Let the Dance Begin (6 page)

The group of sand dancers onboard the bug giggled.

Lexie blushed. ‘It’s the only one I’ve got. My mother made it.’

‘At least Lexie can wipe the dust from her cloak, but you are stuck with that nasty tongue!’ Cassie stomped her foot.

There was a shocked silence. Calluna stood still, her eyes narrowed and her nostrils flared – like a sea anemone about to trap its prey.

‘Come on, let’s go and get another bug. Perhaps the company will be better!’ Cassie took Lexie by the arm and they marched quickly away from stony-faced Calluna.

They had the last bug to Dreamy Dune to themselves. It was old and tired and seemed to take the longest way round to the school at the slowest pace.

‘It helps if you put your feet in here.’ Lexie pointed to the worn grooves in the bug’s shell-like back as she stroked it. ‘It’s better for him. You know, I
can’t believe I’ve spoken to a surf boy. He was nothing like I imagined. He seemed to know you well.’

‘Pretty much all my life,’ Cassie replied.

‘He has such green eyes, and what fun to go where you want and do exactly as you please. I would love to go sand surfing.’ Lexie sighed.

‘I can teach you. It’s quite easy once you get going.’

‘Oh, Cassie, that would be wonderful! And thank you again for sticking up for me. The way you answered Calluna back was amazing. She is the most important student in the school – my mother
told me. The senior sand dancer is like a head girl. She is given a lot of extra duties and responsibilities. She usually either becomes the prima dune dancer or a famous dance teacher.’

‘Perhaps I should have shown a bit more respect – but so should she,’ said Cassie frowning. ‘She had no right to speak to us like that.’ She looked fierce, then she
sighed. ‘I haven’t even arrived at Sandringham and I’m making powerful enemies. Being a Marramgrass doesn’t help. I suppose things could be worse. I could be Anagallis! No
one has a good word to say about her either!’

‘It doesn’t matter to me who your family are. You are my friend. We swore an oath. I will always stick by you,’ Lexie insisted.

‘Thank you, Lexie. That means a lot to me.’ Cassie felt a lump in her throat.

‘As a Marramgrass you must know lots about dancing. Your family always produced the prima dune dancers,’ Lexie continued.

‘Not really. I live with my aunt and she has no time for dancing. Besides, I am nothing like my mother.’

‘You are courageous and kind. My mother says that Marina Marramgrass was like that. She was always coming to the school to help train the sand dancers or to attend endless meetings in Madame
Rosa’s study. No one was allowed to disturb them, and they often went on talking late into the night.’

Cassie glowed. This was the first time she’d really heard anyone other than her aunt speak about her mother in a positive way. ‘Did your mother go to any of these meetings?’
she asked.

Lexie shook her head. ‘No, she was only a student, and it was only the teachers who went, and Marina and sometimes Sandrine.’

Cassie begged Lexie for more details, but she couldn’t tell her much more.

One day I will have to explore that study,
Cassie thought to herself.

Then, changing the subject, she asked, ‘I wonder how we’ll spend each day at Sandringham?’

‘Well, if it’s anything like it was in my mum’s day we’ll have to wake at first light to dress and do our hair. Braids must be tied tightly and then pinned up. Then down
for breakfast, followed by either a free interpretation class with shell music with Madame Rosa or a technique class with Mrs Sandskrit – apparently she is really strict. Then there are classes in
etiquette and the Rules in
The Sands of Time
from Miss Youngsand Snr as well as sewing, mathematics, aerodynamics and geography with Miss Youngsand Jnr.’

‘It sounds exhausting, but fun,’ Cassie laughed. ‘And did I hear right – there are two Miss Youngsands?’

‘They are twins. Miss Youngsand Snr is the smallest but she likes everyone to know that she is the oldest so she insists on the senior and junior titles.’

All of a sudden the bug froze, then jolted them as it turned in another direction and began to make a low whining sound. Lexie and Cassie clung on tightly.

‘It’s calling out to another beetle,’ said Lexie, shading her eyes with her hand and pointing to a silver speck on the horizon. The beetle began rumbling slowly in its
direction.

Cassie spotted an arm waving and heard a voice calling out. ‘YOOHOO!’

