“I’ll just get my ballet bag, Mum. It’s time for class.”
On her way to Madame Za-Za’s, Holly went over in her mind all the things that her mum had said and all the changes it would bring. And when she thought about leaving Chloe, her heart felt like lead. She hadn’t exactly been good at making new friends when she’d first joined Madame Za-Za’s, but Chloe had been so patient. It would be dreadful breaking the news to her. Why did everything have to change? If only they weren’t moving so far away.
Still, there was one special, secret thing in Holly’s life that definitely wouldn’t have to change, no matter what – the beautiful pair of red ballet shoes that she owned. She’d been given them by another girl when she’d arrived at the ballet school. She hadn’t realised quite how special they were at first, but she’d soon found out.
When they glowed, they whisked her away to the magical land of Enchantia, where all the characters from the ballets live, and that’s where Holly had met her friend, the White Cat. They’d already had all sorts of incredible adventures together.
A lovely surge of excitement at the memories made Holly leap up the steps to Madame Za-Za’s two at a time.
At the top, she stopped and turned round. She and Chloe had started a new game of seeing how many steps they could jump down in one go, and it was tempting to have a go right now. But Holly knew that she was just trying to put off the moment when she had to tell Chloe her news. She sighed and pushed back the door.
The Saturday morning class was always full, so the changing rooms were buzzing with chatter as Holly sat down in a corner with Chloe.
Holly kept glancing at her friend as she got changed. She was trying to pluck up the courage to tell her she was leaving. But every time she thought she’d found the right words, she imagined herself saying them and then she saw Chloe’s face falling. The thought of that was so unbearable, she couldn’t bring herself to speak.
Then, as Holly put on her ballet shoes, another thought flitted across her mind, like the tiniest cloud passing the sun and blocking it out for a second. Maybe the shoes would be better off here with one of the girls at Madame Za-Za’s, when Holly moved away After all, they’d always belonged to someone at the ballet school. But Holly shook the thought out of her head. She was just being silly. Of course they wouldn’t have to stay behind. They’d been given to her, hadn’t they?
As the girls from the last lesson came out of the studio, Holly’s class formed a line in the corridor, with Chloe just in front of her. If only she could find the courage to speak. Just say it! she told herself sternly. It’ll be fine.
“Chloe,” she blurted out, before she had time to change her mind, “my mum is giving up dancing professionally and I’m going to live with her all the time from now on!”
“Hey, cool!” said Chloe, her face lighting up. “That’s great news, Holly!”
“Yes,” Holly went on, knowing she was gabbling. “But the thing is … you see, um, well … we’re moving away …”
There. She’d done it. She’d got the words out. “So I won’t be coming here any more …” she finished.
“But … but …” Chloe looked shocked. “What do you mean? You’re my best friend. You can’t just go and leave me.”
Holly hung her head, feeling her throat tighten. It was just as she’d imagined it. Chloe’s eyes welled up with tears and she looked so sad. Then, without another word, she had rushed from the corridor. Holly felt terrible.
Class was awful. Holly had been expecting Chloe to be upset, but she was quite the opposite. She kept smiling at Holly, as though she was trying to make up for her outburst earlier. But that didn’t cheer Holly up at all, because she could tell that Chloe was only putting on a brave face. Madame Za-Za was as patient as ever, correcting their positions, describing to them the feelings they should have. She was such a good teacher, but even so, Holly could barely concentrate. All she could think about was Chloe.
Back in the changing rooms afterwards, Holly was desperate to talk to her friend properly, but she couldn’t get a word in because Chloe just kept chattering away brightly, as though there was nothing the matter at all.
Right, now’s my chance, thought Holly in relief as they went outside, but again it was no good. Chloe ran to the steps of the ballet school and took a big jump down from the sixth one, which neither of them had ever done before. Then she ran back up and told Holly brightly that she was going to try all eight steps.
