Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX "Get up, sleepy." Violet woke to find Ariana gently shaking her by the shoulder. Violet sat up slowly, blinking the sleep from her eyes. Hot shame flooded through her as she remembered the spying and being caught by Ms Willow. She glanced over at Rosa and Matilda. Neither of them seemed bothered by the experience. In fact, Rosa was gleefully re-enacting the moment in the cloakroom when they'd been caught. "It was so funny," she said to the others. "You should have seen our faces!" "Lucky it was only Ms Willow," said Freya. Rosa nodded. "She's the best. Well, I guess that

means we can't do any more night-time spying for the moment." "Good," said Ariana. "So, does that mean we can tell Ms Nettles?" "Just a few more days," begged Rosa. "And if we haven't found anything else out by then, we can tell her. I promise!" At lunchtime, Violet slipped away from her friends and went to the stables to see Twinkle. He was talking to Daffodil and looked surprised to see her. "Do we have a lesson now?" he asked. "I thought it was lunchtime." "It is," said Violet. "I just thought I'd spend some time with you. I could plait some ribbons into your mane? Daffodil's ribbons look really pretty." A strange expression crossed Daffodil's face but was gone so quickly Violet decided she must have imagined it.

"Twinkle was just telling me about your adventure the other night," said Daffodil. "It sounds very exciting." Twinkle snorted. "It was! Why don't we go out for a ride now, Violet? The snow's gone." Violet took a breath and lifted her chin. "I want to stay in and plait your mane." Twinkle looked surprised. "But I want to go out." "Twinkle, maybe you should do what Violet wants to do for a change," suggested Daffodil. "You always seem to make the decisions for the pair of you."

"Do I?" Twinkle was surprised. "Oh, all right then, we can stay in and you can put ribbons in my mane, Violet." Violet blinked. She'd got what she wanted without an argument! "Great!" she said, hardly believing it. "I'll go and get some!" "Daffodil!" Violet heard Ms Willow singing Daffodil's name as she came into the stable block. "Where are you, my sweetie? Come here!" Daffodil tensed. "I've got to go." Violet skipped to the store room and chose some red and gold ribbons. As she returned to Twinkle's stable, she saw Ms Willow stroking Daffodil. "Hello, Violet." To Violet's relief, Ms Willow greeted her as if nothing had happened the night before. "How are you today? Has your cold quite gone?" Her eyes twinkled. "Yes, thank you," said Violet sheepishly. She looked at the ribbon Ms Willow had in her hands. "That's a nice ribbon," she said, to change the subject. The ribbon was very unusual. It had a pearly sheen that was almost silver but not quite. It reminded Violet of something, but she couldn't remember what. "I do like Daffodil to look pretty," said Ms Willow. "Right, time for your tonic, Daffodil, and

then I'll get plaiting." Violet returned to Twinkle's stable. But as she reached it, she stopped. An image of the scrap of material that Matilda had found in the secret room flashed into her head. The ribbon Ms Willow had been holding was the same silvery colour. Frowning, Violet went back to Daffodil's stable. Ms Willow was just putting the tonic bottle down. She glanced round and asked, "Is everything all right, dear? You look worried." "Yes, I just, er… I do really like that ribbon you have. Where did you get it from?" "Just from the store room." Ms Willow held the ribbon up. "It's a lovely shade of purple, isn't it?" Violet blinked. Purple? She'd been sure the ribbon was silver. But, no, the ribbon Ms Willow was holding was definitely a deep purple. Her eyes must be playing tricks on her. "I'm sure you'll find some in the store room if you look," said Ms Willow, smiling "Thanks. I'll go and have a look later," said Violet and, feeling a bit foolish, she turned away. "Matilda, have you got that piece of material we

found in the secret room?" Violet asked later, as she got ready for afternoon lessons. "Sure, it's somewhere round here." Matilda started to hunt around her bed, opening drawers. "Now, where did I put it?" "You put it in here when we came down from the secret room," sighed Ariana, opening Matilda's jewellery box. "Oh yes!" said Matilda. "Thanks." She handed it to Violet. "What do you want it for?" "I just want to look at it." Violet turned the material from side to side. It had exactly the same silvery gleam as the ribbon that she was sure she had seen Ms Willow holding. Why did I think Ms Willow's ribbon looked like this? Violet wondered. Were my eyes playing tricks on me?