The Man Behind the Mask: The Sequel to Gaston Leroux's the Phantom of the Opera

Chapter Seven: Celi Asks Questions

  The inside of the seamstress's shop was warm and smelled like old fabric. There was a crispness to it that Celi couldn't identify. Lettuce was crisp, but what else was?

  On the countertop, she saw hundreds of different colored threads and silver needles in clear packages. No one was at the counter, or in the store, it looked like.

   Celi stood still for a few moments, then, upon noticing a bell, rang it.

  A woman bustled forward from the back of the store. She did not see Celi at first, as she was tall and Celi was small.

   "How may I help you?" The woman asked. She was in her forties, with black hair, glasses, and long fingers. Her voice was kind and her eyes were warm. She made Celi feel better about being in the shop.

   The woman's eyes took in her slip, gray and dirty, and she frowned, wondering, no doubt, who this child, dressed so pitifully, belonged to.

  "Er... the... The Opera King sent me!"

   "Ah! Monsieur Erik ! Très bien, maintenant compréhend. D'accord."

     Celi decided the woman had not said his name right, or she had misheard, for she thought she heard the seamstress say Erik and not Erin.

  "He is a very good customer of mine, little one. I make his costumes.

   "But now let me see, you must be in need of a few dresses. I can have three done by next week. Quel coleurs préférez-vous ? "

  "Oh... I don't know what color."

   "That is not a problem. Come."

   She led Celi to the back of her shop and directed her to a dressing room. She then took the little girl's measurements. "Of course a little girl should have a pink dress, or a blue - something yellow. That would look nice. And I believe I might have something to send you home with today. Someone cancelled an order, you see. It is a white frock, and appears to be your size. You are five, yes?"

   "Seven."

   "Sept ans!"  She was shocked. "Gracious! You are small for your age."

   The seamstress wrote down a few things, rushed away, then rushed back. In her arms was a little white dress. She left Celi to change.

The seamstress added the amount due to the Opera King's account, wondering the entire  time about the little girl. Usually he sent in groups of children or people, along with detailed sketches of what he wanted designed. (Though many times she'd seen plays and operas where he'd altered the costumes she sent anyway, even if they were exact replicas of his drawings. The man was never satisfied with anything.) But the fact that he was a man who knew how to handle a needle... that was both impressive and startling.

  But Erik had never sent her an actual child, all by herself before, without any designs at all. This however, was none of her business, and she would not meddle or ask questions. For all she knew the girl could be his niece. It did not occur to her that Celi could be a street wench abusing a name; anyone who dared do anything without the Opera King's permission... well, frankly she never heard of them again. And knowing the so called King's false pretenses, and how only those in her inner circle knew his codes and fake names... a street wench would never be able to figure out any advantages to begin with. Just thinking about the first time the seamstress had met him made her shiver involuntarily. Her hand paused with her pencil as she worried briefly about the little girl's safety. But if he was going out of his way to buy her clothes - and quality clothes for that matter - she should be safe enough.