King Rat ducked. “That’s the oldest trick in the book!” he said as the shoe hit the boxes behind him. “Missed!”
“Oh no I didn’t!” exclaimed Delphie as the pile of boxes began to sway.
The Nutcracker leapt nimbly out of the way, grabbing Delphie’s ballet shoe from the floor as he did so, but King Rat was too busy laughing at Delphie to notice the boxes. “You missed! You did! You…”
His voice was drowned out as the boxes toppled over. They crashed down, jars of glue raining on his head. “Ow! Ooh! Ow!” he yelled.
The guards cried and shouted too. The jars smashed into each other as they fell, cracking open and covering King Rat and his soldiers in quick-drying white glue.
King Rat pointed at Delphie, glue dripping down over his face and off his ears and whiskers. “Why you…you…!”
But though he tried to run towards her, his feet were stuck fast!
“Come on,” gasped Delphie, turning to Sugar and the Nutcracker. “Let’s get out of here!”
And quickly they raced out of the castle and back to the woods.
“That was brilliant, Delphie!” exclaimed Sugar.
“Fantastic!” said the Nutcracker, giving her her shoe back.
“We’re free – that’s the main thing,” Delphie grinned as she put it back on.
“And Enchantia should be returned to normal,” said Sugar. “Come on, let’s use my magic to get away from here and see what’s happening!”
She waved her wand. Delphie found herself spinning round three times. When they landed she saw that they were in the village that she had seen painted on the scenery in the theatre. The streets were full of characters from the ballet – toys, enormous sweets, dancers dressed up as bright flowers, two Spanish dancers and a beautiful fairy in a rose-pink dress dancing on her pointes.
Music was flooding magically through the air. Sugar grabbed Delphie’s hands. “Let’s dance!”
Holding lightly on to the Sugar Plum Fairy’s hands, Delphie felt herself being swept up in the music – she didn’t have to stop to think what steps she was going to do. As Sugar rose on to her pointes, Delphie let the music guide her – she skimmed across the ground with tiny steps, and jumped into the air, her arms outstretched, her toes pointed. She landed softly and then, with perfect balance, she stretched one leg out behind her. Delphie couldn’t believe how graceful she felt! It seemed like the music was flowing through her as she and Sugar ran forward together and pirouetted. The Nutcracker leapt in front of them, turning into a handsome prince as he landed. His glittering costume perfectly matched Sugar’s. Delphie gasped as he swept the Sugar Plum Fairy up in his arms and lifted her high into the air. He turned and placed her lightly down. Holding on to his hand she turned round on the tip of her toe. All around them the other characters danced too – the flowers waltzed, the snowflakes twirled, the Spanish dancers swung their tiered red skirts and the Russian dancers linked arms. There was colour and movement everywhere. The Nutcracker and Sugar came to a stop, their cheeks flushed, their eyes shining.
“It is almost time for you to go home, Delphie,” the Nutcracker Prince said. “We can’t thank you enough.”
A thought struck Delphie. “I hope Mum and Dad don’t wonder where I’ve gone!”
“Do not worry, time is different in our world and yours,” said the Nutcracker. “When you get back you will find that it will be as if no time has passed at all.”
Delphie felt relieved but also sad as she looked around at the enchanted world. “I don’t want to leave here.”
Sugar smiled at her. “You’ll come back. You have the magic ballet shoes. Whenever we need you they will sparkle. If you put them on they will bring you to Enchantia again.” She danced over and kissed Delphie on both cheeks, then she took out her wand. “This is to take home to remind you of us,” she said, waving sparkles in the air.
Delphie gasped as a beautiful white tutu appeared in her hand. “Goodbye – and thank you,” Sugar said. “Send my regards to Madame Za-Za.” And with that she waved her wand over Delphie’s head.
“Goodbye!” Delphie cried as the air around her swirled with colour and she began to pirouette round and round…till suddenly, she landed with a bump…
She was back in her bedroom sitting on her bed with a beautiful white tutu lying next to her.
