Skating School: Silver Skate Surprise Read online

  Linda Chapman lives in Leicestershire with her family and two dogs. When she is not writing, she spends her time looking after her three children, reading, talking to people about writing, and horse riding whenever she can.

  You can find out more about Linda on her websites at lindachapman.co.uk and lindachapmanauthor.co.uk

  Books by Linda Chapman

  BRIGHT LIGHTS

  CENTRE STAGE

  MY SECRET UNICORN series

  NOT QUITE A MERMAID series

  SKATING SCHOOL series

  SKY HORSES series

  STARDUST series

  UNICORN SCHOOL series

  Linda Chapman

  Illustrated by Nellie Ryan

  PUFFIN

  To Lee Weatherly for reading through this book, for understanding

  what I was trying to do, and for all the ideas and encouragement

  throughout the whole series. Thank you!

  PUFFIN BOOKS

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA

  Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3

  (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)

  Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd)

  Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia

  (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)

  Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi – 110 017, India

  Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand

  (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd)

  Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

  Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  puffinbooks.com

  First published 2010

  Text copyright © Linda Chapman, 2010

  Illustrations copyright © Nellie Ryan, 2010

  All rights reserved

  The moral right of the author and illustrator has been asserted

  Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

  ISBN: 978-0-14-194335-0

  Contents

  In the Magic Land of Ice and Winter…

  1. Scurrying Snowballs

  2. The Lulling Dance

  3. A Brilliant Idea

  4. Plans and Preparations

  5. Midnight Magic

  6. The Final Competition

  7. The Shortlist

  8. The Ice Princess

  9. Going Home

  In the Magic Land of Ice and Winter…

  Things were getting worse. A blanket of snow still covered the fields and meadows, towns and villages, and the frozen lakes on the lower slopes of the mountains still glittered in the pale sun. But up on the high peaks the snow and ice were melting.

  Buds on the trees were breaking out into green leaves and the frozen rivers that ran down the craggy slopes were turning to water. Every so often an avalanche of softened snow and rocks would crash down the mountains with a muffled roar.

  The ice sylphs who lived in the lower reaches of the land were very worried. Up in the mountains, a fire dragon had curled around one of the highest peaks, jets of fire streaming out of its mouth with every breath as it rested. The sylphs knew they had to persuade it to move before it did any more damage. But to do that they needed an Ice Princess.

  In the Magic Iceskating Academy, three of the teachers were looking at a list of girls’ names.

  ‘Which girl will it be?’ Madame Li, one of the iceskating teachers, wondered.

  Monsieur Carvallio, a tall, dark ice sylph, studied the list. ‘Nearly all of them are now good enough at skating to be the Ice Princess and perform the Lulling Dance for us.’

  ‘But the Ice Princess needs to be more than just a good iceskater,’ Madame Letsworth, the headteacher, reminded them. ‘She must be a certain type of person to make the magic in the dance work.’

  ‘We have to choose well,’ agreed Madame Li.

  Madame Letsworth’s gaze ran over the names. She had a feeling she knew which girl it might be, but there was still time for one of the other girls to surprise her. In a week’s time the teachers would make their decision. Who was it going to be?

  Chapter One

  Scurrying Snowballs

  Emily, Hannah and Molly swished across the snow on their skis, past trees sparkling with icicles. Emily pushed first one pole and then the other, her brown hair blowing back from her face. She’d never been cross-country skiing before she came to the Land of Ice and Winter. But then she’d never driven a sledge pulled by huskies, talked to an ice dragon or held a frost fairy either!

  Hannah and Molly were chatting. Hannah’s long blonde hair was tied in a ponytail and Molly’s black hair was held back by a hairband. The three of them had become really good friends since they had first arrived at the Iceskating Academy. Five weeks ago they had been whisked away from the human world by magic and given the opportunity to stay in the Land of Ice and Winter for six weeks, improving their skating, living at the school and going to classes together.

  The ice sylphs who taught at the school had told them that no one would know they had gone because time passed differently in the magic world. At the end of their time at the Iceskating Academy, one of the girls would be chosen to be the Ice Princess, a girl who would help the ice sylphs.

  Emily was very glad she had decided to stay. She’d had a brilliant time – it had been the best five weeks of her life. She could hardly believe that in just a week she, and all the others, would be going back to their normal lives. I know we’ll e-mail and phone each other when we’re back home, she thought. But it won’t be the same.

  ‘You’re quiet, Em.’ Hannah glanced over. ‘Are you OK?’

  Emily sighed. ‘Just thinking about going home.’

  ‘Well, don’t,’ said Molly quickly. ‘We won’t enjoy our last few days if we keep thinking about all of this ending on Sunday. No talking about going home this week, OK?’

  Emily and Hannah nodded.

  ‘Let’s talk about the Ice Princess instead,’ Molly went on. ‘Just think – whoever it is will get to see a real fire dragon!’