Chapter Seven

‘Always believe the best of your friends
– especially during hard times.’
The Sands of Time

Shell was sitting beside
a shiny silver beetle with a load of luggage strapped to its back. She screamed in delight when she saw them. ‘I
overloaded the poor bug,’ she explained. ‘These silver bugs are meant for speed and not haulage.’

Lexie gave the beetle a drink from her water bottle.

‘All these bags have the palace mark on them,’ Cassie noted as she helped Shell take off the luggage.

Shell laughed. ‘These are the old bags that nobody uses any more. I’ll just grab a few things and then can I hitch a lift with you? But before we do anything else – let’s
squeeze!’ Shell opened her arms and they all stood in a circle and renewed the Friendship Promise.

‘I just knew that you’d pass the audition,’ Lexie said when they’d finished and continued on with their journey.

Shell grinned. ‘There was no way I was going to fail. I had to get away from the palace. I was getting so fed up of following Anagallis round and clearing up after her.’

‘Didn’t she want to come to Sandringham?’ Cassie asked.

Shell laughed. ‘Anagallis is as fat as a barrel and as boring as a barnacle – hanging around the palace whining all day. There is no way she could get a place at dance school.’

Lexie laughed. ‘I’ve heard that too.’

Cassie squeezed Shell’s hand. ‘Thank you for distracting my aunt so that I could get into the audition,’ Cassie whispered to her.

Shell winked back. ‘My pleasure.’

‘Did Sandrine recognise you at the audition?’ Cassie asked.

‘Of course she did . . .’ Shell said. Then she quickly added, ‘Actually I wasn’t sure she would have done, seeing as I’m just a servant, but it turned out not to be
a problem. Apparently, she didn’t like the way I made her sage tea anyway!’

They talked and talked for the rest of the journey. Cassie and Lexie told Shell everything that had happened at the bug stop.

‘A Marramgrass!
No way!
’ Shell said. She thumped Cassie’s shoulder. ‘So you’re Marina’s daughter. Sandrine gets very grumpled whenever she hears that
name.’

‘I’m not ashamed of my name. I just don’t like it when sprites make judgments about me based on it, that’s all,’ Cassie sighed.

‘I for one am not going to be doing that. I’ve seen too much of it at the palace.’ Shell smiled at Cassie and Lexie. ‘You are my friends. That’s all we need to know
about each other. That Calluna sounds as mean as a sea spider! What does she look like?’

‘She’s tall — ’ Cassie began.

‘She’s not that tall – I’d say she was about your height,’ Lexie interrupted. ‘But her expression is carved out of pure granite!’

‘I don’t think she’ll be rushing to be friends with us,’ Shell said.

They all nodded solemnly and looked serious until Shell asked, ‘And what about this surf boy? Did he kiss anyone? I’m dying for some gossip. I’ve been so bored at the palace.
Sandrine made me work twice as hard when I got back as a punishment for sneaking out to the auditions. I had to wash all the teacups in the Supreme Sand Sprite’s Official Tea Service, and
there are three hundred cups, not to mention the matching saucers.’

Lexie blushed and giggled. ‘Rubus was charming. He bowed ever so politely when I gave him a sea cake.’

‘There’s no gossip, though. Rubus is not soppy! He doesn’t go around kissing sand dancers!’ Cassie said, defending her friend.

Shell laughed. ‘I’m sorry. I’m just feeling so happy to be free. It’s making me say and do silly things.’ She stood up on the dune bug, stretched out her arms and
screamed. ‘I’m FREE! WHEEE! FREE! Come on, join me!’

Lexie and Cassie stood up and they all yelled.

‘Feels good, doesn’t it?’ Shell grinned.

They jumped down off the bug, stretched their tired bodies, and took their first look at the school. It was a large, rambling sandstone building, and the huge mother-of-pearl gates at the
entrance were closed.

‘We’re very late.’ Lexie rattled the gate. ‘I hope they’ll let us in.’

‘Doesn’t look that grand.’ Shell pulled on a bell rope that jangled and rang.

‘Apart from the palace, it was the only building that survived the Great Sandstorm,’ a gruff voice said, and an old sand farer came out of a small gatehouse and slowly opened the
gates. He looked them up and down and nodded his head in greeting. ‘I’m Thassalinus, retired sand farer and night sprite. Nothing gets past me, and I’m as rough as ropes!’
He gave a throaty laugh. He took charge of the dune bug and opened the gates. ‘You’d better hurry up!’

