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June 26, 2023 17:30
|
Chapter Thirty-Seven
|
94.5%
|
#FFB
|
But the phantom inside of me thrills at the sight of its former prison crumpling to ash and soot.
|
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|
June 26, 2023 17:29
|
Chapter Thirty-Six
|
93.7%
|
#FFB
|
He tortures a hundred gravoirs. Mutilates them. Executes them one by one
|
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|
June 26, 2023 17:28
|
Chapter Thirty-Six
|
92.7%
|
#FFB
|
I’ve extracted the rest of his elixir with everyone else
|
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|
June 26, 2023 17:26
|
Chapter Thirty-Six
|
91.4%
|
#FFB
|
The stone wasn’t the catalyseur; he was
|
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June 26, 2023 17:24
|
Chapter Thirty-Five
|
90.0%
|
#FFB
|
He grimaces. “Except I never planned to care.”
|
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|
June 26, 2023 14:47
|
Chapter Thirty-One
|
81.0%
|
#FFB
|
“Arlette, I’m a friend of your brother Emeric’s,” I say, hoping the mention of his name might jog her into reality.
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June 26, 2023 14:42
|
Chapter Thirty-One
|
79.0%
|
#FFB
|
I laugh, reveling in the way the world has grown sharper and more alive around me, at the way the blood dances through me to the sweet music of a lifetime’s worth of elixir.
|
|
|
June 26, 2023 14:37
|
Chapter Twenty-Nine
|
74.3%
|
#FFB
|
All along, he was manipulating me more precisely than I’ve ever done to any memory.
|
|
|
June 26, 2023 14:36
|
Chapter Twenty-Eight
|
73.3%
|
#FFB
|
All I see now is a girl trapped in a pretty little prison.
|
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|
June 26, 2023 14:35
|
Chapter Twenty-Eight
|
72.5%
|
#FFB
|
Arlette is alive. She has to be.
And she either has a catalyseur or knows where I’ll be able to find one
|
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|
June 26, 2023 14:34
|
Chapter Twenty-Eight
|
72.2%
|
#FFB
|
Emeric has fewer than twenty-six hours left until his memories are lost forever. There’s little room for error.
|
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|
June 26, 2023 14:34
|
Chapter Twenty-Seven
|
71.8%
|
#FFB
|
If they want me to be a nightmare, then a nightmare I shall be.
|
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|
June 26, 2023 14:32
|
Chapter Twenty-Six
|
70.4%
|
#FFB
|
Twenty vials will be barely enough for the instinct for music, the rote memory of how to sing, and the ability to function. Nothing more.
|
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|
June 26, 2023 14:31
|
Chapter Twenty-Six
|
69.6%
|
#FFB
|
“She’s dead.” Cyril shrugs. “Killed her myself.” But his mouth twitches when he says it.
|
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|
June 26, 2023 14:31
|
Chapter Twenty-Six
|
69.4%
|
#FFB
|
He won’t be Emeric anymore—I’ve seen enough of the Memoryless to know that a man without memories is not much of a man at all—but he’ll be alive
|
|
|
June 26, 2023 14:30
|
Chapter Twenty-Six
|
68.8%
|
#FFB
|
It slams into my hand with the soul-curdling sound of crunching bone. Pain jolts through me.
|
|
|
June 26, 2023 14:29
|
Chapter Twenty-Six
|
68.4%
|
#FFB
|
We’ll have Isda extract all of your memories, save for the ones you need to be able to do the show
|
|
|
June 26, 2023 14:29
|
Chapter Twenty-Six
|
68.4%
|
#FFB
|
You’ll leave vocal experience, specific training, recollections of the show’s rehearsals—things like that, but only the barest minimum. Don’t even leave the whole memories of him learning these things—I want just the knowledge and skill acquired in them left.
|
|
|
June 26, 2023 14:29
|
Chapter Twenty-Six
|
68.2%
|
#FFB
|
We’ll require a hundred thousand vials of memory elixir
|
|
|
June 26, 2023 14:28
|
Chapter Twenty-Six
|
68.0%
|
#FFB
|
Your execution will take place tomorrow morning.”
