Part
One
FRESHMAN
YEAR


This is part one of four. Part three is the longest so bare with me on this. Please vote and post comments for me to rewrite the sequel.

It had been two weeks since the service and I was still crying like it had been a few hours ago. My parents had always wanted me to go to a private school to help my ballet career take off. But what I never told them was that I didn’t want to be just a dancer. I wanted to be a singer, an actress. Now, standing on the front steps of New York’s Academy for Performing Arts and High School, I regretted never telling them what I truly wanted.



Picking up my suitcase from the sidewalk, I started walking up the front steps to my dormitory with my brown hair in tangles and my puffy red eyes. Somebody told me that every dorm at this school was better than any other dorm room anywhere in the country. Some how I did not believe that.

Walking through the lobby I saw that the rumors could not have been true. The place smelled weird and must have been built in the early 1800’s for servants. It did not look like it had been through any type of renovation since at least the 1920’s, and that was probably to put the plumbing in. The lobby was a creamy, now more of a brownish, color and had a high ceiling that now held a bright and shiny chandelier.

“Hello, can you help me?” I asked a lady at the front desk.


“Depends, what are you looking for?” she replied.


“My name is Elizabeth Taylor, I was told to get my room key and school schedule here.”


“Ahhh, yes Ms. Taylor, we have been expecting you. I am sorry to hear about your parents, I knew them, your father at least. He attended this school when he was your age. Magnificent piano player, and a very good singer too, did you know he stayed in this very dorm?”



“No, I did not know that. Where you working the desk when he stayed here?” I asked as she looked up my schedule and assigned room.


“Goodness no, I am not that old yet. I attended here also, he was the sweetest boy I ever met,” she told me. “ Here you go honey, in that is your school schedule, rehearsal schedule, an information packet, and times you will be able to explore the city; with a chaperone of coarse. And here is your room key, which is room 517 on the top floor. I am Ms. Kelsey by the way, it was a pleasure to meet you, and any child of Robert’s is a friend of mine. ” She gave me the key and then looked back down at the screen, “Looks like you do not have any roommates this year. Your lucky, most freshman have at least one roommate.”


“Thank-you,” I said as I gathered my things and made my way to the ancient elevator.


“Good luck,” the Ms. Kelsey told me as the elevator doors closed behind me.

When I got out of the elevator I looked around me, there were three doors in this hall. Peaking in each room I saw that there was a baby grand piano sitting in the middle of one of the rooms. The next door led to another hallway that held dorms, guess that was my hall.


Walking down the endless corridor I wondered if I would ever find me room, with the luck I had, mine was at the very end of the hallway. As I opened the door I looked around in amazement.


My dorm room was a little more than what I expected. It was twice the size of any dorm room I have ever seen; it had a lavish queen sized bed with the bed frame made out of a deep colored wood, a dresser made to match the bed along with the desk that sat in the corner of the room next to a bookshelf. The bookshelf already had many books on it, most likely left from residents before me. The books had a wide range of genres, suggesting that males have indeed stayed in this dorm before; there were also many in different languages, from French to Spanish to Latin and, what looked like German.


Inspecting the shelf a little closer I noticed that there was not only books, but also sheet music. Intrigued I picked up the pile and started looking through it. There was music for almost every instrument including the piano, living with a professional pianist for all of my life, I picked up a few things. I could play most classical pieces flawlessly and I had not trouble sight-reading.


Most of the pieces did not have a name, but they were initialed A.W.


Picking up one of his pieces I took it into a room I had seen a piano in earlier and started to play.


I had not played since my parents died a month ago, and playing again I felt alive. I felt as if I was waking up from a deep sleep.


The music was beautiful, every note seemed to sing out to me, and they drifted together as if they were being played by a heavenly being and not little old me. As I got to the end of the page my right hand tensed so I could turn as fast as I could.


When I turned the page I quickly glanced at the next two pages to see if something more challenging was coming up, and I saw words. When I saw the two lines magically morph into three I took a deep breath and started to sing.

“I whisper to you from the shadows
You never see me, but you always hear
You look for me in the shadows
But all you see is a tear”


“What are you doing in here?” a male voice asks me. When I turned around I saw a boy a little older than me.


“I was just playing, I found some sheet music in my room, and I thought I could play it,” I scrambled to get everything out of my mouth, “I hope I haven’t done anything wrong.”


“No not at all. I just do not recognize you, who are you?”


“I am Elizabeth Taylor, I just got here.”


“Ahhh, that explains it, that is how I know you.”


“What do you mean?” I asked confused.



“It’s me Zack, Zack Robins, our families used to have summer homes next door to each other. I haven’t seen you in eight years.”


The confusion slowly wore off as I remembered all the childhood memories from the house by the sea. “Seven actually. I am only fifteen after all.”


“Really? I could have sworn you were a sophomore by now.”


“Why? Is there something bad about me being a freshman?”


“No, not really.”


“Hmmm, trying to close the age gap I see,” I joked attempting to flirt with him, after all he was pretty hot.


“Caught me,” he said playing along with my joke.


“So do you want to catch up later? Being what? Seventeen? You should have some stories to tell me about this old place.”


“I would like that, especially if I can scare you again.”


“As if, but your welcome to try. How about six o’clock?”


“Sound perfect. So I guess I will see you then, I got to get to class, but you can stay here. Just watch out for the ghost.”


When we were little Zack often tried to frighten me with ghost stories, it worked in the beginning but I became less and less afraid of them as I grew older.


“Nice try, I haven’t been scared by a story for years,” I told him.


“I am not kidding this time Liz,” he said in my ear. “I am sorry about your parents, I wanted to go to the service but my parents would not let me.”


“Bye Zack,” I said not really wanting to talk about my parents at the moment.


“I’ll see you at six,” Zack said as he exited the room, and I was alone once again.

Looking back at the music I started to play from the top, the first two pages were as beautiful as I remembered, and just as I was about to open my mouth to sing the lights dimed to the point where I could see only the music.


When I stopped playing a voice from somewhere in the room said to me, “Please continue, let me hear your beautiful voice again.”


“Who are you?”


“A ghost, now can you sing for me again?” I looked around to find the man who called himself a ghost.


When I found him I could only make out a slight bit of his features. He was about six feet tall, probably a bit taller; he was dressed in all black, handsome from what I could see of his face, a mask that was white as snow covered the right half of it. The man looked to be about twenty-five years old, way to old to be a student, he must be a teacher.


“What would you like for me to sing?” I asked to the ghost.


“Anything just let me hear you again.”



Something inside of me wanted me to start singing again, to please this mysterious stranger. Then there was my conscious telling me to get up and run as fast as I could away from this room and to never come back.


“If I sing for you will you tell me who you are?”


“I already told you, I am a ghost.”



“I want your name, something I can call you.”


“Very well, I will give you my name, after you sing,” the man said.

“Okay here goes nothing,” I said trying to figure out which song I wanted to sing. I pick a song that was popular at the moment; it was called The Girl Next Door.
“You see me, I see you
Can you tell is it obvious?
I say “hi” my heart slows
Am I really on my own?
You look at me
And I cave in
Your eyes are brighter than they have ever been.”

“There, I sang, will you give me your name?” I asked the man.

“You wish to be a singer don’t you?”

“Yes, I do. How do you know that?”

“I have my ways. Do you want it bad enough to be tutored?” he asked me.

“Yes, I would give anything to become a real singer.”

“Then let me tutor you. You are a very good singer naturally, however there are ways to help you become better. Do you accept?”

“What do you want in exchange?”

“Nothing, just to help you become better, that is why I came here.”

“What do you mean?” I asked him.

“I tend to pride myself on teaching the talented pupils how to exceed themselves, and everyone else.”

“And how did you find me?”

“I was wondering around and I heard a new voice and wanted to know who you were, now do you want this? Because if you do not accept there is no coming back to this moment, to this offer.”

“Then yes, I accept. When will we start?”

“Tomorrow as four o’clock in the morning, be up and be ready for me by three forty-five .I will see you in here.”

“Wait, your name. What am I to call you?” I asked him before he could disappear through the door.

“Just simply call me Master. Good day Elizabeth, be sure to get plenty of rest.”

Getting up from the piano I walked back to my room in a daze. I wondered what this masked man saw in me, what was so special about me when there are probably a dozen other girls here that need more help than me, girls who had more raw talent just waiting to be polished.

When I made my way back to my room I took the envelope that the lady at the desk gave me and opened it. Surely enough my school and rehearsal schedule were both in there, along with the times for the rest of the year that we were going to go explore the city.

My rehearsal schedule this year was probably one of the worst ones I had. I had to go to practice at six in the morning until school started and then had practice from seven to nine in the evenings.

There was also a note clipped onto my schedule. It said.


Ms. Taylor,


We welcome you to the academy, and we hope you enjoy your time here.
Your instructor wishes you to be at practice tonight at 6:30 to become acquainted and to start accessing your skills.
Once again welcome.

“Well, it looks like Zack and I won’t have much time to catch up after all,” I said to no one in particular.

Realizing that I still have not unpacked I looked around for my suitcase. I thought that I had left it by the door, but when I found it, it was on the bed with a single rose sitting on top of it.

“That’s not strange at all,” I said unzipping my suitcase.

I hadn’t packed much, a few pair of clothes, two pairs of shoes, undergarments, socks, my shampoo, and some sheets were just about it. The only other thing inside the suitcase was a picture of my parents and me at Fort Walton Beach in Florida last year.

I put the picture on the nightstand that sat next to the bed and got to work.



Six o’clock came all to soon, after I had unpacked I spent the afternoon memorizing my school schedule, playing the piano, and researching this mystery composer.

All I could come up with was some ancient men from foreign places. Ones that didn’t fit the time line in anyway shape or form.

“Liz? Are you in here?” Zack asked as he entered the room at six twenty.

“Yeah, I’m over here,” I called out from one of the cushy chairs from the opposite side of the room. I was finishing putting my hair up into a bun when he came and sat next to me.

“Why do you look like you are about to leave?” he asked me.

“Probably because I am. I’m sorry; it’s just I got a note today saying that I needed to come to practice tonight, and that I need to be there at six thirty. If I would have known you would be this late I would have just cancelled.”

“It’s okay, I just got caught up in something I couldn’t get out of.”

“Gotcha ya. Hey did you come into my room today after you left and put my suitcase on my bed?”

“No, why?”

“Because when I got there that is where it was, and I left it by the door. There was also this rose on top of it,” I said as I drew the rose from my bag.

Zack’s face suddenly looked worried, “Was there a note?”

“No.”

“Then it was probably just a joke, but if it happens again, call me at this number,” he said slipping a piece of paper into my hand.

Looking at my watch I saw if I didn’t leave now I was going to be late. “Hey, I have to go, but I will see you later, okay?”

“Bye Liz, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Zack said.


I greeted my bed glad that the day was over. I had never been through such an intense work out in such a short period of time. I was used to ballet practices everyday for four hours a day, but we never did anything like I just did.

Move after move after move with out a break or even a sip of water. As I lay there recounting the past two and half hours of my life I remembered that I had to be up and ready by three forty-five. Which meant I would be awake at three to start getting ready.


As I quickly drifted off to sleep I thought of those happy days by the sea with Zack and my parents.

The Board meeting ran late again, which caused me to be late for my meeting with Elizabeth. It turns out it did not truly matter because she had other things to do, but I did find out something interesting in the short time that we talked.


The rose, it had been a sign. A sign that something was about to start again; a sign that it was time for the witches to get to the bottom of this for once and for all.


I never thought that this day would really come. I knew that I had been sent here for the bigger picture because a seer, a psychic had seen something terrible happening here with in the next five years. That was three years ago, but no matter how much help we had, a witch’s magic is never precise.


That was why my mother was sent here also, along with my father. A seer said that there was a great danger lurking beneath the school and if they didn’t stop it someone would end up dead. Little did they know that the seer meant my mother, one of their own.


It just all comes to show, that this place was dangerous. Even for one of the most powerful witches like my mother before me, and then myself.


I find it hilarious how ignorant the Board is to certain things, things like being exposed. They think since the last time we were exposed in America was in the 1600’s, that we are safe. That is not true, we have come close to many times to count, the last time was only twenty years ago when my mother got caught performing magic by Elizabeth’s father, we were lucky that they were close, because if they weren’t magic would have been exposed and a modern day witch-hunt would have begun.


“Mr. Robin, can I talk to you few minutes,” my mentor Mr. Kelley said to me pulling me out of my train of thought.


“Sure, what do you need?”


“I want you to watch over Ms. Elizabeth Taylor. The seer said that the great danger has resurfaced. I am worried that she is the one that sets everything in motion.”


“I think I agree. Elizabeth and I have known each other for a long time and we met up earlier this evening, she said that she received a rose after she arrived.”


“If that is true then you can not let her out of your sight. If anything, she will lead you to this creature that lurks beneath.”

The next morning I was up and waiting for Master in the piano room. At exactly 3:45 the lights dimed just as they did the day before and Master appeared at the corner of the piano.

“So she really does want to learn, interesting, now stand right where I am,” he said. I made way over to where he was; this was the first time I was close enough to tell any real features.

What I saw yesterday was what I saw today. He was indeed very handsome, probably one of the hottest guys I have ever known, excluding Zack of coarse, he smelled very good like one of the guys who didn’t where that much cologne, but he, he didn’t wear any scent I recognized, I secretly hoped it was his natural scent.

When he sat down at the piano he started playing a melody that I knew from somewhere.

“Where is that from?” I asked him.

“It was the piece that you played yesterday. Quite beautifully I might add, I have never heard someone to play this piece like you. Now here come the words.”

“How old are you?” I asked when the question came to my mind all of the sudden.

“Does that matter, and you missed your cue. Do you want to learn or not?”

“Yes, it does matter and I do wish to learn. I want to know how old you are so I can figure out who you really are,” I told him.

“I am twenty-seven. Now don’t miss your cue this time, you are going to have to prove you want this for me to teach you,” and with those final words my first lesson of many began.

Part
Two
Sophomore
Year


Part two of four. Part three is the longest so bare with me on this. Please vote and post comments for me to rewrite the sequel.

In the end of the year my freshman year I received more and more roses, but before I could call him, Zack left, leaving the phone number he gave me disconnected.

I waited, and waited for fall to roll around and I could tell Zack about the roses. Finally when he arrived I all but burst into tears, “Zack, the roses, they are coming and they just appear. Help me, they never have a note, but they are just there. What happens if someone wants to hurt me? He can get into my room without me noticing,” I rambled not really caring if my words made sense.

“Liz, calm down. Now let me get this straight, the roses are just showing up in your room, and there is no sign of who left them.”

“Yes, and it scares me so much.”

“Elizabeth, there is something I need to tell you, I should have told you long ago, but I was afraid that if what I thought was true, he could hurt you.”

“He? He who?”

“This man, he sometimes just shows up, and he leaves things, things like the roses.”

“What is it Zack? What is the matter? Why are you acting so strange?” I asked him.

