by Gwyneth Rees
‘Cindy is always playing with ribbons and bits of string and things like that,’ Ava said excitedly. ‘And those bows are quite dangly, aren’t they?’ Forgetting all about the strange golden light, which was fading now anyway, she started to look around the room for her cat.
Over by the window she saw a work-table with a sewing machine on it, and she went across to see if Cindy might be hiding underneath. There was no sign of Cindy, but lying open next to the sewing machine was a rectangular music box. It was very like a music box Ava had at home except that the little plastic figure that twirled round inside hers was a ballerina, whereas this one was a fairytale princess. Hanging up on a stand next to the table was a not-quite-finished, absolutely-to-die-for raspberry-coloured princess’s dress with tiny rosebuds sewn on to it, that looked like it was meant for Cinderella herself.
‘I’m trying to make a dress exactly like the princess’s on that music box,’ Marietta explained. ‘What do you think?’
‘It’s beautiful,’ Ava murmured, briefly touching the dress, which was made of the softest, silkiest material she’d ever encountered.
She went back to searching for Cindy, but after several minutes Marietta gently interrupted her.
‘Ava, I don’t think she’s here any more,’ she said, still holding the dress that the bow had been torn from.
‘But she must be. We just heard her miaow, and I’m sure she pulled the bow off that dress!’
‘I know. I can’t find that bow and I think it might have got caught in one of her claws, in which case it could be said that she’s now wearing it.’
Ava frowned. ‘So?’
‘Well, the dresses in my shop aren’t the same as other dresses. Like I said before, they are made with very special thread – magic thread in actual fact.’
Ava gaped at her, wondering if she had heard correctly.
‘I know it must sound strange, but you see, the clothes in my shop give a certain magic power to certain people . . . and I’m guessing certain animals . . . who put them on,’ Marietta continued solemnly.
Ava felt unexpectedly giggly. Marietta had a weird sense of humour – that was for sure. ‘Do they make the people and animals invisible?’ she joked. ‘Like a magic cloak.’
‘No, no . . . not invisible,’ Marietta replied, completely serious. ‘If worn by the right person – a gifted sort of person, you understand – it can allow that person to . . . well . . . travel in rather an unusual manner. I’ve never seen an animal do it before, but I’ve heard that most cats – being such free spirits – are in possession of the gift too.’
Ava suddenly saw that Marietta wasn’t joking. ‘Look, I just want to find my cat,’ she blurted, taking a couple of nervous steps backwards. ‘If she’s not here any more, then where is she?’
‘That’s what I’m trying to tell you! You saw how the room was bathed in golden light just now. Well, that was due to a magic portal opening up.’
‘Magic portal?’ Ava stared in amazement at Marietta because only that morning she had found some books on magic in her dad’s bookcase. She had opened up one of them and found a whole chapter on magic portals. According to the book, a magic portal was a kind of invisible magic gateway that linked two parallel worlds – or two different time periods within the same world. She had found it strange that her dad owned such books, but she hadn’t yet had a chance to ask him about them.
‘That’s right,’ Marietta was continuing calmly. ‘I know it sounds hard to believe, but many of the mirrors in my shop are magic portals. To be able to travel through one of them, a person who is able to travel – and very few of us are, Ava – has simply to look at his or her reflection in the correct mirror – the mirror that is the right one for the dress they have on – and the magic reaction will begin. To stop the magic, you simply have to turn away from the mirror . . . it’s quite within your control so there’s nothing to worry about . . . but of course if you don’t want to stop it, you must keep looking until the light gets so bright that it forces you to close your eyes. Then you will be transported through the portal.’
‘But . . . but . . . that’s just . . . it’s . . . ridiculous!’ Ava burst out.
Marietta shook her head, saying gently, ‘I promise you, it’s true, Ava. It must have been pure chance that made Cindy look at her reflection in the right mirror while she had the bow from this magic dress caught in her claw. And if you change into this dress, you’ll be able to follow her.’
