Magic Ballerina 1-6

by Darcey Bussell

  “You’re pulling my hair!”

  “Ow! That hurts!”

  “Can’t you work any faster? I’m never going to be ready in time!”

  By the time six o’clock came and the ugly sisters were in their bright ballgowns, Delphie was exhausted. She collapsed with Cinders on the hard floor of her tiny room.

  “Now we just have to wait for the Fairy Godmother,” said Cinderella. “Thank you for helping, Delphie. You’re a real friend.”

  The fairy godmother was full of excitement when she arrived. “Oh, I hope tonight you meet your prince, my dear,” she said to Cinderella as she magicked her rags away and turned Delphie’s nightdress into a ballgown again. “Have a good time, both of you!”

  Delphie grinned at Cinderella. “I hope we will!”

  Delphie and Cinderella arrived at the ball on the stroke of seven. As the clock began to chime, Delphie held her breath and Cinders gripped her arm. But nothing happened! The clock reached the seventh note and everything stayed exactly as it was. No darkness fell; there was no feeling of rushing.

  “We’ve really done it!” gasped Cinders. “We’ve broken King Rat’s time-spell!”

  Delphie grinned in delight and felt relief flood through her.

  “Come on!” Cinders said, grabbing her hand. “Let’s go and enjoy the ball!”

  Inside the palace, there was a massive ballroom with a domed roof. A band was playing. People were dancing and servants were hurrying around, offering people drinks. Delphie took a glass of fruit punch. It tasted delicious like strawberries and peaches mixed up together with lots of ice. She could see Augusta and June dancing with two young men who both looked like they would rather be somewhere else. Their toes were being trodden on and they were being bossed around.

  “No, not like that! Hold me tighter!” Augusta was complaining.

  “You’re not spinning me round properly,” June moaned to her partner. “And you haven’t once told me how beautiful I am!”

  In another room there were huge tables with white tablecloths; throughout the other rooms there were comfy chairs and sofas to sit on and outside in the garden there were jugglers, fire-eaters and men walking on stilts.

  “Oh, I love this music!” said Cinderella as the band started to play a march. She and Delphie went through to the ballroom. A procession of palace servants was marching with huge trays of food. It was all so beautiful. The servants laid the food down carefully on the tables before dancing together, one way and then the other. Then they all marched on the spot, their arms coming above their heads as they made a circle. Delphie watched, enchanted; she could feel herself aching to join in.

  An idea hit her. Maybe she, Poppy and Lola could do a march like that for Madame Za-Za!

  But then she was distracted by a gasp from Cinderella. She looked around. The Prince, wearing a white and gold jacket, was standing at Cinderella’s side. “You are finally here,” he said softly. “Will you dance?”

  Cinderella nodded wordlessly and taking her hand, he led her on to the centre of the floor as the march finished and the band struck up a waltz.

  Delphie sipped her punch and watched as the Prince put his arm round Cinderella’s waist and they began to dance. She had never seen two people waltz so lightly. The Prince spun Cinderella around the room as if she was as light as thistledown. Their eyes never left each other’s faces.

  Delphie smiled in delight.

  “It’s all working out perfectly,” a voice said beside her. She looked round and saw Sugar standing beside her.

  “It is,” Delphie said happily.

  The Prince and Cinderella danced all night and then at midnight, just as happened in the fairytale, Cinderella broke away from him and ran out of the palace. As she ran one of her glass slippers came off.

  Sugar and Delphie were watching from the garden. “I think your job is done, Delphie,” said Sugar softly. “Everything is happening just as it should.”

  Delphie looked down at her ballet shoes, expecting them to sparkle as they usually did when things had all worked out in Enchantia. But they didn’t. “The shoes aren’t taking me home,” she said.

  “Maybe the magic is going to let you stay so that you can see the Prince find Cinderella tomorrow,” Sugar said. “In which case, why don’t I take us to my home so we can get some rest? We can come back to Cinderella’s house tomorrow morning to watch her trying on the glass slipper and see the Prince asking her to marry him.”

