Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE "Look at that!" Rosa stared at the hidden safe. She could hardly breathe she was so excited. Maybe they were about to find the model of the school! "I bet it's locked," said Violet. Rosa turned the dial. To her surprise, the lock opened immediately. "Be careful," warned Ariana as Rosa opened the door and reached inside. To Rosa's disappointment, there was no little model of the school inside the safe, just a large rolled-up piece of paper tied with a gold ribbon.

"There's a scroll," she said, pulling it out. Curiously, she undid the bow and went to the desk. She spread the map out, anchoring the ends with two photo frames to stop them from curling back up. Everyone crowded around. "It's a map of somewhere called the Glittering Cavern!" said Violet, pointing to a label.

"It's hand-drawn and very good," said Matilda appreciatively. The map, neatly drawn in sparkling rainbow inks, showed an incredible ice cavern full of multicoloured icicles and surrounded by a complicated maze of frozen passages. "Look at those stalactites and stalagmites," breathed Rosa. "Did you ever see anything so beautiful?" "Or dangerous," added Ariana, with a shiver. "Imagine if one of those stalactites snapped. It could spear you if you were standing underneath it!" "See that?" Rosa made an excited stab at a tiny picture of a building marked with a cross, right in the centre of the cavern. "It's Unicorn Academy." "What does it mean?" wondered Violet. "Why would there be a drawing of the academy inside an ice cave?" "Perhaps Ms Primrose was planning on

destroying the academy by freezing it in ice," said Matilda, her green eyes huge behind her glasses. Rosa frowned. "Why would she do that?" Matilda had pulled a pencil from one of her pockets. She chewed the end thoughtfully. "Um… Well, everyone said Ms Primrose wanted more power. She did lots of terrible things before she was caught. Maybe that's why?" But a better idea was growing inside Rosa. "No, do you know what I think? I think this is more like a treasure map and it marks the spot where Ms Primrose hid the model of the school! That's why the academy is so tiny. It's not the actual school– it's the model!" "Ooh yes!" said Violet. "I bet you're right." Excitement fizzed through Rosa. "Imagine if we followed this map and found it? Once the model is returned, the magical map will work again and everyone will be so pleased with us!" She

could hardly get the words out in her excitement. "Let's go to this Glittering Cavern and bring the model home!" Ariana frowned. "It would be far more sensible to just give the map to Ms Rosemary or Ms Nettles. They'll know what to do with it and be able to go there and get the model." "But think how much more fun we could have solving the mystery ourselves," said Rosa. "We could ask our unicorns to come with us. It would be a real adventure." Matilda nodded. "It really would." But Ariana shook her head. "It could be really dangerous." "We don't need to decide right now," Violet said quickly. "Let's go back to the dorm." She glanced around and shivered uneasily. "I keep feeling like someone is watching us!" "OK," said Rosa. "We can carry on talking in our lounge, where no one can hear us." Rosa replaced the key in the book then,

hiding the map under her thick school hoodie, she led the girls out. Luckily they didn't meet anyone until they were near their dorm. As they rounded a corner, they saw Freya hurrying down the corridor ahead of them. "Freya!" Rosa called. "Wait up! We're going to our lounge. We've got something really important to discuss. Come with us!" But Freya just disappeared around the corner. Disappointed, Rosa led the other girls to the Diamond dorm lounge. A fire was burning in the hearth. "I've got a bag of marshmallows somewhere," said Matilda. "Let's toast them." While Matilda searched in her locker for the sweets, Rosa watched the leaping flames in the fireplace. The more she thought about her idea, the more sense it made. Ms Primrose must have hidden the model in the Glittering Cavern. Why else would she have marked the map with a picture of the school and a cross and then