“A long time ago there was told to be a monster lurking with in the school walls, feeding on the students wishes and wants. They say he is to be a musical genius himself, but no one truly knows because they have never seen him, just heard him playing in the piano room.

“He is said to teach students who wish to learn, that he will meet with them in the dark so they can not see his true horror. His students rise up to be the best and brightest on campus and when his victims least expect it he snatches them and they are never seen again alive,” Zack told me trying to scare me.

“Stop it Zack, I told you these ghost stories do not scare me any more.”

“And last year I told you I wasn’t joking, there really is a ghost here, and people really have gone missing, some of them have been found in the streets of New York with their throats ripped out along with a hangman’s knot around their neck.”

“Zack, if you do not stop trying scare me right now I am walk out of this room and am never going to talk to you again.”

“Look, Liz, I am sorry. If you don’t wish me to speak of the ghost again, I won’t, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Thank-you, now can we go out for a little bit, this dorm is getting a little bit to stuffy for my taste,” I said, and that was the last I heard about the ghost, for the mean while at least.

Part
Three
Junior
Year


Part three of four.Part three is the longest so bare with me on this. Please vote and post comments for me to rewrite the sequel.

I do not know how but I seemed to manage to get through my freshman, sophomore, and beginning of junior year without failing or missing a single singing lesson. Master was right, my singing had improved vastly, but I didn’t let anyone know. I didn’t want any trouble just yet, but when trouble finds you what are you supposed to do?


“Yes, it is going to go this way!” Nina Grove screamed at the director during 7th period, “Why? Because I am the reason you have a job, my father owns this school and I can any of you fired or kicked out in the snap of my fingers. And you know I am your best singer by far.”


“Nina, just because your father owns the school doesn’t mean you can completely control how this production is put on,” the director told her calmly.


“What’s happening?” Sarah, my best friend, asked me.


“Nina is at it again. This time the director is actually fighting back, wonder how long he is going to be here?” I told her.


“I give it a month, whatever I don’t really care. As long as my mother doesn’t get fired I’m okay.”



Like me Sarah was studying to become a professional ballerina, it was super helpful that her mother was the ballet teacher. Over the years Sarah and I bonded because whenever there were two solos or a duet we were the ones that got them, and hanging out during all those practices help forge a friendship.


“You know what I quit! And I am going to get you all fired for this,” Nina screamed at the top of her lungs.


“What! NO! Please Nina don’t leave we need you. Like you said you are our best singer, you are like the goddess of sopranos, you can reach as far as the sky,” the director said groveling.


“There is an excellent part for you in the show for you tomorrow night. It is small, however it is the only female solo in the entire show,” the conductor joined in.


“Would you please grace us with an audition?” the director said.


“I will, but if one more thing goes wrong I will leave and you will never see a single actor again unless you are sitting in an audience,” Nina threatened.


Then is her soprano voice she started singing,

“Love is the way he looks at me
The way he says I love you
When he put the ring on my finger
I knew it was meant to be”


The last note went up at a screech because right as she was singing a sand bag from the catwalk fell and landed right next to her.


“Okay, that’s it, I am so out of here. You can all forget your jobs, you won’t have them by tonight,” Nina said as she walked out of the theater.


“What are we going to do now? We don’t have our soprano, and every other singer already has a part and we don’t have an understudy,” the director said.


“Elizabeth has been taking lessons from someone, she is very good, I heard her practicing yesterday before ballet practice. She could do it,” Sarah said to the director and conductor.


“Very well, let’s hear it, we have nothing to loose at this point,” the conductor told me.


“Stephan, this is doing nothing for my nerves,” the director said.


“Could you play a song for me?” I whispered it into his ear and he got straight into the pit to tell the orchestra what to play.


When the cue came I started to sing the song that Master has had me working on for the past few days, it was the hardest one by far because of the really high note at the end.


As the song progressed I felt more and more confident that I could hit it and easily land the part that was up for grabs.


Every note seemed like that one day so long ago when I first met Master, the day when I sat at the piano and played that heavenly piece. At the end of the song I felt a presence in the air, I was sure he was listening, and I tried my hardest to hit that note, which I pulled off flawlessly.


When the music stopped I looked around to see everyone smiling, “How did I do?” I asked the director.


“Perfect. You got the part. Be here right after school today and tomorrow for rehearsal, your part is very simple and should be easy for you to memorize.”


“Thank-you, I will be here as soon as I can be,” I told him, and I left for my 8th period class as the bell rang.


When I stopped by my locker to grab my science textbook I discovered a single red rose and for the first time there was a note accompanying the rose.




You did well. Meet me tonight at ten p.m.

Was all it said, but I knew whom it was from, it was from Master.



Putting the rose in my bag I quickly grabbed my book and made my way to science class.


Science class past in the slowest way possible, I sat there as Jake sat there and pestered me about why I wouldn’t go out with him. I could never tell him the real reason why; it was because I was in love with Master.


Even though master was nine years older than I, I was sure I was in love with him. I waited for the sun to go down and night to take full control everyday just to sneak into the hallway and listen to him play and sing.


He has the most beautiful voice I have ever heard; I have asked him why he has not gone out into the open with his voice. He told me it was the same reason he wore the mask over half of his face. Which made me ask the question to why he wore a mask. That is when he told me to shut up or he would never come back.



When class ended I quickly made my way to the theater so I could get started with rehearsal.


“Welcome, Elizabeth, to your first rehearsal, well for us anyways,” the director said to me as I entered the theater, “The first thing we need for you to do is get fitted for your costume, and then you need to learn the music. Which I can tell is not going to be a problem for you.”


“Okay, where do I need to go?” I asked him.


“To your dressing room of course, it is just down that hall and is the first door on the right.”


When I got to my dressing room I was instantly pushed up onto a platform to try on dozens articles of clothing, for my costume.

Finally, after about an hour of trying on costumes, the costume people decided to put me in a long formal rose red dress.


After I got dressed back in my normal clothes I headed out to stage where I was to be given my chorography and lines.


“Where have you been girl?” Ms. Lang asked me.


“They had me trying on an impossible amount of costumes. Sorry.”


“That’s okay. Now lets see, what was the dance to this again? Oh, yeah. After a while the dances as get jumbled up, so today and tomorrow you will not have dance rehearsal. You will just have this, but do you have your shoes on you?”


“Yes, do I need them?”


“Yes, your piece you are going to sing and dance to in ballet shoes.”


“Okay, so show me the dance while I change into my shoes.” And that is exactly what she did; it was possibly one of the simplest routines I have done since I came here.


By the time rehearsal was finished it was 9:30, I had a half an hour until I met with Master. I rushed back to my dorm to get changed so I did not smell as bad as I did for our meeting.


Sitting on the piano at ten sharp I saw the lights dim as they did every time, and I felt my heart speed up and my hands starting sweating. If this wasn’t what it felt like to be in love, I wonder what true love felt like.


“Elizabeth, you did wonderful today,” he said.


“I know, I found the rose, it was beautiful, I guess I finally found out who has been sending them. Thank-you for sending them all this time,” I told him. I hopped off the piano, “Where are you?”


“I am in the shadows, as always.”


“Can you come out of the shadows, let me see you. I miss you, our lesson was not very long this morning.”


“I know I had more important things to do this morning. Elizabeth, I needed you here tonight so I could tell you that our lesson tomorrow will be cancelled. I am so very proud of you.”


“Thank-you, but why do we have to cancel, you have never cancelled a single lesson, not even when I had the flu last year.”


“You do not want to over work your voice before a performance. However, we will meet tomorrow night, same time. I want to show you something tomorrow, so do not be late,” Master said.


“Okay, I won’t. I want to know something first, why do you hide in the shadows?”


“I told you this before.”


“No, you said the reason why you don’t perform is the same reason you wear a mask.”


“And the reason for this is the same reason. I don’t want you to be disappointed by who I really am.”


“How could you think that? I have sung for you for two years, and I have done everything you asked for those two years. What makes you think I would be disappointed now?” I asked walking around trying to find him.


“Remember, meet me here at ten o’clock sharp,” and with that final line, he disappeared.


Every time he left I felt my heart break into two, this time it felt as if it were breaking into a million pieces. I came so close to telling him I loved him, sitting down on the piano bench I started to play that melody that drew him to me on that first day. I had long since memorized it; it would be the piece I would always play while I was waiting for Master or Zack.


In my spare time I was able to figure out that a composer who went by Anton Webern must have written it. He was the only composer that fit in with this school, and one of the only ones that had the initials A.W.


The song was always just as beautiful as the very first time, but this time the song in my heart was more beautiful, than anything Anton could have ever written.”

I woke the next morning to a sun, the first time since I came here. I missed waking up this late; I haven’t slept this well since the day before my parents died.


Since it was a Saturday I did not have to be in class and Ms. Lang cancelled lessons for today so I had nothing to do with myself today.


Walking over to the bookshelf where all the sheet music laid, almost falling apart from the two years of me reading all of them over and over again.


On top of the sheet music was a single red rose, beneath the rose was a new piece that I had never seen before. Master must have gotten into my room, just like the first day I was here and my suitcase was moved, and various other occasions throughout the years.


Looking over the new piece of music I saw that it was one of the only ones with out words. It looked like something my father would have written before he died.


Taking the piece from the pile I walked over to the piano room and sat down. I haven’t played a new piece since my freshman year and I was kind of rusty at sight-reading.


Placing my hands on the piano, I felt as if I was still the girl I was three years ago when my dad was showing me something new on the piano. The notes I played came out at a melody that was so sweet it seemed to echo my own thoughts.


Master must have written this, I don’t know how I know, but somehow, I do.


As the day past I got more and more nervous. When it was finally time to go to rehearsal I welcomed the chance to do something that required thinking.



When I got to the theater I quickly got into my costume and got ready for our final rehearsal before the show.

“I’m telling you I saw the ghost, he was standing not ten feet from me,” Trish told Lucy, two of my fellow ballet classmates.


“You don’t have any proof,” Lucy said back to her, “You probably thought you saw him.”


“I saw him as plainly as I see you now.”


“Who?” I asked involving myself in their conversation.


“The theaters ghost of coarse! Whom else would we be talking about?”


“Knowing you Trish you may be talking about the prince of England.” Trish was known for always see famous people on the street, ones that were very handsome and very single.


“Nah, he’s married now, and what a shame.”


“For once I agree with you,” my little sister Natalie said as she walked in.


“What did he look like?” Lucy asked trying to find a hole in Trish’s story hoping to catch her lying.


“He had eyes as black as coal, with a mask over only half of his face, he was very tall and thin, to thin to be a human being, and he was wearing dress clothes,” Trish described to us.


“You know Trish, this has been the second time in a week that you have seen him,” Natalie said playing with my strawberry blonde hair.


“Of coarse I know, I saw him Thursday too. Did I mention he is extremely attractive?”


“No, you did not. I thought you said he was way to thin for your liking,” Lucy said giggling.


“I said he was to thing to be human, I didn’t say anything about me not liking thin men.”


“Did you talk to him?” I asked hoping to add to the joke.


“No, he is a ghost after all,” Trish said getting defensive.


“A ghost that you would date?” Natalie asked, after she said that we all burst out laughing at Trish. Not a lot of people truly believed in the ghost like Trish, the ghost was more of a superstition made up by stagehands to account for their laziness. They just didn’t want to get in trouble for dropping backdrops and sandbags.


“But, I did see him,” Trish said, “I don’t know why you won’t believe me on that.”


“Probably because you tell all sorts of lies,” Lucy told her. Although they were best friends Trish told a mountains worth of lies to Lucy, and Lucy didn’t like that very much.


“But I am not lying this time,” Trish said getting a little frustrated.


“What is going on here?” mother asked as she strolled into the room.


“They don’t believe me about seeing the ghost. They think it is just a trick of my imagination,” Trish told my mother.


“Did you truly see the ghost, because that is not something to joke about.”


“Yes ma’am, I did. He was up on the catwalk doing something.”



“Very well, I will have somebody check it out. In the mean while I suggest that you four stop talking about the ghost.”


“So you believe in it?” Natalie ask.


“Yes, I do believe that he exist. I have since that poor girl died all those years ago.”


“How did she die?” I asked mother.


“She was murdered, and she died because she did exactly what you four are doing now, telling people about him. I suggest that you stop it or he will come and get you next.”


After mother left the room we were silent for a moment, I never knew that she believed in the ghost, or that it was him that killed that poor girl a long time ago. But after everyone was sure the conversation picked right back up again.


“I told you that he exist, even Ms. Lang believes that he does,” Trish exclaimed.


“Mother has been hanging around the stage crew to long,” I whispered into my sister’s ear.


“I agree,” was all she said.


“I have to go get my costume, I thought I brought it down last night but apparently I didn’t,” I told the other three.


“Sarah, can you grab mine too? I forgot to bring it down yesterday also,” Trish asked me.


“Ladies,” the director called from behind the door just as I was about to open it, “You have fifteen minutes before we run through it one last time.”


“Thank-you fifteen,” we shouted back. We always did that; it was something Lucy picked up at her old studio. Every time someone tells you how much time you have left you say, “Thank-you insert a time here.”


When I got to the second floor where the costumes were kept I looked around noticing a dark figure looming in the shadows.


“Who are you?” I asked the figure.


“The ghost that you four ladies down there love to talk about so much,” he replied.


“I am sorry for that,” I told him.


“Sorry means that you will never do it again.”


“Why are you here?”


“I need you. A favor in exchange for my forgiveness.”


“What will you do if I don’t agree?”


“What I always do when someone doesn’t do something I like. Hurt them, if they tick me off enough I kill them.”


“If you promise not to hurt anybody tonight, then yes. What do you need?”


“I need you to keep young Zackary away from Elizabeth tonight.”


“Zack is coming?”


“Yes, and I need to make sure he does not distract Elizabeth tonight,” the ghost said to me.


“I can try, but I don’t know if I can do it. Zack is so in love with Lizzie it’s not even funny.”


“I don’t want you to try, I want you to do. Now when you leave this room you will not remember anything except that you need to keep Zack away from Elizabeth.”


“Why do you want me to do this? If you don’t mind me asking.”


“I do mind you asking, now take your costume and leave,” he said disappearing from my site.


For a few moments I stood there looking just like the idiot the others were being downstairs before I remembered what I came up here to get. Our costumes for the performance.


Grabbing the two of them I made my way back down stairs to where the other girls were; looking for something strange, anything that may hint the unnatural, making sure the ghost wasn’t still up here.


“I swear I saw him. Why won’t you believe me?” I heard Trish all but yell right before she ran out of the dressing room in tears.


“Trish? Are you really crying because they don’t believe you?” I asked her right after she almost ran straight into me, with both of our costumes.


“It’s just that no one believes anything I say, even when it’s true. Everything I say is true, I try to never lie; and trust me, and I am not lying about this.”


“I know your not.”


“You do? Did you see him too?”


