Ella ran as fast as her glass slippers² would allow. She heard Kit³ call out to her to wait. Turning to see his bewildered expression, she knew she had to say something.

 

"You've been awfully⁴ nice," Ella called. "Thank you for a wonderful evening. I loved it. Every second." Then she ran through the garden, to the terrace, and up the stone steps. She found herself standing⁵ in front of the door to the gallery where their walk had begun. Moving through the doors, she disappeared into the darkness of the gallery.

 

She raced past the portraits and burst into the ballroom⁶ a moment later. Ducking and weavingamong the dancers, she safely made her way across the room, but then—smack!—she ran right into King Frederick.

 

"Oh!" Ella exclaimed. "Your Highness!"

 

He nodded at the pretty girl in front of him. "Young lady."

 

"I'm… I'm so sorry!" Ella said, starting to rush away. But once again, she got the feeling that she couldn't leave it there. She turned back. "I wanted to say, Your Highness, that your son, Kit, is the most lovely person I ever met. So good and brave. I hope you know how much he loves you." Without another word, she raced off, leaving the king with a bemused expression on his face.

 

Ella ran faster than she had ever run before. Finally, she found herself at the top of the staircase leading down to the palace courtyard. She spotted⁷ her carriage nearby. With a sigh of relief, she ran down the stairs. Suddenly, she felt one of her glass slippers, the one that had flown off on the swing, slide off her foot once more. She was just about to fetch it when she saw a group of guards arrive at the top of the stairs. With one last sad look at her pretty shoe, Ella ran the rest of the way down the stairs.

 

One of the footmen leaned against the side of the carriage, trying to catch a fly. As soon as he spotted Ella, he frantically⁸ motioned to the coachman, the fly forgotten. With a snap of the reins⁹, the coachman started moving the carriage and Ella slipped inside. Then the carriage was off, the four noble horses racing¹⁰ into the night.

 

Letting out a deep breath, Ella finally looked back. She could just make out the prince standing on the steps. In one hand, he held her glass slipper¹. But it wasn't the loss of the shoe that hurt; it was the expression on his face that broke Ella's heart. Kit looked confused and sad. And it was all her fault.

 

As the carriage sped out the palace gates, Ella heard the bells tolling¹² the midnight hour. She also heard the sound of hoofbeats and knew that the guards were in pursuit. That meant Kit didn't want her to go. But she couldn't let him find her. Not now, not when the magic was about to end.

 

The bell tolled¹³ again. Ella leaned out the window and saw the horses' tails begin to transform back into mouse tails. Around her, the walls of the carriage started to turn orange. As the persistent¹⁴ bell tolled loudly, the coachman's nose grew back into a beak¹⁵, and he let out an anxious honk¹⁶.

 

A short distance behind, unaware¹⁸ of any of these odd changes, the guards continued their pursuit. Among them were the Grand Duke and the Captain. They both wanted to catch the mystery princess but for different reasons. The Grand Duke wanted to expose her for the fake he thought she was, while the Captain simply wanted to make Kit happy.

 

Inside the carriage, Ella listened to each toll¹¹ of the bell with a growing sense of dread¹⁹. They were running out of time and needed to get away from the guards before it was too late.

 

The horses' ears became round, and their muzzles²⁰ narrowed into snouts. Then the coachman transformed completely back into a goose, his uniform falling around his webbed feet. The carriage itself began to shake and the footmen became lizards²¹ once more.

 

As a cloud passed over the moon, Ella's carriage clattered²³ over a bridge, bringing them farther from their pursuers and closer to home. But they still had a ways to go, and as the ninth bell tolled, the carriage began to resemble a pumpkin²⁴, its elegant symmetry replaced with a bulbous shape and a stub protruding²⁵ from the top. At the tenth bell, the horses finally disappeared, replaced by the four mice, who let out frightened squeaks²⁶ as the pumpkin carriage rolled on. The goose fell to the road, honking²⁷ loudly before shaking himself off and flying the rest of the way home. And as the eleventh and twelfth bells tolled, the spell was broken.

 

With the sounds of the last bell fading away, Ella found herself sitting on the ground, the pumpkin cracked beside her. There was a slight whoosh²⁸ as her jewels transformed back into fireflies, and then, last but not least, her beautiful gown became the torn and ragged²⁹ dress from before. All that was left of the magic was a single glass slipper. Ella pushed herself to her feet and began to brush herself off.