‘Follow her?’ Ava practically choked on the words as she found herself noticing for the first time just how many mirrors there were in this room. As well as several full-length ones, there were about a dozen different wall mirrors – round ones, square ones, oblong ones, oval ones and even a hexagonal one. They were all different sizes and styles, some having antique frames while others looked more modern. And they were all gleaming at her invitingly.
‘Yes,’ Marietta said encouragingly, ‘though there is just one thing that might be a problem. You see, the very first time a person travels, they have to choose the correct mirror for themselves or the reaction will not happen. It’s a way of ensuring a person is truly ready, I suppose. I was ready when I was six years old – but for less . . . shall we say . . . less sensitive individuals . . . it can take much longer.’ She smiled. ‘I have a strong feeling that you are ready, Ava, but there’s only one way to know for sure. You must put on this dress and then – with no help from me – you must try and choose the right mirror. If you are successful you can then travel through the magic portal to the place where your cat has gone.’
Ava felt as if her head was starting to spin. ‘Stop it! You’re scaring me!’ she blurted. And without waiting for a response, she turned and fled down the spiral staircase, through the fairytale room and back through the beaded curtain into the front part of the shop.
For one awful, terrifying moment the front door didn’t budge when she tried the handle, but then she tugged harder and it did. Half stepping, half falling out into the street, she slammed the door shut behind her. And she didn’t look round as she ran as fast as she could back to her dad’s.
3
By the time Ava reached Dad’s street, she was beginning to think she had been silly to get so freaked out by what Marietta had told her. Marietta was a bit of a weirdo, that was all. Of course Ava couldn’t deny that she had seen that strange golden light bathing the upstairs room – but there could easily be another explanation for it besides a cat travelling through a magic portal.
Dad had been very keen for her not to go into that shop and she wondered now if he knew about Marietta and her strange ways, and if he had been worried that Ava might get scared by her. If so, he hadn’t been worrying for no reason, Ava thought, frowning. She had felt scared, and yet to start with Marietta had seemed totally charming. And the dresses in her shop were without a doubt the most beautiful gowns Ava had ever seen – including all the ones she had ever seen on television or in books.
As Ava let herself into the kitchen through the back door her father appeared immediately to greet her. ‘At last!’ he exclaimed. ‘I’ve been trying to phone you and I was just about to go looking for you. What took you so long?’ His thick dark eyebrows were bunched together in a worried frown and his shock of dark hair looked even bushier than usual – as if he had forgotten to even run his hands through it, let alone use a comb, when he’d got out of bed that morning.
‘Don’t know,’ Ava grunted, flushing because she knew that was a lie and she wasn’t used to lying. She almost always told her mum the truth about things, but she found herself shrinking from telling Dad the truth about this. She just wasn’t sure how he would react. Would he understand why she had gone into the shop if she told him about the card she had seen in the window?
‘My phone’s right here,’ she added, slipping her hand into her jacket pocket for it. Her phone hadn’t been ringing at all and she reckoned Dad had probably been using the wrong number. Dad was always scrawling down people’s ph
one numbers in a careless manner and not being able to read his own writing afterwards. Since the phone wasn’t in her right pocket she tried the left – only to find that it wasn’t there either. She frowned. Where was it?
‘Ava, did you disobey me and go round the shops with those posters just now?’ Dad asked sternly – and that’s when she realized that she didn’t have the posters either.
‘Oh, no!’ she gasped, remembering putting them down – along with her phone – on the counter in Marietta’s shop before starting to look for Cindy.
‘Oh no – what?’ Dad demanded.
‘I must have left them behind,’ she mumbled.
‘Left them behind where?’
She didn’t see how she could avoid telling Dad the truth now – and she just hoped he wouldn’t get too angry. ‘I think I’ve left my phone and the posters in that little shop I told you about. I only went inside because they had a card in the window saying they’d found a tabby cat.’
