by Astrid Foss
Their aunt cackled and sent another two balls towards them.
The girls dodged them but overhead the sky seemed to grow darker. Magda glanced up and saw a flock of ravens flying down at their heads, beaks and claws out, poised to attack. “Look out!” she cried to her sisters.
She flung herself to the side, only just avoiding another ball of magma. She tripped and fell, covering her head with her hands as a raven attacked her. Its sharp beak pecked at her fingers and her hair, making her yell.
“Leave my sister alone!” Hanna used her magic to send some of the ravens tumbling through the air. The birds squawked in panic and flew away. Hanna fired more of her magic towards the birds. The ravens cawed and shrieked and swerved and Hanna had to concentrate very hard to make sure her magic didn’t hit her sisters.
Magda undid her cloak and charged at the remaining ravens, yelling and swinging her cloak around and fighting them off.
Over the cacophony of the raven’s calls they could hear their aunt cackling.
Ida crawled round the side of the geyser. With all the noise she couldn’t think straight. Her hands and head were hurting from the ravens’ attack. What were they going to do? She heard a savage screech and looked up to see another raven swooping straight at her face, its eyes gleaming viciously. “No!” she gasped. She staggered backwards and fell into the geyser.
Ida tensed, waiting for the steam to burn her, but all she felt was a gentle tingling warmth. She opened her eyes. All around her beautiful multicoloured drops of water floated in the air. She stared in wonder. Through the glittering curving sides she could just make out what was happening outside, as if she was looking through a window made of thick glass, but she couldn’t hear anything. Inside the geyser was silent and peaceful, like being in an enchanted magical cave. She looked up and saw the purple orb floating far above her. If only she could get it, then maybe they could all somehow escape.
“Oh, I wish I could get to the orb,” she said longingly.
She gasped as she felt herself rise a few centimetres off the ground. She was floating! But how was that possible? Magic! she realised. She felt a gentle pressure under her feet as the rainbow-coloured steam started to push her up towards the orb.
Up and up she floated, through the multicoloured drops of water to where the orb was suspended at the very top of the geyser. As she got close, she could see purple light swirling through the delicate glass ball. She reached out, her fingers tingling as they closed round the orb.
“I’ve got it!” she breathed.
The magic slowly lowered her back to the ground. The second her feet touched down, the suspended water droplets start to shake. Instinct told her that the geyser wasn’t going to stay frozen for very much longer. She had to get out!
With a gasp she flung herself at the wall. She fell through just as the geyser turned to steam again. She scrambled away to safety as the water splashed back down and the rainbow expanded and grew, covering the whole lava field with dazzling multicoloured light.
The Shadow Witch staggered backwards, shrieking, with her hands over her face as if the light was burning her eyes. The ravens flew off squawking and the lion roared and ran away. As the light hit Oskar, he shook his head and got to his feet, seemingly no worse for wear.
Ida saw her sisters staring at her in amazement. She scrambled to her feet and held the purple orb aloft. “I got it!” she cried. Magda and Hanna squealed in delight and ran over to her.
“No!” screamed the Shadow Witch, raising her hands.
Oskar snarled and bounded straight at her, growing into his full size. He butted her in the stomach with his head, sending her flying backwards into a crater of thick mud. The Shadow Witch shrieked and thrashed around in the sticky, smelly blue and grey mud.
Oskar raced to the girls, his dark eyes shining proudly.
“Oh, well done, Oskar!” Magda cried. “And well done, Ida!”
“How did you get it?” Hanna demanded.
“I’ll tell you when we’re out of here,” said Ida. “Let’s go before Aunt Veronika escapes from the mud!”
They scrambled on to Oskar’s back, Ida tucking the purple orb safely into her pocket.
“I said you wouldn’t stop us, Aunt Veronika!” Ida shouted. “Now we’ve got the orbs we’re going to rescue Mother and Father and save Nordovia!”
Their aunt opened her mouth to shout back but mud bubbled in. “I will get you for this!” she choked, spitting it out. “You will not thwart my plans!”
“Actually I think you’ll find we just have!” Hanna grinned. She patted Oskar’s neck. “Come on, boy, it’s time to go home.”
He leapt forward and carried the three girls across the treacherous lava fields and back to the safety of the castle.
“Girls!” Madame Olga’s shriek was almost as loud and terrifying as one of Aunt Veronika’s as she hurried across the castle grounds towards them. The girls climbed wearily off Oskar’s back. They had travelled home without stopping and were exhausted.
Oskar collapsed in a tired heap, shrinking back to his small size.
