The Magic Princess Dress Read online

  Ava could see the logic in his argument and when she got outside she tried to imagine that she was a cat who had just found itself in unfamiliar territory. Where would she go once she had left the garden? A cat would just follow its instinct, she thought.

  She allowed herself to do the same, even though letting herself be guided by a feeling about where she should go wasn’t something that she was very used to doing.

  Maybe it was instinct or maybe it wasn’t, but she was soon walking in exactly the same direction she had taken two days previously – and it therefore wasn’t long before she found herself standing outside Marietta’s shop. The card about the cat was gone today and the ‘closed’ sign was on the door. Nevertheless, she was sure if she rang the bell, Marietta would answer.

  She had been waiting several minutes when an upstairs window opened and Marietta’s head appeared. ‘Oh . . . it’s you, Ava! Just a moment. I’ll come down.’

  Marietta soon arrived on the other side of the door and drew back the bolt. The front room of the shop seemed just as drab and uninviting as it had done previously and it would be impossible to guess what the shop was really like on the other side of the beaded curtain, Ava thought.

  ‘How are you, Ava?’ Marietta asked as she invited her inside.

  ‘OK, thanks – but I still haven’t found Cindy.’

  ‘If she’s gone through one of my magic mirrors, there’s no point in looking for her here any more,’ Marietta said matter-off-factly.

  ‘But we don’t know for sure if that cat was Cindy,’ Ava pointed out. ‘It might not have been.’ (She decided it was best not to question the authenticity of the magic mirrors again since Marietta clearly believed in them so passionately.)

  ‘I suppose that’s true,’ Marietta admitted. ‘Though I have a very strong feeling that it was Cindy. Don’t you?’

  Ava frowned. ‘I don’t know,’ she said, wanting to add that in any case a strong feeling didn’t amount to a fact. But she decided to keep quiet about that too.

  ‘Well, in any case, I’m very glad you’ve come back because I don’t think I made things totally clear to you the other day,’ Marietta continued cheerfully. ‘Of course, it’s quite natural to feel sceptical – frightened even – when you first get told about the magic portals. Especially when nobody has introduced you to the idea of magic until now. But if you can just experience one of my portals for yourself, you’ll understand everything. I should have explained to you that there’s no need to be scared of going to find your cat. You see, since the dress with the missing bow – which your cat took with it through the mirror – is from my fairytale collection, then we know she must have been transported to fairytale land. There are many different fairytale lands, you understand, but we have access to a particularly nice one in this shop. And it’s a lovely safe place for you to visit if you want to follow Cindy. All you have to do is choose the right mirror in order to get there – but that’s easy too. There’s only one mirror in this shop that is the true gateway to fairytale land. I’m sure you’ll have no trouble finding it.’

  Ava knew she should have felt as disbelieving and dismissive as she had done on her previous visit to the shop, but for some reason she felt different today. She had a strange, excited feeling inside, as if lots of fizzy bubbles had been let off inside her tummy. Her sensible mind told her that no one could travel through a magic mirror into another land, but her imagination decided to go along with what Marietta was saying – at least for a little while. After all, what was the worst thing that could happen?

  ‘You won’t tell my dad I was here, will you?’ Ava checked quickly.

  ‘Don’t worry, I won’t need to tell him anything,’ Marietta said, smiling.

  Ava thought it was a strange way of answering but she guessed it was the best she was going to get.

  ‘Listen, Ava, we can talk about your dad later,’ Marietta added briskly. ‘Right now we must get on with preparing you for your visit through the mirror. First you must come and change into that dress. Follow me.’

  Ava felt a tingly feeling run through her as she followed Marietta through the beaded curtain into the back room, where Marietta directed her to the changing cubicle. When she pushed back the gold sparkly curtain from the front of the cubicle, she found that the walls inside were a shimmery mother-of-pearl colour. There was a long mirror on one wall, and she briefly wondered if that could be a magic one – but it was so plain and ordinary-looking that she quickly dismissed that idea. The gold and emerald coloured bridesmaid’s dress was hanging inside, waiting for her to change into. To her amazement it was exactly the right size, and she loved the way the bodice fitted snugly while the ankle-length skirt billowed out at the bottom. As well as fitting her perfectly, the colours seemed just right for her, somehow making her blonde hair look even blonder and her green eyes even greener.

