Skating School: Sapphire Skate Fun Read online

  ‘We’ll have to start planning what we’re doing after lunch,’ said Jo as she and the others hurried to the lockers.

  ‘I might use a routine I’ve done for competitions before,’ said Maisie, and Milly nodded.

  Issy imagined herself flying around on the ice, jumping high, spinning fast. She couldn’t wait to start thinking up her routine!

  Issy, Jo, Maisie and Milly ate lunch as quickly as they could and then went to the music room. The music boxes fascinated Issy. They had silver buttons down the front arranged in rows and columns. Every time the girls pressed a button, music flooded out. It was a bit like a strange CD player, but when Issy looked inside, she saw four ice dragons working a series of wheels and levers.

  Issy couldn’t seem to find a piece of music that she instantly liked, but she didn’t want to spend ages choosing so in the end she picked a fast one that sounded OK. She would be able to do lots of jumps to it. There were so many things she wanted to put in – a double lutz and a double flip, a layback spin, a Flying Camel and some combination jumps. The hard thing was working out what not to include!

  The others had all decided to adapt routines they had used for competitions at home and were spending ages trying to find the right music. Issy decided to leave them to it.

  ‘Where are you going?’ Jo asked.

  Issy shrugged. ‘Just to look around.’ But really she just wanted to talk again to Cobweb, the magical frost fairy, before lunch was over. ‘I’ll see you in a bit.’

  She left the music room and ran to the dorm. Cobweb was there with the other dorm fairies tidying up. ‘Hi,’ Issy said.

  ‘Hello, Issy,’ said Cobweb, flying to her shoulder. Issy frowned. Was it her imagination or was Cobweb moving more slowly than she usually did?

  ‘Are you OK?’ She glanced at the other fairies. Something wasn’t right, she realized. It was taking three of them to move Jo’s toothbrush from the desk back to the mug.

  ‘We’re not feeling very well today,’ said Cobweb, following her gaze. ‘It’s such a warm day outside. When it heats up like this, we feel sick and our magic gets weaker. Magic in this land works best when the weather is very cold.’

  One of the other fairies nodded. ‘There are more and more warm days now because it’s so long since the Dance of Winter was last performed.’

  ‘It’s really hard to get all our work done on days like this,’ another panted. She looked pale. ‘It takes us ages.’

  ‘You poor things.’ Issy started tidying up. ‘Here, let me help. You shouldn’t be working if you feel sick.’

  ‘No, don’t worry…’ the fairies started to say, but Issy ignored them.

  She hurried about the room, picking up the last few things the fairies hadn’t got round to moving. ‘It’s fine. We shouldn’t have left our things in such a mess anyway.’

  Just then, the bell went. ‘I’d better go downstairs,’ Issy told them. ‘We’ve got our first cross-country skiing lesson now.’

  ‘Have fun!’ called Cobweb. ‘And thanks, Issy.’

  ‘Yes, thank you!’ called the other fairies.

  Issy made her way to the back door, where they had been told to meet Madame Olsen. Issy had been really looking forward to her first skiing lesson, but as she went down the stairs, she found that all she could think about was what the fairies had just told her.

  Jo, Maisie and Milly were waiting at the back door with the others. ‘Listen, you’ve got to hear about the frost fairies,’ Issy said. Pulling them to one side, she told them what she had just learnt. ‘I wish we could do something,’ she said anxiously.

  Milly nodded. ‘That’s awful.’

  ‘I know,’ Issy agreed. ‘Maybe we could have a rota or something, to help them with the chores?’

  ‘But I hate doing chores,’ groaned Jo. She frowned. ‘The frost fairies can’t be that bad. The ice sylphs wouldn’t let them work if they were really ill.’ Maisie nodded in agreement.

  Issy was disappointed that the others weren’t more interested, but Jo was probably right about the ice sylphs making sure the fairies were OK.

  Just then, Madame Olsen arrived and clapped her hands. ‘Right, girls! Let’s find you some skis!’

  Wearing skis felt strange at first, but Issy and the others were soon swishing across the snow in the woods, using their poles to help themselves along, and soon some of Issy’s earlier worries fell away.

