Rosa and Crystal Read online

  The girls ate quickly, except for Freya, who kept stopping to write things in her notebook.

  “Are you nearly done?” Rosa asked her as everyone else stood up to leave.

  “No,” said Freya, not even looking up as she somehow managed to eat ice cream with one hand while sketching out a complicated-looking diagram with the other. “But you lot go on. I’m not coming.”

  “What a surprise!” said Rosa, annoyed. But Freya didn’t seem bothered by her tone. She just carried on sketching.

  “Come on,” Rosa said, turning to the others. “We’ll see if we can find the model, because we care about the academy.”

  She stomped away from the table. Violet hurried alongside her. “Freya does care too,” she said. “She just doesn’t always like joining in.”

  “Hmm,” said Rosa, raising her eyebrows in disbelief.

  She led the others up the stairs towards the teachers’ rooms. Rosa didn’t know exactly where Ms Primrose’s old study was, but surely it couldn’t be that hard to find, could it?

  “Do you know where we’re going?” Ariana asked as Rosa led them along the twisty corridors. “Only I’m sure we’ve passed that clock engraved with unicorns twice already.”

  “That was a different clock,” Rosa lied. To her relief she suddenly caught sight of a door that had a faded nameplate on it saying “Ms Primrose”. “Look, we’re here now. I told you I knew the way!”

  Rosa pressed her ear to the dark wooden door and listened. The room sounded empty, just as she would have expected, but she knocked anyway, just to be sure. Then she opened the door cautiously. The study appeared not to have been touched since Ms Primrose left. The walls were lined with bookcases and pictures of unicorns.

  There was a large desk with pens spread over it, and a pile of books and papers. Behind the desk there was a picture of a rearing unicorn, its head surrounded by a glowing mane and its haunches covered in a starry pattern. The chair was shoved back as if Ms Primrose had just been called away for a minute. It made Rosa feel uneasy, but she pushed the feeling away. She was in charge – she had to seem confident!

  “Everyone spread out,” she whispered. “Remember, we’re looking for a tiny model of the school.”

  “Look everywhere,” Ariana added, her brown eyes serious. “It might be hidden in a secret drawer or cupboard.”

  “That’s exactly what I was going to say!” Rosa set to work at once, emptying the drawers of the large desk. She was disappointed not to find anything other than stationery, pens and fluff in any of the drawers. Rosa tapped the bottom of each one in the hope of finding a hidden compartment.

  “Matilda!” hissed Ariana, who was taking books from a shelf and stacking them on the floor in neat piles as she worked her way along. “Don’t dump those papers over here. You’re messing up my system.”

  “Sorry!” Matilda pushed her red hair out of her eyes, leaving a smear of dust on her cheek. “Isn’t this fun? Ooh, look at those glittery pencils. I’d love a set like that.” She brushed past the pile of books as she hurried towards a set of silver and gold pencils lying on one of the shelves.

  “Stop!” squeaked Ariana as a tower of books toppled over with a crash, taking a second tower down with it. “Oh, Matilda!”

  “It’s not as bad as it looks.” Violet quickly dropped to her knees and began helping Ariana to pick up the scattered books and papers.

  Rosa came over to help. As she picked up a book, something small and silver fell out of it and landed on the floor with a clink. “What’s that?”

  “A key,” said Violet, seizing it. “It’s so tiny. I wonder what it’s for.”

  Rosa took the key. It was slender, with a rearing unicorn at one end. The part that went in the lock was pointed and looked like a star. The rearing unicorn seemed familiar.

  Rosa tapped the key in the palm of her hand as she tried to remember where she’d seen it before.

  “That’s it!” Her eyes fell on the picture hanging behind Ms Primrose’s desk. It was of a unicorn with a mane that looked like a halo. Excitement shivered in her tummy. “The picture and the key, they’re the same!”

  Rosa crossed the room. She wasn’t sure what she was looking for, but she was certain the key and the picture were linked.

  “Look at the stars!” she exclaimed.

  The unicorn in the picture had a cluster of stars on its haunches identical in shape to the end of the key. Rosa squinted at them and then she noticed that one had a small hole. She held the key up to the star and it slipped inside. “It’s a lock,” she gasped.

