Moon's Dance Read online

  The Unicorn Princesses series

  Sunbeam’s Shine

  Flash’s Dash

  Bloom’s Ball

  Prism’s Paint

  Breeze’s Blast

  Moon’s Dance

  Coming soon

  Firefly’s Glow

  Feather’s Flight

  For Phoenix and Lynx

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Unicorn Princesses, Firefly’s Glow

  About the Author and Illustrator

  In the top tower of Spiral Palace, Ernest, a wizard-lizard, leafed through a dusty book entitled Formal Wear for Feathered Friends. As he turned the pages with his scaly fingers, a bird with messy red feathers and bright green eyes grinned with excitement and hopped from one foot to the other.

  Ernest looked up from a page that read, “Magic Spells for Beginners: Wingtips for Woodpeckers and Spats for Sparrows.” He furrowed his green brow and cleared his throat. “Bernadette,” he said, “let me make sure I’m getting this right. You want me to turn one of your head feathers into a ball gown?”

  “Exactly,” Bernadette said. “Last year, I wore an emerald green tuxedo to the Starlight Ball. It matched my eyes perfectly. But this year I want to try a ball gown. I have so many feathers on the top of my head,” she continued, looking up at her thick, messy head plumage and grinning sheepishly, “that I was thinking I could spare one to make the perfect dress.”

  Ernest nodded and flipped to a page with the words, “Advanced Spells: Turning Feathers and Plumes into Gowns,” in large, gold letters across the top. He read for several seconds and asked, “You don’t happen to know what a plume is, do you?”

  “It’s just a fancy word for a feather,” Bernadette said, shrugging.

  “Then I think I’ve found just the right spell,” Ernest said.

  “Fantastic!” Bernadette said, twirling on one talon while she kicked the other foot in the air. “I’ve been practicing my dance moves all week.”

  Ernest laughed. “Me too! And I’ve almost perfected the spell for my tuxedo.” He blushed and added, “It just needs a few, um, tweaks.” He straightened his pointy hat and pulled his wand from his cloak pocket. “Are you ready for your ball gown?”

  “Absolutely!” Bernadette said.

  Ernest lifted his wand, pointed it at an unruly feather on Bernadette’s head, and chanted, “Feathery Fancily Pleathery Plown! Turn this Ballroom into a Crown!” He stared expectantly at Bernadette. But instead of a gown appearing, thunder rumbled and a giant bolt of gold lightning tore across the sky.

  “Oh dear,” Ernest said, grimacing. “What did I do wrong this time?”

  Bernadette peered over at the open page in Ernest’s book. “Well,” she said, pointing with her talon, “I’m pretty sure you read this line incorrectly.”

  “Oh dear! I sure did,” Ernest said. “Let me try one more time.” He studied the spell, mouthing the words silently. Then he looked again at Bernadette, pointed his wand at the same feather, and chanted, “Feathery Fancily Pleathery Plown! Turn this Small Plume into a Gown!”

  Red light swirled around Bernadette, and suddenly she was wearing a scarlet ball gown with a sequined top and a gauzy skirt. “I love it!” Bernadette cried as she shimmied and sashayed across the room. “It’s perfect for dancing. Thank you, Ernest!” And then she hopped out the door and twirled down the hall.

  On a rainy Wednesday afternoon, Cressida Jenkins stood in the middle of her bedroom wearing a black leotard, pink tights, pink ballet slippers, and a turquoise tutu. She glanced at her bedroom door to triple check it was closed and locked. She didn’t want Corey, her older brother, to walk in and see her practicing for her dance recital that weekend. If he did, he would never stop making fun of her tutu or the way she danced.

  Cressida took a deep breath. She pressed the play button on her music player. And then, as she counted in her head, she leaped, spun, and twirled across her unicorn rug. At the end of her dance routine, as she prepared to curtsy, she heard a high, tinkling noise. At first she thought it was a part of the song she didn’t remember. And then she realized the sound was coming from her bedside table drawer.