  ‘I love skiing!’ Issy declared at the end of the lesson, her eyes shining.

  ‘Me too,’ said Jo. ‘We must come outside more. Did you see the slope in the garden? We could go sledging on that!’

  ‘And we could have a snowball fight,’ said Maisie, joining them.

  As they headed back to the school, Issy’s thoughts returned to the fairies. Maybe all of us Ice Owls could try and think of something together, she thought. And then…

  She gasped as a snowball hit the back of her head. ‘Jo!’ she exclaimed, seeing Jo grinning at her from behind. Issy grabbed some snow and chucked it back, but unfortunately it sailed past Jo and hit Sophy, who was walking quietly on her own. Sophy gave a startled squawk.

  Jo burst out laughing. ‘Nice one, Issy!’

  Sophy gave them a cross look.

  ‘Sorry!’ Issy gasped, but Sophy was already walking away and didn’t hear.

  Issy went to go after her, but was stopped in her tracks by a snowball from Maisie. ‘Got you!’ Maisie yelled.

  Issy giggled and, forgetting about Sophy, grabbed some more snow and joined in the fight.

  Chapter Six

  Costume Crisis

  The next few days flew by. Every free moment was spent getting ready for the competition. Issy changed her piece of music, but then, after a day, she decided she didn’t like her new choice either. She picked another; it still wasn’t quite right, but Issy decided it would have to do. Luckily she had always found it easy to think up and learn routines.

  Issy couldn’t wait to see her costume. She had designed a red dress with beading over the bodice and a floaty skirt. The frost fairies were making all the costumes and delivering them on the morning of the competition.

  To Issy’s relief, the weather had got a bit colder again and the frost fairies perked up, but Issy still made sure she did as much as she could to help them by keeping her things tidy and neat. Jo thought she was mad.

  Issy sometimes had the lonely feeling she’d had on the first morning – she liked her new friends, but she didn’t really feel they were very like her. Milly always had her head in a book and Maisie was always singing and messing around. Jo was good fun, but Issy had begun to notice that she just didn’t seem to care much about people’s feelings and she really wasn’t into magic at all.

  Issy wished there was someone she could talk to about Madame Longley’s lessons and the frost fairies, but no one else seemed to feel the same as she did and so she kept quiet even though she was longing to talk about everything they were learning. Jo, Maisie and Milly are great, she reminded herself. I’m lucky to have them as friends.

  On Saturday, Issy noticed that the frost fairies were behaving strangely. Groups of them kept gathering together, whispering anxiously. Issy wondered if it was because it had got warmer again that day. That afternoon, she found Cobweb in the dorm struggling to pick up one of Jo’s socks.

  ‘Here, let me do that,’ said Issy quickly.

  ‘Thanks,’ said Cobweb, panting.

  ‘Is the weather too warm for you today?’ Issy asked and Cobweb nodded. ‘Is that why all the fairies look so anxious? There are groups of them everywhere.’

  ‘We’re all really worried about the costumes for tomorrow,’ Cobweb told her. ‘They’re not finished because the magic we need to make them has been so weak recently. We’re going to have to stay up all night.’

>   ‘All night!’ Issy echoed. ‘You’ll be really tired. Can we help? Maybe we could sew or something?’

  ‘Thank you, but we do a lot of the costume-making with magic. We’re going to try making the costumes down by the ice rink because magic in this land is stronger near to ice.’ Cobweb saw Issy’s face. ‘Don’t worry, it’ll be fine, Issy.’ She smiled, but it looked like an effort.

  The bell rang. ‘I’ve got to go,’ said Issy. ‘But if you do think of a way I could help, let me know.’ She hated to think of the fairies having to work through the night to get the costumes done.

  If only there was something I could do to help, she mused. But what?

  ‘You’re being quiet,’ Jo said as they finished their supper. ‘Are you still thinking about those fairies?’

  Issy nodded. She’d told them about the costume problem as soon as she had sat down.