 

Now she still had to get back to the house before her stepfamily returned. She ushered³⁰ the mice into her remaining glass slipper so she could walk them the rest of the way.

 

A light rain began to fall. Ella cupped her hand over the slipper so the mice would not get wet and made her way back to the house. She heard the sound of a carriage approaching. Ducking to the side of the drive, she rushed through the pantry and into the kitchen just as she heard her stepsisters clatter²² through the front door. There was murmuring as the girls bickered³¹, and then, much to Ella's dismay, she heard their footsteps moving closer.

 

Acting³² quickly, she let her mice friends climb out of the glass slipper before putting the shoe into the hearth³³ and covering it with ashes. Then she lay down beside the hearth and closed her eyes.

 

When Anastasia and Drisella entered the kitchen, they found their stepsister sleeping, covered in the ashes that had inspired her nickname.

 

"Look at that," Anastasia sneered³⁴. "She fell asleep in that thing she was wearing."

 

"She must be dreaming about going to the ball," Drisella added. "Wake her up so we can tell her all about it."

 

Anastasia shook her head. "What she doesn't know won't hurt her."

 

"I know! That's why I want to wake her." Drisella leaned down and shouted into Ella's ear. "Get up, lazybones!"

 

Ella opened her eyes and then stretched, as if she had been asleep for hours.

 

"You missed it!" Drisella crowed.

 

"Oh? What happened?" Ella asked.

 

"You can't even imagine," Anastasia said as her sister ordered Ella to prepare a plate of biscuits and warm some tea.

 

As Ella started to prepare the snack, her sisters began to recount the events of the night. They were interrupted by their mother, who entered and immediately demanded that their treats be brought to the parlor³⁵. She wasn't going to let them start eating in the kitchen like scullery maids… or Cinderella. Once she and her daughters were settled, the girls continued talking. As usual, they were talking more at Ella than to her.

 

"The prince was showing me a great deal of favor," Anastasia said.

 

"I thought his eye was more inclined towards me," Drisella argued.

 

Ella couldn't help herself. "What did he say to you?" she asked, knowing full well he hadn't spoken a word.

 

There was a pause as the sisters looked at each other. "What do you mean, what did he say?" Anastasia finally said.

 

Drisella had an answer. "Don't be so common, Cinderella," she snapped. "We did not communicate with mere³⁷ words. Our souls met."

 

Lady Tremaine, who had been silent up until that point, finally seemed to lose her patience. "You didn't speak to him, let alone dance!" she snapped.

 

"It was not our fault, Mother!" Anastasia whined³⁸. "It was that girl. . . ."

 

"The mystery princess!" Drisella added.

 

"That was no princess," Lady Tremaine said, her eyes on Ella as she spoke³⁶. The girl seemed oddly lighthearted despite having been forced to stay home. It made Lady Tremaine suspicious. "It was a preening³⁹ interloper who made a spectacle of herself. A vulgar young hussy marched into the ball and threw herself at the prince."

 

"And he actually danced with the ugly thing," Anastasia added.

 

Ella looked down, trying to hide the smile that threatened to spread across her face. Unaware that her stepmother was watching her, she hummed a few bars of the song she and Kit had danced to, lost in the memory of that perfect moment.

 

"Yes?" she said dreamily.

 

"Yes!" Drisella repeated. "It was pity. He was too polite to send her packing in front of everyone, you see. But not wanting to expose us to the presumptuous⁴⁰ wench any further, he took her aside—"

 

Anastasia jumped in, interrupting her sister. "And told her off! But she refused to leave, and the palace guard had to chase her from the party."

 

 

 

Ella could barely contain the laughter that bubbled up inside her. Glancing at Lady Tremaine, she saw that the woman was watching her with narrowed eyes. Ella quickly looked back at the ground, worried she might have given herself away.

 

"It's no matter," Lady Tremaine finally said. "The ball was a mere diversion. The prince is promised to Princess Chelina of Zaragosa. The Grand Duke told me as much himself." Then she turned and spoke the next words right to Ella. "He's not allowed to marry for love."