  Cressida’s heart skipped a beat and her eyes widened. She turned off her music player and bounded over to her bedside table. She opened the drawer and pulled out an old-fashioned key with a crystal-ball handle that glowed bright pink. Cressida beamed with excitement. Her friends, the unicorn princesses, had given her the key so she could visit them in their secret world, the Rainbow Realm, any time: all she had to do was push the key into a hole in the base of a giant oak tree in the woods behind her house, and she would be magically transported to the unicorns’ home, Spiral Palace. When the unicorns wanted to invite Cressida to join them for a special occasion, they made the key’s handle turn bright pink—just the way it was glowing right then!

  As quickly as she could, Cressida peeled off her leotard, tights, slippers, and tutu—the tights were too scratchy to wear all afternoon, and she didn’t want to worry about tearing her tutu, which she would need for her recital, while she rode unicorns in the Rainbow Realm. She put on rainbow-striped leggings, a black T-shirt covered in gold stars, a green zip-up sweatshirt with a picture of a raccoon on the back, and silver unicorn sneakers. The sneakers were her favorite shoes: not only did they have pictures of unicorns on them, but they also had pink lights that blinked whenever she jumped, walked, or ran.

  Cressida slipped the magic key into her sweatshirt pocket and skipped out of her room and down the hall toward the back door. She picked up the first umbrella she saw—an old black-and-yellow-striped one—and called out to her mother, “I’m going for a quick walk in the woods.”

  “Don’t you want to wait until it stops raining?” her mother asked from the living room.

  “I’ve got an umbrella,” Cressida said. “And besides, I’m only going outside for a few minutes.” Fortunately, time in the human world froze while Cressida was in the Rainbow Realm, meaning that even if she spent hours with the unicorns, her mother would think she had been gone only fifteen minutes.

  “I suppose a little rain never hurt anyone,” her mother said. “Have fun!”

  Cressida hopped out the door, opened the umbrella, jogged across her soggy backyard, and found the trail that led through the woods to the oak tree with the magic keyhole. She couldn’t wait to see her unicorn friends: yellow Princess Sunbeam, silver Princess Flash, green Princess Bloom, purple Princess Prism, blue Princess Breeze, black Princess Moon, and orange Princess Firefly.

  When she got to the oak tree, she leaned her umbrella against the trunk so it would be waiting for her when she returned to the human world. She smiled for a moment at the feeling of the rain on her face and hands. And then she kneeled, pulled the key from her sweatshirt pocket, and pushed it into the tiny hole in the tree’s base. The forest began to spin, until all she could see was a blur of blue, green, and brown. Then the forest turned pitch black, and Cressida felt as though she were tumbling through space. After several seconds, she landed on something soft.

  At first, all Cressida could see was a swirl of silver, white, pink, and purple. But when the room stopped spinning, she found herself sitting on a pink velvet couch. Glittering chandeliers hung from the ceiling. Pink and purple curtains fluttered in the air. Cressida smiled. She knew exactly where she was—in the front hall of Spiral Palace, the unicorn princesses’ sparkling white, horn-shaped home.

  Across the room, a raccoon with lime-green stripes played a harp with his front paws and a drum
with his tail as all seven unicorn princesses—wearing capes and glittering crowns that matched their magic gemstone necklaces—danced. Sunbeam twirled in a yellow sapphire crown and a gold cape dotted with sun-shaped sequins. Flash, wearing a diamond crown and a gauzy silver cape decorated with copper lightning bolts, did perfect pirouettes. Bloom, in an emerald crown and a mint-green cape with a glittery flower design, sashayed and pranced. Prism wore an amethyst crown and a purple taffeta cape with rainbow trim as she leaped and spun. Breeze, in an aquamarine crown and a blue cape embroidered with white swirls, and Firefly, in a citrine tiara and a shiny orange cape, swayed together to the beat. Moon, in an opal crown and a black silk cape with bronze stars, leaped and spun in circles as she swished her tail.

  For a few seconds, Cressida smiled as she watched her friends. Then, she stood up and sang out, “Hello there!” as she skipped toward them.

  “My human girl is back!” Sunbeam called out, jumping straight up into the air and clicking her hooves together three times before she landed with a clatter on the marble floor.

