Disclaimer: No, I do not own Erik. He is simply borrowed for my own purposes.

AN: Sorry! No first lesson this time. Should be in the next one or two. These two really love to talk! Black ribbon roses to all those who review and favorite!

Chapter 17

Meg was still at rehearsal when I decided to get redressed and go in search of Erik. I wore only the minimal of attire. I was not about to be put the corset back on, so I settled for one of my plain dresses that had laces up the side. It was dark blue and I added a black lace shawl over my shoulders. I laced up my boots, left my hair undone, and left Meg's room. I didn't know how I would find him, so I simply went to the only place that had a Phantom sighting rate of 100%: the chapel. However, something was off as I left my room. I felt as if someone were following me, and at times I thought it was Erik, but every time I turned around to see who it was, the footfalls behind me stopped or it turned out to be a stage hand wandering around from one side of the Opera House to the next. I wrapped my shawl tighter around me and quickened my pace. The person behind me did too.

I was afraid of whoever was following me but not as much as when I felt someone grab me and pull me into a dark corner. I instinctively opened my mouth to release a scream but a gloved hand covered my lips. I tried to break free but the hold on me was tight and unrelenting.

"Stop moving," a voice whispered into my ear.

My eyes widened at the recognition of Erik's voice. "Erik?" I tried to say but his hand was still across my mouth.

"Be quiet," he hissed. He looked out into the corridor that I had just been pulled from and I looked as well. I felt my knees shake when I saw Michel Faucher walk past.

"Now…where did she go?" He whispered in the candle lit passageway. He turned around a few times and then made his way down a hallway and was out of sight.

"He's been taking quite an interest in you," Erik said, removing his hand from my mouth.

"I can take care of myself, thank you."

"I have no doubt. You struggled fiercely when I grabbed you. I had no idea you had so much fight in you."

I quickly disentangled myself, his hold on me causing my bruises to hurt. I tried not to rub my arms and shoulders in order to ease the tension. Instead, I put my hands on my hips and glared up at him.

"I would fight anyone who would grab me and push me into a dark corner."

He chuckled. "I have no doubt." He held his hand out to me. "Shall we go?"

I started. "Where?"

"You want to begin your lessons don't you?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Surprised that I came back weren't you."

"No."

"Liar."

We were both silent, staring each other down, and then he lowered his hand. "What did you come back for?"

I leaned against the wall and rested my head back, looking up at the ceiling. "It's more what did I leave my family for?"

"You left one group of people for another. It happens all the time."

"Well, I couldn't really stay with them. In the end, I would have been nothing more than an empty shell, my life sucked dry because I thought I owed them something." I touched the mark on my right cheek, thankful that Erik couldn't see it in the dim light. "I don't owe them anything. Now, I live by my own terms and by what I want to do."

"You can't do that. You're not a woman of means."

"True, but because of the kindness of my Aunt and the managers, I can room with Meg, and be surrounded by music for as long as I want to be. Aunt is trying to get me to be the accompanist for rehearsals while the instrumentalists are still learning their parts."

"It's hard work, and your talents will be wasted."

I shrugged. "Yes, but it's work, and I'm not afraid of it. I will not become some china doll to sit in a chair and do nothing but smile prettily and act nicely. I have two hands that are willing and able to work and I have a mind that can think for itself. And if I'm doing what I love, then talent is not wasted. But first…business." I smiled at him, seeing that a small smile was tugging at his lips.

"And what is your first order of business."

"We need to sit down and discuss the terms of our arrangement. I will be given the music for Madame Carrolton and for the troupe later today, I'm sure. So, I have time, and I did promise you my time. But we cannot discuss all of this here, and my room is out due to the thin walls and someone could walk in any moment."

"There is only one course open to us, then." He extended his hand, which I took. He gripped it and pulled me closer to him. "You do know that you talk too much, Anne."

I laughed. "I haven't been able to talk as much as I have for some time. Silence and humility were two things that my Grandmother prized very much." Erik started walking down the hallway, and I walked behind him, my hand held tightly in his own.

"Where are we going?"

"The only place where we shall be safe."

I hadn't realized that safety would be an issue, but if someone discovered us, I would be fine, but Erik would not be. I kept silent as Erik kept walking until he stopped and pressed his hand against the wall. A small section of the wall gave way and moved behind the main wall. A secret passageway!