 

Ella sat in her drafty attic⁴¹ room, staring at the glass slipper she held in her hand. Her mind kept replaying moments from the ball: seeing Kit for the first time; feeling his hand in hers; swinging in the wild garden. The memories flashed through her mind, each one vivid and perfect. Yet her stepmother had said the prince could not marry for love. If that was true, she and Kit could never have a future. Not that she was sure he would want a future with her, or her with him. She shook her head to clear her thoughts.

 

Sighing, Ella stood up and walked to the far corner of the attic. She kneeled down and lifted up a loose floorboard. Inside was the beautiful toy butterfly her father had given to her many years earlier. She gently placed the slipper next to it and then put the board back in place. Noticing that Jacqueline, Gus, and their children were watching from nearby, Ella smiled. She hadn't seen them since the magical transformation⁴².

 

"Thank you for your help," she said. "It really was like a dream. Better than a dream." Then she squared her shoulders. "But now it's done."

 

Jacqueline and Gus rose on their hind¹⁷ legs and attempted to imitate dancing. Ella laughed, amused by her friends' efforts. But they had made a point. The ball hadn't been a dream. It had been real. And the way she felt when she was around Kit? That was real, too.

 

She thought about his spirit, his courage, his kindness. She thought about the way she had felt dancing in his arms. She loved talking to him; she loved being silent with him. He was one of those rare souls who made one feel comfortable no matter what.

 

And now he was promised to another. It made Ella's heart hurt to think he did not have control over such an important decision. She wished she could do something to help him.

 

Sighing once more, Ella smoothed the front of her apron⁴³. At least they would forever have the fond memory of the perfect night at the ball.

 

虽然穿着水晶鞋，瑞拉还是拼了命往前跑。她听见基特喊着，要她等等。她回过头见他满脸困惑，觉得自己总要说些什么才好。

 

于是她大声说道：“你真是太好了！谢谢你给了我这样美好的夜晚，我太高兴了，每分每秒都是如此！”接着她跑过花园，跑向草坪，跑上石阶，站在她和王子共同走过的长廊入口。穿过一扇扇门后，她隐没在黑暗的长廊中。

 

瑞拉快跑着经过一张张画像，不一会儿就冲进了舞厅，在跳舞的人们中间低着头四处躲闪着穿行。可就在她快要走出舞厅时，“砰”的一声，她正好撞上了弗雷德里克国王。

 

“天哪！”瑞拉不禁喊道，“陛下！”

 

他对面前美丽的姑娘点点头：“你好，小姐。”

 

“我……我很抱歉！”瑞拉一边说着一边又继续跑着，可她再次觉得自己不能就这样离开。她转过身说道：“陛下，我想告诉您，您的儿子基特是我见过的最好的人，他那么善良，那么勇敢，我希望您知道他有多爱您。”话音未落她就着急跑开了，留下国王一人，满脸迷茫。

 

瑞拉从未像现在跑得这样快。终于她来到通向王宫大院的楼梯上，看见自己的马车就在附近。她如释重负地舒一口气，跑下楼梯。忽然，她发现自己穿着的水晶鞋中有一只——就是她荡秋千时飞出去的那只——又从她脚上滑了下来。她想取回鞋子，却看到一群侍卫站到了楼梯上。瑞拉悲伤地看了她那漂亮的鞋子最后一眼，急匆匆离开了楼梯。

 

她的一名侍从靠在马车旁，正在捕捉苍蝇，但他一看见瑞拉就兴奋地向马车夫招手，完全忘记了苍蝇这回事。车夫猛地一拉缰绳，马车动起来了，瑞拉迅速钻进了车里。四匹高贵的马撒开腿拉着马车冲进夜色中。

 

瑞拉长长地舒了一口气，最后回头望了一眼。她还能看见站在台阶上的王子，一只手上拿着她落下的水晶鞋。其实，丢了鞋瑞拉并不伤心，可王子脸上的表情却让她心碎。基特看起来惶惑又难过，而这全是她的错。

 

就在马车飞快地跑出王宫大门时，瑞拉听见午夜的钟声响起了。她还听见阵阵马蹄声，她知道侍卫们正在追赶她。这意味着基特不想让她走，可她不能让他找到自己。不，不是这个时候，不能在魔法即将消失的时候。

 