  The girls had been told that an enormous fire dragon had landed on a mountain and that his breath was melting all the snow and the rivers, endangering the whole land. One of the girls was going to be chosen to be the Ice Princess. She would have to perform a magic ice dance in front of the dragon to try to make him fly on. If she did it successfully, she would be granted a wish as a reward.

  ‘What would you wish for, Hannah,’ asked Molly, ‘if you got to be the Ice Princess?’

  Hannah thought hard. ‘I don’t know. Maybe to be the best skater in the world – to be Olympic champion one day.’

  ‘I’d wish for something that would give me unlimited wishes,’ said Molly. ‘Or if we weren’t allowed that, I’d wish for loads of money so I could buy everyone everything they wanted. Then I’d get myself a massive limousine so I could visit you both all the time, and maybe a big house in the country where we could all go in the holidays. Oh, and my own ice rink and full-time
coach and my own sweet shop.’

  Emily giggled. ‘Not much then!’

  ‘Nope.’ Molly grinned. ‘Just a few little things.’

  ‘What about you, Em?’ asked Hannah.

  Emily hadn’t thought much about the wish. All she really wanted was to be chosen as Ice Princess and to save the land, even though it would mean skating in front of a massive dragon. ‘I’m not sure. Maybe that when I’m back home I can go iceskating lots. Though Molly’s wish sounds good!’

  ‘I wonder what the competition will be this week,’ mused Hannah.

  Every week the girls took part in a competition that the ice sylphs set to help them choose who would be the Ice Princess. The winner was awarded a special pair of coloured skates. Sometimes the competitions had involved iceskating, but at other times the girls had competed outside in teams, doing things like scavenger hunts, relay races and even husky driving!

  ‘We’ll find out about this week’s competition when we get back,’ Molly said. ‘We know it’s going to –’

  ‘Hey, look at that!’ Hannah interrupted her. She pointed at a snowball that was on top of the bank of a frozen river. It was rolling along as if it was alive.

  ‘Oh, wow! It’s a snowball mouse,’ Emily exclaimed as the mouse rolled down the bank and stopped nearby.

  ‘It’s a what?’ Molly stared at her.

  ‘A snowball mouse,’ Emily repeated. She had read lots of books about the Land of Ice and Winter and the creatures that inhabited it. ‘They’re just normal mice, but they have fluffy coats so they can disguise themselves as a snowball if an owl or fox comes along. I’ve wanted to see one for ages. They’re amazing. They live in big groups. If one gets really scared, it squeaks loudly and all the other snowball mice jump on top of each other’s backs until they’re in a massive ball. Then they roll towards the predator, frightening it off.’

  ‘That’s so cool!’ said Molly. She went closer to look at the mouse, but as she did so her ski slipped on a patch of ice and she fell over. ‘Whoa!’ she gasped.

  ‘That’s so not!’ Hannah said, and they all giggled.

  Emily was just about to ski over and help Molly up when there was the sound of voices. Two girls came skiing through the trees. The girl in the front was very pretty with strawberry-blonde hair.

  Emily’s heart sank. It was Camilla, her least favourite girl at the school, with her best friend, Tess.

  Seeing Emily, Molly and Hannah, they came over. ‘Oh dear, have you fallen over, Molly?’ said Camilla, her eyebrows rising. ‘How careless. You’ve obviously been hanging round with Emily for too long.’

  Emily was the least experienced skater at skating school and she had fallen over a lot at first when she had been skating. She had improved really quickly, but Camilla wouldn’t let her forget about it.

  ‘That’s not fair!’ Molly protested. ‘Emily hardly falls over now at all when she’s skating!’

  Camilla smiled. ‘Oh, yes, silly me. I forgot. Here, let me help you up, Molly.’ She held out her hand.

  Looking surprised, Molly took it, but as she was halfway to her feet Camilla let go and Molly bumped back down again.

  ‘Whoops! Sorry. My hand must have slipped,’ said Camilla, grinning at Tess.

  ‘Oh, ha, ha, very funny,’ said Molly as Emily and Hannah quickly helped her to her feet.

  ‘Well, I thought so,’ Camilla said smugly. She and Tess started to ski off.

  Then Molly’s eyes fell on the snowball mouse near Camilla’s feet. A mischievous grin crossed her face. Bending down, she grabbed a handful of snow and threw it at Camilla’s back. It splatted against her shoulder.

  Camilla gasped and swung round. ‘Why… you…’ Spotting the mouse, she assumed it was a ready-made snowball. She instantly swooped on him, picked him up and…

  ‘EEEEEEE!’ the mouse squeaked loudly in alarm. Camilla stared in shock. There was a flurry of movement in the bushes and out scurried about a hundred other mice.

  ‘But… but…’ stammered Camilla as they headed towards her.

  Tess squealed. ‘What’s happening?’

  The mouse, still clutched in Camilla’s hand, squeaked again. The other mice jumped on each other’s backs and formed a giant snowball that began to roll towards Camilla. She tried to run backwards, but it was impossible in skis and she tripped over.

  ‘Argh!’ she cried as the snowball reached her and she was suddenly covered in a blanket of white scurrying mice. They jumped on her head, ran down her arms and covered her legs and body so that only her head was poking out.

