Ava rubbed her eyes, hardly able to believe it. Instead of being in Marietta’s shop, she was inside the most magnificent room she had ever seen – a room that looked like it belonged in a fairytale palace!
The room was huge, with massive windows framed by very grand gold and green curtains. The walls were also gold and on them hung several old-fashioned paintings and ornate mirrors. Ava looked above her head and saw that the high ceiling had beautiful cornicing around the outside and a dome in the middle with winged cherubs painted on it. A magnificent crystal chandelier was hanging down from the centre of the dome.
The furniture in the room was also very impressive. An enormous grand piano sat in the centre of the floor along with two huge gold harps. Several velvet-covered chairs, and couches with beautifully carved legs, were positioned against the walls, all of them scattered with richly coloured silk cushions. On various little tables around the room stood expensive-looking china ornaments and crystal vases containing beautiful scented flowers.
Ava looked down at her gold and green dress, which was the only thing that seemed to have remained unchanged. Her appearance was now perfectly in keeping with her new surroundings, she realized.
Ava barely had time to take in all of this, before a shrill voice behind her asked, ‘Who are you?’
A second, equally snooty voice added, ‘And who gave you permission to enter the palace music room?’ 
Ava whirled round to see, standing in the doorway, two girls in their late teens dressed in very expensive-looking gowns. One was blonde, the other dark-haired, and they both had similar sharp features and scowling faces.
‘W-where am I exactly?’ Ava asked, hearing her own voice but feeling as if someone else was speaking the words.
‘We just told you. You’re in the royal music room. Only family members and special guests are allowed in here.’
‘Yes,’ said the other girl haughtily. ‘So you’d better go back to the guest quarters with all the other princesses.’
Ava blinked. ‘Princesses?’ Maybe I’m dreaming all this, she thought.
The blonde girl was frowning. ‘Well, aren’t you a princess?’
‘She must be,’ said the other dismissively, as if princesses were two-a-penny. ‘All the bridesmaids are princesses. And she’s definitely a bridesmaid or why would she be wearing that dress?’
‘Aren’t you supposed to be at the rehearsal, or whatever it’s called, with all the other bridesmaids?’ the blonde girl asked Ava impatiently.
‘I . . . I don’t know . . .’ Ava murmured, flushing. ‘I came in here to look for my cat,’ she added in a rush. ‘You haven’t seen her, have you? She’s a tabby cat called Cindy.’
‘Cindy?’ The dark-haired girl started to laugh in a mocking sort of way.
‘What is it? What’s so funny?’ Ava asked uncertainly.
‘Did you deliberately call your cat after our sister?’ the girl eventually spluttered. ‘You really shouldn’t have, you know – our sister is nothing like a cat!’
‘No, she’s nowhere near as clever,’ the blonde one added spitefully. ‘For one thing, she’s totally hopeless at catching mice! We used to lock her in the cellar at home and tell her she must catch at least one and wring its neck before we’d let her out again – but she never could!’
‘She doesn’t like to harm any animal – even a mouse – so we used to make her spend all day in that cellar,’ the dark one added. ‘Served her right for being such a goody-goody!’
‘Such a pity she wasn’t shut in the cellar when the prince came by with that silly glass shoe,’ the blonde one said crossly.
‘I know – and I never did understand why that shoe didn’t disappear at midnight along with the rest of that interfering fairy godmother’s trickery.’
‘Wait a minute . . .’ Ava could hardly believe her ears. ‘Is your sister Cinderella?’
‘Of course,’ snorted the blonde one. ‘Who else did you think we were talking about?’
‘Actually, she’s our stepsister,’ added the dark one. ‘We are not truly related to her, thank goodness. Our dear mother married Cinderella’s extremely pathetic father, who soon realized our mother was nowhere near as soppily gentle as his first wife. Soon afterwards he died, and after that it didn’t take us long to turn that silly daughter of his into our servant. I am Ermentrude and this is my sister Astrid.’
‘The ugly sisters!’ Ava blurted out excitedly.
As soon as she’d said it she regretted her mistake. Both sisters’ eyes flashed menacingly.
‘Who do you think you’re calling ugly, you stupid little girl?’ the dark one growled.
The other sister took a few steps closer and hissed in a threatening voice, ‘Perhaps you’d like to tell us exactly which princess you are before we throw you into the palace dungeons?’
Ava felt her mouth go dry. Panicking, she did the only thing she could think of. She turned her back on them and stared as hard as she could into the little mirror in the music-box lid, wishing desperately to be transported back to Marietta’s shop.
