The Magic Princess Dress

by Gwyneth Rees

  ‘Can’t you do something?’ Ava whispered to her as Cindy started to play with her terrified prey, letting him go for a few seconds, then pouncing on him again.

  ‘I’m afraid I can’t change either of them back to normal before midnight,’ the godmother replied. ‘We’ll just have to wait until the spell wears off.’ She bent down closer to the cat-turned-maid, shouting, ‘Do you hear that, Cindy? Let go now and you can eat then if you want.’

  As the manservant squeaked even louder, Ava decided that enough was enough. ‘Let go, Cindy!’ she yelled, in much the same stern voice she used whenever Cindy caught a mouse at home.

  But Cindy completely ignored her, just as she always did at home, and continued to swat the boy around the head while growling excitedly.

  ‘Get her some more salmon or something!’ Ava shouted, but everyone else was backing further away, including the fairy godmother.

  ‘Perhaps I should call the palace doctor – or the vet,’ the godmother was mumbling. ‘Oh dear – I don’t know which would be most appropriate . . .’

  Desperately Ava grabbed Cindy by the hair and tugged as hard as she could, and for a second Cindy loosened her grip on the manservant for long enough to spit and hiss at Ava instead. Ava jumped back in fright as she saw that the maid’s fingernails were as sharp as a cat’s claws.

  ‘Get her some FISH somebody!’ Ava yelled again, now on the verge of tears.

  Suddenly she heard a familiar voice calling her name and she looked up to see a handsome man dressed in a very princely purple and gold outfit and wearing a powdered white wig pushing his way towards her through the crowd of guests.

  ‘DAD!’ she exclaimed in amazement.

  ‘Here,’ he said, as he reached into his jacket pocket. ‘You’d better give this to Cindy before we have our very own fairytale murder to deal with.’

  And he pulled out a small can of tuna, with a ring in the lid for easy opening.

  11

  Ava watched her dad – with his back to the rest of the guests – tear off the lid using the ring pull, then take out a large silk handkerchief. Carefully shielding the can from view, he tipped its contents into the hanky, which he placed on the floor close to Cindy.

  ‘Cans of tuna don’t exist in fairytale land so we mustn’t let anyone see this one,’ he whispered to Ava, slipping the empty tin back into his pocket.

  Thankfully, as soon as Cindy smelt the tuna she let go of the manservant and pounced on the fish-filled hanky instead.

  ‘Dad – what are you doing here?’ Ava asked, as the terrified manservant scrambled to his feet and bolted for the door.

  ‘Rescuing you,’ her father replied sternly. ‘I told you things could get dangerous in fairytale land, didn’t I?’

  ‘Cindy would never hurt me,’ Ava said defensively. ‘I wanted her to stop attacking that poor little mouse-servant, that’s all.’

  As she spoke Ava glanced across the room to where there was now a long line of girls in beautiful dresses waiting for the fairy godmother to check them before letting them enter the competition. Ava was relieved to see that Tilly wasn’t there yet, but she knew she had to find her immediately to warn her to stay away.

  ‘We can’t take Cindy home through the mirror until the fairy godmother’s spell wears off,’ her dad continued as they watched Cindy – still on her hands and knees – finishing off the last of the tuna.

  ‘We have to find the music box first!’ Ava said anxiously. She started to tell him about the ugly sisters taking the music box for themselves, but he interrupted her.

  ‘I realized something like that must have happened when I arrived through the mirror and found I was inside the wardrobe in their bedroom. Luckily for me they weren’t in the room themselves, or I’d have had a lot of explaining to do.’

  ‘Of course!’ Ava heaved a sigh of relief as she realized that her father would have to have travelled here the same way she had. Which meant he would have arrived wherever in the palace the music box happened to be. ‘Where’s the music box now, Dad? You did bring it with you, didn’t you?’

  He nodded. ‘I hid it out in the corridor before I came into the ballroom. We’d better go and fetch it. Then I want you to use it to go straight home, Ava.’

  ‘No, Dad!’ Ava protested. ‘I’m not ready to go back yet. I still have to find Tilly and warn her not to come to the ball. If she does and the fairy godmother totally humiliates her in front of everyone, it will be all my fault!’

  ‘What are you talking about?’

  She quickly explained to him what had happened with the competition dresses.

