Olivia and Snowflake

by Julie Sykes

“No,” said Layla in horror. “We’ll tell everyone what you’re planning!”

  Ms Primrose laughed. “Oh no, you won’t, my dear. I’m afraid this is where your interference ends!”

  She tossed a handful of herbs in the air and called out a spell. A bolt of magic fired at Dancer’s hooves. He jumped back just in time as the forest floor around him exploded with leaves and branches. Another bolt followed and then another. The unicorns leapt around, trying to avoid the missiles.

  Ms Primrose’s laughter rose to a shriek.

  Star tried to help by conjuring up a giant creeper to sweep Sage off his feet but Ms Primrose just blasted it to smithereens. “You can’t stop me!” she cried.

  “Quick! Get out of here, everyone!” yelled Isabel.

  They turned and galloped out of the mango grove with bolts of dark magic exploding around them and Ms Primrose’s cackles filling the air.

  Branches and vines snatched at Olivia’s clothes and hair, almost dragging her from Snowflake as they pounded through the Tropical Garden. The air rang with the sound of magical explosions. Olivia urged Snowflake on. When she saw the bamboo gate ahead, her heart skipped. Surely Ms Primrose would stop chasing them once they were out in the open!

  BANG! In a flash of crimson the gate exploded, throwing poles of bamboo into the air like javelins. The remains came crashing down in a pile, blocking the way out.

  “Stand back!” Sophia and Rainbow pulled up beside them. Rainbow stamped his hoof, filling the air with glittery magic. A rainbow sprang from his hoof, arching over the fallen gate.

  Cloud and Dancer galloped over the rainbow bridge followed by Star, Blaze, Snowflake and Rainbow. As Rainbow’s hooves touched the ground, the bridge dissolved. Ms Primrose’s screech of fury rang in Olivia’s ears as she and her friends continued across the grasslands towards the lake. Ms Primrose was some way behind. It was almost as though she was letting them escape – but why?

  “To Sparkle Lake!” cried Isabel. “We have to protect it!”

  The unicorns increased their speed. There was no one else anywhere to be seen – they would all be inside getting ready for the ball. Reaching the banks of the lake they turned to see Ms Primrose and Sage directly behind them.

  “Got you!” crowed Ms Primrose. The loudest clap of magic yet thundered around them. Six bolts of magic arched overhead, burning with a trail of fire and landing in a perfect ring around the lake and the girls. An explosion followed, lighting the lake up with an orange glow as the surrounding trees caught fire. Thick smoke billowed into the air.

  “We’re trapped!” gasped Olivia.

  The trees crackled and spat as the fire gobbled them up. Flames leapt from the burning branches, running across Sparkle Lake to the fountain, which ignited in a rainbow of colour.

  Blaze stamped her hoof and attempted to control the flames but the magic fire was too strong for her to put out. “I can’t do anything,” she cried.

  Cloud made a rain cloud but as the droplets fell they just sizzled away and the flames burned on fiercely.

  “What do we do now?” squeaked Sophia. “Rainbow’s too exhausted to make another rainbow bridge.”

  “Dancer and I could fly and get help but it would mean leaving you all behind,” said Layla.

  “Go!” urged Sophia. “Get help!”

  Dancer spread his wings but before he could take off a section of the circle of fire extinguished for a moment and Ms Primrose came cantering through on Sage, firing another spell straight at them as she did so. Before any of them could move, a blazing thorny cage grew up around them all. Ms Primrose’s eyes were wild as she circled them.

  “There’ll be no more meddling from Sapphire dorm now!” she spat. “There is nothing you can do to stop me! This time you’re too late to save the lake. I’ve put a spell on the locks of the school so the teachers and students are stuck inside. The lake will burn, the school will shut down, and the unicorns will be so weakened that with a few powerful spells my accomplice and I can take over!”

  Ms Primrose sent more magic spinning at the bushes and trees. The flames grew higher and hotter around the girls.