In a matter of seconds the gold dancing figure began to glow brightly, and soon Ava’s face in the mirror was glowing too. As the two ugly sisters came further towards her, Ava closed her eyes – and she didn’t open them again until the bright light had gone.
Ava could feel her heart racing as she allowed her wobbly legs to lower her trembling body on to the floor, where she sat gradually getting her breath back. She was in Marietta’s shop again, in the room at the top of the spiral staircase and she could hardly believe what had just happened to her.
Marietta wasn’t crazy after all! The magic was real!
There could be no logical explanation for what had just happened. She didn’t even try to think of one. Her mind felt temporarily frozen, as if there was no point in trying to think at all any more. She felt as if all her previous thoughts counted for nothing after what she had just discovered.
As she sat there slowly recovering from the shock, she became aware of Marietta’s soft voice in conversation with someone in the room below.
‘You shouldn’t try to stop her, Otto. It’s not natural. She has the same gift as you and me and she should be allowed to use it.’ Marietta was talking to her dad! He must have discovered she was gone and come looking for her.
Ava heard her father’s voice then, low and angry. ‘Just because she’s able to do a thing, doesn’t mean she has to do it,’ he said. ‘Now where is she?’
Ava couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Her dad clearly knew all about the magic mirrors – and about Ava’s ability to use them. And what’s more, it sounded as though he might be able to use them himself!
‘What makes you think she’s still here?’ Marietta was asking him.
‘She’d better be,’ Dad said sharply.
‘Well, she isn’t.’ Marietta sounded defiant. ‘She’s gone travelling!’
‘I don’t believe she’s gone through a mirror already,’ Dad snapped. ‘She wouldn’t be that reckless.’
She could hear her father stomping about angrily downstairs after that, searching for her. Any minute now he would come up the spiral stairs and find her, and then she would be in big trouble for disobeying him. Not only that, but she was sure he would forbid her from using the magic mirrors again – and then how was she ever going to find Cindy.
She looked at the music box, still open on the table.
As she heard her father opening and closing more doors downstairs, Ava knew what she had to do if she wanted to avoid being found by him. But would the magic portal transport her to fairytale land a second time?
As soon as she looked into the mirror, the light began to glow. Holding her breath, she closed her eyes, keeping them closed until the bright light had passed – and when she looked again she found, to her relief, that not only was she back in the palace music room, but that the room was empty.
It wasn’t empty for long however. Just as Ava was starting to look around for Cindy, an older lady in a plain blue gown came sweeping in through the door. She was followed by five pretty girls who all wore bridesmaids’ dresses identical to Ava’s. Each girl had her hair piled up on her head and wore either a small crown or a tiara and Ava was certain they must all be princesses.
The ugly sisters were nowhere to be seen, thank goodness.
The older woman (who Ava guessed was some sort of governess) stopped when she saw Ava. ‘Our sixth bridesmaid. Excellent!’ She walked past Ava to the piano. ‘As you can see, girls, here we have some music to practise with.’
‘What are we practising?’ Ava asked the nearest princess, who looked quite friendly.
‘Our dance for Cinderella’s wedding of course,’ the girl replied. ‘This is our dress rehearsal.’
‘Really?’ Ava’s head felt spinny with sudden excitement. She could hardly believe that she had arrived in a place where not only was she one of Cinderella’s bridesmaids – but she would actually be dancing at her wedding!
The friendly princess giggled as she added, ‘You’ll never guess who we just met in the corridor. Astrid and Ermentrude! They looked really pale. They said there’s a ghost in here – a vanishing ghost who looks like a bridesmaid!’
Ava gulped as all the bridesmaids started giggling.
The older woman clapped her hands for silence. ‘I pity any ghost who is unfortunate enough to meet those two on its travels,’ she said briskly. ‘They may be Cinderella’s sisters, but they are two of the rudest, most unpleasant, most hysterical creatures I have ever met. Now come on, girls . . . Let’s move some of this furniture out of the way so that we have room to practise.’
As the princesses started to move chairs and tables to the edge of the room to clear a space to dance, Ava asked them, ‘Have any of you seen a little tabby cat with a white patch on her front paw? She’s my pet and she’s gone missing.’
‘A cat as a pet!’ one of the princesses exclaimed. ‘What a strange thing!’ She looked down at the skirt of Ava’s dress and added a little snootily, ‘Do you know there’s a bow missing from your gown?’
‘Yes,’ Ava replied apologetically. ‘I think my cat has it.’
