Magic Ballerina 13-18

by Darcey Bussell

  “It’s impossible for poor Sugar,” said Holly. “The Wicked Fairy is just too angular and angry.”

  “What’s the point of these ridiculous positions?” the rasping voice rang out. “I want to dance, not stand like a flamingo or walk like a penguin. You’re a useless teacher, that’s the problem!”

  “Let’s move on to jumps, then,” said Sugar, turning pale. “Try to point your toes and stretch your feet in the air …”

  But the Wicked Fairy scarcely left the ground before she came down with a loud thud.

  “That’s it! I’ve had enough!” she yelled, pointing a long knotted finger at Sugar. “I need a better teacher. Be gone to the tower, you feeble fairy! Away with you!”

  Holly and the White Cat watched in horror as Sugar disappeared into thin air and the Wicked Fairy let out a long cackle, before breaking into a chant …

  “Whizz-a-whirl, twizz-a-twirl, coffee or tea.

  A Sweet that can teach, now bring one to me!”

  In an instant, one of the White Chocolate Whirlers stood there before her.

  “Stop staring, you dimwit, and get on with teaching me to dance!” commanded the Wicked Fairy.

  But to Holly’s horror, the poor Whirler, just whirled away and finished up flattened against a tree.

  “How can she teach the Wicked Fairy when she’s lost the ability to dance herself?” asked Holly in alarm.

  “How indeed?” said the White Cat, wringing his tail. “The Sweets will never be able to dance as they used to, until Sugar is back in their kingdom visiting them with her special dancing powers.”

  “The poor thing,” murmured Holly, as she and the White Cat watched the White Chocolate Whirler trying to get the Wicked Fairy to copy her pirouette.

  It was no good. In seconds, she had whirled off crazily, and the Wicked Fairy was clearly furious.

  “You’re even worse than that feeble fairy!” she squawked. “Get back to where you came from!” And with a glint of her eye and a stab of her finger, the Whirler had vanished.

  “Sherbet shazzam, bow down to my power.

  I need the best teacher. Bring me a Flower!”

  And to Holly and the White Cat’s shock, there stood in the garden a beautiful deep pink Flower. Her shoulders drooped and she hung her head sadly as she stood before the Wicked Fairy.

  “How can I learn to dance from this wilting waste of space!” mumbled the Wicked Fairy, shaking her head at the sight of the Flower. Then, her anger suddenly flared up and a ball of fire came shooting out of her fingertips, hurtling towards the frightened Flower. “Away with you!”

  And in a flash, the Flower disappeared. Holly could hardly believe her eyes as the Wicked Fairy magicked one Sweet after another into her garden, then shot balls of fire at each of them, declaring them “Useless!”, “Pathetic!”, “Clumsy” or “Clodhopping”, and banishing them back to the Land of Sweets.

  Her temper was growing worse and worse, and she was in a real frenzy by the time the last one had disappeared.

  “Oh, my glimmering eyes, whatever will she do now?” murmured the White Cat. “Look! She’s stomping off, leaving us trapped in here!”

  “And what about Sugar?” said Holly fearfully as she realised the full horror of the situation. “If she stays imprisoned in the tower, no one in the Land of Sweets will ever be able to dance again! We can’t let that happen, Cat! We’ve got to do something!”

  “Quite so, quite so!” agreed the White Cat, his eyes darting this way and that, as though he was wracking his brain to think of something.

  Holly looked around her, but she couldn’t see anything either. Then she felt a little tingle from her feet, as if her red ballet shoes were trying to tell her something.

  “I’ve got it!” Holly said. “Perhaps I could teach the Wicked Fairy how to dance!” And as soon as she’d spoken, she felt herself shrinking inside.

  “Do you think you can?” the White Cat asked, the smallest note of hope in his voice.

  Holly had absolutely no idea. But the Wicked Fairy was marching off to her castle and any second now she would be out of earshot. There was nothing for it. Holly took a deep breath and called out as loudly as she could, “I can teach you to dance. Try me!”

