Chapter 4 - What Ava Stole
Nora’s MRI showed no tear.
No fracture.
No clear reason she could suddenly barely rise onto pointe.
Madame Voss called it fatigue.
Nora called it impossible.
Ava called it coincidence.
At least out loud.
Inside, she was terrified.
Nora sat on the clinic table wrapping ice around her ankle.
Ava hovered by the door.
“You should rest.”
Nora looked at her.
“Now you care?”
“I always care.”
“You’ve barely looked at me since casting.”
“I’m busy.”
“You’re scared.”
“Of what?”
Nora pointed at her.
“That.”
“What?”
“You keep touching your stomach.”
Ava dropped her hand.
Nora’s face softened.
“Please tell me what happened.”
Ava almost did.
Then Madame Voss entered.
“Ava. We need you downstairs.”
“Why?”
“Press photographer.”
Nora gave a tired smile.
“Go be the star.”
It sounded kind.
Ava heard pity.
She always heard pity when Nora was gentle.
At the photo shoot, every flash made Ava stronger.
Every compliment warmed the strange weight inside her.
Madame Voss positioned her beneath a poster of the academy’s legendary Swan Lake production.
“You have something rare now,” she said.
“Now?”
Madame Voss paused.
Ava regretted the bitterness immediately.
The director answered carefully.
“You had discipline before. Today you have command.”
That was all she had ever wanted.
That night, Nora could no longer perform thirty-two fouettés.
Ava did thirty-two effortlessly.
Students screamed.
The pressure inside Ava’s abdomen swelled until she could barely breathe.
She ran to the bathroom and locked the door.
Her shirt rose over a curve that looked five months pregnant.
Ava stared at herself.
“No.”
The curve moved.
It pressed outward in the shape of a small heel.
Ava stumbled backward.
The mirror above the sink darkened.
The demon appeared behind her reflection.
“It likes being watched.”
Ava whispered:
“What is it?”
He tilted his head.
“A beginning.”
“To what?”
“To you without limits.”
Ava started crying.
“I want it gone.”
“Then return what you stole.”
“How?”
The demon smiled.
“Make her better.”
Ava breathed in relief.
Then he added:
“By making yourself ordinary again.”
The bathroom door shook.
Nora’s voice came through.
“Ava? Open the door.”
Ava stared at the mirror.
May you like
The demon whispered:
“If she sees what you’ve become, she will never love you the same way.”
