‘Sleep well,’ said Molly. ‘Don’t let the ice ghosts bite!’
Giggling, they snuggled down and were soon fast asleep.
Chapter Eight
Race to School!
Emily, Hannah and Molly were up early the next morning. They got dressed and ate a quick breakfast of dried fruit and chocolate and then packed their bags. ‘Just the leaf to get and then we go back to school as fast as we can,’ said Molly.
Hannah showed them where they had to go on the map. ‘Now, the most sensible way would be to ski across to the big river over there and then skate down that and along the main east river until we get to where the burning bushes are,’ she said, pointing out a long route on the winding big river. She glanced at Molly, who looked as if she was about to say something but then just nodded. Hannah grinned. ‘But we do want to win after all! So why don’t we try and take a short cut?’
‘A short cut?’ echoed Molly and Emily.
‘Yeah, if we ski south and then join the little river that we skated here on, we can skate down it to the east. Then there’s another small river off it that seems to lead straight to where the burning bushes are. It’s a risk, but let’s do it!’
‘Cool!’ said Molly in delight.
They shut the hut up and put their skis on. There had been more snow in the night and it lay on the ground thick and soft. Emily skied over to the dragons. ‘Bye!’ she called softly. ‘Thank you for last night!’
One of the dragons poked his head up through the layer of snow on the nest. He chirruped.
‘Yep, I’ll tell the dragons at school about you,’ promised Emily and then she joined the others.
They swished over the fresh snow, passing Camilla’s hut. It was all shut up.
‘They must have left already,’ fretted Molly.
‘I hope we beat them back,’ said Emily. Now they were so near to the end of the scavenger hunt, she really wanted to win.
They reached the river they had skated down the day before and changed from their skis into their skates. As they did so, they heard voices.
Tasha and Olivia came skating round the bend going in the opposite direction to them. ‘It shouldn’t take us long to get there,’ Tasha was saying.
‘I hope it’s not too hard to get a reed from the pools,’ said Olivia. They caught sight of Emily, Hannah and Molly and waved.
Emily wondered where Amanda was, but just then Amanda came skating round the bend after them. ‘Wait!’ she was calling. ‘My legs are tired. Stop going so fast, you two.’
Emily saw Olivia and Tasha exchange fed-up looks and they sped up. Amanda tried to go faster, but caught her skate on a bump in the ice and stumbled. She could have stayed on her feet – she was a really good skater – but she just seemed to give up and fall over. ‘Wait!’ she called plaintively from the ice. But the others had skated on round the next bend.
‘I’m glad she’s not in our team,’ Molly muttered.
‘I know she moans, but she’s not that bad,’ Emily said. She saw that Amanda was looking really upset. ‘Are you OK?’ she called.
Amanda didn’t answer.
Emily left her things on the bank of the river and skated over. ‘Amanda?’ She offered her hand to help her up.
‘Thanks,’ Amanda muttered, getting to her feet. ‘They’re mean. I’m never going to catch up with them,’ she said, wiping the back of her hand across her eyes. ‘They keep skating off whenever I get near.’
Emily could understand why the others might be doing that. Amanda could be so annoying, but it still wasn’t very nice of them. ‘You skate fast. You’ll catch up,’ she said.
Amanda shook her head. ‘I don’t want to. I’m just going to go back to school.’
Emily frowned. ‘You can’t. Not on your own.’
‘I’m not going after them,’ said Amanda.
‘Come on, Em. We should go!’ Hannah called.
‘Look, we’re heading back towards school now,’ said Emily quickly to Amanda. ‘At least come with us. We’ve just got to get the leaf from the burning bush. That’s all.’ She remembered what had happened to Molly the day before when she’d gone off. ‘You mustn’t go off on your own – please.’
Amanda gave Emily a small smile. ‘OK. Thanks.’
Emily could tell the others weren’t that pleased with her for inviting Amanda to skate with them, but whether it was because they were heading back towards school or because Amanda was feeling grateful, she didn’t moan at all and she even proved useful. ‘No, don’t go down that river,’ she said when they reached the river that Hannah had been planning to take. ‘It’s blocked by a fallen tree. We tried to skate down it yesterday and had to come back in the end. I’ll show you the way we went.’
‘Thanks, Amanda,’ said Hannah.
Amanda led the way and then turned down a different small river. ‘This one was clear yesterday.’
They all raced down it.
After about ten minutes they saw a glow of golden light ahead of them. ‘Are those the burning bushes?’ Molly asked Amanda.
