Everything looked just as it always did. A blanket of crisp snow covered the fields and meadows, towns and villages. Frozen lakes glittered in the rays of the sun and a mist hung over the tops of the jagged mountains. Silvery robins darted from tree to tree while white fluffy fox cubs tumbled after each other. But the ice sylphs who lived in the land knew something was different.
One of the mountains in the land had changed shape. Something had curled around it, great wings folded flat. Its dark-red scaly sides moved in and out, and steam from its huge nostrils formed thick clouds, melting the snow and ice all around.
Madame Letsworth, the headteacher of the Magic Ice-skating Academy, stared anxiously out of her study window. She knew that the ice sylphs did not have long.
In the gardens below her, fourteen human girls ran about, throwing snowballs, chattering and dragging sledges around. Madame Letsworth gazed down at them. She hoped that one of them would be able to help the magic land – the one who would be chosen to be the Ice Princess.
Her forehead furrowed. The question was: which one would it be?