Chapter 4

As much as Kayley didn’t want to admit it. Madame was right. She wasn’t driven. She didn’t care as much as the others. And she didn’t eat, sleep, and breathe ballet.

But she knew she was talented. Maybe not as talented as Madeleine and Ophelia but definitely more so than Sophie and Emma. Or at least on the same level.

As if she had called the girls up, all four of them came down the hall toward her. She had missed dinner to speak to Madame, and she knew the others were all curious as to what had happened.

She kept walking down the hall and met them halfway. The dark corridor did nothing to dampen her mood. For the first time in days, she felt happy. And determined.

“Hey, guys!” she said as she reached Ophelia, Madeleine, Sophie, and Emma. Ophelia furrowed her eyebrows. Ophelia was one of those girls, Kayley knew, who always looked mad or just plain mean. So when Ophelia actually put on a stern face, her look was plain paralyzing. Normally, Kayley would have laughed at the look, but something had changed in her. She stared back and said, “What.”

“What do you mean, what?” Ophelia said. “I was just looking at you. Wondering how it went with Madame.”

Ophelia looked at Madeleine and widened her eyes.

A pang of jealousy shot through Kayley. Since when were Ophelia and Madeleine such good friends? Not only was Madeleine taking her part, but evidently she was taking Kayley’s friends as well. If Madeleine weren’t so nice, Kayley would actually be angry with her. But she couldn’t think of her friendships now. She had work to do.

She continued down the hall, the girls following her. Kayley could practically feel their confusion.

Finally, Sophie spoke up: “Well?”

Kayley stopped in front of her room. “Well, what?”

Ophelia let out an exasperated sigh. “You know what! How did it go with Madame?”

Kayley turned the key in her lock. “It was really good.”

Emma’s eyes widened. “Did Madame give you your part back?”

Madeleine looked relieved. Kayley realized how conflicted she must have felt about taking the role. She truly wasn’t upset with Madeleine about it either, but she didn’t have time to babysit other people’s feelings.

She opened her door and said, “Nope,” then stepped inside, leaving the four girls standing outside in the hall.

Madeleine reached out with another bag of candy. “We thought you might like one of these. Talking to Madame is always hard.”

Kayley smiled at the girls. “Thanks, but no thanks. You guys are great. But I need to do some work. I’ll see you tomorrow morning at class.”

With that, she shut the door.

It was one in the morning, and Kayley had been in the library for hours, paging through books on ballet technique. She’d exhausted herself in her room browsing the Internet and watching YouTube. For variety, she’d decided to check out the library—a place she hadn’t even stepped in since she started coming to the academy two years ago. She’d managed to carve a space out in the way, way back corner of the dusty shelves so she could try out any new moves she discovered.

She wondered if anyone else had ever gone back to the place where she had camped out—a forgotten-looking corner at the end of a labyrinth of corridors. Cobwebs hung from the dusty old windows, and the books on the shelves looked ancient. The lights in the library had been shut off hours ago, but Kayley had planned ahead and kept her flashlight. She’d broken curfew so many times before that she knew exactly how to prepare lights-out. Sure, she was risking detention—or worse—but she wasn’t nervous in the least. She had a feeling that no one would check all the way back where she was. She hadn’t even known the place existed.

Even though Kayley wasn’t one to get easily spooked, she had to admit this corner of the library was creepy. Cut off from everything else, dark and dusty … Every noise threatened to make her jump. And there were a lot of noises. Creaks, groans, sighs. The place sounded like it was talking at her in a dead language. She was officially creeped out.

As she was closing a book on Russian masters and their ballet techniques, she thought she heard footsteps.

Her heart began to beat faster, and blood rushed to her head. She sat still and listened, but the footsteps no longer sounded through the hall.

She shook her head. The dark corner and the echoing sounds were getting to her. Lots of students thought the academy was haunted, but she never believed in that kind of stuff.

She stood up. From three shelves away, a loud bang echoed through the room like a shot.

Kayley jumped back, toppling over the chair she was sitting on. She put a hand to her chest, trying to slow her fast-beating heart. She flashed her light around the space and called out in a shaky voice, “Who’s there?”

The only reply was the echo of her question.

Her flashlight beam landed on cobwebs, revealing shelves filled with the crumbling old books. A spider crawled along the top of one of the cases.

She shivered. Yep, it was time to get out of there.

Grabbing the books she’d collected, she walked quickly down a row of stacks until she tripped and dropped her flashlight. It rolled away from her, spinning and spinning until it stopped, like a spotlight, on the object that had caused her fall.

Kayley bent down and looked at it—a book. An ancient one, from the looks of it. Turning it over in the light, she scanned the cover: A History of Dario Quincy Academy of Dance. She shrugged to herself. It wouldn’t hurt to read up on the place.

As she picked the book up, her bag bumped against the bookcase, and from the upper tier of the library, Kayley could swear she heard laughter. She stayed still for a moment to see if it came back, and though no noises did, a feeling of unease crept up her spine.

Why was she listening for voices in an empty library? she asked herself and then ran as fast as she could to her room.