The Star Bracelet

by Paula Harrison

  Lily lifted Fudge out of the bag and sat down with the joey on her lap. The little kangaroo wriggled more than ever! Lily put the baby kangaroo on the floor and Fudge did a few wobbly jumps across the room…

  For everyone at the Kangaroo

  Sanctuary in Alice Springs

  Princess Lily slipped down the stairs like a ninja. She missed out the creaky step near the bottom and reached the palace hallway without making a sound. Tucking her blonde hair behind her ears, she stopped to listen. Her mum, Queen Caroline, was talking to Lady Hamilton in the parlour. Lily tiptoed towards the front door and silently put on her shoes.

  CRASH! She stumbled into a coat stand, knocking it to the floor.

  Queen Caroline appeared in the doorway, smiling. “Are you all right, Lily? If you’re playing outside make sure you’re back for lunch, won’t you?”

  “I will!” Lily smiled back, but her shoulders sank as she crossed the palace garden. She’d tried and tried to get better at ninja moves. Today she’d crept halfway round the palace without anyone spotting her. But as soon as she thought she was improving, she knocked something over or tripped and fell down. The moves were such an important part of being a Rescue Princess – so she had to keep trying! Her new friends Scarlett and Zina would be here later and she wanted to show them how much she’d practised.

  The sun came out from behind a big cloud, shining down on Saronga Palace with its long row of golden turrets. Lily cheered up as she thought about seeing her friends again. The three princesses had met two months ago at Scarlett’s birthday party. Together they had rescued a baby otter and stopped a thief from stealing lots of precious jewels.

  Scarlett had told the other girls about her cousin who, along with some friends, had made a secret promise to always save animals in danger. They called themselves the Rescue Princesses and they used teamwork and ninja moves, and they had magic jewels to help them. After hearing about it, Lily had decided that they should become Rescue Princesses straightaway!

  A few weeks later, Scarlett had sent Lily and Zina magic rings that she’d made with her jewel-making tools. Each one was a beautiful heart shape and when the girls pressed the jewels they could speak to each other secretly. Scarlett’s jewel was a shining red ruby and Zina’s was a sparkling diamond. Lily’s jewel was a deep-blue sapphire and she loved hers best of all!

  Lily smiled. She was so glad her mum had invited the other girls to stay. She pressed the sapphire on her ring and waited for the jewel to light up. “Is anyone there?” she whispered. “Can you hear me?”

  “Yes, we’re here.” Scarlett’s voice floated out of the jewel. “We’re on our way to your palace right now.”

  “Hooray – you’re early!” Lily hopped up and down. “I’ll see you soon.”

  “Bye, Lily! See you soon!” Zina and Scarlett called back, and then the jewel went dark again.

  Lily ran all the way to the royal stables, excitement bubbling inside her. Ten golden wattle trees covered with bright-yellow flowers lined the path and a row of royal bluebells nodded in the breeze. Saronga Palace had one of the finest gardens in the whole of Estaland. Lily really hoped her new friends would like it.

  Skipping into the stables, Lily stopped beside her favourite pony’s stall. “Hello, Sandy! How are you?” A pony with a golden coat came over and let Lily stroke her nose. “Good girl! Would you like a sugar lump?”

  As the pony nibbled the sugar, Lily spotted another animal in the next-door stall and leaned over to get a better look. The stall next to Sandy’s was usually empty. She was surprised to see a small reddish-brown kangaroo lying against a bale of hay.

  “Hello! What are you doing in there?” said Lily, laughing.

  “That’s Hoppley.” Matt, the stablehand, came in carrying a saddle. “I’ve been taking care of him ever since he got thrown from his mother’s pouch when he was a very young joey. He’s nearly big enough to look after himself now and this is the first time I’ve let him out to explore the palace garden.”

  “Hi, Hoppley! You look pretty comfortable there.” Lily smiled. She was used to seeing kangaroos in the fields and woods near the palace. Sometimes they even hopped up the palace drive and into the garden, but she’d never seen one in the stables before.

  Hoppley’s ears twitched and he hopped up and down the stall.

