Free Cinderella: Ninja Warrior by Maureen McGowan

herself laterally, and after twisting her body around twice as she passed the tower, she landed on the grass next to the stone courtyard—the cordial glass still in her hand.
    She stomped toward her evil spectators. “That’s not fair,” she told her stepmother. “This isn’t the test you set out. We had a deal.”
    “How dare you.” Her stepmother stood, wand raised. “I don’t make deals with insolent, badly behaved girls.” Her stepmother’s eyes glinted red in their centers and bore into Cinderella’s heart, filling her with fear.
    This was no longer about completing this test. If she angered her stepmother further, it might be about saving her own life. Never before had she felt so certain that her stepmother was capable of murder.
    Agatha rose from her chair and said, “Mother, you did agree.”
    Her stepmother spun toward her daughter and an unseen force pushed Agatha back down into her chair. Agatha ducked her head as if protecting herself from further punishment, and Gwen shook her head and rolled her eyes, as if disgusted with her sister’s behavior.
    “Go on then,” her stepmother said. She waved her hand at Cinderella. “Or do you give up?”
    Cinderella tamed her rage and got back to work. One by one, she added the cordial glasses, focusing intensely on her task so that nothing her stepmother threw at her interfered. She merely adjusted her speed and height to compensate for the wind, the rain, the flashes of lightning—and now a swarm of moths. Only once was she forced to abort her flip and not place a glass.
    When Cinderella placed the next-to-last cordial glass on the tower, her hair brushed the glass below it. She squeezed her eyes shut, but did not hear a crash. After landing, she squinted one eye open.
    She’d done it. Only one more.
    Fighting the pride and excitement threatening to distract her, she picked up the last glass and ran toward the wall at full speed, then leaped high toward the top of the tower. Surprised that there were no added challenges, she carefully placed the last glass and then stretched her body out straight, preparing to land.
    But the instant that her feet touched down, the ground trembled beneath them.
    An earthquake.
    The tower shook, swayed from side to side, and then crashed, every goblet shattering into tiny pieces.
    She turned to her stepmother. “I did it. Agatha, you saw, right? It’s not fair to cause an earthquake to knock it down after I finish.”
    Agatha looked away. Her stepmother rose and shook her head. “So unfortunate, Cinderella. I thought you might have finally overcome your clumsiness, but it looks as though you won’t be going to the competition—or the ball.”

    Can Cinderella change her stepmother’s mind?
     
    If not, can she figure out a way to escape the entrapment spells?
     
    Will she ever see Ty again?
     
     
    To find out, turn to section 4: Unexpected Assistance (page 107).
     

Section 3
     
    HARD WORK REWARDED
     
    3
     

    C inderella carefully set the two gowns onto the dress forms in her stepsisters’ shared dressing room that spanned the space between their grand bedrooms. She felt light, more alive and happy than she’d been in a very long time.
    It had been smart to say no to the ball, even if it had been impossible at the time to tell if her answer had pleased her stepmother. Since then, she’d worked hard to complete every task and chore she’d been given, like always. But completing these gowns was different, and her stepmother was going to be both shocked and pleased. Although Cinderella knew it was wrong to expect a reward, she certainly deserved and hoped for something—maybe a few hours outside during daylight.
    Hearing the clack of her stepmother’s and stepsisters’ high heels coming up the stairs and crossing the wooden floor, she stepped out to greet them. “I have a surprise,” she announced.
    “Oh, goody.” Agatha clapped her hands, but then Gwendolyn bumped her sister with her hip and Agatha