She has a little problem with performing, one she wish she didn't had. That's all I'm going to tell you" Jean-Jacques knew from that instant that she was referring to Melody's mask. "Alright then. Come we still have a lot to do, not that anybody's actually doing anything. There all just too busy with rehearsing"

Katerina smiled. It was no wonder nobody did anything, except practicing. It was the one of the biggest chances they all had to become a 'star'. Katerina knew that if she wanted to have a role, she really needed to practice too. "Well, I guess I won't be of any assistance, I have to practice too," she said. Jean-Jacques grimaced at the idea that nobody would be working on the play for the rest of the week. "Ah well, maybe I can help you practice. It doesn't seem like anybody would be angry if I didn't worked any farther, especially since they all aren't doing anything" "Seems like a plan" And the two of them chose a good spot to practice.

Phillipe, on the other hand, wasn't actually busy practicing. Nor did he worked on this play. No, what he did was wondering about Melody and why she was acting like this. Tomorrow he would ask her. Since he wasn't doing anything, some of the other students asked him what he was pondering over. "Nothing really, I guess I'm just not in the mood to do anything," he lied, for what he wanted was to do nothing more than to go to Melody and ask her what was bothering her. "Okay then, maybe it's best if we all leave then, since we're not making any progress. I'll inform the others they can go home," and in less than ten minutes, everybody was on their way home. Phillipe was tired figuring out what was wrong with Melody, so he continued his 'personal project', playing some song on his violin. He knew he should practice a lot would he intend to play one particular song, one he was sure of that would swoon Melody of her feet.

Raoul de Chagny noticed how Phillipe would play the violin more often than he did before. When he played it, it made Raoul remember all those memories from his childhood, where Christine's father would play the violin and told stories. He sighed loudly.

It was the second night in a row, Melody was unable to find sleep. So like the previous time, she went out into the darkness of the night. Involuntarily, it happened that she found herself in the same alley as before. The only difference this time was that there were no drunken man fighting. She was glad for this, now she didn't need to scare people off. Although it was easy for her, she didn't like to scare people (unlike her father, who found this rather amusing.) Melody went to the place where that man presumably died. She looked at the ground and nothing indicated that someone had died there. It was a rather depressing thought. People could easily die without anything showing their deaths. She sighed. A sudden noise jerked her out of her thoughts.

It was a group of men, this time not drunk. "I tell you, here she was. I don't know where she came from, nor where she went to," the man who wanted to attack Melody the previous night said. "Yeah, that's maybe because you were too drunk to notice," another said. Laughter could be heard. Melody reacted quickly. She went to a side alley of the one she was in now. In that way, she could easily overhear the conversation without being noticed.

"So basically what you're doing, is bringing us here to help you defend yourself if that Alley Ghost is to return to this exact place," one of the group said. "No, moron. I bring you here so that if she returns, you could see that she exist."

"oh, wait. You mean this ghost is a girl? You got scared by a girl?" it seemed that the other members of the group started to make fun of him. "Not just any girl, one who hides half of her face. That can be right. And she was all dressed in black. What girls does that?" the man tried to defend himself. After this the others went quiet. "Interesting, a girl, dressed in black and who covers her face. Are you sure you didn't hallucinated it, it seems very unlikely."

"I told you I didn't hallucinated it"

And as if by proving his point, a voice was heard. "He's right you know. I do exist. I'm not merely a hallucination of a drunk man. Pray that you'll never come in touch with me, for I won't be as friendly as I was with him. He had the chance to get away, the ones who come in touch with me won't be as lucky," Melody said. Luckily for her, the alleys were small and an echo could be produced from a distance. The men didn't knew what was coming to them. Surely they all had heard the voice of a girl. They looked around in the alley, but they weren't able to find her. Melody silently chuckled. How easy it was to scare people. After she watched the group leave the alley, she went to Montmartre.

The next morning, she decided not to go to school today. First she wanted to have the conversation with her parents. Not that she actually looked forward to it, but if she wanted to get it over with. When she arrived at her previous home, it was nothing but natural that her parents were surprised to see her this early.

"I told you mom that I would come over to have a little talk. And since I came early it's the perfect opportunity to share breakfast with you," was the first thing she said when her parents took notice of her. "And why did you think we would be up this time in the morning?" Erik asked her.

