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“No thanks,” said Holly, folding her arms and turning away.
Just then, Madame Za-Za looked round. “Ah, Holly, you haven’t got a partner. Why don’t you …”
“I’ll dance on my own,” Holly interrupted. No one ever interrupted Madame Za-Za, who was quite strict, but Holly couldn’t bear the thought of being made to join a pair and watch the other two girls exchange looks. She knew she sounded haughty, but she didn’t care.
Madame Za-Za raised an eyebrow. “Very well,” she said, her eyes sweeping back to the other girls. “Now everyone, I’d like you to listen to this piece of music and imagine you are two leaves on the branch of a tree in autumn, fluttering in the breeze, about to fall …”
Holly danced on her own. I don’t care. I don’t care. She kept repeating the words in her head as she let the music flow over her, taking her away and making her feel like she was falling on the breeze, turning around, using her movements to express the feelings of wistfulness and sadness inside her.
I don’t want to be friends with any of them anyway. I don’t need them, she thought and then she lost herself in the music and thought no more.
“Very good expressive work, Holly,” Madame Za-Za praised at the end.
Holly gave her a small, tight smile. Now that the dancing was over she wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. As soon as Madame Za-Za dismissed them, Holly hurried away.
I’ll put Sleeping Beauty on again, she told herself as she changed out of her ballet shoes. Her muscles were aching from hard work, but she knew the one thing that would make her feel better was dancing.
Cramming her stuff into her bag, she left the changing rooms.
“Holly, wait!” she heard a voice call as she half-ran down the corridor.
She turned round and saw Chloe, coming out of the changing rooms. “I’m sorry you had to dance on your own today,” she said. She hesitated. “Um, you could always come round to mine sometime. I don’t know many people here, either.”
Holly was sure she saw pity in Chloe’s blue eyes. Unhappiness swept through her. How dare Chloe pity her! She’d travelled all over the world and met more ballet dancers than Chloe could even dream of.
“Why don’t you ask your mum if you can come round for tea next week?” Chloe suggested.
Holly’s temper exploded. “I’m hardly likely to ask my mum when she’s in America, am I? Anyway, I don’t want to be friends with you or with anyone here. Just leave me alone!”
And, swinging round, Holly stormed out of the front door.
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Holly ran down the drive of the ballet school, her feet slipping slightly on the fallen leaves. It was October now and the sun was low in the sky.
Her Uncle Ted was waiting in the car outside. “How was class?”
“Fine,” Holly muttered, shutting the door hard.
But as they drove home, Holly’s temper faded and Chloe’s hurt face refused to leave her mind. She started to feel guilty. Chloe hadn’t known about her mum being away. She had only been trying to be nice.
When they reached the house she went straight up to her bedroom. It had been a horrible afternoon. All she wanted to do was dance and block everything out.
As she put her ballet bag down on her desk, the back of her hand touched the red ballet shoes. She felt the familiar spark tingle her fingers and picked them up. She would wear them. Shrugging off her hooded top, she quickly pulled them on and put on the same music as before.
Holly moved forward with slow graceful steps and as she danced, everything else faded away. But then, moving into an arabesque, she became aware that her feet were tingling.
She looked down and gasped in astonishment. The red ballet shoes were glowing and sparkling!
“Oh!” she exclaimed. Bright colours surrounded her and the next second she felt herself being lifted into the air and whisked away!
Holly came to rest on a bed of fallen leaves. The bright colours faded and she looked around, her heart thudding. She was standing in the middle of a wood! Red, gold and brown leaves were lying thickly on the ground. A squirrel scampered up a nearby tree, pausing to give her a curious look.
Holly’s mind was spinning. What had happened?
It didn’t feel anything like a dream. She could hear birds chirruping, smell the damp woods. She bent down and touched the leaves on the ground. They were cool beneath her fingers …
“Oh, my shimmering whiskers! It’s you! The girl with the red shoes!”
Holly looked up and promptly fell over in shock as a huge white cat came dancing towards her. He was on two legs and slightly taller than her and he was wearing white ballet shoes, a black hat with a feather in and a gold waistcoat. He leaped through the air, one leg stretched behind and one in front, in a perfect grand jeté. Landing beside her, he pirouetted around, before grabbing both of her hands.
