Chapter 3

Madeleine threw down her shower caddy and flopped on her bed. Her first class at the academy and she’d already made an enemy. And from what she could tell, a bad enemy to have. Couldn’t she have pissed off a squirrel or something?

Since Madeleine had arrived midday, she’d managed to miss all the non-dance classes for the day, and she’d only made the second of two ballet classes. Students practiced for six hours a day, from six to nine in the mornings and then from three to six in the afternoons. At six thirty, dinner was served. Even in her room on the second floor of the huge house, Madeleine could smell something delicious cooking in the ballroom. Dinner, she’d been told, was buffet style. Though her stomach growled, the thought of going into the ballroom and facing the girls from practice made her cringe. After class, she had barely made it into the shower before anyone else, and she’d scooted out as fast as possible to avoid any awkward run-ins.

She sat up on the bed just to flop down once again, strands of wet hair landing on her face.

For this night only, maybe she would avoid dinner, sneak in late for something to eat later, and then try to smooth things out at class the next morning. Madeleine threw her arm over her eyes. Not a great start. She played with her necklace and felt a wave of homesickness wash over her.

And then she jumped to her feet. Here she was, at the most prestigious ballet school in the country, and she was feeling sorry for herself. No way. The least she could do was explore a little while everyone else ate. It wouldn’t hurt to get a sense of the gigantic institution she now lived in.

Through her door, Madeleine heard girls walking out of their rooms and voices echoing in the hallway. The school was huge, but all the rooms on Madeleine’s floor had been split up into one-person units. When the voices died away, she opened her door, looking tentatively into the hall.

No one stood in the dark hallway. The deep red carpet faded to black as Madeleine glanced down the hall each way. Antique lights that looked like candles flickered at intervals, and Madeleine saw what seemed to be a line of endless doors. Here or there, some girls had tried to decorate their doors, but somehow the hallway resisted any color except deep red—the decorations seemed to get absorbed into the walls. A chill crept down Madeleine’s back—the same chill she felt when she first entered the school.

The spiral staircase leading to the dining room gaped to her left, and she heard the murmur of voices and the occasional spike of a laugh. Clinks of silverware traveled up the stairs. It sounded like life and fun. Madeleine’s homesickness came back, full force. For a moment she remembered lunchtime at her old high school, having a table to sit at.

Having friends.

She touched her neck and realized she hadn’t put her necklace back on.

Madeleine heard what sounded like a creaky door opening to her right. Lights flickered and the hallway curved so that she couldn’t see all the way to the end. She called out, “Hello?”

Silence answered her.

She hesitated in the doorway, then gathered up her courage. Down the staircase, in the dining room, was certain persecution. Down the hall, to the left, was the unknown. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad? Madeleine carefully closed and locked her door.

She tiptoed across the bloodred carpet, keeping her eyes fixed on a darkness that always seemed to curve out of sight. How big was this place anyway? The hallway seemed to go on forever.

She passed a door with a wooden sign that read OPHELIA. Her new best friend was only three doors away. Great.

As Madeleine stopped to check out Ophelia’s door, decorated with photos of ballet dancers and some band Madeline had never seen before, she heard the creaky door again. She flipped her head to the end of the dark hallway.

“Hello?”

Her voice echoed down the hall.

Madeleine kept walking, slower this time. The roar of dinner was gone. A stillness hung like a thick blanket in its place.

Finally, she reached the end of the hall, the carpet running out and a five-foot stretch of cold marble taking its place. High windows stood above the marble on both sides. At the edge of the marble, Madeleine saw a pair of French doors, curtains draped across them.

Light from the large windows reflected off the shiny floor, throwing shadows everywhere. Madeleine looked back down the hallway, the students’ doors disappearing into darkness. She shivered, her hair still wet.

Loud footsteps on the other side of the door made Madeleine jump. She gasped and fell against the wall that held the window. Something from the other side of the curtains cast shadows that looked like feet on the marble.

Running feet.

The footsteps seemed to get louder and faster. Then, just as quickly, they died away. Madeleine grabbed a hold of the door handles and turned, bracing herself for the squeak that she’d heard earlier.

But the knobs wouldn’t turn. The door was locked.

She knew the squeak had come from this door. It couldn’t have been anything else.

And who was running on the door’s other side? More importantly, what were they running from?

Outside, the sun was setting. The courtyard trees’ branches seemed twisted and deformed. Through the opposite window, Madeleine could see the statue of the ballet dancer at the front of the school, the one her mom had almost hit. From this angle, the ballerina’s body looked twisted, just like the branches of the trees, as if she were writhing in pain. The first dead leaves of fall scraped along the sidewalk, the wind starting to pick up.

Madeleine had that feeling again, the feeling from when she first entered the house. The tingle down the back of her neck. Goosebumps all over her body. She felt chills, even through her thick sweatshirt and Uggs. She began shaking, and she knew this time that it wasn’t from her wet hair.

Something was wrong. Something was not right in this house.

She instinctively put her hand to her throat but only touched bare skin. The necklace. She hadn’t put it back on.

Something knocked sternly on the doors in front of her.

Madeleine gasped and stumbled backward. Once she regained her footing, she sprinted down the hall back toward her room, all thoughts of exploring gone from her mind.

She ran as fast as she could, her ears primed for any strange sounds, for any running footsteps behind her.

When she reached her room, she fumbled with her key in the lock, then flung open the door, slamming it behind her and locking it again.

She touched her neck again and tried to control her breathing. It was just her imagination. A big house, a bad ballet class, a complete and total life change … Everything would be just fine. Plus, September always started to get creepy toward the end, with dead leaves and long shadows. She just needed to get her head together. She was probably hungry too. Having not eaten since lunch.

After slowing her breaths, she decided she needed to eat. Some food in her empty stomach would make things normal and erase the last few minutes. She decided to head down to the dining room to see if she could scrounge for some food. A quick look at the clock in her room told her it was only 7:20. Perfect timing—there would probably still be food around but no girls ready to hate her. She could open that door, go out into that hall, and get herself some food. There was nothing there. Nothing at all.

It was just a hallway. Even if her goose bumps were starting up again.

Madeleine realized she should put on her necklace for courage. It would remind her why she was here.

Walking over to her dresser, she started to feel better already. She laughed at herself—how could she have let her mind get away from her? There was nothing wrong with this school. The danger was all in her mind.

She scanned the dresser for her necklace. And then frantically scanned it again.

Nothing. Her necklace was gone.