"Remember the time I tried to sneak out of this lair?" Melody countered with her own question. "Oh yes, that was fun wasn't it. You sneaked out of the house when we were asleep, assuming that you'd be able to sneak back in the early morning. But how wrong you were"

"Uhu, back then I learned that you were an early riser. So I knew you'd be up by now" The only thing Erik did was slightly shake his head, remembering the whole situation with Melody sneaking out. How comical it looks now, while it back then was something that made his blood boil.

"You said you would come over for a little talk, is something the matter, dear? Is that why you weren't at the Chagny's house?" Erik asked. Melody shot a look at her mother, questioning her if she hadn't told what had happened yesterday. Unfortunately, Christine hadn't yet, she had planned to tell Erik this morning. He now knew something was amiss. "Before we have this little talk, I think it's best I tell you something," Christine started. Erik was looking suspiciously at her. Christine drew a deep breath and told him about Katerina.

"WHAT!!" he yelled. "She knows and you're only telling me this now!" "Calm down father, I'm positively sure she'll keep it a secret," Melody tried to calm him down. "And why do you think that," he snapped. "Because she's a friend"

Melody knew it wasn't a great excuse in her father's eyes, he never had good experiences with humanity. "Madame Giry never told, didn't she?" Melody tried a different tactic. "You know that that is a completely different situation" "I trust Katerina like you trust her. I believe I'm still capable to detect people's motives"

Erik wasn't too happy with this all, but he felt like he should trust Melody on this. But she can't stop me bringer her 'friend' a little visit, he thought. "Fine I guess," he said, still not entirely calm. He saw Melody's face lit up and knew he would betray her trust in him.

"Now, what's the reason of the little talk you want," he asked. Melody's eyes grew somber. "It's about the play." Erik took a good look at her and sighed. "You don't want to be in it because of your mask"

Melody nodded weakly. "Still you want to be part of it, not only behind the scenes." Christine was, after all these years with him, still surprised with his capacity to see what was on people's minds by looking at them.

"It'll be weird if I would wear a flesh-coloured mask on the stage. If people would meet me afterwards, they'll look even more weird at the mask," Melody explained. She sighed. "I don't know what to do"

"What if you changed the play a little bit," Erik said. Christine and Melody were looking at him. "What if you made the angel of music a woman and the pupil a man, that way you' still can play without having to wear a new mask." "It's a little too late father, by the end of the week auditions will take place," Melody said.

Erik was pondering a bit. "Who has the script my dear," he then asked with a grin on his face. Christine immediately reacted. "NO. Erik you will not go to the person and scare them to death to change it."

Erik only grinned more. "Erik, I forbid you to," she said. Erik then used his ventroquisilm skills. "My dear, we both know you can't forbid me anything," he said to her. Her eyes widened. "Relax mother, he can't do anything if he don't know who has the script," Christine said. "We all know he'd find a way to know," Christine sighed. "With some luck, it take him until after the auditions to find out and then he can't change it anymore," Melody said. Erik, growing more and more angry with the fact they talked about him as if he wasn't even there, said: "Oh believe me when I say I'll find him, or her, before the end of tomorrow night"

"Father, please, don't. I don't want to change the play, or you to scare anyone. Please?" Melody asked. Erik sighed, "Fine, no change in the play. But what are you going to do then?" "I'm not sure yet. Do you think I should go to the audition?"

"Of course you should," both Erik and Christine said. "After that you still can decide what to do," her father said. Melody smiled. "You're right, but then I should better hurry and try not to be too late at school," she said while standing up. She said her goodbye's and went off.

She ran as fast as she could, almost knocking over some innocent bystanders. People were looking even more strange at her then when she would just walk over the street. When she finally arrived at school, she noticed that there was no one walking around. Damn, everybody's already in class. She continued to run towards her classroom. She knocked at the door. A voice told her to come in, which she did. "Ah, miss Destler, how nice of you to join us," Madame Galure began. "Now please sit down"

Melody went to her seat, which was next to Jean-Jacques. He looked at her questioningly. "I'll explain later," Melody whispered.

Ps: I guess it will take some time before my next update. Sorry for that.