Chapter 11 - Four Days
Madame Voss wanted to cancel Swan Lake.
The academy board refused.
They knew nothing about demons.
They knew ticket sales.
Ava’s sudden viral rehearsal clips had sold out three performances.
“Medical reason,” Voss argued.
The board chair asked for documentation.
Every test at the clinic looked mostly normal.
The swelling vanished whenever machines examined it.
One doctor suggested stress.
Another asked privately if Ava was using hormones.
Ava almost laughed.
The Patron understood institutions.
If the unbelievable leaves no paperwork, adults call it anxiety.
Nora stayed close.
Not as a friend.
They searched academy archives with Voss.
The 1938 file mentioned the first known Second Swan.
A dancer named Elise March.
Ava nearly cried with relief.
“How?”
The file was incomplete.
One sentence remained:
SHE BROKE THE BOW.
“The bow?”
Voss said:
“The final bow?”
Ava remembered the Patron’s promise.
Accept applause.
Nora opened another page.
A stage manager’s note:
Miss March refused curtain call. Audience became restless. Mirrors backstage shattered simultaneously.
Ava whispered:
“So I finish the ballet and refuse the bow.”
“Maybe,” Voss said.
Nora shook her head.
“No.”
“What?”
“You shouldn’t dance at all.”
“If I don’t, it may move to you.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I’m not risking it.”
Nora laughed angrily.
“You stole my gift and now you’re deciding what risks I’m allowed to take?”
Ava went silent.
Nora stepped closer.
“You still think being guilty gives you control.”
“What do you want?”
“I want my choice back.”
“Okay.”
Nora said:
“We do this together.”
Madame Voss opened her mouth.
Nora stopped her.
“No more older women deciding what younger dancers need to sacrifice for ballet.”
Voss looked ashamed.
They built a plan.
Nora would dance Odile in Act III if her ankle allowed.
Ava would dance Odette.
They would split the role.
Share the audience.
Break the Patron’s promise of one girl owning the room.
Then the academy casting board posted a new notice without telling Voss.
NORA QUINN — REMOVED FROM PRODUCTION.
Reason:
MEDICAL INSTABILITY.
Signed:
AVA MERCER.
Ava stared.
“I didn’t sign this.”
May you like
Nora looked at her.
The Patron had learned how to forge more than talent.
