Guard your throats and hide your eyes. He’s not dead, you fools. Legends never die.

This can’t be a coincidence, and there’s no longer any doubt in my mind. I am in a horror story.

Behind every wall and every mirror and every vent, I hear sounds: breathing, rustling, footsteps, and murmurs. I try to tell myself it’s just mice making their nests behind the barriers, but since when do rodents whisper?

He raised his wine for a toast. “To the Exquisite Nightmare.

Ironically, the first time he played it, he experienced his first dream vision with his own ‘flame jumelle’, Rune – and saved her from drowning. Thereafter he decided that must be the magic the instrument held: the ability to bring two souls together when they needed each other the most.

The Phantom is not famous for forgiveness.

I don’t want to blend,” Etalon whispered. “I want to belong.