Matilda and Pearl

by Julie Sykes

  Matilda followed Pearl’s gaze and inhaled sharply. A figure cloaked in black was cantering towards the clearing on a golden-maned unicorn. Matilda vaulted onto Pearl’s back but it was too late for them to escape. She gripped Pearl’s mane. “What are we going to do now?” she whispered.

  For the very magical

  Philippa and Polly

  “Pearl, you moved!” Matilda was trying to draw Pearl, her unicorn, but it wasn’t going too well. “Your leg is all wrong in my picture now. Pleeeease stand still.”

  “Sorry Matilda. I just can’t stop thinking about magic. When do you think I’ll get mine and what do you think it will be?” Pearl tossed her pink and yellow mane.

  “I don’t know,” said Matilda, re-sketching Pearl’s leg.

  Pearl began to pirouette in circles. “Maybe I’ll be able to make a snow twister, like Crystal!” She spun faster until she almost tripped over her hooves. Slowing down, she tilted her head and affected a dreamy look. “Or I might get soothing magic like Whisper. Or what about freezing magic?” Pearl held the pose like a statue until finally she wobbled. “Nah. Freezing magic is boring! I wouldn’t mind getting wind magic, though, like Golden Briar. Wouldn’t it be fun to have wind magic, Matilda?” Pearl blew out through her nostrils with a loud trumpeting sound. She crossed her eyes and blew so hard it made her cheeks wobble. “Or flying magic! Imagine if I had wings!” She leapt into the air with her hooves pointed.

  “Pearl! Stop goofing around so I can finish this picture!” Matilda tried to look stern but Pearl looked so funny she started to giggle. Her pencil skittered across her sketchbook as she tried to capture the dancing unicorn.

  Pearl began prancing around the field, tapping flowers with a hoof then making a popping, crackling noise. “Guess what magic now, Matilda?”

  “Fire magic,” said Matilda.

  “And now?” Pearl walked very slowly, lifting each hoof in an exaggerated tiptoe.

  “Stop!” Matilda chuckled and dropped her pencil. “How can I draw anything when you keep making me laugh? What sort of magic is that supposed to be? Whatever it is, I hope you don’t get it. You look like a circus pony!”

  Pearl trotted over and leaned over Matilda’s shoulder, nuzzling her dark-red hair. “I don’t mind what magic I have. I just wish I could find it,” she said, blinking her long eyelashes. “It’s summer already. We’re halfway through our time at Unicorn Academy. What if I don’t find out before the graduation ball in December? And we haven’t bonded, either.”

  All the unicorns at Unicorn Academy were trying to discover their magic power and bond with their rider. When a rider and unicorn bonded, a strand of the rider’s hair turned the same colour as their unicorn’s mane. Matilda couldn’t wait for a pink and yellow streak to appear in her long, red hair. She was sure it would soon. She and Pearl had been best friends ever since their first day at the academy when Ms Nettles, the headteacher, had paired them up. At first, Ms Nettles had seemed a little uncertain about it.

  “I hope you’re not going to be a bad influence on each other,” she’d said, frowning behind her glasses. “Since you’re both quite disorganised, maybe I should put you with someone else?” Matilda remembered how she’d crossed her fingers tightly behind her back, hoping that

  Ms Nettles would let her and Pearl go together. She’d loved Pearl from first sight. Pearl’s dark eyes seemed to twinkle with mischief and she was perfect for drawing, too. Her beautiful white coat was patterned with colourful and interesting shapes.

  “Do you think Ms Nettles was right? Are we a bad influence on each other?” asked Matilda, straightening her glasses on her nose and remembering the headteacher’s words. Maybe that was why they hadn’t found Pearl’s magic and bonded.

  “Definitely not!” Pearl declared. “We’re perfect for each other!” She shook her head. “Just imagine if I’d been paired with Ariana. Nightmare!”

  Matilda giggled. “Ariana’s not that bad. She’s just a lot more organised than us. I’ve been getting on much better with her since our adventure in the woods.”

  “That was fun, wasn’t it? I loved playing in the river and solving the mystery…” Pearl bucked across the meadow as she remembered.