  ‘I look just like a fairytale princess!’ Ava exclaimed, when she came out of the cubicle to show Marietta.

  Marietta beamed. ‘And that is what you shall be when you cross to the other side of the mirror,’ she told her.

  ‘I hope you’re right,’ Ava said, starting to giggle, because whatever else happened, dressing up like this was the most fun she’d had in ages.

  ‘All you need now is some sort of decoration for your hair and some matching shoes,’ Marietta said. ‘Go to my accessories shelves and choose what you want.’

  So Ava went over to the shelves she had spotted on her previous visit and chose a pair of emerald shoes with little gold bows on the front that seemed to have been made to match her dress. ‘I can’t believe they fit so well,’ she said when she tried them on.

  ‘It’s just like when Cinderella tried on the glass slipper, isn’t it?’ Marietta said, with a twinkle in her eye.

  Ava grinned, imagining herself as Cinderella offering her foot to the handsome prince. ‘Do you think it would be too much to wear a tiara in my hair as well?’ she asked excitedly, spotting a small gold one with a green stone set in the centre.

  ‘I don’t see why not. You’re a princess now, after all,’ Marietta replied.

  So Ava put on the tiara.

  ‘Now,’ said Marietta, ‘it’s time for you to choose which mirror is the doorway to fairytale land.’

  ‘Do you know which one it is?’ Ava asked, feeling as if she was taking part in some sort of thrilling party game.

  ‘Of course, but I can’t tell you,’ Marietta said. ‘Like I explained before, the wearer of the dress must find the mirror for themselves if the magic is to work the very first time they try it.’

  ‘I think the mirror that belongs with this dress must be upstairs . . .’ Ava began slowly. ‘Because it was that room that had the golden light the other day . . .’

  Marietta smiled, pointing encouragingly to the gold spiral staircase. ‘You know the way.’

  So Ava mounted the twisting staircase for the second time, taking care not to trip on her long gown. At the top she paused and looked around. The room hadn’t changed since her last visit. The work-table with the sewing machine was still against the wall under the window, and the rest of the room was crammed full with rail upon rail of beautiful wedding and bridesmaids’ dresses.

  Ava made up her mind to inspect each mirror before she made her decision. The first was a large oval one with a heavy wooden frame. It looked old but nothing about it reminded Ava of a fairytale. The next two were rectangular with pastel-coloured plastic frames – Ava was sure it couldn’t be either of them. The fairytale mirror must be one of a kind, she thought. On the end wall was a huge square mirror with a very thick gold-painted frame that had gold ivy leaves set into all four corners. It was grand enough to belong in a princess’s palace, Ava thought, but somehow she didn’t think that was the one either. Then she came across a small mirror with a wooden frame that had animals carved into it. There were birds, a family of deer, a hedgehog and some very cute rabbits. Ava really liked that one, but she still didn’t think it was the one she was
looking for.

  She began to check out the full-length mirrors. The first was a plain oblong one with a wooden frame that swivelled on its wooden base. The next was similar except that the glass around the edge had little coloured flowers on it. Then, half hidden behind a row of bridesmaids’ dresses, Ava found a mirror made from stained glass that seemed to contain all the colours of the rainbow. It was the most beautiful of all.

  Ava gathered up her courage and stared into the mirror, trying to remember what Marietta had told her about the magic reaction. She stepped forward so that her face was almost touching the mirror, feeling excited as she waited to see what would happen next. Would she really be able to pass through the mirror to the other side? She took a deep breath and another step forward, but all that happened was that she bumped her nose against the glass.