  The others crowded round as the key turned with a soft click and the painting swung slowly away from the wall, revealing a golden safe.

  “Look at that!” Rosa stared at the hidden safe. She could hardly breathe she was so excited. Maybe they were about to find the model of the school!

  “I bet it’s locked,” said Violet.

  Rosa turned the dial. To her surprise, the lock opened immediately.

  “Be careful,” warned Ariana as Rosa opened the door and reached inside.

  To Rosa’s disappointment, there was no little model of the school inside the safe, just a large rolled-up piece of paper tied with a gold ribbon. “There’s a scroll,” she said, pulling it out. Curiously, she undid the bow and went to the desk. She spread the map out, anchoring the ends with two photo frames to stop them from curling back up.

  Everyone crowded around.

  “It’s a map of somewhere called the Glittering Cavern!” said Violet, pointing to a label.

  “It’s hand-drawn and very good,” said Matilda appreciatively.

  The map, neatly drawn in sparkling rainbow inks, showed an incredible ice cavern full of multicoloured icicles and surrounded by a complicated maze of frozen passages.

  “Look at those stalactites and stalagmites,” breathed Rosa. “Did you ever see anything so beautiful?”

  “Or dangerous,” added Ariana, with a shiver. “Imagine if one of those stalactites snapped. It could spear you if you were standing underneath it!”

  “See that?” Rosa made an excited stab at a tiny picture of a building marked with a cross, right in the centre of the cavern. “It’s Unicorn Academy.”

  “What does it mean?” wondered Violet. “Why would there be a drawing of the academy inside an ice cave?”

  “Perhaps Ms Primrose was planning on destroying the academy by freezing it in ice,” said Matilda, her green eyes huge behind her glasses.

  Rosa frowned. “Why would she do that?”

  Matilda had pulled a pencil from one of her pockets. She chewed the end thoughtfully. “Um… Well, everyone said Ms Primrose wanted more power. She did lots of terrible things before she was caught. Maybe that’s why?”

  But a better idea was growing inside Rosa. “No, do you know what I think? I think this is more like a treasure map and it marks the spot where Ms Primrose hid the model of the school! That’s why the academy is so tiny. It’s not the actual school – it’s the model!”

  “Ooh yes!” said Violet. “I bet you’re right.” Excitement fizzed through Rosa. “Imagine if we followed this map and found it? Once the model is returned, the magical map will work again and everyone will be so pleased with us!” She could hardly get the words out in her excitement. “Let’s go to this Glittering Cavern and bring the model home!”

  Ariana frowned. “It would be far more sensible to just give the map to Ms Rosemary or Ms Nettles. They’ll know what to do with it and be able to go there and get the model.”

  “But think how much more fun we could have solving the mystery ourselves,” said Rosa. “We could ask our unicorns to come with us. It would be a real adventure.”

  Matilda nodded. “It really would.”

  But Ariana shook her head. “It could be really dangerous.”

  “We don’t need to decide right now,” Violet said quickly. “Let’s go back to the dorm.” She glanced around and shivered uneasily. “I keep feeling like someone is watching us!”


  “OK,” said Rosa. “We can carry on talking in our lounge, where no one can hear us.”

  Rosa replaced the key in the book then, hiding the map under her thick school hoodie, she led the girls out. Luckily they didn’t meet anyone until they were near their dorm. As they rounded a corner, they saw Freya hurrying down the corridor ahead of them.

  “Freya!” Rosa called. “Wait up! We’re going to our lounge. We’ve got something really important to discuss. Come with us!”

  But Freya just disappeared around the corner. Disappointed, Rosa led the other girls to the Diamond dorm lounge. A fire was burning in the hearth.

  “I’ve got a bag of marshmallows somewhere,” said Matilda. “Let’s toast them.”

  While Matilda searched in her locker for the sweets, Rosa watched the leaping flames in the fireplace. The more she thought about her idea, the more sense it made. Ms Primrose must have hidden the model in the Glittering Cavern. Why else would she have marked the map with a picture of the school and a cross and then hidden the map in a safe? They had to find it!

