by Julie Sykes
“Nope, Violet’s coming with us,” declared Rosa. “And that’s that!”
Before bedtime, Violet found herself shivering in a dark corridor in the teachers’ quarters, wearing her dressing gown and fluffy polar bear slippers as she crept behind Rosa and Matilda. Every cell in her body was wishing she was back in the dorm with Freya and Ariana.
“What exactly are we looking for, Rosa?” asked Matilda. She swung her torch wildly, sending a dancing beam of light along the ceiling.
“Shoes!” announced Rosa. “We’re going to see if any of the teachers’ shoes have a diamond pattern on the sole.”
Violet really didn’t want to sneak into the teachers’ rooms. “How about we look in the staff cloakroom?” she suggested.
Rosa’s eyes sparkled in the torchlight. “Ooh, yes! Good plan. The teachers will all be in the staff common room after dinner.”
The staff cloakroom was near the back door. It was lined with pegs with shoe racks underneath. “Look at all these shoes,” Matilda whispered as they went inside and shut the door behind them. “It’s going to take ages to check them.”
The girls set to work, using their torches to see the patterns on the soles of the riding boots, wellies and shoes. Rosa and Matilda were soon giggling.
“Look at this!” said Matilda, pulling a pink, yellow and very fluffy sock out of a boot and carefully holding it up. “Whose is it?”
“Ms Bramble’s?” Rosa suggested innocently, causing Matilda to snort loudly.
Matilda dropped the thing back into the boot and then pulled out a pair of old green socks from some wellies. “Eew! Smelly!” she squealed, dropping them. Clutching on to Rosa, she rocked with laughter.
Violet’s heart was thumping and it beat even faster when she heard a creak outside. “Shhh,” she said. “What’s that?”
But Rosa and Matilda were giggling too hard and didn’t hear her.
“Quiet!” Violet hissed.
The door opened and the light snapped on. Matilda squeaked and Violet’s torch clattered to the floor.
“Girls!” Ms Willow stood in the doorway, dressed in a thick scarf and outdoor coat and holding an empty bottle of Daffodil’s tonic. “What are you doing in here?”
Violet felt like crying. They were going to get into so much trouble. She’d known this was a bad idea.
“We… Um…” For once even Rosa was lost for words.
Ms Willow looked at them for a moment and then her lips twitched into a smile. “Hmm. Now, let me see. Were you trying to find me, maybe? Because you were feeling ill?”
Violet blinked. It sounded almost like Ms Willow was trying to give them a way out – an excuse for being there.
“Yes,” said Matilda, her eyes widening. “We felt unwell.”
Rosa nodded vigorously. “We thought… We thought we might have colds coming on.”
“Well, in that case, I’ll overlook you all being here, provided it doesn’t happen again. Now, why don’t you hurry along to bed and I’ll bring you some of my cold-cure medicine. Unless you’re already feeling a bit better?” Ms Willow’s eyes twinkled.
“Actually, I think we’ll be fine,” Rosa gasped.
Violet couldn’t believe it. Thank goodness lovely Ms Willow had found them! If Ms Brambles or Ms Rivers had discovered them, they would certainly have been marched straight to Ms Nettles.
Ms Willow ushered the girls from the cloakroom. “Go back to your dorm, girls. If I hear any noise, I’ll be up with that cold-cure medicine in the stamp of a unicorn’s hoof. Understand?”
“We understand!” they all answered as they scurried away.
“Phew! That was close!” said Rosa, when they’d turned a corner.
Matilda blew out a long breath. “Hurrah for Ms Willow! She really is the best.”
Violet nodded, feeling cross with herself. She’d known all along that Rosa’s spying mission was a bad idea. So why had she gone along with it? If anyone asks me to do something I don’t want to again, I’m definitely going to say no, she decided firmly, even if it’s Twinkle! But would she really argue with him? Not wanting to think about it, Violet squashed her thoughts down and quickly ran upstairs with the others.
“Get up, sleepy.” Violet woke to find Ariana gently shaking her by the shoulder.