“We’re in so much trouble,” groaned Magda as Madame Olga steamed towards them. Her usual calm expression had been replaced by a look of fury.
Ida hid behind Hanna and Magda.
“Where have you been?” their governess demanded. “I got out of the shop to find the Shadow Witch had appeared and then you all go galloping off into the distance. Knocking over market stalls, causing chaos, stealing ponies—”
“Is Caspar, the pony, OK?” Magda interrupted. “Did he get back to the town?”
“Yes he did – he turned up at nightfall.” Madame Olga wrung her hands together. “Girls, I have been beside myself with worry. Whatever possessed you to go off like that?”
“We had to,” Magda said.
“Had to?” Madame Olga’s eyebrows rose into her hairline. “Had to?”
“It was for Mother and Father…” Magda hesitated. They hadn’t told anyone – not even Madame Olga – about trying to get the magical orbs. “We … er…”
“When we saw her at the market, we heard our aunt say something about where Mother and Father might be trapped so we set off to try to find them,” Hanna lied.
“And did you find your parents?” Madame Olga demanded.
The girls shook their heads.
Madame Olga looked at their filthy faces and tangled hair and the anger faded from her face. “Girls, girls, girls,” she sighed, shaking her head. “I understand you want to find your parents, but you simply can’t go running off like that, particularly not now your aunt is so close by. You must be more careful. Everyone in the palace is now on high alert. Please let the guards find your parents.”
“We’re sorry, Madame Olga,” said Magda.
“We’re really tired and hungry,” said Ida.
“You look dreadful and poor Oskar looks worn out,” said Madame Olga. “Take Oskar up to your room and put him in his bed and get changed. I shall ask Cook to sort you out some food, even though I’m not sure you really deserve it.”
Ida could see the love behind her stern expression. “Thank you, Madame Olga,” she said.
“You’re the best governess ever,” said Hanna, smiling at her.
“Go on, off you go,” said Madame Olga, shooing at them but looking very relieved.
Magda picked up Oskar and they headed into the castle. They all had the same thought – as soon as they got to their bedchamber they could put the purple lights into the snow globe.
The snow globe was on the table as usual, its snowflakes swirling endlessly around the waterfall that fell over the edge of a tall mountain into the icy sea.
Magda settled Oskar in his bed. He grumbled happily as he snuggled down in his soft blankets.
Ida took the purple orb out of her pocket. “Here we go!” she said, meeting her sisters’ eyes.
They gathered around the globe.
Ida held the orb out and they all put their hands on it. As
they moved it closer to the glass of the snow globe the orb began to shine and sparkle.
They touched it to the glass and the orb vanished in a flash. They all gasped as blue, pink and purple light met in an explosion of beautiful swirling colour. And then an image of their mother’s face appeared in the light. She looked pale but she was smiling.
“Mother!” cried Ida.
“You have done it!” Freya said weakly. “I can feel the Lights are back together. Oh, my clever, clever girls.”
The triplets’ hearts swelled with happiness.
“We found the purple orb by the frozen rainbow, just like you said,” said Hanna.
“We had to fight Aunt Veronika,” said Magda. “Oskar helped us.”
“I am so proud of you.” Their mother’s emerald eyes shone with happy tears. “But there is one more challenge ahead. You must take the snow globe to the Silfur Falls – the highest waterfall in the land. Take it there on the Day of the Midnight Sun. If you fail and your aunt gets the snow globe, she will be able to harness the power of the Lights and become the ruler of Nordovia, bringing eternal darkness to the land. Be careful. She will do everything she can to stop you reaching the waterfall and take the globe from you.”
“Where do we go when we get there?” Ida asked.
Their mother’s face started to fade. “Watch!” she breathed. “The magic will show you.” And then she was gone. The girls stared transfixed as the colourful lights in the globe swirled faster and faster and then vanished and a line of silver, like a path, appeared, edging little by little along the cliffs to the top of the waterfall. Then the silver path dived behind the waterfall and the scene lit up with a burst of bright pink, blue and purple light.
The girls gasped as the waterfall turned to shining silver and the pink, blue and purple lights were thrown up into the air. The strands of coloured light twisted and danced in the globe just as they used to do in the Nordovian sky.
“The globe’s showing us where we need to go,” said Ida.
“And what we need to do,” said Hanna. “We’ve got to put the Lights into the waterfall and then they’ll return to the skies.”
“And we’ll have saved Nordovia,” said Magda. “Mother will get her powers back and then she and Father will be free. Then they’ll be able to celebrate the Day of the Midnight Sun with us.”
“Do you think we can do it?” said Ida.
