Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX Rosa clung on to Crystal's mane, pink snowflakes spinning around her as the twister carried them all away. She was surprised how warm she felt. The snowflakes whirling around her face and catching in her hair were soft and cosy, like a fleecy blanket. All too soon, the twister slowed as it began to descend. The snowflakes shimmered and turned transparent and then Rosa hit the ground with a jolt, tipping forward and landing on her knees. "Whoops! Sorry about that," panted Crystal. Rosa got to her feet and clutched hold of

Crystal, her legs feeling wobbly. "I think I might need to work on landings," gasped Crystal. The others were picking themselves up beside Rosa. In front of them was a snowy mountain range. The ground they were standing on was frozen solid, covered with frost. "We're really here," said Freya. "That was such cool magic, Crystal." She frowned. "Are you OK?" Rosa looked at Crystal, whose sides were heaving. "You do look exhausted," she said in concern. "It was hard work," Crystal panted. "But I'll be fine in a bit." While Crystal got her breath back, Rosa and the others gazed around. "Look at that giant cave," said Violet, pointing. "Do you think that's the entrance to the maze?" Matilda went over and peered inside. "There

are lots of those long icicle things in here," she called. Pulling out her sketchpad, she started to draw. The others joined her. The cave was enormous, with a high domed roof, silvery-white stalagmites twisting up from the floor and pointed stalactites hanging from the icy ceiling, which glowed a silvery blue. Three tunnels led out of the cave. Rosa shivered into her hoodie as she pulled out the scroll taken from Ms Primrose's study. "This must be this entrance here," she said, spreading the map on a nearby boulder and stabbing her finger at one edge of the drawing. "To get to the middle, we need to take the third tunnel." Rosa went to roll up the map, but Freya stopped her. "Wait, the picture doesn't match these tunnels. On the map, the passages twist away, but these tunnels–" Freya pointed ahead of her– "don't seem to twist at all. They each go in a

straight line. I think we're at this entrance here," she continued, placing a finger on the opposite side of the map. "Which means we should probably follow the second tunnel." "No, no, no. You're wrong," Rosa insisted. "The tunnels might start off straight, but I bet they then begin to twist." Freya went over to the tunnels to investigate. Crystal nudged Rosa with her nose. "Rosa, maybe you should listen to Freya," she said softly. Rosa was surprised. Crystal never told her what she should do. "But I'm sure I'm right," she whispered. "Rosa, these tunnels really do go straight into the mountain for quite a long way before they start to twist," said Freya, looking back over her shoulder. "That's not what the map shows." Rosa realised everyone was looking at her expectantly. She couldn't back down. "It's a

hand-drawn map. It's not going to be that accurate," she said. "I'm good at map-reading so just trust me." "Last week Ariana came top in the map quiz Ms Rivers gave us in Geography and Culture," Freya said. "Perhaps she should look at the map and see what she—" "No!" interrupted Rosa forcefully. "I'm in charge of this adventure and I say we go down this tunnel." Crystal nudged her arm as if she wanted to say something, but Rosa ignored her. "This way, everyone!" She vaulted on to Crystal and set off. Matilda and Violet shrugged and followed on their unicorns. Rosa glanced back. Ariana and Freya were deep in conversation at the tunnel's entrance. "Hurry up or you'll get left behind," she shouted.

Ariana and Freya exchanged a look before joining her with their unicorns. But the argument had left an awkward feeling in the air and now they all rode in silence. After a while, Rosa's teeth began to chatter. "If only the passage was as cosy and warm as your snow twister," she whispered to Crystal. "I wish we could go faster." "The path is too icy," said Crystal as she carefully picked her way around the weirdly