  Matilda appeared waving a fat bag of pink and white marshmallows and a bundle of toasting forks. “Here we go!”

  “Matilda, watch out!” said Ariana, ducking as Matilda almost poked her with the forks. “Here, let me give them out. No, not that one – that’s your pencil!”

  The girls giggled as Ariana removed a pencil from the middle of the toasting forks and gave it back to Matilda. She handed out the forks. “Remember, don’t get too close to the fire when you toast the marshmallows,” she warned everyone.

  “OK, so about the map,” Rosa started as Violet passed around the marshmallows. “I’ve been thinking—”

  “I’m not going,” Ariana interrupted firmly, kneeling down by the fire. “I really think we have to tell the teachers.”

  “But that’s boring!” Rosa protested.

  “Look, it’s too late to do anything now,” Violet said. “Why don’t we sleep on it and decide in the morning?”

  Matilda and Ariana were already leaning forward and holding their marshmallows over the flames.

  “All right,” sighed Rosa. Squeezing between Matilda and Ariana, she banged her toasting fork down on the edge of the hearth. “OK, everyone. I’ve decided we won’t do anything with the map until tomorrow. Until then, it’s going to be a Diamond dorm secret. You are not to tell anyone,” she added, giving them all an extra hard stare. “Is that understood?”

  “Ooh, I do love a secret,” said Matilda. “My big brother told me an amazing secret just before I left home to come here. If you promise not to tell—”

  “Matilda!” Rosa interrupted. “A secret is only a secret if you don’t tell anyone!”

  Matilda turned pink. “I know,” she said, with a guilty smile. “But none of you know my brother, so it won’t matter if—”

  “It does matter,” said Rosa firmly, her gaze switching from Matilda to Ariana, who she thought was definitely the most likely to go and tell a teacher. “This map is Diamond dorm’s secret. If anyone talks about it, especially to a teacher, then you’ll have me to deal with!”

  Matilda gave a squeak. “Scary!”

  Rosa’s fingers trembled as she pushed a marshmallow on to the end of her toasting fork. She was pleased how fierce she’d sounded even though she’d felt anything but fierce inside. Violet was right, though. It was too late to do anything with the map now. But tomorrow was Saturday and that meant they didn’t have any lessons to go to. As soon as she had persuaded the others to do what she wanted, they could try and think up a way of getting to the Glittering Cavern. Though first Rosa had another problem to solve. Where exactly on Unicorn Island was the Glittering Cavern? She didn’t have a clue!

  Rosa was up early the next morning, waking everyone up. “Today we’re going to look for the Glittering Cavern!”

  “Go away. I’m a bear. I’m hibernating,” groaned Matilda, burrowing deep inside her pink and silver duvet.

  But Rosa wouldn’t leave Matilda alone. She tickled her until she finally sat up, groping for her glasses, while Rosa flung the curtains wide, flooding the room with winter sunlight.

  Rosa had loved Diamond dorm from the moment she’d first set eyes on it. It was a tower room. The five beds were arranged around the curved walls and the girls slept with their feet pointing into the middle of the room. On the first day, Rosa had claimed the best bed nearest one of the windows, hurriedly emptying the contents of her overnight bag and putting her things in her wardrobe before any of the other girls arrived.

  Each bed was covered with a blue and silver duvet. It had a small wardrobe on one side and a chest of drawers on the other, with a lamp lit with a diamond so that each girl had her own light to read by. Rosa had made her area feel more homely by putting pictures on her chest of drawers – one of her mum and dad, and another of her granny and grandpa. On her bed was a colourful silk elephant that Granny had made her to remind her of home. The other girls had pictures too, of parents, grandparents, siblings and pets. Rosa wished she had a brother or sister, or even a pet.

  Freya was dressed before anyone else. Tucking a notebook into her pocket, she hurried down to the stables. Rosa wanted to chase after her and get her to agree to come with them, but she was worried that if she did Matilda would go back to bed and then they would all be in trouble.

  “I can’t find my hoodie,” said Matilda, hunting around.

  “You should try hanging things up instead of throwing them on the floor,” said Ariana, dumping a pile of Matilda’s clothes that had crept into her space back on Matilda’s bed.