  “One last shot!” she shouted, raising her hands. “One final direct hit and then it is all over for you!”

  “No!” whinnied Snowflake, stamping her front hooves in anger. Olivia saw a gold spark fly up and smelled the familiar smell of burnt sugar. “I won’t let you hurt everyone!”

  “How will you stop me?” laughed Ms Primrose. “You haven’t even found your magic.”

  Olivia gasped. “Stamp again, Snowflake!”

  As Snowflake banged her front hooves on the floor Ms Primrose and Sage suddenly froze.

  “Snowflake!” squealed Olivia, throwing her arms around her. “You’ve found your magic!”

  “But what magic is it?” said Snowflake, staring at the icy blue figures of Ms Primrose and Sage.

  “It’s freezing magic,” Cloud exclaimed. “My mum has it. It means you can freeze people and things for a little while. It doesn’t last long, particularly not when you first discover your powers. They’ll probably be able to move again any minute!”

  “The flames!” said Isabel. “They’re going down.”

  “It’s because Ms Primrose is frozen so her magic isn’t working,” explained Cloud. “Now I might be able to help.” He stamped his own hooves and rain clouds appeared again over the whole of the lake. Rain started to fall and this time the flames fizzled out and died.

  There was a cracking noise and the icy blue started to fade from Ms Primrose. She slowly started to move. Her face was a mask of horror as she looked around and realised the fire had gone out. “No!” she shrieked. “What have you done?”

  There was the sound of shouts. The magic that had been holding the school doors locked had also faded while Ms Primrose had been frozen, and the teachers and students were now spilling out of the building, running towards the lake.

  “We can’t fight them all!” whinnied Sage.

  “Gallop!” screamed Ms Primrose.

  “Freeze them!” Olivia urged Snowflake as Sage swung round and began to gallop away.

  Snowflake was already stamping her hoof but although some gold sparks flew up they were small and weak.

  “Snowflake’s too exhausted from using the freezing spell,” said Cloud.

  “We’ll catch them!” shouted Sophia, racing after Ms Primrose on Rainbow. Scarlett and Blaze, Isabel and Cloud, Ava and Star all followed, with Layla and Dancer flying overhead. But the unicorns were tired after all the magic they had done and Sage seemed to be galloping at twice the usual speed of any unicorn. He disappeared quickly from sight. The girls from Sapphire dorm turned and came back to Olivia and Snowflake.

  As they reached them, so did all the students and teachers. Everyone was shouting, wanting to know what had happened.

  “Sapphire dorm! What has been going on?” snapped Ms Nettles.

  The girls exchanged looks. “I think it’s going to take some time to explain, Ms Nettles,” said Layla.

  “Come to my study then.” Ms Nettles clapped her hands for silence. “The rest of you, I need you to repair all this damage before the parents get here. Please work together using your unicorns’ magic. There is to be no arguing. Ms Rosemary is now in charge!”

  In Ms Nettles’ study, the girls explained everything that had been going on.

  “I knew Ms Primrose was up to no good,” said Ms Nettles, shaking her head angrily. “Making locking spells, disappearing for days, giving false information when we were looking for sky berries and telling Layla not to release the fire beetles into the trees.” She rubbed her forehead. “Well done, girls. The lake would have been destroyed without your bravery and courage.”

  “But why did she do it?” asked Sophia.

  Ms Nettles sighed and shook her head. “Greed for power, I think. She could never be satisfied – and she was terribly jealous of anyone she saw as a threat. When, years ago, I started as a student at Unicorn Academy, I kne
w I wanted to become headteacher one day. I should have kept that to myself but foolishly I told Ms Primrose. From then on she was wary of me. I suspect she guessed that my unicorn, Thyme, would have plant magic and, knowing how I suffer terribly with hay fever, she paired us together. I’ve often caught her smirking when Thyme is using magic and all I can do is sneeze.”

