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Madame Za-Za smiled. “You will all be swans dancing with the Swan Queen. Rosa, I would like you to be the main part.”
Rosa gasped. “Me!”
Madame Za-Za smiled at her. “I am sure you will dance it very well.”
Rosa was delighted. She listened intently to Madame Za-Za’s instructions as all the swans surrounded the Swan Queen.
There was one tricky bit where she had to dance to one side and then the other, before turning another pirouette while the others danced in towards her and then out, over and over again. They practised it quite a few times without the music and then Madame Za-Za put the CD on. Rosa really wanted to get it right. But she overbalanced on her pirouette and bumped into Olivia, treading heavily on her foot. Olivia gasped and stumbled into Asha, knocking her over.
Madame Za-Za snapped the music off. “Honestly, girls. Come along, you can do better than that! Up you get, Asha. Let’s try again.”
Rosa looked quickly at Olivia. She tried to mouth “sorry” but Olivia turned away. Rosa groaned inwardly. She was sure Olivia thought she had stood on her foot on purpose.
When the class finished, she hurried towards her friend.
“Rosa!” Madame Za-Za called. “May I have a word please?”
Rosa shot a look at Olivia’s disappearing back but there was nothing she could do. She walked back to the teacher. Madame Za-Za was putting away the CD. Rosa waited as she finished.
“I see you have the red ballet shoes, Rosa,“ Madame Za-Za said.
Rosa nodded. “Delphie Durand gave them to me.”
Madame Za-Za smiled. “So they found the perfect home. Did you know they used to belong to me a long time ago?”
“No,” Rosa said, in her astonishment forgetting about Olivia.
Madame Za-Za nodded. “They are very special shoes, Rosa.”
“Delphie told me that,” Rosa said.
“I hope you find out quite how special they are,” Madame Za-Za smiled warmly. “Now, go and get changed.”
Part of Rosa wanted to ask Madame Za-Za what she meant about the shoes being special but she also wanted to catch Olivia before she left. She hurried out but saw it was too late. Olivia was just going through the front door with her mother.
“Olivia!” Rosa called.
But Olivia had already walked out and the door was shutting behind her.
Rosa’s heart sank. I’ll phone her and say sorry as soon as I get home, she thought as she went to the changing room.
The other girls were just leaving. They called goodbye and soon Rosa was on her own. She sat down and bent over to untie the ribbons on her red shoes. As she did so her feet started to tingle. She gasped. The shoes were sparkling and glowing!
She jumped to her feet and then cried out in astonishment as a swirl of rainbow colours and a sweet tinkling of music surrounded her. She started to spin round!
What was going on? She shut her eyes tightly, her heart pounding. Round and round she went until her feet met solid ground. She blinked.
She wasn’t in the changing rooms any more, she was standing in a forest, and through the trees she could see a shimmering dark lake with a single swan swimming on it!
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Rosa stared. Where was she? No wonder Delphie and Madame Za-Za had been telling her the ballet shoes were special! They’re magic, she thought, her heart flipping. Oh wow!
There were tall trees all around her and to the right of the lake she could see a big, dark castle. What should she do? She couldn’t just stay standing there. Which way should she go?
Not to the castle, she decided. It looked so forbidding. Instead, she made her way cautiously through the trees towards the lake.
Suddenly, she saw a flash of pink ahead of her. There was someone dancing in the trees. She hurried forward and stopped in amazement as she saw that the dancer was a fairy! The fairy had a tutu made of layers of brown and pink silk and a pale pink bodice with sequins embroidered over it. Her wavy chestnut hair was tied back in a bun. She had delicate wings and in one hand she held a wand. As she saw Rosa, she stopped with a gasp. Her gaze flew to Rosa’s feet. “You’re the girl with the red shoes! The new girl!” She ran over, her brown eyes shining with excitement. “Oh, I’m so glad to see you!”
“You are?” Rosa said in bewilderment.
“Of course!” The fairy seized her hands. “You’re here to help, aren’t you? Sugar told me you would come.”
“Help?” echoed Rosa. “Who’s Sugar? And where exactly am I?”
“You’re in Enchantia, of course!” said the fairy breathlessly. “The magical land of ballet. Oh dear, I’m sorry,” she said, looking at Rosa’s bewildered face. “Sugar said you wouldn’t have been here before and that I had to tell you everything from the beginning. It’s just I’m so excited to see you. I haven’t been doing proper magic for very long and I’ve never met a human before!”
