Between Mirrors and Roses (A Phantom of the Opera Fanfiction) ✓

24: Plannings

Christine

Erik was in the office the next morning, tinkering with something in the corner on one of the tables. I peeked over his shoulder and saw dozens of shards of mirror in different sizes. Erik was pasting them in a 3D sculpture so they looked like the petals of a flower.

"Good morning," he said, turning to me and smiling.

"Morning," I replied. "What is that?"

He glanced at the table. "I have a thing about mirrors," he said, and gave me a shy smile. "We have—would you say—an interesting relationship."

I could understand why. I moved closer to the table to better look at the flower. The backs of the mirror pieces were black, and that combined with the jagged edges gave the flower a beautiful and forbidding air. It was exquisite. "It's amazing, like you," I said.

He caught my face and gave me a quick kiss. "Don't you have rehearsals to get to?" he asked.

"Yes," I replied, "but they wouldn't be so long if your opera wasn't as difficult as the Queen of the Night aria," I teased.

He smirked and told me to hurry up or the managers would throw a fit.

I wanted to keep my ring with me, but I couldn't wear it on my finger and attract unwanted questions. So I hung it on a thin piece of ribbon around my neck. The ring dropped into my dress, hidden close to my heart.

The day's rehearsal focused on the relationship between my and Piangi's characters, and we sang Point of No Return so many times that I was starting to get sick of it. Every time Piangi touched me, I had to picture Erik in his place, or I had no chance of appearing in love. I wished that Erik could find a way to sneak into Piangi's role the way he did in the musical, but knew it wasn't likely.

The last person I wanted to talk to was Raoul, yet there he was, watching our performance from a private box. I tried to escape as soon as we were released, but Raoul caught up to me. I faced him, clenching my fists to calm myself. "Raoul," I started, about to tell him to kindly leave me be, but he interrupted me. Something was on his mind.

"I have a plan to get rid of the Phantom once and for all," he said.

This could not be good. "You don't need to get rid of him!" I insisted. "He's the best thing that ever happened to this opera house. You can't deny that every suggestion he has ever made was beneficial. And as crazy as his opera is making everyone, it is an astounding piece of work that already has hundreds of people lined up to see it!"

Raoul looked indignant. "He killed a man, Christine. Or did you forget?"

"You don't care about that one bit," I accused. "You just hate him because you think he is your competition." I paused. It might be a good idea to pry some information from him if I could. "What is your plan?"

Raoul shifted nervously on his feet. "That is why I was coming to talk to you," he said. "You have a role to play. We know that the Phantom favors you—" He held up a hand at my intake of breath. "Don't insult my intelligence by denying it."

I closed my mouth.

"—and we're sure that when you sing, he will be there, watching. We will block off all the exits then search the opera house from top to bottom until we find him."

He was insane. "You are all going to be killed," I whispered. "No one who goes down to the pits comes back up alive."

Raoul eyed me suspiciously, trying again to deduce exactly how much I knew about Erik.

"Please put this crazy idea out of your head!" I insisted.

Raoul was infuriatingly stubborn. His concern for me would have been admirable if it hadn't been so misplaced. "I cannot fathom why you continue to defend him," Raoul told me.