Chapter Four: Reunion

Lisa was dozing when she was startled awake by a loud thock, thock, thock at her door. She groaned and pulled the pillow over her head, but the thock-ing sounded again, and then there was a shrill neigh.

“Lisa, come outside, quick!”

Jamie lifted his head from his wing as she sat up, the pillow falling from her face. That’s Mistral, he said, hopping down from the headboard. Something’s wrong.

Lisa pulled on her glasses, her robe and clogs and ran to the front door, Jamie following behind. Opening it, she saw Mistral standing beside a black horse, who was carrying a barely conscious man. A very familiar barely conscious man.

“Lisa!” he gasped, coughing, trying to dismount but losing his balance.

“Erik!” she shrieked. She rushed to him and helped him keep his balance as he slid off Cesar. Almost immediately after his feet touched the ground, he wrapped his arms around her and clung tightly, tears streaming down his face.

“Lisa…I’ve found you…oh, Lisa…”

Somewhere in her mind, the thought of Is he speaking English? occurred to her, but she wasn’t going to worry about it now. “Shh, all right. You two stay here. Erik, let’s get you in the house.”

Thanks to Mistral’s weather shield, there was no longer any snow on the ground to walk through, plus it was warmer, so getting Erik into the house was pretty easy as long as he kept his balance.

Lisa gently sat him on the couch and put a blanket around him. “I’ll be right back. Jamie, watch him, but don’t scare him. I just need to take care of Cesar, and I’ll be right back, all right?”

He’d been clinging to her hands, but he relented and nodded, releasing her. She bent low and kissed his forehead, then went back outside.

“I’m going to love hearing how you got here,” she said, “but not now.” She removed Cesar’s tack. “Mistral, take him to the others and help him get through the storm. Get Medicus to look over him, and tell him to get his tail over here as quick as possible. When the storm’s over, Cesar, come back here when you can.”

Both Cesar and Mistral nodded, and the filly turned on her heels. “Follow me!” Together, they galloped off back to the forest.

Lisa took the tack inside and shut the door, and paused to turn the heat up a couple notches.

Jamie was watching from behind the couch where Erik couldn’t see him. Erik himself was waiting for her and probably would have leapt up out of the seat had he had the strength.

“Oh, Lisa…” he said again, reaching for her.

She took his hands and sat next to him. “Erik, what happened?”

His mind had always been a little difficult to read properly, even when he was projecting. His thoughts were fragmented and disjointed. She always presumed it was because of his defect, that maybe the deformity also affected his brain. Not that she thought he was very deformed. Sure, he was different, but the scarring on his face just made him what he was.

Nothing had changed as far as her reading his mind. He took a breath and, between coughing, recounted his story. He told her about what happened after she’d left. About how he would have asked Cesar to take him to her right away after she’d gone had it not been for him hearing the angelic voice of Christine Daaé. He told her that he’d taken Christine under his wing and tutored her to become a wonderful soprano by the time she was sixteen. He told her that he’d fallen in love with Christine, obsessively in love, and how he’d almost killed her lover, the Vicomte de Chagny. And he told her that, after Christine had kissed him, he was reminded about how it had felt when he and Lisa were together. He told her that he’d let them go, and, as the lynch mob was on its way down to his lair, he’d escaped and come here.

By the time he was finished, he was sobbing and coughing and Lisa was holding him tightly. She was concerned that his skin, normally slightly cool to the touch, was unusually warm.

“Okay,” she said, “well, you’re here, now. You’re going to be fine. I’ll take care of you.”

He sighed, relieved that he was finally out of harm’s way, but he was shivering. “I’m so cold…” he whispered.

“Your clothes are still damp,” she said. “Come with me. I’ll show you where you can change. Can you stand?”

Together, they walked down the Hall and she showed him to a room. Jamie was following slowly behind them, only because he knew Erik probably wouldn’t take to good to a dragon-like creature hanging around so close. Erik started when Lisa turned on the lights.

“Oh, right…Erik, sit down.” She sat next to him on the bed and looked in his eyes. “Erik, what year did you come from?” He gave her an odd look. “Just tell me.”

“Eighteen seventy-one.”

“I thought as much. You came through a Time Gate. It brought you over a hundred and thirty-five years into the future.”

He simply stared at her. She wasn’t quite sure if he believed her or not.

“Trust me. I’ll help you through this. In the meantime, change into something dry.” She pointed out the dresser to him. “Call me when you’re done. I’ll be right outside.”

She left the room and shut the door. Jamie looked up at her from the floor.

Is he all right? he asked. His mind is strange.

I know, she responded, using telepathy so Erik wouldn’t hear her talking to herself. It’s always been that way. I met him a while back.

Why does he wear the mask?

Half of his face is disfigured. Well…it’s scarred. He’s from nineteenth-century Paris. He grew up being abused in a traveling fair. He was rescued and was hidden under the Opera House, but the manager was trying to evict him. I helped get them to leave him alone. Apparently, he fell in love with a singer after meeting me…

Yes, I heard that much.

Yeah. I guess his mind doesn’t work like other humans’.

I can only wonder why.

We might end up finding out. Anyway –

“Lisa…” Erik’s voice sounded slightly different; weaker and a little fainter.

She cast one look at the closed door, then said to Jamie, Stay out of sight for now. Wait until he’s stronger. I don’t want to overload him.

I’ll be in our room.

She smiled at her flit, then opened the door. Erik had changed into a white button-down shirt and black pants. A modern take on what he normally wore, she supposed. His still-damp clothes were folded neatly on the edge of the bed.

Erik himself was sitting on the bed, one had to his head. He looked very pale and his eyes, when he looked up at her, wouldn’t focus properly.

He’s very sick, Lisa, sad Jamie. Even from down the Hall, he could sense it.

“I do not feel well,” said Erik, unknowingly confirming Jamie’s telepathic statement. “I am very cold.”

Lisa could see that he was still shivering. “Lay down,” she said, pulling the blankets to cover him, tossing his clothes onto a chair. “After what you’ve been through, plus being out in that storm…I’m not surprised you’re sick. But, don’t worry. The Healer’s on his way and he’ll help.” She gently ran her fingers down the un-masked portion of his face and he shut his eyes, relishing in her touch.

“Oh, Lisa…” he whispered. “How I’ve missed you…”

“I’m here, now,” she said, pulling him into her arms. “And I won’t have to leave you again.”

He let out a shuddering sigh, still trembling, almost clinging to her.

She could sense his mind churning, as if her words stirred something inside, making him want to say something, but he couldn’t find a way to word it.

“Lisa…” he said finally, “I must know…do you still love me?”

She paused to consider the question. Did she? True, she had all but fallen for the poor man who was shunned by the rest of society just because of what she considered to be a minor cosmetic difference, even if it did somehow include the processes of his mind. So, did she still love him? The answer, she felt, came rather easily.

“Erik, I’ve never stopped loving you.”

The joy she felt coming from him was almost overwhelming. He broke the embrace and smiled his first true smile since arriving at the house.

Together, they shared a sweet kiss as their love enveloped them. Suddenly…

POP!

End chapter four.

Back *~*~* Chapter Three *~*~* Chapter Five