Kitabı oku: «Holly and the Rose Garden»

Holly Wilde skipped down the steps of her ballet school. Twirling around, she thought about the class she had just finished. Her teacher, Madame Za-Za, had been teaching them to dance like baby swans. They were holding an open day for parents and that was the dance Holly’s class were going to be performing.

Feeling happy, Holly danced a few of the steps. As she moved forward, stepping first on to one leg and then the other, a picture of her mum doing the same dance up on her pointes a few years ago came into her mind. Holly’s happiness ebbed away slightly. Her parents, who were divorced, both worked for different ballet companies, which meant they were away travelling a lot. Holly had come to live with her aunt and uncle.

It had been hard at first, but it had helped that an amazing thing had happened to her. She’d been given a pair of red ballet shoes that were magic! They had the power to whisk her away to Enchantia – a land where characters from all the different ballets lived.

It was wonderful to have magic in her life, but it didn’t stop Holly missing her mum and dad. Before she had come to live with her aunt and uncle, she and her mum had travelled everywhere together.

Holly sighed as she walked through the ballet-school gates. She couldn’t help wishing that she was going home to show her mum the steps she was learning for the open day.

A car drew up. It was Holly’s aunt.

“Hi, Holly!” she said and smiled.

“Hi,” Holly replied, opening the door.

“There’s a nice surprise waiting for you at home,” her aunt said. “Your costume for the open day has arrived.”

Holly brightened up. “Oh, wow!” She couldn’t wait to get back!

As soon as they got home, Holly hurried inside. On the kitchen table was a white tutu and a white headdress made of gorgeous feathers. She picked it up and ran upstairs. After changing into the costume, she got her red ballet shoes out of her bag and put them on. Walking over to the mirror, a sigh of delight escaped her. The costume was so beautiful! Holly touched the net of the tutu. Her arms crossed in front of her, she did an experimental plié and then moved with small light steps to the side.

Catching sight of herself in the mirror, she paused. Oh, Mum, she thought, if you were here with me, we could dance together and practise like we used to.

A wave of loneliness swept over her, but then Holly was distracted by a tingling in her feet. Glancing down she saw that her shoes were glowing.

The magic’s working! she realised feeling a thrill of excitement. I must be going to Enchantia again!

She started to spin round and round, and the next second she was whirled away in a cloud of glittering colours.

Holly’s feet touched down on solid ground and as the magical haze cleared, she saw that she was standing in a beautiful garden. There were roses everywhere – white ones, red ones, pink ones. Holly looked about her. Where was she? And where was her friend the White Cat? He was usually there to meet her whenever she arrived in Enchantia.

But just at that moment, Holly heard a loud shrieking cry.

“H-hello?” Holly called warily.

There was another loud shriek and out from behind a bush strode a peacock. His body was bright blue and he had golden eyes. On his head was a crest that looked almost like a little crown. His long tail of feathers trailed on the ground after him. Seeing Holly, he stared.

Holly stepped backwards uncertainly. The bird’s beak looked very sharp and he had sharp claws on his feet too.

He looked her up and down intently and then his eyes seemed suddenly to glitter with approval. “Well, hellllllo there!”

His tail feathers rose and snapped open, like an enormous fan. “And who might you be, my pretty little one?”