“No!” said Holly urgently, feeling her heart race with worry. Chloe was clearly being reckless because she was upset. “It’s dangerous, Chloe. You mustn’t …” But it was too late. Holly gasped as Chloe launched herself from the top step.
Then the next minute there were many more gasps from other girls and parents too, because Chloe had landed badly. Her legs seemed to buckle under her and she sank down to the ground, clutching her ankle, her face screwed up in agony. Without a second’s hesitation, Holly ran as fast as she could to get Madame Za-Za.
“Can we phone and see how Chloe is getting on at the hospital, now, Mum?” Holly asked for the tenth time as she and her mum helped Aunt Maria make lunch that afternoon.
“I’ve told you, love, Chloe’s mum will be sure to phone us as soon as she can.”
“Why don’t you watch telly?” suggested Uncle Ted. “Take your mind off it.”
Mum smiled. “Or what about your Nutcracker DVD?”
“OK.” Holly’s shoulders slumped as she put the DVD in the player.
Even the dancing couldn’t take her mind off poor Chloe, and it was such a relief when the phone finally rang and Chloe’s mum explained that Chloe had broken her ankle and it was in a plaster cast. Apparently, she was at home, feeling sorry for herself, but had asked if Holly could come and see her, and bring her ballet things.
“Oh, poor Chloe!” said Holly. “Please say I’m allowed to see her, Mum!”
“All right, all right, let’s go,” said Holly’s mother, grabbing her car keys and heading for the door with Holly already pacing in front of her.
It could only have taken around ten minutes to drive the short distance from Aunt Maria’s to Chloe’s house, but it seemed like an age to Holly.
Chloe looked a bit embarrassed when Holly walked into the sitting room and found her on the sofa, her leg propped up in front of her.
“I was silly, wasn’t I?” said Chloe straight away.
Holly didn’t answer. She felt so sorry for Chloe and just wanted to make her feel better. “Can I draw on your plaster cast?” she asked, with a grin as she whipped three felt pens out of her ballet bag. “See, I’ve come prepared!”
Chloe giggled as Holly spent ages trying to draw a picture of the two of them in arabesque positions.
“It’s a bit wobbly because the plaster’s all uneven!” said Holly, flopping back on the settee.
Chloe sighed. “It’ll be a while before I’ll be doing any arabesques.”
Holly bit her lip, seeing more tears in Chloe’s eyes. “No it won’t!” she declared, helping Chloe off the sofa. Then she held her friend’s hands and gently encouraged her to raise the leg with the plaster. “See! You’re doing it already!”
Chloe smiled bravely as she carefully sat back down. Then after a pause, she spoke quietly. “Can you … dance for me, Holly? Please?”
Holly felt her throat hurting as she changed into her red ballet shoes. She didn’t feel like dancing now. She was just too emotional, and the sight of the magic shoes brought back a niggle to her mind. Something kept jabbing away at her, telling her it was wrong to keep the shoes when she was leaving Madame Za-Za’s. Still, she would block it out – at least for the moment. She could never give up the shoes. They were just too brilliant.
“What’s the matter?” asked Chloe, when Holly lifted her arms slowly, then let them flop back down again.
“I … just need to go to the loo,” Holly replied.
She didn’t really, but thought that if she went out of the room for a moment
she might be able to pull herself together. She’d hardly gone into the hallway, though, when she got a shock. The shoes were glowing. Really glowing. And a myriad of colours seemed to be swirling around Holly.
I’m on my way to Enchantia! she realised, her heart pounding with excitement. Right now!
Holly found herself set down in a world of pink, just as though she was wearing rose-tinted glasses.
I must be somewhere in Enchantia, she thought, staring around at the amazing scene. And yet it didn’t look like anywhere she’d been before.
She turned right round and gasped, because a gigantic palace that looked like it was made of white icing stood gleaming and tall against the bright blue sky. Holly pinched herself to check she wasn’t dreaming. But she really was in Enchantia, because there was her friend, the White Cat, standing beside her.
“Oh, Cat, where are we?” She looked round in awe. “This is incredible!”