‘Ava!’ Dad thundered. ‘I expressly told you not to go into that shop!’
‘I know, but you didn’t say why, and . . . and anyway I had to when I found out Cindy might be inside. I really have to find her, Dad. Imagine how she must be feeling right now – all scared and lonely.’
‘Ava, you know how sorry I am about letting Cindy out . . . but I really can’t have you running about on your own in the village, going wherever you please,’ Dad said crossly.
‘That’s not what you said the other day,’ she reminded him defensively. ‘The other day you said you thought it was terrible the way children don’t have any freedom any more. And you said you didn’t mind me going to the shops on my own as long as I’m careful.’
‘Not to that shop!’
‘Why not?’
He narrowed his eyes. ‘Did you meet Marietta?’
‘Yes – she showed me round.’
‘She showed you round the whole shop?’
‘Most of it, I think.’ Ava was studying her dad’s face closely. ‘Dad, do you know Marietta? Have you been inside her shop?’
Her father immediately flushed – which wasn’t like him at all – and instead of answering he asked, ‘So what did you make of her?’
‘She was really weird,’ Ava began slowly. ‘She told me she makes the dresses with magic thread and that the mirrors are magic portals.’
‘She told you that?’ Dad sounded outraged.
‘Yes, but aren’t you a bit into magic too, Dad?’ Ava asked him quickly. ‘I mean, why have you got all those books about it, if you’re not?’
‘What books?’ he snapped.
‘The ones on the bottom shelf in your bookcase. I saw them there this morning.’
Her father’s face turned an even brighter red as he mumbled vaguely, ‘Oh . . . yes . . . well . . . I happen to collect books on many different subjects, Ava. That doesn’t mean I am into all of them, as you call it.’
‘Well, do you believe in magic?’ Ava asked curiously. ‘In magic portals, for instance?’
‘Ava, enough of this! As I’m sure you have discovered for yourself, Marietta is a very strange woman, and I don’t want you spending any more time with her. Is that clear?’
‘But—’
‘IS THAT CLEAR?!’
Her father had never shouted at her like that before and Ava was shocked. She felt tears start up in her eyes.
‘I wish Mum had taken me with her when she went sailing!’ she burst out as she brushed past Dad, out of the kitchen and up the stairs to her room, where she slammed the door shut behind her.
Dad didn’t come upstairs to try and comfort her – even though he must have guessed she was crying. It didn’t really surprise her, since Dad never knew what to say when anyone cried.
Ava managed to comfort herself a little by sitting on her bed with her laptop balanced on her knees, writing an email to her mum. She had already written to tell her about Cindy escaping. Now she told her about coming across Marietta’s shop and about the weird experience she had had there. She also told Mum how much she was missing her and how upset she was with Dad.
She had almost finished her email when she started to feel really thirsty – from crying such a lot, probably – so she decided to go down to the kitchen to get a drink.
She paused on her way down the stairs, hearing voices in the living room.
Her dad sounded cross as he said, ‘You should never have shown her the back of the shop.’
A woman’s voice replied impatiently, ‘I really don’t see what harm can come of it, Otto.’ It was Marietta! And she knew Dad’s name!
‘You haven’t got any children, Marietta, so you can’t understand,’ Dad snapped.
Ava hurried down the rest of the stairs and entered the living room. ‘Understand what?’ she demanded.
Her father jumped. ‘Ava! I thought you were in your room.’
‘I was. I was writing an email to Mum.’ She turned to Marietta and asked bluntly, ‘What are you doing here?’
If she had been that rude to a guest in front of her mum she would have got into trouble. But her dad didn’t say anything – probably because he wasn’t that hot on manners himself – and Marietta just smiled as if Ava had given a perfectly friendly greeting.
‘Hello, Ava. I’m sorry if I scared you before,’ she said.
