Let the Dance Begin (12 page)

Looking out and caring for

Our family, friends and the dunes in dangerous times.

Marina agreed immediately, but expressed concerns about the length of time the mission would take. Sandrine assured her that she would be able to come back soon. Bad weather was expected in
the next few days, so she must leave with the sand farers immediately.

The bad weather came much sooner than expected and, no sooner had she left, than the Great Sandstorm struck – the most ferocious and destructive storm in living memory.

Cassie closed the pages and returned them to the hiding place. Then she locked the study and crept along the corridor. She took a few steps into the main school and stopped. She rested her head
against the wall. So the dunes were in danger. Sandrine was fierce for a reason. Her mother’s disappearance wasn’t about jealousy or sand sprites bearing grudges. It was so much bigger
than that! She felt dizzy. Cassie closed her eyes and took some deep breaths as she slowly made her way back to her kutch.

She saw Miss Youngsand Jnr softly snoozing on a workbench in her lab. Cassie understood now why she was working so late into the night. She was trying to save the dunes. There was no sign of Mrs
Sandskrit, only a few traces of crumbs on an empty plate. And there was Calluna, lying on the floor of the practice room sobbing, ‘I have to get it right, I am the best, I will be the
best.’ Cassie’s heart went out to her – all the other sand dancers would be in bed by now, and Calluna must be exhausted! She must be very dedicated, but also very worried, to be still
practising at this hour.

Cassie moved as quickly as she could away from her. She knew that trying to comfort Calluna would be pointless, as she would hate to be seen showing any sign of weakness, and she would be mean
to the sprite who saw it.

As she approached the gatehouse she heard the sound of singing.

Cassie popped her head round the door. Thassalinus and Rubus were sitting together on the floor. A red-faced Thassalinus was sipping from the flask of mead. He growled at
Cassie. ‘I hope you are not here to upset a sand farer. You should be tucked up in bed!’ He turned to Rubus. ‘Do you see what I have to put up with?’

Rubus nodded and said, ‘I should fill her bed with slime!’

Cassie pretended to look shocked. ‘I only came to warn you. I’ve just seen Mrs Sandskrit heading this way. I am sure she would not approve of night sprites drinking mollusc mead and
singing when they should be on duty’

Thassalinus was instantly on his feet. ‘You’re right. Now let’s be having you. Move along now!’

Rubus bowed. ‘Thank you for telling me your stories.’

Thassalinus bowed back. ‘It has been a pleasure talking to you. Sand farers are a tough breed. No matter what you throw at them they always come back!’

‘It looked like hard work keeping Thassalinus occupied,’ Cassie teased as they walked back along the beach.

‘It was really interesting to hear about sand farers and their exploits. You have to train really hard.’ Rubus paused. ‘It’ll take me ages to become one.’

‘But what about your sand racing? I thought you wanted to be a champion racer too.’ Cassie had never seen Rubus look so serious.

‘I do, but I am tired of always pleasing myself and drifting. It would be good to have some great stories to tell when I am old. But I can see by the look on your face that you’ve
found something out, so stop asking me questions and tell me all about it!’

They stopped at the foot of Cassie’s balcony so she could tell him everything.

As she finished, Cassie found that there were tears in her eyes. ‘Oh Rubus, now I almost wish that I hadn’t found out. Knowing that the dunes are in danger makes me feel scared. This
information changes everything.’

Rubus hugged her. ‘You are very brave, Cassie, and you should be proud of your mother.’

‘I am,’ Cassie whispered.

‘I’m sorry, but I’ll have to go now before anyone sees us. But I will come back soon,’ Rubus promised.

‘Please keep this to yourself . . . until we can figure out what to do next,’ Cassie insisted.

It was only when she was alone that Cassie flung herself on the bed and cried and cried until she finally fell asleep.

Chapter Sixteen

‘Time passes, sands shift and
secrets are revealed.’
The Sands of Time

Cassie woke early the
next morning with a fresh breeze blowing through her room. As she washed and tied her braids tightly she felt as if a pebble had
been lifted from her stomach.
Her mother left her that night to help save the dunes! She had to go because she was the best dancer, and she would be able to piece all the dune dances together
into one powerful piece!

Then other dizzying thoughts overwhelmed her.
Her mother had never returned, so did that mean that the dunes were still dying? Is that why the dance school had reopened? Were the dunes in
such a dreadful state that Sandrine desperately needed more sand dancers?

She wasn’t sure what she was going to do next. She was longing to tell everyone what she had found out, but she couldn’t. She could easily be expelled for breaking into Madame
Rosa’s study. She was going to have to do something, but for the moment it was enough just to know the truth and that there was a reason behind her mother’s disappearance – that she had
been trying to save the dunes. More than ever Cassie knew that she had to become a great sand dancer and that through dancing she, too, would help save the dunes. Perhaps she could do what her
mother had not lived to do. Even if she wasn’t the best dancer, she would work hard to be as good as she could be.

That day was a rest day but Cassie had not forgotten her promise to Madame Rosa and she decided to do some extra dance practice.

She raced down the corridor to meet Shell and Lexie.

‘How are you two going to spend your day?’ Cassie asked as she linked arms with them. ‘Only I was hoping you could find some time to help me with some dance
practice.’

‘It is a rest day so I was intending to do just that,’ Shell said. ‘But I suppose it would be entertaining to watch you stumble about the place!’ She winked at Lexie.

‘I was going to go over my Dune Arabesques. Perhaps we could do them together?’ Lexie said.

‘What do you think you are doing?’ A familiar voice stopped them in their tracks.

An angry-looking Calluna was waiting at the foot of the stairs. ‘The rules clearly state that students must walk single file down the stairs. You are setting a bad example. You can spend
the day cleaning out the stock cupboard.’

