Page 1 of Marek

PROLOGUE

My name is Ellie.

Ellie Mae, if you will.

Before you ask, no, it’s not a cruel joke.

My parents thought the name suited me and, well, here we are.

That’s the mildest part of my story, though.

Oh, hell, it doesn’t even scratch the surface.

I’m a dancer, and a good one at that.

I have a fiancé—one my parents picked out just for me—and a blossoming career.

Everything was going well, until I caught the eye of the wrong man.

He saw something in me ... something the rest of the world was overlooking.

A talent that runs deeper than the surface.

He wants to make me a star, only his show isn’t the kind you dream of.

It’s dark, twisted, and dangerous.

A world you could never begin to imagine.

Like a thief in the night, he takes me from everything I love.

He won’t let me go, not until I do the very thing he captured me for ...

Dance.

Dance for a monster, live in a cage, be the perfect little puppet.

There is just one problem with that plan.

He has no idea who he is messing with.

But I can assure you, he’s about to find out.

1

“Come on, Ellie, you’re not pushing hard enough.”

With gritted teeth, I push up on my toes and spin, trying to do a ridiculous combination of ballet and jazz that my dance teacher is trying to throw into my performance. A performance that could change my life. It could get me into the school of my dreams where I could go on to make it big.

The problem is, he’s pushing me to dance in a way that doesn’t feel right to me.

Having studied many forms of dance, I have put my own twist on things, but that twist is never something he’s willing to allow me to use. He wants me to follow the rules, the structure, to deliver the performance most likely to get me in, but it shows nothing of who I am. Not a single ounce of my raging soul, the one that I keep hidden behind the pretty eyes and girlish smile.

I’m a dolly, and, believe me, those aren’t my words.

That’s what everyone calls me.

I’m petite, slender, and with my white blond hair and eyes that are such a light blue they almost look fake, I tend to look as though I belong on a shelf. I have the perfect frame for dance; I’m small and I’m light, I can twist and turn, throwing my body into positions a lot of other dancers can’t. I put on my first pair of ballet shoes when I was two, and I have never looked back.

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