mind was spinning. What had happened?
It didn’t feel anything like a dream. She could hear birds chirruping, smell the damp woods. She bent down and touched the leaves on the ground. They were cool beneath her fingers …
“Oh, my shimmering whiskers! It’s you! The girl with the red shoes!”
Holly looked up and promptly fell over in shock as a huge white cat came dancing towards her. He was on two legs and slightly taller than her and he was wearing white ballet shoes, a black hat with a feather in and a gold waistcoat. He leaped through the air, one leg stretched behind and one in front, in a perfect grand jeté. Landing beside her, he pirouetted around, before grabbing both of her hands.
“This is so brilliant!” he cried, looking completely delighted as he pulled her to her feet. Up close, she saw his eyes were a beautiful deep emerald green and his silvery whiskers sprang out at the side of his face. “We knew the shoes had a new owner and we have all been wondering when we would get to meet you. And now I have! Oh, how lucky I am! What’s your name?”
“Holly,” she answered automatically.
The cat bowed. “And I am the White Cat.”
He jumped into the air, spinning round in excitement. “It’s amazing to meet you, Holly.”
“Where … where am I?” Holly stammered.
“In Enchantia, the land where all the characters from the ballets live,” the cat replied. His fluffy tail flicked over his shoulder and he pointed at her feet. “The ballet shoes you’re wearing were created with some of the strongest magic in Enchantia. Whenever we are in trouble, they bring their owner – a human girl – here to help fix things. Someone from Enchantia gets to meet them first and be their friend, and this time it looks like it’s me!”
Holly stared at him. Was she really in a strange magic land full of people like talking cats who came from the different ballets? Had she been sent there to help them solve their problems? Although she had to admit it sounded very exciting, an image of Chloe came into her head followed by a picture of her mum waving goodbye.
“Look, I’m sorry, I’ve enough problems of my own right now,” she said quickly. “I just can’t fix other people’s problems too. Maybe another time.” She turned away, wondering how she got the shoes to take her home. She tried wishing.
I wish I could go back, she thought. But nothing happened.
Remembering The Wizard of Oz, she clicked her heels together three times. Still nothing happened.
The White Cat walked curiously round her. “What are you doing?”
Holly turned away. She didn’t want to see him; she wanted to get back to her bedroom. Think carefully, she told herself. She’d been dancing when the shoes had worked before, so maybe that was what she had to do?
She ran forward and turned a pirouette. Home, home, home, she thought as hard as she could, shutting her eyes. But when she blinked them open again she was still standing in the wood.
The White Cat leapt joyously in front of her. “Oh, is this a game, Holly? I like games! Look how many pirouettes I can do!” He turned round on the spot so many times that Holly’s mouth dropped open.
“It’s not a game. I just want to go home!” she exclaimed. “I have to. For a start, my aunt and uncle are going to be really worried about me …”
“No, they won’t be,” interrupted the cat. “No time will pass in the human world while you are here. You’ll go back and it will be as if you haven’t been away.”
“But I can’t stay,” Holly protested. “Look, will you please just tell me how I get these shoes to work and take me home?”
“You can’t make the shoes do what you want.” The White Cat’s brilliant eyes met hers. “They’ll take you back when the problem is solved, but you won’t be able to make them take you back before. The magic doesn’t work like that.”
“Oh.” Holly sat down on a fallen tree trunk. “So I’m really stuck here?” she said faintly.
“It’s not that bad, is it?” the White Cat said, giving her a hopeful look.
Holly felt tears prickle her eyes. She dashed them away with the back of her hand.
“Oh, I see.” The cat looked suddenly deflated, like an old balloon. “It really is that bad.” He sat down on the log and shook his head. “I don’t understand it. I’ve never heard of a human girl not wanting to help before.” He twisted his tail anxiously in his paws. “It must be me. I must have messed things up. I was just so excited to meet you.”
His pointed ears flattened unhappily.
Holly began to feel bad. “It’s not your fault,” she said.
“But it must be,” the cat muttered sadly.
“It isn’t.”
Holly looked at his drooping ears. She couldn’t bear it. “OK. Look, I will stay and help you.”
The change was instant. The cat leaped up from the tree trunk, his ears back in points. “Oh, my shimmering whiskers and glittering tail!” He jumped high into the air, crossing his feet over and over again. “That’s wonderful! Thank you! Thank you, so much!” He grabbed her hands and twirled her around as fast as he could.
Despite her reluctance, Holly unexpectedly found herself starting to smile. His excitement was infectious. “So what do you need help with?” she gasped as they stopped and the world spun dizzily around her.
The White Cat smiled at her. “Sit down and I’ll explain …”
“It all started this morning,” the White Cat began to tell Holly. “It’s exactly a year to the day since Princess Aurelia and Prince Florimund got married. The King and Queen are having a party this evening and the King has said that everyone who was at the wedding has to be there tonight to do the same dance that they did at the ceremony.
“I’ve been put in charge of organising it. All the others arrived yesterday: the princes’s brother and two sisters; Princess Aurelia’s fairy godmother, Lila; the other fairies who were at Aurelia’s christening; Puss in Boots, Goldilocks, Bluebeard and his wife, Little Red Riding Hood, the bluebird, the enchanted princess and all the palace courtiers as well. We started
