Chapter 1

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

独角兽学院……奇迹发生的地方！爱莎和银色的朱莉·西瑞斯由露西·杜鲁门配图

CHAPTER ONE The hailstones battered down on the roof, but Aisha ignored them. She and her unicorn, Silver, were safe and warm inside the stables at Unicorn Academy. Aisha's fingers moved quickly along her flute, playing the lively piece of music she had been composing for her dorm's end-of-term display ride. Silver tapped along with his hooves. Aisha had almost reached the end of the piece when Lily came into Silver's stall. Aisha paused, suddenly realising that the hailstorm had stopped and it was quiet again. "There you are! I ran over as soon as the storm ended to check you were OK," said Lily. "The hailstones were massive. There's loads of damage." Lily tucked her short, dark hair behind her ears. "Trees have lost branches, the greenhouse has been smashed." She shivered. "That's the second hailstorm in two days. It's really worrying. Zara wants us to have an Amethyst dorm meeting with our unicorns to talk about what Ms Nettles said. Are you coming?" Aisha remembered Ms Nettles, the headteacher, giving a long speech in assembly that morning, but she'd been thinking about her music and she'd drifted off into her own thoughts. Afterwards, she'd hurried to the stable block to play her piece to Silver. She frowned. "I'm working on my music." "Please, Aisha. This is important. And–" Lily smiled hopefully– "we're going to play crossnet afterwards. It's much more fun with four of

第一章冰雹打在屋顶上，但艾莎没有理会。 她和她的独角兽西尔弗在独角兽学院的马厩里既安全又温暖。 艾莎的手指在笛子上快速地移动着，演奏着她为宿舍期末展示而创作的一首活泼的曲子。 西尔弗用蹄子轻拍着。 艾莎几乎要唱完，莉莉走进了西尔弗的隔间。 艾莎停了一下，突然意识到冰雹已经停了，又安静下来了。 “你在这儿！”暴风雨一结束，我就跑过去看你还好吗？”莉莉说。 “冰雹很大。 有很多损坏。”莉莉把她乌黑的短发塞到耳后。 “树掉了树枝，温室也被砸了。” 她哆嗦了一下。“这是两天来的第二场冰雹了。 这真的很令人担忧。扎拉想让我们在紫水晶宿舍和我们的独角兽们开个会讨论一下奈特尔斯老师说的话。 你要来吗？”艾莎记得那天早上校长纳特尔斯女士在集会上做了一个很长的演讲，但她一直在想她的音乐，她进入了自己的思绪。 后来，她急忙跑到马厩里给西尔弗弹奏她的曲子。 她皱起了眉头。“我在做我的音乐。” “请,阿伊莎。这很重要。 然后——”莉莉满怀希望地笑了，“然后我们去玩交叉网。 有四个会更有趣

us." "Let's go, Aisha," pleaded Silver. "I love crossnet!" Aisha shook her head. Her friends were great, but when she composed music she couldn't relax until she was happy with it. It was like having an itch she had to scratch. "Sorry," she apologised. "You can tell me what you talked about later." She lifted her flute to her lips. "OK," said Lily, walking away. "But Zara won't be happy about this." Aisha continued playing her music while Silver munched on his hay, until the stable door swung open again. Aisha blinked in surprise as she saw Zara, Phoebe and Lily all standing there. Zara's hands were on her hips and her dark eyes were cross. "Aisha," she said sternly, "Lily said you're too busy to come to our dorm meeting." Behind Zara, Lily gave Aisha an apologetic look. "I'm working on my music," said Aisha. She put her flute down and tightened her high ponytail. "Aren't you worried about what Ms Nettles said?" Zara asked.

我们。”“我们走吧，艾莎。”西尔弗恳求道。 “我爱交叉网！”艾莎摇了摇头。 她的朋友都很好，但当她作曲时，她不能放松，直到她对它感到满意。 就像有什么痒，她必须去抓。 “对不起，”她道歉道。“你可以稍后告诉我你们谈了些什么。” 她把笛子举到嘴边。 “好吧。”莉莉说着走开了。 “但Zara对此不会高兴的。” 艾莎继续演奏着她的音乐，西尔弗大口嚼着干草，直到马厩的门又打开了。 看到Zara、Phoebe和Lily都站在那里，艾莎惊讶地眨了眨眼。 扎拉双手叉腰，黑眼睛眯着。 “艾莎，”她严厉地说，“莉莉说你太忙了，不能来参加我们的宿舍会议。” 在Zara身后，莉莉给了艾莎一个道歉的眼神。 “我在做我的音乐，”艾莎说。 她放下笛子，紧了紧高高的马尾。 “你不担心荨麻女士说的话吗？”Zara问道。

