Twin Dangers (3 page)

Chapter 5

Sophie chased after the retreating backs of Ophelia, Kayley, and Madeleine as they walked out of the studio. She had to get to the bottom of this “killing her own sister” business. Emma had disappeared completely.

“Hey, wait up!”

Poised at the top of the stairs, the three girls turned as if choreographed to give her a nasty look.

From the bottom of the staircase, Sophie said, “You guys, I have no idea what you were talking about back in practice.”

Ophelia crossed her arms and stuck out her hip. Sophie noticed that Ophelia's turnout was perfect even in that small, casual move.

“Seriously? You expect us to believe you?”

Madeleine and Kayley shared Ophelia's stare of disbelief. Even Madeleine wasn't tempered by any sort of empathy. She just looked sad and disappointed. Kayley blew a bubble and let it pop, loud.

Suddenly, Sophie was tired. All that crying, all that fighting, and now this. It had been a hard two days. Her sister was mad at her and dating her crush. And now even her best friends wouldn't talk to her. For something Sophie was pretty sure she hadn't done. Everything seemed to catch up with her at once.

Her shoulders slumped and she turned away. “I don't expect anything anymore. Whatever. Have a great dinner.”

She walked down the hall to her room, slowly, feeling like the weight of the world was on her shoulders. She opened her door, and without even taking off her blue Uggs, she fell back flat on her bed. She felt like she could sleep for the next fifteen hours and be OK with that. But a knock came at her door. A timid knock, quiet and subdued.

She ignored it. She was too tired to talk to anybody. And anyway, it was probably a former friend who was going to tell her she was awful or a sister who was going to steal her crush and then inexplicably freak out on her.

Sophie heard a shushing sound as something slipped under the door onto her hardwood floor. Curious, she sat up and checked it out. A letter, plain and white. She got off her bed and picked it up, turning it over.

The envelope wasn't sealed, and she lifted out the paper inside with ease. Unfolding it, she saw, in magazine cutouts that looked like a vintage ransom note:

I BELIEVE YOU

She turned over the letter to see if there was more, but there was nothing. She opened the door and looked down both ways of the dark hallway.

Nobody.

Of course, with the thick carpet and a student body full of people who were light on their feet, the chances of catching someone sneaking down the hall were slim to none. In fact, during previous adventures, Sophie and her sister had counted on those odds. How many nights had they snuck to each other's room and had a slumber party?

Sophie sighed. Whatever this note meant, whatever person believed that she hadn't done whatever is it she was supposed to have done didn't matter to Sophie. What she wanted most desperately was her friends and her sister to believe her. She fell back in bed and crashed out.

Ballet class was brutal.

Not physically. Sophie welcomed the release of jumps and twirls and arabesques. Just brutal in every other way. Sophie wished desperately that she was back in bed and that this strange nightmare would end.

The minute she got into class, people started whispering. She had been late again—earning another dirty look from Madame—and had started her warm-ups like usual. But soon she noticed the stares, the hard looks from almost everyone in her vicinity. Even the boys were huddled around each other in one corner. At one horrible point, Sophie saw Trey look at her, say something to his group of friends, and then watched them laugh at her.

Her face burned. What was going on?

During rehearsal, she tried to get close to Madeleine, Kayley, Ophelia, and Emma, but they all seemed to be protected by an invisible fortress of mean.

The only soft looks came from the girl she'd run into the other day. The one she actually had caused harm to. When Sophie caught her eye across the room, the girl—Chloe, was it?—gave her a tentative smile. Sophie smiled back sadly. She now knew how lonely it must be for the girl. Except, Sophie would have loved to go unnoticed at the moment. The stares and whispers were going to kill her soon.

After class, Sophie meant to grab Emma or Madeleine or Ophelia or Kayley and make one of them tell her what was going on, but Madame Puant stopped her as she walked out.

“This is the second day in a row you were late. And you missed one practice entirely.” Madame's eyes bored into hers. “One more lateness or missed practice and you're out of the next performance.”

All Sophie could do was nod, because for the billionth time in two days, she was about to burst out crying.

She ran to her room and sobbed on her bed. Worst. Ballet. Practice. Ever.

Once again, a knock sounded at her door. Sophie bolted upright and wiped her eyes angrily. If the letter writer was in the hallway, maybe she'd finally get some answers.

She opened the door and almost fell back. It was Emma. In tears. For a wild moment, Sophie thought Emma might have come to make up, to give her a big hug, and to say they should start over.