  “Welcome!” Flash said, rearing up.

  “We’re so happy to see you!” Bloom and Prism said as they shimmied toward Cressida.

  “We’re excited you could come,” Breeze and Firefly said, grinning.

  “Cressida! I’m thrilled you’re here!” Moon exclaimed, racing over to Cressida and trotting in circles around her. “We were just practicing our dance moves for the Starlight Ball this afternoon. How did we look?”

  “Amazing,” Cressida said. She couldn’t wait to hear more about the Starlight Ball. And she thought it was neat that, without even knowing it, she and the unicorns had been dancing that afternoon at exactly the same time.

  Moon and her sisters blushed. “Well, thank you,” Moon said, flicking strands of her silky black mane out of her eyes. The opals on her golden-yellow ribbon necklace and her crown twinkled. She turned to the raccoon, who had stopped playing music. “Cressida, this is Ringo. He and the other raccoons in my domain, the Night Forest, play traditional unicorn music every year for the ball. And this year, for the first time, the raccoons might even play some new music they wrote themselves.”

  “It’s wonderful to meet you,” Cressida said. “I love your music.”

  “Why, thank you,” Ringo said, tucking the harp under his arm and wrapping his long, striped tail around the drum. “I’m sorry to dash off, but I have to head back to the Night Forest for a practice session with the other raccoons.” He waved and scurried away carrying his instruments.

  “I have a question for you,” Moon said, twirling on her shiny black hooves. “How would you like to be the first human girl to attend the Starlight Ball? It’s a spectacular dance I host every year in the Night Forest’s very own ballroom.”

  “That sounds wonderful,” Cressida said, jumping with excitement. “I’ve always wanted to go to a ball!”

  “You’ve never been to a ball?” Flash and Sunbeam asked, looking surprised.

  Cressida shook her head.

  “Not even one?” asked Firefly.

  “Not even one!” Cressida said, amused.

  “But if you’ve never been to a ball, when do you wear your crown?” Bloom blurted out.

  Cressida giggled. “I don’t have a crown,” she said.

  “You don’t have a crown?” Flash, Sunbeam, and Bloom said at once, eyes wide.

  “Nope!” Cressida said, laughing even harder.

  “The human world is such a strange place,” Prism said, winking at Cressida.

  “Now that I know you’ve never been to a ball, I’m even more excited you’re here for the Starlight Ball,” Moon gushed. “How would you like to come with me to help finish decorating the ballroom? Breeze and Firefly said they’d meet us there a little before the ball to help, too. If we go soon, we might even have time to listen to the raccoons’ final practice session.”

  “I’d love that,” Cressida said.

  Just then, Ernest skipped into the room wearing a glittery silver tuxedo, matching wingtips, and a sequined purple top hat.

  “I’ve been practicing this tuxedo spell all week,” Ernest announced with a wide grin. “How do I look?”

  He spun around, and as he turned, Cressida noticed that instead of tails on the back of Ernest’s tuxedo coat, there hung two long, dark-green leaves.

  Sunbeam, Bloom, and Prism looked at each other and smiled.

  “I love your hat, but your tuxedo …” Flash began.

  “You look ready to dance, except …” Moon started.

  “What’s wrong?” Ernest asked, his grin folding into a worried frown. “You don’t like my tuxedo?”

  “Your tuxedo looks great,” Firefly said. “It’s just that, well, I think something might have gone wrong with the back of your jacket.”

  Ernest blushed and grimaced. “Oh dear,” he said. “Did I say ‘mail’ instead of ‘tail’ again? There are already stacks and stacks of envelopes all over my room.”

  “I think,” Cressida said, recognizing the leaves from a vegetable dish her father often made for dinner, “you might have said ‘kale.’ ”

  “Oh dear!” Ernest said. “I’m so embarrassed.”

  “It’s okay,” Moon said. “You still have time to work on your tuxedo spell before the Starlight Ball. And if you can’t get it right, there’s nothing wrong with wearing leafy green vegetables on your coat.”

  “The worst-case scenario is you’ll have an emergency snack on your jacket,” Bloom added, winking at Ernest.

