On Thin Ice Read Online Free Page B

to her feet.
    Kerry?
    Double yikes! Katie wasn’t just one of the skaters. The magic wind had turned her into Kerry Gaffigan!
    “Um, yeah, I’m okay,” Katie said, standing up. She scratched at her arm and her cheek. She wanted to scratch other places, but she figured that wouldn’t be polite.
    “Okay, good,” the man told her. “It’s one minute till showtime.”
    Showtime?
    “But I stink at skating!” Katie shouted.
    “What do you mean you stink?” the man insisted.
    Oops. That was something a ten-year-old girl would say, not an Olympic skater. “I mean, um, well, I don’t have my contact lenses in, so I can’t see. And I’m all itchy. So I won’t be able to skate . . . today .”
    “What am I supposed to tell all the people out there?” the man asked angrily. “They’re waiting to see you skate.”
    Katie could hear the audience rustling around in their seats. They sounded very excited. How could Katie disappoint all of Kerry’s fans? She would have to go out on the ice and put on a show.
    Even though she couldn’t stop scratching.
    Even though she couldn’t see anything.
    Even though she couldn’t ice skate !
    Katie gulped. This was soooo not good!

Chapter 10
    Katie was so nervous, it felt like her stomach was doing spins and axels. As the music started, she squinted and tried to see what was happening on the ice. From what she could make out, a skater dressed as the evil queen was twirling around a huge cardboard and foil mirror.
    “Kerry, go. You’re supposed to be out there,” a skater in a dwarf costume whispered to Katie.
    This was it. Katie was going to have to go out there and skate.
    Somehow.
    Slowly, she skated out onto the ice. One foot in front of the other. Right. Left. Right. Left. Her ankles wobbled. She held her breath and tried not to fall.
    The kids in the audience cheered at the very sight of Kerry Gaffigan. Katie reached up one arm and tried to wave.
    Whoops. She almost lost her balance. Okay. No more waving. Just skating, Katie thought. Right. Left. Right. Left.
    “What are you doing?” the evil queen said under her breath. “Where’s the waltz jump you were supposed to do?”
    Katie didn’t answer. What could she say?
    Just then, the seven dwarfs skated out onto the ice. They weaved in and out between the huge cardboard trees that had been set up on the ice to make it look like a forest.
    One of the dwarfs raced over to Katie, and before she knew it, he lifted her off the ground. He began to spin.
    “Whoa!” Katie shouted as the dwarf twirled faster and faster. “I’m getting dizzy.”

    But the dwarf kept on spinning. And even after he finally set her down, Katie still felt like everything was whirling around and around. Her stomach was woozy. All she could do was stand and blink. She was afraid that if she moved, she would throw up!
    Still, she had to skate. The audience had come expecting to watch Kerry Gaffigan on ice.
    But the only ice-skating trick Katie knew was skating backward. Sort of, anyway.
    Katie made an upside-down V with her feet. Then she made a right-side-up V. Then an upside-down V.
    Hey! What do you know? Katie was gliding backward! She smiled and glanced up at the audience.
    The faces in the crowd looked like they were waiting for a big trick. But Katie knew that wasn’t going to happen.
    This is it, guys, she felt like saying as she continued skating backward.
    “Hey, Kerry!” one of the dwarfs suddenly shouted in Katie’s direction. “I mean, Snow White. Watch out!”
    Rip! Katie heard a tearing sound. It took her a moment to realize what had happened.
    Oh, no! She had skated right through the silver foil mirror.
    The audience grew quiet. It seemed as if everybody was holding their breath.
    Katie turned around quickly to see what had happened to the mirror.
    Wham!
    Katie bashed right into one of the dwarfs and knocked him to the ground.
    The audience gasped.
    “I’m so sorry,” Katie apologized to the dwarf. She reached out her hand