Read Online Dance of Fire by Yelena Black - Free Book Online Page B

How does that sound?’
    To Vanessa’s surprise, it sounded perfect. ‘That’s great.’
    â€˜I thought so,’ the waitress said, winking. ‘And you, dear?’ She turned to Svetya, who was telling a long story with gestures, her lacquered fingernails flitting about her face, her features bewitching.
    Vanessa pointed to the title on the menu: Barre None. ‘What does that mean?’
    The waitress chuckled. ‘It’s a pun on the phrase bar none , which means “without exception”. The Royal Court is the best company of dancers, bar none .’
    Svetya let out a low laugh. ‘Indeed,’ she said, handing the menu to the waitress. ‘I’ll have the gravy and chips platter. Hold the salad.’
    Geo let out a deep laugh. ‘One day this is going to catch up with you.’
    The waitress pressed her lips together. ‘Very well then,’ she said, and looked around the booth. ‘And for the boys?’
    After everyone had ordered, and the waitress had disappeared, Vanessa looked around the restaurant. A few tables away was Pauline, the ballerina from Paris, sitting with a noisy group. All around them were clusters of dancers, eating and laughing and chattering about the competition and what they would be performing.
    â€˜I said, are you OK, Vanessa?’ Justin tapped her shoulder.
    â€˜Sorry, you guys, I’m just . . . tired,’ she said.
    â€˜There is absolutely no need to apologise,’ Geo said, ­running his fingers through his orange hair. ‘You two flew halfway across the world to be here. Svetya and I? We rolled out of bed this morning, and here we are.’ He took a piece of breadfrom the basket in the centre of the table. ‘So . . . who are you?’
    Justin laughed. ‘What do you mean?’
    â€˜I mean, we’re all training with Enzo for a reason. And you two –’ he pointed to Vanessa and Justin – ‘were late additions. They don’t even have your head shots up in the lobby. But you didn’t blink when Enzo did his magical blur step. So why are you here?’
    Vanessa looked at Justin. What should they say? They couldn’t talk about Hilda and Josef, and she certainly couldn’t talk about the demon.
    â€˜Well?’ Svetya said.
    â€˜I guess you’ll have to wait and see,’ Vanessa said.
    Geo laughed. ‘Svetya doesn’t like to wait for anything.’
    Just then the waitress arrived, filling the table with a savoury mess of food.
    â€˜In the nick of time!’ Svetya said. ‘I am so hungry I could eat my own head.’
    Vanessa didn’t realise how hungry she was until her salad was in front of her.
    â€˜I’d never even heard of the Lyric Elite until about three months ago. Enzo pulled me aside after one of our student recitals,’ Geo continued. ‘Svetya and I were dancing Romeo and Juliet – the Prokofiev version.’
    â€˜A Russian composer,’ Svetya said proudly. ‘There is nothing like them.’
    â€˜Anyway,’ Geo said, ‘we were in the middle of the balcony scene, and as I was lifting Svetya I felt myself getting . . .light-headed. I was so involved with the dance that suddenly I couldn’t even see. I was . . . I don’t know . . . enveloped by the music. All of the colours in the room seemed distorted and very bright, and, well –’
    â€˜What Geo is trying to say is that he dropped me,’ Svetya said, turning to Geo and smacking him lightly on the back of the head. ‘Lucky for you I didn’t hurt myself.’ She dipped one of her chips into the gravy on her plate, then popped it into her mouth. ‘My Juliet was glorious, by the way.’
    But Vanessa was much more interested in Geo’s story. ‘That sort of thing,’ she said, ‘it’s happened to me. Sometimes when I’m dancing really well, it’s almost like . . . I’m taken out of my body