‘No, Emily! You don’t do it like that,’ Amanda said, putting her hands on her hips and sighing. ‘Your leg wasn’t straight enough. And you’ve got to keep your chin up and stay centred. I’ve already told you that!’
Emily took a deep breath. It was halfway through the morning and Amanda had been ordering her about ever since they had met up after breakfast. Emily was finding it very hard to be as positive as she had been the night before on the ice.
First Amanda had announced they were going to perform a piece from the ballet Swan Lake. Amanda was going to be the beautiful enchanted princess who was a swan in the daytime and a girl at night-time, and Emily was going to be the prince who almost shoots her when she is a swan and then falls in love with her.
‘If you’re the prince then you don’t have to do any difficult skating,’ Amanda had said. ‘You can just watch me and skate around a bit.’
‘But can’t I do some spins and jumps?’ asked Emily.
‘Well, maybe you could do one jump and a spin,’ Amanda huffed. ‘You can do sit spins, can’t you?’
Emily nodded.
‘Well, I suppose we could work one of those in then, and maybe, just maybe, a single toe loop. I guess the prince could jump for love when he sees how beautifully I dance.’ Amanda smoothed her hair. ‘But what you’ll really have to do is look at me most of the time.’
Oh, great, Emily thought. ‘But…’
‘Come on, let’s go to the rink and get started,’ Amanda interrupted bossily.
Amanda had skated through the beginning of the routine she had worked out and was now trying to show Emily what to do. ‘Right, you circle round me while I do this.’ Throwing back her arms, Amanda glided round the ring like a swan before turning into a layback spin and then skating on, lifting one leg into the air and holding her arms behind her.
Emily’s eyes wandered round the rink. Other people had come to practise too and Madame Li and Madame Letsworth were watching the girls from the side. Hannah and Alice were doing jumps together. On the far side of the ice, Heather was working hard with Zoe. They seemed to be really listening to each other. Molly and Tilda were arguing because they both kept changing the steps.
‘No, Tilda,’ Emily heard Molly saying. ‘We said you’d do three crossovers, turn and skate backwards, not two crossovers and a single flip.’
‘But I want to do a jump,’ said Tilda mutinously. ‘Why do we always have to do what you want, Molly?’
Amanda skated over. ‘Emily, you’re not watching! This is where you skate over and take my hands and we skate together and then split and spin round. Now, come on!’
Emily sighed and turned her attention back to her own routine.
‘I don’t know how you’re managing to put up with Amanda,’ said Hannah as she, Molly and Emily ate lunch together. After working so hard all morning, it was lovely to have big bowls of pasta and cheese and then apple crumble for pudding. The frost fairies fluttered around, clearing tables after the students and whisking away any mess.
‘She’s so bossy,’ Molly said. ‘And you don’t seem to do much in your routine. She does all the skating.’
‘I know,’ said Emily. ‘I wish I was with one of you.’
‘Actually, I wish you were with me too,’ sighed Molly. ‘Tilda is a bit of a nightmare. She argues all the time and when we do agree something, she’ll sometimes just go off and do something different because she feels like it.’
Emily hid her grin. Molly could be a bit like that too!
‘Alice is OK,’ sighed Hannah. ‘She doesn’t argue, but she doesn’t seem very keen on practising. I wanted to try again at lunchtime, but she said she wanted to go and see the husky puppies.’
‘I’m sure she’ll start practising more in the next few days,’ said Emily, trying to make Hannah feel better. ‘We did have a long session this morning.’
‘We could go and look at the puppies too,’ Molly suggested. ‘I’d like to see them.’
‘Me too,’ agreed Emily.
So, after lunch, they headed to the kennels where the huskies lived. The huskies pulled sledges across the snow so that people could travel if they weren’t skating or skiing. They looked just like huskies from the real world, but here their coats were flecked with silver, and, when they ran across the snow and ice, rainbow-coloured sparks shot out from their claws.
When the girls walked into the kennels, the puppies came bounding over. Alice and Tilda were there already. ‘Hi there!’ Tilda called. ‘What do you think of the puppies?’
‘They’re gorgeous!’ Molly said, picking one up and cuddling it.
Alice sighed happily. ‘I wish I could spend every minute here. This one is Snowflake, this one is Frisky, this is Max, this is Prince and this is Rosie.’ She pointed out the different puppies. Within seconds, Emily had forgotten which was which, but she didn’t care. She cuddled them all.
After a while, Molly got bored and suggested they went sledging again.
‘I’d rather go skating,’ said Emily.
‘Well, how about we go skating outside?’ suggested Molly.
‘OK,’ Emily agreed. She loved skating outside on the rivers. Hannah nodded too.
‘I’m going to stay here,’ said Alice.
Tilda said she would too, so Emily, Hannah and Molly went to fetch their skates. At the back of the school there was a frozen lake with three big rivers and some small rivers running down to it from the mountains in the distance.
‘We’d better not go down there,’ said Hannah, pointing to a small river to the east that led between overhanging trees.
‘That’s the river where Madame Letsworth said there was a crack, isn’t it?’ said Emily.
Molly nodded. ‘Let’s go down the main West River instead.’
They set off. It was wonderful to be skating outside. The cold air stung Emily’s cheeks, but she didn’t care. The sky was cornflower blue overhead and, on the bank at the side, a family of white fox cubs were playing. In the distance, she could see the misty mountains rising dramatically up into the sky. ‘I’d love to go and explore more,’ she said longingly. ‘This land’s so amazing.’
‘Me too,’ agreed Molly. ‘It would be brilliant to see all the creatures that Madame Longley keeps telling us about.’
‘Like ice monsters and mountain lions,’ agreed Emily. ‘Maybe we’ll get to go out into the land more in the next few weeks.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘I’d far rather do that than practise for this competition with Amanda.’
‘It’s only for five more days,’ Hannah told her. ‘Then you won’t have to be with Amanda any more.’
‘I guess,’ Emily sighed.
Molly darted forwards. ‘Look, let’s not talk about it now. Let’s play tag.’ She touched Emily’s shoulder. ‘You’re on, Em!’ She and Hannah quickly skated away.
Pushing all thoughts of the competition and Amanda out of her head, Emily laughed and skated after her friends.