My Secret Unicorn

  My Secret Unicorn

  STARRY SKIES

  ‘How can I possibly be the Keeper of Secrets? Mrs Fontana was so wise and clever. I don’t know where to start or what to do. How can I help other unicorns and their friends? I’m not Mrs Fontana, I’m just me.’

  Books in the series

  THE MAGIC SPELL

  DREAMS COME TRUE

  FLYING HIGH

  STARLIGHT SURPRISE

  STRONGER THAN MAGIC

  A SPECIAL FRIEND

  A WINTER WISH

  A TOUCH OF MAGIC

  SNOWY DREAMS

  TWILIGHT MAGIC

  FRIENDS FOREVER

  RISING STAR

  MOONLIGHT JOURNEY

  KEEPER OF MAGIC

  STARRY SKIES

  My Secret Unicorn

  STARRY SKIES

  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 2007

  1

  Text copyright © Working Partners Ltd, 2007

  Illustrations copyright © Ann Kronheimer, 2007

  Created by Working Partners Ltd, London WC1X 9HH

  All rights reserved

  The moral right of the author and illustrator has been asserted

  ISBN: 978–0–141–32309–1

  For Alicia Whitaker

  – a very special girl

  CHAPTER

  One

  Lauren ran down the path from the farmhouse to the stable. Under one arm, she held a carved wooden chest.

  ‘Twilight!’ she called softly, her breath freezing in the cold dark air.

  Twilight whinnied quietly and looked over his stable door.

  Lauren fumbled at the bolts with her gloved hands. Twilight nuzzled her. ‘Hi, boy,’ she murmured. ‘Are you ready to go flying?’

  Twilight nodded. His grey winter coat was fluffy and the feathers around his hooves were long. Lauren put down the chest, unbuckled his rug and threw it into the stable. Then she looked back. There were no lights on in the house behind her. Her parents and her little brother, Max, were all asleep in bed.

  Lauren grinned to herself. If only they knew her secret – that Twilight wasn’t just an ordinary grey pony, he was actually a secret unicorn in disguise.

  Twilight nudged her, his dark eyes sparkling.

  ‘OK, boy,’ Lauren quickly began to say the words of the Turning Spell that would change him into his magical shape:

  ‘Twilight Star, Twilight Star

  Twinkling high above so far.

  Shining light, shining bright,

  Will you grant my wish tonight?

  Let my little horse forlorn

  Be at last a unicorn!’

  There was a bright purple flash and Twilight became a beautiful snow-white unicorn with a long mane and tail and a glittering silver horn.

  ‘Hi, Lauren!’ he said happily. ‘Where are we going tonight?’

  His mouth didn’t move when he talked but as long as Lauren was touching him or holding a hair from his mane, she could hear the words in her head. It was part of his unicorn magic.

  She hugged him. ‘To the secret clearing.’ She picked up the box and swung herself on to his back. ‘I can’t work out what to do with all the different things inside this chest that Mrs Fontana gave me. I was hoping you might be able to help.’

  ‘I’ll try,’ Twilight said eagerly as he thought about the little old lady who’d owned the bookshop in the village.

  Lauren wrapped her hands in his silky mane and he soared into the frosty sky.

  ‘Michael rang me this evening to say that he and his parents had just arrived,’ Lauren said as they flew towards the woods. ‘He’s going to ride Moonshine over to see us in the morning.’

  Lauren’s friend Michael lived in the city, but his parents had a holiday home near where Lauren lived. A couple of weeks ago he had emailed her to say that they were all coming to stay there for three nights before Christmas. He and Lauren had agreed they would meet up every day.

  ‘It’ll be really good fun to see him,’ Lauren went on. ‘We’ll be able to go flying in the evenings as well as riding together in the day.’

  ‘I hope it snows,’ said Twilight. ‘That would be really fun. We could fly through the snow together.’ Unicorns could use their magic to fly through even the thickest blizzards.

  ‘But only if Michael’s found out that Moonshine can use her magic to fly through snow,’ Lauren pointed out. Secret unicorns had all sorts of magic powers but they and their special human friends had to find out what those powers were by themselves. ‘Still,’ she went on, ‘I guess even if they haven’t found out about using magic to fly through snow, we can help them discover it even if we can’t tell them straight out. Now that I’m Keeper of Secrets, that’s what I should be doing – helping other Unicorn Friends to find out their unicorns’ powers.’

  Twilight nodded.

  Lauren looked at the wooden chest in her arms. She had recently found out that there were people all around the world who helped unicorns and their Unicorn Friends when they had problems. These people were known as the Keepers of Secrets. Lauren’s friend Mrs Fontana had been the Keeper of Secrets who’d helped Lauren and Twilight but just a few weeks ago she had died. She had left Lauren the chest and a letter telling Lauren that she wanted her to take her place.

  So far, Lauren hadn’t helped anyone. She had been too sad after Mrs Fontana’s death to want to look in the chest properly. But she knew she couldn’t put it off forever. ‘I hope you can help me work out what the things Mrs Fontana left in the box are for,’ she said to Twilight.

  He whinnied. ‘I’ll try my best.’

  They flew down through the trees to the secret glade. No one ever seemed to go there apart from them. It was a very magical place: the air always seemed very still and even in the depths of winter, purple moonflowers dotted the grass.

  Twilight landed lightly. Bright fireflies were dancing through the air, and around the mound of grass in the centre of the clearing, pinky-grey rocks of rose quartz were gleaming softly in the starlight.

  Lauren slid off Twilight’s back and placed the chest on the mound. ‘Shall we have a look inside it then?’

  She felt a bit nervous. It was so weird to think that she was now the Keeper of Secrets. She didn’t feel old enough.

  Twilight nodded and rested his muzzle on her shoulder, his warm breath tickling her cold cheeks. She gave him a quick kiss and then opened the lid of the chest.

  Inside there was a soft leather book, a thick scroll tied with a silver ribbon, a dusty flat rock, a silver pendant shaped like a star, and f
ive bottles, all different sizes and colours.

  Lauren hesitated. She didn’t want to touch the things. They felt like they still belonged to Mrs Fontana.

  A wave of sadness welled up inside her and she sat back on her heels, the contents of the chest untouched. ‘Oh, Twilight. This feels so strange. How can I possibly be the Keeper of Secrets? Mrs Fontana was so wise and clever. I don’t know where to start or what to do. How can I help other unicorns and their friends? I’m not Mrs Fontana, I’m just me.’

  ‘Mrs Fontana wouldn’t have chosen you if she didn’t think you could do it,’ Twilight told her. ‘I know it seems hard but we can work it out together.’

  His words made Lauren feel a bit better. She nodded. ‘Thanks,’ she said softly.

  There was a soft whinny in the air above them. Lauren looked up and gasped.

  Swooping down through the starry sky towards them was a beautiful unicorn with a shining silver horn…

  CHAPTER

  Two

  ‘Sidra!’ Lauren cried, recognizing the tall, elegant unicorn.

  Sidra was one of the Unicorn Elders who ruled the magic land of Arcadia where most unicorns lived. She had visited Lauren and Twilight several times before.

  Twilight whinnied as the Unicorn Elder landed beside him. Her heavy silver mane and tail swept all the way to the floor and her beautiful face was noble and kind.

  ‘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.

  Twilig
ht 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.’