  She instantly felt silly – and angry with herself for being taken in by Marietta – and she was about to give up and tell Marietta that the whole idea was stupid, when her eyes fell on the music box that had been here on her last visit. It was still sitting on the work-table next to the sewing machine, but its lid was now closed rather than open. The picture on the lid was a very pretty one of Cinderella wearing a raspberry-coloured dress and a sparkling tiara. Slowly Ava reached out and opened the box. It immediately started playing a cheerful melody, while the little princess figure inside twirled round, just like the ballerina in Ava’s music box did at home. And just like the dancing figure in Ava’s music box, this one was reflected in a small rectangular mirror on the inside of the music-box lid.

  As Ava stared at the little dancing princess she found herself remembering how Cindy – who was a very playful cat – sometimes sat in front of her own music box and gave the little ballerina a tap with her paw as it twirled round on its bouncy spring.

  Carefully Ava bent down to look at the little mirror more closely. It was so small that she could only see her face and hair and the tiara on top of her head. But as she continued to gaze into the glass, something strange started to happen. The twirling Cinderella’s reflection began to glow brighter and brighter. Then Ava saw that her own face had a yellow glow to it and that her tiara was getting more and more dazzling. Finally she found that she couldn’t look into the mirror at all any more because the reflection was so blinding.

  After several seconds of keeping her eyes shut against the glare, the brightness seemed to lessen and Ava cautiously opened them again. The little rectangular mirror was still showing her reflection, but incredibly the music box within which it was set had completely changed. The box Ava was staring at now looked as if it had been hand-carved from a very fine goldish wood, and the whole thing was decorated with beautiful hand-painted multicoloured songbirds. Strangest of all, the little dancing princess figure now looked as if she was made of solid gold.

  Ava gasped in shock and jumped back from the music box, turning breathlessly to ask Marietta what had just happened. But as she looked round she got an even greater surprise – for she was no longer in the dress shop!

  5

  Ava rubbed her eyes, hardly able to believe it. Instead of being in Marietta’s shop, she was inside the most magnificent room she had ever seen – a room that looked like it belonged in a fairytale palace!

  The room was huge, with massive windows framed by very grand gold and green curtains. The walls were also gold and on them hung several old-fashioned paintings and ornate mirrors. Ava looked above her head and saw that the high ceiling had beautiful cornicing around the outside and a dome in the middle with winged cherubs painted on it. A magnificent crystal chandelier was hanging down from the centre of the dome.

  The furniture in the room was also very impressive. An enormous grand piano sat in the centre of the floor along with two huge gold harps. Several velvet-covered chairs, and couches with beautifully carved legs, were positioned against the walls, all of them scattered with richly coloured silk cushions. On various little tables around the room stood expensive-looking china ornaments and crystal vases containing beautiful scented flowers.

  Ava looked down at her gold and green dress, which was the only thing that seemed to have remained unchanged. Her appearance was now perfectly in keeping with her new surroundings, she realized.

  Ava barely had time to take in all of this, before a shrill voice behind her asked, ‘Who are you?’

  A second, equally snooty voice added, ‘And who gave you permission to enter the palace music room?’

  Ava whirled round to see, standing in the doorway, two girls in their late teens dressed in very expensive-looking gowns. One was blonde, the other dark-haired, and they both had similar sharp features and scowling faces.

  ‘W-where am I exactly?’ Ava asked, hearing her own voice but feeling as if someone else was speaking the words.

  ‘We just told you. You’re in the royal music room. Only family members and special guests are allowed in here.’

  ‘Yes,’ said the other girl haughtily. ‘So you’d better go back to the guest quarters with all the other princesses.’

  Ava blinked. ‘Princesses?’ Maybe I’m dreaming all this, she thought.

  The blonde girl was frowning. ‘Well, aren’t you a princess?’

  ‘She must be,’ said the other dismissively, as if princesses were two-a-penny. ‘All the bridesmaids are princesses. And she’s definitely a bridesmaid or why would she be wearing that dress?’

