Spoilers: Some reference to the season one episode with the snails. Nothing major.
Words in Italics and quotation marks are being said out loud, but they are also song lyrics. On with my twisted show....
The Phantom From the Creek
Act One Scene Two
Joey took her bouquet of flowers off the stage with her. The chorus of dancers fluttered around in excitement as Joey handed them each a flower.
"Oh, Joey, you were marvelous! He will be pleased," Mrs. Giry ran over to Joey and gushed. She turned to her dancers. "And you!" she said addressing no one in particular. "You were a disgrace tonight! Here we rehearse. Now!" As Mrs. Giry banged her cane, the exhausted dancers moaned and got into practice positions. Joey chuckled and softly and walked down the corridor to her dressing room. As she put her hand on the doorknob, she heard a dark, familiar voice.
"Bravi, bravi! Bravo!" Joey gasped in a combination of shock and bewilderment. Jen suddenly appeared behind her and gave her a hug.
"Joey, Jo-- you were fantastic!"
"Thanks, Jen, I couldn't have done it if you hadn't forced me to sing," Joey said with a half smile. Her expression sank.
Joey, what's wrong?"
"Did you hear a voice? Just now?"
"Voice?" Jen asked. "No, no voices except yours, mine, and all the little voices in my head. But, Joey! You were so, so good!
Joey was more interested in why the voice sounded so familiar than in Jen's praise, genuine as it was. She wandered into her dressing room, but was deep in thought and not really paying attention to her surroundings.
Jen looked incredulously at Joey. Angel of music? It was one of the strangest things she had ever heard Joey say.
Joey had stopped paying attention to Jen. Maybe my angel has returned! she thought ecstatically.
"Who is this angel? This..." Jen started. Joey joined in with her, but she did it with a different meaning, with renewed faith. She didn't want any of Jen's cynicism. She needed to believe in something again.
"Angel of Music! Hide no longer! Secret and strange angel..."
Joey suddenly shivered as a dark shadow crept through her dressing room. She felt trapped... "He's with me even now."
"Your hands are cold," Jen commented, a little unsure about how to handle Joey's sudden mood change.
"All around me."
"Your face, Joey, it's white," Jen observed. "It frightens me."
"Don't be frightened," Jen tried to smile. Mrs. Giry burst into the room.
"Jennifer Lindley. Are you a dancer? Then come and practice!" Jen looked to Joey, still uneasy about what she had just heard her say. She didn't know why Joey kept going off into her own world and returning in fear. "My dear," Mrs. Giry said gently to Joey, "I was asked to give you this." She handed her a note before she followed Jen out of the room. Puzzled, Joey opened the paper. Her face broke out into a smile as she skimmed through it.
"Snails... the creek... Joey Potter..."
A short time later, Andre, Firmen, his wife, and Pacey walked through the backstage corridor, champagne in hand. "You seem to be in good spirits tonight, gentlemen," Pacey smirked.
"What a relief!" Firmin said excitedly. "Not a single refund."
"Greedy," his wife sniffed at him.
"I think we have made quite a discovery in Ms. Potter," Andre said, as if he had discovered her himself.
"Here we are, Mr. Witter," Firmin said as they approached Joey's dressing room. "Josephine Potter." Pacey thought it was very funny that everyone referred to her as Josephine. He had suffered through many harsh glares and 'bite me's' when he tried to call her that.
"Gentlemen, if you wouldn't mind. This is one visit I should prefer to make unaccompanied," Pacey said, taking the bottle of champagne from Firmin's wife. Pacey slowly opened the door as the others walked off. "Josephine Potter, the snails were boring. I just thought it would spice things up if I put the other one in the tank..."
"Oh, Pacey, it is you!" Joey ran toward him and crushed him in a hug.
"We were just fifteen and soaked to the skin--"
"Because you forgot to tie up the rowboat."
"Eh. Bite me."
"You remember that too..." Joey smiled. "Oh, Pacey, what happened to us? How did we lose touch?"
"I went to college in California, you didn't, and we're lazy people."
"So you're a famous producer now," Joey shook her head. "I can't believe it."
"It's sort of out of respect to Dawson," Pacey said sternly.
"Strange... Jen and I also kind of let his dreams get mixed in with ours. Anyway," Joey was desperately trying to change the subject, "what are you doing here?"
"Don't you know? I am the show's sponsor."
"No, I didn't hear. I don't remember anyone saying anything about it. Why would you sponsor some stupid little show here?"
"Duh, you and Jen were in it. I had to!"
"That's sweet, Pacey," Joey said.
"'What I love best,' little Joey said, 'is when I'm asleep in my bed and the Angel of Music plays songs in my head'," Pacey grinned. Joey's face darkened.
