Jade and the Surprise Party. Darcey Bussell

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      Her sisters, Lottie and Hannah snuggled up in their beds and listened as Jade began the story. Their eyes grew big and round when she came to the bit about the Wicked Fairy storming into the Princess’s christening party in a boiling rage.

      “Show us the picture, Jade!” said Lottie.

      “Sorry?” Jade blinked a few times, realising that she hadn’t been concentrating on the story at all. She’d just been reading the words mechanically while the rest of her brain had been miles away, thinking about Madame Za-Za’s.

      “Jade! Show us the picture!” This time it was Hannah.

      “Sorry.” Jade turned the book round so they could see the Wicked Fairy, then went on to read about the Lilac Fairy. She didn’t lose concentration now because she loved this part of the story so much. But she didn’t get very far.

      “Phone, Jade!” came her mum’s voice, calling up the stairs. “It’s for you!”

      Lottie and Hannah frowned.

      “I’ll be back in a moment,” Jade told them as she hurried out of the room.

      However, she didn’t get downstairs because as she stepped on to the landing her red shoes began to glow. In no time at all the glow turned to a sparkle, and Jade’s heart began to race. Was this really happening again? she asked herself excitedly as she was lifted up in a blur of swirling, whirling colours and twinkling sparkles.

      

      As Jade was set down in a village square the magical haze cleared and she stared around her.

      “I’m back!” she breathed happily. “This is Enchantia!”

      “Jade! Jade!” called a familiar voice.

      The White Cat was running up to her. “Lovely day!”

      Jade hugged her friend. “It’s great to see you again. You look happy, Cat!”

      “Well, thank you!” her friend replied with a chuckle, sweeping off his hat in a grand gesture and bowing low. Then he straightened up smartly, leaned forwards and spoke in a low voice. “I think there’s er… something rather… odd going on, though, Jade.”

      “Odd?” said Jade, feeling curious.

      “Yes, very odd!” replied the White Cat, looking a bit embarrassed. “You see, I keep coming across people standing in huddles and talking in whispers. But the moment I ask what’s going on, they just say, ‘Oh nothing!’ and leave me none the wiser!”

      Jade wrinkled her nose. “That does sound a bit weird,” she agreed. And straight after she spoke, as if from nowhere, there was a tiny flash. “Oh! What was that?”

      “Exactly!” her friend replied, sweeping the air with his paw. “I knew I hadn’t been imagining those little flashes I keep seeing! And yet whenever I mention them to anyone, they look at me as though I’ve gone mad!”

      The White Cat shook his head, baffled, and Jade laughed.

      A moment later her laughter stopped and her hand flew to her mouth. From out of a hazy mist, before her very eyes, appeared the most beautiful ballerina. And not just any ballerina – it was the one Jade had just been reading about, the Lilac Fairy from Sleeping Beauty.

      “Hello,” said the fairy in a tinkly voice. “I’m Lila.”

      “Hello… Lila.” Jade couldn’t help staring at the fairy’s sparkling lilac tutu and her beautiful wings that fluttered and shimmered with the palest shades of the rainbow. On her head a diamond tiara sparkled, and in her hand she held a delicate wand.

      “Lila, meet Jade!” the White Cat introduced her. Then he turned with concern to the fairy. “What is it, Lila? You look worried.”

      “We need your help, White Cat. One of the gingerbread children has climbed too high in the tree beside the green, and now she’s completely stuck and getting upset.”

      “Don’t worry! I’m on my way!” said the White Cat and he bounded off lightly and quickly.

      Jade felt a bit tongue-tied in the presence of the Lilac Fairy, but she didn’t need to say anything. Lila had already taken a small step closer and was talking urgently.

      “It’s true there is a gingerbread child up a tree, but she’s a very good climber and is only pretending to be stuck so I could talk to you alone.”

      Jade’s eyes widened. “Oh!”

      “You see, it’s the White Cat’s birthday today…”

      “The White Cat’s birthday! That explains why he looks so happy!”

      The date popped into Jade’s head. “Oh, but it’s the twenty-ninth of February!” She felt a little pang of sadness for her friend. “Poor old cat only gets a birthday once every four years – whenever it’s a leap year.”

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