Instead, she saw Madeleine, Kayley, and Ophelia come into view behind her sister.

“I'm not going to stop dating him, so you can stop with the threats already!” Emma said.

Sophie's jaw dropped. What in the world was Emma talking about?

From behind Emma, Madeleine said, “Sophie, this isn't like you. And none of us have wanted to do anything because we thought maybe you'd stop. But if this keeps up, we're going to have to tell Madame. And you
will
get kicked out.”

Emma hung her head.

Sophie threw up her hands and said, “I. Don't. Know. What. You're. Talking. About. Can someone please tell me what I did?”

“You know what you did,” Emma said. “You are the only one with the password to my computer and the only one I trusted enough to give a key to. And you were gone from class when the first note appeared on my laptop—which gave you all the time in the world to do it. ‘Stay away from Trey/or you won't see another day.'”

Behind her, Kayley snorted. “Not even a great rhyme.”

Emma continued, “But the one today …” She stopped and sobbed. Madeleine put her hand on her shoulder. “That one is just off the charts, Sophie. How could you? I'm you're sister!”

Sophie tried to process all the information coming at her. A tendril of worry was starting to wind through her. Her sister was getting threatening notes?

“What did the second note say?”

“You want a reminder of your handiwork?” Emma said. “You want me to let you know I really got the message? OK. Fine. You wrote, ‘Keep hooking up with Trey/and you will die in the next few days/I'm watching you.'”

“Seriously. That's terrible poetry,” Kayley said.

But Sophie barely heard her. Someone was threatening her sister. Not just threatening her sister but threatening her sister with death.

Before Sophie could say anything, Emma said, “Stop threatening me or I will go to Madame.”

She let out a sob and walked away. Ophelia and Kayley shot Sophie another nasty look. Madeleine's eyes lingered on Sophie's face before she followed them.

Sophie didn't care at this point what anyone else thought of her. She didn't care that she'd been unfairly accused or that her friends weren't talking to her.

The most important thing, the thing that fired her up and made her blood run cold: someone was threatening her sister.

And she was going to put a stop to that.

Chapter 6

The tricky thing about following her sister, Sophie noticed, was that Emma spent a lot of time in public places.

Which was good if you were a sister being threatened but not good if you were a sister trying to do some discreet spying.

Despite the hard looks from everyone, Sophie was on a mission. She didn't miss any classes—easier to keep track of Emma that way.

Madeleine kept giving Sophie looks from across the room—tentative, probing looks—and at one point, a very small smile. Sophie halfway returned it, but she was busy trying to suss out who could be threatening Emma.

During classes, she kept her eye out for anyone giving Emma dirty looks or anyone flirting with Trey. Every look, every sound, every movement captured her attention. She studied Emma. Her sister had big bags under her eyes, and her hair was stringy and dank. Clearly she hadn't been sleeping. And her already sharp cheekbones stuck out even farther.

Sophie was furious—someone was making Emma miserable. Sophie kept on high alert.

But by midday, she hadn't noticed anything different among the rest of the student body.

Except that everyone thought she was psycho.

Sophie racked her brain. Was there anyone at all who had a crush on Trey besides her? The problem with the 4–1 girl-guy ratio was that half a dozen girls probably held crushes. But no one gave herself away during any of the day's classes.

Before the second ballet practice, Sophie saw Emma break away from everyone else and go into an empty classroom. Sophie looked around to make sure no one was watching and then followed Emma quietly.

In the same classroom where Sophie had learned that Emma and Trey were dating, Emma and Trey met up once again. Sophie could hear them talking. She was about to turn around—Emma was safe with Trey, and although Sophie was pretty over the whole Trey thing, she still wasn't eager to listen to their love whispers—when she heard a loud crash of glass on the floor.

Emma squealed.

“What the hell?” Trey said.

Sophie peeked around the corner.

On the other end of the classroom, safely away from Trey and Emma, a glass beaker had shattered on the floor. Emma was crying again.

“I can't take this, Trey. Why do these weird things keep happening? And with the notes …”

Trey stroked Emma's hair. Even though Sophie had once hoped that she'd be in Emma's place, she was happy that Trey cared so much for her sister. Emma deserved someone who treated her well.

“I thought we knew that your sister was writing those notes, Em,” Trey said.

Emma stepped back, chewing on her fingernail. Sophie knew that chew. Emma was conflicted.

