“Great!” said Delphie.
They began to talk about what music they could use and what dance they could do. It was hard to choose.
“I think Swan Lake!” said Lola. “We could all be swans.”
“It’s not very birthday-like though, is it?” said Poppy, just as her mum called them all for tea.
They sat down at the table. “How about we do a dance from The Nutcracker?” said Delphie. “We could use the music from The Land of Sweets.”
They all nodded. “Let’s try and make up a dance after tea,” said Lola.
But when they tried, the music from The Land of Sweets seemed very fast and they kept losing track of where they were, and all ended up doing different things at different times.
“This isn’t working,” sighed Delphie. “If we show this to Madame Za-Za it’ll be sure to make her want to give up teaching altogether!”
“Delphie! Lola! Your mums are here!” Poppy’s mother called up the stairs.
“Let’s all think about it tonight and phone each other tomorrow,” Delphie suggested.
“Good plan.” Poppy nodded as she waved Delphie and Lola off from the house.
Delphie ran down the steps and into her mother’s waiting car. As she sat in the back seat on the way home, she stared out of the window. She so wanted them to perform something special for Madame Za-Za to make her smile. But what?
Delphie was still thinking about it when she went to bed that night and finally fell asleep. When she woke a little while later, the house was in darkness and quiet apart from a faint tinkling sound. Delphie’s eyes flew to the end of her bed. Her red ballet shoes that were hanging there were sparkling and glowing. Delphie’s heart leapt. Her friends in Enchantia needed her!
Jumping up, she started to put on the shoes, wondering what was happening. She was only ever whisked to Enchantia when there was a problem. Where would she go? Would it be to the theatre, which was the entrance to the magical world, or maybe she would go to Princess Aurelia’s palace again? Excitement raced through Delphie as she crossed the ribbons around her ankles and tied them. She couldn’t wait to find out!
As she finished tying the last ribbon she started to twirl round. The shoes spun her faster and faster until she was twirling in a haze of rainbow colours. She felt herself being lifted up and then coming down again. As her feet met the ground, the swirl of colours vanished and she opened her eyes.
She was standing in a dimly lit room, which had a wonky table, a little stool, a threadbare rug and a small hard bed. It didn’t look like the beautiful royal palace and it certainly wasn’t the theatre. So where was she?
Hearing the sound of crying, Delphie looked around. Behind her there was a fireplace with a few old embers glowing in the grate. A beautiful girl with long blonde hair was sitting beside it. She was wearing a ragged brown dress, an old shawl and she had a golden locket around her neck. She was so busy crying she hadn’t seen Delphie.
“Um… hello,” Delphie said.
The girl gasped. “Who are you?” She scrambled to her feet tucking the locket quickly inside her clothes.
“I’m Delphie.”
The girl looked at Delphie’s ballet shoes. “Of course. You’re the girl with the red ballet shoes! Oh, have you come to help me?”
“I’ll try,” said Delphie. “What’s your name and what’s wrong?”
“I’m Cinderella, although everyone apart from my ugly sisters calls me Cinders. I’m supposed to be a princess by now and be married to my handsome prince but… oh!” Cinderella started to cry again. “Something’s gone horribly wrong and it’s all King Rat’s fault!”
Delphie’s heart sank. She’d met King Rat before and he was horrible. He lived in a smelly castle and he hated dancing. He was always trying to stop it and to cause problems for everyone else in Enchantia. “What’s he done this time?” she said. Cinderella pushed her long hair back from her face. “The whole thing started just after I became a princess. I was living in the palace and having such a lovely time. But then King Rat invited me and Prince Charming to a party at his castle. I didn’t want to go because King Rat’s so mean; I said no, and King Rat got really cross because he’d already told people that we would be there. He said we had to go and when I wouldn’t he turned back time to before I became a princess to punish me. So now I’m back living here again and being bossed around by my ugly sisters.”
“That’s horrible,” said Delphie. “But surely it’ll be OK. If he’s turned back time, all the things that happened will happen all over again. You’ll be invited to the ball, you’ll see the fairy godmother and you’ll meet Prince Charming. It’ll be all right.”