“No, I just know you,” I told her giving her a quick hug. “Come on, we need to get dressed.”


When we entered the dressing room the girls were still talking about the ghost.


“Honestly he is probably just a legend invented by drunk stage hands to explain their own mess-ups,” Lucy said.


“Oh my God, Lucy would you please just drop the ghost subject. It is seriously getting old,” I said maybe being a little over controlling, but what ever got the job done, right?


“What has your panties in a twist?” Natalie asked.


“I’m just sick and tired of all this ghost talk, even if mother thinks he’s real, it doesn’t mean that he is. Now can we drop the subject?”


“I second that,” Trish said from behind me; and that was the last I heard of the ghost that night.

Three hours later everyone was ready to go onstage for our final performance. I had to wait until the fourth act to perform my solo, but it was one of the most important seeing as I was the only female singing in the show.

When it was time for me to go onstage I ran out and collapsed onto my fallen lovers body, then I got up and sang my solo. The song I sang was about how the lover and I met and how we fell in love, and how I would never forget him.


The song was extremely hard for me because it had so many high notes that were just barely with in my range. Two years ago I would not have been able to hit any of the high notes, two years I was very strictly alto. That was until Master came into my life.


The last note of the song was a long one; I had to hold it out for twelve counts. I was almost at the end and I could feel my breath faltering, I just kept telling myself two more beats Liz, just one more beat. Then I was done, and the crowd cheered louder than I had ever heard them cheer before.


After giving my lover one last kiss I exited the stage.

My act was one of the last ones, so I didn’t have to wait long before bows, which I was the third one to go on. My heart was racing and I felt as if I just gave the performance of my life, I felt sure that Master was watching.

After getting changed I looked at my watch and noticed it was already nine o’clock. I had an hour before I had to meet Master in the piano room and my dorm room was a fifteen-minute walk here. So I had a few minutes before I really had to leave.

Walking out of my dressing room I spotted someone I hadn’t seen in months. It was Zack, and he was walking my way. In my sophomore year Zack and I had a moment that never really went anywhere, except to my own heartbreak. However I knew he still had feelings for me, and I still had them for him, very strong ones at that.

“Liz, you performed lovely tonight,” Zack said.

“Thanks Zack, what are you doing here?” I asked him surprised.

“I decided to come see my schools newest show, I am a talent scout now, and let me tell you now, you have talent. How about I take you to dinner and I can find out how you became such a beautiful singer, because this is not the girl I found playing the piano two years ago.”

“Zack, I would love to, but I have rehearsal tomorrow and I can’t go out tonight.”

“I won’t keep you out to long, you will be back by eleven. I promise. I will be outside in my car waiting in five minutes, I drive a black mustang now,” Zack said as he left the room.

“But Zack….” I called after him. I couldn’t be late to Master’s lesson or he may stop teaching me, but how could I just abandon Zack, my childhood friend and first true love? If it meant becoming whom I wanted to be then yes I could.

Grabbing my jacket and scarf I ran out the door and into the quite back alley. I took off in the opposite direction of the parking lot.

What was taking him so long? Surly Zack couldn’t take twenty minutes to grab his jacket after the performance ended.

“I don’t know Jack, she is good,” I heard Zack say as he finally exited the theater. “I am going to talk to her over supper. I have to go.”

“Zack?” I said after he finally hung up the cell phone.

“Sarah? It has been so long.”

“Only four months, hasn’t been that long.”

“Trust me, in the real world four months is a lifetime.”

“So what have you been to?” I asked him.

“I’m a talent scout, just got the job last week. Looks like I have the work cut out for me this time.”

“What do you mean?”

“Elizabeth, she is amazing. I can’t wait for my boss to hear her sing. She’s going to be a star.”

“That’s terrific.”

“Which reminds me, I really need to get going,” Zack said checking his watch.

“Why?”

“Liz and I are going out for dinner.”

“Are you going to make your move?” I asked him, like I said, it was completely obvious that Zack liked Liz to everyone, even she knew. She was just waiting for him to make a move.

“What do you mean?” he asked trying to sound confused.

“You like her, she likes you, why don’t you ask her out?” That’s when something hit me; I needed to keep them away from each other.

“I wasn’t planning on it, but if you think it is a good idea; why not?”

“Good idea, now why don’t you go home and sit on it for a while.”

“Why not tonight, why not live in the moment?”

“Because…..Because,” I said stumbling for a moment. “We have a rehearsal early tomorrow morning and Lizzie can’t be tired for it. Mother would absolutely kill her if she was out past curfew.”

“Then we shall eat quickly.”

“It’s almost quarter after, you wouldn’t have enough time to sit down, order, than eat.”

“Then we shall go to a fast food restaurant, you can’t go a block in this city without seeing one,” he said countering my attack.

“But it wouldn’t be as romantic.”

“Sarah, why do I get the feeling you don’t want me to go out with Liz tonight?”

“Probably because I don’t.”

“Why?”

“Because she needs to get to bed.”

“Sarah, I have known you since I was a freshman, I introduced you to Liz knowing you two would be like sisters. Now tell me the real reason.”

“It’s just, that. I guess I needed to tell you something before you asked her out.”

“What? Is it about Liz is it? She isn’t hurt or anything?”

“No, it’s just that I needed you to consider this before you asked her out.”

“Sarah, would you spit it out already?”

“I like you. Really like you, I have since that night where you almost kissed me,” I lied to him hoping he would take the bait.

“Sarah, I was drunk that night. Nothing I said or did that night really meant anything to me.”

Success, continuing the lie I said, “I know, I just thought you should know that. Even though I support you and Lizzie, I just thought there may have been a chance for us too.”

“Sarah, I could never think of you like that, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I guess you need to get going now.”

“Yes, I do. Lizzie was supposed to meet me out here, fifteen minutes ago.”

I stalled him for twenty minutes; I just hoped it was enough. As I watched all the people leave I tried to figure out why I had done that, I don’t know who had asked me, but I hadn’t planning on doing it.

Ten minutes later Zack came out breathing very hard like he had been running. “Sarah, has Liz come out through here?” he asked me.

“No. Why?”

“She’s missing and no one can find her.”

“Has anyone checked her dorm room yet?” I asked him.

“Not yet,” he said taking off in a sprint towards our dorm.

I hope by stalling him, I didn’t hurt her.

Within forty minutes I was sitting in the piano room in my costume from the school’s last ballet performance.

It was a silk white dress that came to my knees. It had the embroidered pattern of roses with red and pink thread. With it I wore my new white kitten heals, and my hair was still in curls just like it was for the show.

The lights dimmed and my heart started to soar just like every other time I sat in this room.

“Elizabeth, you were wonderful,” Master told me handing me a single rose.

“You saw? I didn’t see you in the crowd.”

“I was in the shadows.”

“Right, the shadows. Just like always.”

“Yes and now, I am going to show you the shadows,” he said.

“What do you mean?”

“Come I will show you, welcome to my world.” I saw as the wall opened and as I walked in I heard someone calling my name, and that was the last thing I remembered.


When I woke up I could not remember a single thing of what happened after master showed me his secret. All around me were candles, not a single light bulb, strange.

“Master? Where are you? I just had the strangest dream,” I called out.

“Yes, Elizabeth, what was it?”

“That we were in the piano room, and the door opened, and then we walk for what seemed like for miles, but it couldn’t have been because we were still in the tunnels. Then you showed me the strangest thing, you showed me a mannequin of me, in a strange costume. It had feathers and pearls, and that is all I remember. That is when I woke up here,” looking around I did not recognize the place, “Where is here?”

“This is my home, in the passageways of the school,” he replied in the sweetest voice.

“Why am I here and not in my room?”

“You collapsed last night after me showing you my home. I am sorry if I scared you.”

“No, not at all. I was just surprised that’s all.”

“I have to get back to my work, get some more rest. You will feel better after getting some more.”

I decided to take his advice and curled back up to go back to sleep when I realized that the pillow smelled exactly like him. Putting my face in the pillow I took a deep breath, I do not know why, but he smelled like the best thing in the world to me. I drifted off to sleep to the smell of him and the sound of his playing in the background.

When I finally woke up the music was gone and could no longer hear Master moving around. I got up out of the bed and made my way out the room I was in to find myself in what was probably the living room.

That was when I saw Master sitting at the piano scribbling something on a sheet of paper. Walking over to him as quietly as I possibly could I glanced over his shoulder.

“What are you writing?” I asked him.

“A new piece for you.”

“So it has been you,” I said glancing at the sheet up in the corner it was signed A. W. “What does it stand for? A.W.?”

“Alexander Weber.”

“Is that your real name? Or just one you made up?”

“It is my birth name if that is what you mean.”

Usually I could keep my feelings in check, but it seemed that tonight, or today I couldn’t help but wanting to touch him, even in the slightest way.

Reaching over his shoulder to touch his face with the back of my hand, I accidently hit some of his mask, but he didn’t seem to mind. Reaching over with my other hand also I felt his chest, and worked my way up until I reached the edge his mask. I had to be fast enough so he wouldn’t try to stop me.

With one quick movement I grabbed the mask and pulled it off his face. As soon as he realized it was missing he spun around and pushed me off him.

“Why the hell did you just do that,” he asked covering up the right side of his face.

“I’m sorry, I just wanted to know what you looked like without your mask on. I didn’t mean to cause you any pain.”

“You b****, you think an apology will always fix everything. But no, it does not, IT DOES NOT,” he screamed at me. I reached out his mask for him to put it back on and he snatched it back from me.

I stayed where Master had pushed me down for what seemed like hours, finally I got up and made my way over to one of the chairs and sat down.

“Elizabeth, it is time for your lesson, come,” Master said suddenly.

For the first time since I woke up I thought about what I looked like, I must have looked awful since I had not taken off any of the make-up from the night before.

“Before we start is there a place where I could wash my face and stuff?” I asked him.

“Yes, there is a bathroom connected to the bedroom that you can use.”

“Thank-you.”

Ten minutes later I was standing next to the piano warming up for my lesson.

“I truly am sorry for making you mad earlier,” I said.

“Being sorry means never doing it again,” he told me without looking up from the piano.

“I can’t promise to never make you mad again, but I can promise I won’t take your mask off without your permission ever again.”

“Very well. Now lets begin.”

My lesson went smoothly as it always did. At the end of it I asked, “Do you still wish me to call you Master? Or can I call you Alexander?”

“Alexander will do.”

“Well then Alexander do you know what time it is? Because from what I can tell there are no widows and no clocks.”

“It would be three twenty in the afternoon.”

“How can you tell? There are no clocks, no modern technology other than your bathroom.”

“I find living in the old ways is more sufficient, less things to distract you. And the time would be how far the candle has melted today.”

“I see, so what do you do in your free time?”

“I read, or play the piano, or the write music, or watch the people in the theater.”

“How do you get to the theater from here?” I asked him

“There are more tunnels, I keep them hidden, just in case any unexpected guest show up.”

“I see, I think I am going to read now. Are those all your books over there?” I asked pointing to a bookshelf on the opposite wall.

“Yes.”

Walking over to the opposite side I took a good look around, the place was well decorated, even better than the dorms. Tapestries and curtains decorated the walls and fine furniture was set around the room in an ordinary fashion.

The bookshelf had dozens of books on it, ranging from the classics to the most modern books written by James Patterson. Picking out one I had never heard of before I went and sat down on one of the chairs decorating the room.

I read until I fell back asleep, tired from the years of rehearsals and lessons, it felt nice to just sleep with out a worry.

It was midnight by the time I got back to my one room apartment uptown. I had been looking for Elizabeth until Ms. Lang told me to go home and get some rest. That was at ten-thirty.


Sometimes I wonder why I was sent here, to this city I mean. All I know is that last year the Board asked me to come here. They said I would be needed in the future and needed to establish a background here.

I always thought I was sent here because I needed to finish the work that my mother started twenty years ago with my father and Elizabeth’s. To get rid of the evil that resides here, but we still have no idea what that is, besides all of the resources the witches have, so we had to be dealing with something out of the ordinary, or supernatural. What ever it is we are dealing with, I bet that Elizabeth is the one who is the key to unlocking it. She has been the first one to receive a rose in twenty years.

After I made sure never was following me, I went to our New York headquarters with my chaperone, also a witch, and got to work. The first thing I did was check reports that matched my mothers, and what I had gathered of Elizabeth’s, in the past 300 years.

The only thing I could come up with was a case that was almost exactly my mother’s, and what was becoming of Elizabeth’s, that happened in the late 19th century in Paris, France. A girl name Christine Daaè, went missing twice for short periods of time before getting kidnapped by the man the locals called the Phantom of the Opera. It looked like Christine’s parents had both died by the time she was eight and she was sent to the Paris Opera House to study to be a ballerina, but became the most recognized opera singer in the entire world.

The cases between Christine and Elizabeth were almost identical. Both of them had been in the chorus and had risen above that, both Christine’s and Elizabeth’s parents had died before going to study ballet, and both had received roses. Only a select few of the details matched my mother’s case, the disappearing, the roses, and the end they both met, death here in Manhattan.

I could just hope that same end would not come to Elizabeth. I wouldn’t let the same end come to her, even if it meant dying myself.

Two Days Later

“I don’t understand, where could she be?” I asked Ms. Lang.

“She could be anywhere, she has been missing for almost two days now.”

“Surly she couldn’t have left campus, someone would have seen her. Especially if she was kidnapped.”

“Maybe she wasn’t,” Natalie Ms. Lang’s younger daughter said.

“Natalie, not now,” her mother said.

“What if she went with him willingly, maybe she was forced to go with him.”

“Whom are you talking about?” I asked Natalie, I didn’t know her very well, but what I have heard from Sarah, she is very smart and isn’t very superstitious.

“The ghost, Trish said she saw him the day of the show. He could have been up there because he wanted to take Elizabeth.”

“Natalie, would you be quiet, I told you before, never talk about the ghost,” Ms. Lang’s voice was rising with every word.

“I’m sorry mother. I just thought that maybe since Trish said she saw him that he had something to do with it.”

“If Mr. Brooks had been hanging around the theater that day would he be suspicious to you?”

“If he was up on the catwalk or looming backstage, yes.”

“Natalie.”

“Was he really back stage the day of the performance?” I asked them.

“One of the girls said she saw him, but she is an easy scare. We don’t really know. Now if you excuse me I have lessons in five minutes and I need to get ready,” she said walking towards the door. Right before she opened it she turned back and said, “Don’t worry Zack, I’m sure the police will find her.”

“Thank-you Ms. Lang, for everything,” I said as she walked out.

When I woke up I was in the arms of Alexander, I knew this because of the way he smelled so much like cinnamon, and it was intoxicating.

“Welcome back my angel. Did you sleep well?” he asked me.

“Yes, very.”

“Good, now we need to get you back. The academy will be missing you by know, after all you have been gone three days.”

“Three days!!”

“Granted you have been asleep most of those three, now come.”

