“I think it goes without saying, never try to find your way out through my security room. That again could end in a disaster. I have another trap door above your bed, but that one isn’t a good idea either. It’s difficult to get into and the first 20 meters or so have to be traveled on your stomach. You can’t even crawl in it. It’s mostly there as a failsafe in case something happens to the others.
“While this one I’m going to show you is the easiest for you, it will still be hard. It’s narrow and steep. That’s why I wanted you in that costume. This passage wasn’t designed with a woman in mind, so I don’t know how you’d make it in a dress.
“As you’ve already experienced with the door to the lake, most of my latches are hidden and much too high for you to reach, thus, the need for the footstool. The latches leading away from my home will be easy enough for you to reach without the stool, but the ones coming back are high and a puzzle. You’ll be able to get out without getting lost. It’s a single passage that will take you to the main level. Getting back down here is a different story, but I’ll explain that as we go. So, are you ready?”
“I think so,” she replied without much conviction.
“Don’t be frightened. You can do it. I’ll show you everything you need to know, and it might answer a lot of questions for you.”
She shook her head and looked around the room and then at me. “It shouldn’t be like this. You shouldn’t be living like this, buried down here, with all this precaution around you. It shouldn’t be like this.”
“My sweet, Christine,” I said as I placed my palm against her cheek. “Perhaps, in the near future I won’t be living like this.” I looked in her compassionate eyes for a few moments before I asked, “Are you all right? Do you want to do this now or wait?”
“I’m all right. As you said, I need to know this, so let’s go.”
“Very well. Stand right here,” I said as I positioned her in front of another invisible door. “Since I’m left-handed, all the latches will be on your left. So raise your left hand to about the top of your head and feel for a slight indentation.”
She did as I asked, and when she felt it she looked at me and smiled. “Is this it?”
“Well, I don’t know,” I teased. “Push it and see what happens.”
When the door moved on its pivots, she, at first, gasped and then looked up at me and smiled even more broadly.
“Here, you take the lantern and go first so you’ll be familiar with the area. I know it’s not the gentlemanly thing to do, but, under the circumstances, I think it’s more important to be behind you to catch you if you fall than to follow proper decorum.”
“Yes, you and your proper decorum.” She looked down at me. “We always have to follow that, don’t we?”
There, she did it again. that teasing little flirt. She’d just given me an open invitation to forget propriety. I shook my head.
“Pay attention, Christine. Don’t distract me. Now, once you’re through the door, wait a moment until the door closes and clicks. It should do it on its own, but if it doesn’t, shove it open and wait again. That should do it. You never want to leave it until it clicks. If you do, then you’re leaving it open for uninvited guests. Listen,” I said as I let go of the door and let it close. When it clicked, I asked, “Did you hear that?”
“Yes, and I’ll remember.”
“One other thing. Never leave a lit lantern alone in one of these passages. A rat could come along and knock it over and start a fire. We wouldn’t want that now, would we?”
“I understand. My father actually told me similar things about lanterns.”
She started up the stairs, and I tried to keep my eyes on the steps in front of her, but it was terribly hard with her adorable derrière in those little boy trousers swaying back and forth right in front of my eyes. Keep your eyes on the steps, I kept telling myself, and, to help me in that pursuit, I began explaining things to her.
“My home is above the lake and on the same level as the fourth cellar, so when we get to the top of this passage, we’ll actually be in the third cellar. Oh, and by the way, don’t be startled if a rat or two runs in front of you. Unlike most rumors about them, they won’t harm you. But they are some of the unwanted guests that I don’t want in my home.”
She let out a little gasp. “Really?”
I smiled when her steps became more cautious. Good, I thought, that will give her something to think about other than teasing me. Now if I could find something for my mind to think about other than her derrière. Fortunately, we were soon at the end of that passage.
“It’s a dead end, Erik. Now what do I do?”
“The same thing you did in the music room.”
She did and we walked through the door and waited for it to click.
“Turn around and look at me, Christine.” She did and I went on. “If you turn to the right like I just did, you can feel for another latch. That passage leads to the set department. At the end of it there’ll be another door with another latch just like this one. But if you turn this way to your left and go through another door, you would be in big trouble. That passage leads to my security room, and there you would be trapped with no way out, like a rat in a trap. Do you understand? This is extremely important. Never take the passage to your left.”
“Yes, Erik. I understand.”
“Good. Now, keep going. The next time you hit a dead end, we’ll be on the second level. This time if you go to your left you’ll be in a passage that leads to another door not too far from the workings under the stage. But if you take the passage to your right, you’ll enter a passage that is long and eventually leads to the outside. But there won’t be an easy latch there, because I don’t want anyone to know I have a secret outside door. Did you get all that?”
“Yes” was all she said.
We were soon through the next door without any instruction from me. Then, as we were traveling up the last flight of stairs, I gave her the final directions.