  “I think he’s in that stall because he’s decided he’s a pony!” said Matt.

  “If he’s a kangaroo AND a pony that makes him a pony-roo!” said Lily. “How did you know what to do when he was left behind by his mother?”

  Matt sat down on a bale of hay. “I knew he should stay in a pouch so I stitched a sack into the right shape and put him inside. Since then I’ve been feeding him special milk from a baby’s bottle but I don’t think he needs it any more.”

  Lily nodded. She wished the kangaroo still needed the milk. She would’ve loved to have fed him.

  “I’ll be able help more joeys once I open my kangaroo sanctuary,” added Matt.

  Lily nodded. She’d talked to Matt about his plans for the sanctuary lots of times. Matt was such an expert on kangaroos!

  The little kangaroo jumped up and sniffed at the stable door. “Here you go, Hoppley.” Lily opened the door wider and the little kangaroo bounded out just as a car rolled up the palace drive.

  “Those must be your visitors, Princess Lily,” said Matt. “I’ll get the suitcases.”

  “Thank you, Matt.” Lily ran forward, nearly slipping on the gravel.

  The car rolled into the yard with two girls waving madly inside. Scarlett was the first to jump out, her black curls bouncing on her shoulders. Then Zina climbed out, smiling shyly.

  “We’re here at last!” Scarlett noticed Hoppley bouncing out of the stable yard. “You didn’t tell us you had a pet kangaroo, Lily.”

  “I don’t!” said Lily, laughing. “That’s Hoppley. Matt looked after him when he was little but now he’s bigger and ready to hop around on his own.”

  Matt, who was taking the suitcases out of the car boot, smiled at the girls and gave a little bow.

  “You have really interesting animals here,” said Zina. “And it’s so warm too.”

  “You’ll probably see lots of kangaroos while you’re staying with me,” Lily told them. “They’re a very common animal in our kingdom.”

  “I wish I could hop like that!” Scarlett tried to copy Hoppley’s jumps.

  Soon the princesses were all leaping around like kangaroos until they began giggling too much to jump any more.

  “Matt’s going to start up a sanctuary for kangaroos that need looking after,” said Lily.

  Matt nodded. “Although it could be a few months before the sanctuary opens, Your Highness. I’d love to start sooner but I don’t have enough money yet.”

  Lily bit her lip. “But in the meantime there could be lots of baby kangaroos that need help.”

  “Maybe we could raise some money for the sanctuary,” said Zina.

  “We could do a sponsored jump!” said Scarlett excitedly.

  “Or we could bake lots of cakes and set up a cake stall at the palace gates.” Lily’s eyes lit up. “We’d have to ask my mum but I bet she’d say yes!”

  “I love making cakes!” said Scarlett, and Zina nodded.

  “It’s very kind of you all but you don’t have to go to a lot of bother,” began Matt.

  “We don’t mind!” said Lily. She looked round at the other girls. Zina was smiling and Scarlett gave a wink. She knew what they were thinking. Raising money for a kangaroo sanctuary was just the kind of thing the Rescue Princesses would love to do!

  Lily dashed into the palace and threw open the parlour door. “The other princesses have arrived!” she told her mum. “And guess what?” />
  Queen Caroline looked up in surprise. “Lily, don’t rush in like that! What will people think?” She glanced at her guest, Lady Hamilton, who frowned as she took a sip from her china teacup.

  The other princesses clattered in after Lily, still out of breath from their kangaroo jumping.

  “Sorry!” Lily shook some hay off her dress and tried to remember the proper thing to say. “Um … here is Princess Scarlett from the Kingdom of Deronda, and this is Princess Zina from the Kingdom of Ramova.”

  Both the princesses came forward to say hello and Zina dropped a graceful curtsy.

  “Thanks so much for inviting us here, Queen Caroline,” said Scarlett. “Your palace is lovely.”

  The queen smiled. “That’s very kind of you! I’m so pleased that you’ve come to stay with us. I know Lily’s been looking forward to seeing you. Now, it’s important to remember that dinner is at half past five. Lily will show you where your rooms are and if there’s anything else you need, please just ask. Let me see … what else do I need to tell you?”