Walking through the dozens of passageways and up hundreds of stairs we made our way back to my dorm, to the piano room. I noticed that there were other passages that looked like they were not as well used, dust covered the floors showing that these, that had not dust what so ever, were far more used.

By the time we made our way back to the piano room it was early morning. “Here you are my angel, now stay here until someone finds you, and do not tell anyone where you were. Only tell them that you were with the Ghost of Music Hall and that you were completely safe. Do you understand me? Lizzie, do you understand me?”

“Yes, I was with the Ghost of Music Hall and I was safe,” I repeated back to him surprised that he didn’t call me by my full name like he usually did.

“Good-bye, Elizabeth.”

“Good-bye Alexander.”

Spinning around in the piano bench I looked at the piece that sat on the stand, it was the one I was playing what seemed like a few short hours ago. Putting my hands on the keys I started playing again, the notes flowed from the strings like water flowing from the stream.

“Hello? Who is in there?” I heard a male voice ask me. I flashed back to when I first got here, when Zack saw me for the first time in seven years.

“Zack? Is that you?”

“Liz, is that you? Where have you been? Everyone has been looking everywhere for you.”

“I was with the Ghost of Music Hall, and I am completely safe. No harm has come to me,” I said repeating what Alexander told me to say.

“Yet.”

“What do you mean?” I asked Zack.

“Do you remember the story I told you last year? The one about the ghost?”

“Yes, and I told you I didn’t want to hear any more of it.”

“I know, but this is him, he is the ghost, the person who kidnapped you. He is the ghost, and no one has ever seen him and survived, and if they have, they were dead before they could leave here.”

“But he can not be, I have been taking lessons from him for two years now. I think I know who my master is.”

“I don’t think you do,” Zack said, “If you are so sure, explain this note.” Taking a piece of paper from his pocket and shoving it into my hand I began to read.


Zack,


I know you know of me and so you know what I can do. I suggest you stay away from her from now on. I also have instructions for you to pass along to the director and conductor for the next show. Elizabeth Taylor is going to sing the lead for the show that will be performed this weekend, not Nina Grove. If they do not wish to oblige, their time in New York City will be exterminated, permanently. I surely hope you take my advice with Elizabeth, I do not wish to harm either of you, but I will if I must.

G.O.M.H.

“What do you make of that? Do you think a prankster sent this? Do you think that this is a joke? No, last time a not like this was ignored, people died,” Zack said.

“Surely Alexander wouldn’t have….”

“Alexander, you know this monster?”

“No, not really, just a name.”

“I have to go, I need to talk to some people,” Zack said leaving the room.

As soon as Zack got far enough away I made my way to the stairs and ran down them. I had to see what was going to happen. When Zack got out of the elevator I was already on the bottom floor and hiding in the stairwell, as he made his way out the door I quickly put my jacket back on and ran after him, making sure I was out of sight.

Zack was only half way there when I realized he was going to the theater to talk to the director and conductor. He was in a huge rush because he was walking faster than I had ever seen him walk before. The fifteen-minute trip only took ten minutes because of how fast Zack was walking.

“Sir, can I talk to you?” Zack asked the director.

“Yes, in a minute,” the director said turning his back to work on some set design for this weekends show.

“Sir, it is upmost importance, I need to speak to you now.”

“Very well, go on.”

“Sir, Elizabeth has returned and with her return there was a note left on my table in my old room. He is the note,” Zack said giving the note to the director.

“This is simply phish-posh. Just a silly prank, Nina will indeed sing at this weekends concert, and if Elizabeth wish’s, she will be Ms. Grove’s understudy. She has the most amazing talent I have ever seen.”

“What if the threat is real? What if someone gets hurt?”

“No one will because there is no Ghost of Music Hall.”

“Are you so sure?”

“Yes, I have worked here for two years and nothing has ever happened.”

“That is because for past two years he has been fixated with Elizabeth, giving her lessons, tutoring her, making her into the singer she is now; and he will stop at nothing to have her reach the top.”

“Well, he will have to tell me that himself if he wants it done this way, not in some silly note.”

“Sir….”

“NO!! I am the director and what I say goes, no matter how much Nina contradicts that.”

“Your funeral,” Zack said as he turned to leave.

As soon I could I jumped up from my hiding spot and sprinted out the door so no one would see me. When I made my way back to my dorm room I took a shower and changed into some cleaner clothes. By the time I got out the shower there was another rose sitting on my nightstand.

Tomorrow morning, the normal time.
I’ll be waiting.
“What is that?” Zack said when he came into my room.

“How did you get in here?”

“The door was wide open when I came up to check on you, I thought something may have happened. Now could you please answer my question?”

“Nothing, just something that a guy gave me after my performance, I put it on the table before I left,” I told him hoping he would buy it, I could never tell him the truth after what I just witnessed.

“Very well, I just have had a discussion with the theater staff and they told me that they thought it best to put you as Nina’s understudy. They expect you at rehearsal tomorrow.”

“Okay, now if you do not mind. I would kind of like to be alone.”

“Bye Liz, I’ll see you at dinner tonight.”


Zack picked me up at 7:30 to take me out to get some dinner and relax. Walking through the streets of what I know considered my home had helped me clear my head and think.

We ended going to a small restaurant right outside of China Town, it was one of the ones that served almost all Chinese food and was a favorite among the students at the academy, I had often eaten here with Zack when students were allowed to roam the city in our groups.

“So, how has life been since I graduated?” Zack asked me.

“About the same, except my afternoons were kind of boring, that is until all this show stuff came into my life. I was so used to only practicing only a few hours a day, now its like whenever I’m not in class I’m in rehearsal.”

“Show life will do that to you. I remember one time there was this girl who decided to quit all of it because she had no time to socialize, they said that it happens every year, but this one was remembered because she had talent, much like you.”

“Interesting, I haven’t heard of anyone dropping out yet this year. Maybe this will be the lucky one.”


“Are you keeping up with your grades?”

“Somewhat. I’m not failing if that’s what your asking, and I would really wish you would stop acting like you are my mother,” I said not knowing how much the words would hurt until I said them. I guess I didn’t know how much I missed her nagging about my grades until someone else did it.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to hit a soar spot.”

“Sorry means you will never do it again,” I told him quoting Alexander.

“Then yes, I am truly sorry.”

The week flew by in the most unexpected way. With rehearsals, lessons, sneaking around to listen to Alexander, and classes I thought I would never sleep again, but Alexander assured me that I would get used to this.


To me ballet had always been easy, but as I got less and less sleep I became clumsy and forgot the simplest of chorography. It got to the point to where Ms. Lang told Sarah to make sure I was in bed by nine and did not get up until at least nine in the morning.

Twelve hours of sleep and I would have to miss my lesson with Alexander, but when I got back to my room I found a note saying we would not practice tomorrow morning. I knew that there was no possible way, but it was like Alexander was watching my every move and was playing with my life like a girl playing with her dolls.

“Lizzie, you can’t keep pushing yourself like this. You are going to kill yourself if you do,” Sarah said to me as she shut the door behind us.

“What do you mean?” I asked her.

“I mean the early morning practices you have everyday. Don’t look so surprised, I live a floor away not in another world. I can hear you practicing sometimes.”

“It’s not that bad, I only get up an hour earlier.”

“Then you don’t get to bed until almost midnight because of all the homework you have. Lizzie, you barely get three hours of sleep, and you really should be getting at least seven.”

“I know, but in order to keep up I need to do all this stuff. If dancing or singing doesn’t work out I want to go to college, and a good one to, that is why I am taking all those A.P. classes this year, and I will be next year too.” If I didn’t make it in the arts I was going to try to go for a medical degree, and if I wanted one of those I needed to get the best grades possible.

“Lizzie, you are going to burn yourself out, now I suggest you do what Ms. Lang said and get some rest, and do not try to sneak out on me because I am going to be in here all night.”

“Okay, okay I’m going,” I said walking over to my bed, “but can I change first? I hate sleeping in my ballet clothes.” Sarah gave me a look that screamed, ‘Are you stupid?’ and I took that as my answer.

I was ready to pass out by six, and that is when my head hit the pillow.

By the time I woke up it was late morning, and Sarah was still sound asleep beside me. It being the Saturday of a performance we did not have rehearsal, and I didn’t have to be at the Hall until five unless Nina was sick. Which was doubtful.

Showering and washing my face woke me up, and for the first time all week I was fully awake and ready to take on anything.

“Sarah, are you up yet,” I called from the bathroom.

“Yeah, hey Lizzie. Why is there a rose on your bookshelf?” she asked, knowing that she lived in this dorm also I knew that she knew the story, and that the “ghost” left red roses. God, I really hated everyone thinking he was bad.

“Um, someone gave it to me last week, I forgot to throw it away,” I said hoping she would take the lie.

“No, this one is fresh, are you sure it was here when we went to bed last night.”

“I’m positive, now how about you take a shower and then we can get breakfast and head to the studio. I feel the need to dance for a little while.”

“Okay, It’ll be good for you to dance while your fully rested,” she said throwing the rose in the trash.

When I heard the water turn on I rushed over to where the rose was sitting two minutes ago and looked through the pile of music, and surely enough there was a brand new piece sitting at the bottom of the stack.

While Sarah was in the shower I packed all my dance things along with my wallet and the new music. If I was going sit around for two hours while everyone else go ready I should at least go over the piece by myself for a little bit.

“Lizzie, do you think I could borrow some pants, I forgot to grab some last night,” Sarah asked ten minutes later when she got out of the shower.

“Yeah, they’re in the dresser.”

“Thanks,” she said digging around looking for a pair of jeans, “Found them, okay as soon as I get these on we can go to the studio.”

“Actually, can we just go get something to eat, I’m starving.”

“Sure, you know me, always hungry.”

“Yeah, no kidding,” I said, my best friend may be skinny as a super model, but she eats just like a giant, I rarely see her with out food in her hand.


Twenty minutes later we were at a café that was on campus, Sarah had already scarfed down two pastries and was working on her third, “Hey,” she said to me, “What’s up with you today? You seem kind of, down.”

“Just kind of nervous, you know tonight is the next performance, and if Nina gets hurt or sick, I’m up.”

“Even if she does you have no reason to be nervous, you are probably one of the best singers in the city.”

“I know, but something just doesn’t feel right, I have a really bad feeling about tonight.”

“It is probably just the nerves, you did say you were really nervous.”

“Yeah, your most likely right.”

“So what do you say, do you want to hit the bar? Or wait another day?”

I thought about it for a minute and said, “What is another day in the grand scheme of things? How about we head back to your dorm room and just do normal teenage things for once.”

“Normal teenage things, sorry I don’t know what that is. After all I spent most of mine so far in a studio, but what the hay I can give it a try,” she said with a sarcastic smirk on her face.


The rest of the morning and the majority of the afternoon Sarah and I sat in her room eating ice cream, reading magazines that we picked up on the corner outside the academy, and gossiping.

“Seriously, I swear that is why she dropped out,” Sarah said to me.

“No way she got pregnant, she is way to smart for that. Do you know who this supposed father is?”

“They said it was Josh.”

“Josh Michelson! He’s my partner for the dance! That makes me wonder what he is thinking about every time he lifts me.”

“I know right, it makes me question why guys wanted to be in ballet.”

“Yeah, do you have the time by any chance, I have to be at the theater by four.”

“Then you better run,” Sarah said checking her watch, “because it’s three-fifty now.”

“Crap, thanks so much for the afternoon, but I really have to go.”

“Then go, I’m your best friend, not your boyfriend, you don’t need to explain to me.”

Running out the door I forgot to put my coat on and I was already outside when I realized that it was still in Sarah’s room, but I did not have time to run back up to the fifth floor and grab it. Sucking up all my complaining thoughts about how cold it was I started towards the theater.

When I arrived I saw that everything was running smoothly and I was not needed, but that didn’t stop me from getting chewed out by the director.

“When I tell you to be here at four sharp I do not expect you to be here at four-oh-five,” he yelled at me.

“I am sorry, I truly am, it will never happen again,” I said.

“If you are sorry you would not have been late in the first place,” Nina said forcing herself into the conversation, “That is why I got the part, and you did not.”

“Nina, would you kindly return to your dressing room,” the director asked.

“Fine, but next time can you make sure the help is here on time,” she said while twitching off to her dressing room.

“I am terribly sorry for her behavior, I do not know why, but something about you makes her kind of.”

“Bitchy,” I said finishing his sentence.

“Not quite the word I was looking for, but it will do, and Elizabeth, make sure you are not late next time.”

“I promise,” I said.

From that moment on I did not stop moving, there was always a missing costume, a water bottle to retrieve, make-up to find.

About half way through the performance there was a scream coming from stage right, one that was not written in the script. Then one after another more shrieks joined the first one.

Making my way over to the opposite side of the stage I started see the events as they started to unfold. The director was lying on ground with a rope around his neck.

“Get back, all of you,” Ms. Lang said, “Now what seems to be… Oh my God, someone call 9-1-1.”

Looking at the director I noticed his eyes, they were full of fear. You could tell that he was surprised by the way his mouth was partly open and how wide his eyes were. I may be no detective, but I know that whoever killed him took him by surprise and killed him quickly.

“What happened?” the conductor asked coming upon the scene.

“Phidias, he has been murder, we need to get everyone away,” Ms. Lang said.
“Elizabeth, we need to leave,” Zack said surprising me from behind.

“Where to?” I asked him.

“Anywhere but here, he can hear and see us now. We need to go where he won’t find us.”

“Whom are you talking about, surely not….”

“Yes, that is exactly who I am talking about,” Zack said grabbing my wrist and began leading me toward the stairs that lead to the costume floor and then the roof.

“He could never so something like this,” we had gone up the first flight of stairs and now making our way up the next flight that lead to the roof.

“Yes, he could and he has. Elizabeth, I need you to look into my eyes and recognize the truth in them. This man, he is a monster, he kills people to get what he wants. Right now, what he wants is for you to succeed in anyway possible, and by any means possible.”

“What if the director just killed himself and everyone is just assuming the worst?” I asked not wanting to believe Zack.

“How close did you get to the body?”

“Not very.”

“Did you see the neck?”

“No, the rope was covering it.”

“Then you couldn’t see that his throat was also ripped out,” Zack said.

“How do you know? You couldn’t have seen it, you came up from behind me.”
“All of this happened about twenty years ago, when your parents were here. It ended with one of the student’s death.”

“How could that be? He was only seven years old twenty years ago.”

“I do not know, but I do know that history won’t be repeating itself. Elizabeth, I don’t care what it takes, I will not let anything happen to you.”

“You said it ended with a student’s death, do you know who that student was?”

“It was my mother, I was born two days before it happened. They found me with my mother in her dorm room, in your dorm room. That is why I am so worried about you, I don’t want you end up dead before you lived.”

“That is terrible,” I said thinking about his mother.

“Like I said, I won’t let anything like that happen to you, I can’t you are the only thing that I look forward to now. Liz, if anything happened to you I don’t know what I would do.”