Rosa smiled cautiously as the fairy’s words tumbled out one after another. “So who exactly is Sugar?” she asked.
The fairy took a deep breath and spoke a little more slowly. “She’s my older sister – the Sugar Plum Fairy – she knows lots about magic. I’m Nutmeg by the way. Whenever we have a big problem in Enchantia the red ballet shoes bring someone from your world who can help us, a girl who loves to dance,”
Rosa stared at her. So she was in a magic land and she was there to help! “Will…will I get to go home again?” she asked.
Nutmeg nodded. “Of course. The shoes will take you back when the problem is solved. No time passes in the human world while you’re here so no one will even know you’ve been gone.”
Rosa breathed a sigh of relief. For a moment she had thought about her mum waiting for her and getting really worried. That would have been dreadful!
“What’s your name?” the fairy asked.
“Rosa.”
“It’s so lovely to see you, Rosa. We really need your help,” Nutmeg said. “King Rat’s causing dreadful trouble again!”
“King Rat!” Rosa breathed, remembering Delphie’s words. So that must have been what Delphie was talking about. She must have come here too!
“Yes,” replied Nutmeg. “You see everyone in Enchantia loves dancing except for that horrible rodent. He keeps coming up with mean plans to stop us and now he’s taken the King and Queen’s niece, Princess Cressida.”
“Princess Cressida?” Rosa scratched her head. It was all a lot to take in.
“Yes, Cressida was on her way to visit her aunt and uncle to keep them company whilst their own daughter, Aurelia, is away. Nutmeg explained. Anyway, King Rat has captured Cressida to stop all the balls and dancing that would go on for her visit. Without her at the palace there won’t be any celebrations.”
“So where has he taken her?” breathed Rosa.
“She’s here in his castle grounds,” said Nutmeg. “He’s put a spell on her so that by day she’s a swan, but by night she’s the princess again.”
“Just like Swan Lake!” Rosa said excitedly.
“Yes, exactly,” Nutmeg nodded. “That’s where King Rat got the idea from. Look, there’s Princess Cressida on the Enchanted Lake now.” Nutmeg pointed towards the graceful white swan on the shimmering water. “Sugar has asked me to stand guard to check that King Rat doesn’t whisk her away somewhere else or put even more spells on her, but she doesn’t even realise I’m here. You see she forgets all about being a princess in the day. It just comes back to her as the sun sets and she flies back to her room in the castle’s towers and turns back into her old self.”
“Oh, the poor thing,” Rosa said, her heart going out to the princess.
Nutmeg shivered. “Everyone in Enchantia keeps trying to think up a plan to rescue her, but we haven’t come up with anything yet. If only we could get her out of King Rat’s castle grounds, the enchantment would be broken. But the lake is enchanted so we can’t swim or row across to get her and she wouldn’t recognise us anyway.”
Rosa thought for a moment. “Can’t you use magic to rescue her at night when she’s locked inside?”
Nutmeg shook her head. “King Rat’s magic is much too powerful. He’s put spells on the castle so that no one else can do strong magic either in it or its grounds. I stay in the trees because some of my magic still works in the forest. Also, I can keep watch on Cressida and magic myself away if his horrible scary guards come.” She clasped her hands together. “Oh, Rosa. Can you think of a way we could rescue the princess?”
Rosa stared at her helplessly and gulped. It all seemed pretty impossible. “I wish I could,” she said. “But I really haven’t got any other ideas.”
“Then Princess Cressida will just have to stay a secret princess forever!” exclaimed Nutmeg, her eyes filling with tears.
“Look, we can’t give up that easily!” Rosa declared. “Hmm, what could we do?” She glanced around. “You know, maybe we don’t need magic to get us into the castle. Maybe we could just sneak inside. We could hide somewhere until the princess comes back then let her out of her room and all escape together!”
“But that would be really dangerous!” said Nutmeg. “King Rat’s guards are very fierce!” She caught her breath. “Here they come now!”
A group of ten mice came swaggering around the side of the castle. Rosa stared. They were walking on their back legs and were way taller than her, with pointed teeth and long swords hanging from their belts.
They stopped. A couple of them leaned against the castle walls, the others mooched about. They looked fed up.
“I’m bored of marching round the castle,“ one of them grumbled.
“Me too,” said another. “My paws are hurting. King Rat’s out at the moment so why don’t we go and have a sit down?”
