Unicorn School

by Linda Chapman

  PUFFIN BOOKS

  Willow glanced up just as the Tricorn looked around at them all, his eyes concentrating particularly on the Year Ones. ‘I will not have cheating in this school,’ he said firmly.

  ‘We will find out who did this. If it is you, I urge you to come forward before it is too late.’

  Linda Chapman lives in Leicestershire with her family and Bernese mountain dogs. She used to be a stage manager in the theatre. When she is not writing she spends her time looking after her young family, horse riding and teaching drama. You can find out more about Linda on her website lindachapman.co.uk or visit mysecretunicorn.co.uk

  Books by Linda Chapman

  BRIGHT LIGHTS

  CENTRE STAGE

  MY SECRET UNICORN series

  NOT QUITE A MERMAID series

  STARDUST series

  UNICORN SCHOOL series

  (Titles in reading order)

  FIRST CLASS FRIENDS

  THE SURPRISE PARTY

  THE TREASURE HUNT

  THE SCHOOL PLAY

  THE PET SHOW

  TEAM MAGIC

  Linda Chapman

  Illustrated by Ann Kronheimer

  PUFFIN

  PUFFIN BOOKS

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA

  Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3

  (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)

  Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd)

  Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia

  (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)

  Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi – 110 017, India

  Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand

  (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd)

  Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

  Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  puffinbooks.com

  First published 2009

  Text Copyright © Working Partners Ltd 2009

  Illustrations Copyright © Ann Kronheimer, 2009

  All rights reserved

  The moral right of the author and illustrator has been asserted

  Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

  ISBN: 978-0-141-90895-3

  To Suzanne Duxbury, for all the friendship, help and support – and for going through everything with me!

  Contents

  Chapter One Delivering the Mail

  Chapter Two Helping Troy

  Chapter Three Sapphire’s Idea

  Chapter Four Keeping Secrets

  Chapter Five Who’s Been Cheating?

  Chapter Six What Should Sapphire Do?

  Chapter Seven Telling the Truth

  Chapter Eight The End of Term!

  Chapter One

  Delivering the Mail

  The sun shone down on the glittering, pearly-white turrets of Unicorn School. It was early in the morning and most of the unicorns were still in their stables. Willow trotted across the courtyard, a mailbag swinging from her mouth. She felt very important. Usually all the letters and parcels that came to Unicorn School were delivered by the elves who worked there, but that morning Willow had got up early to post a birthday card to her dad and had been asked to help. It was very exciting to be getting mail because the end-of-year exams were coming up and all the parents kept sending good-luck cards and little presents.

  As Willow thought about the exams, a nervous shiver ran down her spine. She was in her first year at Unicorn School, which meant she had six exams to take, and she really wanted to do well. She’d been working very hard every evening for the last few weeks, reading through all her notes for the year. There was so much to remember!

  She trotted into the tower that led up to the Rainbow House stables. All of the unicorns who went to Unicorn School belonged to one of four houses, the others being Star House, Moon House and Sun House. Willow slept and ate with the seven other Year Ones who were also in Rainbow House. At the very top of the tower there was a circular room with a door in the wall that led into the stables, set in the clouds.

  Carrying the mailbag carefully, Willow went across the room and touched the door with her silver horn. The door swung open, revealing a corridor leading into a stable with eight stalls. Two of Willow’s best friends, Sapphire and Storm, had their heads over their stall doors and were chatting.

  ‘Hi, Willow!’ Storm whinnied as she came down the corridor. He looked at the bag. ‘What have you got there?’

  ‘Mwmph,’ Willow mumbled through a mouthful of bag. She put it down carefully. ‘Mail!’ she said. ‘The elves are really busy with all the post that keeps arriving so they asked me if I would deliver it.’ She opened the bag and started to give out the packages and letters. ‘There’s a parcel for you, Sapphire.’ She passed a pink parcel to a very pretty unicorn with long eyelashes and a sweeping mane and tail. ‘And this is for you, Storm.’ She handed the tall unicorn a yellow parcel. ‘This green parcel is for Flint, the orange one for Starlight, and then there are letters for Topaz and Ash.’ She trotted between the stalls giving out the mail to the other Year Ones. They all whinnied gratefully.

  ‘Is there anything for me?’ asked a voice behind her.

  Willow looked round. It was Troy, her other best friend. From his windswept mane and tail she guessed that he had been out at early morning practice with the Flying Team.

  ‘There’s a letter for you,’ said Willow. ‘It looks like it’s from your mum and dad,’ she added, seeing that it had a gold crown on the front. Troy’s parents were the King and Queen of Arcadia.

  ‘Oh, good!’ said Troy, pleased. ‘I wrote to Mum asking her about something important. I bet she’s replying to that.’

  ‘What were you asking about?’ Willow said curiously.

  Troy shook his head. ‘I’m not telling.’

  ‘Why not?’ asked Willow.

  ‘Because it’s something about you three,’ said Troy, looking at Storm and Sapphire.

  ‘About us?’ Storm said in surprise.

  ‘What is it?’ whinnied Sapphire.