  ‘If I were you, I’d stop worrying about it. There isn’t anything you can do,’ Jo said. ‘Look, it’s still light outside. Why don’t we all go sledging?’

  ‘Not me,’ said Milly. ‘I want to go and practise my routine again and then finish my book. I can’t believe it’s the competition tomorrow.’

  ‘You’ll come, won’t you, Maisie?’ said Jo.

  ‘Yeah,’ replied Maisie. ‘What about you, Issy?’

  ‘I don’t want to go sledging. I want to help the frost fairies.’

  Jo rolled her eyes. ‘Boring.’

  ‘It’s not!’ Issy felt a faint flicker of anger. ‘The frost fairies are going to have to stay up all night. They’re weak…’

  ‘Blah, blah, blah,’ said Jo infuriatingly.

  ‘Oh, stop being like that!’ Issy exclaimed. ‘It’s really annoying.’

  ‘Oooh,’ mocked Jo.

  Issy stood up. ‘You don’t care about anything, do you? All you ever want to do is have fun!’

  ‘So?’ Jo said with a grin. ‘What’s wrong with that?’

  ‘Oh –!’ Issy broke off with an angry exclamation. There was no point in arguing, but she was so cross. She pushed her chair back and walked away from the table. Sometimes she wondered why she was friends with Jo!

  The dorm was empty. Issy lay down on the bed feeling miserable. If only she had someone she could talk to.

  *

  At quarter to nine, the others came back. Issy felt strange after the argument, but Jo didn’t seem bothered. ‘You should have come sledging,’ she said to Issy and Milly. ‘It was fun.’

  ‘It would have been more fun if there had been more of us though,’ Maisie admitted. ‘It’s not so brilliant when it’s just two of you.’

  Issy couldn’t decide whether to still be cross with Jo or not. She was glad when the bell went a few minutes later and Madame Li turned out the light. But although the others fell asleep quickly, Issy just couldn’t. She lay awake, staring at the ceiling, thinking about everything – the fairies, her friends…

  There must be something I can do…

  Issy sat up. Oh, she couldn’t just stay in bed any longer. She would go and see them down at the rink. Pushing back the covers, she crept out of the dorm.

  Chapter Seven

  Skating Magic

  Issy stole along the corridor. Just as she reached the top of the stairs, she heard a creak behind her. She swung round. Sophy was coming down.

  ‘What are you doing?’ whispered Issy.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Sophy whispered back.

  Issy hesitated. ‘Just something.’

  ‘Me too.’

  They stared warily at each other for a moment and then Sophy shrugged as if she had better things to do. ‘OK, well, you get on with your something and I’ll get on with mine.’

  Issy followed Sophy down the stairs, wondering where she was going. When they reached the bottom, Issy expected Sophy to turn off in the other direction, but, to her surprise, Sophy went all the way up to the double doors that led to the rink.

  ‘Are you coming in here too?’ Sophy said, stopping and looking at Issy in surprise. Issy nodded.

  ‘Why?’ Sophy demanded.

  ‘I’ve come to see the frost fairies,’ Issy admitted. ‘Their magic is weak because it’s getting warmer and they’ve been having trouble making the costumes. They’ve brought them to the rink because their magic will work best by the ice. I thought I’d see if I could help.’

  Sophy’s mouth had dropped open. ‘But that’s why I’m here. I’m friends with one of the fairies in my dorm. She’s called Flaxie. She told me about the costumes tonight so I thought I would come along and help.’

  Issy stared. ‘You’ve worked out how to talk to one? So have I! I’m friends with Cobweb. I didn’t think anyone else talked to the fairies.’

  ‘I didn’t tell anyone,’ admitted Sophy. ‘I didn’t want the others to know. It felt really special that it was just me.’

  ‘I tried to tell Jo and the twins how to do it, but they haven’t even tried,’ Issy told her. ‘They’re not into magic.’

  ‘I am,’ said Sophy.

  They looked at each other and Issy felt as if she was suddenly seeing Sophy with new eyes. ‘Let’s go and see what we can do,’ she said eagerly.