  There was a stark, frozen silence as the Wicked Fairy stopped in her tracks, then slowly peered over her shoulder with a smirk on her face. Holly felt as though the words were hanging in the air, mocking her. I can teach you to dance.

  Oh, what had she let herself in for?

  The Wicked Fairy swung round and started to make her way over more quietly to the stables. Somehow this was scarier than if she’d stomped her way across. Holly swallowed, then jumped into the air as the bolt was suddenly blasted and the door flew open, banging against the wall.

  “I don’t believe you!” spat the Wicked Fairy, pointing a sharp talon at her.

  Holly knew she had to be brave and stand up to the evil fairy. “But I …” she began.

  “Quiet, girl! You’re only a human! What do you know about dancing?” She turned and looked calculatingly at the White Cat. “Aha, but you might just do! You! You can teach me to dance!”

  She jerked her head at him and before the White Cat had a chance to escape her clutches, she had grabbed him and was pulling him, protesting, outside. Immediately, the door crashed shut and the bolt was thrust across.

  Holly put her eye to the peephole and watched her friend’s desperate attempts to help the evil fairy to dance. He tried holding her hands, helping her to jump. He tried to inspire her, by performing a series of grand jetés around the lawn. He even tried lifting her into the air, but Holly could see he was struggling and straining, until finally he let her drop. This made her screech out in the worst temper yet, as she blasted him back to the stables, before slamming the door with one great whoosh of powerful magic.

  Holly knew this was their only chance. She pushed open the door and ran out of the stables to face the Wicked Fairy head on. “I can teach you to dance. Look!”

  She began the most complicated set of steps she knew, desperately hoping to impress the Wicked Fairy, but all she saw on the fairy’s face was a sneer of contempt.

  “Silly little girl!”

  I must carry on. For Sugar. For the Land of Sweets, Holly told herself firmly, as she kept on dancing, trying to ignore the Wicked Fairy standing there with her arms folded.

  “Just because you can dance, doesn’t mean you can teach, girl!”

  This time, Holly felt sure the words had been spoken less harshly, and took heart as she carried on dancing. Then a few seconds later, she definitely saw a look of curiosity flicker across the Wicked Fairy’s face.

  Holly began to plead with her. She had to convince the Wicked Fairy to let her help. “Oh, please, er, Madame Fairy, let me have the honour of teaching you. I saw you through a little hole in the stable wall and I thought you were an exceptionally gifted dancer!”

  The Wicked Fairy smoothed down her hair and a glimmer of a smile played around her lips. It was obvious she liked to be complimented, so Holly carried on.

  “The trouble is, Madame Fairy, that you haven’t found the right teacher yet. The Sweets weren’t … on form … today. No, not at all! And it was definitely the White Cat’s fault that he couldn’t help you.”

  Holly crossed her fingers behind her back and hoped that the White Cat understood why she was having to pretend to be critical of him. “No, all you need, Madame Fairy, is a special teacher. And I am that person because I come from a different land altogether!”

  The Wicked Fairy stroked her pointed chin and narrowed her eyes. “Well, tell me what you know about teaching people to dance then, girl!”

  A picture of Madame Za-Za teaching Holly’s class flashed through her mind. What was it that made her such a wonderful teacher? Holly asked herself.

  The answer came to her immediately, and she spoke carefully. “Everyone has the spirit of dance inside them. You just have to find it and bring it out.”

 
; She paused and looked straight into the eyes of the Wicked Fairy, then spoke in a gentle voice, forgetting for a moment where she was. “And I think I might be able to help you to do that.”

  Holly waited, her heart in her mouth, sensing that behind them in the stable the White Cat was also holding his breath. Would the Wicked Fairy give her the chance? Or would her plan fail completely?

  “All right, girl, teach me to dance then!” The Wicked Fairy’s eyes were boring into Holly’s, challenging her.

  Holly swallowed. She knew she had to get this right. The most important thing was to help the fairy get rid of her anger and calm her down, so she was in the mood for dancing.

  It seemed like an impossible task, but Holly didn’t allow herself to hesitate. “The secret is to breathe slowly and deeply, Madame Fairy,” she said.