The White Cat chuckled and looked proud. “The Land of Sweets,” he told her.
As Holly looked around her, she realised she could probably have worked that out for herself. There were mountains topped with whipped cream, flowers glazed with frosted syrup, fountains of sherbet, lollipop trees, candy-cane sticks of rock, jelly houses, fields of golden popcorn, even valleys of marshmallows.
“Oh, Cat! It’s deliciously … amazing!”
“Not at the moment, it isn’t,” said the White Cat, suddenly looking downcast. “Come with me.”
Holly was puzzled. She followed him down a sweeping drive of pink and white coconut flakes, into the palace. The grand reception hall was decorated with piped icing and Holly couldn’t believe the magnificent ballroom that the White Cat was leading her into. Enormous pillars studded with multi-coloured fruit pastilles reached up to a caramel-coated ceiling. The floor was made of hard shiny toffee, the walls of Turkish delight.
But when Holly managed to drag her eyes away from all the splendour, she saw that something was going wrong here. In the middle of the room there were groups of dancing Sweets, desperately trying to stay on their feet, but failing. White Chocolate Whirlers were dancing to Spanish music with clicking castanets, but they kept losing their balance and whirling off. Coffee dancers, dressed in wide silky trousers with little beaded tops and long flowing veils, were dancing to exotic Arabian music. Their veils had got all tangled up, though, and there was nothing graceful about the way they tried to pull apart from one another.
The Mandarin Mint Tea Men were trying to shuffle along in tiny steps to the quick high flute music of the Chinese Dance, but their steps had somehow turned into long strides and they kept bumping into each other. The Russian Toffee dancers, who had the fastest music of all, were attempting kicks and twirls and stamps and leaps, but they simply crashed into each other and fell over.
It was such a sad sight that Holly felt relieved when the music finally changed to a lilting waltz. Flower dancers got up from the edges of the ballroom and made their way to the centre. They were no better than the other dancers, though. Their petals had begun to drop off and were making the floor slippery, so they slid and skidded around, then fell to the ground.
Holly turned in horror to the White Cat and gasped. “Whatever is going on?”
“You may well ask.” The White Cat took a deep breath. “The Land of Sweets is not just a wonderful place because of all the incredible Sweets who live here, but because the Sweets are the most amazing dancers too. Only they’ve got a problem. You see, the Sweets are controlled by the Sugar Plum Fairy. The trouble is, Sugar has been locked up by the Wicked Fairy in her castle, so the Sweets have totally lost their ability to dance.”
Holly shuddered as a picture of the Wicked Fairy, with her hooked nose, long black cloak and iron grey hair, flashed through her mind. She had met her on other adventures in Enchantia and she was a very frightening character. Still, if the Sweets were controlled by Sugar, there was only one thing they could do. They’d have to get her back.
Holly stood a little straighter and spoke in a determined voice. “Come on then, Cat, let’s go and rescue her.”
The White Cat’s face lit up for a second, as though he’d caught some of Holly’s determination. “Yes! We have to! Hang on tight and I’ll magick us to just outside the Wicked Fairy’s castle.”
Holly nodded. It was important not to get inside the wicked characters’ homes where their magic was most powerful. “We should be safe there.”
“Let’s not waste another second!” cried the White Cat, as he drew a circle with his tail in the coconut flakes.
Holly jumped inside and instantly felt herself being lifted up, then whisked away in a flash of pink and white coconut sparks.
Holly and the White Cat were set down on a soft, springy lawn.
“Oh, my shimmering whiskers!” said the White Cat, staring around. “Have I brought us to the right place?”
Holly looked at the pointed turrets and the jagged roof of the grey castle standing before them and shivered. “Yes, it’s definitely the right place, Cat. But …” It was strange, the gardens looked different. The lawn was freshly mown, smooth and flat. “… the Wicked Fairy has certainly spruced things up, hasn’t she?”
