It was Monday – the first day I was due back at the theatre after Vincent had arranged with Crillick for me to have Friday and Saturday night off. Had he told Crillick the reason I’d needed time away to recover? I very much hoped not. Crillick was sharp and I didn’t want him connecting my trip to the docks with my desire to free the Leopard Lady from his clutches. By now he would surely have missed his Odditorium blueprint; I had to hope he didn’t realise that it was me who had taken it.

I lay in the bed that Barky had fashioned for me in his kitchen, reluctant to get up and start the day. I knew it would be a hard one, all the performers together for rehearsals and without the presence of the audience to demand we be civil to one another. The best I could hope for was that they didn’t talk to me. Being ignored, I could take. I just prayed there wouldn’t be any more to it than that. I wasn’t afraid of a row but there were a hundred ways they could get at me. Ellen was petty enough to hide my costume or throw me off my cue. I wouldn’t put it past her to drop a prop on my foot, even. At least I had Barky’s support; that was something.

All the way to Crillick’s I dragged my feet, putting off the moment I’d have to walk in, but when I arrived, Ellen wasn’t even there. I overheard Mikey say she had a cold and wondered if it was true. Without her there, the rehearsal was much better than I’d thought, but it was still tough. She must’ve been rubbishing me the whole of Saturday night because each of the chorus girls greeted me with a dirty look. The men just ignored me. While Aldous practised his latest magic trick, I kept to my dressing room to avoid having to sit with the dancers in the auditorium, and only came out when I was required to be onstage myself. It wasn’t a full dress rehearsal, something I’d felt grateful for, but seeing them snigger to one another in the audience seats as I marked out Amazonia’s steps wasn’t easy. Even from where I stood on centre stage, I could see the spite in their faces. They’d be planning something with Ellen to bring me down a peg or two, I was sure, but for now there was nothing I could do about it.