Violet sat up slowly, blinking the sleep from her eyes. Hot shame flooded through her as she remembered the spying and being caught by Ms Willow. She glanced over at Rosa and Matilda. Neither of them seemed bothered by the experience. In fact, Rosa was gleefully re-enacting the moment in the cloakroom when they’d been caught.
“It was so funny,” she said to the others. “You should have seen our faces!”
“Lucky it was only Ms Willow,” said Freya.
Rosa nodded. “She’s the best. Well, I guess that means we can’t do any more night-time spying for the moment.”
“Good,” said Ariana. “So, does that mean we can tell Ms Nettles?”
“Just a few more days,” begged Rosa. “And if we haven’t found anything else out by then, we can tell her. I promise!”
At lunchtime, Violet slipped away from her friends and went to the stables to see Twinkle. He was talking to Daffodil and looked surprised to see her.
“Do we have a lesson now?” he asked. “I thought it was lunchtime.”
“It is,” said Violet. “I just thought I’d spend some time with you. I could plait some ribbons into your mane? Daffodil’s ribbons look really pretty.”
A strange expression crossed Daffodil’s face but was gone so quickly Violet decided she must have imagined it.
“Twinkle was just telling me about your adventure the other night,” said Daffodil. “It sounds very exciting.”
Twinkle snorted. “It was! Why don’t we go out for a ride now, Violet? The snow’s gone.”
Violet took a breath and lifted her chin. “I want to stay in and plait your mane.”
Twinkle looked surprised. “But I want to go out.”
“Twinkle, maybe you should do what Violet wants to do for a change,” suggested Daffodil. “You always seem to make the decisions for the pair of you.”
“Do I?” Twinkle was surprised. “Oh, all right then, we can stay in and you can put ribbons in my mane, Violet.”
Violet blinked. She’d got what she wanted without an argument! “Great!” she said, hardly believing it. “I’ll go and get some!”
“Daffodil!” Violet heard Ms Willow singing Daffodil’s name as she came into the stable block. “Where are you, my sweetie? Come here!”
Daffodil tensed. “I’ve got to go.”
Violet skipped to the store room and chose some red and gold ribbons. As she returned to Twinkle’s stable, she saw Ms Willow stroking Daffodil.
“Hello, Violet.” To Violet’s relief, Ms Willow greeted her as if nothing had happened the night before. “How are you today? Has your cold quite gone?” Her eyes twinkled.
“Yes, thank you,” said Violet sheepishly. She looked at the ribbon Ms Willow had in her hands. “That’s a nice ribbon,” she said, to change the subject. The ribbon was very unusual. It had a pearly sheen that was almost silver but not quite. It reminded Violet of something, but she couldn’t remember what.
“I do like Daffodil to look pretty,” said Ms Willow. “Right, time for your tonic, Daffodil, and then I’ll get plaiting.”
Violet returned to Twinkle’s stable. But as she reached it, she stopped. An image of the scrap of material that Matilda had found in the secret room flashed into her head. The ribbon Ms Willow had been holding was the same silvery colour. Frowning, Violet went back to Daffodil’s stable.
Ms Willow was just putting the tonic bottle down. She glanced round and asked, “Is everything all right, dear? You look worried.”
“Yes, I just, er… I do really like that ribbon you have. Where did you get it from?”
“Just from the store room.” Ms Willow held the ribbon up. “It’s a lovely shade of purple, isn’t it?”
Violet blinked. Purple? She’d been sure the ribbon was silver. But, no, the ribbon Ms Willow was holding was definitely a deep purple. Her eyes must be playing tricks on her.
“I’m sure you’ll find some in the store room if you look,” said Ms Willow, smiling
“Thanks. I’ll go and have a look later,” said Violet and, feeling a bit foolish, she turned away.
“Matilda, have you got that piece of material we found in the secret room?” Violet asked later, as she got ready for afternoon lessons.
“Sure, it’s somewhere round here.” Matilda started to hunt around her bed, opening drawers. “Now, where did I put it?”
“You put it in here when we came down from the secret room,” sighed Ariana, opening Matilda’s jewellery box.
“Oh yes!” said Matilda. “Thanks.” She handed it to Violet. “What do you want it for?”