“It won’t!” Cinders’ voice rose to a wail. “Every night I see my fairy godmother and get to the ball all right, but as soon as I get there time jumps forward to midnight and then as the clock finishes chiming midnight, time jumps back and I end up here in the afternoon before the ball again. King Rat has somehow cast a time-spell so it just keeps happening over and over again. I never meet the prince and I never get to leave my slipper and I always end up back in rags.”
“Oh.” Delphie didn’t know what to say.
“Can you help me?” Cinderella begged.
“I’ll try,” Delphie promised.
“My fairy godmother should be here any moment,” said Cinderella.
Delphie had just started to nod when there was a bright silver flash and Cinder’s fairy godmother appeared. She was wearing a beautiful blue dress with a skirt that sparkled as if it was covered by stars.
“Oh, Cinders. I am sorry to see you here again,” she said sadly.
“I wish I could do something and make the evening work out as it should.”
“It’s all right, Fairy Godmother,” said Cinderella. “Delphie with the magic ballet shoes is here. She’s going to try and help me.”
A smile lit up the fairy godmother’s face as she looked at Delphie. “Hello, Delphie. I have heard all about you from my friend the Sugar Plum Fairy.” She danced over lightly on her toes and took Delphie’s hands. “I am so glad you are here. None of us can work out what type of spell King Rat has cast to change time like this so we don’t know how to stop it. I really hope you can help us.”
Delphie forced herself to smile but inside she was feeling worried. This seemed a really difficult problem to solve. If no one in Enchantia could work out how King Rat was doing the time-spell how would she be able to? Still, she reminded herself, problems here always seem difficult but I’ve solved lots so far. Maybe I can help again. She lifted her chin. “I’ll do my best,” she said.
“Can Delphie come to the ball with me so she can see what happens?” asked Cinders eagerly.
“Of course she may,” said her fairy godmother. “She can go as your seamstress. Have you got the pumpkin, the white mice and the frogs, Cinderella?”
Cinderella pulled out a pumpkin, a cage and a box from under her bed. “Of course I have!”
“Then let’s take them outside and begin!” said the fairy godmother.
Delphie and Cinderella took the pumpkin, mice and frogs outside, just as the sun was setting in the sky. The fairy godmother raised her wand and beautiful music flooded the air. She danced on to her pointes around Cinderella with tiny steps and then started turning quickly as she moved, arms held out to the sides so that it looked as if she was flying across the ground. Delphie watched as she stopped on her toes with one leg behind her, one arm stretched high and the other held gracefully in front as she pointed her wand at each of the objects in turn.
The pumpkin became a glittering carriage, the mice became four white horses, the frogs became a driver and a footman. Last but not least, the fairy godmother pointed her wand at Delphie and Cinderella. Delphie’s nightdress turned into a long blue ballgown and Cinderella’s ragged outfit became a beautiful glittering white dress with a long veil. She had a delicate silver tiara in her hair, her gold locket around her neck and dainty glass slippers on her feet. But she didn’t look delight
ed; she just looked worried and sad.
The fairy godmother took their hands. “You are now ready to go to the ball, girls. Good luck!” She pirouetted around and disappeared with another flash.
The footman held open the carriage door. As Delphie waited for Cinders to get in, her attention was caught by a clock tower at the end of the street. It was pearly white and the gold numbers and two gold hands sparkled in the rays of the setting sun. “That’s a beautiful clock!” said Delphie.
“That’s the magic clock of Enchantia,” Cinderella told her. “It’s in charge of time here.”
Something was glittering near the number twelve. Delphie frowned curiously. What was it? It didn’t look part of the design of the clock face.
“Come on!” Cinders urged her.
Delphie stopped looking up and hastily got into the carriage. The horses tossed their heads and set off at a smart canter. It was an amazing feeling to be pulled through the cobbled streets of Enchantia, past little shops and tall houses crammed in side by side. There were people hurrying through the streets. None of them looked very happy. No wonder, thought Delphie. It must be awful to repeat the same day over and over again.
