AN: Thanks for all the reviews, as usual. You guys are awesome.
CHAPTER 17
At Gerry's insistence, he and Christine slept for a few hours before doing anything else. He had no idea how long he had been there, but he knew he was severely sleep deprived. Christine, however, seemed like she didn't require half as much rest as he did, and in her impatience to move again, she awoke him and practically dragged him along to continue their search for answers. They had been looking for the elusive Antoinette Giry for only 30 minutes, but Gerry's patience was wearing thin. He was getting really, really, REALLY tired of walking.
"Where the bloody hell is she, then?"
"I don't know, be patient!"
"You should know, since she's like your adoptive mother or something…"
"That doesn't mean I can telepathically know her location at all times," Christine snapped back. After a while, she started thinking aloud to herself. "She's not in the boxes, or backstage, or in her own room…"
"Maybe she went out or something. That is if you people have lives outside of the opera house," Gerry quipped. Christine's eyes flashed angrily at him.
"Yes, we people do have business other than opera. Maybe you're right. She could be out running errands. Let's wait near the main entrance so we can catch her if she comes back in."
Reluctantly, Gerry followed her as they snuck down the hallway behind the boxes, making their way as silently as possible to a balcony that looked over the grand staircases of the shiny, golden lobby. Upon spotting someone entering the opera, Christine shoved Gerry back into the hallway and covered his mouth to make sure he wouldn't make a sound of protest.
"Someone just came in," she whispered to him, then let go and glanced back out to see who it was.
It was Nadir. He had stopped in the middle of the expensive tiled floor with his hands folded together behind his back as usual, standing very still as his jade eyes slowly cast back and forth. Apparently, he was waiting for someone.
A few moments later, the very woman they had been looking for appeared from behind the foot of the staircase, her footsteps echoing in the cavernous room as she stepped towards Nadir.
"Hello, Monsieur Khan. What are you doing, just standing here like this?"
"Waiting for you, Madame. Your daughter told me you were going out today, so I assumed I would catch you here before you left," said Nadir.
"Me? Whatever for?"
Christine could barely hear his words as the Persian lowered his voice. "I understand you are close with Erik."
Madame Giry started a little. Nadir continued. "I am as well. That is why I came to you. We have a…complicated situation on our hands."
"What has he done?" Antoinette asked immediately.
"Nothing. Well, as far as I know. I cannot possibly know what he's doing where he is now…"
"So he has run away?" she gasped. Nadir shook his head.
"Not exactly. Let us talk somewhere more private."
"Of course. My office," she said, then turned to walk back the way she had came, Nadir following right behind.
"Let's go," whispered Christine to Gerry, glancing out into the hall to see if anyone was there. Her heart jolted when she saw a group of ballet girls coming towards them. For a moment, she panicked, not having anywhere to hide, but Gerry pushed her in the curtain behind him and jumped out just as the ballerinas reached the balcony.
As expected, they stopped, staring at the masked figure with their jaws dropped. He gave them the most menacing glare he could manage and took three slow steps towards them. Before he even got within five feet of them, they screamed and scattered in opposite directions down the hallway.
When they were gone, he turned back to Christine with a smirk. "Ballet girls…so skittish."
"Just like him…" she sighed, but gave him a little smile to let him know she was joking. "Well, let's get to Madame Giry's office quickly, so we don't miss any valuable information."
Within minutes, they arrived outside the said office door, which was already closed. Pressing her ear against the door, Christine could hear Antoinette's and Nadir's voices inside, but not very clearly.
Without much consideration, she simply opened the door and walked inside calmly, stopping the conversation. Gerry swallowed and followed her quickly, eager to get out of the open.
"Christine…Erik!" said Antoinette.
"That's what I was just getting to…that's not Erik," Nadir said slowly, looking at the other man and back at the ballet mistress, who scoffed.
"What are you talking about, of course that's Erik!"
"He's right," said Christine. Gerry nodded, also affirming the fact. Antoinette sputtered.
"I don't understand…"
"Something very strange and very supernatural has happened, Madame," Nadir said, then motioned to a chair. "You'd better sit down."
Gerry and Christine tried their best to politely keep quiet while Nadir explained everything, but they couldn't help but correct him every so often. By the end of the story telling, he was rather irritated with them, but maintained his composure.
"This is impossible," said Antoinette, shaking her head. Then she turned to Gerry, just staring at him. After a few uncomfortable seconds, he spoke.
"Seriously. I'm not Erik."
Antoinette was not a woman to ignore what was right in front of her. And his voice and manner of speaking was too different to just be good acting on Erik's part.
"We have only guesses at why this could have happened," Nadir said. "Perhaps a higher power believes he and his double have a lesson to be learned…"
"Or it's just a weird glitch in the universe. Whatever it is, I really need to get back," said Gerry pleadingly. "Do you know of anything that can help?"
