Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE "Girls! What are you doing?" Ms Rosemary's voice cut across the stable yard. "I told you to get your ingredients and instructions. Stop chattering and hurry up!" "Sorry, miss!" said Zara quickly. "We'll talk about this later," she hissed to the others, as they jogged to the storeroom. All through the lesson, Zara's mind raced. Could Mr Longnose really be the culprit? The more she thought about it, the more everything seemed to fit together. But suspicions are not enough, she reminded herself firmly. There has to be proof! She was so busy thinking about it that she added too much honey powder to her sun cream. She only realised when Moonbeam couldn't stop sneezing after she tried to lick the cream off her nose because it tasted so good!

As soon as the lesson was over, the girls raced up to their dorm where they could talk in private. Amethyst dorm had four beds set around the room, each with a lavender-coloured bedspread. There was a large fluffy purple rug on the floor, which they all sat on in a circle. "It's him! You're right, Zara. I'm sure of it!" exclaimed Phoebe. "Mr Longnose is so horrible. He's really bossy and a complete show-off!" "We've got to tell the teachers," said Lily. "No," said Zara quickly. "At the moment all we

have are suspicions and no proof, although the evidence does seem to point to him. Listen." She pulled a mini notebook from her pocket where she had scribbled some notes. "Number one: Mr Longnose is very clever. He's written all sorts of scientific articles. He might know a way to make bad weather happen." "Or he could be in league with someone who does," said Phoebe excitedly. "He doesn't have a unicorn himself but he may be working with someone who has a unicorn that can do weather magic." "Good point," said Zara. "What else have you got on your list?" asked Lily. "Number two: The first time Mr Longnose arrived at the academy was just as the dormant volcano near the school began to wake up. It was activity from that volcano that caused the tidal wave, so maybe he did something to the volcano on his way here. "Number three: It was his idea to go camping on the west coast where we were almost drowned by the tidal wave." Zara paused to look round at her friends. "He wanted us to go there!" Phoebe pretended to be the inspector.

"Volcanoes are a particular interest of mine." Her eyes glimmered with excitement exactly like Mr Longnose's did when he was showing off about how clever he was. "But why would Mr Longnose want to cause such horrible things to happen to the island?" said Aisha. "Well," said Zara. "I looked Mr Longnose up when he was here last time and discovered that he was all set for a career in research but he couldn't find anyone to sponsor his work. That's how he ended up as a school inspector. Maybe he wants to get back at the island because no one would fund his research." Phoebe's eyes widened. "Or… or…" she spluttered in her excitement, "maybe he thinks that if enough bad weather happens then people will pay for him to do research and he'll be able to stop being an inspector!" "Great idea, Phoebs!" said Zara excitedly, writing it down. "What about the other clues we had– the cloaked stranger with the top hat who was seen by the deserted cottage, and the button we found there," said Lily. "The stranger couldn't have been Mr Longnose. He was at the academy with us when

the villagers say they spotted him." "That's true," said Zara slowly. "I suppose the stranger at the cottage could be completely unrelated to the tidal wave. It could be a red herring– that's what false clues are called." "What about the button?" asked Aisha. Zara jumped to her feet and fetched the button from her bedside drawer. "This could be a red herring too,' she said, turning the pale-grey button over in her fingers. It looked expensive and had an ornate engraving on it that looked like a two- headed serpent twisted around a strange symbol. "Or it could have been dropped by Mr Longnose at some point when we were there," said Phoebe, as Zara put the button down so they could all see it. "He could have gone to the cottage when we were getting our campsites ready and done something there that caused the tidal wave to hit." "If you look at the engraving, it almost looks like a letter in really curly writing," said Aisha, tracing the pattern with one finger.

"It's an L!" said Lily with a gasp. "Look everyone! L for Longnose!" "I knew it!" exclaimed Phoebe triumphantly. "He is the evil villain!" "We don't know for definite that it's his or that he's responsible for these weather disasters," said Zara quickly. "We need to find hard evidence." "How do we do that?" demanded Phoebe. Zara grinned. "We spy on him, of course!" Phoebe squealed in delight. "Oh yes, let's do that! We'll prove he's to blame!"