Could her mother have put it there?
“Perhaps it was real after all,” she whispered, her head spinning as she thought about everything that had just happened. She looked down at the ballet shoes on her feet and remembered Madame Za-Za’s words: They are very special shoes, Delphie. I hope one day you find out just how special they are …
Delphie could hardly believe it. As she began to unlace the ribbons she thought about her ballet lessons. After her adventures in Enchantia, she was even more determined to practise really hard and get as good at ballet as she could. After all, the better I am, the more I should be able to help in Enchantia, she realised.
Delphie stood up and put the tutu and the shoes carefully on her bedside table. When would she next go to Enchantia and what would she have to do? She remembered what the Sugar Plum Fairy had said: You have the magic ballet shoes. Whenever we need you they will sparkle and if you put them on they will bring you to Enchantia.
Delphie hugged her arms around herself. She might not know when it was going to happen or for what she might be needed but if the shoes glowed again, she would be there to help in whatever way she could!
Prepare
Put your heels together with toes pointing outwards. Make an oval shape with your arms.
First position
Now move your arms upwards so that your hands are in line with your belly button.
Second Position
Move your feet to hips-width apart, and open your arms.
Third position
Move your right foot so that the heel touches the middle of your left foot; Sweep your left arm in front of you.
Fourth position
Slide your right foot forwards and lift your left arm so it is almost over your head.
Fifth position
Now bring both your arms over your head.
Prologue
In the soft, pale light, the girl stood
with her head bent and her hands held lightly in front of her. There was a moment’s silence and then the first notes of the music began. For as long as the girl could remember music had seemed to tell her of another world – a magical, exciting world – that lay far, far away. She always felt if she could just close her eyes and lose herself, then she would get there. Maybe this time. As the music swirled inside her, she swept her arms above her head, rose on to her toes and began to dance …
The ballet studio was quiet and still. It could only be a couple of hours since it had been full of girls dancing for their ballet teacher, Madame Za-Za. Now there was just one girl left.
Delphie Durand pressed the button on the CD player and then ran lightly to the centre of the room. She waited for the music to start, one foot slightly in front of the other, her head bent, her eyes looking down at her red ballet shoes. All the other girls in her class had pink ones but it wasn’t just the colour that made Delphie’s shoes different from theirs. Delphie’s ballet shoes were also magic!
Madame Za-Za, the owner of the ballet school, had given them to Delphie three weeks ago. She’d told her they were very special but Delphie hadn’t known just how special until two nights later when the shoes had started glowing and sparkling. When Delphie had put them on, they had whisked her away to Enchantia – a magical land where all the characters from the different ballets lived. A land full of incredible adventures!
Delphie smiled as she remembered the adventure she’d had there. It had been scary but amazing! Just then, the first few notes of the music swelled out from the CD player. Delphie quickly pushed thoughts of Enchantia to the back of her mind. She had to get this dance right.
She heard the music she had been waiting for an
d glided forward into a run, taking tiny steps as she skimmed across the floor. As the music changed, she stopped on her tiptoes, looking from side to side like a bird, her arms held slightly behind her like wings. Wait, Delphie told herself, listening to the music carefully. One, two…
She danced forward and turned a pirouette, before travelling forward again and stopping with one leg held behind her, one arm in front, trying to look as if she was a bird flying. All of Madame Za-Za’s instructions from the class earlier ran through her head – lift the chin… shoulders down… keep your back strong… turn out that leg…
Delphie was so busy thinking about the placing of her leg that she lost her balance and stumbled. Bother! It was so hard trying to concentrate on everything at the same time. Before she had started ballet classes, she had simply danced just how she had felt. Now she was learning that you had to make sure every bit of your body was doing the right thing at the right time. But Delphie found that when she concentrated on her legs, she forgot about her arms and then she remembered them and realised her head was wrong and her shoulders were up and by the time she had got those right, her legs were wrong again.