  “Oh yes!” Delphie breathed. She’d love to see that.

  Sugar waved her wand. Lilac sparkles flew out and swirled round them. They started to spin round. As they did, Delphie glanced back at where the glass slipper was lying. Would she see the Prince running out to pick it up?

  To her surprise she saw someone, but it wasn’t the Prince. It was a figure covered in a hooded cloak. They hurried out from behind a rose bush and bent over the slipper but before Delphie could see what they did, she was whisked away in a sparkling cloud.

  As she spun through the air to Sugar’s house she felt a flicker of unease. Who was that in the cloak? Why had they been looking at the slipper?

  It’s probably just one of the servants, she thought. Maybe it was just someone who wasn’t mentioned in the fairytale. Everything’s going to be all right, she told herself, pushing the strange sighting from her mind. It has to be!

  Delphie stayed the night in a beautiful rose-pink bedroom at Sugar’s house. She and the fairy had breakfast and then Sugar whisked them both back to Cinderella’s street.

  “The Prince’s manservant should be there by now with the glass slipper,” Sugar said. “He’ll have been going around all the houses this morning seeing who the glass slipper fits.”

  They landed opposite Cinderella’s house. The street was crowded with lots of the townspeople watching what was going on and Cinderella’s front door was open. The manservant was outside with a glass slipper on a purple cushion. Augusta, June and Cinderella were standing in the street.

  “It fits me best!” Augusta was saying, glaring at June.

  “No, it fits me!” snapped June, grabbing the shoe. “I’m going to marry the Prince!”

  “No, I am!” said Augusta, trying to pull the shoe off her.

  “Ladies, ladies!” said the manservant hastily, trying to take hold of the slipper.

  “Shove off!” Augusta said, pushing him hard and sending him sprawling into the gutter.

  “I don’t understand! It should fit me!” said Cinderella, bursting into tears.

  “Something must have gone wrong!” exclaimed Sugar. “That’s not even Cinderella’s slipper. Look! It’s like the one in the clock!”

  She was right. The slipper the ugly sisters were playing tug of war with was big and covered with bright jewels.

  “What’s happened?” said Delphie.

  Suddenly she heard the sound of chortling laughter. It was coming from a nearby alleyway.

  Delphie went over and looked down it. What she saw made her gasp. “Sugar!” she hissed, beckoning Sugar over. “King Rat’s here with some of his mouse guards!”

  They peered cautiously round the corner. King Rat had his back to them. He was wearing a dark cloak and boots and had a golden crown on his head. Five of his mouse guards were gathered round him. They were all bigger than Delphie and had sharp swords slung into their belts. Their teeth were pointed and their eyes gleamed.

  “Oh, I am so clever!” King Rat preened the black greasy fur on top of his head. “That interfering girl and annoying fairy thought they had foiled my plan but now the Prince will have to marry one of the ugly sisters and Cinderella will never be happy again!”

  “How did you do it, sire?” asked one of the mice.

  “It’s easy when you have brains!” boasted King Rat. “I simply waited for Cinderella to run out and leave her glass slipper behind. Before the Prince came out, I swapped it for one of my own. Then I smashed Cinderella’s slipper so it can never be found and so she won’t get to marry her
Prince!”

  “Genius, sire!” said one of the mice.

  “It is rather, even if I say so myself,” said King Rat. He glared round at his other guards. “You can all say it too.”

  “You’re a genius, sire,” the mice said quickly. “A genius!”

  King Rat sniggered. “That will teach Cinderella to turn down invitations to my castle!”

  Delphie pulled Sugar back. “What are we going to do?” She couldn’t believe everything had gone so wrong. King Rat was right. Now Cinderella wouldn’t get to marry the Prince. She felt awful. “Oh if only we could change the slipper for the one that fits Cinderella’s foot, but it’s been smashed.”