  “Don’t be ridiculous, girl! What has breathing to do with dancing?”

  “It’s a magic ingredient!” Holly replied, trying to sound sure of herself. Just relax and close your eyes …”

  “Hmm,” said the Wicked Fairy, curling her lip. But she did as she was told, none the less.

  “Now, slowly raise your arms to the sides,” Holly went on. “Well done! You’ve got lovely soft wrists and elbows.” It wasn’t exactly true, but Holly was remembering how Madame Za-Za always gave plenty of encouragement, describing things so that her pupils knew exactly what she wanted. “That’s right, take your arms all the way up.”

  It was actually working. The Wicked Fairy’s face had lost its tight scowl. She was responding to Holly’s praise and her arms were almost floating.

  “Now let’s try that again,” said Holly, allowing herself to feel the tiniest bit of excitement at what was happening.

  This time, the Wicked Fairy opened her eyes, and Holly managed to smile at her. “You’re really dancing now, Madame Fairy!”

  “Am I?” The words were gruff with surprise, which Holly found strangely touching.

  “And I was thinking … maybe, if you took off your heavy cloak? It might be weighing you down.”

  “Yes,” said the fairy, frowning. “It’s obviously hindering my progress.” She flung it on to the hedge.

  “Now, rise up on tiptoe this time as you raise your arms.” Holly continued.

  The Wicked Fairy was rather wobbly, which gave Holly a moment of panic. It would be awful if she worked herself up into a temper again.

  “That’s lovely!” Holly quickly said, breaking into another smile. “It took me much longer than that to learn to balance.”

  Holly held her breath and got ready for fireworks, but nothing happened. The fairy just lifted her ribs and Holly couldn’t help herself bursting into applause. “Bravo, Madame Fairy!” she cried.

  And miraculously, the Wicked Fairy actually smiled at her. “Am I really … dancing?”

  “Yes, you are!” replied Holly happily. “Take my hand and count with me, one-and-a, two-and-a, three-and-a, four-and-a …”

  Together, Holly and the Wicked Fairy danced round the garden, dipping on the counts and rising up on the words “and a”. Holly couldn’t explain it, but she felt a real sense of pleasure in helping the Wicked Fairy to dance. It was almost as though through dancing together and sharing, Holly’s own joy was increased. If only her friend, Chloe, could see her now.

  Holly felt a pang in her heart at the thought of her friend. It would have been lovely to have shared this moment with her. Still, there wasn’t time to think about that now as a sweet lilting voice came from the top of the high tower. Sugar!

  “Bravo, Madame Fairy!” she called with genuine delight.

  The Wicked Fairy tipped her head graciously and smiled up at Sugar, then suddenly stopped and picked up her wand from the foot of the hedge.

  “Sugar Plum Fairy need stay there no more!

  One-and-a, two-and-a, three-and-a, four!”

  On the word ‘four’ there was a flash of gold and there, in front of Holly, stood the Sugar Plum Fairy.

  “I’ve always wanted to dance and now I can,” the Wicked Fairy announced importantly, “so you may return to the Land of Sweets. See yourselves out!”

  Then she set off with her new found special waltz step, dipping and rising round the hedge and counting in a sing-song voice as she went.

  The moment she was out of sight, the White Cat came out of the stables and leaped across the lawn. “Let’s go, before she changes her mind!” he said, drawing a circle on the fine lawn with his tail.

  Sugar and Holly held hands and jumped inside the circle and, in an instant, they were surrounded by a ring of crackling, spinning sparkles.

  “Home, sweet home!” said Sugar, sighing with contentment, as she, Holly and the White Cat were set down just outside the Icing Palace. Then she turned to Holly. “You were brilliant. You achieved the impossible! The Wicked Fairy seems quite a reformed character, now that she can dance!”

  A bubble of happiness burst inside Holly as she recalled the smile that the Wicked Fairy had given her, when she’d first realised she was actually dancing. Her thoughts turned to her friend, Chloe, again – if only she’d been able to share Enchantia with her.

  Chloe had been a really good friend to Holly and given her something very special in the way of friendship. Well, perhaps she could repay it. And there was only one way …

  The White Cat began talking, snapping Holly out of her reverie.