"I told you, the Opera House is littered with them. Though most of them are by my own design."

"How did you do that, especially since this place was burnt so terribly." I stepped over the threshold and watched as Erik resituated the false wall and continued walking.

"The place wasn't as bad as the newspapers made it seem." This corridor was lit with torches. Erik picked one up off the wall and held it in front of him. "I know my way well, but you may need the light. As I was saying, the fire really took care of the front part of the Populaire, mainly the stage, house, and the front entrance. What few traps I had set up there…well, anyone can replace architectural plans."

"I see…"

"I simply took the plans and redid them so that extra space was used for room but a wall or a door would be sly inserted, by myself to create the another passage that only I would need."

"And now, me?"

"Yes…and now you."

A man of many wonders. It was the only label I could put to Erik at the moment. A man of secrets and solitude, yes. But, if all the rumors were to be believed, he was a ventriloquist, magician, composer, musician, and architect. A man of many faces, despite the mask he wore. What sort of man would he have been had he not lived down here, and had been born with a perfect face and had lived amidst society? What kind of life would he have known, then?

Was it folly to trust her so completely? To show her where he lived? To become teacher once more? Yes. Looking back on it, Erik had no idea what he was thinking, going through all of this again. At least this time, he was a teacher as a man, and not as an Angel. But what was she thinking? How did she really feel about all of this? Rumor mills were always buzzing with excitement at some deviant act he had done. Fallen backdrops and red wax sealed notes were not he forte of his expertise. Even what he had done at the Populaire alone, wasn't the worst of his crimes. He was a condemned man in or out of the Opera House. And now, to invite another person into his close circle of connections…it was flirting with disaster. He'd already been betrayed by one woman, once. It undoubtedly would happen again. So what was he doing?!

"Ow!" Anne bit out. "Are you trying to break my fingers so that I can't play?"

Erik let ago instantly and he watched her massage some feeling back into her hand. "I'm sorry. I was…lost in thought."

"I'd hate to meet the person you were mad at." She shook out her hand and flexed her fingers. He smiled at how she briefly played few imaginary keys on a piano to make sure everything was working properly.

"I'm…sorry."

"It's alright. But perhaps I hold your arm this time?" She smiled, weakly.

He nodded and held out his arm to her which she took with no trace of fear or anxiety. "We're not too far now. We're almost to the lake."

"The lake?! I didn't know there was a lake here!"

"Very few do. We are already several stories beneath the surface. We are very close now."

"And you live down here? Away from the heat of the sun?"

"I haven't seen the sun in a few years."

"No wonder people would think you a ghost. You're so pale!" Anne laughed and Erik found himself chuckling alone with her.

"I suppose so." He carefully maneuvered her down the winding staircase that seemed to go into the bowels of Hell itself. It was a different path then when he taken Christine. There were no beautiful wall candles, no Caesar to help escort her down. The only thing that remained the same, and it was because there was no other way for her to access his home without meeting some fatal accident, was the gondulet. The dark wood of the small boat had not changed nor had the red velvet seat. They reached the water's edge and he heard Anne gasp.

"Something wrong."

"It's…beautiful," she whispered. Her eyes wide with amazement and she put a hand over her lips.

He wondered what she was looking at that made it look so beautiful. The pillars were done in a Grecian style yes, and there were a few candles lit, but that was all. She couldn't even see his home, which, in his own way, he took great pride in.

"Shall we, then?" He stepped into the boat and turned around to assist her. Thankfully, she wasn't wearing some ridiculous corset contraption. He had known that the moment he had grabbed her in the hallway. She was wearing low-heeled boots which would make this a lot easier. Or so he had hoped. Something must have caught on the edge of the boat because one minute she fine, and the next she was trying to regain her balance as she was toppling to the water. It all happened so quickly then. He reached for her and somehow managed to pull her back towards him, only he didn't count on the natural force of gravity. When both of them had regained their senses and had caught their breath, he was flat on his back and Anne was on top of him!

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" She gasped, and quickly scrambled off of him. She was blushing furiously and was doing anything in her power to not look at him. "You're not hurt are you?" She asked, when it was apparent that she had gotten herself back together.

He stood and dusted off his pants. "No harm done." He slowly stood up and picked up the pole which would help him get across the lake. Anne scooted towards the middle of the boat and Erik stood at the back.