“I don’t know what I would do without you either, you are the only person I love that is still alive, please don’t leave me,” I said, my voice starting to shake, the reality of what Alexander did finally hit me and I was heartbroken.

“I won’t, I promise, and to show you that I mean it,” Zack paused while he dug around in his pocket for a little case that he pulled out a second later, “Elizabeth Marie Taylor, I have loved you since I saw you all those years ago on your first day here. Would you do me the honor of becoming my wife, after you turn eighteen of coarse.”

Dozens of overwhelming emotions hit me at once; I was so happy that he finally admitted his feelings for me, but kind of upset because he wanted to blame Alexander for the death of the director. “Yes,” I finally said after a few moments.

The ring was a perfect sapphire set in the center of what must have been diamonds. On the inside of the ring it read, “Love is forever.”

“I hope you like it, I spent days picking it out,” Zack said.

“I love it, I just can’t believe that you asked me without us ever really dating,” I said.

“I know, but I guess that I feel so sure about us that I don’t really need to test it out.”

Closing the space the space in between us, I stood up on my tiptoes and carefully kissed him. The kiss started out as soft and careful then quickly escalated to something else.

“Come, lets get you back to your room,” Zack said breaking the kiss.

“No, I don’t want to go back down there, the scene was to horrible to see the first time, I don’t want to see it a second.”

“You do not have to if you don’t want to. There is a servants staircase on the opposite side of this roof,” Zack said with a mischievous smile on his face. “What? I spent a lot of time up here as a student.”

After I killed that incompetent director I escaped to the roof, it was one of my favorite places to go to think.


The cold did not bother me tonight, because as the scene unfolded nothing outweighed Elizabeth and Zackary. I became so furious that any physical pain instantly vanished leaving me with just emotional pain.


When the two lovers left I walked over to where they once both stood, “Why does she love him and not me?” I wondered aloud. Bending over I saw the rose that I had left in her room that morning.


I carefully picked the rose up pretending it was my sweet Elizabeth, then thinking of the scene that I just witnessed I crushed the rose in my fist. The crushing of the delicate petals helped me, it didn’t help me with the feeling of betrayal, but it did help with pain that the boy caused me.


This one I could not kill so easily, I would have to come up with a plan to get rid of him and keep Elizabeth. Then it came to me, I would give the ultimatum, Zackary’s life for a life with me or he dies and she could go free.


Now all I needed was a way to get them both into my home. History needed to repeat itself one last time.

Elizabeth Taylor,


You have been invited to the annul masquerade ball of the year. In two days time you will arrive in the theater parlor and find that the festivities are not to be rivaled with. Be there by 7 o’clock sharp.
Sincerely,
The theater staff


It had been three months since the death of our director and things were finally getting back to normal, one thing that helped with that was the annual masquerade ball.

This was the first year I was allowed to attend because only upperclassmen were allowed to go. One of the perks of being a junior, along with turning eighteen in just six short months.

When the invitation was slipped underneath my door on a Thursday morning I called Zack immediately after I woke up. After what happened with the director I stopped showing up to my lessons and after a few days Alexander wrote to me saying that it was probably best if lessons were suspended indefinitely.

“Hello?” I heard Zack ask sleepily.

“So I am guessing that you haven’t read yours yet?”

“Read what?”

“The invitation, they came today, and I guessing as a talent scouter you have been invited to this years masquerade ball.”

“Oh yeah that, I got my invitation yesterday.”

“Thanks for telling me,” I told him with a little bit of a laugh to my voice.

“Sorry, I got in late and I didn’t want to wake you up over a silly invitation.”

“You could have texted me, besides I was up most of the night doing homework. Speaking of which, I have to get to school. Talk to you later?”

“You know it, I’ll be at the school by four so we can go shopping for our costumes,” Zack said hanging up the phone.




My day went surprisingly fast considering that I was to spend my entire afternoon with Zack. I didn’t even realize that the day was almost over until Dylan had started pestering me again.

“Elizabeth, why can’t you go to the masquerade with me?” Dylan asked me.

“Because I already have a date. I’m sorry.”

“Really? Who?”

“An old friend.”

“Is it Zack? He is your only old friend, and you really like him. Everyone knows that.”

“Maybe it is. Why do you care?”

“Because I have been asking you out for a year now. And he walks back into your life and you are suddenly all goo-goo for him. Don’t you remember who you ran into last year and spilled your guts to, both figuratively and physically?”

“Dylan, that doesn’t count. I was drunk and I wasn’t thinking strait, you can’t think that just because I made out with you means that I will go out with you,” I told him attempting to let him down easy one last time.

The truth is I don’t really remember much of that night except what happened with Zack at the party and what happened with Dylan after I drank some more, but I don’t remember telling him anything or getting anything from him. But I did get hell from Alexander the next morning when I got to practice with a hangover.

“You didn’t just make out with me. You told me things that you never told anyone else. You opened up to me.”

“What did I tell you?” I asked hoping I didn’t tell him about Alexander, even though I was angry and terrified of Alexander I couldn’t help but wanting to protect him from exposer.

“Just that you had affections for another man and you were sometimes glad that your parents died, because if they didn’t you probably would have never met this guy.”

“Dylan, have you ever told anyone this?” I asked him horrified that I had told someone about Alexander.

“Not a soul. You made me promise that after you told me, you told me not to tell another living soul,” he said as I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Oh thank God. You have no idea how much I want to kiss you right now.”

“Your welcome to, if you really wanna.”

“Thanks, but I’ll pass. Dylan, I’m sorry, but I am standing by what I have said for the past year. I don’t want to go out with you, because I really do have affections for another man. And besides I couldn’t do that to Sarah.”

“What do you mean?” he asked confused. He and Sarah had dated the previous year before the entire party fiasco and had gotten pretty serious.

“Don’t you know the code?”

“Not following.”

“The girls code.” Seeing his blank face I took it that he had no idea what I was talking about. “If your best friend gets serious with a guy, you are not allowed to date that guy at a later date,” I told him halfway lying. I knew that there was a girls code and I knew that it had something to do with boyfriends, but I didn’t know what exactly.

After school that day Zack came and picked me up. We went to a place in Times Square that specialized in these types of parties. They had hundreds among hundreds of costumes to pick from.


After a few hours of looking and trying on costumes I found a snow-white strapless dress that came down to my knees and ruffled out at the waist. With the dress I found a pair of kitten heals, it seemed as if this costume was picked out for me.


“My darling, you look absolutely beautiful, I can not wait until I get to see your complete costume,” Zack said.


“What are you talking about? This is just perfect the way it is.”


“Of coarse, it looks amazing, anything on you would look amazing,” he said kissing me forehead.


“Okay, what is with all the sucking up? I’m already marrying you, what else do you want?” I asked him.


“Nothing,” he said all defensively.


“Hey, didn’t mean to offend you or anything. I just wanted to know if anything bad would be coming my way.”


“Nope.”


“Well, let me pay for this and then we can go and get something to eat,” I said.


“Absolutely not, you are not paying for that.”


“Fine, then I am paying for dinner, and don’t try talking me out of it cause you can’t. So pick one.”


“I’ll pay for the dress, then we can go back to the school and eat, I really miss the food there.”


“Slick, next time though you are so not getting away with that,” I said giving him a quick peck on the lips.


“As long as I got away with it this time.”

Two days later I was standing on the steps outside of the theater foyer. My cape, which I found in the costume room, draped around my shoulders to help keep me warm.



“Where have you been?” I asked Zack when he finally arrived at my side.


“Traffic, it was a nightmare because of the opening of that new show.”


“Okay, well could we go inside, it is freezing out here.”


“As you wish my beautiful queen,” Zack said with a bow.


When we arrived inside the theater foyer the festivities had already began and well underway. A select lower classman had been chosen to perform tonight, they were to perform a song and then immediately return to their dorms; and by the looks of it, we were just in time.


On the top of the marble stair case there were about twenty freshman and sophomores dancing and about five singing. It sounded like a song that had been composed in the ‘80’s and had been set to more modern music and dance moves.


The conductor was, as always, conducting the group that played the music, which also looked to be a bunch of freshman and sophomores.


When the performance ended the hall exploded into cheers and then everyone began dancing to the music put on by the orchestra that the school hired for this particular event.


“Zack, remember, no one knows that we are engaged, it needs to remain a secret. So we will have to dance with other people tonight,” I told him.


“I’m not sure I like the sound of that,” he said trying to give me a quick kiss.


“It was your idea, if you don’t like it everyone in the junior and senior class can know by the end of the party.”


“I know it was my idea, but still.”


“It’s what we have to do, unless you want him to find out.”


“Okay, then Elizabeth would you kindly dance with me?”


“I would love to, but my date is waiting for me.” I said starting a little game.


“Where I do not see him,” Zack said playing along.


“Very well, I guess one dance couldn’t hurt.”


The dance was wonderful, when the song ended Zack and I didn’t stop, we were so lost in each other to notice. It was only when the lights started to dim that I noticed that the music had stopped and everyone else in the room had gone still.


When the lights came back on a man was standing at the top of the stairs where the lower classmen stood minutes earlier.


“Oh my God,” I said after a minute finally recognizing it as Alexander.


“People of this fine establishment, did you really think me gone? I just took a little vacation after my director, quit,” Alexander said after a minute ponders of words. “I was away writing you a play, a musical to be more exact. This is not the first I have sent you, and this time I am not requesting, but demanding that you put it on.



“I have the cast list drawn up and I shall tell you. Nina Graves will be the main character’s, Lucy, understudy. Kevin Luster will be the seducer. And Elizabeth Taylor shall be the main character, Lucy. The cast listing for the smaller parts I have decided to let you choose, but if those three do not play the characters I have already assigned there will be more than one dead body on your stage,” Alexander said as he was looking around, when he saw me he stopped.


Somewhere during that speech Zack had left to God knows where leaving me all alone. Alexander made his way down to me with all eyes still on him, “Now, my sweet Elizabeth, would you like to return to me to continue learning, you still have much to learn,” he said touching my face with the back of his hand ever so gently.


Grabbing my left hand Alexander looked at the ring Zack gave me two months ago, “Or do you have other duties you must attend to now that are so much more important than the promise you made to me three years ago? To bad, as I recall you belong to me.” Alexander slid the ring off my finger so fast I could not stop him.


“Remember what I said,” and with that he disappeared leaving nothing but smoke and before I could stop it a tear slid down my face.


Wiping the tear away from my cheek I turned around and sprinted towards the door pushing through whoever was in my way to get there before more tears could spill over.

As soon as I saw the ghost appear I knew what I had to do. Running out to my car I felt a hand pull into a secret room along the hall.


“Ms. Kelsey?” I said when I saw the persons face.


“Zack, there is something you need to know, about the ghost.”


“I know the story Ms. Kelsey, you have told me it a million times.”


“There are some things that I have left out, for my safety and yours. This ghost, he’s not really a ghost.”


“Yeah, I kind of figured that after he kidnapped Elizabeth,” I said using Liz’s complete first name so that Ms. Kelsey knew who I was talking about.


“But he is not human either.”


“What do you mean?”


“Let me tell you a story, the one about what really happened here twenty years ago.”


“The one about my mother.”


“Yes, the one about your mother, the one I have never told you. It was fall of 1993; your mother was in her senior year along with your father and Elizabeth’s father. She was possibly one of the most beautiful girls I had ever seen.


“She had just started dating your father when she started acting strange. She told everybody that a mysterious man who wore a white mask on half of his face was visiting her and every night after a performance there would be a perfect blood red rose sitting in her dorm room, sitting on the bookshelf where Elizabeth’s father kept his music.


“At first she was flattered, but as the months past she became more and more scared. It didn’t help her case that she got pregnant right after this started. Then one day she just disappeared and wasn’t seen for days, when she came back there was a note asking, no commanding, that your father and Robert left her alone.”


“What does Elizabeth’s father have to do with this?” I asked Ms. Kelsey.


“At the time your mother got a lot of attention from multiple young men. And when they didn’t listen to the ghost everything got much, much worse.”


“What do you mean worse, my mother wasn’t killed until the spring of ’94.”


“She was harassed by this ghost, she got more notes and roses, she even disappeared again, and kidnapped and then set free she said. However, I think she loved this ghost; he gave her the type of attention that she deserved. Where ever she went men whistled and catcalled, but he wrote her songs and saw her as what she was. An artist.


“Then how was she harassed? If she liked it,” I said trailing off.


“She did at first, but then she changed her mind. During that winter she heard nothing from this ghost, but after you were born he came back. Then two days later we found her dead.”


“Why would he kill her, it seems like he loved her.”


“My guess is that he confessed his feelings and she said that she didn’t love him back; so he got angry and killed her.”


“My father said that he was just a ghost who didn’t know when to quite.”


“In a way he was right. In my opinion he is just a misunderstood creature that has never gotten a single thing that he deserved.”


“You talk as if you know him,” I said wondering where she fit into all of this.


“I do, in a way.”


“How?”


“Through your mother.”


“That begs the question how did you know my mother?”


“I was her best friend, and her roommate. I was the one that found her that day; I had just gotten back from class and heard you crying. When I walked in I saw your mother lying on the floor her neck covered in blood, that is when I knew she was dead.


“After that I dedicated myself to finding out why he did this. That is when I stumbled upon a secret older than this school, and something much bigger any of us back then could have ever thought.”


“What?” I asked her hoping she would tell me.


“This man, Alexander, he’s a vampire. He killed so many people over the years, there is a reason why I stayed.”


“And what would that be?”


“I had to stop him from killing everyone who ticked him off, I’ve been doing a decent job. That was until he killed the director.”

Trying to swallow everything Ms. Kelsey just told me I asked, “What happened to everyone else? Everyone that was involved in this entire thing, my father, Elizabeth’s?”

“They grieved and then they moved on. Elizabeth’s father moved on and got married and had Elizabeth a few years later. Your father almost got married when you were two. I was the only one who remained in the city after we graduated. Slowly the pain numbed and time allowed us to live again.”

“So, if the ghost is really a vampire how can I kill him?” I asked her.

“The way you always kill one, with a stake, decapitation, or burning him to death.”

“Ms. Kelsey, did were you close to my mother?”

“Very, I was her best friend for as long as I can remember.”

“Then did she tell you what she was? What my father was?”

“Yes, she told me everything after she came back the second time. She was an emotional wreck, she didn’t leave my room for a week.”

“So you know what I am, and why I was sent here?”

“Yes, I know you’re a witch, but I do not know why you were sent here.”

“I was sent here because someone needed to stop this monster from doing exactly what he is doing now. Killing innocent people,” I told her.

“I understand, and I know your mother was here because of the same thing now, she was so pure of heart. I do miss her.”
“Well, thank-you for everything, but I have to go now,” I said running back to the party, I had to find Elizabeth before anything happened to her. It was my duty as a witch and as her fiancé.

When I got back I saw that everything was somewhat normal. “Ms. Lang, have you seen Elizabeth?” I asked her as she passed by me.

