RoseBlood(116)
The Phantom was nothing if not mercurial.
When I realized that they’d also had to remove the hinges from the front door to get outside, it wasn’t hard to piece together where Sunny and the others went once they spotted the bees that would be deadly to her. I hadn’t even thought about my roof key being missing again until that moment. Since all of the second and third floors were up in flames at that point, and the secret passages were also consumed by fire, I turned to Diable for help, remembering how he and Ange had stormed the roof the night before, during my rendezvous with Etalon.
Bells jingling, the cat led me to a secret passage behind some shrubbery—a flap similar to a large doggie-door—on the back of the building. It led all the way up to the cupola on the roof, so I was able to guide my friends to safety and won the title of hero.
But I knew who the real hero was, and my heart ripped a little more every time I thought of him.
I found out, as I walked with my friends to the parking lot, all of us arm in arm, that after I left the ballroom, Sunny told them about Tomlin “helping me” find my creeper. Quan, Jax, and Audrey debated for twenty minutes before deciding that Tomlin might actually be the one stalking me. That’s why they followed me, to have my back, like they always did. Like real friends do.
When the cars arrived to take us to the city—those of us not riding in ambulances—I realized Diable was gone. And I whispered a prayer on the smoky, floral-scented wind that he’d found his master and they were somewhere safe.
A day later, my mom arrived in Paris to stay for a week . . . to make sure I didn’t want to come home. I told her Paris was where I belonged now.
As they searched the academy, the police discovered Tomlin’s corpse behind the mirror wall, which had shattered during the fire to reveal the secret passage. The science teacher was burned and sliced with glass shards, but not beyond recognition. They suspected he was behind everything. The elaborate setup in the ballroom—complete with hallucinogen-laced food and punch—and the bees filtered through pipes he’d installed in Bouchard’s wall behind her plaques. He was also responsible for my torn uniforms, the dead crow on my chair, the broken white half-mask, the “fake” letters, the roses in the chapel, and the wristband and tubing—although me and my rave partners never dared admit that those led us to a club; what difference would it make, since we couldn’t remember where it was or what happened there anyway?
A part of me regretted him taking all the blame. I myself saw how easily Erik could manipulate people. Tomlin wasn’t all bad. He was just . . . misled. I did, however, have to admit he kidnapped me and held me in the secret passages where I saw him flipping gadgets and switches for the nightmare in the ballroom. The police also combed the chapel for evidence, but found nothing there, other than a red swan that fluttered out the moment they opened the door and flew into the cover of the forest before she could be captured. Yet nothing was mentioned about luggage filled with clothes, masks, and a violin.
At the end of the day, the police decided it was an open-and-shut case: a teacher whose bright mind had been damaged in a motorcycle accident years before. Who’d never been the same since. Who harbored a sick obsession with The Phantom of the Opera, and decided to live out his fantasy via the academy’s up-and-coming opera star, Rune Germain. The girl once possessed by song.
The girl who was cured by the Phantom’s son.
The first few weeks of November pass quickly, in spite of my aching heart. The fact that my ribbon imprint—or henna tattoo, as far as everyone other than Aunt Charlotte and Bouchard are concerned—feels warm, yet doesn’t sting or hurt, gives me a small fraction of hope. But why hasn’t he tried to reach me, at least in my dreams?
Every time I sing, I think of him, along with that poster on my wall back home of the bleeding rose: white petals, red liquid oozing from its heart. Only I’m the little girl fearlessly reaching into the thorns, not caring if I’m pierced and bloody; because those wings are so worth every ounce of the pain.
I’ve learned to control my appetites with daily samplings of energy, though I know that I’ll need bigger feedings at times. Without Etalon to guide me, I rely on Aunt Charlotte and follow her routines. She’s been keeping her secret since the age of fifteen, after all. She found the perfect shade of contacts for my eyes and I’m already used to wearing them when Mom and Ned fly in to spend Thanksgiving with us, bearing news about Ben—he’s out of the hospital and doing great, though the doctors say he’ll probably never regain memory of that night—an early Christmas gift even brighter than the cards from Trig and Janine.
Our school has continued with the support of all the parents. The classes, rehearsals, and dorms have been moved temporarily to an apartment building we’re renting in Paris—Headmaster Fabre has a friend in the real-estate business—until the repairs to the opera house are completed. Since the anonymous benefactor can’t be found, the deed now belongs to the investors, as per the contract. These include Aunt Charlotte and Madame Bouchard, who are both determined that RoseBlood will be up and running again, in all its old-world splendor, in plenty of time for our summer production of The Fiery Angel.
However, there’s a new Renata. I was too “traumatized” from the kidnapping for such a taxing role, and have taken one of the smaller parts that opened up, although I’ve already signed up to audition for La Schola Cantorum Conservatory where Audrey is hoping to get a scholarship. And now that she’s playing Renata again, she has a real chance. It’s a shock to all of us that Kat didn’t even bat her pretty eyes at losing the part. She’s too preoccupied toting Roxie’s books to classes, helping her up the stairs, and carrying her food trays to the table for meals. She hasn’t left her friend’s side since Roxie broke her leg while pushing Kat out of the way of the chandelier on Halloween night. It seems Kat has learned there’s more to life than the pursuit of stardom and a hot guy with twinkling blue eyes and blond hair.