  “I do think Madame Fairy might have thanked you for your efforts!” he said, rubbing his head against her cheek.

  It made Holly laugh. “She’s obviously not that reformed!” she grinned.

  Sugar stepped in. “Since she didn’t, Holly,” said the fairy, “I will! Thank you! Now let’s go inside. I think everyone at the palace should be ready!”

  Holly and the White Cat exchanged a look of excitement, as Sugar led them across the grand ballroom towards two bright golden thrones. “You are the guests of honour at our Lollipop Carnival,” she said quietly, as they took their places. Then she curtsied and flew off. “Let the dancing begin!”

  There was a small silence, before Holly gasped at the entrance of a handsome prince. “That’s the Nutcracker soldier who turned into a prince in the ballet!” she whispered to the White Cat.

  He grinned. “It certainly is!”

  Holly felt a bit silly. Of course her friend must have known that, living in Enchantia as he did.

  The Prince and Sugar danced the lightest pas de deux together, full of lifts and twirls, then there were dances by the Mandarin Mint Tea Men, the White Chocolate Whirlers, the Coffee dancers, the Russian Toffee dancers, the Flowers and many, many others. Everyone looked so happy to be able to dance again and Holly thought she’d never seen such an amazing display.

  “Your turn now!” said Sugar, leading Holly and the White Cat into the centre of the dance floor. And there they danced with each and every Sweet, and finished off with their own special dance together.

  “Thank you very much, Holly!” said the White Cat, bowing low.

  “It was a pleasure!” Holly said. “I absolutely loved it!”

  Everyone broke into applause at that, and then Holly felt the first slight tingling in her feet. She looked down. The shoes were just starting to glow.

  “Oh, Cat, I am going to have to go in a minute!”

  She hugged her friend tightly, then turned to Sugar. “Thank you so much for the wonderful carnival!”

  “Bye Holly. See you next time.”

  His words made Holly feel as if a bucket of icy water had just been emptied all over her. If she did what she was planning, then there wouldn’t be a next time for her. Think about Chloe, she told herself. Think about what an amazing time she will have when she comes here.

  Holly thought back to when she had first arrived at Madame Za-Za’s, remembering how Chloe had insisted on trying to make friends with her, even when everyone else had given up and she knew she was doing the right thing. She wanted her friend to be happy.

  She hesitated, wonder
ing whether to say anything to the White Cat. No, she didn’t want to upset him. Drawing on all her courage, she forced herself to smile. “Yes, goodbye White Cat,” she said.

  She blew him a kiss, turned a pirouette and felt herself being lifted into the air as the colours swirled faster and faster …

  Holly blinked as she found herself back in the hallway at Chloe’s, and realised that, as usual, no time at all had passed in the real world while she’d been in Enchantia.

  A warm glow enfolded her as memories of the Sweets dancing flashed through her mind. Then she broke into a smile, recalling the way even the Wicked Fairy had managed to dance, once she was in the right mood, and how good it had been to share that moment.

  Sharing … there it was again. Her mind was made up. She went back into the sitting room.

  “That was quick!” Chloe said.

  “Oh, I didn’t need to go after all,” Holly said with a small inward smile. She wondered just how Chloe would feel when she discovered the magic of Enchantia for herself. “Would you like me to do the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, Chloe?” she asked.

  Chloe nodded and got herself comfortable on the sofa, as though she was about to watch a DVD.

  Holly thought of Sugar and the White Cat and the wonderful Land of Sweets, and danced with all her heart. At the end, she noticed Chloe’s eyes were filled with tears, and that was the moment she knew she was right about what she had decided to do. Sitting down on the sofa, she slowly and calmly began to take off her shoes.

  “Chloe,” she said, holding them out. “I want you to have these shoes to remember me by.”

  Chloe gasped and stared from the shoes to Holly. “You can’t give me these!” she said, her eyes round. “I know how special they are to you. I’ve seen the way you light up, every time you put them on!”

  “Yes,” said Holly softly. “They’re very special. That’s why I want you to have them.”