“Not since she ran out. Sarah followed her, they have been gone for about five minutes now.”

The cold air from outside stung my face as I ran through the falling snow.


“Elizabeth! Elizabeth, where are you going?” I heard a female asking me, it must have been Sarah, she would be the only one crazy enough to run after me after the scene Alexander had caused with me.


“Anywhere but here,” I told her, “I can’t believe that just happened, that he would really do this to me.”


“So you know who he is?”


“Of coarse, don’t you. I mean you have heard the story of the Ghost of Music Hall, right?”


“Yes, who hasn’t? But how do you know him, on a personal level? And don’t try telling me you don’t know him that way. I saw the way he looked at you.”


“He was my teacher, we were the ones you heard in the morning, he would play the piano and I would sing,” I told her.


“I can’t believe that this is the first time I am hearing about this, why didn’t you tell me sooner?”


“He told me not to, and I never really saw him as a threat until he killed the director, and then even then I didn’t want to believe he was evil because I loved him. That was the night that Zack convinced me he did this, and that was the night Zack proposed.”


“Zack did what now?”


“He proposed.”


“Yeah I got that, but where is your ring?” she asked.


“That is what Ale…..the ghost took from me. The ring and he almost stole everything I have made myself think about him for the past two months.”


“You mean, you like him? He killed a guy, Liz.”


“I know, but that moment when he just talked to me I remembered the man I learned from for all those years, and that was the man I fell in love with.”


“But Liz, you’re with Zack now, last time I checked it was still pretty wrong to have a fiancé and a lover,” she told me making me sit down at a bench we were passing.


“I know, but whatever was going on between me and master is gone and over in my eyes. I just hope it is in his too.”


“I’m sorry to break it to you honey, but he still likes you, and from the looks of it, he may more than like you. By the way, what did he mean by you belong to him?”


“I do not know, Sarah, what am I to do?” I asked her lying down and putting my head in her lap.


“My advice? Forget about your master, do the show, and then move on with your life. Chances are he will figure out you don’t like him and he’ll back off.”


We sat in silence until a voice shredded the silence, “Elizabeth!! Where are you? Sarah? Are you two out here?”


“Over here,” Sarah yelled back to the person yelling for us.


Zack appeared in the distance running towards us, “Thank God I found you two. I don’t know what Ms. Lang would do to me if I lost her two star ballerinas.”


“We were just talking, after everything that happened. By the way, what happened to you?” I asked him.


“I was catching up on my history,” was all he said. Well, I guess he had his secrets and I had mine.

Winter break could not have come a moment sooner. I enjoyed breaks because that meant that there were less students roaming around campus. It also meant I was aloud to travel outside the school grounds for as long as I wanted with my chaperone.

Most of the time during breaks I traveled to Ms. Lang to a small town about an hour outside the city to visit my parents grave. Today, however, I snuck out and went alone.

Since I my trust fund didn’t activate until I was twenty I didn’t have enough money to buy a car, yet. So I called a cabbie and got in.

I should have known that this wasn’t the cabbie I had asked to give me a ride because this one was quiet, unlike the one I talked to for ten minutes about where my parents’ graves were, and then the brief history of cemeteries.

The hour-long drive was completely silent and perfect for the kind of thinking I had to do.

More than a week had passed since the whole masquerade fiasco, and yet I still had more to process. My schedule had not changed much except the morning lessons with Alexander. I was up at six for my ballet rehearsal and then I didn’t get back until about nine at night from either the musical or ballet.

By the time I arrived at the cemetery I had mostly sorted out what had happened. Being a little further up north than the city it had snowed maybe twice as much, which was not that uncommon. It was still snowing here and it looked like it was picking up and becoming a blizzard.

My parents’ graves were in the center of the graveyard and were very easy to find. When they first died the state kept me in a foster home in this town until the school was ready for me. I used to come out here and talk to them everyday, tell them what happened to me, what good books I read, and about the new people in town.

Now, I just sit there, not sure what to say.

“Why so quiet me little angel?” I heard a male voice say, from the sound of his voice the guy sounded like he was in his mid-twenty’s.

“Who are you?” I asked him as his outline appeared through the falling snow and then he stopped before I could see any of his features.

“The local priest, I have never seen you before.”

“I only come once or twice a year to visit and talk to my parents, I go to the academy in the city.”

“Ahhh, so why are you so silent?”

“I do not know what to say, my life has been such a mess lately it would take days to explain.”

“I see,” the priest said, “Why don’t you tell me, maybe I could help you. Why don’t you explain to me from the very beginning.”

“I guess it started about two years ago after they died. It seemed as if everything in my life was like a snowball going down hill at the time, but now, when I look back, everything was so black and white. The things that were bad were black, and everything good was white.

“The black was that both of my parents died, of coarse, and then getting thrown in a private school, because I don’t have any living relatives. The good thing was that I met two amazing men, well re-met one and met the other one; one of them is now my fiancé, even though I used to have feelings for the other one.

“I guess what I really needed to tell them was that I missed them more than I realized, because to me, they were more than just parents, they were friends too.”

“Interesting, they sound like they were good people,” the priest said. I still couldn’t see his face because all of the snow that was falling around us, but something seemed familiar about him to me.

“The best, they donated to charities and hospitals, always supported me no matter what. The only thing I regret is not telling them what I truly wanted before they died, and now I have what wanted and they will never get to see me the way I am now. That is all they wanted, to see me what I have always wanted to be and happy because of it. I loved them very much,” I said to him.

“Would you like to come inside and talk to me about them, I would love to hear more about them. We could even have coffee while we talk.”

“Could I have hot chocolate? I hate coffee.”

“Anything you would like, just take my hand,” he said offering me his hand.

When I was about to clasp my hand to the priest’s I heard Zack’s voice ring out through the cemetery, “Liz, don’t do it, he is not the priest, he’s the ghost.”

“Alexander?” I asked the priest or whatever he was in a low voice.

“Yes, my little angel?”

Startled I said, “Get away from me, I don’t ever want to see you again. Not after everything you have done.”

“I am afraid I can not do that,” he said just as Zack got over to where I sat by my parent’s grave.

“Get away from my fiancé, and I mean right now.”

With that single sentence Alexander looked up and his face started to fill with a sliver of fear. I turned around and saw Zack standing there pointing a pistol at Alexander.

“I think we both know what is really is in this gun, so if I were you, I would start backing away from her right now.”

I would have never thought that Alexander would ever listen to Zack, so when he started to back away from me I was genially surprised.

If Zack was going to shoot Alexander he was going to have to shoot me first. Why was I thinking like this? After all that Alexander has done to me, to Zack, to the people he has killed.

“Zack don’t, it should not have to end this way and you know it,” I said getting up and standing between them.

“Elizabeth get out of the way,” Zack yelled at me.

“No, you’re going to have to shoot me if you want to get to him.”

“Elizabeth, this has nothing to do with you.”

“Yes, it does. It has everything to do with me and I am telling you not to do this.”

“Yes, young Zackary, it has everything to do with our sweet Elizabeth here.”

“Come on Liz, let’s get you back to the academy,” Zack said deciding it best not to argue with me.

“If you leave Elizabeth it will be war upon both of you and you will regret that you did not take me up on my oh so generous offer when you had the chance,” Alexander told me as Zack and I started to leave. Without even acknowledging what he said I kept walking towards the front gates of the cemetery, hoping that I had made the right choice.

The upside of being an orphan is that I have no family to miss when I am forced to stay at the academy for rehearsals and performances. So when both of these were during winter break I had no choice but to stay.

The musical that Alexander wrote took place in France in the 1800’s, it was about a girl who was married but was seduced to commit an act of adultery. She was being forced to kill the child she had with this other man, but her husband stepped in and said that this child may be his own, but it really wasn’t.

On the day it was to be performed was perhaps the most nerve wracking one in my entire life, and the conversation I had with Zack before the show did not help my nerves at all.

“What if he does? What if he tries to take me? You saw him at the cemetery, you heard what he said; he will stop at nothing to have me. Zack don’t force me to put my life at risk,” I said.

“Liz, if he does show his face he will either be dead or in handcuffs in a matter of minutes.”

“Something will go wrong, I know it, something always does.”

“Do me a favor, and take a few breaths and then tell me how you feel then,” I did as he instructed.

“I feel the same, hopeless and terrified. Zack what if he takes me, if he does he won’t let me go. We’ll be parted forever.”

“Don’t be, there is police here, dozens of them, they are even backstage, now does that make you feel better?”

“Yes, thank-you,” I lied hoping he would stop bugging me.

“Good, I have to go take my seat now. Break a leg.”

As soon as I stepped on the stage everything flew by, at least the first two scenes did.

In the third scene everyone was wearing a black mask and we were at a huge party. The seducer whose name was Curtis came up to me and said, “What a fine party is it not?”

I should have known it wasn’t Kevin by the sound of his voice, but I guess I was so scared I didn’t really notice until it was to late.

“Wonderful, but it would be much better if my husband were here. He is unfortunately away on a business trip. Now I do not know what to do with my evening,” I would reply, and would talk until he got me “drunk” and then he would take me upstairs.

When we go to that point I made my way up the opposite side of the staircase than Curtis and met him in the middle. After the song we sang together I turned around and lifted up his mask, where I was surprised to see Alexander, without his mask.

His face was deformed, but where the crowd and other actors saw a horrible monster, I saw a beautiful creature of darkness. Where they saw a murderous killer, I somehow still saw an Angel of Music. While everyone else screamed with fear, I stood there with a look of enchantment on my face.

No matter what I said, I still had feelings for him, strong ones too, and at that moment all of them came rushing to the surface.

Alexander looked around for a way out, and he found one. Below us there was the trapdoor that lead to ‘hell’, and that was exactly where we were going.

Yelling at me the entire way, Alexander dragged me back down to his lair, and this time, there was no coming back.

“Why did you have to do that? Stand there like an idiot? You looked like you weren’t scared of me; you should have been terrified everyone always is. And it doesn’t matter now seeing as this face is the only one you will ever see again.”

“Alexander, you don’t look horrid, you only act like you’re a monster,” I said as I tried to touch his face, but he jerked away before I could.

Opening the drapes I saw last time I was here, I saw the mannequin I saw last time I was here and the wedding dress. Pulling it off the dummy he threw it at me, “Go put this on, now!!!”

Bundling the dress up in my arms I headed towards the bathroom to get dressed.

The dress fit perfectly in everyway. It clung to my hips and my breast, but not to tight in my stomach area, the waistline was actually at my waist, and the dress just barely touched the floor in the front, but trailed in the back. It looked like Alexander altered it to look similar to the dress I wore to the masquerade, so the feathers made the bottom ruffle down to the floor. The pearls were sewn in around the waist and along the neckline making the dress look elegant and sophisticated.

Walking out I could feel Alexander looking at me, “You look gorgeous,” he said walking over towards me. When he reached me he got down on one knee and said, “Elizabeth Taylor would you marry me?”

“Lizzie, no don’t!!!” Zack yelled from the lake.

“Finally, our guest has arrived. I was rather hoping you would come, and now final act has begun,” Alexander said walking over to Zack. Putting one arm over Zack’s shoulder he said, “Now do you really think I would have hurt her?”

“A monster such as you can do anything if you wanted to.”

“How wrong you are, I would never hurt Elizabeth, now you. I can live with hurting you,” as Alexander said these words he pushed Zack up against the steel gate and tied him up.

“Alexander! What are you doing?” I yelled.

“What I should have done last year when I realized he was going be an issue for us,” he said as he finished tying Zack up and then tying one end of a rope around Zack’s neck. “Now you have the chance to choose, a life with me here, forever, or a life out there, without your fiancé. Choose wisely,” his voice was cold, and it truly scared me. How could he do this? How could Alexander attempt hurt me this way?

“Elizabeth, go, let me die, because if you choose to stay I won’t stop trying until I get you back,” Zack told me.

Who to choose? I loved Zack with all my heart and I couldn’t live with knowing that I killed him. On the other hand I once loved Alexander, and I don’t think I could stay here forever with him, not without seeing some of the outside world.

“You are making me very upset Elizabeth, make your choice.”

“If I stay with you do I have to stay in this room forever? Or could I go other places?” I asked him.


“If you are supervised by me, you are welcome to go any place you like.”


“God give me courage to do this,” I whispered to myself. “Then the answer to your question is yes, I will marry you,” I said making my way over to where he was standing. When I reached to where he was I noticed he was taller than Zack and I had to stand on the points of the ballet shoes I changed into to reach his lips.


The kiss was nothing like the first one that Zack and I shared. This one was more passionate with no hesitation behind it. “Alexander, I love you,” I whispered to him the moment after he broke the kiss.


“And I you, which is why I am letting you both go, you need to leave. NOW!!!”

I stood there dumb struck for a moment, did he really just say what I thought he said.

After I got over the shock I ran over to where Zack was tied up I started to undo the knots. One by one the came undone and then he was free.

As soon as Zack hit the ground he reached in his back pocket and pulled out a wooden stake. “Zack? What is that?” I asked him.

“The one thing that can keep him away forever,” Zack said as he started to walk towards Alexander, who was sitting at his piano.


“Zack, what are you talking about?” I asked him but he just kept on walking.


When Zack reached Alexander he raised up his hand like he was going to stab Alexander, but just before Zack could begin to lower his arm Alexander swung around and threw my fiancé into the water. Zack hit the water with a thud and sunk quickly to the bottom of the lake.


“Why did you do that,” I screamed in desperation while try to find Zack.


“He was trying to kill me, if I didn’t stop him no one would have.”


“Right now I would rather see you dead,” I said to Alexander, my words full of venom. I finally found Zack, he was lying at the bottom knocked out. After pulling him out of the water and dragging him to shore I noticed he wasn’t breathing. “Zack, no don’t leave me,” I said giving him CPR.


They say that your chance of surviving after CPR has been started is under twenty percent, but I tried anyway. Just as I was about to give up Zack coughed back to life. Wrapping him up in a tight embrace I said, “I thought I was about to loose you forever.”


“Now you know how I felt after that monster took you away.”


“How touching, you know, this reminds me of a scene that took place about twenty years ago. Two lovers brought down to my home, one by me, the other from the love of his heart. One human, one not completely, I was hoping I could recreate this, but I am going to do one thing differently.”


“Your going to kill me instead,” Zack said, “Wasn’t my mother enough?”


“His mother? How could that be, you would have been seven years old at the time,” I said to Alexander.


“He’s a vampire, always has been, at least for the past two hundred years or so,” Zack said.


“Your lover is not as brainless as I thought him to be,” Alexander said walking towards us. “Yes, I am a vampire and I rather enjoy it too. I get to live forever, write music, and nurture the next generation of music.”


“You’re a monster and you know it,” Zack yelled at him.


“Yes I am, the vampire who changed me saw it too, I guess you could say that she took pity on me. Now I want you both to leave and never come back, if you do, I will rip your throat out before you could even make it ten feet. Do you understand me young Zackary?” Alexander said not really making any sense to me, but I was terrified from the little I did understand.


