Chapter 9 - The Worst Thing Ava Thought
Ava wanted to lie.
Instead, she said:
“I wished you’d get hurt.”
Nora’s face went still.
Ava kept going because stopping would be cowardice.
“Not badly. At first.”
Nora looked away.
“I wanted you to miss an audition. Lose a role. Have one bad year.”
Her throat tightened.
“Then after casting last season, when everyone stood for you, I wished you would disappear.”
Nora whispered:
“Wow.”
“I hated myself after.”
“But you still made the deal.”
“Yes.”
Nora paced to the edge of the stage.
Ava said:
“You asked.”
“I know.”
“Nora—”
“Do you know the worst thing I thought about you?”
Ava shook her head.
“I thought you loved me enough to be happy for me.”
Ava’s eyes filled.
“That’s worse.”
“Yes.”
Then Nora sat beside her.
“My ankle started feeling better this afternoon.”
“What?”
“Not normal. Better.”
The thing inside Ava shifted.
Ava whispered:
“Maybe it’s returning.”
“Why?”
“I stopped rehearsal early.”
“You refused applause?”
“For ten minutes.”
Nora almost smiled.
“Heroic.”
Ava deserved that too.
Then Nora reached into her bag.
A photocopy of the 1963 ledger.
“I found something Voss missed.”
A line beneath Marianne’s entry:
THE DEBT CANNOT CROSS A LOVE FREELY GIVEN.
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
Nora continued.
“Another note says the Second Swan can be separated before opening night.”
“How?”
“It needs a body to become real.”
“Mine.”
“No.”
Nora pointed at the note.
“It says it needs the dancer to accept it.”
“I never accepted this.”
“You accepted the bargain.”
“That’s not the same.”
“Maybe the final acceptance happens onstage.”
Ava suddenly understood.
The demon had told her they would look at her.
Not just dance.
Nora said:
“If you finish opening night and take the bow, maybe that completes it.”
Ava whispered:
“So I don’t bow.”
“Maybe.”
A slow clap came from the empty balcony.
Twice.
The demon stepped into the work light above them.
Not in a mirror.
May you like
In the room.
“You girls are getting clever.”
