The Bal Masquerade was my favorite time of the year. It was a special time for Meg, Madeleine, and I, to come out in our costumes, like a strange little family pretending to be normal. Everyone masked up, and I could blend right in and be treated by a normal civilian. It was one night out of the year where I noticed Madeleine take a sigh of relief because she didn’t have to worry about me. All I had to do was stay away from the drunks that fancied to strip everyone’s mask for a laugh.
I felt a strange kind of excitement having Rita for this holiday season. Before coming to the Opera House, I was never treated with a holiday, except for occasionally by Father Erik, and then after Madeleine brought me down here, she had always tried to make something small and special for Meg and I, ev
