Magic Ballerina 7-12 Read online

  Rosa, Nutmeg and Coppelia landed in a heap on the floor of the toyshop. Leonardo, who was still sitting at his desk, jumped to his feet. “What’s going on? His eyes fell on the doll. “Coppelia!”

  “Father!” Coppelia cried.

  Leonardo went so pale, Rosa thought he was going to faint. “You can talk!”

  Rosa scrambled to her feet. She wasn’t sure how to explain. “Um, we’ve got Coppelia back but well, as you can see we…we accidentally managed to bring her to life.”

  “We could use the orb’s last wish to turn her back,” said Nutmeg quickly.

  The toymaker ignored her. He strode over to Coppelia and gently helped her up. “Coppelia, my child.” He touched her face as if he didn’t dare to believe it. “You’re alive. I always wanted you to be, but I couldn’t use the magic in the orb I had made for my own good. Someone else had to wish for it, wanting it for themselves. This is like a dream come true.”

  Coppelia hugged him. “But it’s not a dream, it’s real. Now, I can help you run the shop, Father. Oh, it’ll be wonderful.” She spun round on the spot. “I’ll be able to help people choose presents, and run the till and you’ll have more time to make toys and models.” She stopped in front of him and took his hands. “I’m so happy, Father!”

  “And so am I.” Leonardo turned to the girls and they saw the tears of delight in his eyes. “This is the best day of my life!” he declared. “What happened?”

  Nutmeg quickly told him everything while Coppelia and Rosa swapped clothes again.

  “It was so funny when that silly King Rat ended up in the puddle!” giggled Coppelia. “I’m very glad I don’t have to marry him!”

  “I’m really sorry we used up two of the wishes,” Rosa said to the toymaker apologetically.

  “We weren’t going to use the second wish but we had to, or we wouldn’t have escaped,” put in Nutmeg.

  “You did the right thing,” Leonardo told them. “It’s far more important that you all got back safely.”

  “There’s still one wish left,” Nutmeg pointed out.

  Rosa handed the orb to Leonardo. “Here it is.”

  But the toymaker handed it back. “You have the wish. Both of you. I should never have made the orb. It’s too dangerous an object to have lying around. King Rat could try and steal it again, and wish Coppelia away.”

  Rosa took the orb. A wish! Wow! “What should we wish for?” she asked Nutmeg.

  “I don’t know,” said Nutmeg. “I can do magic myself so I don’t need to wish for things like new dresses or shoes and I’m really happy. Maybe we could wish for something for you.”

  Rosa thought about it. It seemed wrong to waste something as powerful as a wish on a new dress or a toy. And, like Nutmeg, she was really happy. After all, she was about to go to the Royal Ballet School with Olivia. She looked down at her red shoes and suddenly a picture of Holly crying in the changing rooms came into her head and Madame Za-Za’s words echoed through her mind: the time will soon come when you should pass the shoes on. They are only ever really lent to us, Rosa. And whilst the person who wears them helps the people in the land of Enchantia, the magic of the shoes is that they also help the wearer too.

  “I know what I want to wish for,” Rosa said to Nutmeg.

  “Go ahead then,” said her friend.

  Rosa threw the orb into the air. “I wish that I come back to Enchantia again one day and see my friends here, especially Nutmeg.” There was a flash of pink light as she caught the glittering ball.

  Nutmeg stared. “But Rosa! Why wish that? The shoes will bring you back anyway.”

  Rosa shook her head. “No, they won’t.” She swallowed. “It’s time I gave them to someone else, Nutmeg. I know it is.”

  Nutmeg looked dismayed. “But I’ll really miss you.”

  “I’ll miss you too,” said Rosa.

  The toymaker spoke softly. “Don’t be sad, either of you. Rosa’s wish will be granted.”

  Relief rushed through Rosa. She knew that if she was sure she would come back one day, then giving the shoes away wouldn’t be quite so hard.

  “Phew!” said Nutmeg. “I couldn’t bear not seeing you again.”

  “Me neither,” said Rosa, hugging her.

  The toymaker smiled at them both. “Now I think we should make it up to all those people who have been shut out of the shop. Nutmeg, can you magic up a feast for us?”

  “Of course, but why?” asked Nutmeg.

  The toymaker threw open his arms. “I want to have a party!”

  Five minutes later, the doors of the shop were open and the people from the town were pouring in. The toy monkey was playing a lively tune on the organ and there was a massive table loaded with iced cakes and biscuits in the shapes of all different toys, small sandwiches and bowls overflowing with grapes and chocolate-covered strawberries. Coppelia was handing out cups of fruit punch and her father was watching proudly. People started to waltz around the room in pairs, dipping and swaying.

  Rosa felt the music catching hold of her feet. “Come on!” She grabbed Nutmeg’s hands.