“I don't know, Trey. The more I think about it, the more I don't think Sophie would do that. She may be mad at me, and she has a temper, but she would never hurt me. I think I just got caught up in the moment, thinking about who might've had access to my computer.”

Trey moved closer. “It's a pretty weird coincidence that those notes happened when she was gone. And that she is the only one who has your password and your room key.”

“Yeah, it all points to her. But, Trey, something deep down in my heart says there's something else going on. Sophie just wouldn't be that spiteful.”

Trey took Emma into his arms and said, “Well, that's a beautiful heart you have, so I trust it too. Maybe you should talk to her?”

Emma sighed. “I should. But if she didn't leave those notes … Oh, Trey. I've been a terrible sister.”

“Sisters forgive each other. Go talk to her and see what she has to say about the notes. And try to make up.” Trey smoothed strands of hair behind Emma's ears. “I hate to see you so upset.”

“I'm so nervous to talk to her. To even see her. If she did write those notes, it's horrible, but it's even worse in some ways if she didn't. I need to practice what I'll say in my room during dinner. Can we meet up here later, so I can run it by you? She's so important to me, Trey …”

Trey hugged her closer. “I'm always here for you. See you in a bit, OK?”

Emma nodded, and Sophie decided that this was a good time to move away. She walked back to her dorm room with a gigantic smile on her face.

Nothing else mattered: Emma knew. Emma knew in the deepest part of her soul—the part where she and Sophie were twin-connected—that Sophie wouldn't have made those threats. Sophie vowed to keep watching Emma until Emma came to talk to her tonight.

For now, though, she'd let Trey take care of Emma. Maybe Sophie could let go just a little. Emma seemed able to figure things out for herself, and she had good people on her side. Trey seemed to like her a lot, maybe even love her. And with her jealousy gone, Sophie felt amazing about that.

Sophie endured dinner alone. She'd thought of going to talk to Emma but decided to give her some space like Emma had wanted.

As she ate, Sophie noticed Chloe—right?—at the next table, also by herself. She sat and picked at her food. If possible, the girl seemed paler and more pixielike than usual. Her eyes were huge and haunted. She caught Sophie's eye at one point and quickly looked down at her plate.

Now even Chloe was ignoring Sophie.

With a sigh, she decided to go up to Emma's room after all.

Sophie stood up so fast she made a scraping sound with her chair, earning looks from the whole dining room. She walked through the room and passed Madeleine, Kayley, and Ophelia. Madeleine made a motion to speak, but Sophie ignored her. Time to make things right with her sister.

A trickle of unease passed through Sophie. She had no idea why, but she felt like she needed to get to Emma right away.

She took the stairs two at a time and walked fast down the red carpeted hall. She saw Emma from far away. She was wearing her robe and flip-flops, carrying her shower caddy.

Sophie slowed down a little. Having glimpsed Emma, she felt better. No one else was around. Her sister was fine. Sophie walked a little ways closer to the shower room and laughed to herself. Was she going to watch Emma take a shower? She'd just wait to talk until Emma came back to her room. Her sister was safe.

Sophie turned around and ran smack into someone again. They both staggered back a little.

It was the tiny red-haired girl again. Was she everywhere?

The girl's freckles stood out in glaring contrast to her pale face. Terror was in her eyes.

“Are you all right?” Sophie said.

The girl shook her head and looked away. She seemed to be debating something. Finally, she turned to Sophie and said, “I think you should go check on Emma.”

“Why?”

“Um,” the girl said, “I think there might be an exposed wire or something in the bathroom? I don't know. Just a hunch.”

With that, the girl turned and ran away down the hall.

Adrenaline shot through Sophie.

An exposed wire plus water equaled electrocution.

Electrocution equaled death.

Emma's death.

Sophie sprinted to the bathroom.

Emma had taken her robe off and was pushing the shower stall's curtain away with her foot.

“Wait!” Sophie yelled.

An alarmed, naked Emma turned her head as Sophie barreled toward her. But it was too late. In a half second, Emma would be stepping into possible death.

Sophie smacked into Emma right as her sister's foot was about to touch the stall floor. They slammed into the shower room wall, Emma's head smacking against the tile.

“Are you OK?” Sophie asked.

“Are you trying to kill me after all?” Emma shouted.

She scrambled up and put on her robe, glaring at Sophie.

Sophie looked into the shower stall. Sure enough, there was standing water on the floor. In the water sat an exposed wire from the wall.

Emma would have been electrocuted.

Sophie pointed to the wire and the standing water. “No, Emma. I'm trying to save your life.”