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      Rosa stared at her. So she was in a magic land and she was there to help! “Will…will I get to go home again?” she asked.

      Nutmeg nodded. “Of course. The shoes will take you back when the problem is solved. No time passes in the human world while you’re here so no one will even know you’ve been gone.”

      Rosa breathed a sigh of relief. For a moment she had thought about her mum waiting for her and getting really worried. That would have been dreadful!

      “What’s your name?” the fairy asked.

      “Rosa.”

      “It’s so lovely to see you, Rosa. We really need your help,” Nutmeg said. “King Rat’s causing dreadful trouble again!”

      “King Rat!” Rosa breathed, remembering Delphie’s words. So that must have been what Delphie was talking about. She must have come here too!

      “Yes,” replied Nutmeg. “You see everyone in Enchantia loves dancing except for that horrible rodent. He keeps coming up with mean plans to stop us and now he’s taken the King and Queen’s niece, Princess Cressida.”

      “Princess Cressida?” Rosa scratched her head. It was all a lot to take in.

      “Yes, Cressida was on her way to visit her aunt and uncle to keep them company whilst their own daughter, Aurelia, is away. Nutmeg explained. Anyway, King Rat has captured Cressida to stop all the balls and dancing that would go on for her visit. Without her at the palace there won’t be any celebrations.”

      “So where has he taken her?” breathed Rosa.

      “She’s here in his castle grounds,” said Nutmeg. “He’s put a spell on her so that by day she’s a swan, but by night she’s the princess again.”

      “Just like Swan Lake!” Rosa said excitedly.

      “Yes, exactly,” Nutmeg nodded. “That’s where King Rat got the idea from. Look, there’s Princess Cressida on the Enchanted Lake now.” Nutmeg pointed towards the graceful white swan on the shimmering water. “Sugar has asked me to stand guard to check that King Rat doesn’t whisk her away somewhere else or put even more spells on her, but she doesn’t even realise I’m here. You see she forgets all about being a princess in the day. It just comes back to her as the sun sets and she flies back to her room in the castle’s towers and turns back into her old self.”

      “Oh, the poor thing,” Rosa said, her heart going out to the princess.

      Nutmeg shivered. “Everyone in Enchantia keeps trying to think up a plan to rescue her, but we haven’t come up with anything yet. If only we could get her out of King Rat’s castle grounds, the enchantment would be broken. But the lake is enchanted so we can’t swim or row across to get her and she wouldn’t recognise us anyway.”

      Rosa thought for a moment. “Can’t you use magic to rescue her at night when she’s locked inside?”

      Nutmeg shook her head. “King Rat’s magic is much too powerful. He’s put spells on the castle so that no one else can do strong magic either in it or its grounds. I stay in the trees because some of my magic still works in the forest. Also, I can keep watch on Cressida and magic myself away if his horrible scary guards come.” She clasped her hands together. “Oh, Rosa. Can you think of a way we could rescue the princess?”

      Rosa stared at her helplessly and gulped. It all seemed pretty impossible. “I wish I could,” she said. “But I really haven’t got any other ideas.”

      “Then Princess Cressida will just have to stay a secret princess forever!” exclaimed Nutmeg, her eyes filling with tears.

      “Look, we can’t give up that easily!” Rosa declared. “Hmm, what could we do?” She glanced around. “You know, maybe we don’t need magic to get us into the castle. Maybe we could just sneak inside. We could hide somewhere until the princess comes back then let her out of her room and all escape together!”

      “But that would be really dangerous!” said Nutmeg. “King Rat’s guards are very fierce!” She caught her breath. “Here they come now!”

      A group of ten mice came swaggering around the side of the castle. Rosa stared. They were walking on their back legs and were way taller than her, with pointed teeth and long swords hanging from their belts.

      They stopped. A couple of them leaned against the castle walls, the others mooched about. They looked fed up.

      “I’m bored of marching round the castle,“ one of them grumbled.

      “Me too,” said another. “My paws are hurting. King Rat’s out at the moment so why don’t we go and have a sit down?”

      “Yeah!” said the first mouse. “If we go round to the other side of the castle we can listen out for King Rat coming back and when he gets here just start marching again.” He looked around at the others. “What do you reckon?”

      They all nodded. “Good plan!”

      “What about the Sergeant?” said one. “If he sees us he’ll go mad.”

      The first mouse shrugged. “He’s inside somewhere. Probably in the kitchens stuffing his face. I bet he’ll never notice. Come on!”

      They all ambled off around the side of the castle.

      Nutmeg shivered. “They’re horrible!”

      But Rosa’s mind was racing with what the mice had just said. “Did you hear what they were talking about? King Rat’s out and they are going to take a break. Oh, Nutmeg! Why don’t we try to get into the castle right now?”

      “But it’s daytime and Cressida is on the lake.”

      “So? We can hide somewhere inside until the sun sets and she comes back. It’s the perfect opportunity. Come on! Let’s see if there’s a door or window open.”

      Rosa started to hurry through the trees towards the castle.

      “Wait, Rosa!” exclaimed Nutmeg, flying after her. “It’s too dangerous! The guards might change their minds and come back.”

      “Then we’d better be as quick as possible,” said Rosa. “It’s now or never!”

      “No! I don’t think we should,” Nutmeg insisted. “Look, let’s just stay here for a little while longer and see if we can think of another plan. Come on! I’m going back to the lake.”

      She flew back towards the lake. Rosa hesitated. She thought of the poor secret princess. She had to help her! Surely getting into the castle was the only way and while the guards were taking a break it was the perfect opportunity! I’m going to try and get in whether Nutmeg wants to come or not, she decided impulsively. And she began to hurry through the trees.

      

      Rosa’s eyes scanned the castle, but the only windows that were open were right up at the top of the tower. There was a small door to the right of the main entrance. Maybe that would be unlocked?

      A short stretch of grass separated

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