All the princesses started to giggle again then, until the older woman clapped her hands together a second time. Looking sternly at Ava, she said, ‘Your Highness, no princess with a less than perfect gown may attend Cinderella’s wedding. You must visit the palace seamstress without delay. There is a servant just outside the door and I’m sure he will show you the way.’
Realizing she had been dismissed, Ava headed curiously for the door. She stepped out into a corridor with a plush red carpet and royal portraits hanging on the walls, and immediately saw the servant. He was standing very still, staring straight ahead and wearing smart knee-length breeches, a tight jacket with long tails and a white powdered wig.
‘Excuse me,’ Ava asked him politely. ‘Have you seen a tabby cat anywhere? She might have a gold bow caught in one of her paws.’ 
The servant looked down at her as if he suspected she was making fun of him. ‘There are dozens of cats in the palace grounds, Your Highness, though I have not, as yet, seen one with a bow.’ He gave her a cool stare as he added, ‘Will that be all?’
‘Yes . . . I mean, no . . . Could you please show me the way to the palace seamstress?’ she blurted.
‘Follow me, Your Highness,’ the servant replied in a haughty voice. And he led the way along the corridor, down a flight of spiral stairs, along another corridor, up two further flights of stairs and along yet another corridor until he came to a halt outside a plain wooden door.
‘The palace seamstress is within,’ he declared, knocking on the door. Without waiting for a reply he swung open the door and stood with his back against it so that Ava could enter. ‘Your name, Your Highness?’ he asked her.
‘It’s Ava – but you don’t have to—’ she began, only to be interrupted by the man’s booming proclamation.
‘Her Royal Highness, the Princess Ava!’ he bellowed.
A young servant girl, with big dark eyes and a single plait that fell halfway down her back, immediately jumped up from her stool and curtsied. She looked a few years older than Ava – twelve or thirteen maybe. Behind her a small elderly lady, with wrinkled skin and grey hair done in a bun, who was sitting in a chair by the window, put down her needle and thread and struggled to her feet to do the same.
Ava felt embarrassed and very guilty about an old lady curtsying to her like that. ‘Please sit down,’ she said as the manservant left them. 
‘You must sit first, Your Highness,’ the old woman said. ‘Here. Take my chair. It is the most comfortable.’
‘No, thank you,’ Ava insisted. She quickly dropped to the ground, where she sat cross-legged as if she was in her school assembly hall. From there she looked around the small room, which was filled with clothes in various stages of being made or repaired – all of them much grander than the clothes worn by the seamstress and the girl, who were now exchanging looks as if they thought this was very strange behaviour for a princess.
‘I am Dinah, the palace seamstress, and this is Tilly, my apprentice,’ the old lady told her, sounding a little guarded. ‘Have you a dress or some other garment that needs repairing, Your Highness?’
‘Well . . . do you have . . . I mean, do you think you could . . . find another bow for this bridesmaid’s dress?’ Ava asked, bunching up the material at the front of her skirt to show where the missing bow should be.
Tilly gave a little grin and pulled something out of her sewing box. ‘What about this one?’ she asked, holding up a gold silk bow identical to the others on Ava’s dress.
‘That’s it! That’s the missing bow!’ Ava exclaimed. ‘Where did you find it?’
‘Dinah found it yesterday in the palace kitchens,’ Tilly told her. ‘She was there speaking to the palace cook, when she noticed one of the kitchen cats had something caught in its claw.’
Ava turned to Dinah excitedly. ‘Was it a tabby cat?’
The old lady frowned as if she was trying her best to remember. ‘I believe it might have been a tabby, Your Highness . . . yes . . .’
‘Where is this cat now?’ Ava asked, jumping to her feet. ‘Is it still in the kitchen?’
‘I expect so – Cook likes to keep them there because cats are so good at keeping the mice away.’
‘We have to go and look for her!’ Ava exclaimed, taking an impatient step towards the door. ‘She’s not a kitchen cat, you see. She’s my pet cat, Cindy, and I have to find her!’
‘A pet cat!’ Dinah looked surprised. ‘Well I never!’
‘I can take you to the kitchens if you like,’ Tilly offered. She looked at Dinah. ‘If you can spare me for a little while.’
Dinah nodded. ‘Hurry back though. We’ve a lot of work to do before the ball tonight.’
‘Don’t worry. I’ll just show Princess Ava the way and I’ll come straight back,’ Tilly promised.
Ava almost blurted out that she wasn’t really a princess – because somehow she felt bad about lying to these two servants – but she stopped herself. After all, she was very close to finding Cindy now, and she didn’t want to say or do anything that might ruin things.