My Secret Unicorn (2 page)

As Lauren thought about Mrs Fontana, she suddenly realized that she hadn't seen her for a while. She began to work back in her head. It must be about six weeks since she'd last been into the bookshop or had met Mrs Fontana in the woods at night. Weird. When she had first got Twilight, they had always been searching Mrs Fontana out to ask her for advice on how to use his magic to best help
people and other animals but now they seemed to be much better at working out how to use his magic themselves.

Looking out of the window, Lauren reflected on all the things she and Twilight had been up to since she had last seen Mrs Fontana. They hadn't had any really big adventures, just a few small ones. A few weeks ago, Mel's cat, Sparkle, had gone missing. Lauren and Twilight had used his seeing magic to look into a rock of rose quartz and had discovered that Sparkle was stuck in a tree in the woods. They had flown to rescue her and returned her safely. Then another night they had used Twilight's ability to untangle things with his horn and had
freed a young terrier dog they had found trapped in a bramble thicket with an injured leg. Twilight had used his magic to heal the dog's leg and he had run home. Then, only the other night, they had helped Max by flying to fetch a school book that he'd left in his friend's garden. They hadn't needed to ask Mrs Fontana's advice for any of those things.

Mrs Foster turned off the road and drove into a parking space in front of a row of shops. Mrs Fontana's shop had a bow window with a brown and gold wooden sign above it that read: M
RS
F
ONTANA'S
N
EW
AND
S
ECOND-HAND
BOOKS.

‘You go on ahead of me. I need to get
some dog food and call in at the chemist,' Mrs Foster said. ‘I'll come and find you at Mrs Fontana's when I'm done.'

‘OK.' Lauren ran over to the bookshop.

As she pushed open the door, a bell tinkled and Mrs Fontana's black-and-white

dog scampered across the faded rose-patterned carpet to meet her.

‘Hi, Walter,' Lauren said, leaning down to tickle him under the chin. She straightened up and looked around. There were the usual piles of books everywhere and comfy chairs to sit on, but there was no sign of Mrs Fontana. Breathing in the familiar smell of blackcurrants that always seemed to hang in the air of the bookshop, Lauren made her way down to the children and young adult section.

As she reached it, she heard the sound of coughing. Mrs Fontana came out from the storeroom at the back of the shop. Not noticing Lauren, she leaned on a bookshelf and drew in a painful breath
before coughing again. Lauren felt very worried. The old lady's face was very pale and her wrinkles looked much deeper than normal. She had lost weight and her hand, holding on to the bookshelf, trembled.

‘Mrs Fontana?' Lauren said.

Mrs Fontana looked round. Seeing Lauren, she quickly straightened up and smiled. ‘Lauren! I didn't realize you were here. I didn't hear the shop bell go. What a lovely surprise.'

‘I came to buy a book for my cousin,' Lauren said. She frowned. ‘Mum told me you haven't been well.'

‘I'm fine, my dear,' Mrs Fontana replied, stifling a cough. ‘Just feeling my age a bit.'

‘If you're ill, why don't we get Twilight to heal you?' Lauren said. Twilight's horn had magical healing properties. ‘Or we could get some water from the Waterfall of Stars?' she asked. ‘Maybe if you had some of that you might feel better?' A little while ago, she and Twilight had collected some precious magical water from a waterfall just outside Arcadia. They had used it to make Shadow better when he'd been ill.

‘No,' Mrs Fontana said. She looked at Lauren, her blue eyes wise but sad. ‘Lauren, I cannot be helped by unicorn magic. I am ill because I'm old. That is all. There is nothing you can do to help.'

Lauren stared at her. ‘We must be able to.'

Mrs Fontana came over and took her hands. ‘Not this time. Time passes. People get older.' Her voice softened. ‘That's just the way things are, Lauren. You must use Twilight's magic to help people and animals who really need your help, not waste it fighting a battle that can't be won.'

Lauren looked at her. She couldn't believe she and Twilight couldn't help Mrs Fontana feel better.

Mrs Fontana squeezed her hands. ‘I have something for you. Wait here.'

She walked slowly into the storeroom and a few minutes later returned with a
wooden box. Its edges were trimmed with faded gold and it had a lock with a small golden key in it. Lauren looked at it in surprise.

‘This is for you.' Mrs Fontana placed it in Lauren's hands. As she did so, the lock seemed to click faintly. Curiously, Lauren went to turn the key. What was inside?

‘No, my dear!' Mrs Fontana said quickly. ‘Don't open it yet.'

‘You mean to wait until I get home?' Lauren said, puzzled.

Mrs Fontana shook her head, and for a moment her blue eyes seemed to twinkle with the same sparkle they always had. ‘You must open it when the time is right,' she said mysteriously.

‘But when will that be?' Lauren asked.

‘You will know, my dear. You'll know,' Mrs Fontana replied. She looked at the box. ‘Look after it for me,' she said softly.

Lauren glanced down. The box was heavy. She was longing to know what was inside it.