She turned and quickly left them.

‘That’s ridiculous! I’ve a good mind to go to Madame Rosa,’ Shell flared up.

‘It won’t be so bad if we’re together,’ Lexie said.

‘I suppose I could Dune Bug Jump down the shelves!’ Cassie sighed.

‘Don’t expect me to catch you; I’ll be too busy keeping the dust out of my hair!’ Shell replied.

The stock cupboard was next to the practice room and it was long and crammed with shelves that were spilling out with objects. It was lit with an old musty gas lamp that gave off a strange green
glow.

‘This will take days to sort out,’ Cassie groaned as they all stood in the doorway.

Calluna had left them some thick overalls to wear and some long brushes and pieces of sponge cloths. They turned and looked at each other.

‘Don’t we look stylish?’ Shell struck a pose.

‘The green light is
so
flattering,’ Cassie joked.

Lexie waggled her long brush and twirled down the cupboard, leaving a cloud of dust after her.

‘Let’s try to be systematic’ Shell shook her brush. ‘We should divide the cupboard into sections and each do a bit. That way we won’t choke on the dust.’

Cassie wandered down to the end. ‘I’ll start here,’ she said, standing beside a rickety old stepladder that led up to a shelf full of boxes. She climbed up the ladder and
flicked a cloth over the boxes.

‘Why do sand sprites never throw anything away?’ she called out to her friends.

‘Because it might come in useful!’ her friends chanted back at her.

As Cassie worked, she thought about the Triple Silica Jump, which she had been practising. She jumped down from the ladder, swung her hips as she closed her eyes and tried to imagine herself
performing it.

The first two jumps went fine but she mistimed the third. As she spun round and round her duster got tangled up in the leg of her overall. Feeling dizzy, she reached out with her empty hand to
steady herself but all she managed to do was pull out a box. It caught the side of her head and she spun around again as everything in the room began to swirl and dance before her eyes.

It was a smell that brought her to her senses. She inhaled the distinctive scent of roses and sea kelp with a hint of sea breezes. The smell of her mother’s favourite perfume. Cassie took
a deep breath. Her senses were not wrong. The smell lingered.

‘Cassie, are you all right?’ a voice asked. Cassie half- opened her eyes. There was the most beautiful dress she had ever seen. A dress that she recognised from the lantern slides.
Her mother’s dune dancing dress.

Cassie blinked and grabbed hold of an arm. ‘Is it you, Mama? Have you come back from your journey? Sandrine had no right to send you away for so long!’

‘She’s delirious,’ another voice said as Cassie felt her- self being lifted up.

‘Cassie, it’s me – Lexie, you’ve just had a nasty fall. I found this dress in a basket. I couldn’t resist putting it on.’ Then she gasped. ‘Oh Cassie, is this
your mother’s dress? I’m so sorry. I’ll take it off right away’

‘You’re going to have a bump on your head,’ Shell said, peering at Cassie. ‘But there’s no blood.’

‘Shall I go and get help?’ Lexie asked.

Shell and Cassie both said, ‘No!’

‘It was just the shock of seeing that dress.’ Cassie reached out and grabbed some of the fabric and sniffed it.

‘You said something about Sandrine . . .’ Shell said as she helped Cassie stand up.

‘Did I?’

‘You mumbled something about Sandrine having no right to send your mother away for so long. What did you mean?’ Shell looked serious. ‘Please, Cassie, I need to know.’

‘Leave her be, Shell. She was probably talking nonsense,’ said Lexie as she changed back into her overalls.

‘What I said was the truth,’ Cassie said softly. We said that we wouldn’t talk about our pasts, but I have discovered that Sandrine sent my mother on a secret mission to help
save the dunes.’

Words came flooding out of Cassie as she told them about the reason why she wanted to be at Sandringham and then about the two secret visits to the study. Lexie and Shell listened with awestruck
faces.

‘When I read the missing pages I found out that my mother had been sent on a mission to visit all the dunes and learn the secret dune dances from around the world. I’d started to
blame Sandrine, but reading those pages made me realise that Sandrine had no choice. She was faced with an appalling decision, and has always felt responsible for my mother’s
disappearance.’

‘Then your mother got caught in the Great Sandstorm. Oh Cassie, I’m so sorry’ Tears welled up in Lexie’s eyes.

‘You have to promise me that you will not tell anyone about this,’ Cassie insisted.

Shell’s voice quivered. ‘We will keep your secret, Cassie.’

‘Of course we will,’ Lexie agreed.

‘That clears up a lot of things,’ Shell said, wiping away a tear.

‘What do you mean?’ Lexie asked as she handed her a handkerchief.

Shell blew her nose. ‘Just about how things are at the palace. Why Sandrine can be so moody sometimes, and the way that she treats Anagallis.’

‘You mean that she spoils her and lets her do exactly what she likes,’ Lexie said, ‘whilst the rest of us have to struggle along the best we can.’

‘You don’t understand what it is like for Anagallis,’ replied Shell. ‘When you are given everything you want it can feel like you aren’t really loved at all.
It’s easy just to give things. Sometimes saying no to a demand is a sign of caring.’

After a moment’s silence, Lexie stood up and said in a mock solemn voice, ‘From now on this place shall be known as the Secrets Cupboard!’

They all linked arms. ‘The Secrets Cupboard!’ they chanted together.

Shell helped Cassie tidy up the spilled boxes. ‘I knew you were hiding something from us!’ she said. ‘You’ve been so distracted lately. Lexie thought that perhaps you had
a crush on Rubus.’

‘I did not say that!
You
said it!’ Lexie gasped.