|
|
|
June 26, 2023 14:28
|
Chapter Twenty-Six
|
68.0%
|
#FFB
|
“It seems people are willing to pay quite the sum to hear you sing, boy.”
|
|
|
June 26, 2023 14:28
|
Chapter Twenty-Five
|
67.3%
|
#FFB
|
Don’t think about where they might be taking Emeric
|
|
|
June 26, 2023 14:26
|
Chapter Twenty-Five
|
66.3%
|
#FFB
|
I whip around in time to see a policeman shove a gag into Emeric’s mouth. Emeric’s eyes are wide, and he struggles against ropes wrapped around his wrists and ankles.
|
|
|
June 26, 2023 14:25
|
Chapter Twenty-Four
|
65.3%
|
#FFB
|
We are the music that wove the world.
|
|
|
June 26, 2023 14:24
|
Chapter Twenty-Four
|
65.1%
|
#FFB
|
“One composed of a thousand different instruments all perfectly harmonizing into the melody they were crafted to create
|
|
|
June 26, 2023 14:24
|
Chapter Twenty-Four
|
64.9%
|
#FFB
|
“It can’t work between us. If we tried, it would be the death of your singing career, the death of your freedom.”
|
|
|
June 26, 2023 14:24
|
Chapter Twenty-Four
|
64.9%
|
#FFB
|
“Unmarked, lovely, perfect people would only be corrupted by my darkness.”
|
|
|
June 26, 2023 13:38
|
Chapter Twenty-Four
|
63.7%
|
#FFB
|
He seems to have a personal vendetta against fendoirs and gravoirs.
|
|
|
June 26, 2023 13:19
|
Chapter Twenty-Two
|
59.2%
|
#FFB
|
“Emeric?” I push myself into a sitting position. “Are you hurt?”
|
|
|
June 26, 2023 13:19
|
Chapter Twenty-Two
|
58.8%
|
#FFB
|
“I shouldn’t have gone. It was too much of a risk.”
|
|
|
June 26, 2023 12:57
|
Chapter Twenty-One
|
58.2%
|
#FFB
|
Something sharp knocks me across my temple. White stars spasm across my vision.
And then all is black
|
|
|
June 26, 2023 12:57
|
Chapter Twenty-One
|
58.0%
|
#FFB
|
“I want this vile creature removed immediately.”
|
|
|
June 26, 2023 01:27
|
Chapter Twenty
|
56.9%
|
#FFB
|
The string of my mask snaps with a sound like a crack of lightning
|
|
|
June 26, 2023 01:23
|
Chapter Twenty
|
54.7%
|
#FFB
|
“Oui, an angel of music.”
|
|
|
June 25, 2023 15:38
|
Chapter Nineteen
|
53.7%
|
#FFB
|
“I make things difficult?” Now I’m the one reeling back as though I’ve been slapped. “Feel free to leave if you’d like. I wouldn’t want to trouble Channe’s new favorite tenor.”
|
|
|
June 25, 2023 15:37
|
Chapter Nineteen
|
53.5%
|
#FFB
|
“Not wanting you to die is not the same as keeping you locked up.”
|
|
|
June 25, 2023 15:35
|
Chapter Nineteen
|
53.1%
|
#FFB
|
“Before you, music was just music. But not anymore. Where everything was dull and mute before, you’ve brought brightness and life. I don’t want to lose that.”
|
|
|
June 25, 2023 15:33
|
Chapter Nineteen
|
52.7%
|
#FFB
|
Fendoirs don’t see memories when people sing, but I know gravoirs do
|
|
|
June 25, 2023 15:28
|
Chapter Eighteen
|
51.6%
|
#FFB
|
“Can I come?”