  ‘Aren’t you supposed to be at the rehearsal, or whatever it’s called, with all the other bridesmaids?’ the blonde girl asked Ava impatiently.

  ‘I . . . I don’t know . . .’ Ava murmured, flushing. ‘I came in here to look for my cat,’ she added in a rush. ‘You haven’t seen her, have you? She’s a tabby cat called Cindy.’

  ‘Cindy?’ The dark-haired girl started to laugh in a mocking sort of way.

  ‘What is it? What’s so funny?’ Ava asked uncertainly.

  ‘Did you deliberately call your cat after our sister?’ the girl eventually spluttered. ‘You really shouldn’t have, you know – our sister is nothing like a cat!’

  ‘No, she’s nowhere near as clever,’ the blonde one added spitefully. ‘For one thing, she’s totally hopeless at catching mice! We used to lock her in the cellar at home and tell her she must catch at least one and wring its neck before we’d let her out again – but she never could!’

  ‘She doesn’t like to harm any animal – even a mouse – so we used to make her spend all day in that cellar,’ the dark one added. ‘Served her right for being such a goody-goody!’

  ‘Such a pity she wasn’t shut in the cellar when the prince came by with that silly glass shoe,’ the blonde one said crossly.

  ‘I know – and I never did understand why that shoe didn’t disappear at midnight along with the rest of that interfering fairy godmother’s trickery.’

  ‘Wait a minute . . .’ Ava could hardly believe her ears. ‘Is your sister Cinderella?’

  ‘Of course,’ snorted the blonde one. ‘Who else did you think we were talking about?’

  ‘Actually, she’s our stepsister,’ added the dark one. ‘We are not truly related to her, thank goodness. Our dear mother married Cinderella’s extremely pathetic father, who soon realized our mother was nowhere near as soppily gentle as his first wife. Soon afterwards he died, and after that it didn’t take us long to turn that silly daughter of his into our servant. I am Ermentrude and this is my sister Astrid.’

  ‘The ugly sisters!’ Ava blurted out excitedly.

  As soon as she’d said it she regretted her mistake. Both sisters’ eyes flashed menacingly.

  ‘Who do you think you’re calling ugly, you stupid little girl?’ the dark one growled.

  The other sister took a few steps closer and hissed in a threatening voice, ‘Perhaps you’d like to tell us exactly which princess you are before we throw you into the palace dungeons?’

  Ava felt her mouth go dry. Panicking, she did the only thing she could think of. She turned her back on them and stared as h
ard as she could into the little mirror in the music-box lid, wishing desperately to be transported back to Marietta’s shop.

  In a matter of seconds the gold dancing figure began to glow brightly, and soon Ava’s face in the mirror was glowing too. As the two ugly sisters came further towards her, Ava closed her eyes – and she didn’t open them again until the bright light had gone.

  Ava could feel her heart racing as she allowed her wobbly legs to lower her trembling body on to the floor, where she sat gradually getting her breath back. She was in Marietta’s shop again, in the room at the top of the spiral staircase and she could hardly believe what had just happened to her.

  Marietta wasn’t crazy after all! The magic was real!

  There could be no logical explanation for what had just happened. She didn’t even try to think of one. Her mind felt temporarily frozen, as if there was no point in trying to think at all any more. She felt as if all her previous thoughts counted for nothing after what she had just discovered.

  As she sat there slowly recovering from the shock, she became aware of Marietta’s soft voice in conversation with someone in the room below.

  ‘You shouldn’t try to stop her, Otto. It’s not natural. She has the same gift as you and me and she should be allowed to use it.’ Marietta was talking to her dad! He must have discovered she was gone and come looking for her.

  Ava heard her father’s voice then, low and angry. ‘Just because she’s able to do a thing, doesn’t mean she has to do it,’ he said. ‘Now where is she?’

  Ava couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Her dad clearly knew all about the magic mirrors – and about Ava’s ability to use them. And what’s more, it sounded as though he might be able to use them himself!

  ‘What makes you think she’s still here?’ Marietta was asking him.