by Bentley, Sue
Her dad frowned in surprise as he reached out and took the book from her. “What’s this? Figure-Skating Techniques?” he read.
“It’s for my . . . um . . . new school project on figure skating,” Lauren fibbed. “I want it to be the best project I’ve ever done. That’s why I’ve been spending lots of time on it. But I didn’t tell you about it because . . .” —she had a flash of inspiration—“. . . because I thought you’d just think I was trying to get you to let me take figure-skating classes,” she finished in a rush.
“Ah, I see.” Her dad gave her a searching look. “You’re sure this isn’t some new version of ‘pester power’?”
“Definitely not!” Lauren said indignantly. “But I am still crazy about figure skating, like I said I would be.”
Her dad raised his eyebrows. “Hmm. It’s still early. As I remember it, BMX biking lasted a little while before you completely lost interest.”
Lauren pulled a wry face. She couldn’t deny that. “This is different, Dad. Just you wait and see!”
“I’ll do that,” her dad said, grinning. “I’d be happy to be proved wrong.” He gave her arm a friendly squeeze before he went out into the yard to cut the grass.
Lauren’s shoulders sagged with relief. “Phew! Thank goodness Dad fell for it. I just hope he doesn’t ask me to show him my figure-skating project!”
Storm’s bright eyes lit up. “It is no problem if he does!”
There was another small spurt of golden sparkles, and Lauren found herself holding a folder. She opened it. It was stuffed full of printed pages and pictures of ice-skaters.
“Just in case you need it,” Storm yapped.
She gaped at the folder in amazement. “Where did all this work come from?”
Storm gave her a doggy grin. “There was a machine in the school library. It had lots of colored pictures on it. I sat and watched someone using it and saw how they got words and pictures to come out onto paper.”
“You used your magic on a computer? Cool!” Lauren raised her eyebrows and smiled at Storm. He was certainly full of surprises. What else could he do?
Lauren was really excited on Saturday morning when her mom dropped her and Storm off at the White Water ice rink. Lauren shouldered her red gym bag, with Storm inside it, as she went toward the girls’ locker room.
She couldn’t wait to see Jemila and her other school friends and show them how much her skating had improved.
“It’s probably best if you watch from the rink-side seats. It can get crowded on the ice, and you might get hurt,” Lauren whispered to Storm as she tied her skates.
Storm nodded and scampered off to find an empty chair.
Lauren came out of the locker room and made her way toward the ice.
“Hi, Lauren!” Jemila called as Lauren glided onto the ice. She was with Padmini, Katie, and Becky. They were all wearing their short pleated skirts and matching T-shirts, with ICE ACADEMY in white letters.
Lauren skated over to join her friends. She felt a bit odd in her ordinary jeans and plain top. Becky might not have liked the uniform, but Lauren would’ve loved to be wearing it. “Hi, everyone!” she said brightly.
“Hi, Lauren!”
The girls linked arms and skated around the rink together for a while. Then Becky, Padmini, and Katie showed Lauren a new routine they were learning. Lauren began joining in, pleased to be included for once.
“You’re really good, Lauren,” Becky said. “Anyone would think you’ve been practicing as much as we have!”
Lauren grinned to herself. She stood by with her friends as Jemila demonstrated a more complicated move from the show. She watched closely, admiring the graceful swirls and sweeping movements. Jemila finished by doing an impressive spin and came to a stop with both arms raised in the air.
“Wow! That was fantastic!” Lauren exclaimed. “Watch me! I’ve learned some new moves. I might try and do a spin, too!”
“Wait! Be careful . . . ,” Jemila warned.
But Lauren wasn’t listening. She zoomed across the ice to get up speed. All her hours spent skating on her secret magical rink over the past week had given her confidence, and she felt as if she could do anything.
As Lauren came out of a long curve, she leaned forward and balanced on one leg while raising the other one behind her. Jemila and the other girls cheered. Lauren was enjoying herself so much that she got totally carried away. She took a deep breath and began to go into a twirl.