  After he had listened to the whole story, her dad sighed. ‘Ava, we have to be very careful how we help the people we meet on the other side of the portals. Helping someone by bringing them something from our world often causes more problems than it solves.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Dad,’ Ava said, frowning. ‘But that’s why I need you to take me with you when you go through the portals – so you can teach me what’s allowed and what isn’t.’

  Dad sighed again. ‘I think I’m beginning to see that, Ava.’

  Ava’s heart skipped a beat. ‘You are?’

  ‘Yes. Now that you know about your gift – however much I wish you didn’t – I think I owe it to you to teach you how to use it responsibly. As Marietta says, you’re a sensible girl – most of the time. Perhaps I just have to trust you more. In any case I intend to explain to you in much more detail how the magic-portal system works – and answer all your questions about it.’

  Ava tried not to look too excited. After all, she didn’t want Dad to think she wasn’t sensible. But in fact she was so thrilled right at that moment that she felt like dancing about in a way that was totally and utterly crazy!

  ‘So you’ll let me stay here long enough to help Tilly?’ she asked.

  He nodded. ‘So long as we keep together.’

  Cindy was back on her feet, looking a lot calmer now that she had a full stomach.

  ‘That includes you too, Cindy,’ Dad said. ‘You need to stay close to us from now on. Come on – I think it’s time we left this ball.’

  ‘I’m thirsty,’ Cindy complained, eyeing a tray of drinks being carried by a nearby waitress.

  ‘It’s all that salty tuna, I expect,’ Ava said quickly. ‘Come with us, Cindy, and we’ll soon find you a nice cool drink of water.’

  So Cindy accompanied them out of the ballroom into the corridor, where Dad immediately went to retrieve the music box, which he had hidden behind a suit of armour that was on display in a nearby alcove.

  ‘Not the best hiding place, but I was in a bit of a hurry,’ he murmured as they set off towards the sewing room – with Ava leading the way and Cindy following in a maid-like fashion a short distance behind them.

  Ava decided now would be a good time to ask a question she had been meaning to ask Marietta. ‘Dad . . . I’ve been thinking . . . this isn’t the only fairytale land we can visit, is it? I mean, there are a lot more fairytales apart from Cinderella, aren’t there?’

  Her father nodded. ‘You’re beginning to understand how complicated all this is, Ava. Cinderella-land is not the only fairytale land in existence, but it’s the only one we can visit from Marietta’s shop. There are many more shops like Marietta’s however – and a lot more magic portals in other places as well.’

  ‘Do you know where all of them are?’ Ava asked curiously.

  ‘I know where a lot of them are, yes. For instance, there’s a little shop not too far away from where you and your mother live where I go when I want to be transported back to Tudor times. And I’ve heard they also have a portal that takes you to Snow White’s cottage.’

  ‘Wow!’ Ava exclaimed excitedly. ‘Can we go there after this?’

  Her father laughed. ‘All in good time, Ava.’

  ‘Have you been through all the portals in Marietta’s shop yet?’ Ava wanted to know.

  ‘At one time or another – yes.’

  ‘S
o when did you last come to Cinderella-land?’

  ‘Oh, it must have been about fifteen years ago or so. I found myself in the middle of a ball the King was throwing for the Queen’s birthday. Prince Charming was only a little boy back then, and Cinderella was a very small child living happily in a nearby village with her mother and father.’

  Ava was puzzled. ‘You mean not everybody comes to Cinderella-land at the time that Cinderella is getting married?’

  ‘Oh, no. It’s a bit of a mystery how the fairytale lands work, but they extend a long way, time-wise, on either side of the actual stories we read about in fairytale books. You’ve been exceptionally lucky, Ava, to arrive here at the most exciting part of Cinderella’s story.’

  ‘I’m so glad I did!’ Ava gasped. For even though she wouldn’t have minded meeting Cinderella as a child – or even as an old woman – the Cinderella she most longed to meet was the fairytale princess she knew and loved from her storybook.

  Dinah was alone in the sewing room when they got there, and she immediately started to struggle to her feet upon seeing Ava and her father.

  ‘Dinah . . . please . . . you don’t have to curtsy to me,’ Ava told the old lady quickly. ‘This is my dad, but he’s not royalty or anything, so you don’t have to curtsy to him either.’