  Poor Ms Nettles! No wonder she was so grumpy. Managing her hay fever with Thyme as her unicorn wouldn’t have been easy, Olivia thought.

  “So will you become headteacher now?” asked Layla.

  Ms Nettles’ thin mouth curved into a smile. “That’s for the governors to decide. But, if I’m offered the position, then naturally I will take it.” She sneezed and reached for a small brown bottle on her desk. “Excuse me, I think I need some more of my hay fever medicine.”

  “That’s hay fever medicine?” said Ava as Ms Nettles measured out a capful.

  “Yes, without it I sneeze all the time!”

  Sapphire dorm exchanged looks. So Ms Nettles hadn’t been drinking a sinister potion when they’d seen her with a little bottle – it had just been her medicine!

  Ms Nettles glanced at the clock. “There’s not much time before the parents arrive, and I must speak to the governors and tell them what has been happening. Go and get yourselves cleaned up and then get your unicorns ready. You don’t want to miss the ball!” She smiled at Olivia. “It looks like all of Sapphire dorm will be graduating after all!”

  Everyone cheered and Olivia suddenly found herself surrounded by her friends and enveloped in a huge Sapphire dorm hug.

  By the time the parents arrived that evening the academy was looking perfect again. Star and Thyme had regrown the plants and trees, and also grown a path of pink flowers leading from the school to the lake. New decorations hung from the trees, and strands of fairy lights sparkled. Unicorns with food magic had conjured candy apples and lollipops and hung them from the branches of the trees, and Sherbet, Sam’s unicorn, had conjured a fountain of raspberry lemonade that fizzed and popped as it shot into the air.

  Olivia and her friends groomed their unicorns until they shone, fed them sky berries and lake water to replenish their magic, and then went inside to change into their long sparkly-blue graduation gowns.

  Olivia felt a rush of happiness as she looked out of their dorm window. “Everywhere looks perfect!”

  “I can’t believe we’ll be leaving here tonight,” said Layla, looking at the suitcases on their beds, packed and ready to go home with them.

  “I’m going to miss you all so much,” said Olivia. She glanced round at her friends. “Are you really sure you don’t hate me for keeping secrets?”

  “Of course we don’t hate you!” everyone chorused.

  “No more secrets from now on though,” said Sophia firmly. “We’re a team and we’re so much stronger when we work together.”

  “We’re going to be friends forever,” declared Scarlett.

  “Friends who keep Unicorn Island safe!” agreed Isabel. “I know we live far away but we will definitely find ways to meet up. For a start, I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Ms Primrose.”

  “If she tries to harm the lake again, we’ll stop her!” said Sophia.

  “We’ll never let her ruin Unicorn Island!” declared Layla.

  They all nodded firmly.

  “Ooh, look, there’s Valentina,” said Scarlett, pointing out of the window to where Valentina was standing with her parents. She wasn’t wearing a graduation gown. “Doesn’t she look sulky? It looks like Ms Nettles has stopped her from graduating.”

  “Valentina needs to be nicer to Golden Briar before they’ll ever bond,” piped up Ava. “She never listens to anything Golden Briar has to say.”

  “I’m very glad I finally listened to Snowflake,” said Olivia with a smile.

  The rest of the afternoon passed in a blur. Parents arrived, students were hugged and kissed, unicorns were patted and stroked. Everyone piled into the gardens and watched as the dorms did their displays. Sapphire dorm had made some last-minute changes to theirs and everyone gasped and cheered as Scarlett and Blaze made hoops of fire that Olivia and Snowflake froze as everyone jumped through them. Olivia caught sight of her little sister, Matilda, clapping wildly with her parents and felt her heart swell. Matilda was so lucky. After Christmas she would be starting at the academy, making her own friends and having her own adventures.

  She’s going to have the best time ever, thought Olivia wistfully. Part of her felt sad that she wouldn’t be at the academy with her little sister, but seeing Snowflake’s parents whinnying proudly as they all bowed at the end of the routine, she knew she wouldn’t change a thing!

