Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX Phoebe, Lily and Aisha followed Zara into the tunnel. Zara was good at climbing and guided the others, carefully feeling for handholds and footholds in the cold stone wall. "Be careful!" whinnied the unicorns anxiously as they waited at the top. "Very, very careful," added Moonbeam. Once all the girls had climbed down, they set off. Zara traced her hand along the rough stone wall as she edged forward, her eyes gradually getting used to the darkness. She could hear the steady drip of water.

"Eeek!" squealed Phoebe, slipping on a stone. "Sssh!" Zara stopped, motioning for everyone to be quiet. What if Mr Longnose was ahead of them and heard Phoebe? What if he came back and attacked? They waited tensely but there was no sound. Cautiously they set off again. The sound of water began to get louder as they walked, until suddenly the tunnel opened into a chamber. Multicoloured water trickled down the damp walls. "I think we might be under Sparkle Lake." Zara squinted into the darkness and saw two more tunnels leading out of the chamber. "There are two ways out of here—" She gasped as she spotted something white lying on the floor at the entrance to one of the tunnels. "Look!" She hurried to pick it up. It was a white handkerchief and she could just make out the initials EL in one corner. "This belongs to Mr Longnose!" she exclaimed.

"I saw him with it yesterday. He must have dropped it. It's proof he's been down here. He was the person I saw come into the tunnel." Phoebe clutched hold of her. "What should we do?" Zara took a breath. What if Moonbeam really was having visions and her strange feelings were true? She'd said the tunnel was dangerous. But how could they give up now? They couldn't. "Let's go on!" she said. The others nodded eagerly. As Zara walked into the tunnel where the hanky had been lying, she was grateful that her friends were right behind her. The passageway began to climb upwards, getting steeper and narrower until it ended in a small space with a chimney rising up from it. Zara felt around the stones and her hand snagged against something round. Instinctively, she pressed it. There was a grating noise and a small door swung open. Ducking through, Zara saw that the door led out into a fireplace in a round room. "We're in one of the towers in the academy," she said, climbing out. The others followed her. "It's a secret room!" Aisha gasped, looking

around. There was an old wooden desk to one side and the walls were lined with curved shelves stacked with glass jars. Over the fireplace hung a portrait of a beautiful unicorn with a long golden mane. "I wonder what that thing does," said Zara, spotting a lever in the opposite wall and hurrying over. She pulled it and jumped back as the wall started to spin slowly like a revolving door. "This must be the way out!" she said in excitement. The wall revolved back into place. Zara pulled the lever again and this time she and the others slipped out as the wall turned. They found themselves in a cupboard full of empty cardboard boxes and wooden crates.

"Maybe it's not the way out after all," said Aisha in surprise. "Wait…" Zara looked around. "This looks familiar. I think it's the cupboard on the landing above Diamond dorm." She spotted the door and turned the handle. It swung open and she stepped out on to the landing between Diamond dorm and the top floor of the tower. "This is where I lost Mr Longnose yesterday," she said excitedly. "So that's why he keeps disappearing. He's using secret tunnels to move around the school!" "Do you think he heard us following him?" said Phoebe.

"What do you think he will do if he did?" asked Lily. "Nothing," said Zara, sounding more confident that she felt. "I bet Mr Longnose wouldn't want Ms Nettles to know we found him sneaking around using the secret tunnels, so he won't do anything." "Shouldn't we tell Ms Nettles?" said Aisha. Zara thought for a moment. "No. Sneaking around is weird and suspicious but we need proof that he's actually up to no good. We're on to him now. As soon as we find evidence, then we'll tell Ms Nettles. Let's all be careful though, right?" "Definitely!" said Phoebe. She gave a dramatic shiver. "After all, we don't know what he's capable of!" They hurried back to the barn to tell their unicorns what had happened. "I told you I saw a dangerous tunnel!" Moonbeam muttered to Zara as they walked back to the stable block. "What if Mr Longnose had attacked you? You shouldn't have gone down there." Zara glanced at her. Moonbeam had been in a bad mood with her ever since she had returned. "We had to. If we hadn't gone down there we wouldn't have found out that Mr Longnose was