Together they took in the neat flower beds and finely mown grass. Then they both stiffened at the sound of a voice, “One-and-a, two-and-a, three-and-a, four-and-a …”
“It’s her! It’s the Wicked Fairy!” cried Holly. “Quick! Don’t let her see us!”
The White Cat pointed out some stables close by, and he and Holly dived inside. They crouched down, hearts beating hard.
Holly put her eye to a little peephole in the wall of the stable. She gasped at what she saw. The Wicked Fairy had appeared from behind a hedge and was stumbling along in a most peculiar way, her black cloak dragging behind her and her grey hair hanging down her back in rats’ tails. As she moved along, she dipped down on every count and rose up on the words “and a”.
“What’s she doing?” asked the White Cat, finding a little slit between the panels of wood and peering through it.
“You know, I think she’s trying to dance!” breathed Holly in amazement. “She must have magicked up a new lawn, so she can dance outside.” But then someone else came into view. “Who’s that?”
“Oh, my glittering tail! It’s Sugar!”
“You mean the Sugar Plum Fairy?” Holly’s eyes widened at the sight of the beautiful fairy in her pink and lilac tutu. “But why would she be helping the Wicked Fairy?”
“How very strange! How extraordinary!” cried the White Cat. “She’s not locked up at all!”
Holly was confused. “So why can’t she just magick herself away?”
“Perhaps the Wicked Fairy has put a spell on Sugar to keep her here,” said the White Cat. “Yes, that must be it. Sugar would never stay otherwise …” But the White Cat stopped short as Holly put a hand on his arm to silence him.
“Look!” she pointed.
“Let’s try a plié,” came Sugar’s soft lilting voice as the Wicked Fairy stopped her waltz steps and glared at Sugar, mumbling about how she was a useless teacher.
“First position,” Sugar was saying patiently. “I … er … need to see your legs to check your placing.”
Holly and the White Cat tried hard to stifle their giggles as the fairy raised her long skirt to reveal her thin, bony legs.
“Right, first you have to stand correctly,” said Sugar a little shakily. “Rise up out of your ribs.”
“Rise up out of my ribs!” came the scratchy voice of the Wicked Fairy. “What are you talking about, you stupid fairy? I’m not a contortionist!”
Sugar’s voice faltered and Holly could see that she looked worried. “Er … I mean, stand up very straight …”
But the Wicked Fairy’s knees were bent and turned inwards, and her feet were rolling badly as she clutched Sugar’s hand tightly, trying to keep her balance.
“Straight enough?” she asked Sugar, grinning as though pleased with herself.
Sugar seemed to flinch as she answered, “Very … er … good …”
And Holly couldn’t help a loud giggle escaping. But she instantly regretted it and clapped a hand over her mouth, as the White Cat looked at her in alarm.
It was too late. The Wicked Fairy had clearly heard the sound, because her eyes were boring holes through the stable walls. Then she threw back her cloak and came storming across the lawn towards them.
There was no escape!
“Who’s that? Who’s there?” cried the Wicked Fairy.
Holly and the White Cat shrunk back as the door to the stables was blasted open and the Wicked Fairy stomped inside.
“What are you doing in my stables?” she yelled at them. “How dare you laugh at me!” Her glinting eyes darted angrily from Holly to the White Cat.
Holly stood, frozen with fear. Oh no! What was the Wicked Fairy going to do to them? But nothing happened. She simply turned on her heel, her black cloak throwing up a cloud of dust behind her. And with an ear-splitting thwack from the other side of the door, the bolt was slammed across. “I’ll deal with you later!” came her parting screech.
“We’re prisoners!” said Holly in a trembling voice. “And it’s all my fault.”
“Nonsense!” said the White Cat. “It’s nobody’s fault.” He patted Holly’s shoulder with his soft paw, but he was clearly as shaken up as she was. “Let’s see what’s going on now.”
The two of them returned to their peepholes and for the next few minutes neither spoke, as they watched Sugar’s attempts to teach the awkward Wicked Fairy to dance.
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