My Secret Unicorn (2 page)

‘What are you doing here, Sidra?' Lauren asked.

‘I came from Arcadia to talk to you both,' Sidra replied, her silver horn glittering. ‘You are now a Keeper of Secrets, Lauren.'

Lauren nodded.

‘But you have not helped anyone yet,' said Sidra.

‘No,' Lauren admitted. ‘Twilight and I
were just about to look through the things Mrs Fontana left. It's hard. I don't really know what I should do.' She looked at Sidra. ‘Can you tell me?'

Sidra shook her head. ‘You must find your own way as Keeper of Secrets.'

‘But it's so difficult.' Lauren looked into the Unicorn Elder's dark eyes and admitted her fears. ‘Mrs Fontana was so clever, Sidra. How can I ever be like her?'

Sidra snorted gently. ‘You will manage. You have a good heart, Lauren. Just do what feels right. But remember the golden rule: you must never tell another unicorn and their friend exactly what their powers are – they must discover them for themselves.'

‘Can't you tell me anything more?' Lauren pleaded.

‘No,' Sidra replied. ‘It is just like being a Unicorn Friend. You must discover things for yourself. Although…' she paused, ‘I will say that maybe trying to clean something in that chest would be a good idea. Twilight, you might want to help too.'

‘I've got to clean something?' Lauren said in astonishment.

Sidra smiled. ‘Yes.' She stepped forward and touched Lauren's hair with her muzzle. ‘I am going to leave you now but I will be watching from Arcadia to see how you get on. Follow your heart. Goodbye – and
good luck!' She soared into the air.

‘Goodbye!' Lauren and Twilight called.

They watched her until Sidra had disappeared from sight, then Lauren looked at Twilight. ‘I wonder what she meant about cleaning something?'

‘Let's have another look through the chest,' Twilight suggested.

Lauren crouched down. She took out the little glass bottles first. They were all made of different coloured glass and had liquid inside them. ‘I wonder what's in these?'

She tried giving them a polish but nothing happened.

Twilight nudged the scroll in the chest. ‘What's that? Is there something written on it.'

‘Yes,' Lauren said, taking it out of the box. ‘It seems to be names and dates. I had a look just after Mrs Fontana died.' She untied the ribbon and unrolled the scroll. There was a long list of names,
most of them written in midnight-blue ink, but some at the end were written in purple. Next to each name there was another name, an address and then a date. Lauren started to read the list: ‘
Ellen Bradshaw, Silverdust, Fox Farm, Texington 1957; Margot Anderson, Cloud Star, 119 Paul Avenue, Silver Creek 1958
…' She frowned. ‘It's a list of people, addresses, unicorns and dates.'

‘Maybe the dates are when they turned their ponies into unicorns for the first time?' suggested Twilight.

Lauren nodded, her eyes scanning the list. In the section near the bottom where the names were written in purple she found her own name and Twilight's.
‘Look, Twilight! It's us! And then after us, there's Michael and Moonshine's names, then Grace and Currant. I wonder why we're all written in purple ink?'

Twilight looked thoughtful. ‘Perhaps the names in the purple ink are people who have unicorns now,' he said slowly. ‘And the ones in the blue ink are people whose unicorns have gone back to Arcadia.'

‘Yes!' Lauren gasped, sure he was right. When a unicorn had done a lot of good then he or she left the human world and returned to the magic land of Arcadia.

She looked at the purple writing. There were the names of at least ten more people, and then a couple of much
fainter names that she couldn't quite read. She pointed. ‘I wonder if these faint names are people who
might
become Unicorn Friends or unicorns who haven't found a special friend yet?'

Twilight nodded and looked over her shoulder. ‘It's weird to think that there are people living near us – people we don't know – with unicorns.'

‘Maybe this book will tell us more about them,' said Lauren, taking out the purple book. It was old and the cover was very soft. Lauren began to turn the pages. There was entry after entry, all dated and written in Mrs Fontana's handwriting. Lauren read a few of them but they were hard to understand because
Mrs Fontana had written in note form, using abbreviations.
Met GS in woods today,
Lauren read.
C is learning new magic all the time. Can now use RQ, UB and fly with US. Success breeds success but they must be careful – pride comes before a fall.

Lauren read another few entries. They didn't make much more sense. ‘I wish Mrs Fontana had written clearer notes. I can't understand most of the things she's written.' She turned to near the back of the journal and flicked through some of the pages. Suddenly she stopped and stared.

Saw L and T in the woods. M's toy
stuck in tree.

Lauren's mouth felt suddenly dry. ‘Twilight, I think this entry is about us. Look!' she pointed it out. ‘L could be me. And T could be you and M could be Max. Do you remember when he got his cuddly donkey stuck in a tree a few years ago?'

‘Yes,' Twilight breathed. ‘What else does it say, Lauren?'

Lauren's heart thudded in her chest. She swallowed. ‘
Have realized what is wrong and why L will not help. Tried to advise. Must now just wait and see…
' The entry stopped there. Lauren read out the next one.

