Twisted Every Way(Phantom Of The Opera Fic)

Chapter 71: What Now?

"Father!" Ilios called out with wonderful eloquence as she thrashed herself free from the shore and made her way to her home. 

He gave her a small shy nod and smile as he made his way to her. 

She gave a small laugh herself. How strange everyone acted, treating her like a stranger. 

"Oh Father," Ilios cried out, "I've missed you terribly." 

Erik pried his sopping wet daughter from his chest,  a twinkle shining in his eye "Silly girl, I do wish you'd change before swimming." 

Eli made his way in frustration to the store and rather bitterly took off his coat and placed it on the wood pile. 

"Oh, Eli!" Christine Exclaimed as her son walked over to her window and knocked on it rather loudly demanding a towel. 

He shook out his coarse black hair in it, the friction leaving pieces to flop every which way. 

"Only fourteen and soaked to the skin," Erik noted, "After all the trouble I took to get you home." 

"Home means I'm free," Ilios noted widely, her eyes shining with indescribable joy. "Tell Mother I'll be home by supper. I want to take a walk around." 

Erik nodded and flicked the small droplets of water from his newly pressed suit. 

Ten years ago he would have hung someone for touching him, how things had changed. 

Ilios kicked her feet in the sands and looked up adoringly at the many pictures along the lakes cement outer walls that she and Eli had carved painstakingly as children. In the echoes, she heard her Mother calling for Wade to come inside, for Eli to dry off, all like ghosts in the silence. She wasn't sure if she imagined them only in her mind, but they comforted her all the same. 

She happened to glance, on her journey round, her reflection in the mirror that led to the catacombs, how funny she looked! Her hair was thoroughly soaked, turning the darkest of blacks near the bottoms and a strange greyish gold towards the roots. 

The cool drafts blew across the lake and made her shiver in her dripping clothes, but she didn't seem to mind. There was something about that shiver that always told her that her Father was watching, that she was safe as long as she remained within his grasp. 

She turned as she heard footsteps jogging quickly from behind her.

No sooner had she glanced backward and saw nothing, then as she glanced back the unmasked face of Eli appeared. 

Ilios stumbled backward,  nearly falling into the sands. 

"Good Lord Eli you gave me a fright!"  She exclaimed. 

She couldn't help it, she had been out in the real world so long, strange faces by candlelight now drove her to madness, so diffrent was Gustaves world to the one she had tasted down below. 

"It's alright," Eli shrugged, fixing his vest which he had exchanged for a clean dry one. "I should have made myself known. Father has been teaching me to tread silently."

Ilios scrunched her nose, "Goodness, what do you need to know that for?" 

"Well," Eli said after a moments contemplation, "But he says it's important and I trust him." 

Ilios nodded and gathered her skirt, picking off the large lumps of wet compacted sand that were lodged to the bottom of her crinoline like barnacles on a boat.  

"Goodness Ilios," Eli sighed in frustration after a while, startling his sister completely, "Confound it. You went and grew up without me didn't you?"