  “Whoa! Pearl, steady on,” Ariana called out as she came running across the grass towards them. “You’re going to kick someone if you do that. Matilda! Did you forget that Ms Nettles wants to talk to us about the camping trip and scavenger hunt?”

  Matilda caught her breath. “I thought the meeting was tomorrow.”

  “No, we set off on the trip tomorrow,” said Ariana. “You never listen properly. The meeting’s starting soon. I’ve been trying to find you.”

  “Wait!” Matilda looked at the picture she had been drawing and snorted with laughter. “Look at my picture, Pearl!”

  Pearl trotted over. “You’ve given me wings!” She began to giggle. “I look very strange. Why did you do that?”

  Matilda frowned. “I have no idea. I thought I was just drawing what I was seeing.”

  “I didn’t have wings last time I looked,” said Pearl looking over her shoulder. “Nope, no wings.”

  “Come on, Matilda,” said Ariana impatiently. “Diamond dorm will all be in trouble if we arrive late.”

  “I’ll see you later, Matilda,” said Pearl. “Come and see me after your meeting.” She trotted off towards the stables.

  Matilda set off with Ariana but halfway across the field, she stopped. “My pencils and water bottle! Where are they? Did you pick them up for me, Ariana?”

  “No, why would I?” asked Ariana.

  “I’ll have to go back for them,” Matilda said, turning around.

  Ariana groaned. “Why are you so forgetful?”

  Matilda swept her long red hair over her shoulders and hurried back to get her stuff. But after running a few steps she spotted a bright yellow butterfly flitting from flower to flower. She stopped to examine it.

  “Matilda!” exclaimed Ariana. “Come on!”

  Matilda sighed and left the butterfly. Ariana needed to chill. So what if they were a bit late? The teachers might tell them off but they wouldn’t get into that much trouble. She gathered her possessions into her arms and headed back towards Ariana, the pile teetering unsteadily. “Here, hold this for me.” Matilda handed Ariana a water bottle.

  Ariana pursed her lips but she took the water bottle and a packet of pencils as it started to slide from Matilda’s sketchbook. “You’re so disorganised.”

  Matilda shrugged. Being organised was a lot of hard work and she only liked to work hard at things she enjoyed – like drawing. “So?” she said. “It doesn’t matter.”

  Ariana gave her an exasperated look. “It does! It’s good to be organised. Remember our adventure in the woods when the animals turned bad because the waterfall was blocked? We might not have been able to start the waterfall flowing again if I hadn’t been prepared and brought a load of stuff with me.”

  “I suppose,” Matilda conceded.

  “Now, we need to get to the meeting and find out how we can prepare for this scavenger hunt and camping trip,” said Ariana. She shook her head. “I know it’s supposed to be a treat but I’m very surprised the teachers are allowing it. They still don’t know who was responsible for the waterfall drying up. You’d think they’d be doing more to try to find out who it was. What if that person strikes again?”

  Matilda stared at her. Ariana really did worry about silly things. The teachers were bound to have everything under control. Matilda felt sorry for her anxious friend. She really needed to laugh more. Seeing a beetle on the path ahead of them she suddenly had an idea. She knew exactly how to get Ariana giggling. She stopped and pointed at the beetle.

  “Eeek! Watch out!” she
squealed. “It’s a three-headed, snotty-nose flapdoodle!” She jumped sideways into a bed of sparkle lilies, dragging Ariana with her.

  “What? That thing there?” Ariana gasped, clinging to Matilda’s arm. “Is it dangerous?”

  Matilda burst out laughing. “Joke!” she exclaimed. “There’s no such thing as a three-headed snotty-nose flapdoodle. I just made it up! Your face was so funny, Ariana!”

  Ariana glared at her. “Matilda!”

  “Girls! Get off those flowers immediately,” a voice shouted. “Whatever do you think you are doing?”

  Ariana jumped off the flowerbed as Ms Bramble, the grumpy head gardener, came stomping up with Ms Willow, the school nurse. “Sorry, Miss!” she gasped as the stout gardener looked at them angrily.

  “It was my fault,” said Matilda, not wanting to get Ariana in trouble.

  “I don’t care whose fault it is!” snapped Ms Bramble. “Guardians of the island are supposed to look after all of nature – animals and plants – and you have both just squashed four lilies! Honestly! I’ve got my hands full with a quiverleaf tree dying without you squashing lilies too!”