But I’ve got to get it right, she thought as she walked back over to the CD player to restart the music. There’s only one day to go!
The very next morning there were going to be auditions for the school’s end of term show. It was a woodland ballet and the main part was the Bluebird. All of Delphie’s class wanted to be the Bluebird. Delphie had been practising and practising.
The door to the studio opened and Delphie saw Madame Za-Za look in. A slim, elegant woman with her greying hair pulled back into a low bun, she was wearing a long floaty skirt over footless tights and a wrapover top.
“Well, Delphie?” she said. “How is it going?”
As Delphie met her teacher’s gaze, she couldn’t stop the truth from bursting out. “Actually, I’m not doing very well, Madame Za-Za. I just can’t seem to get the dance right no matter how hard I try!”
“Maybe you are trying too hard, child,” Madame Za-Za said.
Delphie frowned. “What do you mean?”
“It will make sense one day, Delphie,” Madame Za-Za said with a smile. “Maybe sooner than you imagine.” And with that she left the room.
Delphie sighed, restarted the music and went back to the centre to try again. But even the very first run felt wrong and stiff as she tried to think about her feet, arms and head all at once. She broke off with a groan and went to stop the music before glancing at the clock on the wall. It was nearly time to go. Her mum and dad would be home from work.
With a sigh, Delphie went over to the wooden barre that ran around the edge of the room and began to do some slow stretching exercises. She was just finishing when the door opened.
Delphie looked round, expecting to see Madame Za-Za again, but in her place stood Sukie Taylor. Delphie’s heart sank. She was in Delphie’s ballet class and was very, very good at ballet, but she didn’t seem to like Delphie at all.
Sukie looked surprised to see her. “Oh. Hi. I left something.” She picked up a pink cardigan from the back of a chair and switched off the music. “What are you doing here?”
Delphie shrugged. “Just practising.”
“For the auditions?” Sukie’s eyes narrowed. “Well, you won’t have a chance. You’ve only been coming to classes for three weeks and Madame Za-Za has pretty much said that I’m going to be the Bluebird. Everyone knows I’m the best dancer in the class.”
Delphie swallowed. Just ignore her, she told herself. She didn’t want to get into an argument.
“You never know,” Sukie went on. “Maybe if you try hard enough you’ll get to be a rabbit or something.”
Delphie watched as Sukie smirked and flounced out, then Delphie pulled a face. Sukie might think she didn’t have a chance but no one would know until the actual auditions. I might be the Bluebird, Delphie thought hopefully. She crossed her fingers. Oh, she so hoped she would be. But first she just needed to get the dance right…
“Mum, come and see this bit!” Delphie called after supper. She was sitting on the sofa, her feet curled under her, watching the ballet of Cinderella. She had been given the DVD for her birthday. It was her favourite scene where the fairy godmother changed the pumpkin and mice into a coach and horses and then transformed Cinderella from a servant girl in rags into a beautiful princess.
Mrs Durand came through to the lounge and sat down beside Delphie on the sofa. “Maybe one day you’ll be able to dance like that,” she said, stroking Delphie’s long brown hair. “Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”
Delphie snuggled up to her mum. “Oh yes,” she breathed. There was nothing she wanted more in the world.
At bedtime, Delphie kissed her mum and dad goodnight and went upstairs. As she got into her nightdress, she looked hopefully at her red ballet shoes sitting on her desk. Please sparkle tonight, she willed them. Please!
But they looked as still as ever, just as they had every other night that week. Every evening she had lain in bed, willing the shoes to glow, hoping to hear music in the air, just like she had the first time they had taken her to Enchantia.
