by Gwyneth Rees
Immediately the whole room froze, for it was the King himself who had spoken.
‘For His Majesty the King!’ the footman finally burst out.
Ava found herself staring in awe at the large man in the glittering crown standing in the doorway as the hushed words, ‘Your Majesty,’ echoed round the room.
The King nodded regally at his guests as they curtsied and bowed to him, before turning to glower at the fairy godmother, whose face was flushed as she got up from looking under a nearby princess’s skirt. ‘Well, madam?’ he demanded impatiently. ‘What is the meaning of this?’
‘Your Majesty, there’s been a small problem with the servants I brought to help out at the ball,’ the fairy godmother replied breathlessly. ‘I’m afraid my spell has worn off too soon and they’ve already turned back into . . . well –’ she coughed politely – ‘their original forms. It’s really most inconvenient and I have to find them straight away.’
‘I do believe she’s talking about those mice,’ said an anxious-sounding princess.
‘If you ask me, the only good place for mice is cooked inside a pie!’ declared Earl Eat-a-lot heartily.
‘Hear! Hear!’ agreed Duke Drink-a-lot. ‘Though a mouse-shake is even better in my opinion!’
‘If there are mice at this ball, I think I’d rather go home,’ exclaimed the nervous duchess standing next to him.
As several of the more panicky guests started to agree with her, the King spoke again.
‘There will be no more talk of mice, Fairy Godmother!’ he ordered. ‘I will not have my guests upset like this! You will forget about your spell and get on with judging the dress competition. The Queen will be here shortly with Prince Charming – and of course Cinderella.’
As he went to sit on the largest of the throne-like chairs, Ava whispered urgently to her father, ‘Dad, what about Cindy? If the mice have changed back already . . .’
‘I was just thinking the same thing,’ her dad replied. ‘Dinah’s with her of course, but I still don’t think we should stay here much longer. I’m starting to get rather a bad feeling about this ball.’
‘What do you mean?’
But before he could answer, the fairy godmother appeared as if from nowhere at Ava’s side. ‘Princess Ava – what have you done with my maid?’ she demanded angrily.
‘Cindy’s not your maid! She’s my cat!’ Ava protested.
‘Maid or cat – I want her back!’ the godmother snapped. ‘I must find out if she has changed back too soon like those wretched mice!’
‘We can certainly find that out for you,’ Ava’s father said quickly, ‘if that’s all you need to know.’
‘Of course it’s not all I need to know,’ the godmother replied, sounding irritated. ‘I shall have to conduct further experiments on Cindy to help me perfect my spell. Princess Ava may have her back when – and only when – I am finished with her!’
‘If she’s still alive by that time of course – which I seriously doubt!’ came a snooty voice from behind them.
Ava turned and gasped in shock as she saw the two ugly sisters standing there. They weren’t so much glaring at her, Ava realized, as at the fairy godmother.
‘What are you doing here?’ the godmother snapped at them. ‘I thought I banished you from the ball!’
They were wearing different ball gowns now, and Astrid was sneering boldly at the fairy godmother as she replied, ‘We’ve spoken to Cinderella about how you humiliated us in front of everybody, and she felt so sorry for us that she’s given us permission to come tonight after all.’
‘Yes – and when she hears about the chaos you’ve just caused, I expect you’ll be the one banned from the ball – not us!’ Ermentrude put in.
Astrid laughed as she continued cattily, ‘Even Cinderella is getting tired of the mess you always make with your ridiculous spells! And as for the Queen and Prince Charming – well, they’ve quite lost patience with you! In fact, they seemed quite interested when we suggested that you be sent away to one of those boarding schools where clumsy fairies are taught to do magic properly. The Queen thought you were too old to get a place in such a school, but we told her that we know of one that will make an exception for particularly stupid fairies!’
Astrid and Ermentrude both burst out laughing, watching gleefully as the fairy godmother’s face turned bright red with rage.