He stops writing to laugh. “Of course not, chérie. Don’t be ridiculous.”
|
|
|
June 25, 2023 15:26
|
Chapter Eighteen
|
51.4%
|
#FFB
|
I should do a masquerade ball,” he murmurs, tapping his chin. “Yes, that would do splendidly.
|
|
|
June 25, 2023 15:26
|
Chapter Eighteen
|
51.2%
|
#FFB
|
Monsieur LeRoux has been deemed mentally unstable.”
|
|
|
June 25, 2023 14:59
|
Chapter Eighteen
|
50.2%
|
#FFB
|
“You’re the boy’s tutor, aren’t you?” He glares, arms crossed across his chest.
|
|
|
June 25, 2023 14:59
|
Chapter Seventeen
|
49.6%
|
#FFB
|
Because we are meant to be their masters.
|
|
|
June 25, 2023 14:57
|
Chapter Sixteen
|
48.2%
|
#FFB
|
“You could shatter the sky with a voice like that. If only our world would let you.”
|
|
|
June 25, 2023 14:54
|
Chapter Sixteen
|
46.5%
|
#FFB
|
“Cyril has given me the lead role in Le Berger.”
|
|
|
June 25, 2023 14:54
|
Chapter Fifteen
|
46.3%
|
#FFB
|
He cries out in agony, wrapping his hands around the place where a jab of white bone protrudes bloodily from his thigh.
|
|
|
June 24, 2023 13:38
|
Chapter Fourteen
|
40.6%
|
#FFB
|
My behavior last week was unforgiveable. I should not have extracted your elixir without permission, and I should not have spoken to you that way.”
|
|
|
June 24, 2023 13:18
|
Chapter Thirteen
|
38.6%
|
#FFB
|
heard him sing
|
|
|
June 24, 2023 13:18
|
Chapter Thirteen
|
38.4%
|
#FFB
|
I’ve never actually
|
|
|
June 24, 2023 13:05
|
Chapter Thirteen
|
37.5%
|
#FFB
|
another chandelier
|
|
|
June 24, 2023 01:30
|
Chapter Twelve
|
36.7%
|
#FFB
|
mind will begin to conjure up those images on its own going forward.”
|
|
|
June 24, 2023 01:30
|
Chapter Twelve
|
36.5%
|
#FFB
|
“I believe that as the psychological trauma in his past increases, his behavior will become more erratic in the present. The hope is that once you’ve added enough hallucinations to his memories, his
|
|
|
June 24, 2023 01:29
|
Chapter Twelve
|
36.1%
|
#FFB
|
. The Memoryless stare with glassy, empty eyes as we pass.
|
|
|
June 24, 2023 01:21
|
Chapter Twelve
|
34.7%
|
#FFB
|
He does not care for you. He does not care for you. He does not care for you
|
|
|
June 24, 2023 00:29
|
Chapter Eleven
|
34.1%
|
#FFB
|
But I stole a piece of Emeric’s soul, drank it in like a rabid animal, and then screamed at him for being upset about it. Shame creeps hot down the back of my neck and raises the hairs on my arms.
|
|
|
June 24, 2023 00:15
|
Chapter Eleven
|
32.9%
|
#FFB
|
. “It was stupid of me. I made a mistake.”
|
|
|
June 24, 2023 00:13
|
Chapter Eleven
|
32.7%
|
#FFB
|
. But part of what makes fendoirs and gravoirs so dangerous is how consuming elixir expands their bodies’ abilities. Senses, strength, speed.
It’s a tremulous, delicious high.
|
|
|
June 24, 2023 00:13
|
Chapter Eleven
|
32.5%
|
#FFB
|
This time, I direct it straight into my mouth.
|
|
|
June 24, 2023 00:04
|
Chapter Ten
|
30.4%
|
#FFB
|
which would allow that gravoir to view or manipulate memories and extract elixir from anyone in the immediate vicinity, whether they are singing or not.
|
|
|
June 24, 2023 00:03
|
Chapter Ten
|
30.0%
|
#FFB
|
The memory of my own birth is still as vivid as though I lived it moments ago
|
|
|
June 23, 2023 18:56
|
Chapter Eight
|
24.7%
|
#FFB
|
Are gravoirs capable of that?