“I just want to look at it.” Violet turned the material from side to side. It had exactly the same silvery gleam as the ribbon that she was sure she had seen Ms Willow holding. Why did I think Ms Willow’s ribbon looked like this? Violet wondered. Were my eyes playing tricks on me?
“Are you OK?” Ariana asked.
“Yeah.” But Violet felt something nagging at her. It wasn’t just the ribbon. Something else was bothering her. What was it? Turning the scrap of material over in her hands, she realised. Daffodil! When Ms Willow had come into the stable, Daffodil had tensed up almost as though she was scared.
Violet almost laughed out loud. That was ridiculous! Everyone knew how much Ms Willow doted on Daffodil. She had to be mistaken.
I’ll talk to Twinkle, she decided. He’s friends with Daffodil – he might have noticed something. She’d ask him if he wanted to go on another night-time ride that night, and they could talk then. Happiness fizzed through her as she remembered how much fun they’d had on the first ride, until it had started snowing. It would be lovely to be out with him again. Just the two of them, in the peace of a starlit night.
It was cross-country that afternoon and Violet didn’t have a chance to talk to Twinkle about going on a starlight ride until afterwards. As she filled his hay net, Twinkle left his stable to talk to Daffodil. They were whispering about something when Ms Willow came into the stable block. Daffodil gave Twinkle a quick nuzzle. “We’ll speak more later, Twinkle,” Violet heard her say softly, before she trotted over to join Ms Willow.
“What were you two talking about?” Violet asked curiously, as she and Twinkle went back to his stall.
“Just this and that,” he said, shrugging.
Violet frowned. It wasn’t like Twinkle to be evasive. “What sort of this and that?”
Twinkle looked awkward. “Just unicorn stuff. You… You wouldn’t understand.”
Violet felt a stab of hurt. Whyever would he think she wouldn’t understand? And what could he possibly have been talking about that he couldn’t share with her? For a moment, she almost felt like she didn’t want to go out for a ride that evening after all, but then she told herself not to be silly. She needed to talk to him, in private.
“I was thinking,” she said, pushing her hurt aside. “How about we go for another starlight ride tonight?” She expected him to nod eagerly but, to her surprise, he looked worried.
“Tonight? No, I can’t. Not tonight!”
Violet stared. “What? Why?”
“I… I don’t want to. I’m… I’m… tired. Yes,” he started yawning vigorously, “I’m very, very tired.”
Violet frowned. “Twinkle, you’re not tired.”
“I am,” insisted Twinkle, avoiding her gaze. “I really am.”
Violet was dumbfounded. He was obviously lying about feeling tired, but why? Feeling hurt, and unsure of what to do, she tied up his hay net and picked up her coat. “OK, well, I’ll see you in the morning then,” she muttered.
“Wait, Violet!” A mixture of emotions swirled in Twinkle’s eyes. “I can’t meet you tonight, but come and see me in the morning. Yes,” he nodded determinedly. “In the morning, everything will be fine. Please come and talk to me then.”
“OK,” Violet said slowly. “I’ll see you in the morning. Night, Twinkle.” Frowning, she hurried away.
On the way back to school, all Violet could think about was Twinkle. Why was he being so secretive? And what had he meant when he said everything would be fine by the morning? Unease washed over her. It sounded like he was planning something – but what?
In the dining room, Diamond and Topaz dorms were sharing a table. Although dinner was her favourite, lasagne, Violet only picked at it. She couldn’t leave things as they were with Twinkle. Even if it was difficult and awkward, she had to go back and talk to him. Clearing away her half-empty plate, she slipped out. She put her coat and boots on and ran across the frosty lawn in the dark. As she got close to the stable block, Twinkle came out. Her heart lurched. Where was he off to?
“Twinkle!” Her voice sounded loud in the quiet night.
He froze guiltily.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
Twinkle avoided her eyes. “Um … going out. For… For a walk.”
“At this time?” Violet forgot about not arguing with him – she’d had enough. She marched in front of Twinkle. “Stop lying to me!” she told him hotly. Twinkle’s gaze flew to her face as she put her hands on her hips. “I mean it, Twinkle. I’m standing here until you tell me what’s going on!” She was shaking with emotion. She didn’t usually get angry, but this was too important, too big. She had to know what Twinkle was up to. She waited for him to argue but, to her surprise, he hung his head.