“Yeah!” said the first mouse. “If we go round to the other side of the castle we can listen out for King Rat coming back and when he gets here just start marching again.” He looked around at the others. “What do you reckon?”
They all nodded. “Good plan!”
“What about the Sergeant?” said one. “If he sees us he’ll go mad.”
The first mouse shrugged. “He’s inside somewhere. Probably in the kitchens stuffing his face. I bet he’ll never notice. Come on!”
They all ambled off around the side of the castle.
Nutmeg shivered. “They’re horrible!”
But Rosa’s mind was racing with what the mice had just said. “Did you hear what they were talking about? King Rat’s out and they are going to take a break. Oh, Nutmeg! Why don’t we try to get into the castle right now?”
“But it’s daytime and Cressida is on the lake.”
“So? We can hide somewhere inside until the sun sets and she comes back. It’s the perfect opportunity. Come on! Let’s see if there’s a door or window open.”
Rosa started to hurry through the trees towards the castle.
“Wait, Rosa!” exclaimed Nutmeg, flying after her. “It’s too dangerous! The guards might change their minds and come back.”
“Then we’d better be as quick as possible,” said Rosa. “It’s now or never!”
“No! I don’t think we should,” Nutmeg insisted. “Look, let’s just stay here for a little while longer and see if we can think of another plan. Come on! I’m going back to the lake.”
She flew back towards the lake. Rosa hesitated. She thought of the poor secret princess. She had to help her! Surely getting into the castle was the only way and while the guards were taking a break it was the perfect opportunity! I’m going to try and get in whether Nutmeg wants to come or not, she decided impulsively. And she began to hurry through the trees.
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Rosa’s eyes scanned the castle, but the only windows that were open were right up at the top of the tower. There was a small door to the right of the main entrance. Maybe that would be unlocked?
A short stretch of grass separated the wood and the castle. She took a deep breath and ran across it. Reaching the small door, she turned the handle…locked! Suddenly she heard a sharp voice from around the side of the castle…
“I can’t believe you lot. Get back to patrolling the castle right now! Lying around! Lazing about! Honestly. I can’t trust you for a second! If King Rat catches you he’ll have your guts for garters. Come on! Hup two, hup two!”
There was the sound of general mumbling and grumbling and the stamp of boots heading towards the front of the castle.
Rosa froze to the spot. The guards were coming! She looked round desperately. Where could she hide? There were some giant pots that looked like they had once had plants in them.
Rosa raced to the nearest one and scrambled inside. The bottom was covered with old dry soil and as she landed, it blew up in clouds around her. She could feel a sneeze tickling in her nose…
She covered her face with her hands as the grumbling guards came around the side of the building. Rosa could hear them passing near the plant pot and felt the sneeze building. She pinched her nose but she couldn’t stop it! “A…a…ACHOO!”
“What was that?” the leader’s voice snapped out.
The guards’ footsteps stopped.
“There’s someone hiding!” said the Sergeant. “Find them!”
Rosa huddled down in the bottom of the plant pot, her heart beating painfully against her ribcage. Please don’t look in here, she thought as footsteps echoed around her…
Too late…A pointed face peered over the edge of the plant pot before shrieking out loudly. “Oi, Sarge! I’ve found someone! I’ve found someone!”
“Get them out then, Mangy Tail!”
The flowerpot was tipped over roughly and Rosa tumbled out. She scrambled to her feet, scared, dusty and dishevelled.
“Who are you?” the Sergeant demanded.
“N…no one!” Rosa stammered.
“I bet she’s trying to help that silly princess, Sarge,” said the mouse. “I bet she’s a spy!”
The Sergeant nodded. “Take her to the dungeons!”
“No!” gasped Rosa. But Mangy Tail and another mouse took her by the arms. They were very strong and although she kicked and struggled they had no problem holding on to her.
“Stop your wriggling, Prisoner!” snarled the Sergeant, poking her with the hilt of his sword.
Hastily Rosa did as she was told. She was dragged into the castle and through a big entrance hall before being pushed down a long flight of stairs. The Sergeant clambered round her and opened a heavy door ahead. “In there!” he ordered.
He pushed Rosa hard through the doorway. She fell over and heard a bolt being pushed firmly across the door on the other side.
“You’ll stay there until we tell King Rat about you!” snapped the Sergeant through the door. “Mangy Tail and Whiskers, you guard her.”
