Sophie Cleverly - The Dance in the Dark

The days leading up to Friday were a blur as I counted down the hours to my next secret ballet session. And of course, I had to come up with a way to distract Ivy. There was no way she was going to believe me if I tried to use the shoe excuse again.

Things got even more tricky when I happened to pass Miss Finch in the hallway. “Ah, Scarlet,” she said. “Could you come down after dinner on Friday? I think I’ll need a bit of a longer rest after the lesson.”

“Yes, Miss,” I said, a lot more brightly than I felt. “I’ll see you then.”

On Friday, our ballet lesson flew by, almost quite literally, as were practising tour jeté s. I felt that I was getting better – but was I good enough?

I gave Miss Finch a little wave as class finished, not daring to be any more obvious. And I barely touched my dinner – which was part of the plan, but honestly I felt too nervous to eat.

“What’s wrong, Scarlet?” Ivy asked. “I know you hate the stew, but it’s not actually that bad today.”

“I don’t feel well,” I said. “I think I might … be sick.” I gagged a little for effect.

“Goodness,” said Mrs Knight. She edged her chair backwards as if I were about to spew all over her. “To the sick bay, quickly!”

I nodded, pushed my chair back and hurried out of the hall. I felt ashamed seeing the worried looks on Ivy and Ariadne’s faces. There was some chuckling from Penny’s direction, but I tried to ignore it. It was better than her knowing what was really going on.

I rushed through the corridors, pulling my ballet outfit out of my satchel as I went. I had to dart into an empty classroom and tug on my leotard and tutu. As I stuffed my uniform into the bag, I really hoped no one would try to check up on me in the sick bay. I decided to leave my bag hidden behind a desk, and come back for it later.

I made it to the door of the ballet studio, which was swinging open, and peered down the stairs.

All was quiet. I couldn’t hear the tinkle of Miss Finch’s piano keys, or any sound of her walking around. It suddenly seemed a little too quiet.

Come on, Scarlet , I told myself. Don’t be a wet blanket.

I took a deep breath, and the first step.

And as I got nearer I realised what else was wrong.

It was dark.

The gas lamps that always burned brightly in the studio were out.

I felt my heart speed up.

“Miss?” I called. “Miss Finch?”

There was no reply.

At the bottom of the stairs, there was a small candle holder on the wall. I fumbled for it, and found a waxy stub with the wick still intact, and a match balanced on the side. I tried to stay calm, but my hand shook as I struck the match on the wall and lit the candle. A flame sputtered to life.

I held it out in front of me, and I saw …

Myself and the candle, reflected a million times in the mirrors.

The piano, the stool tipped on its side.

And Miss Finch’s walking stick, lying in the middle of the floor …

Scarlet flung open the door of room thirteen and strode in.

She found me sitting on the bed, arms folded. “Where have you been?” I demanded.

She looked at me crossly. “I was ill, remember? I went to the sick bay.”

I stood up. “Except you didn’t. Ariadne and I hurried up there as soon as we could to see if you were all right! Nurse Gladys said she hadn’t even seen you!”

My twin just glared at me. She hated being caught out in a lie. “It doesn’t matter,” was all she said.

“It does matter,” I shot back. I wanted to tell her that I was afraid something had happened to her again. The things I’d been seeing and hearing around school had only made it worse.

“Leave it,” she warned, throwing herself on her bed.

Suddenly, I noticed something strange. “You weren’t wearing your ballet outfit before!”

Her face was in her pillow, but she tipped it towards me. “I said, it doesn’t matter. I just wanted to do some ballet, alone, all right?”

“Fine,” I said. “Well, I’m going to tell Ariadne that you’re not sick, and then I’m going to have a bath and brush my teeth, alone .”

“I don’t need to know every detail of your life,” she grumbled.

Hmmph. I got up, picked up my things and headed towards Ariadne’s new dorm. It was some way down the corridor, in the section with the larger dorms for first years.

Unfortunately, I forgot that visiting Ariadne also meant going past Penny’s door.

I shut my eyes and held my breath as I walked, as if this would somehow protect me. But as soon as I approached, Penny’s door was yanked open. “So is your sister terribly ill, or do I need to tell everyone that she’s just pretending? I don’t know which I’d prefer.”

“Shut up, Penny,” I said, and kept on walking.

“So she’s fine?” Penny put on a mock expression of horror. “And she lied to a teacher?” She pulled out her prefect book and waved it at me. “I’ll be writing that one down.”

I dug my shoes into the threadbare hall carpet. “Mr Bartholomew’s gone. You’re not his stupid prefect any more.”

“I’m still a prefect, Grey ,” she snapped back. “Which means I can do no wrong.” She smiled sweetly, the sweetness of eating too many chocolates that leads to you being sick. “See you soon.” She slammed the door.

I gritted my teeth. Ignore her , I told myself as I walked on. Count to ten .

Thankfully, once I got to my tenth step, Ariadne came out of her dorm, carrying her Rookwood regulation towel, toothbrush and soap. Relieved, I hurried over.

“Ariadne!” I called out. “Scarlet’s fine. She’s in a complete huff, but otherwise unharmed.”

“Oh, phew,” my friend said, tucking a lock of mousy hair behind her ear. “Where did she go?”

“No idea,” I said. “Something to do with ballet. She won’t say.”

Ariadne shrugged, nearly dropping her towel in the process. “Are you coming to the bathrooms too?”

I nodded. “Let’s go together. I don’t want to run into … anyone. Else.”

Ariadne looked at me strangely, but she didn’t say anything.

I stepped out of the chilly little room with the bath in it, shivering in my nightgown. Ariadne came out of the one next door, but she somehow looked a lot better than I did.

“Aren’t you cold?” I asked. “Those lukewarm baths are awful.”

“Oh, Daddy used to make me take cold baths for my ‘health’,” she said disdainfully. “I find these much more pleasant.”

I laughed, and she grinned.

We headed back to room thirteen. I knocked politely on the door, just in case Scarlet was changing. “Go away,” came the muffled voice from within.

Hmmph . Well, if we weren’t being polite, so be it. I pushed open the door and went in, Ariadne trailing behind me.

Scarlet was writing something in her new notebook. As soon as she saw us, she shoved it under her sheets.

“Oh, come on,” I said. “I’m fed up with all the secrecy.” Hypocrite , my mind said. Yes, well , I told myself. You can’t tell her about Penny, for her own good . “What’s going on? Why are you so cross all of a sudden?”

Ariadne peered around me. “What’s up, Scarlet?” she asked a bit more diplomatically. “Are you still ill? In your ballet clothes?”

Scarlet finally seemed to give in. “All right ,” she snapped. “But promise you won’t tell anyone? I don’t want Penny the Slug hearing about this.”

“Promise,” said Ariadne eagerly.

“Miss Finch was supposed to give me extra ballet lessons, okay?” She looked really embarrassed.