Lauren spun around faster and faster. Suddenly one skate seemed to slip out from under her. She went over on one ankle, lost her balance, and went sprawling backward.
“Oh!” she gasped as she sat down hard on her bottom.
Jemila rushed over to help Lauren get to her feet. “Are you okay? I tried to warn you about doing spins. It takes a lot of practice to get them right.”
Lauren dusted powdery ice from her jeans, her face flushed. “I’m fine.”
Padmini and Becky were both looking sympathetic.
Katie let out a shout of laughter. “Sorry, Lauren, but you looked so funny. You went down like a sack of potatoes!”
A group of older girls who were standing nearby nudged each other and laughed, too. “Yeah, she did!” one of them mocked.
Lauren ignored them. “Thanks a lot, Katie,” she murmured, still feeling a bit shaken up.
She felt really silly for showing off in front of her friends, especially since the older girls had been watching, too. Lauren realized that she still had a long way to go before she was even half as good as Jemila. Having her own secret ice rink was fantastic, but it would never be a substitute for belonging to the Ice Academy.
A slim woman with a ponytail came onto the ice. She waved and blew a whistle.
“There’s Maggie, our coach. It’s time for our class. We have to go over into the roped-off area now. Why don’t you come and watch us, Lauren?” Padmini suggested.
“You might pick up a few tips,” Becky said.
“I think I need to,” Lauren agreed in a subdued voice. “I’m just going to get changed first. I won’t be long.” As she came off the ice and hobbled toward the changing rooms she saw Storm jump down from his chair beside the rink.
He pricked up his little black ears as he came scampering toward her. “I saw you fall. Have you hurt yourself?”
Lauren shook her head. “No. Just my pride. I’m fine now,” she replied. There was no one else in the locker room as she sat on a bench to take off her skates. Lauren’s red gym bag lay open next to her. Storm leaped straight inside in a whoosh of sparks and curled up.
“Hey! What are you doing with my gym bag?” called an annoyed voice.
Lauren looked up to see a girl who looked about thirteen years old coming toward her. It was the ringleader of the older girls who had laughed when she’d fallen over on the ice. She looked tough and unfriendly.
“It’s not your bag. It’s mine,” Lauren said nervously.
“Yeah, right!” The older girl marched up to the bench, held up her hand, and prepared to drop her heavy skates into Lauren’s bag—right on top of Storm!
Chapter
* SEVEN *
There was no time to think. Lauren moved like lightning. She grabbed her bag and pulled it toward her, at the same time thrusting out her free arm.
“Ow!” Pain crashed through Lauren as the skates swung against her elbow before clattering noisily to the floor. But she tried to ignore it as she made sure that Storm hadn’t been hurt.
Luckily the tiny puppy had jumped out of the bag when Lauren had grabbed it, and was now standing on the wooden bench. It had happened so fast that Storm looked stunned.
The older girl’s eyes glinted with anger as she bent down to pick up her skates. “Hey! There’s no need to take it out on me, just because you’re a pathetic wannabe!”
“I didn’t . . . I wasn’t . . . ,” Lauren stammered. “Your skates would have hurt St—” She stopped as she realized that there was no way she could explain about her invisible magical friend. She was struggling to find something to say when she caught a flash of something red out of the corner of her eye. An identical gym bag was hanging from a nearby coat hook.
“Look! That’s your red bag!” Lauren said, pointing.
The older girl looked at the bag and her face changed. “Oh . . . right. Sorry! Gotta go!” She grabbed the red bag, stuffed her skates inside, and hurried away.
Lauren crumpled. Now that the danger to Storm was over she felt all wobbly, and her injured arm was throbbing like crazy. She was glad that no one else had seen what had happened, and now that the other girl had gone, the locker room was empty again.
Storm seemed to have recovered. “Thank you for saving me,” he woofed and then his bright blue eyes clouded. “But you are hurt. I will make you better.”