She glanced at Cinderella. “Will your…” Delphie hesitated, thinking it seemed a bit rude to say ugly sisters, “will your step-sisters be at the ball?”
“Oh yes,” sighed Cinderella. “Augusta and June set off a while ago. I’ve been helping them get ready all afternoon. Unfortunately for you, you’ll probably get to meet them!”
The coach stopped outside the Prince’s palace. Delphie stared around in awe. Lights sparkled in the flowerbeds and great pots around the palace overflowed with sweet-scented roses. Music flooded out from the open doors. Guests in beautiful outfits were getting out of carriages but, just like the people in the streets, they didn’t look very happy. Cinderella led the way to the entrance, but just as they reached the palace doors a clock began to strike seven o’clock.
“Here we go again!” cried Cinders, grabbing Delphie’s hand. Darkness fell and the whole world began to spin round as if it was a roundabout in a park. It got faster and faster and then suddenly stopped.
Delphie blinked. They were standing in exactly the same place outside the palace but now stars were twinkling in the night sky and the moon was shining.
“You see!” Cinderella said turning to Delphie in despair. “Time’s jumped forward. It’s midnight now. I haven’t been inside and danced with the Prince so there’s no point in me running away and leaving one of my glass slippers behind because he doesn’t even know they belong to me!”
The clock inside the palace began to chime midnight.
“Everything’s about to change again!” gasped Cinders. She squeezed Delphie’s hands. “Hang on!”
As the clock reached the last stroke of midnight, the world went dark and began to spin round once more. But this time it felt like it was spinning backwards.
When it stopped, Delphie saw that the sun was high in the sky and Cinderella was wearing old brown rags again. The carriage had changed back to a pumpkin and the horses to mice and the driver and footman to frogs.
“Come on!” sighed Cinderella. “It’s back to the afternoon before the ball now. Let’s go home.” She sighed. “I’m afraid it’s quite a long walk.”
As they trudged back to Cinderella’s house, Delphie thought hard. She wished there was something she could do to help. But what could she do? She really had no idea.
As they reached Cinderella’s street, Delphie looked at the clock tower. Again, she caught sight of something on the clock face near the number twelve, glinting in the rays of the sun. Just what is it? she wondered.
Delphie touched Cinders’ arm. “Cinders, can you see that thing sparkling on the clock?”
“There isn’t anything that sparkles on…” Cinders broke off. “Oh yes! I see what you mean. There is something there.”
“Maybe whatever is glinting has something to do with why the time keeps changing,” said Delphie thoughtfully. “We should investigate.”
“But how?” asked Cinderella. “The clock tower’s really high.”
Delphie had an idea. “I know. Why don’t we ask the Sugar Plum Fairy? She could fly up there!”
“Sugar? Oh yes,” breathed Cinders. “Do you know her? I’d love to meet her!”
“Yes, I know her,” said Delphie. “We’ve had many an adventure together.”
“But how do we get her here?” asked Cinders.
Delphie thought hard. She knew it was possible to summon people in Enchantia by doing the dance from the ballet they came from. She raised her arms and tried to remember a little bit of the Sugar Plum Fairy’s dance. It was hard because Sugar often danced on pointes and Delphie couldn’t do that yet but she danced as high on her toes as she could. She danced in a circle, turning rapidly and keeping her movements as light and graceful as she could. Then she stopped in an arabesque with one leg lifted off the ground behind her, just as she had once seen Sugar do.
Suddenly there was a lilac flash and the Sugar Plum Fairy appeared.
“Sugar!” Delphie cried, rushing forwards to meet her friend.
“Hello, Delphie,” Sugar said, hugging her. “It’s lovely to see you again.”
“This is Cinderella,” Delphie said.
The Sugar Plum Fairy took Cinders’ hands. “Isn’t this time-spell horrible? I’ve been trying to work out what we can do about it for days. But it’s worse for you than the rest of us – never getting to meet your handsome prince and to have to keep being a servant instead of a princess.”
