by Thea Stilton
After half an hour wrestling with stuck
zippers and unruly curls,
the mouselets were finally
ready for the Feria
De Abril.
“Come on, mouselets,
let’s roll!” Pam urged them. “Our friends are
waiting for us! We can’t be late.”
Colette led the pack DOWN the stairs.
Joaquin was waiting in the foyer
below. He looked elegant in his deep blue
dancing costume.
“You look
lovely
,” Joaquin said.
Colette smiled. “Thank you. It’s this
gorgeous flamenco dress,” she said.
“It’s time to take the plunge, mouselets!”
cried Nicky. “I can’t wait to check out the
crowd.”
“Vámonos, chicas*!” said Anita, joining
the little group.
Outside, Colette, Nicky, Pamela, Paulina,
Violet, Anita, and Joaquin were immediately
swept up in the festive air of the carnival.
The whole city was abuzz with excitement.
“We have to cross the river to reach the
* “Vámonos, chicas” means “Let’s go, girls!” in Spanish.
squeaking
portada,” Joaquin explained.
“The what?” Violet asked.
“The entrance to the feria! It’s an arch
that’s built every year just for the occasion.
At midnight, all the LIGHTS go on, and
we don’t want to miss the SHOW,” Anita
explained.
The Thea Sisters followed their friends.
Soon, they had blended into the crowd. All
around them, rodents were laughing and
on their way to the portada.
Suddenly, the
darkness
was
filled with a thousand colored lights.
“That’s el alumbrao, the lighting!” Anita
exclaimed. “Now that the LIGHTS are on,
the festival can begin!”
The mouselets and their friends joined the
crowd passing through the portada to
enter the heart of the feria.
“Look at all the colored lanterns!” Pam
exclaimed.
THE SEVILLANA
enchanted
“It’s so beautiful!” Violet said. “I feel like
we’ve entered an city.”
The sound of lively music drew Colette to
a
tent
across the street.
“The tents are casetas, built specially for
the feria,” Joaquin told her. “Inside, you eat
and drink with your friends, and you can
join in the flamenco dancing!”
“Can we go in?” Paulina asked.
“Of course! Let’s choose the one we like
best,” said Anita.
The group made their way deeper into the
festival. Rodents dressed in fabumouse
flamenco costumes were everywhere. All
around them, the mouselets could hear the
aching melody of the guitar, mixed with
the rhythmic beats of the castanets and the
dancers’ tapping steps.
“What do you think, should we go in
here?” suggested Joaquin, pointing at a tent.
For the Feria de Abril, over
a thousand
casetas
spring up in Seville. They
are small houses made of wood, built for the festival.
Some have an intimate family feel. Others have a big,
lively, party atmosphere.
Casetas
As they entered, the crowd made room
for them. There was joyful noise all around.
At the back of the tent, there was a small
stage, and dancers were performing a
wild sevillana*.
“Wow!” Colette exclaimed with admiration.
“It would be incredible to know how to dance
like that. . . .”
Anita took her paw. “Don’t be shy — come
with me. We’ll build on the steps you learned
during the World Dance Workshop!”
Colette was nervous, but she let her friend
lead her to the stage. After a few minutes,
the lively
RHYTHM
of the guitar won her
over. As the crowd clapped to the beat of the
music, Colette started to dance with Anita.
“Mouselets, check out our little Coco!”
Paulina said. “Isn’t she fabumouse?”
Joaquin was about to agree when a voice
* Sevillana is a type of flamenco.
DEAR
behind him squeaked, “Greasy cat guts,
who’s that new dancer? She doesn’t know
her flamenco from her fandango!”
The Thea Sisters turned to see the
scornful
snout of Lola Navarro. She and her brother
had come in behind them.
“That’s a
friend of mine,” Joaquin
retorted. “She’s only studied flamenco for
two weeks, and she’s fantastic!”
“I don’t know if fantastic is the word I’d
use,” Pedro sniffed. “But you Vegas have
listen
never truly understood flamenco, so I
guess I shouldn’t be surprised.”
At that moment, Colette and Anita scurried
back to their friends. Colette’s cheeks were
flushed from the dance. “How was I?”
she asked.
“Wonderful!” Joaquin responded, casting
an icy look at the Navarros.
“Pedro! Lola! You’re here, too,” said Anita.