‘
The words I said worked. L and T have made the right decision and come through a difficult time. M now happy. I am so proud of them. So very, very proud –
' Lauren broke off as her eyes filled with sudden tears.

Twilight's breath was warm on her hair. ‘She was proud of us, Lauren.'

‘Yes,' Lauren said with difficulty. She stroked his neck and carried on reading:

‘
L and T are special. One day I will leave all this to them. L may be young but I believe she is the right choice.
'

Lauren looked up and spoke wonderingly. ‘She knew from right back then that I was going to be the next Keeper of Secrets. This is so strange. I just wish I knew what to do so I can be as good as Mrs Fontana.'

‘We still haven't found the thing we should clean,' Twilight said. He looked in the chest. ‘There's only that piece of rock left.'

Lauren picked the large smooth rock out of the box. It was oval-shaped and flat on top. As she held it up to the starlight she saw that it was a deep, dark red
colour. ‘Maybe
this
is what we're supposed to clean,' she said. ‘It is a bit dusty.'

She tried rubbing it with her sleeve. Nothing happened.

Twilight touched the rock with his nose. Still nothing happened. But as he pulled his head back, his mane brushed over its surface. There was a sudden bright red flash and the surface of the rock began to glow.

‘Look!' Lauren gasped, holding the

rock out. The surface was now swirling with different colours.

‘It's like when we use my magic to look into rose quartz,' Twilight said.

Lauren tried saying a name to see if a picture would appear as it usually did in rose quartz. ‘Mel,' she said, naming one of her two best friends. She stared at the rock but the light just continued swirling on the surface. She tried again. ‘Mum.'

But still no picture appeared.

‘Look!' Twilight exclaimed, pointing at the scroll with his horn.

Lauren gasped. The names that had been written in purple ink on the scroll were all glowing, some more brightly than others.

‘Maybe we need to say one of
those
names! The name of a Unicorn Friend! Perhaps this is a special type of rose quartz just for looking at unicorns and their friends.' Lauren read the brightest one she saw. It was right at the end of the list. ‘Rosie!'

The colours instantly stopped swirling and the surface of the rock began to shine like a mirror. Lauren and Twilight looked into it. It was like a television picture. There was a girl with blonde wavy hair, who looked slightly younger than Lauren. She was talking to a dark grey unicorn in a copse of trees.

‘Oh wow,' Lauren breathed. ‘That must be Rosie.'

A faint buzzing noise was coming from the rock. Lauren leaned forward and the buzz became a voice. ‘It's so difficult, Sparkle,' she heard the girl saying. ‘Ellie's so upset. I just don't know what to do.'

Lauren saw Sparkle the unicorn stamp a front hoof. ‘Oh, Rosie. I wish we could use magic to help her.'

Rosie put her arms around his neck. ‘Me too. But I can't think of any of your magic powers that will help!'

‘They're trying to solve a problem but they don't know how!' Twilight said.

Lauren nodded and sat back. ‘We should try and help them.'

‘Where does Rosie live?' Twilight asked.

Lauren checked the scroll for Rosie's address.
Hill View Lodge, Bullmarsh
,' she read out and frowned. ‘I think Bullmarsh is just the other side of the woods but I don't know where Hill View Lodge is.'

‘We could try and find it,' Twilight said. ‘If we can't find them, you can always look it up on a map and we can go tomorrow night instead.'

‘OK,' Lauren said eagerly. She packed the things away in the chest and scrambled up on Twilight's back with it.

He gave an excited whinny and galloped into the air.

Lauren and Twilight soared over the woods. From their position high in the sky they could see twinkling houses and street lights on a mountain in the distance. ‘I think Bullmarsh is straight ahead,' said Lauren. She frowned. ‘But then maybe it's more over that way.' She pointed to the left.

‘Bullmarsh…Bullmarsh…'
Twilight muttered, looking at the two different sets of lights. He suddenly whinnied.

‘What is it?' Lauren asked.

‘It's that way,' he said, pointing to the left with his horn. ‘I don't know how I know, but I just do!'

Lauren gasped. ‘Your horn's glowing, Twilight.'

‘It must be magic working,' Twilight said. ‘I think we've just found another magic power, Lauren – the power to find any place we want.'

‘Oh wow,' Lauren breathed. ‘That's an amazing power! Do you think you can find the way to Rosie's house then?'

‘Yes,' Twilight said confidently. He
flew to the left. They went on, letting his magic guide them, until a mountain loomed up before them. Twilight headed towards a farmhouse on the mountainside.

‘That looks like the place we saw her and Sparkle.' Lauren pointed out a copse of trees behind the farmhouse.

Twilight swooped down.

A fair-haired girl was in the clearing with a unicorn. They seemed to be playing tag. The unicorn kept darting behind trees and she was chasing it. When the girl caught it, the unicorn turned round and chased her. Lauren grinned. She'd never tried that with Twilight but it looked fun!