  Sugar stared at her. “Perhaps there’s a way!” she exclaimed. “You see I can use my magic to transform things. All we’d need to do is get near enough to King Rat’s slipper so that I could touch it with my wand and transform it into Cinderella’s! Oh, Delphie, it’s a great idea!”

  Sugar began to dance. Music echoed faintly through the air but everyone else was too caught up in the argument to notice it. Everyone apart from Cinderella.

  She looked up and seeing Sugar dancing towards her, her face lit up with hope.

  Sugar placed a finger to her lips and danced past the manservant and up to the ugly sisters almost before anyone knew what was happening.

  But King Rat realised! “No!” he roared, running out of the alleyway. “Stop that fairy!”

  Delphie gasped as lots of things suddenly seemed to happen at once.

  The ugly sisters and manservant turned to look at King Rat and the guards as they burst out of the alleyway. Seeing them heading for Sugar, Delphie jumped in front of the first one and stuck her foot out. He tripped over and fell to the ground with a loud yell. The other guards tumbled over him, ending up in a large sprawling heap.

  “You idiots!” yelled King Rat.

  While everyone was staring at King Rat and the mice in astonishment, Sugar touched the shoe with her wand. With a faint flash of lilac light it transformed into Cinderella’s glass slipper. There was a clatter of hooves and the Prince came cantering down the street on a white stallion. He stopped outside Cinderella’s house just at the right moment.

  “I hear the person has been found whose foot fits the slipper!” he exclaimed.

  “Not just person,” said the manservant, looking flustered. “But persons, your Highness. There are actually two of them. Well, there were,” he said, doing a double take as he looked down at the slipper in his hand.

  “It fits me!” said Augusta, snatching the slipper off the manservant and trying to force her foot inside. But the slipper was much too small now.

  “I told you it fits me better!” said June, grabbing the slipper from Augusta and trying to push her toes inside.

  “It doesn’t fit either of them!” shouted Delphie, racing forwards, unable to keep quiet any longer. “It fits Cinderella!”

  There was a moment’s silence and then Cinderella stepped forwards.

  The Prince smiled at her. “I think it will fit you.”

  Cinderella put the slipper on. It fitted her perfectly. “Yes,” she said, looking up at him and holding out her foot. “It does.”

  The Prince leapt down from his horse and knelt on the cobbles.

  “Will you marry me?”

  “Oh yes!”

  Cinderella breathed.

  “I will!”

  Delphie and Sugar hugged as the Prince swept Cinderella into an embrace.

  “No!” bellowed King Rat, stamping his feet in fury.

  Augusta marched over to him. “If I can’t have the Prince, you’ll do.”

  “I saw him first,” said June, going up to the other side and grabbing his arm.

  She batted her eyelashes at him. “Hello, Handsome!”

  “Help!” King Rat exclaimed, shaking himself free. “I’m off!” He turned and ran up the street with the ugly sisters chasing after him.

  “Come back!” they screeched.

  The mice looked at each other, shrugged and then followed the ugly sisters at a fast jog.

  Delphie and Sugar giggled.

  “Oh, Delphie, it really has worked out perfectly after all!” said Sugar as the Prince clicked his fingers and music flooded magically through the air. It was the waltz from the night before. The Prince spun Cinderella round, their feet flying over the rough cobbles. As Cinderella swept past Delphie, she pulled momentarily out of the Prince’s arms.

  “Thank you, Delphie!” she cried, her blue eyes shining with joy. “Thank you so much!”

  “That’s OK,” said Delphie happily. “I’m just glad it’s all sorted.”

  Cinderella took out her golden locket. “Please will you take this with you. The person it once belonged to was a great friend of mine and she left it in my care but now I think it’s time it was returned. Tell her: Always believe in the magic.”

  “But who does it belong to?” Delphie asked.

  Before Cinderella could reply, the Prince had whisked her away.