  Lily fidgeted with her sleeve. She hoped her mum would stop talking so that she could ask about the cake sale.

  There was a knock at the parlour door and a heavy-looking man with a round face came in. “Good afternoon, Your Majesty. Good afternoon, Your Ladyship.” He bowed to the queen and Lady Hamilton. “You asked to be picked up at eleven, Your Ladyship, and the car is ready. I’ll wait outside.”

  “Thank you, Delby.” Lady Hamilton rose from her chair, wrapping a purple shawl around her thin shoulders. “Well, I hope you will show these girls what it means to be an Estaland princess,” she said to Lily. “In my day we practised curtsying so low that our knees would touch the floor.”

  Lily wasn’t sure what to say. She couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to curtsy like that!

  “We just met a kangaroo and we think he’s lovely!” Scarlett suddenly burst out.

  “What’s that?” Lady Hamilton’s eyes bulged. “You have a kangaroo here?”

  “There was one in the stable yard,” Lily explained quickly. “Actually, that’s what we came to ask about.” She turned to her mum. “Matt wants to set up the kangaroo sanctuary soon but he doesn’t have enough money. So we thought we could have a cake sale to help him.” She clasped her hands together. “Please can we? I promise we’ll do all the cooking and clearing up ourselves.”

  “That’s a good idea,” the queen smiled. “Yes, I don’t see why not. As long as you ask Cook to help you with the oven.”

  “And where is this kangaroo place going to be?” asked Lady Hamilton, frowning deeply.

  “It will be quite close to where you live actually,” replied the queen. “I gave permission for Matt to use some royal land. There’s a nice field with lots of room for the animals.”

  Lady Hamilton’s face darkened like a rain cloud. “There are too many animal parks these days. They spread muck and dirt, and if the creatures can’t look after themselves then I don’t see why people should pay money so that they can be pampered.”

  Scarlett went red. “I don’t think that’s fair—” she began, but Lily nudged her and she fell silent.

  “Let me see you out, Sarah,” the queen said hurriedly. “It was so nice of you to visit and I hope you’ll come again.” She ushered Lady Hamilton from the room.

  The princesses exchanged looks once the queen and Lady Hamilton had gone.

  “That lady wasn’t very nice,” said Scarlett, frowning. “I can’t believe she doesn’t like animal parks.”

  “It was really mean of her!” cried Lily. “But the good thing is we’re allowed to do the cake sale and that will raise the money the sanctuary needs.”

  “We should draw some posters and put them up outside the palace gate,” said Zina.

  “That’s a great idea!” Lily’s eyes lit up. “Then everyone will know when to come. I’ve got lots of paint in the cupboard. I just need to find the painting aprons.” She hurried out to the hallway and opened a tall cupboard crammed with paintbrushes and glitter.

  Zina crouched down beside her. “You have lots of art things, Lily! Would these be good for the posters?” She drew out some extra-large sheets of paper.

  “Those would be great! Shall we do one poster each?” Lily reached behind the paint pots. “I’ve found the aprons.”

  There was a loud revving noise outside. Lily looked through the front window and saw her mum wave to Lady Hamilton as the car drove away. Then the queen walked round the corner towards the stables.

  “That lady has a very posh car,” said Scarlett. “Oh look, there’s the kangaroo again. What was his name, Lily?”

  “Hoppley!” Lily counted out three aprons before taking some paintbrushes.

  “That one’s too big to be Hoppley,” said Zina. “And look, she’s got a baby!”

  The girls all rushed to the window. Hopping across the palace lawn was a large kangaroo with a baby peeping out of its pouch.

  “Aw, that’s really sweet!” cooed Zina.

  “How long do their mothers carry them around like that?”

  “Quite a long time. The little babies are called joeys.” Lily frowned. The mother kangaroo was bounding towards the palace gate just as Lady Hamilton’s car drew closer. Surely the driver would see the animal and stop?

  The driver shouted something through the car window and beeped his horn at the kangaroo. Then the car sped up.

  “That car’s going too fast!” Zina’s eyes widened. “I hope the kangaroo doesn’t jump in front of it!”