“It is,” said Cinders sadly.
“So why did you call me?” Sugar asked Delphie. “Do you think you can help us do something about it?”
“I don’t know,” said Delphie thoughtfully. “But there seems to be something strange on the clock face and we don’t know what it is or if it’s important.” Delphie pointed. “Can you see it glittering near the twelve?”
“Oh yes,” Sugar said. “There isn’t normally anything there.”
“Maybe that’s what causing the problems with time.” Delphie gave Sugar a hopeful look. “Would you be able to fly up there and take a look?”
“Of course!”
Delphie watched eagerly as Sugar pirouetted round and rose into the air, her wings fluttering.
What was she going to find?
As Sugar hovered in front of the clock, Delphie and Cinderella saw her peer closer, run her wand over the face and then reach forwards and pull something out.
What was it? Delphie could barely contain her excitement.
The Sugar Plum Fairy flew down. “Look!” she exclaimed, waving a glass slipper in the air. “This was jammed into the clock face!”
“A glass slipper!” exclaimed Cinders as Sugar landed.
The slipper was large with a high heel, a pointed toe that curled upwards and covered in gaudy blue, green and red jewels.
“This is what’s been causing all the problems,” said Sugar. “Its heel has been used to scratch a magic crack between the hours of seven and twelve. Every time the hour hand on the clock reaches the seven it whizzes forwards in the groove and goes straight to midnight. When the hour hand gets to midnight it bumps into the glass slipper and bounces all the way back to the afternoon taking everyone back in time!”
“So that’s how King Rat has been doing his time-spell,” Delphie said to Cinderella.
“Yes! I bet it’s one of his ball slippers!” said Cinders, looking at the ugly shoe. “He wouldn’t mind giving it up because he hates dancing anyway.”
“So now that we’ve got it out of the clock does that mean that everything will be all right?” Delphie asked eagerly. “Will time work normally for Cinderella again?”
“Yes!” said Sugar. “I mended the crack with my wand while I was up there and now the clock is working perfectly again.”
Delphie and Cinders hugged each other. “Oh, Delphie, maybe tonight I’ll meet my prince properly!” s
aid Cinders.
Just then the window of the house flew open and an older girl with a long nose, pointed chin and three big warts looked out. “Cinders, you ugly little woodlouse!” she bellowed. “What are you doing lazing around out there? I’ve been calling and calling for you. Hurry in here this minute and get me ready for the ball!”
“Yes, Augusta,” Cinders said quickly.
“So there you are, you little worm!” the window on the other side of the house flew open and June looked out. “I’ve been shouting your name for an hour. I need you to file my toe-nails.”
“And I need you to trim the hairs on my warts and shampoo my hair,” said Augusta.
“She’s to help me first!” said June.
“No, me!”
“Me!”
“ME!”
Cinders sighed as her sisters shrieked above her head. “I’d better go,” she said apologetically to Delphie and Sugar. “Hopefully this is the last time I have to get them ready for the ball.”
“Would you like me to help you?” Delphie offered.
“I couldn’t ask that,” replied Cinders in a low voice. “You can see what they’re like. They’re horrible! Besides, they would wonder where you had come from.”
At that moment, both sisters looked at her and shrieked. “Cinders, get in here NOW!”
“It’s OK,” Delphie said bravely. “I don’t mind helping.” She took Cinders’ hand. “And I’m sure we can think of something as to who I am. Come on, I’ll help you get them ready.”
“And I’ll go and tell your fairy godmother what’s been happening,” said Sugar, dancing away. “See you both at the ball.”
The two ugly sisters were more than happy to boss Delphie around too. Delphie had never worked so hard in her life! They made her wash their hair and dry it and put it in great big purple rollers. She had to massage them with cream, file away the hard skin on their feet and pluck hairs from their ears with tweezers, and all the time they shouted and nagged her.
Magic Ballerina 1-6 Page 8