钟声又响了。瑞拉把身子探出窗外，看见马儿的尾巴开始变回老鼠尾巴了。在她周围，马车的内侧也开始变为橙色。钟声还在固执地、响亮地继续着，马车夫的鼻子变回了鸟喙，发出了焦虑的嘎嘎声。

 

就在马车后方不远处，侍卫们还在坚持不懈地追赶着，对这些异常的变化一无所知。公爵和侍卫长也在追赶马车的队列里，他们都想抓住这位神秘的公主，却是出于不同的原因：公爵打算揭发她假冒的公主身份，而侍卫长则单纯地希望基特能快乐。

 

马车里的瑞拉听着一声声钟响，越发害怕起来。他们没有时间了，必须赶紧甩掉这些侍卫，否则一切都晚了。

 

马儿的耳朵开始变圆，口鼻也收窄变长了。接着，车夫已经完全变回了鹅的样子，身上的制服耷拉下来，垂到他有蹼的脚上。马车开始抖动起来，侍从们也变成了蜥蜴。

 

一片云朵拂过月亮，瑞拉的马车正咔嗒咔嗒跑过一座桥，他们离追赶的队伍越来越远，离家也越来越近，但前面还有一段路。这时第九次钟声响起，马车开始显现出南瓜的模样，原本优雅匀称的外形变得滚圆，顶上还冒出了瓜蒂。第十声钟响时，马儿都消失了，只留下四只老鼠，看着前进的南瓜车害怕得吱吱直叫。鹅跌到路面上，高声叫唤了几下后，抖抖身子，开始朝家飞去。终于，第十一声和第十二声钟响起的时候，咒语彻底解除了。

 

随着最后一声钟响慢慢消失，瑞拉跌坐在地上，南瓜在她身边崩裂开来。伴着轻快的“嗖”的一声，她穿戴的珠宝变回了萤火虫，漂亮的礼服也终于变成了原来的褴褛衣裳，这场魔法留给她的只剩一只水晶鞋。瑞拉挣扎着站起来，掸了掸身上的灰尘。

 

现在她还得在继母她们回家之前赶回去。她让老鼠们躲进剩下的那只水晶鞋里，这样她走回家时就能带着它们了。

 

天上下起了小雨。回家的路上，瑞拉把手挡在水晶鞋上，免得雨把老鼠们淋湿。这时她听见有辆马车的声音，越来越近。她连忙躲到车道边，快速跑过储藏室，进了厨房，正好听见她的两位姐姐嬉笑着从前门进屋了。两个姑娘低声拌着嘴，瑞拉听见她们的脚步声越来越近，不由得惊慌失措。

 

她马上行动起来，让老鼠朋友们先爬出水晶鞋，再把鞋子放进灶台，用灰盖上。然后她躺在炉边，闭上了眼睛。

 

安泰西亚和崔西里亚走进厨房时，看见妹妹正在睡觉，身上落满了灰：就是因为这些灰她才会有那么个绰号。

 

安泰西亚嗤笑着：“瞧瞧！她居然穿着那件破烂睡着了！”

 

崔西里亚也说道：“她一定梦见自己到舞会上去了吧。把她叫醒，咱们把舞会上的事都告诉她。”

 

安泰西亚摇摇头：“她不知道的话反而不会难受。”

 

“我知道！所以我才要叫醒她。”崔西里亚俯身对着瑞拉的耳朵大喊：“起来，懒骨头！”

 

瑞拉睁开眼睛伸了伸懒腰，好像已经睡了很长时间。

 

崔西里亚得意地叫嚷着：“你错过了很多！”

 

瑞拉问：“噢？发生了什么事情？”

 

“你想都想不到。”安泰西亚说。崔西里亚命令瑞拉去准备一盘饼干，上些热茶。

 

瑞拉准备点心时，姐姐们开始说起当晚发生的事。这时她们的母亲走进来，打断了她们的谈话，要求瑞拉把点心端到起居室里。她可不能让自己的女儿们像帮厨的女仆或灰姑娘那样在厨房里吃东西。大家一坐好，女儿们又接着说开了。和往常一样，她们不直接和瑞拉说话，却句句都说给她听。

 

安泰西亚说：“王子可是非常喜欢我呢！”

 

崔西里亚却不服：“我觉得他的眼神落到我身上更多一些！”

 