“Yes, I understand you.”


“What are you doing?” I asked Alexander.


“Using some precautions,” he told me. “Now Elizabeth, I want you to forget everything Zack has made you feel about me and just judge me on who you think I am.”


Instantly all my mixed feelings about Alexander left, leaving only one, speaking my mind I said, “I think that you are a misunderstood musical genius. I think that you just want your pupils to succeed and will do anything for them, and that is the reason why I love you.”


“Now, I want you to suppress all of those feelings about me, I want you to keep them inside until the time is right, or if ever, for it to come to the surface.”


“Yes, Alexander, I promise, no one will know how I feel about you until it is time,” I said feeling as if I was in a trance.


“Now, when you wake up tomorrow you won’t remember the past two minutes of this conversation, you won’t remember what I am, and you will not remember everything else I have done to you tonight. You will not remember any of it until you have seen me again, until then, I was just your teacher who left you,” he said his voice shaking and tears filling up his eyes.


“I won’t remember this conversation, or anything that happened tonight.”


“Good, now both of you leave me,” Alexander said disappearing into his bedroom.


“Wait,” I said following him, for the first time in the past two and a half years I have known Alexander I saw him showing more than just a sliver of an emotion, he was actually crying.

“I think you should have this,” I took the ring off my finger and gave it to him; it was the one Zack gave to me when he proposed. “I want you to keep it just incase the time does come and I choose to return to your side.

“Just so you know, I do love him, its not just because of everything else,” and with that I left him sitting on his bed with my ring in his hand.

“Come Elizabeth, lets get back to the school, everyone is worried sick about you,” Zack said giving me a helping hand into the boat. As we peddled down the lake towards the school I looked back to see Alexander standing there watching us leave.

As I watched Elizabeth and her love leave my home I slowly realized that without Elizabeth I would find it difficult to write. For the past three years she has been my muse, singing for me whenever I asked, and doing whatever I said.

Even now, as she is leaving my sight I could hear the music in my heart start to fade away. I don’t know what I was thinking, bringing her down here. I guess that I thought I would be able to keep her here, whether if it was my decision or hers. I regretted every second of the past hour that I had just put her through.

Walking over to one of my many mirrors that I had long ago covered up, I grabbed my extra mask and a candlestick and smashed the mirror in. I had long ago discovered this passageway and covered it up with the glass for a day like this.

I had often thought about what I would do if this happened, I thought about it more and more before I brought Elizabeth down here. I had decided that I would stay in the city until Elizabeth got married, or graduated, and then leave for the south, maybe somewhere in Virginia.

Stepping through it I turned around for one final look at my old home before leaving it forever. I would miss this place, I would miss everything about it, from the chair that Elizabeth sat in so many months ago with the book she was reading still sitting undisturbed on the table beside it to the piano that had I written so many songs at.

With one last glance at my former home I disappeared into the dark tunnel and away from everything that has happened here in the past forty years.

When Zack and I got back to the school we discovered the theater aflame and chaos everywhere.

After talking to a few people we were able to figure out that Alexander had set a tiny bomb to go off at the exact moment he kidnapped me. It didn’t hurt anybody, thank goodness, but it did cause a fire to break out.

“Elizabeth? Is that you?” Ms. Lang asked me from afar.

“Yes, it is. I am completely safe.”

“Thank God for that, but have you seen Sarah? I haven’t been able to find her,” she said her voice thick with worry.

I just stood there. No, I couldn’t loose Sarah, not so soon after almost loosing Zack. “No we haven’t, but if we do I will call you,” Zack said answering for me.

“Zack, what if she is in there? What if she couldn’t get out? Or worse, what if she followed you. She could be in the tunnels with no way out.” The thought terrified me, what if Alexander got to her and thought it was Zack coming back to kill him? What if he killed her?

“Liz, Sarah is a smart girl. I am sure she is perfectly fine.”

“Your right, she’s probably back in the dorm sleeping or doing who knows what.”

“Now, lets get you back to your room so you can get some rest. You deserve it after what you have been through today.”


“Okay, but first can we stop by Sarah’s room, she is in the same building as me.”


“Yes, if that will make you feel better,” Zack said.


“It would, thank-you.”


When we entered the dorm I saw Ms. Kelsey sitting at the reception desk, as usual. Then something hit me, she had been here since my father was in school, which was the same year that Zack’s mother died.


“You knew, didn’t you? You knew what he was, what he has done, and yet you didn’t warn anybody. You didn’t warn me. ME!!” I yelled at her.


“I am sorry for her Ms. Kelsey, she has been through a traumatic experience tonight,” Zack said.


“It’s okay, I know what she is talking about. The reason I didn’t warn anybody other than young Zack is because I knew that you would be smart enough to escape from him alive,” she said.


“You could have stopped me, you could have saved a life,” I said still yelling.


“Master, he has a way of charming you to do something, and once he does there is no way of getting out of it. He did that to me, more than once, but the last time he did that to me was the first night you came here Elizabeth. You must have changed him, don’t know how, but you did.”


“Lizzie? Is that you?” I heard Sarah ask.


Giving her a hug I said, “Thank God you’re safe, where have you been. Your mother is worried sick about you.”


“I was exploring, did you know someone has been living in the tunnels?” she asked me.


“Sarah, that was Master. Was he there when you arrived?”


“No, there was a mirror that had been smashed that opened up to a passageway that lead straight to your room.” He must have left after us, leaving the passageways for good.


“Well, I say good riddance to him. He has been nothing but a giant thorn in my side since I proposed,” Zack said aloud.



“Zack!” I said aloud.


“What, I don’t care if the entire world knows now. The monster is out of our lives forever and I see no reason not to shout it to the world. I’M ENGAGED TO ELIZABETH TAYLOR!!” Zack yelled at the top of his lungs.


“And I guess that is my cue to go to bed,” I said.


“Sarah? I know I have no real reason to ask you this but could you stay with Liz tonight? Just in case he comes back.”


“Sure,” Sarah replied, “I just need to call mother first.”


“Go ahead, I’ll meet you upstairs,” I told her as I made my way to the elevator.

Elizabeth can never know what I really found in the tunnels. As I was hiding I overheard some things that were never supposed to leave that room.


But after I saw that Lizzie and Zack had left I entered the room. When I walked, more like swam, in I didn’t see anybody, but I did see a curtain moving.


The curtain was covering a passageway, one that looked as if it had been sealed up with glass and recently broken. Grabbing a candlestick holder and a candle, I walked through the shattered remains of the mirror and into the tunnel.


After walking for about five minutes I came upon a man, he was sitting against the wall with his head in his hands. He was crying.


“Why are you crying?” I asked the man.


“What are you doing down here Sarah?”


“How do you know my name?”


“We have met before, now answer my question, why are you here?”


“Answer my question first and then I’ll tell you,” I told him.


“I was crying because I am a monster who deserves to never get what he wants and die.”


“Surely you don’t mean that.”


“And what makes you think I am not a monster? What makes you think I couldn’t rip out your throat in a second and not think twice about it?” the man asked suddenly at my throat.


“I don’t know, maybe it’s because of what Elizabeth told me. Maybe it’s because of what I saw when I walked upon you.”


“Why are you here?” he asked again.


“I followed Zack to make sure no one got hurt.”


“Nice job you did there,” he said sarcastically backing away.


“I just wanted to make sure I didn’t lose my two best friends,” I said.


“You need to know that I would have never ever harmed Elizabeth, I love her. More than I have ever loved anybody in my hundred and thirty-eight years.”


“Hundred and thirty-eight? That would mean you’re a… a,” I said trying to get the word out.


“A vampire, yes. And I have paid dearly for it.”


“So what happened? Did Elizabeth find out what you were and left?”


“Yes, except she also left me because I threatened to kill that useless fiancé of hers,” he said with a harsh tone to his cold voice.


“Well, if you need anything, you could just ask me. Mother always says that the Lang’s are the best at keeping secrets.”


“There is one thing. When I leave here, I am going to an apartment downtown. If Elizabeth ever asks about me, if she ever wants to know what became of me, tell her that if she looks into her heart it will show where to find me. I know it isn’t very likely,” he said, cutting me off from what I was about to say. “But if she does, could you please tell her that.”


“Yes, I will, that is something I can promise you. Now do you know how to get out of here?” I asked him.


“This way madam.”

When I woke up the next morning I had little to no recollection of the night. I knew that Alexander had kidnapped me in the middle of the performance and tried to force me to marry him, but after that I didn’t know what could have happened.


I did, however, remember that the theater had been burned to the ground, and that Ms. Kelsey knew something more than what she said she knew.


Lying in bed I continued trying to figure what happened in that missing time of my life.


“Liz?” Sarah said when she entered my room a few minutes later.


“Yeah?”


“Did you just get up?”


“Yeah.”


“Are you okay? After everything that happened last night.”


“Yeah,” I lied.


“No you’re not.”


“How did you know?”


“You were speaking your sentences in one word. In the entire two and a half years I have known you I have never heard you do that.”


“Oh.”


“Yeah, so what’s up?”


“It’s just that I can’t remember anything from the time that Zack came to rescue me to the time that I saw your mother by the theater.”


“I’m sure it’s just PTSD or something like that. You will remember everything in time. Your body just needs time to heal first.”


“You’re probably right,” I said getting up from the bed and walking over to the dresser. That is when I saw something that stopped me in my tracks. On the bookshelf next to the dresser was a perfect rose, wrapped around was a heart shaped locket with a note attached to it.


Elizabeth,


I am sorry for what I did last night; nothing can excuse me from that. I hope that one day you can forgive me, because I know that if you never do, I will never forgive myself. Just when, or if, you remember just think of the times that you thought upon me as your mentor and friend, do not think of the what happened last night. I guess that leads me to apologizing in advance for what you don’t remember, that is until it is time. I know none of this makes sense to you know, but hopefully one day it will.
Forever Your Angel of Music,
Alexander Weber


“Sarah?” I asked my best friend, “You said that there was a tunnel leading to my room last night. Do you think Alexander could have taken it and got in here last night?”


“No, there wasn’t anybody in the tunnels leading up here except me last night.”


“Are you sure?”


“Positive, why?”


“I just found this, and it’s from Alexander,” I told her handing her the rose and necklace.


“How do you know?”


“The note.”


“Can I see it?”


“I would rather you not, it reveals some things that I don’t even understand. I hope you understand.”


“I do,” was she all said.

I finally decided that it was time to tell Elizabeth the truth about my family, about me.


I found her sitting by herself on the piano bench staring at the keys in the piano room where she used to meet Alexander. “Liz?”


“Yeah?” she answered not even bothering to look up from the piano keys to look at me.


“What are you doing?”


“I’m trying to remember what happened last night. I can’t remember a thing after Alexander and I went into the tunnels and before coming out of them with you.”


So it worked, the creature’s compulsion actually worked. I guess now this would be as good as any time to tell Elizabeth.



“Liz, I have something to tell you.”


“Okay,” she said still not looking up, it was like she was waiting for the piano keys to give her the answer.


“Liz, I need your full attention. This could effect your decision on wanting to marry me or not.”


“What do you mean?” Elizabeth asked finally looking up.


“My family has a secret, one so great and deep that no one outside of our community knows about us.”


“Continue.”


I choked, I felt as if I couldn’t get anything out. What if she decided that she didn’t wish to marry me after this, that me being a witch has ruined our chances together.


“Zack? Are you okay? You are starting to look a little pale,” Elizabeth said after a few seconds of silence.


“Yes, I am okay. What I need to tell you though you can never repeat to anyone other than my family or me. Promise me that. Don’t ask questions, just do it,” I told her before she could get a word out of her mouth.


“I promise. Now what is all of this about?”


“For the past three years I have been keeping a dear secret from you, from everybody, and I just thought it was time for you to know.”


“Zack would you just spit it out already?”


“I’m a witch.” For a few moments Elizabeth just stared at me in shock.


“Your joking right?” she asked me actually thinking I had been joking. Maybe it was too soon.


“No, I’m not. Everyone in my family has been a witch for the past two hundred years. Look I know it sounds crazy, but it is true. You have to believe me on this.”


“Zack, I don’t know if I can.”


“Liz, can you at least attempt to? Can you try? For us, for me?


“Can you show me something? Something magical?” she asked her voice soft and curious.


“Like what?”


“Something pretty, after everything that happened last night, this place needs something pretty.”


She was not wrong. The place where the theater once stood was now just a skeleton of a building. The March snow that had fallen had turned gray from the ash that still floated down across the city.


Looking around the room I found a potted plant that was an inch from dying and asked Elizabeth to get it for me.


“Now watch carefully,” I told her as I started to repeat one of the most basic spells the witches had. In seconds the plant began to unfold and turn into the most beautiful flower I have ever seen.


“Wow. How did you do that?”


“I told you. Magic.”


“I don’t believe this, how is this possible?”


“To tell you the truth I have no idea. My mother used to tell me when I was younger that some woman a long time ago did something to one of my ancestors and he stumbled on to something strange. This strange item gave him the power to do unbelievable things. And it was passed down for generations from father to son.


“Then one generation there was no son born. Only daughters, the secret was almost lost forever, but then one of the girls found the magic and took it and gave a piece of it to each of her two sisters. This was the first time there was a female witch in my family, from then on it was passed down by genetics for the child growing in the womb of the sisters took some of the magic that they possessed.


“However the gift of magic is only given by the girls in my family. Unfortunately I am the only child in my family for the past generation,” Zack explained.


“So, what you are saying is that you’re a wizard. With a wand and everything?”


“No, my sweet. No wand required.”


“I still can’t believe this. I don’t know why I should, but it kind of makes sense. You acting strange, towards Master, towards me the night of the masquerade. But why are you telling me this?”


“I needed you to know, just in case something were to happen. And to ask you do you still want to marry me?”


“Of course I still want to marry you. How could I not? I love you Zack, and I always will. Don’t forget that, no matter what happens, never forget,” I said giving him a kiss.

Part
Four
Senior
Year


Part four of four. Don't worry you are almost there. Part three is the longest so bare with me on this. Please vote and post comments for me to rewrite the sequel.

It had been over a year and a half since the director’s death and almost fifteen months since we last heard from Alexander. Since the fire everyone had to make rearrangements to their schedule to accommodate their activities, but the new and improved theater was about to open so everything was finally about to get back to normal.


No one is positive about whether or not he did it, but everyone knew that Alexander had something to do with the fire.


“Liz, hello? Earth to Liz,” Sarah said to me.


“Hmmm?”


“I said are you sure you want to do this. I mean getting married before you are even out of high school seems like kind of rushing it.”


“Yes, I’m sure. My wedding is in three days and I have never been so sure about anything else in my entire life. Besides I will almost be out of school, I mean it is June after all, graduation is just a two weeks away.”


“I know I just want to make sure you are completely certain of this.”


“I am, trust me, I need to move on from Alexander.”