  After the demonstration, all the students who were graduating went into the ballroom. Lit by candles hanging in crystal chandeliers, the room sparkled prettily. Olivia gave Billy the thumbs-up as she admired the glittering paper swans, eagles and owls suspended around the room. The boys from Diamond dormitory had done a great job decorating it.

  On the stage, at the front, Ms Nettles gave a speech. Olivia listened carefully, bursting with pride.

  “To those of you graduating today, I’m proud of you all. I hope it’s a journey you will remember for the rest of your lives. You and your unicorns have now bonded and I hope you have also made other lifelong friends who will always live in your hearts. Friendship is one of the greatest gifts you can ever give or receive. Whatever you do, wherever you go, make friends, but above all, be a friend.” Ms Nettles paused while the hall erupted with applause. “Now, please come on stage to receive your graduation scrolls.”

  The students and their unicorns filed on to the stage and Ms Nettles and Ms Rosemary handed out the graduation scrolls, shaking hands with each student in turn as the audience clapped.

  “Do we really have to say goodbye?” Olivia whispered to the others as they gathered together. She hadn’t thought it was possible to feel so happy and so sad at the same time.

  “I guess we do,” said Layla.

  “It won’t be for long,” said Ava. “We’re going to have lots and lots of sleepovers!”

  “Now, girls, no glum faces tonight!” said Ms Rosemary, coming over to them. Her eyes twinkled. “I know what you’re feeling because I felt exactly the same about leaving the academy and my friends when I graduated what feels like a hundred years ago. But I’m sure you’ll see each other very often – just like my friends and I do. And there’s always the Reunion Ball. We hold them so that past students and staff can meet up and share their adventures with our current students.”

  “That’s sounds brilliant,” exclaimed Scarlett. “Please hold a Reunion Ball soon, Ms Rosemary!”

  Ms Rosemary laughed. “Go,” she said, shooing the students away with her hands. “It’s time to have some fun!”

  As they all left the stage, the ball really got going. There were long tables groaning with every kind of food – plates of tiny sandwiches, iced biscuits in the shape of unicorns, silver platters piled high with strawberries and cherries, multicoloured jellies, ice cream cakes and sticks of fluffy candy floss. There was music and dancing in the gardens too. The Sapphire girls had a wonderful time cantering round on their unicorns.

  Flushed and happy, Olivia and Snowflake stopped under an apple tree hung with fairy lights. Overhead, stars twinkled and the full moon shone down.

  Olivia slipped off Snowflake’s back and hugged her. “We did it. We actually graduated.”

  Snowflake nuzzled her arm. “I always believed we would.”

  “I just feel so lucky! I’ve got such amazing friends,” said Olivia. “And the best unicorn.”

  Snowflake’s dark eyes met hers. “I’m the lucky one,” she said softly. Reaching out, she breathed gently on Olivia’s face. “We’re going to look after Unicorn Island together forever, Olivia.”

  Olivia’s heart felt like it would burst with happiness. She rested her cheek against Snowflake’s golden mane and together they watched the other Sapphire dor
m girls dancing with their unicorns. Then, giving her a huge smile, Olivia jumped on to Snowflake’s back and they cantered over to join their best friends under the stars.

  COPYRIGHT

  First published in the UK in 2018 by Nosy Crow Ltd

  The Crow’s Nest, 14 Baden Place, Crosby Row

  London, SE1 1YW, UK

  Nosy Crow and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Nosy Crow Ltd

  Text copyright © Julie Sykes and Linda Chapman, 2018

  Illustrations copyright © Lucy Truman, 2018

  The right of Julie Sykes, Linda Chapman and Lucy Truman to be identified as the authors and illustrator respectively of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  All rights reserved

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  ISBN: 978 1 78800 168 7

  eISBN: 978 1 78800 169 4

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