Chapter 3

Chapter three A little while later, Lyra and Sienna came bounding up the stairs with Ivy following more slowly. "I won!" Sienna announced gleefully. "Ivy couldn't get the beanbag through the hoop and Lyra and Misty knocked a pole over." Ivy flopped down on her bed. "I'm exhausted!" "Is your foot OK?" Lyra asked Evie. "You looked like you were limping earlier." Evie could hardly contain her excitement. "It's fine now. But I've got something to tell you all! I saw Dr Briar earlier and—" "Dr Briar!" Lyra broke in. "Why's she back here? I know she's Sam's aunt but there's something about her that I don't trust." "I know what you mean," Sienna added. "Remember when we showed her the first piece of the map and she looked like she wasn't going to give it back?" "Yes, and—" "Shush, you two!" interrupted Ivy. "Evie said she's got something to tell us. Go on, Evie." Evie gave Ivy a grateful look. It was sometimes hard to get a word in edgeways when Sienna and Lyra got talking. She took a breath. "Dr Briar is here to document the paintings and stuff. I asked her if she knew what a folly was and she told me it's a building like a tower, often built in the grounds of a big house, that's just for fun." "So there could be a folly here in the academy grounds?" said Lyra, her green eyes lighting up. Evie nodded. "Or the riddle could mean elsewhere on the island." "A folly guarded by ghosts," breathed Sienna. They all looked at each other in excitement. "This might be what we need to solve the riddle!" said Lyra. "You're a star, Evie!"

"Yes, you're absolutely a-mazing!" declared Sienna. Evie glowed in delight at the praise. Sienna grabbed Lyra's shoulder. "We're going to find the treasure map," she chanted. "We're going to find the treasure!" Lyra sang back. The door, which the girls had left ajar, opened and Nawaz, Archie and Reuben from Topaz dorm looked in. "What are you lot shouting about?" asked Nawaz. "Nothing!" Lyra said hastily. Sam appeared behind the other boys. "What's going on?" "The girls have gone loopy," said Reuben. "They were shouting about finding treasure." Sam's face stiffened. "Treasure?" "Lyra and Sienna were just messing around," said Ivy hastily. "Hey, we were hoping to catch you," said Sienna. "We wanted to challenge you to a crossnet match tomorrow." Evie smiled to herself– Sienna was so quick at making things up. It was the first she'd heard about a crossnet match. "Ruby versus Topaz," added Lyra.

"Cool," said Archie. They discussed the details and agreed to meet at ten the next morning at the crossnet pitch. But as the boys left, Evie saw Sam give the girls an intent look very much like the look Dr Briar had given her in the corridor earlier. "Whoops, that was close!" whispered Sienna, as Lyra shut the door. Lyra pulled a face. "I can't believe we were stupid enough to shout about treasure. Did you see the way Sam was looking at us as he left? I hope he doesn't suspect anything. Remember when someone ransacked our dorm just after we found the first piece? We thought it was a prank but what if Dr Briar was lying when she said that the map wasn't valuable? What if she or Sam searched our dorm trying to find it?" She patted her pockets. "From now on these are never leaving my sight– we're not letting anyone else find the treasure!" Evie couldn't sleep that night for thinking about the crossnet match. Crossnet was played with teams of two or four, and the idea was to ride up and down the pitch throwing the ball using sticks with nets on the end; goals were scored when the ball was put through the opposing team's hoop. Evie always ended up dropping the ball. It was fine playing with her friends, who never seemed to care, but it would be really embarrassing to mess up in front of Topaz dorm. She got up at sunrise and went to the window. She could see right across the grounds. Beyond Lake Sparkle were the meadows, and past them were the woods where they'd found the cave that had led them to the underground river. On the other side of the woods was a smaller copse. One tree in the middle looked taller than the rest. Evie blinked. Was it a tree, or could it be the top of a tower? It was hard to tell. She glanced round at her sleeping friends. Should she mention it to them? But if she did, Lyra would want to go there, and if Evie was wrong and it was just a tall tree, she'd feel really stupid. Maybe I should do some research first, she thought. I could go to the library instead of playing crossnet.

该页暂无翻译

By the time the rest of Ruby dorm woke up Evie had come to a decision. "I'm not going to play in the crossnet match," she told them. "I'm going to the library instead to see if I can find out if there are any follies in the school grounds." "But if you don't play, we won't be able to have teams of four," said Sienna. "You can play in pairs and add the points up over several rounds," Evie pointed out. "Or play in teams of three. That way one person from each dorm can act as a referee." Lyra frowned. "This isn't because of what happened in the obstacle race yesterday, is it?" Evie rubbed her nose. "It is, kind of." And it'll make Sunshine happier if I don't play and embarrass her, she added to herself. Ivy put her arm though Evie's. "We'd rather lose and have you as part of the team than win without you." "Absolutely," said Lyra. Evie saw Sienna hesitate, but then she nodded. "Of course we'd rather you played," she said. Evie knew Sienna was being kind– she hated losing any competition– but she was grateful Sienna cared about her feelings enough to lie. "I really do want to do some research. You play without me." Although Lyra and Ivy continued trying to change her mind, Evie stood her ground. When the others went to get their unicorns ready, she went with them to explain to Sunshine that she wasn't joining in with the match. "Good. I think it's for the best," Sunshine said, looking relieved. Evie felt a flicker of unhappiness. A small part of her had hoped that Sunshine would say that it didn't matter if she messed up, and reassure her that her friends meant it when they said they would rather she joined in. She sighed. "I guess so." "You do want to miss the match, don't you, Evie?" said Sunshine, giving her a concerned look. "Yes… No… I mean, I know it's for the best," said Evie. She hurried to the door and saw that Sunshine was watching her rather anxiously. "I'll get you some sky berries and then I'm going to the library." Evie was coming back from the storeroom with a bucket of sky berries

–the unicorns' favourite food– when there was a loud bang from Sunshine's stable. Evie ran to the door. Sunshine stood in the entrance. She was covered in bits of hay. It hung from her nose like a droopy moustache and stuck to her legs, making her look like a shaggy pony. A giggle rose in Evie's throat but Sunshine looked so shocked that she bit it back. "What's going on?" "Um… I stamped my hoof and my-my hay net burst," stammered Sunshine. Evie squeezed past her, her eyes widening as she took in the mess. "Are you sure you're OK? How did it happen?" "It must have been the way you tied it up. It fell down and exploded," said Sunshine. Evie felt shame rush through her. She had filled it very full but she