  “I’m so, so sorry,” apologised Ariana.

  Matilda felt bad as she looked at the broken lilies. “Yes, me too.” She hadn’t meant to wreck the flowerbed.

  “I’m sure it was just an accident,” Ms Willow said soothingly, tucking a loose strand of hair back into her neat bun. She was young and pretty and her eyes were kind. “You’ll be more careful in future, won’t you, girls?”

  Matilda and Ariana nodded.

  Ms Willow smiled at them. “Then we’ll say no more about it. Off you run.”

  Ms Bramble harrumphed and went over to the quiverleaf tree that stood behind the lilies. Matilda noticed that its branches were drooping and its leaves were turning brown. Ms Bramble was carrying a large bucket and a length of green bandage and Ms Willow held a small silver knife. Matilda watched them curiously. Whatever were they doing?

  Ariana tugged Matilda by the sleeve. “Come on.”

  “Coming,” said Matilda, her eyes still on the gardener and the school nurse. It was an odd combination of people. What exactly were they going to do with a bucket and a knife?

  Ariana hurried on but Matilda stood, transfixed, as Ms Bramble pressed the point of the knife to the tree and made a small, deep cut in its trunk. A pale liquid oozed out. Ms Willow stepped forward, soaking it up with a wad of cotton. She asked Ms Bramble to hold the cotton against the tree. From her small black medicine bag, she brought out a syringe and a bottle filled with a green liquid. Shaking the bottle, she unscrewed the top and drew the liquid up into the syringe. The liquid was greener than fresh peas and very sparkly. Matilda caught the scent of something sweet and minty. Ms Willow asked Ms Bramble to remove the wad of cotton from the tree trunk and then she inserted the syringe into the cut. Slowly and carefully, Ms Willow began to inject the sparkly green liquid into the tree.

  Matilda couldn’t contain her curiosity for a second longer. “What are you doing?”

  Ms Bramble swung round. Matilda braced herself, expecting a long lecture followed by a detention. But Ms Willow broke in before Ms Bramble could speak.

  “It’s good to see a future guardian of Unicorn Island taking an interest in its wildlife,” Ms Willow said with a warm smile. “This quiverleaf tree is dying. I’m hoping that my special herbal remedy will heal it. The medicine has to be infused into the tree. It’s a tricky operation. I’m showing Ms Bramble how to do it so that if there’s a next time, she can do it herself.”

  “Is that what’s in the syringe? The infusion?” asked Matilda.

  “Yes, it is. Once I’ve finished injecting it then I’ll bandage the tree trunk to stop the medicine from leaking back out with the tree’s sap. The bandage also protects the tree by preventing germs from entering the cut.”

  “That’s very interesting,” said Ariana, who’d now come back for Matilda. She gave Matilda’s arm a tug. “But we really have to go.”

  “Of course! Off you run,” Ms Willows smiled as she flapped her hands, cheerfully shooing them away.

  Matilda and Ariana ran all the way to the hall, arriving just as Ms Nettles walked on to the stage. The rest of the school were already in their seats, whispering together. The hall was one of Matilda’s favourite places in the school. It had a domed glass roof that was filled with colourful swirls. In the centre of the room was a magical map – a three dimensional model of the island that could transport people anywhere they wanted to go. It was protected by a glimmering force field. At the far end, the grand stage overlooked the room.

  “There you are! We thought you were going to miss it,” said Rosa, squeezing up next to Violet to make space for them. Freya was at the far end of the group, her blonde head bent over as she scribbled in her notebook. She loved to invent things and was working on a new idea. She hadn’t told the rest of Diamond dorm what it was going to be yet, but she seemed to be spending more and more time lost in her own thoughts.

  “Listen carefully, everyone,” said Ms Nettles. “This is your first camping trip and there are a lot of things that you need to know. You’ll be going to Dingleberry Dell – a wooded area at the base of the mountains. It’s a short ride from the school grounds.”

