Madame Za-Za snapped the music off. “Honestly, girls. Come along, you can do better than that! Up you get, Asha. Let’s try again.”

Rosa looked quickly at Olivia. She tried to mouth “sorry” but Olivia turned away. Rosa groaned inwardly. She was sure Olivia thought she had stood on her foot on purpose.

When the class finished, she hurried towards her friend.

“Rosa!” Madame Za-Za called. “May I have a word please?”

Rosa shot a look at Olivia’s disappearing back but there was nothing she could do. She walked back to the teacher. Madame Za-Za was putting away the CD. Rosa waited as she finished.

“I see you have the red ballet shoes, Rosa,“ Madame Za-Za said.

Rosa nodded. “Delphie Durand gave them to me.”

Madame Za-Za smiled. “So they found the perfect home. Did you know they used to belong to me a long time ago?”

“No,” Rosa said, in her astonishment forgetting about Olivia.

Madame Za-Za nodded. “They are very special shoes, Rosa.”

“Delphie told me that,” Rosa said.

“I hope you find out quite how special they are,” Madame Za-Za smiled warmly. “Now, go and get changed.”

Part of Rosa wanted to ask Madame Za-Za what she meant about the shoes being special but she also wanted to catch Olivia before she left. She hurried out but saw it was too late. Olivia was just going through the front door with her mother.

“Olivia!” Rosa called.

But Olivia had already walked out and the door was shutting behind her.

Rosa’s heart sank. I’ll phone her and say sorry as soon as I get home, she thought as she went to the changing room.

The other girls were just leaving. They called goodbye and soon Rosa was on her own. She sat down and bent over to untie the ribbons on her red shoes. As she did so her feet started to tingle. She gasped. The shoes were sparkling and glowing!

She jumped to her feet and then cried out in astonishment as a swirl of rainbow colours and a sweet tinkling of music surrounded her. She started to spin round!

What was going on? She shut her eyes tightly, her heart pounding. Round and round she went until her feet met solid ground. She blinked.

She wasn’t in the changing rooms any more, she was standing in a forest, and through the trees she could see a shimmering dark lake with a single swan swimming on it!

Rosa stared. Where was she? No wonder Delphie and Madame Za-Za had been telling her the ballet shoes were special! They’re magic, she thought, her heart flipping. Oh wow!

There were tall trees all around her and to the right of the lake she could see a big, dark castle. What should she do? She couldn’t just stay standing there. Which way should she go?