‘You . . . you . . . wicked girls!’ the godmother exclaimed angrily. ‘I’ll show you how good my spells are! I shall banish you to a boarding school right now – a school on the other side of the kingdom where they specialize in teaching nasty, rude girls better manners!’ And before anyone could stop her she was waving her wand high above her head as she shouted out a stream of unintelligible words that seemed to be causing the air around the ugly sisters to sizzle with orange sparks. At the end of her spell she spat dramatically on the end of her wand, at which point there was a loud bang as a cloud of orange smoke totally engulfed the screaming Astrid and Ermentrude.
‘Look! They’ve vanished!’ several of the stunned guests exclaimed as the smoke cloud started to clear.
For several seconds nobody spoke. The whole room was staring in amazement at the fairy godmother – who was still shaking with rage.
Then the silence was broken by a loud, slow clapping. The King had risen to his feet and was actually applauding the fairy godmother. ‘Good riddance!’ he announced. ‘Well done, Fairy Godmother!’
And little by little the whole room started to clap along with the King.
Ava was hugely relieved that the ugly sisters were gone, but suddenly she found herself feeling even more afraid for her cat. ‘Dad, we can’t let her have Cindy back to experiment on her!’ she hissed fiercely to her father – but unfortunately the fairy godmother overheard her.
Quick as a flash she turned and pointed her wand at Ava. ‘You’ll do as you’re told, young lady – unless you want to join Cinderella’s sisters.’
‘Now, now . . . there’s no need for that,’ Ava’s father intervened hurriedly. ‘You can have Cindy back if you want her that badly, Fairy Godmother – of course you can.’ He ignored Ava’s protests as he continued, ‘But don’t you have to judge this dress competition first? Look – it’s already begun.’
The King had just signalled for the music to start and all the girls whose dresses were to be judged had started to dance.
The godmother frowned. ‘Wait here,’ she ordered them before sweeping across the room to take her place as competition judge.
‘The fairy godmother isn’t a totally good character like she is in my fairytale book, is she, Dad?’ Ava said shakily as they watched her go.
‘She’s certainly someone you don’t want to get on the wrong side of,’ her dad agreed. ‘Come on, Ava. We’d better leave now, while she’s distracted.’
But Ava had also become distracted by what was happening on the dance floor. In particular she was distracted by Tilly, who was twirling round very fast. Some multicoloured sequins on her dress, which had been barely noticeable before, were now catching the light, and she reminded Ava of a beautiful rainbow sparkling in the sun.
‘Can’t we just stay long enough to see if the fairy godmother picks Tilly?’ Ava begged.
‘Ava, there isn’t time,’ her dad replied firmly. ‘If we’re still here when the fairy godmother has finished the judging, she’ll make us give up Cindy.’
‘No, she won’t,’ Ava said defiantly. ‘She can threaten me all she likes, but I still won’t tell her where Cindy is!’
‘That’s very brave, Ava, but the next time she threatens you with her wand, then I shall be telling her straight away,’ Ava’s dad said, taking hold of her hand before she could protest any more. ‘Now come with me, please.’
As the fairy godmother requested a temporary halt to the music so that she could shout instructions to the contestants, Ava and her dad began to edge cautiously around the room towards the door. At the open doorway they saw the footman, who seemed to
have fallen asleep on his feet. His eyes were shut and he was swaying alarmingly.
As Ava and her dad attempted to slip past him unnoticed, he woke up with a start, took one look at them, and in his half-awake state mistook their exit for an entrance. Even half asleep he clearly had an excellent memory for names because he immediately boomed out at the top of his voice, ‘His Royal Highness the Crown Prince Otto and his daughter, Princess Ava!’
Ava and her father froze as everyone in the ballroom turned to look in their direction.
They stayed like that for only a few seconds. As the furious fairy godmother raised her wand to point it at them, Ava’s dad clutched her hand more tightly and shouted, ‘RUN!’
14
‘Stop!’ shouted the fairy godmother, who was very close behind them. ‘Stop or I’ll turn you both into mice!’
‘Keep running,’ Ava’s dad gasped.
‘I’m going to put a spell on your legs to make you stop!’ the angry godmother yelled, raising her wand just as Ava and her dad came to a place where two of the main palace corridors crossed each other.