  ‘I said I’m not telling,’ said Troy mysteriously. ‘Not yet. You’ll just have to wait.’

  Willow and the others gave up asking him. They were all keen to see what was in their parcels.

  ‘Look!’ whinnied Sapphire, opening hers with her horn. ‘Mum’s sent me some ribbons for my mane to bring me luck!’ She held up ten pale pink ribbons in her mouth.

  ‘And I’ve got a cake to cheer me up while I’m working so hard!’ said Storm, holding up a large iced cake by the red ribbon that was wrapped around it. ‘We can all share it.’

  Willow pulled out her present. It was a necklace made of delicate white shells. ‘Oh, wow! I’ve got a necklace!’ She read the letter inside the parcel:

  Dear Willow,

  Your dad and I know how hard you have been working for your exams and we are sending you this little present so that you know we’re thinking about you. Just do your best and try hard and we’ll be very proud of you. Good luck! Love from Mum and Dad XX
X

  A warm glow spread through Willow. It was lovely to know her mum and dad were thinking about her. She glanced at Troy. He didn’t look very happy.

  ‘What does your letter say?’ Willow nudged him gently with her horn. ‘Is it what you were expecting?’

  ‘No,’ sighed Troy. ‘It doesn’t say anything about what I asked. It’s from my dad not my mum and it’s just about the exams. Look.’ He pushed the letter towards Willow. She read it.

  Dear Troy,

  Your mother and I hope you are revising hard for your examinations. We hardly need to remind you how important it is that you do well in all your subjects. As Prince of Arcadia you must set an example to others. We wish you all the best of luck and look forward to hearing of your great achievements.

  Your loving father, King of Arcadia

  Willow thought about her own letter and couldn’t help feeling a bit sorry for Troy. She knew that as long as she tried her best in the exams her parents would be proud of her, no matter how she did, but Troy’s father made it sound like he would only be happy if Troy did really well.

  ‘What am I going to do?’ Troy said. He took the letter and looked at it again. ‘What if I do badly in my exams, Willow?’

  ‘You won’t,’ Willow said encouragingly. ‘You’re really good at everything, particularly flying.’

  ‘I suppose I am OK at most things. It’s just history I find really hard,’ Troy said. ‘What if I fail?’

  All the Year One unicorns took flying, charms and transformation classes and then they could choose three other subjects from weather magic, healing, rose-quartz gazing and history. Willow and Troy were the only ones of the friends who did history.

  ‘Oh, Troy. You won’t fail,’ said Sapphire, listening in.

  Troy stamped a hoof. ‘What do you know about it, Sapphire? You don’t even do history. You’ve no idea how hard it is!’

  Sapphire looked hurt.

  ‘Troy! Don’t get cross with Sapphire!’ Storm protested. ‘It’s not her fault you find history hard. Anyway, you chose to do it. You could have done a different subject.’

  ‘No, I couldn’t!’ Troy exclaimed. ‘My parents wouldn’t let me. They think that because I’m Prince it’s really important that I know about the past and what has happened in Arcadia. I had to do history but I’m no good at it!’

  ‘Don’t worry. I’ll help you,’ Willow said quickly. ‘We can revise together this week.’

  Troy gave her a grateful look. ‘Thanks, Willow.’ He touched noses with Sapphire. ‘And I’m sorry I got cross with you, Sapphire. I’m just a bit nervous.’

  ‘That’s all right,’ Sapphire whickered gently.

  Troy sighed. ‘The sooner these exams are over the better.’

  Willow couldn’t agree more!

  Chapter Two

  Helping Troy

  ‘Right, everyone. Next question.’ Roswell, the pretty young teacher who taught history, looked around at the class of Year Ones who were gathered in the classroom. ‘Who won the War of the Great River? Was it the ogres or the trolls?’

  Willow put up her horn.

  ‘Yes, Willow.’

  ‘The ogres,’ Willow replied.

  ‘Very good.’ Roswell nodded approvingly. ‘That’s the fifth question you’ve answered correctly today. You’ve obviously been revising hard. Well done.’ Willow glowed with pride.

  Roswell walked to the front of the room. ‘Now let’s have a look at what happened.’ She touched her horn to a large slab of shining white quartz. The surface of it seemed to shimmer and a moving picture appeared. It showed two armies, one made up of trolls and one of ogres. They were attacking each other with huge wooden clubs. As the class watched, the ogres began to chase the trolls away. Then one of the trolls turned as if it was looking straight at them and roared, showing jagged yellow teeth. Willow shivered. She preferred it when Roswell showed them bits of history with animals and pixies and birds.

  Roswell touched her horn to the quartz and it went blank again. ‘Now, next question,’ she continued. ‘Which royal unicorn negotiated a truce between the pixies and the water sprites at the Rushing River twenty years ago?’

  Several unicorns, including Willow, put up their horns but Roswell was looking at Troy. ‘Troy!’

  Willow felt Troy jump beside her. He’d been staring out of the window. She was sure from the guilty look on his face that he’d been thinking about flying.

