Magic Bunny: Dancing Days
Sue Bentley’s books for children often include animals, fairies and magic. She lives in Northampton in a house surrounded by a hedge so she can pretend she’s in the middle of the countryside. She loves reading and going to the cinema, and writes while watching the birds on the feeders outside her window and eating chocolate. Sue was brought up surrounded by small animals and loved them all – especially her gentle pet rabbits whose fur smelled so sweetly of rain and grass.
Sue Bentley
Dancing Days
Illustrated by
Angela Swan
PUFFIN
To Nirvana – so sweet. Baby you’re the best.
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
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(a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)
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Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
First published 2010
Text copyright © Sue Bentley, 2010
Illustrations copyright © Angela Swan, 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
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-0-14-196214-6
Contents
Prologue
Chapter ONE
Chapter TWO
Chapter THREE
Chapter FOUR
Chapter FIVE
Chapter SIX
Chapter SEVEN
Chapter EIGHT
Chapter NINE
Prologue
Arrow jumped into the air and happily kicked out his back legs as he looked round at Moonglow Meadow. His silky white fur, flecked with silver, gleamed in the moonlight. Tiny rainbows shone in his warm brown eyes. It felt good to be back.
His fellow magic rabbits were nibbling juicy leaves or gathering around crystal pools to drink. The moon seemed to turn all the brightly coloured wild flowers into pale jewels.
The grass smelled delicious and Arrow began to eat. The tiny key he wore on a fine chain round his neck tinkled faintly.
Arrow saw a movement from the corner of his eye. An older rabbit with a wise expression and a dark grey muzzle was bounding towards him.
‘Strike!’ Arrow stopped eating and bowed his head in greeting before the leader of the warren.
‘It is good to see you,’ Strike said warmly. ‘Moonglow Meadow is lush and green again because of the key’s magic.’
As chosen keeper of the magical key, it was Arrow’s job to look after it. ‘I came at once when the key glowed brightly, telling me that more of its magic was needed.’
‘We are all thankful to you.’ Strike reached out a paw and touched Arrow’s shoulder. ‘But I have bad news. The dark rabbits are approaching to try to steal the key.’
The dark rabbits lived in a deep gulley next to Moonglow Meadow. Their land had become so dry that nothing grew there any more and they were hungry.
‘So they are still unwilling to share our land?’ Arrow guessed.
Strike nodded. ‘They want to use the key’s power to make only
their
gully green and beautiful again.’
‘But then
our
meadow would become a desert!’ Arrow said, shocked. ‘What can we do?’
‘You must be brave, Arrow, and go back to the Otherworld to keep the key safe,’ Strike said.
Arrow felt very young and afraid as he thought of all the unknown dangers. But he took a deep breath and nodded slowly. ‘I will go.’
Strike smiled with pride and affection. ‘Well said.’ Then, lifting his head, he gave a soft but piercing cry.
All the rabbits in the warren pricked up their ears and came rushing towards them. They formed a circle round Arrow. The golden key glowed as brightly as the sun.
The light slowly faded and where the young pure-white-and-silver rabbit had been, there now sat a tiny fluffy black-and-white bunny with huge chocolate-brown eyes that gleamed with tiny rainbows.
‘This disguise will protect you. Only return when we need more of the key’s magic,’ Strike instructed. ‘And watch out for dark rabbits!’
Arrow drew himself up. ‘I will not fail the warren!’
Thud. Thud. Thud
. The rabbits began thumping their feet in time. Arrow felt the magic building and a cloud of crystal dust shimmered around him and Moonglow Meadow began to fade …
Chapter
ONE
Sara Penfold bit back tears as she hobbled across the hospital car park.
‘Lean on me. That’s it.’ Sara’s dad steadied her so she could scoot awkwardly into the back seat of their car. ‘OK?’ he asked. ‘At least you’ll be able to get around on those crutches the hospital has loaned you. And the doctor says your ankle will soon be as good as new. Things could be a lot worse.’
‘No, they couldn’t,’ Sara said glumly. She flicked back her shoulder-length brown hair as she arranged her long legs across the seat. ‘The auditions are next week. Why did this have to happen to me?’
Jane Lewis, her dance teacher, was going to choose four of her best students to form a troupe that would train together every week, and eventually dance at local events.