The Phantom Returns

Chapter 6

Chocolate brown eyes.

That's what Addy first saw when she turned around. Her eyes widened, then she recoiled and snapped her wrist out of the strangers grasp, though he wasn't as much of a stranger as she first thought.

"You... You were outside my window last night." She stepped back and stared at the boy. He looked about her age with messy black hair and wild eyes. But, he wasn't wearing a mask now.

He raised an eyebrow at her, "yes, and you have a beautiful voice."

"Who are you?" Adeline demanded, though she didn't sound as mean, as she was hoping.

"My name is Stephen. I'm the phantoms son." Addy stared at him for ten long seconds with her mouth hanging open.

"H-his son?" She stepped back again, this time he stepped forward.

"Well, his adopted son of sorts..." She visibly relaxed a bit.

"Why were you at my house last night?" Adeline crossed her arms and stepped back one more time, her back hit the wall.

"Because Erik asked me to keep an eye on you. Apparently you have a strong resemblance to your mother, and he thinks you are her ghost come back to haunt him." Stephen rolled his eyes, like he thought the idea itself was idiotic, then stepped forwards again so he was inches apart from her face, "anyway, why are you not on stage singing in Carmen? With that voice, you should be the star." His mouth curls up at the side in a slight smirk.

She narrows her eyes at him, "I'm not allowed to be in the opera, according to my adopted father. Now, I have to go, someone is bound to figure out I'm missing by now." Adeline tries to maneuver out from between Stephen and the wall, but he steps to the side and puts his arm on the wall in front of her.

"What are you doing?" She looks up at him and pushes his arm away.

"No, what are YOU doing?" He puts his arm back and steps closer, "Erik wants to meet you. He's practically dying." Stephen says sarcastically.

"I'm sure he'll be fine." Addy gives up on trying to leave and crosses her arms over her chest.

"No, he's going crazy. You must tell him you aren't Christine." He looks at her with the most serious expression.

Adeline bites the inside of her cheek and looks at the ground before sighing and looking back at Stephen, "...fine. Only for a minute though. Meg must be worried, and she probably knows what Im  doing."

He smiles again and grabs her hand, "good, let's go." Addy pulls her hand out of his grasp and walks past him towards the door. Stephen frowns a bit, "where are you going? Don't you know the way? Through the mirror."

She looks back at him confused, "this isnt the right room, I already tried to push the mirror aside."

He laughs, "of course it's the right room. All of the mirrors lead into the catacombs. They each just have a different way of opening." He walks over to the mirror and runs his hand over the top and pushes some sort of button, the mirror slides open by itself and reveals a long, dark hallway that twists so she cant see the end.

Adeline looks at him skeptically and then follows him. She steps over puddles of water but her red shoes are already filthy. Stephen takes long strides and she has to jog to keep up with him. 

They stop at a small body of water and Stephen gestures to a boat. She raises her eyebrow.

"No way am I getting in that thing." she turns up her nose and steps back.

He rolls his eyes, "Dont be ridiculous, its the only way to the Phantom." he gets in the small boat and crosses his arms, "You can either get in the boat or find your way back to the dressing rooms by yourself."

He starts pulling the rope in and Adeline shifts on her feet. Then she slowly walks towards the boat and steps in gently, not rocking it too much. When she looks up, Stephen is giving her a wide grin.

"Lets go." she says impatiently. He starts rowing them through the water.

It only takes a few minutes to get to the Phantoms 'hideout'. When Stephen brings the boat to a stop, he jumps out gracefully and offers her his hand. She ignores it and, less gracefully, gets out of the boat on her own. He drops his hand dramatically and walks ahead of her past a huge organ. Her eyes wander around at all the knickknacks he has lying around and they land on a huge bed, which has a person sized lump in it.  Stephen gestures her to come to the bedside and she does, apprehensively.

The lump shifts and a face pops out from the covers, a very pale face, its eyes are practically black, and there are purple rings under his eyes. A hand suddenly comes out from under the covers and reaches towards Adeline. She steps back, her face slightly horrified. 

Chapped lips move up and down, trying to form words, but being unable to do so.

Stephen moves to a small table and grabs a glass of water then holds it to the persons chapped lips, Addy watches, her face blank the whole time.

When the mouth moves again, one word comes out, a word Adeline is tired of hearing, a word that makes a pit in her stomach open and swallow her whole.

"...Christine."