Page 23 of The Paranormal Investigation Bureau
Arden hated us, and we weren’t exactly fans of his either. Still, I met his eyes across the studio. We didn’t speak, but we came to an agreement with our eyes. I knew Arden wasn’t gay, despite the rumors Julian spread, but I also knew we’d been in this company almost the same amount of time, and Arden had never been linked to a ballerina. He was fiercely protective of Nyx, but even Julian couldn’t start a successful rumor about that as it was more like a big brother dynamic.
Something was going on with Arden and the new girl because he was willing to work with me to make sure Bellatrix and Ivory didn’t run her off or injure her. We both set off towards Beyla. Before we could get there, Julian slid into the spot across the barre. I guess they were going for a three-prong approach.
Julian might be willing to go there with a male dancer, but Bellatrix and Ivory weren’t about to fuck with Arden, Nicolai, or me. There was always a chance they’d get partnered with us on stage, and we could make them look bad in front of an audience.
I elbowed my way in front of Bellatrix, and Arden muscled his way between Ivory and Beyla.
“I was standing here, Merlin!” Bellatrix hissed.
“Yeah, and now you’re standing over there. You could do us all a favor and take your usual spot you’ve bullied the entire company into claiming.”
“Shut up, Merlin,” Ivory snapped. “You’re just a bet to him.”
“Girl, I could fill you in onexactlywhy you need to stay away from Merlin and Nicolai, Arden, too,” Julian purred.
“Stay away from Beyla, Julian. I’ll kick your ass again,” Arden growled.
Something had definitely gotten into the gryphon. Beyla wasn’t fazed by any of this though, she just calmly adjusted her bun and squared her shoulders.
“This area of the studio is feeling a little toxic. All of you should meditate and burn some sage to cleanse your auras. Later!”
She strolled away from us and took a spot at the barre by one of the corps members that didn’t even have a hand in this fight. There wasn’t a damned thing we could do about it, because Madame Lucinda rapped her cane against the floor to start class.
Well played, new girl.
We were a professional dance company, and so barre politics shouldn’t matter. It wasn’t like any of us hadn’t started pointe, or still thought dance belts were the devil. We were here because ballet was an art form in which perfection was desired, but never really attainable. It didn’t matter if you made it into a company, got leads, or had international fame... you still had to take class every day and do the five positions like a child that was just starting out. You could get increasingly proficient, but you’d never be perfect. So, you took hours of technique classes every day.
It shouldn’t matter where any of us stood at the barre. Personally, I didn’t give a shit. Madame Lucinda was one of the best ballet instructors I’d ever had, even if she hadn’t chosen to mentor me and had told me more than once I had a shitty attitude when it came to ballerinas. I was here to learn.
Some principals here acted like you’d killed their puppy if you didn’t have their rank, and you dared stand next to them. Even among the soloists and principals, Bellatrix and Ivory had their chosen spots, and everyone knew not to stand there.
Bellatrix, Ivory, and Julian must really feel threatened by Beyla to slum it in this studio area. Their usual MO was to pretend to adopt new people and invite them to stand next to them during class. It generally turned the other principals against them.
They didn’t even try that this time. They were changing things up and spoke to a level of desperation that would get ugly. I had a feeling Beyla could handle herself, as she handled the barre drama just fine and didn’t make it worse by taking her place in the wrong area.
She’d still need help. We all had different strengths, we approached being a dancer differently, and we dealt with the drama here in distinct ways. I didn’t like him. I thought he was a pretentious asshole who reveled in the whole bad boy image the press created for him. He looked like a dick in all that leather, and his stupid motorcycle was loud as fuck.
Bellatrix, Ivory, and Julien were just getting started. They were going to come for Bevan too, and I couldn’t abide by that. That stupid gryphon would be at rehearsals with us, since we had to share the lead with him. Something was going on with him and the new girl.
I didn’t have to like him, and he didn’t have to like me, but he’d better get on board with putting some assholes in their place because, gods knew, Marsden wasn’t going to do it.
Chapter20
Beyla
As far as petty ballerina moves went, putting glass in my pointe shoes was fucked up, but boxing me in at the barre was just stupid. I knew Merlin and Arden thought they were helping me, but if they had just kept their noses out of my business, I might have settled this before it went further.
As it was, three dancers reeked of malice, and two males puffed up with testosterone who thought I needed saving were in my dance space and class was about to start. Kaine always taught me there was a time to fight and defend yourself, but that sometimes you need to walk away and regroup for a bigger battle.
So, I removed myself from the situation.
Class was brutal. I was coming to adore Madame Lucinda. It wasn’t that she saw something in me and had me partner with Bevan and Nicolai, but she challenged me more than any teacher ever had before. I always lost myself when I was dancing, and I forgot the glass in my pointe shoes and the fact that I needed to be researching the names she’d given me.
We had a break for lunch. There was a café in the same building as the studio, and I intended to eat there alone to get into the right headspace for rehearsal, but Julian followed me, and I couldn’t get rid of him. He invited himself to lunch with me even though I told him I wanted to eat alone. He was a pushy little vampire that was for sure, and was acting like he wanted to be my new best friend.
Did people honestly fall for that shit? He was tryingwaytoo hard. He kept touching me and falling over himself to be nice to me, but there was this dead look in his eyes, like he didn’t mean any of it.
“The kale salad is the best thing here. It’s the lowest in calories if you get the balsamic dressing on the side. Marsden is a huge stickler for being thin. If you gain weight, he’ll call you into his office. He has a scale in there. He wants the women under one hundred pounds. If you’re over, you have two weeks to lose it, or you’re fired.”