Lauren felt a familiar warm prickling sensation down her spine as Storm leaned forward and huffed out a warm puppy breath that glowed with thousands of tiny glittering gold stars. The shimmering mist surrounded Lauren’s arm, and she felt a soothing sensation—just as if cool fingers were massaging the pain away. It seemed to run down her arm and flow out of the ends of her fingers.
“It’s much better now. Thanks, Storm.”
Storm jumped onto the floor. “Shall we go and watch Jemila and the other girls now?”
Lauren nodded. But as she and Storm went back toward the rink, she was still smarting with humiliation at having made a fool of herself. She seemed to hear the older girl’s words ringing in her head:
You’re a pathetic wannabe.
Maybe I am, Lauren thought glumly. Maybe all I’ll ever be is a wannabe.
Sunday dawned bright and clear. Lauren and Storm went to a flea market with her mom and dad in the afternoon. She was feeling a bit better today, having decided to put what had happened in the locker room yesterday behind her. But she couldn’t completely forget what the older girl had said.
The park was bustling with people wandering around tables full of interesting things. Larger items like furniture, kids’ bikes, and playpens stood on the grass.
Storm ran around invisibly, enjoying all the interesting smells. Lauren could see his furry little black shape dodging between the people wandering around.
When Lauren stopped to look at a stall selling pretty barrettes, Storm dived beneath the table and began nosing through a box of toys. Moments later he emerged with a hideous bright-pink plastic rabbit held proudly in his mouth.
Lauren almost fell down laughing as Storm chomped on the toy with his sharp puppy teeth.
Squeak! Squeak!
Luckily, with all the noise and activity, no one had noticed that the squeaky toy appeared to be floating in midair. Lauren quickly bent down and held out her hand. “Storm! Give it here!” she whispered.
Storm shook his head, his midnight-blue eyes gleaming mischievously. He wagged his stumpy black tail and bounced down onto his front paws.
“I know you want to play, but you’ll have to wait until we get home. There are too many people around here,” Lauren said, trying to sound firm. “Now, give me that rabbit, please. I’ll buy it for you.”
Storm opened his mouth reluctantly and the toy dropped to the grass. Lauren picked it up and paid for it. As she wandered off with Storm at her heels to look at something else, she saw Katie walking toward her.
“Hi!” she called, waving the arm holding Storm’s toy.
“What is that?” Katie said, laughing, pointing at the bright-pink plastic toy. “Have you got a new pet dog or something?”
Lauren grinned. “As if! I just . . . um, love collecting really horrible, cheapo toys. Is Becky with you?” she asked, quickly changing the subject before she had to answer any more awkward questions.
“Becky wouldn’t be seen dead at a flea market!” Katie said. “She’s asked Jemila and Padmini to go and see The Ice Princess with her. I couldn’t go because I was already going out with my mom, but I thought Becky said she was going to call you to ask if you wanted to go, too.”
Lauren would have loved to have gone to see the movie. She couldn’t help wondering whether Becky hadn’t bothered to call her, now that Lauren wasn’t part of the new figure-skating gang.
Katie saw the look on Lauren’s face. “You’d probably already left with your mom and dad by the time Becky called,” she guessed.
Lauren cheered up a bit. That could be true. Becky might be careless sometimes, but she wasn’t mean.
“Do you feel like getting a burger?” Katie asked.
At the mention of food, Storm barked eagerly. He jumped up and pawed at Lauren’s leg. “I like human food!” he panted.
Lauren grinned at the tiny puppy’s bright little face and then turned to Katie. “Why not? The others don’t know what they’re missing!”
They bought burgers and wandered around eating them. Lauren made sure that Katie didn’t notice her breaking off tiny pieces and dropping them onto the grass for Storm to gobble up.
After Katie said good-bye and went off with her mom, Lauren and Storm slowly made their way back toward her parents’ car, where she’d arranged to meet up with her mom and dad.
