Mitchell's Revenge

The Orlovs and the Ostrakovs were escorted through security and into the sports arena well before the main cohort of dancers arrived. Natasha met them inside and led them to the seats she had reserved for them. Daria kept her hand firmly on Anja’s shoulder as they moved to their seats. Anja dared not look around her until she was seated.

Their seats were in the first raised tier, opposite the stage. They were seated at the end of the third row down from the aisle that separated them from the second tier seats. The floor was four rows further down. Sergey and Elena settled into seats directly behind the family. Natasha had chosen these because Snatch had a direct view of them from one of the cameras in the control room.

Sonny and Snatch had done a wonderful job of transforming the ice hockey stadium into a ballroom dancing venue. The Championship compere would narrate the day’s events from the stage. Music and the adjudicator’s tables were set up nearby. Floor length black curtaining separated the facilities at the rear of the stage from the performance area. Behind the curtains was a warm up floor, the competitor marshalling area, changing rooms, massage therapists, food kiosks and other facilities for the dancers.

The stage was decorated with artificial flower arrangements laced with multi coloured fairy lights. Stairs descended from the middle of the stage to the floor. The finalists for each event would assemble behind the curtains before being introduced by the compere and walking down the stairs. A vid screen above the stage was set to display the current event number and run live vid footage of the event on the floor. Vid links backstage and in the change rooms kept the competitors up to date with what was happening and helped to make sure they did not miss their event.

Like all the other competitors, Anja and Aleks were required to use the change rooms. Daria accompanied Anja to the women’s section, and Ivan went with his son to the men’s. Other competitors and their support teams were moving into the auditorium, finding their seats and making space for themselves. Over two thousand couples were expected for the day’s events. If they made it through the rounds it would be a very long day.

Both juniors were nervous. Aleks had barely spoken to Anja since breakfast at the hotel. It did not help her nerves at all. Daria pushed open the door to the change room and their nostrils were assailed by a ghastly smell.

“What’s that?” Anja asked Daria. She screwed up her nose in disgust. She hesitated in the doorway. Daria grabbed her charge by the wrist and pulled her into the room. The door slapped shut behind them.

“Vomit,” replied Daria. “Don’t worry about it. Some of the girls get physically sick before they compete. The toilet’s just over there.” She motioned towards it with her head.

Anja heard retching sounds from behind the door. She thought she would be sick too. The smell was awful. Daria flicked some switches on the wall and an exhaust fan started to whir. Air freshener filtered down from the ceiling taking the worst of the smell away.

Anja’s eyes watered, but she dare not touch them. She couldn’t risk smudging the makeup that Daria had so carefully applied. She felt beyond miserable. Her long blond hair was piled up on top of her head in a top knot so tight that it gave her a headache. Silver sequins were glued into a pattern from her hair onto her forehead. A sequinned comb was wedged into one side of the topknot. She dreaded getting into her lycra suit as she had grown another two centimetres since the final measurements and it was once again too short for her body. She didn’t recognise the young woman staring back at her from the mirror.

She didn’t know how she was going to manage today. In the eighteen months since her abduction she managed to stay strong by believing that Jake would rescue her somehow. Elena Zeitsev had been a great support to her even though they had never been able to have a conversation about it. To be this close to her home world and unable to send a message to her family was almost more than she could bear. She was terrified that if she didn’t perform today Daria would hurt her.

Daria unpacked the bodysuit and handed it to Anja. She pulled it on and Daria zipped the back of it closed. Anja fitted the ballroom shoes onto her feet. The Latin rounds would be later in the day. She pressed the tab at the wrist of the suit to activate the hologram. She studied herself in the mirror as the firefly pattern came to life on the dress. It really was very pretty. The sky blue complimented her blond hair, blue eyes and pale skin. She switched it off and pulled a long black robe over the top of the suit. At least this way no one would see how tight it was.

“We must go now,” said Daria. “Your first round is in fifteen minutes. Come on.”

She took Anja’s hand and pulled her towards the door. Anja stumbled forward, then straightened up, determined to leave the room with a dancer’s dignity. As they left they passed two tall women walking the other way. The redhead was wearing a silver grey pants suit and the dark haired one wore a long silver robe over her bodysuit with silver sequins on the breast pocket. Anja stared at the pattern as they walked past.

She blinked and glanced up at the striking woman wearing it. The woman winked at her and continued on her way. Anja thought that the sequinned pattern was familiar. Even the dark haired woman was familiar. But she couldn’t place either of them. They reached the auditorium where Aleks and Ivan were waiting. They took off their covering robes and activated the holograms. Aleks looked so smart in his tail suit. Anja hoped she would do justice to their months of practice.

“Time to go,” said Ivan. “You look lovely Anja. Aleks knows where to go. He will take you to the marshalling. Do us proud.”

He smiled at the juniors. He shook hands with Aleks, and bent to kiss Anja on the cheek. He offered Daria his arm and escorted her back to their seats as the juniors walked towards their first round.