Coming down the other corridor towards them, behind an escort of two slow-stepping footmen, was a well-groomed older lady with a crown on her head, dressed in a glittering purple gown. Behind her came a handsomely dressed smiling young man, also wearing a crown, and, on his arm, a beautiful young girl wearing a stunning blue ball gown.
It was the Queen, Prince Charming and Cinderella herself!
‘Dad, look! It’s Cinderella!’ Ava burst out, momentarily forgetting everything else as she strained to get a proper look at her heroine.
‘Keep going!’ Ava’s dad barked, tightening his hold on her wrist as he pulled her across the other corridor directly in front of the royal party.
‘Arrest them!’ yelled the fairy godmother, waving her wand in a furious manner.
But the footmen had come between the fairy godmother and her targets just as she was pointing her wand. Seconds later the two footmen’s legs were completely frozen and they stood rooted to the spot, their arms waving frantically in the air.
The Queen started to scream as Prince Charming shouted angrily at the flustered fairy godmother. Only Cinderella herself remained calm, doing her best to soothe everyone in a soft, sweet voice.
Ava would have loved to stay and meet Cinderella, but of course she couldn’t. This might be their only chance to escape – and her dad suddenly seemed to have a good idea which way to go as he pulled her after him down an empty side passage.
Thankfully they managed to find their way to the servants’ quarters – after stopping briefly to ask a surprised maid for directions – and once they got there, Ava quickly found the right door.
Inside the little room, Dinah was sitting on her bed with Cindy on her lap.
‘Thank goodness!’ Ava gasped, running over to pick up her beloved cat, who purred loudly as she started to stroke her. ‘Is she all right? There aren’t any bits of her that haven’t changed back, are there?’
‘None that I can see,’ said Dinah. ‘I got a bit of a shock when it happened, though. I thought she wasn’t going to change back until midnight!’
‘Something went wrong with the fairy godmother’s spell,’ Ava said, tickling Cindy under her chin. ‘Oh, Cindy, I’m so glad you’re a cat again!’
‘She’s certainly much nicer as a cat,’ Dinah agreed. ‘So . . .’ She looked a little anxious now. ‘How is Tilly? How is she doing in the competition?’
‘We’re not sure. The competition hasn’t really got started properly,’ Ava told her.
‘The fairy godmother has been chasing after us, instead of getting on with the judging,’ Dad explained. ‘She’s trying to force us to give her Cindy so that she can discover what went wrong with the timing of her spell.’
‘I told you her spells hardly ever go according to plan,’ Dinah grunted. ‘I always make sure I steer well clear of her whenever she waves that wand of hers – and I wish Tilly would too!’
‘She just did a very successful spell on the two ugly sisters,’ Ava pointed out, but before she could explain further her father cut in.
‘We need to steer well clear of her from now on too, Dinah – which means we have to leave immediately!’
Dinah looked him straight in the eyes. ‘I expect you’ll be needing your music box then.’
Ava gasped out loud, while her dad was momentarily speechless.
‘I couldn’t understand what made you open up my wooden chest, Ava,’ Dinah continued. ‘So I had a look inside myself, and I found that you’d been in there for a reason that had nothing to do with Tilly’s dress.’
Ava flushed as her dad said quickly, ‘It’s not how it looks, Dinah. Ava wasn’t trying to steal the music box. It’s just that—’
But Dinah swiftly raised a hand to silence him. ‘Don’t worry. You don’t have to explain.’ She paused. ‘You see, a long time ago – twelve years or so, I’d say – there was another girl who came here pretending to be a princess. She needed the music box to get home too.’
‘What other girl?’ Ava blurted, glancing sideways at her dad, who had suddenly become very still.
‘She called herself a travelling girl,’ Dinah continued. ‘She was quite a bit older than you – sixteen or thereabouts. Very pretty, she was, with long reddish hair. She was rather an angry, mixed-up sort of girl, but I understood why. You see, just like me, she had been abandoned by her parents.’
Ava’s mouth fell open and she looked questioningly at her dad. Could it be . . . ?
