The Phantom Manor

Chapter Seven

    It took Hannah a long moment to process those words. "What?"

    "I am Henry Ravenswood," the man replied, looking nervous.

    "You?" Hannah asked.

    "You're Melanie's father," Luka said in surprise.

    Henry nodded, looking sheepish "Surprise."

    Hannah stared at him. "Why wouldn't Martha have known it was you?" she challenged.

    "I was afraid," Henry answered. "Afraid to see Martha and Melanie again, after everything."

    "You could help them!" Hannah insisted. "You seem to be trusted by the Phan-" She cut off and stared at him. "Why does the Phantom put so much trust in you when he knows you are her father?"

    Henry bit his lip. "He has no reason to doubt me."

    "Why?" asked Luka. "Why does he trust you?"

    Henry swallowed and closed his eyes. "Because I helped Him do this to her."

    Luka's eyes widened. "You did what?"

    "And that is why I cannot go to Martha and Melanie. Because," Henry explained, "the guilt is hard enough to live with as it is. I can't face them now, after all I have done."

    "What did you do, Henry?" Hannah demanded.

    Henry pressed his lips together in a thin line. "I helped Him," he whispered. "I helped Him kill Jake."

    Hannah gasped. Luka stared at Henry. "How could you?" he said in a low voice.

    "You don't understand!" Henry protested. "I despised Jake, and I was blinded by my hatred. I had worked so hard to build this mansion and to found Thunder Mesa. And it was all for my daughter. It was all for Melanie." To Hannah's surprise, Henry's shoulders began to shake, and he was fighting back tears. "I died in an earthquake that leveled half of my town. And I knew what I had to do to keep Melanie where I wanted her. So I sneaked into the manor and freed the Phantom from His prison-"

    "Wait," Hannah interrupted. "From his prison?"

    Henry nodded. "The Phantom is a spirit of chaos from long ago who had committed such great evils in His lifetime that His soul could not find rest in the afterlife. Instead, He continued killing innocents as a ghost, until my grandfather trapped him in an enchanted prison hidden in the most innocent of objects. A locket."

    "Melanie's locket," Hannah realized.

    Henry nodded. "It was passed down in our family so that He would remain trapped there forever. I was preparing to pass the secret to Melanie before I died.

    "Desperate to keep Melanie at the manor, I freed the Phantom and offered Him the manor if He would get rid of Jake. He agreed, hanged Jake, and trapped his ghost inside the locket along with Melanie's mind," Henry explained.

    "That's it!" Hannah exclaimed. "That's how we defeat the Phantom!"

    "What-OH." Luka grinned at her. "Yes! You're right!"

"If we can get Jake out of the locket," Hannah said excitedly.

"Then we can trap the Phantom inside!" Luka finished.

Then the beautiful singing filled their ears again, and Melanie rounded a corner into the room, singing.

"Melanie!" cried Hannah and she ran forward to her.

Melanie glanced over at her. "Oh! Hello there," she said softly.

"I can help you find Jake," Hannah said urgently.

Melanie's eyes widened. Her mind seemed to be her own right now, but Hannah wasn't sure how long it would last. "Really and truly?" she asked.

Hannah nodded. "The Phantom trapped Jake in your locket," she explained. "We just need to open it."

Melanie didn't argue, didn't ask questions. She grabbed onto her locket and tugged hard on it, but it wouldn't budge. She bit her lip and looked up at Hannah. "Oh, dear," she said tearfully. "It's stuck."

"It isn't stuck," said Henry. "It's locked."

"Locked?" murmured Hannah.

"Father?" Melanie said, wide-eyed. "No, no. I must be imagining things again. He...He must be inside my head again." She looked at Hannah fearfully. "He is always in my head, singing songs, tricking me, confusing me. He does not want for me to find Jake."

"That man is your father, Melanie," Luka told her gently.

Melanie turned her gaze upon her father with eyes as wide as saucers. "Is it..." She approached him hesitantly. "Is it truly you, Father?"

Henry stared at Melanie and nodded once. In a broken voice he whispered, "Yes."

Melanie gazed at him a moment and then threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly. "Oh! How I have missed you!"

He hesitantly put a hand upon his daughter's head, and began to weep, stroking her hair tenderly. Hannah gave the pair a soft smile.

When they at last pulled apart, Henry took the locket in his hands. "This is locked," he told her. "We must get the key from the Phantom, and then you both shall be free to be together."

"Okay," Hannah said, determined. "When do we start?"