Phantom's Journey (Phantom of the Opera/Love Never Dies)

XVIII

  Raoul was relieved beyond words when Gustave walked into the dining room; all of Erik's panicking had made him nervous. But there he was, looking tired and nervous but alive. Raoul did not even think to ask him where he had been all day.

 After Claudette and her family left, Gustave silently went up to his room. Raoul knocked on Erik's door and said, "Erik, are you still awake? Gustave's returned. Have you seen him?"
 
 Erik pulled the door open part of the way. "I know Gustave returned earlier this evening. He and I have already spoken. He did not meet any harm, and will not."

 "Oh. Um, that's good, then." Erik's face had gone from panic and fear to an eerie calm that made Raoul even more nervous than he already was. "I still have the opera you said I could read, but I haven't read yet. Are you certain you don't mind my reading it?"

 "No. I do not mind. Good-night, Raoul." Erik quickly closed the door.

 "Good-night," Raoul said to the door. 
 
~~~~~~
 
 Erik didn't even appear for breakfast the next morning, and Gustave was strangely quiet.
 
 "Have you spoken with your father, Gustave?" Raoul asked him. "He seemed...different last night, more like the Erik I used to know a long time ago. Did something happen to upset him?" 
 
 "I met someone yesterday." Gustave wouldn't meet Raoul's eyes. "I told Father. I can't tell anyone else. He said he would kill me." He got up from the table. "I-I can't eat." He quickly left the dining room, and Raoul soon heard his footsteps on the stairs.
 
 "What is happening around here?" Raoul muttered to himself. Someone or something had obviously scared Gustave, and that was what Erik's behavior the night before must have been about.
 
 It must have been Erik's friend, the maniac who had terrorized him just two nights before. He must have gotten to Gustave and threatened him. 

 "Erik! Are you awake yet?" Raoul walked into the living room. He received no reply. "I suppose he never even left his room."
 
 He spotted Erik's script lying on the table, the one he'd let Raoul borrow to read. Raoul sat down on the settee, opened it up, and began to read. 
 
~~~~~~
 
 Erik looked at the clock; it was late now. The sun had set, and all the lamps were being lit in the street. Gustave was safely tucked away in his room, and Raoul had been in the drawing room reading through his script most of the day; when he'd finished the one he had, he'd asked Erik for another. Surely he wouldn't notice if he was gone. 

 Erik went down to the kitchen. There was no one around. He grabbed a knife from one of the drawers and snuck out through the servants' entrance and into the street.

~~~~~~
 
 "Do you know where Father is?" Gustave asked.
 
 Raoul looked up. "Erik? I just saw him a few hours ago. Have you read any of these operas he's been writing?"
 
 Gustave looked surprised. "He never said he's been writing operas. I just...was wondering where he's gone. He isn't in his room. I have not seen him all day."

 "Well, where do you think he might have gone?" Raoul asked him.

 "To find the man who threatened me yesterday."

~~~~~~

 Somehow Erik felt himself walking towards the former opera house, his old home. He stood across the street from the old building. His home on the lake was probably still there; he saw no reason why it wouldn't be. Even though it had been sixteen years, he still knew exactly how to get in.

 He walked through the familiar tunnels, remembering all the times he had walked through them, years before. It was cold and dark, but he still knew the way. When he got to the place he remembered leaving his boat, he stopped. "Amir?" 
 
 The Persian gave him a smile. "Hello, my dear. I knew you would come eventually."