“Why don’t we get some water and then go
to Rodrigo’s concert?”
“Rodrigo’s
performing
?” Violet asked.
Joaquin nodded. “He’s going to sing a song
that no one has ever heard before. It’s
an original piece by our great-grandmother
Rosita!”
“Why have you kept it secret all this time?”
Pedro asked
sharply
. “If we had inherited
the song, it would already be a hit!”
“Rosita didn’t want her song to be shared,”
Anita objected.
“Who cares?” Pedro replied. “Our family
would never miss a chance to make money
just because of some silly promise!”
“Don’t get your whiskers in a twist,
Pedro,” said Lola. “You’re wasting your
breath. They’ll never understand!”
With that, she flounced out of the tent.
Her brother followed her.
“I’m the one who doesn’t
understand,” said Violet.
“What were they talking
about? Why would they
have inherited Rosita’s
unpublished song?”
“Because the Navarros
are our cousins!”
Joaquin explained.
The Thea Sisters stared at their friends in
surprise.
“Pedro and Lola are descendants of Rosita,
like us,” Anita explained. “Years ago, the
two sides of our family argued and grew
apart. Since then, the Navarros consider us
their ENEMIES!”
“But what happened?” Paulina asked.
“After she came to Seville, Rosita married
and had TWO DAUGHTERS, Beatriz and
Blan
ca,” Joaquin put in. “From the time they
were mouselings, the two sisters did nothing
but bicker!”
“That’s SAD,” said Paulina,
thinking of her own little sister,
Maria. “There’s nothing better
A FAMILY FEUD
than having a sister you
love
!”
“The disagreements between Blanca
and Beatriz grew as the years passed,” Anita
went on. “When they each got married,
Blanca to our grandfather and Beatriz to
Lola and Pedro’s grandfather, they
founded two rival schools of flamenco.”
“Rosita reluctantly divided her inheritance
between them,” Anita said. “She asked each
daughter what she would like. Beatriz chose
the family jewelry, and Blanca chose Rosita’s
dance SECRETS and a
special secret song.”
“Is that the one we’ll
hear tonight?” Colette
asked.
“Sí,” JOAQUIN
replied. “For the school’s
centennial, our family
GROUP
has organized a small show, just for friends
and relatives, and Rodrigo will sing the
song.”
“It will be a
surprise
for us, too!”
Anita said.
“Where will the concert be?” Pam asked.
“In a caseta, of course — ours!” Joaquin
smiled. “Follow us!”
The seven friends plunged back into the
colorful
crowd. Soon they came to a
caseta that was surrounded by a small
of rodents. The sound of a guitar
was coming from inside.
“That’s papa!” Anita exclaimed.
Joaquin, Anita, and the mouselets entered
just in time to hear Julieta announce,
“Friends, what you are about to hear is a real
treasure!”
Julieta paused and looked out at the
audience. The rodents dearest to her
were all here in the caseta, looking up at
her eagerly. The
mouse
cleared her
throat and continued. “Now I give you
Rodrigo, who will perform a song left to us
by our beloved Rosita.”
Rodrigo smiled and took his place at the
center of the stage, next to his father
on guitar. The audience members could see
the emotion on the snouts of both
mice.
A moment later, the first notes of Rosita’s
song SWELLED. As Rodrigo began to
sing, the audience was swept up in the
MOMENT.
TREASURE
My treasure is hidden
In a garden of rose.
The way to its heart
Is something no one knows.
My treasure is known only to me.
It can never be taken apart.
Its key commands the wind,
And it stays always near my heart.
My treasure remains hidden.
It does not easily come out.
It waits for the brightest star
To shine down on my snout.
Where are you, my treasure?
Far and wide will I roam,
Though the place where I’ll find you
Is close to my home.
My
treasure...
As soon as the final notes rang out, the
crowd went wild. The Thea Sisters were so
moved, their eyes shone with tears.
Julieta took the microphone again. “Thank
you, Rodrigo, for that amazing
performance! I think each of us has a
treasure to keep, just as Rosita wrote.
And mine is this splendid fan.” She held up a
precious fan made of embroidered
silk. “I inherited it from her. It represents my
passion for flamenco, which makes every day
of my life
more beautiful
! Who
knows what Rosita’s treasure may
have been. . . .”