Ava didn’t respond to that. Instead she asked, ‘How do you know my dad?’
‘Oh . . . well . . . you see . . . your father and I are—’
‘Friends!’ Ava’s father put in before Marietta could finish. ‘We are all friends with each other in this village, Ava. It’s small enough to get to know everybody – not like when you live in the city.’
Marietta was giving Ava’s father a strange look, and Ava frowned because Dad hadn’t sounded as though Marietta was his friend when he had called her ‘a very strange woman’ earlier. But Ava was quickly distracted by another thought. ‘Have you found my cat yet?’ she asked, suddenly feeling hopeful that that might be the reason Marietta was here.
Marietta shook her head and pointed to the coffee table where Ava’s mobile phone and the bundle of Cat Missing posters were sitting. ‘I came to have a word with your dad and to return those. You know, you really shouldn’t put your address on the leaflets, Ava. You could get any dodgy person turning up on your doorstep claiming to know where your cat is.’
Ava nearly asked what could be more dodgy than Marietta claiming that Cindy had disappeared through a magic portal into a parallel world. But she just managed to stop herself.
Marietta seemed about to say something else when Dad grunted, ‘I’ve put a sandwich out for you on the table, Ava. You’d better go and eat it.’
‘But—’
‘Now, please, Ava.’ Ava’s dad could sound very stern sometimes and at those times she rarely had the nerve to argue with him.
As Ava took herself through to the kitchen she could hear her father showing Marietta out through the front door.
He came into the kitchen as she was picking a piece of tomato out of her sandwich. (Dad never remembered that Ava didn’t like tomatoes.) ‘Have you actually sent that email to your mother?’ he asked.
‘Not yet,’ she replied, looking up at him coolly.
‘Did you tell her about Marietta’s shop?’
Ava nodded, noticing that he seemed quite agitated.
‘Do you think that’s wise, Ava? Your mother will only worry – and we don’t want to ruin her time away, do we?’
Ava hadn’t thought of that. It was true that Mum probably would worry when she got Ava’s email. But Dad seemed unusually het-up, and Ava couldn’t help thinking that there was more to his anxiety than just a desire for Mum to have a trouble-free holiday.
‘I’ll delete the bit about the shop before I send it,’ she offered.
‘Good,’ Dad said, sounding hugely relieved.
And Ava was certain then that her dad had his own reasons for wanting to keep Marietta’s shop a secret. But what were they
?
4
Two days later Cindy still hadn’t come back and Ava found herself thinking more and more about Marietta’s shop. Strangely, her father’s books on magic had been removed from his bookcase, and when she asked him where they were he told her they were antique books and he didn’t want her sticky fingers all over them.
‘My fingers aren’t sticky,’ she had snapped at him indignantly, but her father had just ignored her.
He had spent most of the last two days in his study, working on his latest history book. When Ava had asked him what it was about he had told her he was researching the life of children in Victorian times.
Ava had learned a little about this at school. ‘In Victorian times I’d probably have had a nanny, wouldn’t I?’ she had said.
‘Maybe – if we were rich enough,’ Dad had replied. ‘If we weren’t, you’d have been working in a factory or sweeping chimneys.’
‘I thought chimney sweeps were all boys,’ Ava had said, surprised.
‘Sometimes they used girls as well,’ Dad had told her, shuddering as if he was remembering something horrible that he had seen with his own eyes. ‘They were cruel times. Just be glad you didn’t live in them.’ And he had cut short any further conversation by announcing that he had a lot of work to do and that he needed to get on with it.
Since it was now a lovely sunny afternoon – and Dad was busy in his study yet again – Ava decided to go out for a walk by herself and have another look for her missing cat. Dad had already warned her not to assume that the cat in Marietta’s shop had definitely been Cindy. After all, since Ava had only heard a miaow rather than actually seen the cat for herself, how could she be certain? It was important to keep searching for Cindy closer to home, Dad said.