瑞拉再也忍不住了。“他对你们说了些什么？”她问道，虽然她心知王子什么也没说。

 

姐妹俩面面相觑，好一会儿没说话。“你是什么意思？什么叫他说了什么？” 安泰西亚终于发话了。

 

崔西里亚却有了答案。“灰姑娘，你也太庸俗了。”她没好气地说，“我们可不只是用言语交流，我们心意相通。”

 

一直保持沉默的特曼妮夫人直到这一刻好像终于失去了耐心，她厉声说道：“你们和王子连话都没说上，更别说跳舞了！”

 

“那不是我们的错，妈妈！”安泰西亚嘀咕着，“都是那个女孩……”

 

“那位神秘的公主！”崔西里亚补了一句。

 

“她不是什么公主。”特曼妮夫人边说边看着瑞拉。虽然她们逼着这孩子留在家里，她看起来却完全无所谓，这可不寻常，特曼妮夫人疑窦顿生。“一个靠打扮吸引眼球的不速之客，简直出尽洋相。那个无耻轻佻的女人，居然直接冲进舞会对王子投怀送抱。”

 

“可王子还真和那个丑女人跳舞了。”安泰西亚说。

 

瑞拉低着头，竭力掩饰着脸上想要荡漾开来的笑意，全然不知她的继母正注视着她，她哼着和基特跳舞时的那首曲子，完全沉浸在对那段美妙时光的回忆中。

 

她如坠梦境地说了句：“是吗？”

 

“怎么不是！”崔西里亚也说道。“太遗憾了，王子是出于客气才没忍心在众目睽睽之下打发她走，可他也不想让这个放肆的丫头再出洋相，只得把她带到一边去……”

 

安泰西亚急不可耐地打断了妹妹：“然后王子撵她走！可她就是不肯，于是王宫里的侍卫只好把她从舞会上轰了出去。”

 

瑞拉在心里大笑不止，简直快要忍不住了。她一眼瞥见特曼妮夫人正眯起眼睛看着自己，连忙垂下眼望向地面，担心她可能已经泄露了自己的秘密。

 

“没关系。”特曼妮夫人终于开口说道，“这场舞会不过是个幌子，王子早就和萨拉戈萨王国的赛琳娜公主订下了婚约，公爵亲口告诉我的。”她转过身，正对着瑞拉说道：“他是不可以和他所爱的人结婚的。”

 

瑞拉坐在四面透风的阁楼里，呆呆地看着手上的水晶鞋，脑海里重复播放着舞会上的画面：初遇基特，拉着他的手，在花园里荡秋千。一幕幕回忆在她脑中闪过，每一幕都真实而甜蜜。可是她的继母刚刚说了，王子不可以和所爱的人结婚。果真如此的话，她和基特是不会有将来的。不过，她倒也不确定他是否想和她有将来，也不确定他的将来里一定会有她。她摇摇头，让自己别再去想这些。

 

瑞拉叹了口气，起身走向阁楼最远的那个角落。她跪下来，抬起一块松动的地板，里面是她父亲多年前送给她的漂亮的玩具蝴蝶。她轻轻地把水晶鞋放到蝴蝶旁边，把地板放回原处。看见杰奎琳、葛斯和它们的孩子们正在不远处看着她，瑞拉笑了。自从那次魔法变身后，她还是第一次见到它们。

 

“谢谢你们的帮助。”瑞拉说，“那真像一场梦，比梦还美。”接着她挺直肩膀：“不过一切都结束了。”

 

杰奎琳和葛斯抬起后腿，试着模仿跳舞的样子。瑞拉被朋友们努力的表演逗笑了。不过它们也提醒了她：那场舞会是真实的，不是梦；而基特在她身边的那种感觉，也是真实的。

 

她想起了他的气概、他的勇敢、他的善良；她也想起了在他怀中跳舞的感觉。她喜欢和他说话，也喜欢和他安静地待在一起。世界上很少有人在任何时候都让人觉得安心，而王子就是其中之一。

 

可现在，他已经和另一个人立下婚约了。这样重要的决定，他却完全不能左右，想到这里瑞拉就觉得心痛，她真希望自己能做些什么帮帮他。

 

瑞拉又叹了口气，抚了抚身前的围裙。至少，他们能永远保留舞会当晚美好的回忆。

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