Suddenly Storm gave a yelp of terror and streaked toward some nearby bushes.
“Storm?” Lauren frowned as she went to find her little puppy friend.
She reached the bushes and bent down to peer into the branches. She could see Storm crouched into a tight ball. His ears were laid back and he was trembling all over.
“What’s wrong? Are you sick?” she asked worriedly.
“Shadow has found me. He has put a spell on those dogs!” Storm whimpered, his midnight-blue eyes wide and fearful.
“What dogs, Storm?” Lauren looked up to see a nearby woman with two large dogs on leashes. One of them was barking excitedly. The woman opened her car, and the dogs jumped inside the backseat. “I don’t think those dogs are after you. But how can I tell if they’re under a magic spell?” Lauren asked.
Storm burrowed deeper into the bushes. “They will have fierce pale eyes and extra-large teeth. And be very fierce and strong.”
Lauren looked hard at the dogs in the back of the car as the woman drove slowly past her on the way to the exit. “Those dogs don’t look like that. I think they’re normal. Anyway, they’re gone now. You can come out.”
Lauren picked Storm up as he crawled out from the bush on wobbly little legs. “Poor you. You’ve had a big scare,” she whispered, stroking him gently. “Let’s get into our car. Here’s Mom and Dad now. We’ll be home soon.”
As Lauren sat in the back of the car with Storm on her lap, she felt his little heart fluttering against her hand. The glimpse of possible danger made her realize all over again that Storm might have to leave suddenly in order to save himself.
Lauren felt a pang as she thought that however much she might try to prepare herself for losing Storm, she would never be ready to let him go.
Chapter
* EIGHT *
A few days later, Lauren was skating around the magical ice rink in her bedroom, after she had helped clean up after supper. Storm sat watching her. He was completely recovered from his scare at the flea market, and there had been no sign of any of Shadow’s dogs.
“Phew!” Lauren panted as she zoomed toward the rail and leaned on it to catch her breath. She felt hot and sticky after practicing for an hour and a half. “I just can’t get my head around this new routine. I’m starting to think that I’ll never be any good at this.”
Storm wagged his tail encouragingly. “You are making very good progress, Lauren!”
“Do you really think so?” Lauren smiled at her loyal little friend.
It was really hard to keep practicing i
n secret without any of her friends to give her encouragement. And, although she had tried to put it behind her, her self-confidence had been shaken by what had happened at the White Water ice rink.
Lauren’s damp hair was sticking to her hot face. She wiped it on a towel. “Maybe I’m just kidding myself. I’ll never be good enough to be a figure skater, and Mom and Dad will never let me join the Ice Academy,” she said dejectedly.
Storm’s furry black brow wrinkled in a frown. “But you are getting better all the time. I know how much you love figure skating, and you are working very hard at it. You just have to believe in yourself, Lauren,” he yapped.
“I know you’re right. But that’s the hardest part.” Lauren sighed. She was beginning to wonder if she really could do it all by herself—even with Storm’s help.
She came off the ice and sat down on her rug to unlace her skates. Storm raised a tiny front paw, and glitter swirled around as the ice rink disappeared and her bedroom shrank and went back to normal.
Lauren slowly got to her feet. Her leg muscles were aching and she felt tired all over.
She could hear the TV on in the living room, where her dad sat watching a wildlife documentary. Her mom had gone out to the golf course with a couple of her friends from work. It was dark outside, and Lauren closed the curtains.
When she turned back to the bedroom, Storm was sitting on her bed beside her open figure-skating book. He was resting one tiny front paw on a page and looking closely at a brightly colored picture.
Lauren bent over to see what he was so interested in. “That’s Naomi Teal in The Sleeping Beauty on Ice. She’s my favorite skater. I’d love to be just like her.” She sighed sadly, thinking that she could never be that good. “I’m going down to say good night to Dad and then I’m going to bed. Do you want me to let you out into the backyard for a quick run first?”