“I’m meeting Daffodil,” he muttered.
“What? Why?” said Violet in astonishment.
“She said she has something important to tell me, but she said we need to be outside in the starlight.” Twinkle’s dark eyes shone with excitement as he looked up. “Violet, I think it might be a way of speeding up the bonding process. Daffodil knows a lot about magic and she knows how much I want to bond with you. I think she might be able to help me.”
Violet frowned. “But, Twinkle, Ms Rosemary said bonding happens when the time is right. If there was a way of speeding it up, then I’m sure she would have told us. There can’t be anything Daffodil can do.”
Twinkle looked stubborn. “But I think there is. Why else would she say she had something important to talk to me about? I want to go and meet her, Violet.”
Violet hesitated. Something didn’t feel right. “Please let me go,” he begged.
Violet didn’t want to agree, but she also didn’t want to upset him. “OK,” she said reluctantly. “But I’m coming with you,” she added.
“You don’t need to,” Twinkle began. “It’s really cold out tonight.”
“I don’t care,” said Violet. She gave him a firm look. “We either go to meet Daffodil together or you don’t go at all, even if it means I have to stay in the stable with you all night.”
She blinked. For a moment, she’d sounded a bit like Rosa! But it seemed to work.
Twinkle nodded. “All right. Let’s go together. I’d rather you came with me anyway, but we’d better hurry or we’ll be late. Daffodil said to meet her at the edge of the woods.”
Violet vaulted on to his back and they set off at a canter across the frosty lawn.
As they approached the woods, Violet saw a shadowy figure in a cloak moving across the grass ahead of them. She clutched Twinkle’s mane and gasped. It was the hooded figure! But just then the moon came out from behind a cloud and showed the person more clearly. Violet breathed a sigh of relief. No, it wasn’t. It was just Ms Willow. “Did Daffodil tell you Ms Willow would be here too?” she said in surprise.
Twinkle slowed to a trot. A note of uncertainty crept into his voice as he replied, “No.”
“Stop!” gasped Violet, suddenly spotting something on the ground. She stared in disbelief. A set of footprints tracked Ms Willow’s progress across the frosty grass. Each footprint had a diamond-shape
d pattern. “Twinkle! The footprints! They’re just like the ones we found in the cave and in the secret room.” An icy fear gripped her as Twinkle snorted in alarm and a horriblfe, almost unbelievable, thought struck her. Could Ms Willow be the cloaked figure who had been draining magic from the island?
“She’s seen us!” Violet squeaked as Ms Willow swung round.
For a moment, she hoped she was mistaken, that Ms Willow was really just the lovely teacher she had always thought her to be, but as Ms Willow’s face creased into a furious frown and her eyes hardened, Violet’s heart sank into her boots.
“I knew something was going on!” Ms Willow’s voice snapped out through the night air like an icicle cracking. “Trying to outsmart me!” She gave a shrill whistle and Daffodil emerged reluctantly from the trees. The little unicorn moved slowly, almost as if she was fighting against leaving the woods but had no choice.
“Daffodil? You really should know better!” said Ms Willow. Daffodil sent Twinkle and Violet a desperate look but began to trot towards Ms Willow.
Violet didn’t know what was going on, but she did know that she and Twinkle had to get help – and fast!
“Come on, Twinkle!” she gasped. “Let’s get back to the school!”
Twinkle spun round and set off at a flat-out gallop just as Daffodil reached Ms Willow. Violet clung to his mane, her thoughts swirling. How could the cloaked figure be lovely Ms Willow? It just didn’t seem possible. Something brushed past them at a great speed and suddenly Ms Willow and Daffodil appeared from nowhere, blocking their way. Twinkle had to swerve abruptly to avoid crashing into them.
“There’s no escape for you two now!” Ms Willow hissed. Her voice sounded harsh and bitter, nothing like her usual soft tone. Before Twinkle or Violet could do anything, she flicked her hand. There was a great flash of green and the world tilted as Violet and Twinkle spun through the air.