Music in the Dark

Chapter 5: The Fourth Rose: Envy

The ladies' dressing room was just as Aveline had left it. And the Phantom still appeared in the confines of the vanity mirror's frame. Smoke still billowed around the image of the Phantom, the frame around him, and now the floor of the room. She didn't want to step inside, afraid of being in close proximity. The last time she had delivered a rose, a fire had burst near the Opera's ghost. The time before that, shards of glass had exploded out from where he had previously been.

She remained just outside the doorway and held up the third black rose.

"You sang so beautifully for me. I watched you from my box, Number Five, as your heavenly voice pierced my very soul. Raoul could not remain seated, he was so enraptured with you. I prided myself on how well I had taught you, and I knew that you would be mine, forever."

As he had divulged more of her mother's past, the smoke had increased to Aveline's eye level. She fanned it away from her face, not wishing to inhale any of the vapors; before she had any true cause to worry, a great gust of wind flew about the room. The smoke dissipated, while playbills, makeup, trash, and costume pieces were thrown about. The mirror went completely black, as the wind whipped through.

Aveline remained in the entry, determined to see whether or not the Phantom would appear in corporeal form. Her hair whipped around her face, blinding her during the uproar. When the mirror returned to normal, the wind subsided, as well. She struggled to right her hair, hoping that she hadn't missed anything of importance. The Phantom was, once again, gone from view. The room was now littered with a mess of items. Frustrated that she had not seen the Phantom make his exit, she grabbed a hairbrush from the wreckage and untangled her locks.

"I will kill Raoul, for taking you from me!"

Such a maleficent statement could not go unanswered, in Aveline's opinion.

"Raoul, my father, took nothing from you by force! My mother chose him, not you! How dare you threaten my father!"

"I will have my revenge," the Phantom responded. His voice seemed to trail off, at the end of the sentence. Aveline wondered where he was heading, or if he was able to throw his voice, like a ventriloquist, to confuse her.

She dropped the rose next to the brush on the table. Nothing else in the room was useful, so she headed back to the elevator. She could return to the backstage area and see if there was anything she had missed...or perhaps the lobby.

When she reached the lift, she paused, taking inventory of what she had and what was left to do.

Two chess pieces, a pair of opera glasses...the triangle shape in the private dressing room, another black rose to find...the "music of the night" puzzle in the crypt...

She looked around herself. When she had originally come through this area, she had only quickly assessed her surroundings. Perhaps she had noticed the trunk of odds and ends that sat under the mirror, but most likely not; if she recalled correctly, her attention had been on the mirror itself, terrified that the Phantom would materialize within its frame. He still was not present, not that she could see, so she rummaged through the items.

Nestled in the clutter was a porcelain ballerina statuette. The bottom of the figurine was oddly shaped. Instead of having a base, the girl's pointe shoe ended in a hexagonal contour. It had stood on something once. Aveline smiled and brought the ballerina with her to the private room.

She gingerly placed it into position on top of the music box. The action triggered the mechanism into its song and dance, as if the ballerina was picking up where she had left off. The tune was unfamiliar to her, but she found it to be relaxing. After a minute, the performance ended, and Aveline was rewarded with a single gold franc. The coin was placed in the same pocket with the two knights.