“Once you reach the end, you can make several decisions and they will all be safe ones. If you go through the door straight ahead of you, you’ll enter a secluded corridor behind the ballet studio. If you go to the right, you’ll enter another passage that goes behind different offices. If you go left, that passage takes you to your dressing room.”
She turned immediately with her eyes wide. “I want to take that one.”
“Are you certain, Christine? That one doesn’t go straight; it takes several turns. You’ll have to pay close attention or you could get lost and frightened.”
“Yes, I’m sure,” she replied with excitement. “I want to know how to get there. And what better way is there for me to get out of a passage without being seen?”
“I believe you’re right, so, when we get to the end, open the door to your left and let’s begin.”
“Oh, Erik, this is exciting. I feel as giddy as a child.”
“You are a child.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Yes, you are.”
“Erik, stop teasing me.”
“Then pay attention. We’re almost there. This won’t be as easy as what we just came through. You’ll turn several corners, but you won’t have any choice in the matter since that’s the only way the passage goes. But then you’ll start to see passages, without doors this time, on both sides of this passage. Take the second one on your right.” I waited until she did it and then told her “Take the first one on your left.” Again I waited. “Now go straight, but hold the lantern behind you so you can watch for any light up ahead of you.”
“We’re at a dead end, Erik. I didn’t see any light. Was I supposed to?”
“Not necessarily. Now, hold the lantern up and see the difference in the walls. You’ll find one is smoother. That’s the backside of your mirror.”
She almost squealed, and I had to caution her. “Shh, Christine. Some of the bricks in this section are hollowed out and can be heard through.”
“All rig
ht,” she whispered. “But I can’t see anything.”
“That’s because it’s dark in your dressing room. Now feel the edge of the mirror, this time with your right hand until you feel the latch.”
“I feel it. Should I push it?”
“If you want to go into your dressing room, yes.”
“Oh, I’m frightened. Maybe I shouldn’t go in,” she again whispered.
“That’s up to you, but what are you afraid of?” She was quiet, so I asked again, “Christine, what are you afraid of?” Finally, I had to lift her face toward me and ask a third time, “What are you frightened of? No one is in there.”
I could barely hear her when she answered, “What if Raoul is in there in the dark?”
“I highly doubt that’s the case, but there’s nothing to fear. If he’s in there and you want to talk to him, that’s up to you. If you don’t, then I’ll take care of it.” She looked really frightened. “I mean, I’ll show him the door, so you won’t have to talk to him. I won’t hurt your friend, Christine. You can trust me.”
There was silence until her answer came by her releasing the latch. There was a slight rumble as it turned on its pivot, and, as the light from the lantern shone into her room, she took a deep breath and stepped in. I stayed in the passage and took the lantern from her.
“Make sure your door is locked, and then go to the center of the room.” She did and I continued. “I’m going to let the mirror close and watch what happens.”
I let the mirror close, and she spread her arms out and shook her head. “I can see you. I’m confused.”
“That’s because the lantern is on. Now watch when I turn it off.”
I turned it off, and she instantly started talking to me. “This is spooky, Erik. I know you’re there, but I can’t see a thing. Erik, are you still there?”
I smiled and opened the mirror. “I’m always here, remember? Now turn your wall lamp on.”
She did and then asked, “May I come back in with you now? I feel strange in here.”
I opened my arms wide. “Always.”
When she was inside the passage again with me, I let the mirror close and click into place.
With wide eyes and parted lips she turned and looked up at me. “Erik, this is what you saw?”
I gazed down at her with a pleasant smile and nodded. “Yes, this is how I watched and sang to my angel all those weeks.”
She looked back into the room, and then she took a quick breath, and her hand covered her mouth. “Erik! You saw everything I did in there?”
“Well, almost everything. I can assure you I was gentleman enough not to watch as you undressed. Although, I have to admit, I sometimes was tempted,” I finished with a smile of a different sort.
She was still looking into her room when her head nodded. “I believe you.” Then she looked up at me. “You’ve been nothing but a gentleman, Erik.”
At that moment, in the semidarkness, and with the back of her shoulder lying against my chest, and her perfect face gazing up into mine, I thought I wasn’t going to be a gentleman much longer.
Then she turned to face me and asked softly, “Erik, will you hold me, please?”
“My dear, you’ll never have to ask that question twice.”
She melted into my chest, and I wrapped my arms around her, savoring her touch.
“This seems strange, Erik. When I look in that room, all that happened in there seems like a lifetime ago, almost as if it happened to someone else and not me.”
“Yes,” I whispered. “I understand what you mean.”
“Erik, I was wondering. When I first arrived here and was so discouraged, Meg told me there was a time when she was ready to quit performing. She was working so hard. Her toes were always bleeding and she even broke two of them, and she was never promoted to the front row. Then the Opera Ghost talked to her mother and told her not to fret because she would be in the front row soon and later in life she would marry wealthy. Now that I know the Opera Ghost is you, are you the one who got her to the front row?”
“I confess—that was me.”
“Just like the way you got me noticed?” I nodded. “She also told me that her brother was gravely ill and needed an operation but they hadn’t the money. She said the Opera Ghost gave them the money for the operation. Was that you?”