Amanda nodded. ‘They’re amazing!’
As they got closer, they saw bushes dotted through the trees that looked like they were being consumed by golden flames.
‘How do we get a leaf?’ said Hannah.
‘We wondered that yesterday, but the flames aren’t hot,’ said Amanda. ‘They’re icy cold. So long as you’ve got gloves on, you can just pick a leaf.’
‘I’ll do it!’ said Molly. She skated to the edge of the bank and found the nearest bush. ‘Here goes!’ She stuck her hand in. ‘Got one!’ she cried, holding out a leaf that looked like it was made from beaten gold.
‘That’s all the things on the list!’ said Hannah. ‘Now, we just need to get back.’
Emily’s eyes shone. ‘Come on! Let’s go!’
Chapter Nine
And the Winner Is…
Emily, Hannah and Molly raced off down the river with Amanda following behind. They had seen from the map that it soon joined up with the main river to the east of the school. Once they were on that river, all they would have to do was skate for five minutes and they would be back.
But will we be first? Emily wondered.
Reaching the junction with the main east river, they spotted another team heading towards them. It was Camilla, Tess, Clare and Helena! From the determined looks on their faces it looked as if they had found everything and were racing back to the school too.
Camilla caught sight of Emily and the others. ‘Faster!’ she yelled to her team.
‘Quick!’ gasped Molly.
Emily, Hannah and Molly turned on to the river and started to skate as fast as they could.
‘Good luck!’ called Amanda, not even trying to keep up.
Emily crouched low. She had Hannah on one side and Molly on the other. They were in the lead, but behind them she could hear the swish of skates. Camilla and the others got closer and closer, yelling encouragements to each other as the river widened out.
‘Faster!’ gasped Hannah. ‘We can’t let them win!’
Emily pushed her tired legs harder. Her rucksack was digging into her shoulders, but she ignored it. Now she could see the lake behind the school just ahead of them and the teachers waiting on it. The first team on to the lake would be the winner. Were they going to make it? No, Camilla and Tess were drawing alongside them.
Molly put on a burst of speed. Then Camilla caught up with her and drew ahead. Molly went faster. Camilla caught her again. They both put their heads down and skated as fast as they could. At the exact same moment they both zoomed on to the lake with everyone else only centimetres behind.
It had been a dead heat between the two teams!
Emily straightened up, letting her breath out in a rush of relief. She glided on both feet until she slowed down almost to a stop, then she skated round in a circle and met up with Hannah and Molly.
‘Oh, wow, wasn’t that amazing?’ said Hannah, her eyes sparkling after the race.<
br />
‘Brilliant!’ said Molly. ‘I wonder who’ll be the winner.’
‘I guess it depends if Camilla’s team have got all their things,’ said Emily.
‘I don’t actually care about winning now, you know,’ said Hannah. ‘It’s been the most amazing couple of days. I’ve never had so much fun!’
Emily grinned at her. ‘More fun than staying here and practising your double jumps?’
Hannah grinned back. ‘Much more! I was so dumb. I can’t believe I didn’t want to do this.’
Madame Letsworth skated towards them all. ‘Well done, girls. You are the first two teams back. Bring your things over and we’ll see if we have a winning team or if it’s a draw.’
Both teams skated to the group of teachers and got out the objects they had collected. As they did so, Tilda’s team also arrived back and gathered round.
Emily watched eagerly as Madame Letsworth and Madame Li checked the things they had found – the icicle, the reed, the feather and the leaf. All the other teachers looked on with interest and some of the frost fairies flew around their heads.
‘Congratulations,’ said Madame Letsworth, smiling round at both Emily and Camilla’s teams. ‘If both teams have found out something true then it will be a draw.’
Camilla tossed her hair. ‘Well, our fact’s true.’
‘So, what did you find out?’ Madame Longley asked her.
‘We found out about ice ghosts!’ burst out Tess.
‘Yes, they make a rainbow appear in the air just before they arrive and grab you,’ said Camilla smugly. She glanced at Emily’s team as if to say Beat that!
Emily bit her lip to stop herself smiling.
Madame Letsworth’s eyebrows rose.
‘What did you say you found out, Camilla?’
Camilla repeated it slightly less certainly. ‘That ice ghosts make a strange noise and a rainbow of light appears before they try and grab you and scare you?’
A snort of laughter burst from Molly. Emily and Hannah giggled too.