‘She wouldn’t tell me where she came from or anything about the magic she used to get from place to place,’ Dinah went on. ‘But she did say that she was running away from home – from an older brother she didn’t get on with. He was very bossy and overprotective, she said – always fussing about where she was and what she was doing. But he was her only family since their parents had left them – and I told her she was lucky to have him. I was alone in the world at the time, you see, so I knew what it was like to be completely without family. It was before I adopted Tilly.’
There was a short silence. Ava glanced at her dad and was taken aback to see tears in his eyes.
Without looking at Ava, her father murmured quietly, ‘I’m very grateful to you for helping her, Dinah.’
‘I thought you might be related to her when I found the music box,’ Dinah said. ‘You’re her brother, aren’t you?’
Silently he nodded.
Dinah smiled in a knowing sort of way. ‘I’ve heard a lot about you over the years.’
‘You have?’
‘Oh yes. Marietta has become quite a frequent visitor. After all, we have a lot in common, both being dressmakers. I’m surprised that she hasn’t mentioned me before now . . .’
‘Yes, well . . .’ Ava’s dad grunted. ‘Marietta makes it a rule to tell me very little about her travels. She says she’s afraid I’ll interfere if I know too much. Where she gets that idea from, I don’t know . . .’
Dinah was trying not to smile. ‘She did mention something about you disapproving of some of her friends in the past – and that she’d felt rather embarrassed when you made it your business to tell them so! Anyway,’ she added hastily, ‘it will be absolutely lovely to see her tomorrow at Cinderella’s wedding!’
‘Marietta’s coming to the wedding?’ Ava exclaimed in surprise.
‘Oh yes. She’s made herself a very beautiful new dress to wear, I believe.’
Ava immediately remembered the raspberry-coloured gown she had seen hanging up in Marietta’s shop, but before she could tell Dinah about it her dad was continuing in an urgent voice, ‘Dinah, about this music box . . .’
‘Oh, don’t worry about that. I’ll take it back to the music room after you’ve gone,’ Dinah offered at once. ‘I’ve done that many a time for your sister.’
‘Are you sure? I don’t want to get you into any trouble.’
‘Oh, I won’t get into trouble. If anyone sees me with it, I
’ll just say that some guests borrowed it and asked me to return it for them,’ Dinah said.
‘But, Dad, we are coming back here tomorrow for Cinderella’s wedding, aren’t we?’ Ava asked anxiously, watching her father open Dinah’s wooden chest and take out the music box. ‘I still have to meet Cinderella properly! And I’m to be a bridesmaid at her wedding, remember!’
‘Ava, we can’t risk another encounter with the fairy godmother,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry. Marietta can do what she likes of course, but it’s not safe for you to go to Cinderella’s wedding now.’
‘But, Dad, that’s not fair!’
‘It’s the way it has to be, I’m afraid, Ava,’ her father said firmly.
‘But I don’t want to go home yet!’ Ava’s lower lip trembled and tears pricked her eyes.
‘Ava, it won’t take long for the fairy godmother to find that maid who gave us directions. Then she’ll know we were heading for the servants’ quarters. And if she catches us here, not only will she take Cindy and do goodness knows what to her, but Dinah will be in big trouble for helping us. That’s not what you want, is it?’
Ava sniffed. ‘Of course not, but—’
‘Good – now listen carefully.’ He opened the music box. ‘You go first, with Cindy. I’d take her myself but I think she’ll be calmer with you. And I’ll be following right behind you so don’t worry.’
‘Don’t forget these, Ava,’ Dinah suddenly said, holding out the dress and shoes Ava had lent Tilly from Marietta’s shop. Dinah had a thoughtful look on her face as she handed over the dress – stroking the silk violets on the skirt as if they had given her an idea – but whatever she was thinking, she didn’t say anything.
As Ava took her position in front of the music box with Cindy she was struggling not to cry. ‘Will you say goodbye to Tilly for me, Dinah?’ she said miserably. ‘Tell her I hope she wins the competition!’
Dinah gave her a hug. ‘I’ll tell her – and don’t be too disappointed about having to go home, my dear. After all – you never know when something good may be just around the corner.’