  ‘Oh?’ Dinah sounded confused – perhaps wondering how Ava could be a princess if her father wasn’t a king or a prince. ‘I’m very pleased to make your acquaintance, sir,’ she murmured, giving him a sort of half-curtsy anyway.

  ‘And I yours, Dinah,’ Ava’s father replied, bowing his head politely. ‘And thank you for helping my daughter.’

  ‘Oh – it was a pleasure, sir.’ Dinah looked curiously at Cindy as she lowered herself back on to her chair. ‘And I presume this is . . . ?’ She trailed off politely as Cindy gave the back of her hand a careful lick to remove a remaining flake of tuna.

  ‘This is Cindy, my cat,’ Ava told her. ‘The fairy godmother changed her into a maid for the ball. She’s not due to change back again until midnight. Do you mind if she stays here until then? Oh, and do you have a drink of water we could give her, please?’

  Dinah pointed to a stone jug with two cups sitting on the table. ‘There’s some water. Does she know how to use a cup?’

  ‘Of course I do, old woman,’ Cindy interjected indignantly. ‘At the fairy godmother’s house I drank milk from a china teacup!’

  ‘Cindy, don’t be so rude!’ Ava exclaimed, embarrassed.

  ‘It’s all right,’ Dinah said, trying not to smile. ‘Cats aren’t the most humble of creatures after all.’

  As Dad poured out some water for Cindy, Dinah added in a warning sort of voice to Ava, ‘You do realize Cindy might not be quite the same when she changes back again?’

  ‘How do you mean?’ Ava asked in surprise.

  ‘Well, the fairy godmother isn’t as good at spells as she makes out, you know. This whole glass slipper thing with Cinderella was a mistake, for one thing. I have it on good authority that Cinderella’s whole outfit was meant to change back to rags at midnight. Instead, one of her shoes – the one that fell off – stayed as a glass slipper. Of course it all worked out very well for Cinderella in the end, with the prince taking the slipper round to all the houses in the neighbourhood, promising to marry the first girl it fitted! But it wasn’t meant to happen.’ She paused to take a breath. ‘So I’m just warning you that when Cindy changes back into a cat, there’s a chance that she might not change back entirely.’

  As Cindy looked alarmed, and Ava looked upset, Ava’s dad said quickly, ‘Isn’t that being rather pessimistic, Dinah? Let’s worry about that if it happens, shall we?’

  Dinah sniffed. ‘Personally I like to be prepared for bad things happening. As I’m always saying to Tilly, at least if you expect bad things to happen then you don’t get too many nasty shocks.’

  ‘Where is Tilly?’ Ava asked now.

  But Dinah was looking suspiciously at Cindy, who had picked up a freshly mended velvet cape and was rubbing her cheek against it. ‘Perhaps it’s not such a good idea to keep Cindy in here with all these expensive fabrics,’ she told Ava nervously. ‘I don’t want all my work getting torn – or smelling of fish.’

  Ava had to admit she had a point. To make matters worse Cindy was now looking with interest at a small hole in the floor that looked like it could be a mouse hole.

  ‘Is there somewhere else we can take Cindy while we wait for the spell to wear off ?’ Ava’s dad asked Dinah.

  Dinah looked puzzled. ‘Can’t you take her to your guest room, sir?’

  Quick as a flash Ava’s father replied, ‘Of course, but for now I should like her to remain here in the servants’ part of the palace. She is a maid, after all.’

  ‘Well . . . you are welcome to take her up to my room, if you want somewhere quiet,’ Dinah offered. ‘I can show you where it is. I’ve just been up there helping Tilly get ready for the ball. When I left her she was putting the finishing touches to her hair. Ever so pretty she looked! She should be on her way to the ballroom by now.’

  ‘Oh no!’ Ava exclaimed. ‘Dad, we have to stop her!’

  ‘Why?’ Dinah asked, frowning.

  ‘The fairy godmother is using a special spell to check if the girls entering the competition have made their own dresses or not,’ Ava explained to Dinah.

  Dinah looked horrified.

  ‘Don’t worry. I’ll go straight back to the ballroom and fetch her right now,’ Ava added, stepping towards the door.

  But as she did so, Cindy let out a loud, very unmaid-like growl of protest.