Am I?
|
|
|
June 23, 2023 18:54
|
Chapter Eight
|
23.9%
|
#FFB
|
Emeric peers into the face of his tiny sister, his gaze tracing the hills and valleys of her gnarled features. The purplish, mottled skin, the knot where the nose should be.
|
|
|
June 23, 2023 18:54
|
Chapter Eight
|
23.7%
|
#FFB
|
It doesn’t have the spiral birthmark on its sternum.”
|
|
|
June 23, 2023 18:38
|
Chapter Seven
|
18.0%
|
#FFB
|
The children whose parents got so poor they had to sell their memory elixir—and then had so much extracted that they forgot they ever had children to begin with.
|
|
|
June 23, 2023 18:35
|
Chapter Seven
|
17.5%
|
#FFB
|
A task outside the opera house.”
|
|
|
June 23, 2023 18:26
|
Chapter Six
|
16.9%
|
#FFB
|
In just a few short hours, because of one heart-wrenching, soul-splitting, star-shaking voice, I’m unraveling, every piece of my symphony rearranging, rewriting itself in new, thunderous ways.
|
|
|
June 23, 2023 18:23
|
Chapter Six
|
16.3%
|
#FFB
|
Meet me in the darkness,
Meet me in the night.
|
Music of the night?
|
|
June 23, 2023 18:21
|
Chapter Six
|
15.7%
|
#FFB
|
I’ll remember every moment of my life until the day I die.
|
|
|
June 23, 2023 13:13
|
Chapter Five
|
12.4%
|
#FFB
|
“What a remarkable, polite little thing you are. But...still no.”
|
|
|
June 23, 2023 13:13
|
Chapter Five
|
12.4%
|
#FFB
|
“What does mopping have to do with my best character traits?”
“You said your mother made you scrub things every time you were troublesome.”
|
|
|
June 23, 2023 01:12
|
Chapter Four
|
11.6%
|
#FFB
|
He’s like a father to me.”
|
|
|
June 23, 2023 01:10
|
Chapter Four
|
10.2%
|
#FFB
|
’d probably come up with something like ‘Celeste,’ and then you’d tell me that that was the name of your favorite aunt who died last week, and then I’d feel like an imbecile
|
|
|
June 23, 2023 00:32
|
Chapter Three
|
8.0%
|
#FFB
|
With a mask like this, I am almost beautiful.
|
|
|
June 23, 2023 00:27
|
Chapter Three
|
7.5%
|
#FFB
|
The catacombs deep beneath the opera house are my domain. In them, I fall into the sweet, accepting embrace of darkness and the unassuming simplicity of silence and secrets.
|
Emo much?
|
|
June 23, 2023 00:27
|
Chapter Three
|
7.5%
|
#FFB
|
Cyril had it brought in for me when I was six years old, and other than him, this organ is my oldest and dearest friend.
|
Not me thinking Cyril was her age…
|
|
June 23, 2023 00:25
|
Chapter Two
|
6.9%
|
#FFB
|
Keeping the Memoryless from getting out of hand in the streets, checking in on the fendoirs in their Maisons des Souvenirs to make sure they’re behaving, things like that.”
|
|
|
June 23, 2023 00:25
|
Chapter Two
|
6.7%
|
#FFB
|
I do have the perfect range for it.
Just not the perfect face.
|
|
|
June 22, 2023 20:21
|
Chapter Two
|
5.5%
|
#FFB
|
I could compose an entire concerto exploring that look with tentative quarter notes and underlying bass beats.
|
|
|
June 22, 2023 20:18
|
Chapter Two
|
5.1%
|
#FFB
|
Golden vials of memory elixir line every spare space alongside piles of elegant fountain pens and playbills from past shows.
|
|
|
June 22, 2023 20:15
|
Chapter Two
|
4.5%
|
#FFB
|
They say there’s a phantom that haunts these hallways at night, though no one has ever been able to prove its existence
|
|
|
June 22, 2023 20:10
|
Chapter One
|
3.9%
|
#FFB
|
This girl could be any other child in the world but for her face.
Her face is like mine.
|
|
|
June 22, 2023 20:10
|
Chapter One
|
3.7%
|
#FFB
|
Where every other memory I’ve seen has been a faraway wisp of grays and muted glows, his are achingly vibrant, full of color and vivid sunlight.
|
|
|
June 22, 2023 13:30
|
Chapter One
|
2.4%
|
#FFB
|
I slip into each audience member’s recollection of the performance like a ballerina into her spotlight, skipping from one mind to the next, easing away any negative emotions I find there and replacing them with positivity.
|
|