Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR Violet's friends were all very relieved to see her. "We've been worried about you," said Ariana, hurrying over. "We thought you might be lost in the snow." "We were, but Twinkle was amazing." Violet sat on her bed and pulled her thick duvet around her. She told the others how Twinkle had brought them safely back through the snow. She decided not to tell them about the pink spark, just in case she'd imagined it. Matilda hugged her. "Well, I'm very glad you're back." Violet smiled. Her friends were the best! "So, do you want to hear what we've decided to

do about the cloaked figure?" said Rosa, her eyes shining. She jumped on to Violet's bed. "Tomorrow night, we're going to sneak into the teachers' quarters and spy on them!" Matilda grinned, but Freya frowned. "I really don't think it's a good idea." "Freya and Ariana have said they won't come, but you will, won't you, Violet?" said Rosa. "Um…" "Pleeeeeeease!" said Matilda. Violet really didn't want to. "Well…" "We won't take no for an answer," said Rosa firmly. "Oh, all right then," said Violet, giving in. Rosa and Matilda beamed. "Awesome! So, tomorrow night, our spying mission begins!" Rosa declared. Violet was tired the next day. In the Healing with Herbs lesson, grumpy Ms Bramble shouted at her twice for yawning. Violet was extremely relieved when Ms Bramble ended the lesson early and sent them for lunch. After a warming bowl of soup with hot crusty bread, Violet and the other Diamond

dorm girls went to the stables to visit their unicorns. Shouts of laughter greeted them across the yard. They hurried inside and found Miki, Himmat and the boys from Topaz dorm pretending to duel with hockey sticks. "What's going on?" asked Rosa. "Jake's fighting us! We tricked him. He's never played unicorn hockey before so we told him the sticks were used to pull riders from their unicorns." Miki could hardly speak for laughing. Himmat doubled over. "And once you'd caught a rider, you used the stick to hook him up by his hoodie on a fence post."

"I knew you were joking," said Jake, waving his hockey stick. "Did not!" yelled Miki and Himmat. Rosa burst out laughing too. "That's mean. Genius, but still mean!" "We know!" When everyone had eventually calmed down, Freya said, "Honey loves unicorn hockey. Who's up for a game in the snow, Diamond dorm against Topaz?" "I'm in," said Ariana. "I'm hopeless at hockey, but Whisper loves anything like that." Twinkle looked out of his stable. "Hockey's boring," he said loudly. Violet cringed at his rudeness, but Himmat just grinned. "Oh, hockey's boring, is it? Obviously you've never played with us. Am I right, Miki?" "Yeah," said Miki. "No one gets bored the way we play! Come on, Violet. You'll join in, won't you?" He went to hand Violet a hockey stick, but Twinkle stepped out of the stable and stood in his way. "Violet doesn't want to play hockey." "Wow, Violet! You said that without even moving your mouth," joked Miki. He wiggled a hockey stick at her, trying to pass it around

Twinkle. "Go on, give it a try!" "I… Um… Well…" Violet's cheeks burned as everyone turned to look at her. She really wanted to play, but she didn't want to fall out with Twinkle, especially after their closeness last night. "Violet?" said Himmat. Violet didn't know what to do. "Sorry," she gasped suddenly. "I've got a headache. I'm going back to the dorm." She hurried away, sure that everyone would guess she was just chickening out of making a choice. Why couldn't Twinkle just ask what she wanted to do for a change? Once she was outside the stables, she ran all the way to the academy. She yanked the door open and almost bumped into Isla, who was on her way out. "Whoops! Sorry!" said Isla. She frowned. "Hey, are you OK, Violet? Has someone upset you?" "I'm fine," muttered Violet. Isla looked doubtful. "You don't look fine." She pulled Violet inside and over to a large window seat. "What's up?" Isla sounded so sincere that Violet couldn't stop herself. She found herself blurting out what had happened and once she'd started, she couldn't stop. Soon Isla knew all about her worries and concerns about Twinkle. "I don't think he means to be rude,"

Violet finished. "But I can't help thinking that we'll never bond if he doesn't listen to me or think about what I want." Isla gave Violet's arm a sympathetic squeeze. "Twinkle hasn't always been this bad, has he?" she said thoughtfully. "He's the last unicorn in your dorm not to have found his magic or bonded. I bet he's worried and that's why he's bossier than normal. Maybe you