  Emily, Molly and Hannah burst out laughing.

  ‘Get them off me!’ Camilla shrieked to Tess.

  Molly grinned as Tess hurried forward to help. ‘Oh dear, you’ve fallen over, Camilla. How careless of you.’ She turned to Emily and Hannah. ‘Come on. I want to find out about the competition.’

  Chuckling together and leaving an outraged Camilla being helped up from the snow, the three of them skied away.

  Chapter Two

  The Lulling Dance

  Half an hour later, the girls clustered round Madame Letsworth at the side of the ice rink. Frost fairies fluttered through the air. They were each about two centimetres high, with gauzy wings and clouds of fluffy hair. The frost fairies looked after everything at the skating school – tidying up, doing the cooking and keeping the ice smooth.

  Emily put out her hand towards them. Two of the fairies flew over and perched on her fingers, smiling up at her and chattering in voices that were too high for Emily to understand.

  ‘No doubt you are all wondering about the final competition,’ Madame Letsworth began. ‘As you know, the Ice Princess is going to have to help to move a fire dragon. To do that, she must perform a magic ice dance for him called the Lulling Dance.’

  Several of the girls gasped, but Emily, Molly and Hannah just exchanged looks. They’d already secretly found out about the Lulling Dance the week before and so it wasn’t a surprise to them.

  ‘If the magic ice dance works, the dragon will become sleepy and cooperative,’ Madame Letsworth continued. ‘The Ice Princess will then ask him to leave the mountain. Obviously it is very important that the Ice Princess can skate the Lulling Dance well enough. For this week’s competition, you will all perform the dance in front of an audience on Sunday morning.’

  Camilla put up her hand. ‘Will the best dancer win and be the Ice Princess?’

  Madame Letsworth shook her head. ‘Not necessarily. The Ice Princess needs to be able to skate the dance accurately, but she also needs to have certain other qualities if she is to make the magic work when she skates in front of the dragon. After watching you all dance and taking into consideration what we have learnt about you during your time here, the teachers and I will draw up a shortlist of three girls before making our final choice. The girl who is then chosen will be presented with a tiara and a pair of silver skates. She will be our Ice Princess.’

  Emily felt excited and nervous all at the same time – imagine being chosen as the Ice Princess!

  ‘What will we wear?’ asked Molly.

  ‘The Ice Princess always wears a white dress,’ Madame Letsworth replied. ‘The frost fairies will design and make a dress for each of you to wear for the competition.’ She looked around at them all. ‘I would like you all to practise very hard this week, girls. It is vitally important that we choose the right person to be our Ice Princess to give the Lulling Dance the best chance of working.’

  Emily saw looks of determination on the faces of everyone around her.

  ‘Now, on to the ice!’ Madame Letsworth declared.

  They all started warming up. The girls were taught in three groups for skating – beginners, intermediate and advanced. Emily was in the beginners’ group with two other girls, Tilda and Heather.

  None of them were proper beginners any more. Emily had improved the most and now she could do many of the jumps and spins that the girls in the advanced group could do, but, even so, she was glad t
he groups had stayed the same. She really liked her skating teacher, Monsieur Carvallio.

  After five minutes, Monsieur Carvallio called them together. He was tall with short dark hair and had pointed ears like all the other ice sylphs. ‘As you have just heard, this week you’ll be learning the Lulling Dance. It’s a difficult dance, but if you try hard, you should all be able to manage it. All three of you have progressed exceptionally well in the last five weeks. Now, let’s get started. It begins like this…’

  Half an hour later, Emily was beginning to understand what Monsieur Carvallio had meant when he had said the dance was difficult. As well as hard jumps like double flips and double toe loops, there were complicated linking steps and spins.

  Monsieur Carvallio started by teaching them the first section, which had a double loop jump followed by a fast sequence of steps, and then he let them all practise on their own while he helped them individually.

  ‘This is impossible,’ said Tilda to Emily as she fell for the umpteenth time on the double loop.

  Emily could manage the jump OK, but she was finding the step sequence that came straight after it hard.

  It didn’t help that over in the advanced group she could hear Camilla saying loudly, ‘Oh, this routine is so easy!’ To prove her point, she effortlessly turned a double loop and then, just to show off, leapt into a triple loop, which was even harder. She glanced round smugly.

  ‘Extend your arms more fully, Camilla,’ Madame Letsworth said sharply. ‘And please concentrate on the routine that you are supposed to be learning.’

  Emily forced herself to focus on her own skating. She knew that she had to ignore what the others were doing. At the end of the day, all she could do to give herself the best chance of winning the competition was to practise as hard as she could.

  Skating backwards, she kicked her left toe into the ice. She pushed upwards with her other leg and spun round twice in the air before landing neatly. Good, thought Emily. But as she began on the difficult sequence of fast steps, her skate caught an edge and she landed on the ice with a bump. Emily sighed and got to her feet. It looked like she had a lot of practising to do!