  The driver honked his horn even louder. The kangaroo turned sharply, jumping into the bushes. As it swung round, the little joey fell from its pouch and tumbled on to the grass.

  “The baby’s fallen out!” gasped Scarlett. “The mother kangaroo will go back for it, won’t she?”

  The kangaroo bounded away through the bushes.

  “She’s too scared by that horrible beeping,” said Zina.

  Lady Hamilton’s driver sounded the horn one more time before the car swept through the gate and out on to the road. The big kangaroo sprang out of the bushes and jumped right over the palace wall.

  “Wait – come back!” called Lily, running out of the front door and down the palace steps.

  But the mother kangaroo had gone and her baby was left all alone, trembling on the grass.

  The three princesses ran down the palace drive, their eyes fixed on the little bundle of fur left on the grass. Zina, who was the fastest runner, reached the joey first. The creature was lying crumpled up, squeaking softly. Lily and Zina knelt down beside it.

  “You poor thing!” said Lily. “It must be so scary suddenly bouncing out of your mother’s pouch like that.”

  The joey tried to stand up but its legs were too wobbly and it flopped down on to the grass again.

  “What shall we do?” Scarlett pushed back her dark hair. “We can’t leave her here and it doesn’t look like the mother’s coming back.”

  “Matt told me once that the mothers never come back, and this little joey looks too young to survive on her own,” said Lily. “We should take her to Matt – he’ll know what to do.” She gathered the baby in her arms and set off across the garden.

  The joey squeaked again and wriggled. Lily stroked the animal’s soft fur and whispered soothingly, “Don’t worry! We’ll look after you.”

  The princesses hurried past the line of golden wattle trees into the stable yard. But the yard was empty and the car that had brought the girls from the airport had gone.

  “Matt? Where are you?” called Lily.

  Scarlett dashed into the stables and came out a moment later. “Matt’s not here but that other kangaroo, Hoppley, is sleeping on a bale of hay.”

  Lily passed the little kangaroo to Scarlett. “I’ll ask inside. Maybe he’s having his break.” She hurried down the path and through the back door, and found Cook Ingram chopping carrots in the kitchen.

  “Hello, Princess Lily,” said Cook. “Where are thos
e friends of yours? I thought they’d arrived.”

  “They’re just outside,” replied Lily. “I’m looking for Matt. Have you seen him?”

  “He’s gone, I’m afraid.” Cook set down the vegetable knife. “He’s doing some more work at the new kangaroo sanctuary – mending the fences and so on. He won’t be back till tomorrow.”

  “Oh!” Lily bit her lip.

  Cook studied her. “Is everything all right, my dear? Shall I get you all some milk and cookies?”

  “Yes, please! I’ll be back for them in a minute.” Lily led her friends to her room and brought up Cook’s milk and cookies on a tray. She explained to Scarlett and Zina that Matt had gone away. “We’re Rescue Princesses,” she added. “So we’ll just have to look after the little joey ourselves.”

  “I’d much rather we did it ourselves!” Scarlett held the little kangaroo even tighter. “We can give her some milk and keep her warm.”

  Lily fiddled with her hair. “I’m a bit worried because Matt told me he fed Hoppley some special milk. So I’m not sure if ordinary milk is the best thing for kangaroos.”

  “We have to feed her something.” Scarlett stroked the animal’s soft ears. “At least it’ll only be for one day.”

  “That’s true!” said Lily. “I think I’ve seen a squeezy bottle in the kitchen that we can put the milk in.”

  “What shall we call her?” said Zina eagerly. “Maybe she could be Bouncy!”

  “She’s got such lovely brown fur,” said Lily. “So why don’t we call her Fudge? It just feels right!”

  The little kangaroo gave a squeak as if she agreed.

  While Zina had a turn at cuddling the little animal, Lily and Scarlett crept downstairs to find the squeezy bottle. Then they poured some of their milk into the bottle and fed it to Fudge. The animal sucked hard, holding the sides of the bottle with her little paws. At last her ears grew floppy and her eyes began to close.

  “We need a pouch to keep her in,” whispered Zina. “What shall we do?”