Chapter 1

UNICORN ACADEMY ...Where magic happens! Phoebe and Shimmer JULIE SYRES illusteated by LUCY TRUMAN nosy crow

CHAPTER ONE "You'll never guess what I just saw!" Phoebe exclaimed, bursting into Amethyst dorm. Her eyes sparkled with excitement. "Well?" she said, looking round eagerly at her dorm mates– Zara, Lily and Aisha. "Come on, guess!" "No time. You can tell us later," said Zara, pulling her hoodie over her dark-brown hair. "Yes, hurry up now, Phoebs, or we'll be late for the cross-country ride with Ms Tulip," said Lily. Aisha didn't say anything, she was too busy rummaging under her bed. "But this is important!" Phoebe protested. She wanted her friends to feel the same excitement she did. "OK, so this is what happened," she said,

going into what Zara teasingly called her "storytelling mode". "I was coming back from breakfast, just walking along the corridor, minding my own business when I saw Ms Rosemary and Ms Rivers whispering together outside Ms Nettles' office. They left and I heard Ms Nettles making a weird noise so I sneaked a look around the door and guess what?" Phoebe paused dramatically as she remembered what she had seen in the headteacher's office. "Ms Nettles was looking really upset and dabbing at her eyes!"

Her friends continued to get ready, not taking much notice. "She was crying!" Phoebe exaggerated, to get their attention. "Loudly, with lots of tears. Well, what do you think about that?" "Found it!" Aisha's bottom, followed by the rest of her, appeared backwards from under her bed. She was clutching a purple hoodie. "Who was sighing?" "Ms Nettles was crying," said Phoebe, looking round at her friends in exasperation. "Don't you think that was super weird? Headteachers don't cry. Something must be going on!" "The thing is, was Ms Nettles really crying, Phoebe?" Zara said, giving her a doubtful look. "Or are you just exaggerating like usual?" "No! I'm not!" Phoebe insisted. "I promise, Ms Nettles was a hundred per cent crying. She blew her nose and it sounded as loud as an elephant trumpeting!" "Oh dear, I hope she's OK," said Lily, looking concerned. Zara frowned. "I'm sure she is. There's probably a simple explanation. Her eyes could

have been streaming because her hay fever was playing up." Phoebe rolled her eyes. "You are so boring, Zara!" "Not boring, just sensible," said Zara, with a grin. "Seriously, there's been enough drama happening here without having to make stuff up, Phoebs. Purple tornadoes sweeping across the island, the school almost being destroyed, a strange voice in the tornado saying they're not going to be stopped…" "Aha! But maybe those things have got something to do with Ms Nettles crying," said Phoebe triumphantly. "Maybe something else has happened and she's just found out about it– maybe there's been another tornado or something even–" she paused dramatically– "worse!" "Or maybe Ms Nettles just has hay fever," said Zara again. "It is springtime after all, and there's a lot of pollen in the air." Lily threw Phoebe's hoodie at her. "Come on, Phoebs. We really have to go. We'll be in trouble with Ms Tulip if we're late." Phoebe sighed as she pulled her purple hoodie

on. She brushed her long honey-blonde hair before braiding it into plaits. She loved her three friends in Amethyst dorm but she sometimes felt they really didn't get her. She liked to make everything that happened seem as exciting as possible but they seemed to just want to know the bare truth. How boring was that? Shimmer will want to hear about Ms Nettles, she comforted herself as she got ready. A warm glow spread through her as she thought of her handsome unicorn. Shimmer loved drama and storytelling just as much as she did. He's the best, Phoebe thought happily as she followed the others to the stable block. I'm so glad Ms Nettles paired me with him. She'd never forget that first day at Unicorn Academy– arriving at the school and seeing the beautiful glass-and-marble building glittering in the sunlight, meeting the rest of her dorm and being paired with her own perfect unicorn. Students arrived at the academy in the January when they were ten, and stayed a whole year. During that year, they got to know their unicorn partner and learned all about Unicorn Island so