Every rose must have her thorns.
In this collection of fifteen short stories inspired by Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera, Christine Daaé finds herself in strange realms, but one thing is always certain – the two men she must choose between.
Who will she pick? Raoul de Chagny, her childhood friend, who is rich, handsome and kind? Or Erik? The Phantom? A man who can create and destroy, who terrifies her yet understands and nurtures the potential within her?
Stories seen through different eyes: Meg’s as she notices odd changes in Christine’s demeanor, Raoul looking back on what could have been, Christine torn between two lovers, and Erik’s descent into madness and loneliness. Tales set before, during and after the catastrophic events of The Phantom of the Opera, and others in entirely different worlds . . .
These are her choices, and the consequences of each one.
The Wedding Mask
When Christine receives a mysterious package, Meg notices a curious change in her friend.
Riddles
At a festival of masks, a nightingale asks a riddle that stumps all but the crow . . .
Siren
In another world, Christine Daaé never went to the Opera house. Alone and struggling to survive as a lace maker, she finds herself at the edge of the Seine, following a beautiful song. Yet her father always warned her a monster lives down there.
Drenched Rats
Erik’s home under the Opera house has flooded, and he must find somewhere to shelter from the rain.
Possibilities
Raoul returns from yet another voyage. It has been twenty years since Christine rejected his proposal. When he goes to the Opera, who will he find?
The Dancer
Salome, a dancer for the cruel child-empress, encounters the court genie – a masked man who calls himself Erik. But, when a room of mirrors is designed, death becomes the next courtier.
The Painting
Vignette. Erik peers behind the mirror to gaze upon Christine and draw her portrait.
Fever
Christine has run off with Raoul to fondly look back on their childhood, but when Erik comes for her she slips into a nightmare . . .
Clay
Another world, where a boat from Sweden to France was wrecked, drowning a violinist and his daughter. Slowly dying from loneliness, Erik buys clay from a crone and moulds a woman who will not look at him in disgust. Then the statue opens her eyes, and has nightmares about a shipwreck. Inspired by the Pygmalion myth.
Death And The Nightingale
A party in the Paris catacombs turns sour when Red Death arrives.
Sewer Maze
Christine is dragged below the Opera house and kept prisoner by a devil known only as Erik, but stumbles upon an unusual ally.
Holiday Romance
In 2017, Christine Vålnad flies to Paris to meet her old friend Meg. However, although she has never been to France before, the buildings are too familiar, and there’s talk of a ghost from the Opera house.
As Quiet As A Mouse
It is Christmas day, and when Erik brings Christine her gift he discovers more than a mouse stirring.
Puppets
Christine takes her daughter to a puppet show, but the puppet wears an all too familiar mask.
Masks
Christine surprises Erik when he shows her his collection of masks.
In this collection of fifteen short stories inspired by Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera, Christine Daaé finds herself in strange realms, but one thing is always certain – the two men she must choose between.
Who will she pick? Raoul de Chagny, her childhood friend, who is rich, handsome and kind? Or Erik? The Phantom? A man who can create and destroy, who terrifies her yet understands and nurtures the potential within her?
Stories seen through different eyes: Meg’s as she notices odd changes in Christine’s demeanor, Raoul looking back on what could have been, Christine torn between two lovers, and Erik’s descent into madness and loneliness. Tales set before, during and after the catastrophic events of The Phantom of the Opera, and others in entirely different worlds . . .
These are her choices, and the consequences of each one.
The Wedding Mask
When Christine receives a mysterious package, Meg notices a curious change in her friend.
Riddles
At a festival of masks, a nightingale asks a riddle that stumps all but the crow . . .
Siren
In another world, Christine Daaé never went to the Opera house. Alone and struggling to survive as a lace maker, she finds herself at the edge of the Seine, following a beautiful song. Yet her father always warned her a monster lives down there.
Drenched Rats
Erik’s home under the Opera house has flooded, and he must find somewhere to shelter from the rain.
Possibilities
Raoul returns from yet another voyage. It has been twenty years since Christine rejected his proposal. When he goes to the Opera, who will he find?
The Dancer
Salome, a dancer for the cruel child-empress, encounters the court genie – a masked man who calls himself Erik. But, when a room of mirrors is designed, death becomes the next courtier.
The Painting
Vignette. Erik peers behind the mirror to gaze upon Christine and draw her portrait.
Fever
Christine has run off with Raoul to fondly look back on their childhood, but when Erik comes for her she slips into a nightmare . . .
Clay
Another world, where a boat from Sweden to France was wrecked, drowning a violinist and his daughter. Slowly dying from loneliness, Erik buys clay from a crone and moulds a woman who will not look at him in disgust. Then the statue opens her eyes, and has nightmares about a shipwreck. Inspired by the Pygmalion myth.
Death And The Nightingale
A party in the Paris catacombs turns sour when Red Death arrives.
Sewer Maze
Christine is dragged below the Opera house and kept prisoner by a devil known only as Erik, but stumbles upon an unusual ally.
Holiday Romance
In 2017, Christine Vålnad flies to Paris to meet her old friend Meg. However, although she has never been to France before, the buildings are too familiar, and there’s talk of a ghost from the Opera house.
As Quiet As A Mouse
It is Christmas day, and when Erik brings Christine her gift he discovers more than a mouse stirring.
Puppets
Christine takes her daughter to a puppet show, but the puppet wears an all too familiar mask.
Masks
Christine surprises Erik when he shows her his collection of masks.
Extract from Clay:
Christine tips back her head, and when she sings – perfection. The boy’s foot taps along to the song and he hums, just as a commoner would do in a bawdy hall or child at a puppet show. Ignorant fool. Yet I cannot help but smile as well. She has exceeded my expectations. Listen to her, world. I made her. She is my reflection. Worship her. Love her.
Then, just as I pray that this will never end, the show is over. I have to leap back when the boy jumps up to clap wildly.
“It must be her,” I hear him say in wonderment, and my stomach clenches. “The girl who lost her scarf!”
No one can see us. One flick of my fingers, and I could silence his clapping. None would find him, especially not Christine. He would be another set of bones buried in the bed of the lake . . .
A shame to kill an innocent, but it is the same fleeting guilt the farmer feels when wringing a lamb’s neck.
End him. The tips of my fingers brush the curls on the back of his neck, and he shudders unknowingly –
“Raoul!”
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