Page 105 of A Shade of Myself
Pyotr beamed.
I emerged outside the ballet company cloaked, remaining hidden while I tracked Giselle down. I finally caught her coming out of class and whispered in her ear, “Psst. It’s me, Miri. I need to speak with you, but we can’t do it here.”
After her initial flustered jump, which she covered by pretending she had a rock in her shoe, she listened to the address and then called out to another dancer. “How long is break, Franny? Twenty minutes?” She emphasized the time.
“No, you’re not back for two hours,” the other dancer replied.
“See you in twenty,” I whispered and left.
It took me fifteen minutes to get to the pizza place. I’d expected something more than a hole in the wall with two tables and a large air-conditioning unit that barely stirred the muggy air, but the place smelled delicious. I bought a slice of pepperoni that glistened with beautiful oily cheese and grabbed the table away from the window.
Giselle arrived moments later, looking longingly at the pizza before buying a diet soda. She sat down across from me and popped the tab. “What’s with all the cloak and dagger stuff?”
I wiped a string of mozzarella off my mouth. “I found your sister. She’s physically unharmed, but she has no idea who she is.” I paused to let Giselle take this in because she’d gone pale. Paler than normal.
She nodded for me to continue.
“The thing is,” I said, “she’s not just a sibling, she’s your twin and—”
Giselle jumped up. “What? You have to take me to her.”
The employee behind the counter looked up from his phone, but not finding anything interesting, ignored us.
I put my hand on her arm. “Sit. Please. It’s not that simple. The demon who cast this illusion has convinced her she’s his fiancée, but the illusion isn’t seamless and she’s plagued with these episodes where she thinks she’s supposed to be a dancer.”
Giselle gasped. “He’s doing this to both of us.”
“Yes. Now, if we kill him, the magic will be broken, but that could take a while. The other way is that we undo the illusion one person at a time, starting with you. You’d have to come with me to see some people who specialize in this.”
“Of course, anything.”
I ate some more pizza to buy time before dropping the biggest bombshell, but there was no easy way to spring it on her. “There’s something else that I’ve verified. She isn’t Rory,” I said gently. “You are.”
Giselle simply stared at me, her mouth opening and closing. Finally, she took a sip of pop and cleared her throat. “Excuse me?”
“You’re Aurora.” I pulled up the email that I received from the administrator of the twins’ dance studio and slid the photo over.
She looked at it without comment then pushed my phone away. “Why does the ballet company think I’m Giselle?”
I twisted my napkin, really wishing she hadn’t asked me that question. “Apparently you wanted your sister’s life.”
“And I got it?” She looked out at the passing traffic, a host of emotions flickering over her face. “When?”
I glanced down at my lap with a sigh. “Right after the real Giselle got into the company.”
“Why didn’t I as well? Did I fail the audition?”
I hesitated.
“I wasn’t invited, was I?” Her face crumpled. “Was I not as good as her? I don’t pick up things as easily as some dancers, it’s true, but I work really hard.”
Just like the woman at the dance school had said. Rory always worked hard where everything came naturally to Giselle, but Rory had been deemed the lesser dancer because of it. I’d seen this in school and work settings too, where effort and tenacity weren’t valued as highly as ease. It was a damn shame, especially here.
“According to an old instructor, you were just as good,” I said. “Everything you’ve achieved has been because of you.”
“Then why didn’t I get my own audition?”
I looked away from the pain in her eyes.
