was wearing a calf-length dress and bangles on her wrists. Her hair was tied back in a loose bun. Her face was lined but her eyes were very bright. She clapped her hands for silence.
“Welcome, girls. Let’s start at the barre. No talking please!”
Rosa knew there would be no chance to say sorry now until the end of the class. Madame Za-Za got very cross if she thought anyone was chatting and not listening. “Facing the barre, first position please.”
Rosa followed Madame Za-Za’s instructions wishing she could apologise.
After they had worked at the barre and then in the centre of the room, Madame Za-Za told them that they were going to learn a dance from Swan Lake.
“Who can tell me the story of Swan Lake?” she asked.
Rosa put up her hand. It had been the last ballet her mother had ever danced in and one of her favourites. “It’s about a magician who enchants a princess called Odette. In the day time she’s a swan – the Swan Queen – but at night time she turns back into a girl.”
“Very good,” said Madame Za-Za. “That is indeed the basis of the story. One night, a prince sees the Swan Queen, falls in love with her and invites her to a ball. But the evil magician stops Odette from going and instead uses magic to disguise his daughter, Odile, to look like her. The prince thinking Odile is Odette asks her to marry him.”
Madame Za-Za smiled. “You will all be swans dancing with the Swan Queen. Rosa, I would like you to be the main part.”
Rosa gasped. “Me!”
Madame Za-Za smiled at her. “I am sure you will dance it very well.”
Rosa was delighted. She listened intently to Madame Za-Za’s instructions as all the swans surrounded the Swan Queen.
There was one tricky bit where she had to dance to one side and then the other, before turning another pirouette while the others danced in towards her and then out, over and over again. They practised it quite a few times without the music and then Madame Za-Za put the CD on. Rosa really wanted to get it right. But she overbalanced on her pirouette and bumped into Olivia, treading heavily on her foot. Olivia gasped and stumbled into Asha, knocking her over.
Madame Za-Za snapped the music off. “Honestly, girls. Come along, you can do better than that! Up you get, Asha. Let’s try again.”
Rosa looked quickly at Olivia. She tried to mouth “sorry” but Olivia turned away. Rosa groaned inwardly. She was sure Olivia thought she had stood on her foot on purpose.
When the class finished, she hurried towards her friend.
“Rosa!” Madame Za-Za called. “May I have a word please?”
Rosa shot a look at Olivia’s disappearing back but there was nothing she could do. She walked back to the teacher. Madame Za-Za was putting away the CD. Rosa waited as she finished.
“I see you have the red ballet shoes, Rosa,“ Madame Za-Za said.
Rosa nodded. “Delphie Durand gave them to me.”
Madame Za-Za smiled. “So they found the perfect home. Did you know they used to belong to me a long time ago?”
“No,” Rosa said, in her astonishment forgetting about Olivia.
Madame Za-Za nodded. “They are very special shoes, Rosa.”
“Delphie told me that,” Rosa said.
“I hope you find out quite how special they are,” Madame Za-Za smiled warmly. “Now, go and get changed.”
Part of Rosa wanted to ask Madame Za-Za what she meant about the shoes being special but she also wanted to catch Olivia before she left. She hurried out but saw it was too late. Olivia was just going through the front door with her mother.
“Olivia!” Rosa called.
But Olivia had already walked out and the door was shutting behind her.
Rosa’s heart sank. I’ll phone her and say sorry as soon as I get home, she thought as she went to the changing room.
The other girls were just leaving. They called goodbye and soon Rosa was on her own. She sat down and bent over to untie the ribbons on her red shoes. As she did so her feet started to tingle. She gasped. The shoes were sparkling and glowing!
She jumped to her feet and then cried out in astonishment as a swirl of rainbow colours and a sweet tinkling of music surrounded her. She started to spin round!
What was going on? She shut her eyes tightly, her heart pounding. Round and round she went until her feet met solid ground. She blinked.
She wasn’t in the changing rooms any more, she was standing in a forest, and through the trees she could see a shimmering dark lake with a single swan swimming on it!
Rosa stared. Where was she? No wonder Delphie and Madame Za-Za had been telling her the ballet shoes were special! They’re magic, she thought, her heart flipping. Oh wow!
There were tall trees all around her and to the right of the lake she could see a big, dark castle. What should she do? She couldn’t just stay standing there. Which way should she go?
Not to the castle, she decided. It looked so forbidding. Instead, she made her way cautiously through the trees towards the lake.
Suddenly, she saw a flash of pink ahead of her. There was someone dancing in the trees. She hurried forward and stopped in amazement as she saw that the dancer was a fairy! The fairy had a tutu made of layers of brown and pink silk and a pale pink bodice with sequins embroidered over it. Her wavy chestnut hair was tied back in a bun. She had delicate wings and in one hand she held a wand. As she saw Rosa, she stopped with a gasp. Her gaze flew to Rosa’s feet. “You’re the girl with the red shoes! The new girl!” She ran over, her brown eyes shining with excitement. “Oh, I’m so glad to see you!”
“You are?” Rosa said in bewilderment.
“Of course!” The fairy seized her hands. “You’re here to help, aren’t you? Sugar told me you would come.”
“Help?” echoed Rosa. “Who’s Sugar? And where exactly am I?”
“You’re in Enchantia, of course!” said the fairy breathlessly. “The magical land of ballet. Oh dear, I’m sorry,” she said, looking at Rosa’s bewildered face. “Sugar said you wouldn’t have been here before and that I had to tell you everything from the beginning. It’s just I’m so excited to see you. I haven’t been doing proper magic for very long and I’ve never met a human before!”
Rosa smiled cautiously as the fairy’s words tumbled out one after another. “So who exactly is Sugar?” she asked.
The fairy took a deep breath and spoke a little more slowly. “She’s my older sister – the Sugar