“What are you talking about? You have barely thought about him for the past eleven months. Why do you need to move on from him when you are already in Timbuktu.”


She was right, since I woke up the morning after the fire I barely thought about Alexander, then only thing that had reminded me of him in the past year was that note he had left me. I was so ready to move on I almost completely forgot about him that was until last night.


“I don’t know what is was, but something last night made me think of him, and I haven’t been able to get my mind off of him now,” I said rambling.


“Liz, there is something I need to tell you,” Sarah said but I didn’t hear her.


“It’s as if I’m back to the night that he took me. I feel as if I love him again.”


“Liz, there is something you need to know.”


“What?”


“I lied to you, that night that he disappeared, I found him in the tunnels crying, he told me when you talked about him to tell him to look inside your heart and you would know where to find him,” she told me in one long sentence not bothering to take a breath.


“Why would I want to find him?”


“I don’t know, but if you have any unfinished business then you know how to find him,” Sarah said as she left the room.


I sat in silence for several minutes thinking about what Sarah said. Did I have any unfinished business with Alexander? Throughout the past few hours it felt as if I did, that I had something I needed him to know. But what would happen if I went to him? It wasn’t until my cellphone rang that I was shocked out of my concentration.


“Hello,” I said picking it up.


“Hey,” Zack said on the other end. “I’m running late at work so I won’t be able to make it to dinner tonight.”


“It’s okay, I have plans with Sarah anyways. I was going to call and cancel but you beat me to it.” Making up my mind to go find Alexander tonight.


“Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow.”


“Bye Zack, love you,” I said hanging up the phone. I just hope, with the way I feel right now, I really meant it.

The only thing I needed to know was what Sarah meant by look in your heart. There was no way I could find him, I could barely get around the campus my first year here with out a GPS. That’s when it hit me, the heart shaped locket that I found.


Changing out of my pajamas I grabbed my cash, jacket, and the locket that I found last year after that night, I had stashed it at the bottom of my dresser. Opening the locket up I found I piece of paper folded up, after I unfolded it I found an address to an apartment downtown. It was an hour walk and, in this city, probably just as long of a cab ride.


Since I was eighteen and now considered a legal adult, I could now go out into the city without a chaperon, which was really useful since I didn’t want anyone knowing where I was going, but I still had to sign out.



Walking up to the front office and signing myself out I ran into someone who has been attempting to avoid me ever since that night ever so long ago.


“Ms. Kelsey!” I exclaimed. “Why haven’t I seen you at the front desk lately?”


“I was put in for a new position, a better paying one.”


“Oh, okay, well, I was just wondering if you could tell me what happened to my father when he was here? I mean he knew Zack’s mother, the one who died.”


“Your father is a sweet man who deserves to be remembered in joy and happiness, not the things that he did while he was here at the school.”


“What do you mean?” I asked kind of slowly, wondering what sorts of things my father could have been hiding.


“Your father had a lot more to owe to Alexander than you did, and he paid his dues.”


“What the heck is that supposed to mean?”


“Let’s just say that when Alexander wants something, he gets it, no matter how, or who, he uses to get it.”


“Are you implying something bad about my dad? Or about Alexander? Because either way you seem to be attempting to warn me about something.”


“Elizabeth, when your Master puts his mind to something he can accomplish it. I am afraid dear that if you see him again, you won’t come back to see your fiancé ever again.”


“Thanks, but no thanks. I don’t truly think that I will ever see Alexander Webber ever again,” I said leaving Ms. Kelsey standing in the main lobby all by herself.





By the time I arrived at the apartment it was almost dark. Perfect, Alexander is probably just waking up. I looked back down at the paper and saw that there was no apartment number on it.


“Alexander? Where are you?” I asked to the building hoping to get an answer. I don’t know why I expected an answer, but since Alexander has always been there when I needed him I thought he might have been watching for me.


After standing and looking at the building for what seemed like hours I finally walked inside. I was at the point of no return; I couldn’t go back now.


“Excuse me,” I said to the man at the front desk.


“Yes ma’am,” he answered.


“I was wondering if you had an Alexander that lives here.”


“Hold on let me check,” he said clicking around on the computer in front of him. “No, it seems like we do not. Are you sure you have the right name?”


“How about a Robert?” I asked using my father’s name.


“We have two, there is a Robert Nicolson, and a Robert Weber.”


“I think the second one is the one I’m looking for. Could you give me his room number? Just so I can buzz up and see if he is there.”


“517, and tell him to let you in. I don’t want to get up and go around back.”


“Okay, thank-you,” I said exiting the building and going around to where the buzz things were.


I had to press the button a few times before I got a response. “I was wondering when I would see you, my angel. Come in,” Alexander said as the gate leading to the back opened.



Looking up at the moonless sky I begged God for forgiveness for whatever happened tonight, whether I intended it to happen or not.

“My sweet Elizabeth, what is taking so long?” Alexander said surprising me from behind; he had his mask back on so I couldn’t see his face, but I knew what it looked like.

All of the sudden everything from that night came flooding back to me. It overwhelmed me so much that my vision started to blur until I was completely swallowed by the blackness.


Just like before, when I woke I was in Alexander’s arms. “How long have I been out?” I asked him not the least bit afraid, even though I should have been terrified.


“Ten minutes, give or take. You seemed to have passed out when my compulsion wore off.”


“You’re a vampire, you tried to kill Zack. And yet I still feel like I need to be here, how is that possible?”


“You just need time to sort things out. Unfortunately time is running out for both of us.”


“Yes, it is,” I said remembering that my wedding was in three days. “Which is why I came. I needed to say good-bye, at least I thought I did, but now as I’m with you, I feel as if I need something more.”


For a moment we didn’t say anything, we just laid there in his bed. God, did I miss how he smelled like cinnamon. I longed to touch him, go back to that first day in his home, the first time I really got to see the true Alexander.


Putting my head on his chest so I could see his face/mask more clearly I asked, “Why are you still hiding here in the shadows?”


“I have told you this before angel,” he said brushing my bangs out of face and behind my ear.


“You said it was because you didn’t want to disappoint me. I saw you for who you were and I am not disappointed.”


“I don’t like my face, my mother sold me to a circus because of it, she hated it, she hated me.”


Reaching up and pulling off his mask I said, “It’s not that bad, I still think you are just a misunderstood creature of darkness.”


After I said that he pushed me off of him. Going to the opposite side of the room and looking out the window he said, “Beautiful night isn’t it?”


I put his mask on the bedside table and followed him over, “It would be more beautiful if there was a moon.”

“You are my moon,” he said still not looking me in the eye, but I knew he wanted to, more than anything in the world.

“Just like you are my night.” After a few moments with no response I grabbed his shoulder and attempted to spin him around, “Turn towards me, I told you. You don’t scare me, I think you are one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.”


When he turned around I saw what I had thought to be a dream the first time I saw it. He was still just as beautiful if not more than I remembered. His face was still deformed, but it was like a work of art that no one understood yet.


After a moment of just staring at each other he grabbed me lifting me up into a tight embrace that ended with a kiss. Surprised at first I didn’t do anything, and that was when he let go.


“Liz, I am so sorry, for everything,” he apologized.


“It’s okay, as long as you don’t mind me doing the same thing,” I said reaching up for another kiss.

This kiss was like the first one we shared all those nights ago, no hesitation, no holding back. It was passionate it was almost animal.


Picking me up without breaking the kiss Alexander took me to the bed, where we stayed the rest of the night.





When I woke the next morning I expected to find Alexander beside me, but he was not. There was, however, a note.



Liz,


I know that this is not the best way to do this, but it is the only way. Last night was possibly one of the best of my existence, but it opened my eyes to help me see that we can never be together; one of the many reasons for this is that I would not bear to live with myself if I did something to harm you. If I could, I would tell you last night was a mistake, for you it may have been, but for me it was not. I would not trade it for a million more nights, even if it were a million more nights with you by my side.


The time has come for me to face trial for my crimes, and there is nothing you could have said to change my mind. Today is the last day that Alexander Weber shall exist.


Before I do this I need you to know that you have been the only woman that I have ever truly loved, and the only one I ever really will. Just remember that when you look back to this night, that I didn’t leave you because I didn’t love you. I left because I knew that it would never work and that was too dangerous for us to be together.
I wish you well and say good luck to you with your wedding fast approaching.
Forever yours,
Alexander Weber, your Angel of Music.





As I finished reading the letter I found tears rolling down my face and splashing onto the paper I was reading. Why? Why had he done this to me? After everything that happened last night, after everything I revealed.


Next to where I had found the note I noticed that there was the ring that I had given to Alexander the night that he attempted to force me to marry him.


Now that I think about it, it sounds a lot worse then it really is. I loved him, and I would have spent the rest of my human life, and maybe my immortal life if he had decided to turn me, with him if he had just asked me to in the first place. Instead of killing people, attempting to kill Zack, kidnapping me, and not to mention making me choose between the two men I loved most in the world.


The thing is though, I still loved him, even after everything that happened, and I gave him this ring to show that I still did. I guess that he was giving it back to show me the same thing.

The next few days I moved as if I was a ghost. I didn’t speak with anyone and kept myself from being seen as much as possible. It wasn’t until my wedding day that I woke up.


I always imagined my wedding would take place out on a beach somewhere, but right now, I couldn’t care less where it took place. At this moment I wouldn’t care if I didn’t have a wedding at all.


I knew no matter what I did I would still be getting married today. Alexander wouldn’t have let me not carry out my plans to ditch Zack for him, even if that was what he wanted.


It was like he said the first day he saw me, if I didn’t take the offer there was no going back to that moment. Now, I wish I could have gone back to the moment where I chose to leave instead of stay; I loved him that much.


Thinking about Alexander brought more tears to my eyes than before; it wasn’t long before I was sobbing.

Everything inside of me felt jumbled up, in some deep down place I was glad he was gone, but everywhere else, I wasn’t. Alexander was the man I truly loved and he would always hold that place in my heart, on the other hand, Zack was the one who treated me fair from the start, the one who told me everything, just because of a few childhood memories.

“But, he loved me,” I said aloud.

“Who loved you?” Natalie asked, although she was my best friend’s annoying little sister I loved her to death, she was like my own annoying little sister.

“Nobody, just someone who died recently.”

“Awww, that’s sad. Would I know him?”

“No, but you might know of him,” I whispered to myself.

“What was that?”

“Just a thought, no, you wouldn’t know him.”

“Okay, well, Sarah sent me up to tell you its time to go get ready; and if I were you I would go put on some under eye make-up, your eyes are really puffy,” Natalie said leaving my room.

As I got up from where I sat on the bed, I saw something flashing in the sunlight. It was the locket that Alexander had given me all that time ago. When I fastened it around my neck I felt a gentle rush of warmth course through my veins reminding me of the night that took place just a few short days ago.

“LIZZIE!! HURRY UP!!!” I heard Natalie call from down the hall.

“Coming!” I called back while running out the door, “Do you think we could stop by the drugstore on our way to the church?”

“Why? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m on my period and I’m almost out of tampons, just need to grab some more.” I lied, the thing was, I didn’t really lie. I was supposed to be on my period, for the past two days I was supposed to be. What I really needed was a pregnancy test.

Lucky for us there was a drugstore just a few shops down from the school so we didn’t have to walk that far whenever we needed something. So walking in was like any other day for Natalie, but definitely not for me.

“Shoot,” I said, “I forgot my bobby pins in my room, could you run over there and get them for me? Here’s my key.”

“Sure,” she said taking my key and started to turn to leave me alone to get what I needed to get.

“Thanks, I’ll wait for you outside the store.”

And just like that she was gone, now all I needed to do was find the test. I walked up and down the isles of medicine until I found them. Picking out the least expensive one and grabbing two of them I headed to the cashier.

“Can I help you?” the cashier asked in a cheery voice.

“Yeah, I just need to pay for these.”

“Okay,” she said trying not to ask why I had them, you could tell that I was defiantly to young to be a mother, hell I felt to young to be a mother.

By the time I was finished checking out and got out side Natalie was almost back with the bobby pins.

“Thank-you so much,” I said to her hoping she wouldn’t ask why they were still sitting in my bathroom all over my sink counter.

“No problem, just remember you owe me.”

“Got it, I owe Natalie.”

“Good, now lets go. We’re going to be late if we don’t hurry.”

The church that I was going to get married at was a small one on the outskirts of the city. The local priest and his wife who housed many foster children owned it, and as I was running in I almost knocked one over.

“I am so sorry,” I said to the little girl, who was about five, I almost pushed down.

“It’s okay, I get knocked around by the boys all the time. But I’ve proved to them that I’m super girl. No one can push me around.”

“What’s your name?” I asked her, she was so cute with her brown curls bouncing and cheeks as pink as a roses. She reminded me of myself when I was younger. She seemed as if she was so alive, and not meant to be here in a foster home.

“Gracie. Could you play with me?” she asked me, even her voice was adorable. Maybe after I got married I could convince Zack to adopt her.

“Well the Gracie, I am Elizabeth, and I would love to stay and play with you but I have to go, I’m getting married today. How about you and I play later, or tomorrow, I can come play with you then.”

“I would like that, very much,” she said in her little voice.

“Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow for our little play date.”

“Bye,Ms. Elizabeth,” she said waving bye to me.

“Good-bye Gracie.”

As soon as I left Gracie behind in the hallway, I remembered the major problem I had at hand. You know I never thought I would be this kind of girl, the girl who got married while she was in high school; and certainly not the girl to get pregnant with another man’s child, I just hoped I wasn’t.


When I got to the room everyone was already dressed and waiting for me to arrive. The and girls who I chose to be my bridesmaids were Trish, Natalie, Lucy, and Karren, all looked beautiful; along with Sarah who was my maid of honor. When I walked in all five heads turned towards me and I felt guilty all of the sudden.


“Hold on,” I said before any of them could rush me into my dress or start fixing my hair, “I have to go to the bathroom.”


There was a bathroom connected to the room, thankfully, so that was the one I went for. Grabbing my bag of “tampons” I went in.



I never thought peeing on a stick could be that hard, but apparently for me, it is. But I got the task done and was waiting for the results when someone banged on the door.


“Hold on, almost done,” I said through the door.


“Elizabeth, it’s almost time for you to get in your dress, you can’t be late for your own wedding,” Sarah told me through the door.


“I just need another minute.” I hope that test finished fast.


“Your lucky I love you so much. I’ll give you two,” she said sounding really impatient. I guess we all were today.


For another thirty seconds I stared at the two sticks anxiously until they started to spin. When I saw the results, I was relieved, yet even more upset than I was before. I never thought I would feel this much emotion because of Alexander ever again.


Both of the sticks had little plus signs. They were both positive. I was pregnant with Alexander’s child.

If you haven't figured it out by now this was based off of The Phantom of the Opera. Both the book and the broadway show. If you want me to write the sequel (Love Never Dies) please vote and post what you thought about my book. If you would review it I would love you forever. Thank you for sticking with me as long as you did.