by Emily Bliss
Sunbeam danced over to the Fun and Games section. “Here’s a whole book about party games,” she said, pulling out a yellow book. She hopped over to an armchair and began to read.
Moon trotted over to the fiction section and pulled out a book. “Here’s a book of stories about unicorns who live in a different realm,” she said. “I can’t wait!” She curled up on an armchair and began to read.
Breeze looked hesitant. She walked over to the Great Outdoors sections and stood for several seconds. Then her face brightened. “There’s an entire book here just about kite flying,” she said. “I’ll give it a try!” She pulled out a blue book with a picture of three unicorns flying kites in a meadow on the cover. She shrugged, sat down in an armchair, and began to read.
Firefly looked at Cressida and smiled. “How would you like to read Adventures in the Air together? We could share an armchair.”
“I’d love that,” Cressida said.
Cressida and Firefly looked around for the book the bookworms had made for Cressida. Firefly said, “I think when we were cleaning up we must have shelved your book.” She trotted over to the Adventure section and pulled the book off the shelf. Then she hopped onto an armchair and left a space for Cressida. “Come on over!” Firefly said.
Cressida giggled and climbed onto the armchair, right next to Firefly. Firefly opened the book, and the two began to read about a pink flying unicorn who traveled from realm to realm meeting fairies, magic reptiles, griffins, phoenixes, and other magical creatures.
After Cressida and Firefly had finished reading the first five chapters of Adventures in the Air, Cressida felt her stomach rumble. And she had to admit, after spending so much time in the Glow Library thinking about books and reading books, she felt ready to get to work on her very own book.
“I’m having a great time reading with you,” Cressida said to Firefly, “but I think I’d better go home and have a snack. Plus, I want to starting writing and illustrating my book about the Rainbow Realm.”
“I thought I heard your stomach growling,” Firefly said, smiling. “Why don’t you take Adventures in the Air with you? You can bring it back whenever you’re finished. After all, this is a library. The whole point is to borrow books!”
Cressida grinned at the possibility of reading more about the flying unicorn’s adventures that night before bed. But then she remembered that usually the clothes and gifts she received in the Rainbow Realm disappeared during her journey back to the human world. “Do you think I’ll be able to bring it back with me?” Cressida asked.
“I’m not entirely sure,” Firefly said, “but I think so. And it certainly won’t hurt to try.”
“Well, thank you!” Cressida said. She stood up and stretched. Then she put Adventures in the Air inside her backpack, zipped it up, and put it on.
Sunbeam, Flash, Bloom, Prism, and Moon all looked up from their books and smiled at Cressida. Breeze, however, was fast asleep, with her mouth stretched into an enormous grin.
“Thank you for coming!” Sunbeam and Flash called out.
“Come back soon!” Bloom said.
Prism and Moon held up their hooves to wave.
Then Moon turned toward Breeze and said, “Psst! Wake up! Cressida is leaving.”
Breeze slowly opened her eyes and yawned. “I was having the best dream. It was all about flying kites and running through meadows.” She grinned and winked at Cressida. “Come back soon!”
“Thank you so much, again, for saving the library,” Firefly said. “This has been the best grand opening party I ever could have imagined. And by the way, I spotted your spell book in the Magic section. It’s there waiting for you any time you need to borrow it.”
“That sounds great,” Cressida said. And then her stomach rumbled so loudly that all the unicorn princesses heard it and giggled. Cressida blushed and laughed along with them. She pulled her key from the back pocket of her jeans.
She wrapped her fingers around the handle of the key and said, “Take me home, please.”
The Glow Library began to spin into a swirl of orange and yellow. Then everything went pitch black, and Cressida felt herself soaring through the sky. She landed gently on what felt like a soft mound of moss and pine needles. Soon she saw a swirl of brown, green, and blue that slowed until she recognized exactly where she was: sitting beneath the magic, massive oak tree in the woods behind her house.
Cressida stood up. And that’s when she noticed something especially heavy on her shoulders: she was still wearing her magic backpack! And not only was she still wearing it, but it felt much heavier than before. Cressida’s heart raced with excitement as she slid the backpack off and opened it.
Inside, she found not just Adventures in the Air, but three more books with covers that were white except for the words “Written and illustrated by Cressida Jenkins” in cursive letters across the bottom. Inside, all the pages were blank. A note attached to one of the blank books read,
Dear Cressida,
We would love to keep your books in Glow Library whenever you finish writing them. We can’t wait to read them!
Love,
The Unicorn Princesses
Cressida grinned. She couldn’t wait to go home and start drawing the cover of her first book, The Rainbow Realm. She slid her books into her backpack, zipped it up, and put it on. And then she skipped home, her silver unicorn sneakers blinking the whole way.
In the top tower of Spiral Palace, Ernest, a wizard-lizard, stood in front of a full-length mirror. He straightened his pointy wizard’s hat and furrowed his brow. He pushed his mouth into a straight line. And then he held up his wand as though he were about to cast a spell.
He froze and studied his reflection. Then, he shook his head. “No, no, no,” he whispered. “I look too serious.”
He tilted his hat slightly. He widened his eyes and opened his mouth as though he were shouting. He lifted his wand. He paused for a few seconds, and then he sighed. “That’s no good, either,” he muttered. “I look too . . . enthusiastic.”
Ernest began to push his hat backward when he heard a knock on the door. He jumped in surprise and called out, “Come in!”
The door opened with a creak. And there stood a unicorn with a glossy pink coat, a shiny pink mane, and a long pink tail. Around her neck, a ruby hung on a white ribbon necklace.
“Princess Feather!” Ernest exclaimed, dancing across the room. “You’re back! What a wonderful surprise!”
Feather grinned. “Am I interrupting anything?” she asked.
“Oh no,” Ernest said, straightening his cloak. “I was just, um, practicing different poses for casting spells.”
Feather laughed. “I just returned from an amazing adventure in the Aqua Realm, the Witches’ Realm, and the Reptile Realm. You are one of the first creatures in the Rainbow Realm I wanted to see.”
“I’ve missed you,” Ernest said.
“I’ve missed you too,” Feather said. “In the Reptile Realm, I met some wizard-lizards who said you might be their distant cousin. And that made me miss you even more.”
Ernest blushed. Then he smiled hopefully. “Now that you’re back, you don’t happen to need any magical assistance, do you?” he asked. “I’ve been practicing my magic while you were gone, and now I never make mistakes. Well, hardly ever. Actually, maybe occasionally. But really, I’ve gotten much better at it.”
Emily Bliss lives just down the street from a forest. From her living room window, she can see a big oak tree with a magic keyhole. Like Cressida Jenkins, she knows that unicorns are real.
Sydney Hanson was raised in Minnesota alongside numerous pets and brothers. She has worked for several animation shops, including Nickelodeon and Disney Interactive. In her spare time she enjoys traveling and spending time outside with her adopted brother, a Labrador retriever named Cash. She lives in Los Angeles.
www.sydwiki.tumblr.com
BLOOMSBURY CHILDREN’S BOOKS
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msbury Publishing Plc
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This electronic edition published in 2018 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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First published in the United States of America in August 2018
by Bloomsbury Children’s Books
www.bloomsbury.com
Text copyright © 2018 by Emily Bliss
Illustrations copyright © 2018 by Sydney Hanson
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