‘Now,' Mrs Fontana said, her voice becoming brisk. ‘You said you want a
book for your cousin? This is the one who likes horses, is it?'

Lauren nodded and for the next five minutes, Mrs Fontana showed her different books. Lauren had just chosen one on preparing horses for shows, when the shop door opened and Mrs Foster came in.

‘Hello,' she smiled as she walked towards them. ‘How are you, Mrs Fontana?'

‘Not too bad, thank you,' the old lady replied.

‘Have you chosen a book, Lauren?' Mrs Foster asked.

‘Yes, this one.' Lauren picked up the book and the chest.

‘What have you got there?' Mrs Foster asked, looking curiously at the chest.

‘It's just something I've given her,' Mrs Fontana put in quickly. ‘There are a few bits and pieces inside I think she might like.'

‘Well, that's very kind of you, Mrs Fontana,' Mrs Foster said.

Mrs Fontana smiled at Lauren. ‘My pleasure. I'm sure I'm putting them in the right hands.' She walked slowly over to the till and rang up the book.

Just then the door opened and a woman in her thirties came in. She had short brown hair and a slightly anxious expression. When she saw Mrs Fontana at the till, she frowned and hurried over.

‘Aunt Margaret, I told you not to tire yourself out serving customers. What happened to the notice I put on the door saying we were closed?'

‘I took it down,' Mrs Fontana said calmly. ‘I'm fine, Catherine.' She turned to Lauren. ‘This is my niece, Catherine Thomas. She's been helping me run the shop for the last few weeks. Catherine, this is Lauren and Alice Foster.'

‘We met last time I was in,' Mrs Foster said.

Catherine smiled quickly at her. ‘Yes, I remember.' She turned her attention back to Mrs Fontana. ‘Please, Aunt Margaret. Sit down and rest.'

‘All right, Catherine,' Mrs Fontana told

her. She turned to Lauren. ‘Say hi to Twilight for me.'

Their eyes met.

‘I will,' Lauren promised. ‘Bye, Mrs Fontana.'

‘Goodbye, my dear.' The old lady turned away.

Catherine put a hand on her shoulder.
‘Come and sit down, Aunt Margaret,' Lauren heard her say softly.

Lauren took one last look at Mrs Fontana and then followed her mum out of the shop.

Mrs Foster looked worried as she unlocked the car. ‘Mrs Fontana didn't look well.'

‘I know,' Lauren replied. ‘She was coughing lots.'

‘I'm glad she's got her niece to help her,' Mrs Fontana said. She glanced across as Lauren got into the car and put the box on her knee. ‘What's inside the chest?' she asked curiously.

Lauren hesitated. She didn't want to tell her mum that she wasn't supposed to
look yet. ‘Oh, just some stuff,' she said vaguely, ‘about horses.'

‘Well, it was lovely of Mrs Fontana to give you it.' Her mum started the engine. ‘She seems to have a real soft spot for you. First that other book and now this.'

Lauren looked at the box. What was inside? As she held it, a tingle of magic seemed to creep over her fingers. Lauren was sure that whatever was in the box was something about unicorns. If only she could open it. But she had to wait. How long for though? When
would
it be the right time?

Mrs Fontana's voice seemed to echo in her ears. ‘
You'll know, my dear. You'll know.
'

Twilight was waiting for Lauren beside the gate of his paddock. She hurried down the path towards him, the chest in her arms. ‘Hi, Twilight!'

Twilight pricked up his ears and stared at the box.

‘Mrs Fontana gave it to me.' Lauren climbed over the gate. ‘But I'm not allowed to open it yet.'

Twilight touched the box with his nose. He breathed in deeply and looked at Lauren. She wished she could tell what he was thinking.

‘I'll come out as soon as I can tonight,' she promised. ‘We can talk about it properly then.' She rubbed his neck. ‘I'll go and get out of my school things, then we can go for a ride in the woods. We won't be able to go out for very long though because I've got loads of homework to do.' She kissed his nose. ‘I'll get changed as quickly as I can!'

It didn't take Lauren long to put her horsey jeans on. She brushed Twilight over, tacked him up and they set off into
the woods. ‘Let's go to the banks,' Lauren said to him.

There was an area of the woods which had lots of steep banks and little hills. Lauren loved riding Twilight up and down them. Sometimes she and Jessica and Mel put small jumps at the bottom of the less steep hills.

As she drew near, she heard the sound of familiar voices.

It was Lauren's friends, Jo-Ann and Grace, from Orchard Stables. They were a few years older than her but she got on really well with them. She clicked her tongue and let Twilight trot on.

‘Hi, Lauren!' Grace called as Twilight entered the clearing. She was sitting on
her grey mare, Apple. Jo-Ann, her best friend, was riding up and down the hills on Beauty, her bay pony.

‘Hi!' Lauren called back. She rode over. ‘How's Currant?'

Currant, Apple's foal, was also a secret unicorn. He belonged to Grace and she