  “Oh, thank you, Ariana. That’s where my hoodie went,” said Matilda, pulling it over her head back to front and almost losing her glasses. “Whoops!” she giggled.

  Ariana sighed.

  At last everyone was ready, but as they walked to the stables Rosa fell behind the others and slipped inside the hall to look at the magical map once more. It seemed so forlorn without the buzz of the magical force field. The hole where the academy should have been was like a missing tooth. Rosa reached out hesitantly and touched the map.

  “Show me where the Glittering Cavern is,” she breathed. “Please,” she added hopefully. A tremble ran through her fingers. Rosa snatched her hand away. Was the map trying to work? What if it managed to take her to the Glittering Cavern? Without the model of the school to bring her back, she might be stuck there for good. Rosa pushed her straight, dark hair behind her ears and bent to study the map again. The gap where the academy should have been was glowing.

  I think the map’s asking for my help, Rosa thought suddenly. I think it wants me to find the model of Unicorn Academy.

  “I will help you,” she whispered. “Just show me where the Glittering Cavern is.”

  Another area of the map suddenly began to glow. It was a ridge of snowy mountains to the north of the academy. Rosa caught her breath. Was that where the Glittering Cavern was? The mountains looked like just the kind of place where an icy cavern might be found.

  The glow faded away and Rosa was filled with a warm sense of duty and pride. The map had chosen her to help! Well, I’m not going to let it down, she thought.

  She ran full pelt to the stables, hoping to catch the others up before she got there. But the rest of Diamond dorm were already there and Rosa heard their cheers and shouts of laughter as she opened the stable door. A stream of bubbles drifted out, floating past her and into the sky. There was another loud cheer. Whatever was going on?

  Rosa burst inside. The rich smell of burnt sugar hung in the air. Rosa immediately recognised the smell. Magic! Her mother’s unicorn, Ace, was a fire unicorn and whenever he did magic the air smelled just the same. She saw a crowd of people gathered around Jester’s stable.

  “Jester’s found his magic,” said Violet, budging up to let Rosa in. “He’s got bubble magic. It’s the coolest thing ever. And Miki and Jester have just bonded – look at Miki’s hair.”

  Rosa couldn’t take h
er eyes off Miki. He was standing in the centre of an enormous silvery bubble that wobbled and shimmered around him, so at first she didn’t notice his hair. But there it was, a streak of dark blue that was just noticeable against his own black locks.

  “Do it again,” Matilda was begging. “Please, Miki, do the bubble walk again. I want to sketch you.”

  “All right,” said Miki. He placed his hands against the walls of the bubble. Then, pushing gently against it, he took a careful step forward. The bubble quivered. Rosa held her breath – was it going to burst? Miki pushed against the shimmering wall and the bubble suddenly tipped forward, rolling like a giant ball. Miki kept going, walking slowly, an enormous grin plastered on his face. As his confidence increased, he walked faster, rolling along the walkway until the bubble hit a broom propped against the wall. With a loud pop, it burst on the bristles, sending thousands of tiny bubbles drifting up into the air. Miki leapt onto Jester’s back and they took a bow.

  Everyone clapped and cheered. “I can’t wait to tell Mum and Dad,” said Miki breathlessly. “Bubble magic is awesome. When Jester has practised his magic more, he’ll be able to make really strong bubbles. We can use them to protect the reindeer from wolves when we move them from their winter pastures to the summer ones.”

  Rosa clapped along with the other students even though she felt a bit jealous. Why hadn’t she and Crystal bonded? They’d been friends from the moment they set eyes on each other. Rosa was also desperate to know what magic Crystal would have.

  “Hurry up, Diamond dorm,” she said. “We need to talk!”

  “Can’t we stay here a bit longer?” said Violet. “Jester’s going to try and build a bubble bridge next.”

  “Great,” whispered Rosa, rolling her eyes at Violet. “Let me know when he’s finished. Then he can make a bubble road that leads to the Glittering Cavern, because that’s where we need to go instead of hanging around here in the stables! Come on, everyone,” she ordered sharply. “There isn’t time for this. We seriously haven’t got a second to waste!”