“Again, I confess.”
“Oh, my! She also said the first time she saw the Opera Ghost was in the ballet studio. She said he walked through the mirror. Was that also you?”
“Yes, that was me. I was careless. That was a lesson I learned the hard way.”
She pulled away from me and looked into my eyes. “Then you’re a philanthropist. More people need to know this. Can I tell Meg that my angel and that philanthropist are the same? Then she wouldn’t be so concerned about me.”
“I’m not sure about that, my dear. Let me think on that. It could have far-reaching effects on my life here. Let me think about it.”
She nodded, and laid her cheek against my chest again, and I laid my cheek on top of her head, and then we silently gazed into her empty room, remembering, I’m sure, both blissful and frightful moments. It was at that precise moment that I seriously began to question my desire to have her give me that look I was waiting for, that look Vashti gave me.
I loved Vashti, but not like she loved me. I never gave her the look she gave me or the look I’m sure I was continually giving Christine. Perhaps Christine would never be able to give me that look. Perhaps the look and desire I’d seen often in her eyes were all I could reasonably hope for.
I was going to marry Vashti without having that love because Oded helped me to believe that in time I would grow to love her. Is that what it was going to take with Christine? Or perhaps, she needed that desire filled before her love could grow any further. Perhaps I needed to give in to her wants and forget about my strange one.
If I waited for that special look before I kissed her the way she was asking me to, then everything could be for naught. It may never happen that way. I suddenly felt defeated. Maybe what she was waiting for was that first kiss. Maybe that’s what I needed with Vashti—that first kiss.
I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and kissed the top of her head. I loved her so much. What was I waiting for? Just lift her chin and kiss her, you fool.
Thirty-Three
During those silent moments while I waited for the battle between the two halves of my heart to end, we heard a key turn in the lock of Christine’s door. She gasped, and I put my hand on her cheek and pressed her head against my chest.
“Shh,” I whispered.
The door opened, and we heard an excited voice cry out, “She’s here!” Then we saw Meg charge into the room. “Christine! Christine!” she cried. She went behind the sheers to the dressing area. “Christine?” Then Madame Giry entered. “She’s not here, Mama, but she must have been! Her light is on! I’ll go to the rehearsal studio! Maybe she’s there!”
“No, Meg, wait!” her mother told her. Then she moved to the center of the room and slowly looked around. “Yes, she was here, and he was with her. They were both in here. But I don’t believe you’ll find her in the house. He still has her.”
Meg quickly moved beside her mother and grasped her arm. “Really? How do you know?”
Almost expressionless, Madame Giry gazed around the room again and even at us behind the mirror. “Because I smell the mist from the lake. Can’t you smell it? I smell it often when he speaks to me.”
Meg took a deep breath. “Yes, I do. Should we wait here until they come back?”
“No need, Meg. When he’s ready, she’ll return. She’s in no danger. We can stop worrying.”
Madame Giry turned the lamp off and motioned for Meg to leave, and then they both left and closed the door, leaving us in total darkness.
“That was close,” Christine whispered. “My . . .”
“Shh, wait,” I cautioned her. After a comfortable amount of time, I asked her, “You
were saying?”
“I was saying—my stomach is all in knots. That was frightening and exciting all at once.”
“I know. It can be. Do you want to continue with your instruction, or would you rather do it at another time?”
“No, let’s finish while we’re here.”
“Very well,” I said while lighting the lantern again. “But keep your voice down.”
She opened the mirror without my instruction and we stepped back into her dressing room and checked the lock on her door.
“First thing, Christine, if you don’t intend to stay in here long or you don’t want to be seen in here, then you need to prop the mirror open so you can leave quickly if you hear a key in the lock. Here,” I said as I placed the stool behind the mirror. “This will work. I learned this the hard way and almost got caught in here.”
“Really? Who almost caught you?”
“Actually, it was you.”
“Me? When?”
“The first night we met. You and Meg were going to supper, and I wanted to follow you, so I was about ready to open your door when you put your key in the lock. Because the mirror was almost closed, I knew I couldn’t make it back in there, so I hid over there behind your curtains. Then I held my breath, just like we just did, while you came in and got your necklace.”
She gasped and covered her open mouth with her hand while gazing at the curtains. “I never suspected.” Then she looked up at me. “You’re very good at this hiding thing. Are you sure you never, uhh, watched?”
“I’m certain, my sweet,” I replied softly while looking directly in her eyes.
I almost told her the real reason why I never watched, but that conversation would have been too deep to go into right then, so I didn’t.
“Therefore, always block the mirror open with enough room for you to get in the passage before you let it close.”
She nodded and then looked at the door. “They were really concerned. Perhaps I should go find them and calm their fears.”
“That’s your call, Christine.”
“No, I think I’ll wait. I want to see Mummy first, and then I’ll find Meg.”
Through Phantom Eyes: Volume Five - Christine Page 46