  They hurried through the doors. Brightly coloured costumes were hanging over the barriers. Some just needed decorating; others had barely even been started. Clouds of fairies hovered over each one, some cutting, some stitching seams; others in groups were waving wands and magicking on sequins and beads. A buzz of anxious, high-pitched chatter filled the air as they worked.

  As Issy and Sophy walked in, two fairies left the others and came flying forward.

  ‘Issy!’

  ‘Sophy!’

  ‘This is Flaxie,’ Sophy said to Issy as a fairy in a pale-blue dress landed on her shoulder.

  ‘And this is Cobweb,’ said Issy, holding out her hand for Cobweb to stand on.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ Cobweb asked.

  ‘We came to see if we could help,’ said Issy. ‘There must be something we can do.’

  ‘Thank you for coming, but there really isn’t,’ Cobweb said.

  But just then, one of the other fairies came flying over. She looked older and had a very wise face. ‘There is actually something the girls can do that will help,’ she said. ‘They can skate.’

  Issy, Sophy and the two younger fairies looked at her.

  ‘Skate?’ Sophy echoed.

  The older fairy nodded. ‘In this land, ice-skating creates magic,’ she explained to the girls. ‘If you were to dance on the ice then our magic would strengthen and we would be able to make the costumes much faster.’

  ‘Well, we can do that!’ said Issy, glancing at Sophy, who nodded eagerly.

  ‘We’d love to!’

  The girls ran to their lockers and put on their white skates. It felt strange to be wearing skates with pyjamas, but as soon as Issy stepped on to the ice, she forgot about what she was wearing and just thought about skating. ‘We need some music if we’re going to dance,’ she said to Sophy. ‘We could ask the dragons to play the music from our routines.’ She skated over to the music box and looked inside. Four ice dragons were curled up on the floor, snoozing on little pillows.

  ‘Um, excuse me,’ Issy said softly. The dragons opened their eyes and yawned. ‘We want to skate to help the fairies make the costumes. Would you mind playing us some music?’

  The dragons sat up and made chirruping noises. Issy wished she could understand them as well as she could understand the fairies! But from the way they were nodding, she was sure they were agreeing.

  One of the dragons flew out and pointed to the buttons as if telling her to choose.

  Issy was about to push the button for the music for her dance, but then she changed her mind. The dragons never got to choose the music they played. Maybe they’d like to fo
r a change. She could make up a dance to anything and she didn’t really like her routine that much. ‘Why don’t you play what you want?’ she said to him. ‘It’ll be more fun for you and I can skate to anything if I listen to it once.’

  The dragons looked surprised. The one who was hovering by the buttons flew up to Issy’s face until he was level with her nose. He stared into her eyes for a long moment and then flew back into the music box, chirruping and tweeting at the others. They all nodded as if they understood and began to turn the gears and levers.

  Issy didn’t have a clue what all that had been about, but the dragons looked happy and music was starting to flood out. Straight away it seemed to strike a chord inside her. It was bright and lively, but with a deeper undertone. It started slowly and got faster and faster, building up dramatically. Issy felt her feet start to twitch. In her head she could already see the moves she could do, imagine the jumps and steps and turns. The music reached its end and then the dragons started playing it again from the beginning.

  Issy began to skate. She started slowly with an expressive turn and then began gliding from one foot to the other before turning again and beginning some faster crossover steps. She forgot everything, thinking only about the music. As it got faster, she took off into a double flip, spinning over the ice. She landed the jump perfectly and skated on before turning into a fast upright spin, spinning round on the spot on one foot, her arms pulled into her chest.

  More jumps followed – a double lutz then a double toe loop – until the music built to its climax. Putting her arms up and arching back, Issy dipped into a layback spin. Round and round she went, holding her position as tightly as possible, until she heard the final crash of the music and she stopped, hands coming down, head up, eyes shining.

  ‘Oh, wow,’ Sophy breathed, skating over. ‘That was brilliant, Issy!’

  Issy was out of breath, but she didn’t care. ‘It felt awesome! The music was wonderful. I love it!’

  ‘You should use it in the competition,’ said Sophy.