Cogs Of Fate

Ominous Revelations

1980

Lucy led the way through the Metropolitan Opera House with Tenley keeping up as best as she could. Lucy was determined to track down Future Wyatt to find out what was happening - why he seemed to be working with Emma.

Tenley panted for air. "Are you sure he went this way?"

Lucy shook her head. "I'm not sure of anything right now-" Lucy stopped suddenly, causing Tenley to crash into her. Lucy held her finger to her lips as she pointed across the auditorium.

Tenley's eyes drifted across the room to see the performers on stage for rehearsals. The orchestra sat in the pit warming up. She turned to look down the hallway. It was empty.

Lucy studied the performers carefully, hoping to recognize someone. When she saw them wearing ballet shoes, she tilted her head to the side. "Wait..."

"What?" Tenley asked. She saw a light bulb illuminate inside Lucy's head as she seemed to remember something. "What is it?"

Lucy grabbed Tenley's hand, pulling her back to the lobby. "We need to find that program again." Tenley sighed, frustrated with being pulled around by the wrist. She kept her thoughts to herself as she followed Lucy's lead.

The two stopped at the stand with the programs, once more and Lucy released her hold of Tenley to scour through the pages again. She stopped on a page in the middle. "The Berlin Ballet..."

Tenley watched Lucy's face as the historian's expression shifted from thinking to realization. "What? You have that look..."

"I can't believe I didn't think of it before..." she muttered, flipping through the program again. "I need to find...Ah! Here! The pictures of the performers..."

Tenley glanced over her shoulder, looking at the headshots of the performers. "Are you looking for someone in particular?"

"Maybe," Lucy admitted. "Though..." she lowered the program, before turning her gaze upwards in thought, "she's not in the ballet..." she flipped through to the orchestra members. She stopped, curling the front part of the book around before pointing to a picture. "We're here for her..."

"Why do you say that?" Tenley questioned. "Who is she?"

Lucy sighed. "In this time? Her name is Helen Hagnes Mintiks," she explained. "In 1877? She went by Christina Nilsson..." she turned her gaze to Tenley, "she was the opera singer that inspired the Phantom of the Opera...But in 1980, she's a musician who was murdered during the intermission of the ballet..."

Tenley's brows drew together. "Wait," she began. "Isn't she the one Future Wyatt kidnapped?" Lucy jutted her jaw out, nodding. Tenley asked softly, "Why would he do that? Why would he kidnap her and bring her here, only to kill her later? It doesn't make sense."

Lucy's eyes locked with a familiar frame heading deeper into the Opera House. She recognized that frame and he waited until he caught her attention before slinking down the hall. She whispered, "Let's go ask him."

Tenley watched as Lucy began to walk toward the hall across the lobby - it was then, she noticed the figure in the shadows walking deeper into the Opera House. Tenley's guard raised instantly. Something felt off about this meeting. Despite her gut and intuition telling her to not follow, she did, if only to protect Lucy.

The two women navigated through the dark hallways until they found themselves in the basement of the opera house. "Are you sure he came down here?" Tenley whispered, eyes darting about the area.

Lucy nodded, motioning to a cracked door where some light seeped out into the hallway. "I'd say so."

Tenley cocked her head slightly. "I don't think we should do this..."