It would be just so amazing to go back, Delphie thought as she got into bed, after brushing her teeth and hair. I’d love to see Sugar the Sugar Plum Fairy again, and all the other people I met, like the Nutcracker and the waltzing flowers and the dancing snowflakes. She shivered as the image of a rat’s face with red eyes, long whiskers and sharp teeth popped into her brain. The one person she wouldn’t want to see again was the evil King Rat! He hated dancing and was always trying to stop it. Delphie had been to his castle and met him and his mouse guards and it had been very scary!
To try and stop thinking about it, Delphie focused on the audition the next day. She began to go through the steps of the dance in her mind, practising them over and over again, and before she knew it she was drifting off to sleep…
Delphie’s eyes blinked open. She felt sure that something had woken her. Sitting up, she glanced at her bedside clock. It was just past midnight.
Suddenly she heard a faint noise. Music! As she listened it grew louder. Delphie looked at her desk. Her red ballet shoes were glittering and shining like rubies. Throwing back her duvet, she jumped out of bed and ran over to them. Did this mean another adventure was about to begin?
Delphie picked them up, her fingers trembling in excitement. The first time she had gone to Enchantia the shoes had whisked her off to a theatre. Delphie tied the ribbons of the shoes in anticipation.
As she tied the bows, her feet started to tingle. She stood up and the feeling whooshed all the way from her toes up to her head. A second later, she was swirling around in a myriad of colours – pink, purple, blue, red, yellow, orange, green…
And then she landed with a bump to find herself sitting on a red seat, in the same darkened theatre that she had arrived at before, only this time the air was very cold. She shivered and rubbed the bare skin on her arms. The stage was shut away behind red velvet curtains. Music started playing and the red curtains began to open.
Delphie jumped up eagerly and then caught her breath. It was all so different. The first time she had been here there had been light and colour, the scenery had shown mountains, fields and a village, as well as King Rat’s castle and there had been lots of characters on the stage even though they had all been asleep. But now the background scenery was just painted white and the stage was empty. The floor was covered in a thick blanket of snow. There were bare trees on the stage, their branches covered in icicles.
Delphie walked hesitantly down towards the stage. “Sugar?” Her voice echoed through the empty auditorium. She didn’t like this. There was a feeling in the air as if something was horribly wrong.
“Sugar!” she called uneasily. “Where are you?”
Just at that moment, a flash of blue zipped across the stage. Delphie’s brown eyes widened as she saw a beautiful turquoise bird about the size of a robin. It land
ed on one of the icy branches and sang loudly, its tiny wings fluttering, its head cocked on one side.
“Hello,” Delphie said, going up the steps at the side of the stage and looking at the little bird. “Do you know what’s going on?”
“Yes!” the bird twittered.
Delphie was only a little bit surprised to find that it could talk. She was in Enchantia after all!
“My name’s Skye,” the bluebird said. “Are you Delphie?” Delphie nodded and the bird carried on. “I’ve been waiting for you. Sugar thought the ballet shoes might bring you here again. We’re in terrible trouble, Delphie.”
“Trouble? Why?” Delphie asked in alarm.
“King Rat has cast a spell over Enchantia to make it winter all the time,” Skye told her. “He has a model of Enchantia sealed inside a glass globe. Whenever he shakes the globe, snow swirls around and then it falls in real life too.
When it’s as snowy and icy-cold as this no one can dance properly.”
Delphie shivered as Skye continued.
“Everyone just stays indoors and all the animals and birds have either hibernated or gone away to where it is warmer. All my family have flown off. I hurt my wing though and couldn’t keep up with them so I had to come back.” She dipped her head and looked very sad. “I really miss them. I wish it was spring again so they would return. But King Rat says he’ll only break the enchantment if he can marry the King and Queen’s daughter, Princess Aurelia, and she doesn’t want to marry him at all.”
“I’m not surprised!” said Delphie.
“But if Aurelia doesn’t marry him it’s going to stay winter forever,” Skye sighed. “Sugar is at the palace now, trying to comfort the princess. Do you think you might be able to help us? I can show you the way there.”
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