Giry sighed and thought a moment. "I know and believe in many beliefs some would consider strange or even unreasonable, but I have never heard of a situation quite like this….it could, indeed, be something out of our control if it is the work of God. But if it is not, perhaps it can be reversed…."
"How?" asked Christine anxiously.
"We can call on spirits and see if one had anything to do with it," said Madame Giry. Nadir rolled his eyes.
"Spirits?"
"Yes, Monsieur Khan, souls of the dead," Giry explained dryly.
"I know what they are," he defended. "But as a Christian woman, do you not believe that once a person dies, they simply go onto heaven or hell?"
"Most of the time. Even if they are in either of those domains, they may still interfere with our lives," she said gravely.
"We…did have a strange feeling at the same time," Christine said, looking at Gerry. "We thought it might be something happening on the other side, where Erik is."
"What sort of feeling?" asked Madame Giry.
"A breathless, hit-in-the-gut feeling," Gerry said. She frowned.
"It could be Erik if it only happened to you, but Christine felt it too. A spirit could be trying to meddle with her soul as well. Do you know any dead person who would wish to do this?"
All three shook their head. Antoinette sighed.
"We shall have to call on all of them, then."
/
"Ok, keep doing what you're doing, Gerry, but Emmy, you have to step it up a bit with the passion. Be seduced."
Emmy was getting flustered. This was the fifth time Joel had stopped the scene just because he wasn't satisfied with her performance. She was doing everything she could, but apparently, it wasn't enough.
"Avoid eye contact with me and pull your sleeves up a few times, like you're trying to be modest. She did that," Erik said quietly. Emmy was a little surprised since this was the first time he had actually talked to her during the scene.
"But Joel said to look seduced."
Erik rolled his eyes. "He seems to like everything I'm doing, which is exactly what I did when this was really happening. Just do it. Trust me."
"Ok…thank you."
When they filmed Erik's introduction yet again, Emmy did just as he said, exaggerating emotional conflict between giving into him and keeping her distance. The scene continued with no interruptions until about halfway into her part of the song.
"Cut. Bravo, Emmy, you did perfectly! But right here, when you say 'decided' you should, well, make a decision, you know?" Joel said.
Erik leaned over to Emmy to whisper, "He means look at me and try to seduce me this time."
As she nodded, Joel narrowed his eyes and rubbed his chin. "What are you telling her, Gerry?"
"Oh, he's just giving me tips on what to do," Emmy said quickly. Erik nodded.
"Ah…well, normally, I would say that's my job…but he seems to know what he's doing," Joel said admittedly. "We'll see how this goes. Three, two, one, action!"
Once again, Emmy did as Erik said, looking at him with her most 'come hither' expression as she lip synced to her own voice. She surprised herself with how easy this came to her, and how much fun it was to induce little reactions from him such as a longing stare (acting though it was). The take lasted all the way to the top of the stairs, where they were stopped just so the cameras could move closer to the bridge and behind Emmy to get a shot of Erik. They slowly stepped towards eachother with the tension building until they paused for the cameramen again, who swapped to view Emmy. Finally, they could actually reach each other, Erik grabbing her hips and spinning her around, pulling her against him. Emmy felt a genuine rush at that point, and immediately tried to calm herself, but ended up coming back to reality a little too suddenly. She could feel all the eyes on her and had to force herself not to run out of Erik's arms in embarrassment.
No one cares, it's in the script, it's just acting…this is what they WANT you to do… she assured herself, even though she was well aware of this fact anyway. The exposed, awkward feeling only increased when Erik moved on to take her hand and run it over her chest up to her neck. She was sure this looked perfectly fine on camera, but it felt almost pornographic to actually be doing it.
The music stopped. "Let's get a profile shot now," Joel instructed a cameraman, who moved next to them on the bridge for a few seconds as the music started up again. They just stood still, Emmy taking a cue from Erik's slightly heavy breathing and doing the same. Another camera moved in front of them as the melody changed to 'All I Ask Of You'.
Emmy decided to look relaxed at this part, which was apparently a good choice since no one cut them off. As she felt Erik shift, starting to turn her around, she widened her eyes as if suddenly realizing something, then smiled at him apologetically, knowing what was coming up next.
Forcing himself to look oblivious, Erik continued acting hopeful until she finally reached up and pulled off the mask—revealing absolutely nothing, of course, since they were going to wait until that moment to add the prosthetic.
"Great job! Absolutely spot on!" Joel said, clapping a little before rising out of his chair. "Ok, we're done with that scene today, we'll continue with the unmasking tomorrow. Let's do a few more shots of the people in the boxes. Ah, and Patrick's reactions, of course…"