Seven-year-old Hania finds glowing shoes in her room that can lift her off the ground. With Dandelion the cat, she rises over the town and heads toward a strange cloud full of laughter.
Hania's room was never quite tidy for long. A teddy bear lounged in one corner, crayons peeked out from under the bed, and books leaned sideways on the shelf as if they were whispering to one another.
That rainy afternoon, while Dad cooked dinner downstairs and the rain tapped softly against the window, Hania decided to make a proper tidy of it at last.
She knelt by the cupboard and began lining up her shoes. Then she froze.
At the very back, hidden behind her old boots, sat a pair of tiny trainers she had never seen before. They were bright and shiny, with yellow laces and little specks of blue and green that shimmered like bits of sky. Even in the dim room, they gave off a faint glow.
Hania frowned. "Where did you come from?"
She glanced over her shoulder. For a moment, the room felt oddly still, as if something was waiting.
Dandelion, her cat, had curled up on the bed. His ears twitched. One green eye opened, then the other.
Hania reached for the trainers. They felt warm, almost alive, in her hands. She slipped them on.
At once, a tiny tickle ran through her feet.
Hania giggled and gave a small hop.
This time, she did not land.
Her toes rose from the floor. Her knees floated up. With a soft gasp, Hania drifted higher and higher until her head brushed the ceiling.
"Hania!" Dandelion yowled, leaping to the edge of the bed. "Wait for me!"
Hania stared at him. "Did you just talk?"
"Of course I did," said Dandelion, as if that was the most ordinary thing in the world. "Now come back down or take me with you!"
Before Hania could answer, the trainers gave a little tug, and both she and Dandelion whooshed straight out through the open window.
Cold rain brushed her cheeks. The town fell away beneath them. Rooftops slipped past, chimneys blurred below, and the playground looked like a toy box left out in the drizzle. Hania clutched Dandelion tight as they sailed above the streets and the quiet little houses.
Then the shoes turned.
Ahead of them drifted a huge cloud, round and bright, striped with colours like a rainbow after rain. Tiny flashes of light sparkled around it. Hania could hear faint laughter drifting from inside, along with the soft pop of bubbles and the flap of something like enormous kites.
Dandelion flattened his ears. "I don't like that cloud," he whispered.
The trainers flew faster.
Hania held her breath as the rainbow cloud grew closer and closer. Just as they reached its shadow, something moved at the centre of it and a voice called out, "There you are at last!"
Hania tightened her grip on Dandelion.
And then she saw who was waiting inside the cloud.