Chapter 15 - It Wants the Role
The Second Ava began appearing around the academy.
Never long.
Always near reflective surfaces.
Students thought Ava was rehearsing in two places.
A costume assistant swore Ava insulted her.
A pianist said Ava demanded Nora be removed.
A donor claimed Ava promised a private performance.
The real Ava had done none of it.
The copy was building a life.
Nora understood first.
“It doesn’t want to be born from you.”
“What does it want?”
“To replace you.”
The Patron had promised:
It becomes you.
Madame Voss ordered mirrors covered throughout the academy.
Black cloth appeared in hallways, studios, dressing rooms.
Students complained.
The board threatened to intervene.
Voss ignored them.
Opening night was twenty-four hours away.
Ava asked Nora:
“What if we cancel?”
Nora looked at her.
“You finally want to?”
“Yes.”
“Then we should.”
Ava felt relief.
Then every covered mirror in the corridor began shaking.
One by one, cloths fell.
The Second Ava stood in every reflection.
The Patron’s voice came from all of them.
“Cancel.”
He continued:
“Run.”
Nora whispered:
“He wants that now.”
The rules had changed.
If Ava disappeared, the copy could appear in her place.
Nobody would know.
Opening night gave them witnesses.
A room full of eyes.
Maybe that was why the Patron needed applause.
Attention made reality.
Nora said:
“We perform.”
“But we change the ending.”
Swan Lake traditionally ends in tragedy in many versions.
Ava would not give the Patron one.
Madame Voss asked:
“What do you mean?”
Nora smiled for the first time in days.
“We stop dancing his story.”
They rewrote the final stage picture.
Odette and Odile would meet.
Face each other.
The board would hate it.
At midnight, Ava went to sleep in Nora’s room.
No windows uncovered.
At 3:03 a.m., Nora woke to someone whispering.
“Ava?”
The bed beside her was empty.
The closet mirror was still covered.
But the black cloth bulged outward.
Like someone was standing behind it.
A voice came from underneath.
Ava’s voice.
“Nora, please let me out.”
May you like
Then from the hallway, the real Ava started pounding on the locked door.
“Nora! Don’t touch the mirror!”