“This is so brilliant!” he cried, looking completely delighted as he pulled her to her feet. Up close, she saw his eyes were a beautiful deep emerald green and his silvery whiskers sprang out at the side of his face. “We knew the shoes had a new owner and we have all been wondering when we would get to meet you. And now I have! Oh, how lucky I am! What’s your name?”
“Holly,” she answered automatically.
The cat bowed. “And I am the White Cat.”
He jumped into the air, spinning round in excitement. “It’s amazing to meet you, Holly.”
“Where … where am I?” Holly stammered.
“In Enchantia, the land where all the characters from the ballets live,” the cat replied. His fluffy tail flicked over his shoulder and he pointed at her feet. “The ballet shoes you’re wearing were created with some of the strongest magic in Enchantia. Whenever we are in trouble, they bring their owner – a human girl – here to help fix things. Someone from Enchantia gets to meet them first and be their friend, and this time it looks like it’s me!”
Holly stared at him. Was she really in a strange magic land full of people like talking cats who came from the different ballets? Had she been sent there to help them solve their problems? Although she had to admit it sounded very exciting, an image of Chloe came into her head followed by a picture of her mum waving goodbye.
“Look, I’m sorry, I’ve enough problems of my own right now,” she said quickly. “I just can’t fix other people’s problems too. Maybe another time.” She turned away, wondering how she got the shoes to take her home. She tried wishing.
I wish I could go back, she thought. But nothing happened.
Remembering The Wizard of Oz, she clicked her heels together three times. Still nothing happened.
The White Cat walked curiously round her. “What are you doing?”
Holly turned away. She didn’t want to see him; she wanted to get back to her bedroom. Think carefully, she told herself. She’d been dancing when the shoes had worked before, so maybe that was what she had to do?
She ran forward and turned a pirouette. Home, home, home, she thought as hard as she could, shutting her eyes. But when she blinked them open again she was still standing in the wood.
The White Cat leapt joyously in front of her. “Oh, is this a game, Holly? I like games! Look how many pirouettes I can do!” He turned round on the spot so many times that Holly’s mouth dropped open.
“It’s not a game. I just want to go home!” she exclaimed. “I have to. For a start, my aunt and uncle are going to be really worried about me …”
“No, they won’t be,” interrupted the cat. “No time will pass in the human world while you are here. You’ll go back and it will be as if you haven’t been away.”
“But I can’t stay,” Holly protested. “Look, will you please just tell me how I get these shoes to work and take me home?”
“You can’t make the shoes do what you want.” The White Cat’s brilliant eyes met hers. “They’ll take you back when the problem is solved, but you won’t be able to make them take you back before. The magic doesn’t work like that.”
“Oh.” Holly sat down on a fallen tree trunk. “So I’m really stuck here?” she said faintly.
“It’s not that bad, is it?” the White Cat said, giving her a hopeful look.
Holly felt tears prickle her eyes. She dashed them away with the back of her hand.
“Oh, I see.” The cat looked suddenly deflated, like an old balloon. “It really is that bad.” He sat down on the log and shook his head. “I don’t understand it. I’ve never heard of a human girl not wanting to help before.” He twisted his tail anxiously in his paws. “It must be me. I must have messed things up. I was just so excited to meet you.”
His pointed ears flattened unhappily.
Holly began to feel bad. “It’s not your fault,” she said.
“But it must be,” the cat muttered sadly.
“It isn’t.”
Holly looked at his drooping ears. She couldn’t bear it. “OK. Look, I will stay and help you.”
The change was instant. The cat leaped up from the tree trunk, his ears back in points. “Oh, my shimmering whiskers and glittering tail!” He jumped high into the air, crossing his feet over and over again. “That’s wonderful! Thank you! Thank you, so much!” He grabbed her hands and twirled her around as fast as he could.
Despite her reluctance, Holly unexpectedly found herself starting to smile. His excitement was infectious. “So what do you need help with?” she gasped as they stopped and the world spun dizzily around her.
The White Cat smiled at her. “Sit down and I’ll explain …”
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“It all started this morning,” the White Cat began to tell Holly. “It’s exactly a year to the day since Princess Aurelia and Prince Florimund got married. The King and Queen are having a party this evening and the King has said that everyone who was at the wedding has to be there tonight to do the same dance that they did at the ceremony.