  As all of the townspeople joined in with the waltz, Delphie didn’t have time to think about what Cinderella had said. She slipped the locket round her neck as Sugar grabbed her hands. Delphie had never really waltzed before but she let her feet in the magic shoes guide her. She and Sugar twirled lightly up and down the street. It felt like flying!

  Delphie’s feet began to tingle. Looking down she saw that the red shoes were glowing. “I’m about to go home, Sugar!” she gasped.

  “See you soon!” cried Sugar.

  “Bye!” called Delphie as, in a haze of swirling light, she was whisked away…

  She landed with a slight bump in her bedroom. It was dark and quiet after the music and light of Enchantia. Her hand reached round her neck. Yes, she still had the locket. She carefully took it off and opened it. Inside there were two pictures. One of Cinderella smiling and another of a girl with big brown eyes and browny-red hair. She looked very familiar. Just like Madame Za-Za must have looked when she was younger.

  Delphie’s hand flew to her mouth. Her ballet teacher had hinted that she had been to Enchantia too. Maybe this was a picture of her! Maybe she had once been friends with Cinderella?

  Delphie closed the locket slowly. She realised she’d just found the perfect present for Madame Za-Za’s birthday.

  On the following Saturday afternoon, Delphie, Poppy and Lola got to the ballet school early. They had told Madame Za-Za they had a surprise for her.

  “Happy birthday, Madame Za-Za,” they all called, running in with the chocolate cake they had made that morning. “We’ve got you a cake and made up a dance for you for your birthday!”

  “Really?” Madame Za-Za said. “That is lovely of you, girls. The cake looks delicious!”

  They quickly got changed and then Delphie put the CD of music from Cinderella into the machine. As she ran to her starting position she looked at Madame Za-Za sitting in her chair. Her face looked strained.

  I hope this works, Delphie thought anxiously as she took her place behind Poppy and Lola.

  The music from the ballet of Cinderella flooded out. Delphie saw Madame Za-Za blink and straighten up slightly but then the march began and all of Delphie’s attention was focused on dancing. She, Poppy and Lola had been practising all week.

  They stepped forwards, with Poppy and Lola pretending they were carrying something and Delphie in between them carrying the locket, wrapped up in pink tissue paper.

  They stopped in a line behind each other and then Poppy and Lola danced to the left and Delphie danced to the right, stepping lightly, spinning round and stopping up on their toes with their arms above their heads. Then they stepped back again and spun round as they got back into their line, ending with their knees bent. Marching around the room, their heads were held high, and they had smiles on their faces. They turned together, perfectly in time.

  One turn, two turns, three turns. Delphie passed Madame Za-Za and saw a smile on her teacher’s face. Her head was nodding in t
ime with the music.

  Finally the girls stopped in front of her.

  “Beautiful! Just beautiful, girls!” Madame Za-Za exclaimed.

  “If it was, it’s because you’ve taught us so well.” Delphie handed her the present. “Happy birthday, Madame Za-Za.”

  “A present?” said Madame Za-Za, as she unwrapped it. “But you shouldn’t have got me a…” Her voice faltered as she pulled back the tissue and saw the locket. “Oh,” she whispered.

  “There’s a message with it,” Delphie said softly. She saw Poppy and Lola glance at each other. They had asked her where the locket had come from but she had just made up a story that she had found it in a junk shop and pretended she herself was going to make up a message. “Always believe in the magic.”

  Madame Za-Za looked at her and, for a moment a look of understanding passed between them.

  “Then that is what I shall do,” Madame Za-Za said softly. A smile spread across her face. “Maybe I’m not too old for this life of teaching after all.”

  “Of course you’re not!” said Lola.

  “This music is too hard to resist. May I dance with you, girls?”

  “Yes!” they all cried.

  Madame Za-Za stood up, danced forwards and spun into a pirouette followed by a leap in the air. Forgetting the moves they had learned, the girls grinned happily and with whatever steps came into their heads, started dancing around the room with their ballet teacher.