“I know we can!” Hanna declared.
Magda’s eyes met her sisters’. “We have to,” she said softly. “We can’t fail.”
They clasped each other’s hands and gazed into the snow globe as the magical lights swirled on in a dance of hope above the silver waterfall.
“Higher!” said Scarlett.
Isabel, Scarlett’s best friend, raised the branch again, balancing it carefully between a bush and the gnarled trunk of an old tree. It was as high as her head now.
“I think that’s too big,” said Cloud, Isabel’s unicorn, giving the jump a doubtful look.
Scarlett pushed her long blonde hair back over her shoulders. Her blue eyes sparkled as she patted her own unicorn’s neck. Her cheeks were flushed from the icy breeze and snowflakes whirled around her.
“It’s not too big for us, is it, Blaze?”
“Definitely not. I can clear that easily!” Blaze whickered. The cheeky-looking unicorn with fiery red and gold swirls on her snow-white coat loved a challenge, just like Scarlett. “Watch this, Cloud!”
Blaze galloped eagerly at the makeshift jump. Scarlett sunk her hands deeper in Blaze’s silky mane as she took off, the crisp air making her eyes water. Scarlett loved the feeling of flying and then plunging back down to earth. As Blaze landed, a few orange sparks flickered up from her hooves and Scarlett caught a faint whiff of burnt sugar.
Isabel gasped, “That was incredible. You jumped so high I almost thought you were going to fly away!”
Scarlett’s heart skipped with hope – the huge jump, the sparks and the sweet smell. Could that mean that Blaze was about to discover her magic power? Every unicorn on Unicorn Island was born with a special magical power – it just took a while for that power to be revealed. Some unicorns could fly, others could turn invisible, some could create light or fire. Scarlett couldn’t wait for Blaze to discover her power and she really hoped it would be flying.
Scarlett was ten years old and had recently started at Unicorn Academy where she had been given her own special unicorn, just like all the other girls and boys who had joined at the same time. They were all in training to become fully fledged guardians of Unicorn Island, the wonderful land in which they all lived.
Scarlett knew she would only be able to graduate from the academy at the end of the year if Blaze had discovered her magical power and bonded with her. She let her hair fall forward, searching for a red-gold lock of hair to match Blaze’s mane that would show they had bonded. But there was no flame-coloured strand in her long blonde hair yet. Disappointed, Scarlett turned her attention back to the jump.
“Put it up even higher,” she called, hoping that if it was big enough Blaze might actually fly!
“I’ll put it up in a minute. It’s my turn first,” said Isabel, riding Cloud to face the jump. Cloud was a pretty unicorn with gentle brown eyes.
“I think it’s too big for me, Isabel,” said Cloud anxiously.
“No, it’s not,” said Isabel. “Blaze jumped it easily. Let’s try!”
“Wait, Isabel!” whispered Scarlett, as she spotted Ms Nettles, one of the teachers, cantering over on her unicorn, Thyme.
Isabel ignored her. “Don’t be boring, Cloud! Come on. Have a go!”
“Isabel!” insisted Scarlett. “Behind you!” Of all the teachers to catch them jumping, Ms Nettles was the worst. She was very strict with a fierce temper.
“Isabel!” Ms Nettles’ sharp voice rang out, giving Isabel a shock. “I hope that you were not about to jump that!” Ms Nettles’ glasses rattled on her bony nose as her unicorn halted.
“Of … of course not, Ms Nettles,” Isabel said quickly. “We were just making jumps, not jumping them.”
“Definitely not jumping them,” said Scarlett, shaking her head.
Ms Nettles gave them a suspicious look. “You’d better be telling the truth, girls. You know the rules. First years are not allowed to jump without a teacher to supervise.”
Thyme, her unicorn, nodded, his green and yellow tail swishing in time with his head.
Scarlett swallowed back a giggle.
“It’s for your own safety so please abide by the rule. Now, it’s almost dinner time,” Ms Nettles continued. “Ride back to school with me.”
“Yes, Miss,” the girls sighed.
Scarlett felt bad that Isabel hadn’t got her turn at the jump. “Sorry,” she mouthed.
“Next time,” Isabel whispered back. They gave each other a thumbs-up behind the teacher’s back.
Copyright
With special thanks to Linda Chapman
First published in the UK in 2019 by Nosy Crow Ltd
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Text copyright © Working Partners Ltd, 2019
Cover illustration © Sharon Tancredi, 2019
Interior illustrations © Monique Dong, 2019
The right of Working Partners, Sharon Tancredi and Monique Dong to be identified as the author and illustrators respectively of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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