‘It’s finer than any palace to me,’ Lexie said as she gave the bug a final pat and received a nuzzle of thanks in return. Then she turned to help Shell with her bags as they
gathered their belongings and walked inside. They found themselves in a vast room with a high sandstone ceiling. In front of them was a large wooden staircase which led both upstairs and down.
Lexie dropped the bags on to the stone floor and the noise seemed to echo through the building.

Calluna stepped into the entrance hall. ‘So glad you could make it!’ she said in a sarcastic voice. ‘Punctuality is important here.’ Her voice rang out in the vast space
as she slowly looked them over, adding, ‘As is cleanliness and neatness.’

‘You must be Calluna. Thank you for such a warm welcome after our long journey’ Shell gave her a dazzling smile as she patted down her cloak, sending up clouds of dust.

Calluna wrinkled her nose and stepped away from them. You have twenty-two minutes until suppertime. As the senior sand dancer, it is my role to allocate rooms to my fellow students. I’ll
show you to them so you can tidy yourselves up before supper.’

The three girls smiled at each other as they followed Calluna along the corridor.

‘The school is built on three levels. On this floor you will find the dance studio, the dining hall and the classrooms.’ Calluna pointed at various doors along their way. ‘On
the floor below is Miss Youngsand Jnr’s science laboratory, the teachers’ rooms and Madame Rosa’s study. No one is to enter the lower floor without permission. Our rooms are on
the top floor. Each sand dancer has a kutch for sleeping in.’

They went up the large winding driftwood staircase and down a long corridor honeycombed with rows of snug sleeping kutches. They couldn’t see anyone else, but they could hear chatter and
excited laughter coming from behind many of the thick curtains that covered the entrances to the kutches.

‘How many sand dancers are here?’ Lexie asked.

‘There are only twenty-five students who passed the auditions,’ Calluna replied.

‘There were hundreds when my mother came here,’ Lexie said.

Calluna looked interested. ‘Your mother was a dancer? What was her name?’

‘Viola Seacouch.’

‘Ah, yes. Seacouches are average dancers who are good for making up the numbers,’ Calluna said as Lexie’s face fell.

‘There’s nothing average about Lexie,’ Shell said.

‘Here is your room, Lexie,’ Calluna said, ignoring Shell and pulling a small rope that opened a curtain. You are expected to keep your kutches tidy and be prompt to your classes and
on time for your meals.’

Shell’s room was next door. ‘Do we get any help with unpacking?’ she asked.

Calluna sneered. ‘I’m getting tired of your jokes! Who do you think you are – Anagallis?’

Cassie was the last one to be shown to her room. ‘Save me a place at supper,’ she called out to her friends as she followed Calluna up a rickety stepladder and along a dark, narrow
passage. The entrance to this room was covered with a piece of torn material.

Cassie looked inside. There was a small piece of polished mirror, a jug and bowl for washing, a trunk for her clothes and shoes and a narrow bed. It smelled damp and musty. From what she had
seen so far it was clearly the worst room in the school.

She walked over to the peephole and opened it. To her surprise there was a small balcony with a rope ladder leading down to the beach. She tested the ladder. It was old but it would hold her
weight if she ever felt the need to escape. She wished she’d been able to bring her sand board.

Cassie splashed some cold water on her face. It felt tight and scorched from the day’s travelling, but she still couldn’t help but feel excited. She had a place at the dancing
school, two good friends and a chance to search for clues about her mother.

Something was happening in her life at last.

Chapter Eight

‘A sand dancer must always be the best she can be
in thought, word and
deed
.’
The Sands of Time

After a quick wash,
Cassie followed her nose to the dining hall. She walked into a large room that was buzzing with noise and filled with delicious
smells. In the middle of the room were three long tables. All the other sand dancers were sitting at them. In the centre of each table was a large steaming soup bowl. Cassie’s stomach growled
with hunger as the aroma of sea vegetables and spices filled her nose. At the far end of the room was a large stained-glass window. In front of this window, on a raised platform, was another table,
which was decorated with a fine cloth.

Cassie spotted Lexie at one end of one of the central tables and sat down beside her. All eyes were on the top table where the four teachers were sitting. Madame Rosa was sitting in one of the
middle seats. She was wearing a pale pink dress with matching coral bracelets. She did not smile, but her violet eyes regarded everyone with a warm and friendly look.