  ‘You haven’t answered any questions yet, Troy,’ Roswell said to him. ‘Can you tell me the answer to this one?’

  ‘Um… it was… it was…’ Troy stammered.

  ‘Randulf the Twelfth,’ Willow hissed under her breath.

  ‘Rudolph the Third!’ Troy said, mis-hearing her.

  ‘No!’ Roswell said crossly. ‘Rudolph the Third died a hundred years ago!’ Some of the other unicorns giggled. ‘Really, Troy. You should have been able to answer that question. It was Randulf the Twelfth – your own uncle!’

  ‘Uncle Ulf ?’ Troy looked astonished. ‘He negotiated a truce? That’s amazing! It takes him an hour every dinnertime to decide between apples and carrots!’

  The rest of the class giggled even louder. But Roswell didn’t look amused. ‘This is not good enough, Troy. If you can’t answer a simple question like the one I’ve just asked, however do you think you will pass the exam?’

  Troy hung his head. Roswell walked to the front and again touched her horn to the white quartz. This time the rock shimmered into a picture of a sparkling silver river rushing over a waterfall. A handsome, sporty-looking unicorn, who looked quite like Troy, stood beside it and all along the riverbank tiny pixies and water sprites were dancing and swinging each other round by the hands.

  Roswell continued asking questions and showing scenes from Arcadia’s history. Troy didn’t say anything else for the rest of the lesson. Willow noticed that he was looking very down. ‘Are you OK?’ she asked him in concern when the lesson finished.

  He shook his head. ‘What am I going to do, Willow? I’m never going to pass the exam. I’m rubbish at history!’

  ‘You’re not rubbish. You just need to go through your notes and start learning them,’ said Willow.

  ‘But I haven’t got any notes!’ Troy said despairingly. ‘Look!’ He gave his history book to Willow. She put it on the floor and turned the pages.

  There were some notes at the beginning but the later pages were filled with pictures of flying unicorns.

  ‘Troy!’ she said. ‘You haven’t been listening at all in lessons, have you?’

  ‘Not really,’ he said in a small voice.

  Willow felt cross with him but she could see that wasn’t going to help. ‘All right, look, you can borrow my notes. Meet me in the library at lunchtime and you can start copying them out. I’ll explain anything you don’t understand.’

  ‘Thanks,’ sighed Troy.

  As soon as it was lunchtime, Willow went to the library. She was very hungry and really wanted her lunch, but helping Troy was more important. She decided she would grab some mouthfuls of grass in the meadows before afternoon lessons started. Getting her history books out, she waited impatiently for Troy to arrive.

  Fifteen minutes went by, twenty minutes, twenty-five minutes… Willow got increasingly worried. Where was Troy? Why hadn’t he turned up? Then suddenly Troy came trotting into the library. ‘Sorry I’m late!’ he gasped.

  ‘Where have you been?’ demanded Willow. ‘I’ve been really worried about you. I’ve been waiting ages.’

  Troy looked a bit sheepish. ‘Umm… I’ve… well, I’ve been at flying practice.’

  Willow stared. ‘Flying practice!’

  Troy nodded. ‘The Tricorn’s asked the Flying Team to do a display at the end of term when the parents arrive, so we’ve got to practise every day.’

  Willow couldn’t believe it. She’d missed lunch and had been waiting around in the library all because Troy had been flying! ‘I thought you wanted to pass your history exam!’ S
he began throwing books into her bag. ‘I’ve been here all lunchtime. You could have told me you were going flying and then I’d have gone and done something else. Well, you can forget about me helping you from now on!’

  ‘Willow, wait!’ Troy said quickly. ‘I just didn’t think. Please help me. I’m sorry you missed lunch. Look, stay here – just for one minute!’ And, before Willow could protest, he had cantered out of the door. She frowned. Where was he going?

  A few minutes later Troy came back with a bag of apples and carrots in his mouth. ‘I got these from the elves in the kitchens. I am really sorry I didn’t come earlier. Please will you still help me, Willow?’

  He did look very sorry and Willow felt her anger fade. ‘OK,’ she said, biting into an apple. ‘Thank you for the food. Shall we do some history then?’

  Troy nodded. ‘Yes, please.’

  Their revision session wasn’t a success, however. Willow tried to explain her notes but, every time she started talking, Troy stared into the distance and his eyes grew vacant.

  ‘Are you listening to me, Troy?’ Willow demanded when he had failed to answer a question for the third time.

  ‘Mmm… what?’ Troy blinked. ‘Oh, sorry. It’s just so hard. If only we knew what the exam questions were going to be – then we could just learn the answers to those questions.’

  ‘You know it doesn’t work like that,’ Willow told him. ‘We have to learn everything.’

  ‘But there’s just so much of it,’ said Troy. ‘I’m never going to be able to remember it all!’

  ‘You will,’ said Willow confidently. ‘You just have to keep trying.’

  A horn blew outside, signalling the end of lunchtime. Willow shut her books and sighed. ‘Come on. We can do some more later.’

  She left the library with Troy walking slowly behind her.