  They began to waltz, turning as they moved lightly across the floor. One, two, three. One, two, three…Rosa counted in her head as they twirled round joyfully. Suddenly, she felt her feet start to tingle. Her ballet shoes were glowing!

  “I’m going home!” she cried.

  Nutmeg hugged her. “I hope see you again soon, Rosa.”

  “You will! The magic is going to bring me back one day,” said Rosa. “Bye, Nutmeg!” Colours started to swirl around her in a rainbow haze. “See you soon!” she gasped as she was whisked away…

  Rosa was set down in the changing rooms. Seeing Holly’s coat, everything came flooding back. Knowing no time would have passed in the normal world while she’d been gone, she ran to the door. “Holly!”

  The other girl was at the end of the hall, just going out of the front door. Rosa could still see the tears on her face.

  “You left your coat,” said Rosa.

  For a moment she thought Holly was just going to walk out anyway, but the girl turned and marched back to the changing rooms. She grabbed her coat from the bench. Rosa darted in front of the door. “Holly. Please don’t leave yet. I want to give you something.”

  The younger girl looked at her suspiciously. “What?”

  “My ballet shoes.”

  Holly looked astonished. “Your shoes!” she said glancing at Rosa’s feet.

  “Yes.” Rosa knelt down and started untying the ribbons with trembling fingers. This was hard, but she was sure she was doing the right thing. “They belonged to my friend, Delphie, and before that to Madame Za-Za, and I want you to have them now. They’re old but they’re…” she hesitated, “…very special.” She pushed them into Holly’s hands, watching closely. When she’d touched the ballet shoes for the first time, she’d felt something happen. It was hard to describe. It was as if the moment she had held them they had started to belong to her and she had wanted to put them on.

  She saw Holly’s fingers tighten on the shoes and her eyes widen just slightly. Rosa felt as though a tightly coiled spring inside her had suddenly released. She wasn’t making a mistake. Holly was the right person to own the shoes now. She was sure of it.

  “Why are you giving them to me?” Holly asked, looking up, her eyes perplexed.

  “Oh, I need new shoes,” Rosa said lightly. “And well, I thought you might like them.” She hesitated. “You seem upset about something.”

  A muscle clenched in Holly’s jaw but then she looked at the shoes and it was as if they were working their magic already. Her shoulders seemed to relax. “It’s my parents,” she said, speaking more quietly than she had ever spoken before to Rosa. “They’re divorced. They’re both ballet dancers. All my life I’ve lived with one or other of them, travelling around. It’s been difficult, but better than this – being here in this country, having no friends, seeing neither of them, staying with family I hardly know.” Her eyes glistened w
ith tears. “I miss them both so very much.”

  Rosa began to understand what Madame Za-Za had meant about things often being different under the surface.

  “This is the first nice thing anyone has done for me since I got here,” Holly said, looking at the shoes.

  “It won’t be the last nice thing anyone does for you, Holly,” Rosa told her softly. “Everyone here is lovely – Madame Za-Za, all the girls in class. You just need to give them a chance.” She squeezed the other girl’s hands around the shoes. “Enjoy the shoes.” She remembered the words Delphie had spoken to her. “I hope you find out just how special they are.”

  She ran out of the changing rooms.

  As she reached the front door of Madame Za-Za’s and went through it for the last time she thought about everything that was ahead of her – boarding at the Royal Ballet School, hopefully becoming a real ballerina one day. A whole new world was opening up for her.

  She paused on the top step of the dance school, thinking of Nutmeg, and all her friends in Enchantia. They’ll be there waiting for me, she thought. Even if I haven’t got the red shoes. Remembering her wish, she smiled happily, shut the door and hurried away.

  1. Start with your right foot behind your left foot and bend your knees. Hold your arms in front of you (this is 4th position with arms as well).

  2. Rise up on to the tiptoe of your left foot and pull your right foot up to your knee in one movement, using your right foot to push yourself into a turn. Swish your right arm out to the side.

  3. Bring your arms back together in front of you and lower your right foot, bending your knees back into a demi-plié. Your beautiful pirouette is complete!

  Acknowledgements

  Special thanks to Linda Chapman and Nellie Ryan

  Copyright

  Rosa and The Secret Princess first published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books 2009

  Rosa and The Golden Bird first published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books 2009

  Rosa and The Magic Moonstone first published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books 2009

  Rosa and the Special Prize first published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books 2009

  Rosa and the Magic Dream first published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books 2009

  Rosa and the Three Wishes first published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books 2009

  HarperCollins Children’s Books is a division of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 77–85 Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith, London We 8JB

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  Text copyright © HarperCollins Children’s Books 2009

  MAGIC BALLERINA™ and the ‘Magic Ballerina’ logo are trademarks of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

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  EPub Edition © OCTOBER 2012 ISBN: 9780007513550

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