Chapter 9

Chapter nine, There was no time to race for cover from the lethal wall of snow thundering towards them, spewing rocks and boulders in all directions. "What are we going to do?" shouted Phoebe. "Feather!" cried Lily as a huge slab of rock crashed down a short distance away. "Can you lift the rock? We could shelter under it!" Feather stamped the ground with her hoof and pink sparks flew up. The slab rose into the air and floated against the mountainside, forming a roof. Everyone dived underneath it. Lily murmured encouragement. "You've got this," she said, stroking Feather's neck. "You can do it!" The air seemed to vibrate as the wall of snow descended. It crashed down around them and for a while the noise was so loud, it hurt their ears. Aisha reached out for Lily, placing a hand on her arm in support as the snow thundered past them, slamming into the slab then pouring away. Feather's magic kept the slab in place. At last, the thundering stopped, and silence fell.

Feather floated the rock away from them and laid it down on the glacier. The girls stared around them. Snow was piled up against the base of the cliffs in great mounds and rocks were strewn across the glacier's snow-covered surface. Even the frozen sabre-toothed bear had a thick covering of snow over its icy surface. "Phew! That was close. Thanks for saving us, Feather," said Zara. "Thanks, Feather," everyone chorused. "Let's get out of here!" said Aisha. "Stop right there!" The count's voice snapped through the icy air as he strode out of the cave beside the frozen bear. He held up his portable weather machine. "You're going nowhere." "Really?" said Phoebe, her eyebrows arching. "Let me introduce you to my unicorn, Shimmer. The real Shimmer, whose mane is a different colour at the moment but whose magic is just as powerful as you said. Shimmer, why don't you show him what you can do?"

Before the count could react, Shimmer struck the ground with his hoof and fired a bolt of energy magic into the fresh snow beside the count. The snow exploded. Shooting into the air, it fell down over the count, burying him completely. He fought to get free from the snow. As his head and hands burst out, his fingers moved on the controls of his weather machine. Feather quickly banged her hoof and her magic plucked the weather machine from the count's grasp. It soared towards the girls, landing in front of them. Zara grabbed it and pointed it at the count. "Let's see how you like being frozen!" she cried, as she pushed down on the blue button. "How dare you!" screamed the count. "How—" His voice cut off as a jet of water hit him and he froze, his mouth still open in fury. The count's half-finished sentence echoed around the glacier. For a moment, no one spoke. "We did it," Zara said, breaking the silence. "We saved Unicorn Island from the count." Aisha bit her lip. "We… um… We haven't killed him, have we?" "No. When magic and science aren't combined, the effects can be reversed," said Zara. "Mr Longnose taught us that in our tornado lesson. I guess you weren't listening." She grinned. "As usual." Aisha pulled a face at her. Lily looked relieved. "So, the bear can be defrosted too? I know it was attacking us, but it was only doing what bears do and it doesn't seem fair to leave it frozen." Zara examined the device in her hands. "There's probably a way we can do it using this but I'm not sure what button to press." "Wait," said Silver. "Aisha, have you still got that pink diamond you picked up earlier? You said it could melt anything." Aisha drew the jewel from her pocket. "Yes, it's here. Let's try it out on the sabre-tooth polar bear. But not Count Thornberry. Ms Nettles can deal with him." "Good idea," said Silver. "Feather, can you use your magic to touch the bear with the diamond?" "Hang on!" said Phoebe. "You're all forgetting something. We're stranded here with no way home. The last thing we want is an enraged bear chasing us!" Suddenly they heard a high-pitched whistling sound above them and

glanced up. A man was falling out of the sky!