Cinderella: Ninja Warrior Read Online Free PDF Page A

gaze down. “Your fabric selections are always beautiful.”
    She thought it would be best not to specifically mention some of her stepsisters’ previous purchases, like the hideous yellow-and-scarlet upholstery fabric with teapot patterns that Agatha had brought home the last time she’d needed a gown.
    If Cinderella played this correctly, she could make her stepmother think it was all her idea to send Cinderella to the village. Even she relied on Cinderella’s taste in fashion and would realize that sending her stepdaughter to choose fabrics was the best and most efficient way to ensure her real daughters shone at the ball.
    Silence filled the room, and Cinderella realized she might have gone too far by hinting at the need for a trip to the village. Her stepmother’s hand hovered over her wand, and Cinderella braced herself for whatever punishment she might be forced to endure.
    The gong at the front door sounded, and everyone’s head turned to the source of the noise.
    “Well?” asked her stepmother after no one moved for a few moments. Her voice sounded full of venom.
    Cinderella moved her gaze from the wand to look into her stepmother’s face.
    Her stepmother sneered. “Do you expect the door to answer itself?”
    “No, of course not.” Feeling slightly giddy that she’d dodged, or at least delayed, whatever bullet had been coming her way, Cinderella skipped down the main stairs in the vaulted front foyer to the door.
    She opened the heavy inner door that led to the small entryway separating the main rooms from the outside. It was unbelievably annoying that whoever was outside could easily open the outer door to come in, yet she couldn’t open it herself because of her stepmother’s entrapment spells.
    She stepped forward, determined that this would be the day the front door would not only open for her, but that it would also be the day she’d be able to cross its threshold and leave. She grasped the huge iron handle and, for extra insurance, braced one foot on the stone wall beside the door. Taking a deep breath, she concentrated and pulled.
    Nothing happened. She pulled again, and the muscles in her upper back felt as if they were about to tear off her body. It felt pointless to keep trying, but trying was all she had.
    She dropped her foot, opened the tiny window in the door, and saw a young man dressed in a suit of burgundy and deep gray velvet; an ostrich feather stuck out jauntily from his floppy black hat. He was undoubtedly a messenger from the castle. She had to admit she was somewhat impressed by his fine uniform.
    “The door is unlocked,” she told the messenger.“Just give me a moment to back out of the way, and then you can enter.” If she were standing within six feet of the door, the spell would prevent its movement.
    “You want me to open the door myself?” the messenger asked.
    “Yes, my hands are full.” Although visitors to the house were rare, she’d worked up a list of excuses over the years.
    Even if the cook and grooms employed by her stepmother could see her—which they didn’t seem to be able to do, likely the effect of another dark spell—she couldn’t ask them for help. If she ever told another soul about the entrapment spells, both she and the person she told would be turned into stone.
    The messenger opened the door and stepped inside, his broad shoulders filling a surprising amount of the door’s width. His black hat was tilted forward so that it shielded his face from the light and made his features hard to discern. He was tall, and although the uniform was slightly worn and baggy, Cinderella could see the young man had a strong form beneath his broad shoulders.
    “Your hands aren’t full,” he said as he stepped forward.
    She stepped back. “I put everything down.”
    He walked past her into the foyer, glanced around, and, not spotting any evidence of baggage, looked at her curiously. “Where?”
    Caught in her lie, Cinderella squirmed under the gaze of