Jade and the Surprise Party (6 page)

There stood a hundred silent statues.

Jade tiptoed round despairingly, searching for the Lilac Fairy. She knew in her heart of hearts that Lila would probably be a statue too, but she was trying to hold on to the hope that she might be wrong. As she walked forward, she remembered
what the Wicked Fairy had said – that she would release Jade and the White Cat once his birthday was over. That meant she had probably been intending to break the statue spell too. Jade swallowed. What would happen now? The Wicked
Fairy would get in a terrible rage when she returned to her castle and discovered that her prisoners had escaped. She would definitely want revenge. And what better revenge than to refuse to break her spell so the people of Enchantia remained as statues forever?

Jade was close to tears when she found Lila’s statue. She looked sorrowfully into her eyes. But what she saw there, made her snap out of her despairing mood and jump to attention. The Lilac Fairy was trying to tell her something. What was it? Jade tried hard to pick up the message.

“There
is
something I can do… Is that
what you’re trying to tell me, Lila?” she asked shakily.

Lila’s eyes seemed to glitter. Jade knew she’d understood correctly. But what could the Lilac Fairy want her to do? She thought back to the dark tower where
she’d been imprisoned so recently. How had she escaped? By doing a special dance to summon the swans. That was how Enchantia worked. Of course!

Jade racked her brains to think what dance she should do…

“The Lilac Fairy’s dance from
Sleeping Beauty!
Could that be it?”

Lila’s eyes were glittering even more. But Jade’s excitement came crashing down as she realised something.

“Oh, Lila,” she said with a deep sigh. “I can’t do your dance. I don’t know the right steps.”

Still Lila’s eyes glittered with hope.

Across Jade’s mind flitted the image of the Lilac Fairy from her book of
Sleeping Beauty at
home. She could visualise the exact ballet position that the fairy held in the picture. Maybe if she tried to imitate it…

She concentrated with all her might, raising her arms into fifth position. Then she extended her leg into an
arabesque
, taking care to point her toe.

The fairy was on pointe in the picture, but Jade hadn’t started pointe work yet, so she rose on to demi-pointe. It was so hard to keep her balance. She met Lila’s eyes again and they were really sparkling.

Nothing was happening, though. She tipped her head the slightest bit to frame her face perfectly. Still nothing happened. She softened her wrists. And in that
instant there was a flash of gold and the Lilac Fairy moved.

Jade clasped her hands. “Oh! You’ve come back to life!”

“Yes,” replied Lila, leaning forwards and dropping the lightest kiss on Jade’s cheek. “Thanks to you!”

It was the most wonderful moment to enjoy, but the other people of Enchantia still needed to be freed.

“There’s no time to lose!” said Lila. “First I need to release all the fairies so they, in turn, can release everyone else!”
As she was talking she flew around the ballroom, tipping her wand lightly on each of the fairies’ heads. One by one they began to move again. Lila smiled as she watched her fairies flitting round. “It takes more than a spell from a wicked old fairy to stop
this
surprise party happening!” she said, her tinkly laughter blending with a ballroom
full
of cheers as statue after statue came back to life.

Jade had a shock when she saw that Red Riding Hood was actually there in the ballroom too.

“I was just about to set off on my way home,” the young girl told her anxiously,
“when the Wicked Fairy came crashing in and turned us all into statues.”

“So there’s no one at your house?” Jade asked her.

“No one at all.” Red Riding Hood shook her head and looked around. “So where’s the White Cat?” she asked fearfully.

“Oh! I’d quite forgotten,” said Jade, clapping her hand to her mouth, “he’s outside! He might come looking for me at any moment! I haven’t said a word about the party. He still thinks he’s going to your house for tea!”

“Quickly, go outside and ask him to magic you both back to Red Riding Hood’s cottage then,” said Lila. “I’ll meet you there!”

Jade didn’t need telling twice. Rushing
outside, she went straight to the White Cat.

“What took you so long?” he started, but he didn’t have a chance to finish as Jade interrupted him. “I found Lila, White Cat. Everything’s all right. I’ll explain later. Lila says we should go to Red
Riding Hood’s house now – there isn’t a moment to lose!”

“But what about all the statues?” asked the White Cat. “Is everyone OK?”

“They’re safe. Lila’s seen to that,” said Jade vaguely. “So can you magic us to Red Riding Hood’s cottage?”

The White Cat looked at Jade as though she was mad. “But…”

“That’s what Lila told me to ask you,” she said firmly.

The White Cat shook his head in confusion. “Well if that’s what Lila said…”

A few moments later they were set down outside Red Riding Hood’s cottage. Jade gasped at the sight of the magnificent golden carriage, standing there in front of them.

Lila stepped forward and held out her hand to the White Cat.

He was still wearing a bewildered look. “How did you get here ahead of us? What exactly’s going on and where is everyone? What’s happening!”