What Lies Behind the Mask (Phantom of the Opera x OC)

Chapter Two: The Ghost

"Follow Meg around and do what her mother--that lady with the ponytail--tells you to do..." Adina murmured as she patted her daughter's copper locks. "Now, I've gotta work. Have a good day, pet..."

"Can't I just stay here?" the child asked, staying rooted to her spot as her mother bent down. "No one is going to understand me. It would be easier if I just sat near you. I could read and--"

"You need to run around. Go be a child!" Adina tried as her daughter raised her brows. "I've already notified Madame Giry and Meg that you were going to be there with them and the other children. If you don't want to talk, you can read while the girls are being taught, okay?" The mother kissed Maria's forehead before the child walked out of the room with her head hanging down. Adina watched her go before sitting back down.

---

"Ladies, you are supposed to be benign gazelles, not raging elephants!" Madame Giry's voice exclaimed over the sound of dozens of ballet flats landing on the floor.

Kat turned her eyes at the door which swung open in surprise. There was not supposed to be anyone allowed in this room when the girls were practicing. Like a bullet, Madame Giry had turned around and shot a glare at the person who stood in the doorway. She only relaxed her stance when it appeared to be a small girl hanging around the door.

"Maria?" The woman lifted her voice as she struck her cane against the floor to stop the girls from continuing their practice. "Ladies, you may work on arabesque while I attend to Maria. Katheryn, come over here."

The girl's heart dropped to the pit of her stomach as she nervously padded over to her instructor.

"Yes, madame?" Kat asked as Madame Giry gestured to the shorter girl.

"Can you understand Irish?" Madame Giry questioned Kat as she pulled the girl closer to her. "Maria has only just arrived in Paris, and she hasn't learned much French."

"Um, I can understand a good bit of it, but I'm not an expert..." the seven-year-old said as she remembered the countless nights that her mother had set her down in front of a book of foreign languages and made her copy lines of simple sentences. Kat ransacked her mind before formulating a few sentences, "Hello. My name is Kat. What is yours?"

"Maria... Nice to meet you..." the girl murmured in her language. She spoke slowly so that Kat could understand what she was saying. It took a few seconds for Kat to string together the basic words before smiling slightly.

"Want to watch?" Kat asked, motioning towards the practicing females.

"Don't think you can just shirk off your lessons. I'll do a private lesson tonight!" Madame Giry said, her lips twisting together in a sentimental smile. "I might bring along Meg as well since you and her seem to get along. That might help the time move by faster..." She moved her braid off her shoulder before turning to lecture the girls on their positions. "Ladies, gazelles! Not elephants! Honestly..."

Kat let out a soft laugh as Maria looked over at her with confusion. Kat noticed and tried her best to explain the situation to the smaller girl.

"She's mean?" Maria asked as Kat shook her head quickly.

"No, not at all! Just strict!" the girl answered, stretching her arm and tossing her short blond locks over her shoulder. She offered the girl a closed-eyed smile before her eyes widened as she jumped from her seat. Moving to talk to the teacher, she hurried out of the room, leaving behind a rather confused Maria.

There was a tense silence that followed before Kat returned to the room, holding a package that Maria regarded with guarded curiosity.

"My mama made me give it to you~" the girl tried as she offered it to the younger girl. "Do you like it?"

With her eyebrows creased together, the girl undid the bright red ribbon that encircled the box and lifted the lid to reveal an antique book. She gently reached inside to pull it out of the packaging, flipping through the worn pages carefully. She could immediately recognize her language printed on the pages, and a soft smile flitted across her face.

"Yes, I do..." Maria tried her best to keep the words as basic as possible to help the older girl with translating them. She watched as Kat let out a gleeful cheer and clapped her hands together, rooting through the remains of the box to pull out two dark things. The blond held one of them out for Maria to grab. When she noticed that Maria was staring at the item with confusion, she simply let out a word that was completely foreign to Maria.

Maria had read it before in books that her mother had given her; these books only briefly mentioned 'chocolate' when they were describing snacks and such. It must be something to eat, right?

The girl reached out to take it from Kat's outstretched hand and took an experimental bite before rushing to spat it out the window. She could make out some of the ballet girls laughing behind their hands and felt her ears heat up.

"That's not how you do it. Unwrap it and then eat it~" Kat did just as she had suggested and offered Maria a toothy grin. "See?"

Ducking her head down, the younger one ripped off the dark wrapping and bit into the chocolate, the taste exploding against her taste buds. Her lips pulled up into a smile, only disappearing as she noticed some of the girls watching the two with hardly disguised jealousy. Chocolate must not be widely afforded here...

---

Adina's head turned as the door opened up slowly, revealing her older brother. The woman turned fully around in her chair and closed the fine leather book as Breton mopped at his forehead with a handkerchief in a way to assist some of his nervous sweating.

"Yes, dear brother?" the woman asked as her mind reverted back to worrying about her daughter, hoping that she would have a nice day amongst the other girls.

"I believe that you might need to know what is happening in this opera house. I know that peeking around the recent withdrawals and so forth, you will notice..." He paused for a moment to clear his throat as his eyes nervously strayed to the mirror.

"Indeed. I have noticed that about 10,000 francs to a Monsieur Fantome D'opera, if I am correct.... What is the meaning of this?"

"All that I can say as of right now is to trust your brother if you can. I cannot give you a full explanation right now. It may take several years for it to come to a head, sister. However, please know that I am doing what is best for this opera. I'm doing all that I can for that poor creature..." When he noticed his sister tilting her head to the side in confusion, he quickly added, "I am not going to explain any further, Adina!"

"So, you are just going to be handing off a small portion of our money that can be used to pay the people that work under you, including myself?" The woman felt anger boiling up inside her, threatening to spill over.

"In a way, I am paying all of my employees..." Breton spread out his hands as Adina rolled her eyes at this statement. "I must beg you to understand all that I have told you. As little as it was, I insist that what I am doing is deemed fair and good in the eyes of God."

Adina scoffed and turned back to the accounting book and flipped it to a random page, pointer finger immediately landing on the salary of the Opera Ghost. "When I was looking, I was able to deduce that this all began ten years ago. I am not going to question what caused this switch, but if it proves that you are taking this money for yourself--"

"I can assure you that I am not doing just that. Before I leave, I warn you to not poke your nose in any matters that are not intended for you, such as this. The last accountant that I had was never heard from again, I'm afraid..." Breton placed his hand in his pocket and pulled out a pocket watch, opening it up and glancing down at the time. "Well, it seems that I have to be in an office in a few minutes. If you'll excuse me..." With that, her brother turned on his heel and walked out of the room.

Adina watched him leave, mouth hanging open. She couldn't tell if what he had said was merely a statement or a full-winded threat. The woman readjusted her dress and sat down again, looking down at the accursed book, mouth set in a thin line. Either way, she was almost sure that she would carry on with her investigation.