“I’ve been put in charge of organising it. All the others arrived yesterday: the princes’s brother and two sisters; Princess Aurelia’s fairy godmother, Lila; the other fairies who were at Aurelia’s christening; Puss in Boots, Goldilocks, Bluebeard and his wife, Little Red Riding Hood, the bluebird, the enchanted princess and all the palace courtiers as well. We started practising the dance, but then suddenly, just a few hours ago, Red Riding Hood decided to go home.”
“She just left?”
Holly still wasn’t sure about being in this land, but she could feel herself being drawn more and more into the story she was hearing.
The White Cat nodded. “All of a sudden. I found a note from her saying she’d decided to go home. The trouble is that means we are now one person short for the dance. I was just on my way to her house to try and persuade her to come back, but now the shoes have solved the problem. You can take Red Riding Hood’s place!”
Holly felt a rush of excitement. So to help him, all she had to do was dance with the characters from her favourite ballet? That sounded OK to her!
“I can’t wait to get back to the palace and introduce you to everyone,” continued the White Cat. “But I think we’d better just stop by at Red Riding Hood’s house on the way. I just want to check she’s all right. It’s not like her to let people down.” He pointed through the trees.
“Her house is just over there. We could go by magic, but it won’t take us long to walk and I love the woods in autumn. Oh, Holly!” He rubbed her cheek with the side of his head. “I’m really glad I was the one to meet you and that you are the new owner of the shoes!”
Holly stroked his fur. She was secretly beginning to feel quite glad she was the new owner of the shoes too!
They started walking along the path.
“So tell me about you,” the White Cat said curiously.
“I live with my aunt and uncle. My mum and dad are ballet dancers.” Holly quickly told the White Cat about her life.
“You must miss your mum a lot,” said the White Cat with concern.
Holly nodded.
“But I bet you have lots of friends,” he went on.
“Um, not really,” Holly admitted awkwardly.
“Why not?”
Holly shrugged.
The White Cat spun away, jumped into the air and touched his toes, before landing lightly. “Well, you’ve got me now!” He grabbed her hands and waltzed her down the path. Holly giggled. She didn’t think she ever wanted a friend other than her mum before, but the White Cat was so much fun.
“So, tell me something more about you,” he said eagerly. “What do you like? What don’t you like? What are you scared of?”
Holly blinked at all the questions. “Um, well, I like ballet. I don’t like school. What am I scared of? Not much really.” She thought for a moment. “I don’t like heights, I guess.”
“I don’t like water,” admitted the White Cat. “I’m so scared of it. My brother, Puss in Boots, calls me a scaredy cat!” He looked around. “I know, shall we play a game on the way? What do you play in your world?”
“Um … tag?” said Holly.
“OK, I’ll be it!” said the cat. “I’ll count to ten.”
Holly darted away through the trees to the left and scrambled up a bank.
“Wait!” the White Cat called in alarm. “I meant down the path, Holly! Not that way!”
But it was too late. As Holly reached the top of the bank, she realised that on the other side the bank fell steeply down into a swiftly-flowing river. In her surprise, she lost her balance. Her arms flailed and the next minute, she was rolling down the hill straight towards the water!
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The cold water made Holly gasp as she splashed into the river. She tried to tread water, gulping a mouthful of air as the current started to tow her along.
“Help!”
The White Cat had reached the top of the bank. Holly could see he looked terrified, but he didn’t hesitate. He bounded down the bank on all fours and launched himself into the water, swimming like a tiger. Grabbing hold of the back of her leotard in his mouth, he pulled her swiftly back.
“You saved me!” cried Holly as he dragged her out on to the bank.
“Oh, my glimmering whiskers!” he gasped. “I thought you were going to drown!”
“You were so brave.” Holly put her arms round him in relief and hugged him hard.
“Thank you!”
The cat licked her face with his rough tongue. “You’re very wet. I hope Red Riding Hood has some clothes you can borrow. Come on!”
It only took them a few minutes to reach Red Riding Hood’s little wooden cottage, but when they got there they found, to their surprise, that it was all closed up.
“I wonder why she isn’t here?” said the White Cat looking puzzled.