"I'm really sorry," she said again. "I don't know why I was so clumsy."

"It's nothing. You would have had a lot more to be sorry for had you gone head first into the lake."

"Why?" She turned around but he was too busy focusing on getting the boat to the other side of the lake that he didn't look down at her.

"There's a siren in this lake."

"A siren? I thought those were legend."

He smiled wryly at her. "You're with a legend, mademoiselle. You shouldn't be surprised of anything anymore.

She chuckled and turned back around. "Well, I don't know if I'd call you a legend. You're too real to be called that."

The house was now coming into view now. The gate was slowly rising and with it, the candelabras that were sitting deep in the water.

"How do you get the candles to light like that, the moment they come out of the water?"

He smiled. "It's a special wick that lights when it comes into contact with the air." The smile, however, quickly faded when he remembered the last time he had used such an entrance to his home. Christine had been in a daze the entire time and had never really asked about his home. Oh, she was entranced and transfixed just as Anne now was…but it had been a special moment between the two.

Pushing the unwanted memories aside, he docked the boat and got out. He turned back around to face Anne. She slowly stood up and when he was sure she was steady he spoke. "Forgive me, if I don't want you landing in the water or knocking your head against something when you fall." He didn't wait for her to say anything, but leaned in, put his hands around her waist and lifted her out of the gondulet and onto solid ground. He heard her gasp and he felt her hands on his shoulders. When her feet touched the ground he made eye contact with her. Would indignation fly?

"Thank you," she whispered.

She was close…too close. And that was how he saw it. He didn't see it earlier in the dimly lit corridor or when she had blushed to her hairline. But now, in the well lit banks of the lake, he could see it as plain as the mask on his face. Slowly he raised his left hand and laid it against her chin. He wasn't expecting his rage to rise so quickly as he turned her face and saw the cut and bruise that marred her cheek.

Anne stepped back, obviously realizing what had drawn his attention. But he grabbed her arm and pulled her close. She cried out and he thought it was in fear, but the only person who needed to fear him was the person who caused this!

"Who did this?" He whispered, but his voice was laced with venom.

She whimpered and he shook her.

"Who?!"

"Erik, please, you're hurting me!"

He saw her tears and he instantly released her. He didn't grab her that hard…there was no way he would have hurt her. He watched her lightly put her hand over the place where he had grabbed her and he saw her wince. It all fell into place.

"She didn't let you go without a fight…did she?"

"Erik, you have to understand…"

"No, I don't have to understand. Where are you hurt?" The thought that anyone could harm her made him want to unspeakable things. This precious gift of music could have been gone if one blow had been placed too carelessly.

"No where that's going to show."

"Where?!"

She put her hands on her hips and glared at him. "You're not going to get answers out of me by shouting at me." She slumped her shoulders, defeat marking her face. She tucked her skirts underneath her knees and sat down at the lake's edge. "Besides, I've had worse."

He sat down next to her, confused and bewildered at this turn in her. He didn't say anything since it seemed apparent she wanted to talk. But she didn't say anything at all. Her eyes took on a brief vacant look and he could tell she was lost in some distant memory of her past. And then, it was over. Whatever defenses that had been brought down, were put back up, each one in their perfect place. How many times had he done the same thing? Walls were there for a reason and when a hole had formed, it took a few minutes to put everything back together.

"Anne…can I ask you something?" He posed the question after he saw the light return to her eyes.

"You can ask me anything you like. But you must remember that I may not answer it, because that is my choice." She smiled at him and he marveled at how unrestrained it was. Her smile went all the way to her eyes which sparkled in the candlelight.

"You know my reputation. You know what I have done in my past, and how I've acted towards people." He stopped but he wasn't pressed to continue. It was obvious she waited for him to speak. "Why then, are you here? When you have no guarantee for your safety."

She laughed. "Well, I know you won't do anything to me because if you do, Aunt Giry will have your head." She rested her chin on her knees and thought for a moment. "I guess…it's because that a person's past does not define their future. You can have been the very devil yesterday, but at the end of each day the sun sets and tomorrow it will rise. You can't hold on to the mistakes of yesterday because today will have its own mistakes and problems." She stood up and shook off her dress leaving Erik momentarily speechless…but she wasn't done. She knelt down and extended her hand to help him up. "Because I believe that person who has loved as you have, and who loves music in such a way as you do, can't be a bad person."