  Ernest laughed. “I guess I’d better keep practicing,” he said. “But first, I want to make a ball gown for Cressida! I already made one without a glitch—well, almost without a glitch—for another friend this morning.”

  “Uh oh,” Moon whispered to Cressida. “The next thing you know, you’ll be wearing a spinach tutu!”

  “I heard that!” Ernest said.

  “I’d love a ball gown,” Cressida said, jumping with excitement. “Do you think there’s any chance you could make one with pockets? I like to have somewhere to put things.”

  “Of course!” Ernest said. He cleared his throat. He pulled his wand out from under his top hat. And he waved it at Cressida as he chanted, “Formally Normally Dancily Dockets! Make a Small Town with Two Big Rockets!”

  Suddenly, at Cressida’s feet there appeared a bustling miniature town, complete with roads, houses, train tracks, a hospital, a movie theater, and a school. In the center, right next to the school, were two rockets with bright red noses pointed toward the sky. Four tiny astronauts pushed a ladder against the side of one of the rockets, just below the door, and began to climb up. When Cressida bent over to examine the rockets more closely, she noticed little cars, trucks, and buses driving over the toes of her unicorn sneakers.

  “Oh dear!” Ernest said. “Hold on! I can do it right this time!” He held up his wand and chanted, “Snickety Snackety Snippety Snockets! Away with the Small Town and Two Large Rockets! Next Make a Ball Gown with Two Big Pockets!”

  A bright pink light swirled around Cressida. She blinked and shut her eyes. When she opened them, she looked down to see she was wearing a ball gown with a gold and pink sequined top and a gauzy pink skirt covered in gold glitter. Best of all, the gown had two enormous pink pockets. Cressida beamed. “I love it!” she said, and she plunged her hands into the pockets. Inside one, she felt her magic key. She smiled, glad to have it with her. Then, she spun and twirled in her new dress.

  “What do you think?” Cressida asked.

  “What a fabulous gown!” Moon exclaimed. “You look ready to go to a ball!”

  “I knew I could do it!” Ernest said. “And now I’d better go work on a new tuxedo jacket.”

  “Before you go,” Moon said, “I wonder if I could ask you for one more magical favor.”

  “Of course,” Ernest said. “Anything at all.”

  Moon leaned over and whispered in Ernest’s ear. He nodded as she spoke.

  “Excellen
t idea,” Ernest said. “I should have thought of that myself.”

  “Do you want to go check in one of your spell books before you try it?” Moon asked. “We most certainly don’t mind waiting.”

  “No need,” Ernest said. “I’ve got just the spell.”

  “But I really do think—” Moon began.

  Before she could say another word, Ernest lifted his wand and chanted, “Darkily Markily Mightily Sight! Please Make Cressida Glasses for Night!”

  Wind swirled around Cressida. Suddenly, in her right hand, she held a pair of glasses with pink frames dotted with opals that matched Moon’s gemstone.

  For a moment, Ernest stared at the glasses. He blinked as his mouth hung open. And then he sang out, “I did it! I did it! I did it on the first try! That’s never happened before!”

  Cressida giggled and clapped. The unicorn princesses cheered. Ernest bowed several times. And then he tap-danced across the room and down the hall, singing, “I did it! And now to get this kale off my tuxedo!”

  After Ernest disappeared down the hall, dancing and singing, Cressida looked again at her new glasses. “Should I put these on now?” she asked.

  “Not yet,” Moon said. “But I’m pretty sure you’ll need them once we get to the Night Forest.”

  Cressida nodded and slid the glasses into her empty pocket. When she looked up, she noticed that Breeze and Firefly were frowning, whispering, and glancing at Moon.

  “Is something wrong?” Moon asked. “If you don’t have time to meet Cressida and me at the ballroom to help finish decorating, I completely understand.”

  “It’s not that,” Breeze said, looking worried.

  “It’s just that—” Firefly began. She sighed, furrowed her brow, and continued, “We heard you mention that Ringo and the other raccoons might play their new music at the ball.”

  “And we wanted to ask if we could stick to the traditional unicorn music,” Breeze said.