Erik could feel Amelia's eyes burning into his back. He couldn't focus on figuring out the lyrics with her looking at him like that, like a freak. Although he didn't know why it bothered him so much, she was a de Chagny, her opinion didn't matter. Besides, he needed to finish this song; he'd been working on it all day.

He began to play it again for what seemed like the thousandth time that day, but when he still couldn't think of decent lyrics, he stood and began to pace. Erik was so frustrated; the words were just beyond his reach.

"Have you tried…?" Amelia started, but Erik cut her off.

"I didn't ask for your opinion!" he snapped. Erik noticed that she was wearing the long-sleeved dress, but there was something different about her. After looking her over again, Erik realized that her hair was down. Every morning when she got dressed, Amelia would pin her hair up so that she still looked more like a socialite than a kidnapping victim. He took this as a sign that she was beginning to give up on the hope of rescue.

"Well I was just going to say that maybe some time away would do you some good. If you just sit there staring at it, you're not going to come up with anything, and it's obviously upsetting you. You've been growling at it all day. Sometimes when I'm stuck on my poetry, I just need to leave it for a while, and then come back to it later."

For a moment, Erik was about to snap at her again, when he realized she was probably right. He knew that Amelia just wanted him to leave so she could escape through the tunnel she had found behind the curtain. But Erik wasn't too concerned. He had taken care of that when she was asleep. "Fine. I'll be back within the hour."

The corners of Amelia's lips turned upwards ever so slightly, as she was unable to fully repress her emotions. "I'll be here," she replied.

"Oh yes you will," Erik murmured under his breath so Amelia couldn't hear as he climbed into the boat.

As soon as the Phantom was out of sight, Mia ran to the curtain that hid the entrance to the tunnel. She couldn't believe that the Phantom was stupid enough to leave her alone when they both knew she knew about the tunnel. All she had to do was get out of here and she would be free.

Feeling triumphant, Mia yanked the curtain away with a flourish. She stood there, utterly horrified as she revealed nothing more than her reflection. Mia moved each curtain aside, thinking that maybe she had picked the wrong one, but she revealed nothing more but shattered glass and broken mirrors. "No!" she cried, pounding her fists against the fresh glass. "How is this even possible?!" Somehow, someway, the Phantom had managed to put up a mirror to block the tunnel without her knowledge.

She began to search for a handle, a switch, a lever, anything to get the mirror to open. Surely the Phantom wouldn't trap them both in here with nothing but the lake to leave. Especially if something, an angry mob for example, were to storm the lair, he'd be trapped.

After searching for what seemed like forever, Mia still hadn't managed to find any way to get the mirror to move. Sick of feeling trapped, Mia grabbed a nearby candelabra off of the Phantom's organ and tried to smash the mirror with it. However instead of breaking the glass, the candelabra simply bounced off it. She tried again and again, but with no success. "That bastard!" she cried, allowing the candelabra to drop from her hands. Mia sank to her knees and buried her face in her hands, trying not to cry. "What kind of glass even is this?!"

Finally admitting defeat, Mia reluctantly sighed and stood. No wonder the Phantom had left her so willingly. There was no way she could get away from here, short of going through the lake and facing whatever was in it and risk being drowned. She was officially the Phantom's prisoner until he allowed her to go or someone came to rescue her. Mia could only pray that Gaston returned home soon and discovered her absence. Mistress or no, he was her only hope right now.

Mia began to pace, unsure of what to do next. Her gaze finally settled on the Phantom's music. Even though he had no clue what he wanted for lyrics, she had heard him play it so many times, she had four different sets, although she wasn't sure if it was even close to what he had in his mind. She picked up the music and began to thumb through what he had already written. Mia quickly glanced over her shoulder to make sure he wasn't coming back yet before picking up his pen.

Erik slipped through the mirror in Violet's dressing room after rehearsal had ended for the day. He was about to head back down to Amelia when Barineau and Violet entered the room. "You know," Gaston said in-between kisses. "We can't keep this up forever. Sooner or later people are going to start to talk. And eventually my wife is going to notice that I'm still not home."

"Surely you could spare a few more nights..." Violet whined.

Barineau leaned in for another kiss before running his hands through her hair. "I suppose I could, but only for you my darling."

"When are you going to leave your wife for me?" Violet asked, pulling away suddenly.

"Vi..." Barineau sighed.

"You promised me you would Gaston!"

"I know darling, but these things take time. Just be patient with me." Erik snorted. If he had a franc for every time he heard those words, he wouldn't need his salary. Once Barineau got bored with his mistress, he'd move on to the next willing girl. And there would always be one, since Barineau had money, power, and influence within the Populaire. There were a large number of girls willing to provide "favors" for advanced positions within the cast.

"Fine, but I'm not going to wait forever!"

"Don't worry Vi, I'll take care of it. Trust me."

"Alright Gaston," Violet said smiling and leaning in for another kiss.

Erik's nostrils flared in disgust as he turned and began to make his way back to his lair. As someone who would never be able to have the luxury of love or marriage, he had no idea why anyone would be willing to squander it.

No sooner than the lair came into sight, Erik spotted Amelia sitting at his organ, with his music and a pen in her hands. "No!" he roared, leaping out of the boat. Erik ripped the paper from her hands yanked it away, twisting his fingers in her hair to pull her away from his organ. "What have you done?!"

Amelia screamed in pain, as Erik's eyes darted over the music to how she had ruined it. "I was just trying to help," she gasped.

"How could you possibly..." Erik's voice trailed off as he saw what exactly she had done. She had written in the lyrics he had been looking for, and they matched the music perfectly. He released the girl, allowing her to drop to the ground. She began to crawl backwards away from him. "I...I'm sorry," he said softly. "I shouldn't have done that."

"Do you know what your problem is?" Amelia whispered as she retreated across the room, back to her poetry. "You love too much. My problem is I don't love enough. I'm afraid of getting hurt so I come across as cold and bitter, which I probably am. But you love too much. You throw your heart and soul into whatever you love, and you latch on and won't let it go. You're afraid of loss so you love to death. That's what happened just now with your music, and that's where you went wrong with Christine. I don't doubt you love her, but you were so afraid of losing her, you smothered her. She was afraid of you because you were so afraid of losing her. You followed her, limited her time away from you, spent all your time and energy helping her, trying to win her to the point you were stalking her, and it frightened her. It still frightens her."

"What do you know?" Erik demanded.

"More than you apparently," Amelia answered. "I'm at least willing to admit my faults." Erik rolled his eyes before beginning work on his next piece.