"It's awful!" exclaimed Phoebe. "Please come with us to talk about it, pleeeeeease!" Aisha felt her lips twitch. Phoebe was always so dramatic. "We're not leaving without you," Zara told her. Aisha grinned. She knew when she was beaten. "All right," she said, putting her flute in its case. "I'll come."

“太可怕了！”菲比叫道。 “请跟我们一起来谈谈吧，求求你了！”艾莎觉得自己的嘴唇在抽搐。 菲比总是那么戏剧化。 “我们不会丢下你走的，”扎拉告诉她。 艾莎咧嘴一笑。她知道自己什么时候被打败了。 “好吧，”她说着，把笛子放进了盒子里。 “我会来。”

"Yay!" Silver whinnied in delight. "We can play crossnet!" He eagerly trotted over to the other unicorns. "So, what did you think about what Ms Nettles said?" Zara asked Aisha as they followed Silver. "It's really worrying, isn't it?" "Um…" Zara frowned. "Honestly, Aisha! You didn't listen! If the hailstorms get worse then school may have to close." "Ms Nettles said one of us might be killed if we got caught outside in a hailstorm!" Phoebe's blue eyes widened. "She didn't exactly say that, Phoebs," said Zara carefully. "She said that if these storms carry on, it will be too dangerous for us to stay at school. The term will have to end early and graduation will be brought forward– we'd all be going home in just five days' time." "That's terrible!" Aisha hated the idea of saying goodbye to her friends early. Also, she and Silver weren't ready to graduate because he hadn't discovered his magic and they still hadn't bonded. When unicorns and their partners bonded, a strand of the person's hair turned the same colour as their unicorn's mane. Then everyone could see that they were partners– and best friends– for life. If term ended in five days, she and Silver might not graduate and they would have to return to the school for a second year. Much as she loved Unicorn Academy, Aisha didn't want to stay there without the rest of her dorm. "We need to find out who's causing these hailstorms and stop them!" declared Phoebe. Aisha's eyes widened. "You mean the hailstorms might not be natural, they might be caused by magic?" "Shh!" Zara said hastily, glancing round. "Let's go to the meadow where we can continue our meeting without being overheard!"

“耶!”西尔弗高兴地哼了一声。 “我们可以玩交叉网！”他急切地向其他独角兽跑去。 “那么，你对内特尔斯女士说的话有什么看法？”他们跟着西尔弗时，扎拉问艾莎。 “这真的很令人担忧，不是吗？”“嗯……”Zara皱起了眉头。 “老实说,阿以莎!你根本没听！如果冰雹变得更严重，学校可能不得不关闭。” “内特尔斯女士说，如果我们在外面遇上冰雹，可能会有一个人丧命！”菲比的蓝眼睛睁大了。 “她没那么说，菲比，”扎拉小心翼翼地说。 “她说，如果这些风暴继续下去，我们呆在学校就太危险了。 这学期必须提前结束，毕业日期也要提前——我们再过五天就要回家了。” “太可怕了!”艾莎讨厌过早地和朋友们告别。 而且，她和西尔弗还没准备好毕业，因为他还没有发现自己的魔力，他们还没有结缘。 当独角兽和它们的伴侣结合在一起时，对方的一缕头发就会变成和独角兽鬃毛一样的颜色。 然后每个人都可以看到他们是一生的伙伴和最好的朋友。 如果学期在五天内结束，她和西尔弗可能无法毕业，他们将不得不回到学校继续第二年的学习。 尽管艾莎很喜欢独角兽学院，但她不想在没有宿舍其他同学的情况下呆在那里。 “我们需要找出是谁造成了这些冰雹，并阻止它们！”菲比宣布。 艾莎睁大了眼睛。“你是说冰雹可能不是自然的，它们可能是由魔法引起的？”“嘘!”扎拉急忙说，向四周看了看。 “我们去草地上吧，在那里我们可以继续开会，不会被人听到！”