Camilla turned on her crossly. ‘What? You were there too. You saw it.’
Madame Letsworth looked like she was trying to hide a smile. ‘I don’t think so, Camilla. There are no such things as ice ghosts, you see.’
Camilla frowned. ‘But… but…’
Molly giggled. ‘Shall we tell you our fact, Madame?’
Madame Letsworth nodded.
‘Emily?’ said Molly.
‘It’s that ice dragons can make rainbows appear over their heads when they sing,’ said Emily.
‘Well, that is certainly true,’ said Madame Letsworth, her eyes twinkling as she looked at Camilla.
Camilla’s eyes widened. ‘That noise… those rainbows… they were from ice dragons?’
Molly, Hannah and Emily nodded. ‘Yep!’ said Molly.
‘No!’ Camilla stamped her foot in rage.
Madame Letsworth cleared her throat. ‘Well, seeing as Emily, Hannah and Molly came back with a true fact, I declare their team to be the winning team and the three of them to be the winners of the scarlet skates. We were watching all the teams through crystal balls similar to the ones we gave you and I have to say we were very impressed with the way you worked together, girls, and with your kindness, Emily. You helped someone out even though she wasn’t on your team and, throughout the two days, you have shown that you are very much in tune with the land. Well done!’
Emily glowed with delight.
Madame Letsworth clapped her hands. ‘To the winners of the scarlet skates!’ Everyone apart from Camilla’s team clapped. ‘We’ll present them to you later this morning,’ Madame Letsworth said.
Emily, Hannah and Molly hugged each other. Emily caught sight of Amanda watching.
‘Thank you,’ Emily said, breaking away and skating over to her. ‘We wouldn’t have got back in time to win if you hadn’t told us about the river.’
‘Thanks for letting me skate back with you,’ said Amanda gratefully. ‘I really didn’t want to come back on my own.’
There was the sound of voices and Tasha and Olivia came skating on to the lake. They were very relieved to see Amanda. ‘We were wondering where you were!’ Tasha gasped. ‘We’ve been looking for you everywhere. We didn’t get the feather in the end. We used the crystal ball to tell Madame Li you were lost and she said you were OK and back here.’
‘I’m sorry we left you,’ Olivia said, looking guilty.
‘We have our runners-up,’ Madame Longley announced. ‘Tilda, Alice, Zoe and Heather have all the objects and another true fact. They found out that snow foxes can sleep in trees.’
Camilla’s team looked furious. They hadn’t even been runners-up!
‘And now I’m sure you’re all ready for some hot chocolate and cake,’ said Madame Letsworth. ‘It’ll be served in ten minutes in the common room.’
Camilla’s team skated off grumpily and the teachers went inside. Hannah, Molly and Emily shrugged off their rucksacks. It was a relief not to have the weight on their shoulders any more. Enjoying the lightness, Emily skated away in a big circle and Hannah and Molly sped after her.
‘We won!’ Molly said in delight.
‘We got the scarlet skates!’ said Emily.
‘And we had so much fun,’ said Hannah.
‘Though we didn’t find out any more about the Ice Princess or if there is a dragon in the mountains,’ Molly pointed out.
‘Next week, we will,’ Hannah declared. She skated forward and threw herself into a double toe loop followed smoothly by a double flip. Relaxed and happy, she landed both jumps perfectly.
Emily and Molly cheered.
‘Let’s play follow-my-leader,’ shouted Molly.
They got in a line. Emily saw Amanda watching, almost enviously, as they skated after Molly trying to do an Egyptian dance. ‘Come on, Amanda, join in!’
Amanda hesitated.
‘Yeah, come on, Amanda,’ called Molly. ‘We wouldn’t have won the competition if it wasn’t for you. Join in with us!’
Hannah nodded too, and Amanda smiled and skated over. They took it in turns to be the leader and go round on the lake until they were dizzy with laughter.
Then they split up and all started jumping and spinning round on the ice. Hannah skated faster and faster and threw herself into a double lutz jump. Molly turned into the fastest layback spin that Emily had ever seen and Amanda jumped a single axel.
Emily felt joy rush through her. They had won the competition and the scarlet skates and they’d had so much fun. They might not have found out much more about the Ice Princess, but they would. She knew they would.
Bubbling with happiness, she put her arms above her head and began to spin. There’s nothing better than being here at ice-skating school, she thought as the world blurred to a sparkling white around her. Nothing at all!
Skating School: Scarlet Skate Magic Page 4