  ‘Don’t worry, Cindy,’ Ava said. ‘Dad will look after you while I’m gone.’

  ‘Oh no – I’m coming with you!’ Cindy spat out. ‘I don’t trust humans who don’t like cats.’

  Ava stopped in surprise. ‘But Dad does like cats. Don’t you, Dad?’

  ‘Well . . .’ Ava’s father replied, looking awkward. ‘It’s not that I dislike them, but I suppose, if I’m honest, I have always been more of a dog person . . .’

  ‘See what I mean!’ Cindy looked disgusted. ‘A dog person!’

  ‘I tell you what, Ava,’ Dad suggested hurriedly as Ava gave him an exasperated look. ‘Let’s do this the other way round. You and Cindy can stay in Dinah’s room, where you’ll both be safe – and I’ll go and fetch Tilly.’

  ‘You can’t,’ Ava said dismissively. ‘You don’t even know what she looks like!’

  ‘I’ll come with you, sir, after we’ve taken Princess Ava and Cindy up to my room,’ Dinah offered at once. ‘They won’t let me inside the ballroom, but I can stand in the doorway and point Tilly out to you.’

  ‘Thank you, Dinah.’ Dad was looking at her gratefully. ‘Ava, trust me – it’s better if you stay out of the way of the fairy godmother. If she finds out that you gave Tilly that dress, who knows what she might do to you.’

  ‘I’m not scared of the fairy godmother,’ Ava said stubbornly.

  ‘Well, you should be,’ Dad replied firmly. ‘Look what she did to Cindy!’

  ‘Your father is right,’ Dinah said. ‘It is safer to stay well away from that woman. Oh, she means well enough most of the time, but her spells have a habit of going wrong – sometimes dangerously wrong! And if she loses her temper there’s no telling what she’ll do with that wand of hers. She always calms down again afterwards, but by then it’s usually too late!’

  As Cindy went to lie down for a catnap on one of the narrow beds in Dinah’s room, Ava started to look around for a place to temporarily hide the music box. Her dad had slipped it to her when Dinah wasn’t looking, and whispered that she should put it somewhere out of sight until he returned. But where?

  The room was very small, containing only the two beds, a chest of drawers and two wooden trunks – one at the bottom of each bed. Ava quickly moved the things off the top of the trunk nearest her and opened the lid. The trunk was almost completely full with blankets and various items of clothing that
, judging by their size, belonged to Dinah rather than Tilly.

  Ava lifted out some folded clothes in order to make some space for the music box. That’s when her eye was caught by a brightly coloured piece of fabric sticking out from the folds of one of the blankets at the bottom of the chest. Curiously Ava opened up the blanket and found, hidden inside it, a neatly folded girl’s dress. As Ava held up the dress and shook it out, she saw that it was no ordinary item of clothing. It was the most unusual, most perfectly made gown she had ever seen – and it seemed to contain all the colours of the rainbow.

  ‘This must be the dress Tilly made for the competition!’ Ava exclaimed in amazement. ‘But what’s it doing here?’

  12

  Ava carefully hid the music box inside the chest and closed the lid, wondering what to do next. She knew that she had to get the dress to Tilly as soon as possible. But how?

  The safest option seemed to be to wait here until her dad got back – hopefully with Tilly. After all, if she went off to look for Tilly herself, she might very well miss her and Tilly might arrive back in the servants’ quarters while she, Ava, was looking for her at the ball. No, the most sensible thing was definitely to wait.

  Ava only hoped there would be enough time for Tilly to wear her dress to the competition. The dress was so beautiful and so different from all the other dresses Ava had seen in fairytale land that Ava could see now why Tilly thought it had a really good chance of winning. But for that to happen, Tilly had to get here soon.

  At last the door opened and Tilly appeared, still wearing the violet and cream dress from Marietta’s shop.

  ‘Thank goodness!’ Ava said, standing up and sighing with relief.

  ‘Your father came and found me in the queue before I got too near the front,’ Tilly said. ‘He and Dinah explained about the fairy godmother’s spell.’

  ‘That’s great, but look!’ Ava turned to point at the rainbow-coloured dress, which she had draped over the only chair in the room.

  ‘My dress!’ Tilly exclaimed, rushing over and lifting it up. ‘You found it! I can’t believe it! Where was it?’