At these words, the Navarro twins, who
had come to hear the song, exchanged
a meaningful look.
Colette noticed. “Those two are acting
weirder than a weasel at a wedding. . . .”
she murmured to herself.
Then a new song DISTRACTED her
from the Navarros, and she went back to
enjoying the SHOW with her friends.
The Navarros had a strange reaction to Julieta’s
speech . . . but why?
bubble
It had been an amazing
evening
for the
Thea Sisters. All of Seville seemed to be
suspended in a
of happiness.
The mouselets and their friends were way
too excited to feel tired.
But when the shadows of night gave way to
morning
, Violet let out a big yawn.
“Should we go get some sleep?”
“I have another idea,” Anita said.
“Another idea?! After all these hours of
dancing, I’m beat!” Pam moaned.
“That’s too bad, because I know someplace
where we can grab a tasty breakfast. . . .”
Anita said, shrugging. But she couldn’t stifle
a little smile.
“Breakfast? Well, why didn’t you say so!”
THE FAN’S THEFT
sweet
harnessed
exclaimed Pam, suddenly
recovered. Her friends
BURST
out laughing.
“I suggest chocolate con
churros!” Anita said.
“Hooray!” Pam replied.
“Wait . . . chocolate what?”
“Churros are
fried dough that we
eat with a nice cup of hot chocolate,” said
Joaquin.
That was all the EXPLANATION Pam
and the mouselets needed to postpone their
bedtime. Fifteen minutes later, they were
seated at tables in a famouse bakery.
As they ate, they admired the decorated
carriages that passed by. An elegantly
horse led each one.
Colette, Nicky, Pamela, Paulina, Violet,
Anita, and Joaquin were still sipping their
never
hot chocolate when an alarmed squeak cried
out, “There you are! Thank goodmouse I’ve
finally
found you!” Rodrigo
scurried
up to their table.
“Rodrigo? What’s wrong?” Anita asked,
surprised.
“Have you seen Julieta’s fan?” her
brother asked her.
“Yes, she showed it to the audience while
you were singing. It’s gorgeous. . . .” Colette
replied
dreamily
.
“No, you don’t understand! I’m asking if
you’ve seen it since my performance,
because it’s disappeared!”
“How is that possible?” Joaquin asked.
“Aunt Julieta
lets it out of her sight!”
“I know,” replied Rodrigo grimly. “Actually,
we think it might have been stolen!”
“What? No! That fan is a precious heirloom
from Rosita!” Anita exclaimed.
“Let’s go back to the caseta to fi
nd our
aunt,” Joaquin said.
Nicky nodded. “We’re coming, too. We’ll
HELP you get it back.”
Back at the caseta, friends and relatives
surrounded Julieta. They were flooding
her with questions.
“Where did you see it last?”
“Did you put it down somewhere?”
“Maybe you loaned it to someone?”
The dancer shook her snout. “I never let
go of it. It was in my purse, which I left on
my chair to go arrange the flowers in my
fur. When I came back to my chair, the fan
had DISAPPEARED!”
“Maybe it fell. Let’s search the caseta!”
Colette suggested.
“We’ve already done that,” Julieta sighed.
“There’s no trace of it!”
“I saw a suspicious rodent!” José
the florist suddenly declared. “I
went out to get some air, and
when I came back in, I ran
into a mouse I’d never seen
before. He was wearing a hat pulled
down over his snout and a
dark
scarf.
He was clutching a bag, and the handle of a
fan was sticking out!”
“How do you know it was
Rosita’s fan?” DEMANDED
Pedro Navarro. He and his
sister had suddenly returned
to the caseta.
“At the time, I hardly noticed it,” José
replied, “but now that I think about it, I
believe the end of the handle was in the shape
of a rose, just like Julieta’s!”
“I saw that rodent, too! He was in a big
HURRY,” added Vanessa, an old friend of
Julieta’s. “He was heading toward the
train
station
.”
The Vega twins and the Thea Sisters
exchanged a meaningful look. They knew
what they had to do: follow in the pawsteps
of this mysterious thief!
“Come on, we’ve got to get to the station
before the thief escapes!” Anita cried.
Joaquin, Nicky, Pam, and Colette joined
her. Paulina and Violet decided to stay behind
to see if they could uncover any clues.
Together, the two mouselets searched the