  Matilda concentrated very hard for a whole minute before her mind started to wander. It was extremely difficult to pay attention when there were so many things she wanted to draw. Almost without realising it, Matilda’s fingers reached for her favourite pencil, which she had skewered in her thick red hair. While Ms Nettles talked about tents, ground mats and sleeping bags, Matilda began to draw the hall in her sketchbook. Her pencil flew across the paper, capturing the grandness of the room and how the domed glass roof filled the space with a soft rainbow light. By her side, Ariana was making notes, nodding to herself and underlining the important points. Finally Ms Nettles finished.

  “I wish we could go camping right now. I don’t think I can wait until tomorrow,” said Rosa as they all left the hall.

  “Me neither,” Violet agreed. “I hope we’re allowed to toast food on the fire. My uncle sent me a bag of chocolate bread. It’s even more delicious when it’s toasted.”

  “Yummy,” Matilda said, looking up. “I love camping. Food tastes so much nicer when you cook it outdoors.”

  Ariana frowned. “We’ll have to be careful to cook everything thoroughly or we might get sick. And what about the washing up? I think I’ll add an extra bucket to my packing list.”

  “I wish we didn’t have to go camping,” sighed Freya. “What?” she added, seeing Matilda’s incredulous stare. “Imagine this: you’re drawing something special and you really want to finish it. Would you want to go camping then? This thing I’m working on – my invention – I’ve just reached the exciting bit where I’m ready to start building it. If the camping trip was next week then I wouldn’t mind. But this week, I just want to stay behind and build.”

  “We’re only away for one night,” said Violet reasonably. “You’ll be back before you know it. And no-one will get sick, Ariana.”

  “Bring your invention with you. I’m going to take my sketchbook,” said Matilda

  Freya shook her head. “Can’t,” she said. “It’s too big.”

  “So, if Matilda is busy drawing and Freya is making notes on her invention, does that mean the rest of us get stuck with putting up all the tents?” asked Rosa. “If it does, then watch out you two. We might just put some bugs in your bed.”

  “And spiders in your slippers,” Violet added.

  Ariana shuddered. She hated spiders.

  “Worms in your wash bag,” Rosa giggled. “Beetles in your boots.”

  “Oooh, yes please. I want bugs, spiders and worms. Don’t put beetles in my boots though, in case I accidently squish one.” Matilda laughed. She loved a good adventure and nothing was going to put her off the camping trip. Not even the thought of bugs in her bed. It sounded way too exciting! She skipped ahead and duc
ked behind a statue of a unicorn when no one was looking. Hidden behind the statue, she wrapped her arms round her chest, hugging herself tightly to stop the laughter spilling out as her friends’ chattering voices drew closer.

  “BOO!” Matilda jumped out, flapping her arms and leaping around. “I’m a vampire bat. I only come out at night. Run before I bite you with my fangs!”

  “Aaarrgh!” shrieked Ariana.

  “Matilda!” Violet put a hand over her heart. “You scared me!”

  “What if there are vampire bats in the dell?” asked Ariana. “Or other dangerous creatures.”

  “Then we’ll chase them away, of course,” said Matilda with a shrug.

  “Yeah!” said Rosa, high-fiving her. “We’re not scared! Diamond dorm is strong and tough. Diamond dorm forever!”

  Matilda was so sleepy she could hardly keep her eyes open. She’d had a busy day and she was looking forward to snuggling down in her bed, but first she had to find her pyjamas. They weren’t under her pillow or duvet but there was a pile of clothes on the floor. Matilda prodded it with her toe. Perhaps the pyjamas were in there somewhere? Ariana came over and Matilda got ready for a lecture. Ariana had every reason to be annoyed about the mess as it had spilled on to her side of the room but Ariana was occupied with something else. She handed a piece of paper to Matilda.

  “OK, I’ve done a list of the things we all need to take on the camping trip. There’s one here for each of you,” she added, handing them round.

  “Thanks, Ariana,” the other girls chorused.

  “Yeah, thanks,” said Matilda, examining the paper. Where had Ariana got it from? It was perfect for drawing on, just the right thickness and with a lovely smooth surface. Matilda’s fingers twitched with impatience as she sought for a pencil. She found one tucked behind her ear. Flipping the list over, Matilda began to sketch. First she drew Pearl mid-leap, then as her imagination took hold she gave the unicorn large graceful wings. Then she added a bright blue sky filled with fluffy clouds for Pearl to fly through. It would be amazing if Pearl had flying magic, she thought, smiling to herself.