"You remember that too... How old were we, nine?" Joey's spirits started to lift at the memory. "My mom used to sing that to us."
"The Angel of Music sings songs in my head," they both sang.
Joey sat down, but she still looked at Pacey. "Father said... before mom died he said... 'When I'm in heaven, child, I will send the Angel of Music to you.' Well, dad died a few years ago, Pacey, and I have been visited by the Angel of Music!"
"No doubt of it! You are spectacular! And you aged well."
"I aged well?" Joey raised an eyebrow. "Should I be old and decrepit?"
"No," Pacey said honestly, but stumbling a little over his words, "I meant... I meant you're beautiful." Joey blushed and looked away, a half-smile creeping onto her face. "Now, you are going to come celebrate with Jen and I at dinner." Joey looked up at him seriously.
"No, I can't, Pacey. I'd love to, but the Angel of Music is very strict. He won't sing to me if I'm not in my room early enough."
"Come on, Joey. Your 'angel' can let you out for a few hours. I won't keep you out too late."
"But, Pacey," Joey tried to protest. Pacey fake-pouted at her and Joey felt herself melt. No, that's not right. I cannot be letting Pacey's pouting get to me, she thought. Pacey gave her another grin and walked to the door.
"You must change. I must get my hat. Two minutes, Joey!" With that, Pacey was gone.
"Pacey!" Joey got up to go after him. She sighed and watched him happily walk back down the corridor, whistling. "Pacey," she said again under her breath. She shut the door and picked up the small mirror laying on the table. She looked at herself and put her hand to her face. "Things have changed, Pacey," she murmured to herself. Joey suddenly heard music and let out a gasp. She looked around but could not find the source. Her hands started to shake as she felt trapped again. "Is it just in my head?" she whispered, close to tears. "Have I finally lost my mind?" The mirror fell from her hand and hit the floor with a crash, splintering into tiny shards of glass, when she heard the voice again. She was too frightened to even jump back when the mirror broke into fragments. The lights dimmed. They came from only one source, now, which reflected off the broken slivers and seemed to shine a path to the antique full-length mirror in the back of the room.
"Insolent boy! This slave of fashion. Basking in your glory," the deep voice sang. "Ignorant fool! This brave young suitor, sharing in my triumph!"
Joey stooped towards the broken mess and gazed at the displaced light. She wanted so badly to believe... she got down on her hands and knees and fingered a sliver of glass.
"Angel! I hear you! Speak-- I listen... stay by my side, guide me!" she sang, weakly at first but increasingly strongly as she crawled toward the large mirror. "Angel, my soul was weak-- forgive me. Enter at last, Master!" Joey rose on her knees and touched the large mirror.
"Flattering child, you shall know me, see why in shadow I hide! Look at your face in the mirror-- I am there inside!" the voice sang. Joey stood up.
Am I dreaming? This can't possibly be real. She looked closely at her reflection and started to see another outline beyond it. Maybe I can see who belongs to the voice that has been haunting me-- my Angel that has believed in me and taught me to sing. What am I doing? Joey, snap out of it. This isn't you, this isn't like you. Well, maybe I don't want to be me anymore.
"Angel of Music! Hide no longer! Come to me, strange angel..." Joey watched the glass brighten and disappear. A man shrouded in black with a white half mask over his face beckoned her through to him.
"I am your Angel... Come to me: Angel of Music!"
"Joey? Joey," Pacey walked to her door. He tried the knob. It was locked.
"No, Pacey," she said softly, in a daze.
"Joey? There are voices... Joey, what's wrong? Who is that voice? Who is that in there? Joey!" Pacey screamed. The man firmly took Joey's wrist when she stepped to him. She felt cold and limp. She felt foreign to herself, as if she was watching everything happen to someone else.
"I am your Angel of Music... Come to me: Angel of Music." Joey could have sworn that the man smiled at her. As she looked at him, she got a sense of familiarity. She was no longer afraid. She disappeared with him behind the mirror before the glass slid back into place.
"Joey!" Pacey rammed through the door, breaking the lock. "Joey?" he asked quietly. He was alone in the room. Everything was the same as it had been when he left except for the broken hand mirror on the floor. Joey's in trouble, Pacey thought. He walked over to the large mirror, which was built into the wall. He tried to budge it, but it didn't move. Where could she have gone? Pacey was really worried. "Angel?" he wondered aloud.
Feedback please.. it's going to pick up a lot in the next parts. Keep watching to find out, who is the man? Where did he take Joey? What happened to make her want to escape so badly? And what will Pacey do? If I get no feedback, you might not get any answers :)