Chapter 1

Matilda and Pearl JULIE SYKES. illustråted by LUCY

CHAPTER ONE "Pearl, you moved!" Matilda was trying to draw Pearl, her unicorn, but it wasn't going too well. "Your leg is all wrong in my picture now. Pleeeease stand still." "Sorry Matilda. I just can't stop thinking about magic. When do you think I'll get mine and what do you think it will be?" Pearl tossed her pink and yellow mane. "I don't know," said Matilda, re-sketching Pearl's leg. Pearl began to pirouette in circles. "Maybe I'll be able to make a snow twister, like

Crystal!" She spun faster until she almost tripped over her hooves. Slowing down, she tilted her head and affected a dreamy look. "Or I might get soothing magic like Whisper. Or what about freezing magic?" Pearl held the pose like a statue until finally she wobbled. "Nah. Freezing magic is boring! I wouldn't mind getting wind magic, though, like Golden Briar. Wouldn't it be fun to have wind magic, Matilda?" Pearl blew out through her nostrils with a loud trumpeting sound. She crossed her eyes and blew so hard it made her cheeks wobble. "Or flying magic! Imagine if I had wings!" She leapt into the air with her hooves pointed. "Pearl! Stop goofing around so I can finish this picture!" Matilda tried to look stern but Pearl looked so funny she started to giggle. Her pencil skittered across her sketchbook as she tried to capture the dancing unicorn. Pearl began prancing around the field,

tapping flowers with a hoof then making a popping, crackling noise. "Guess what magic now, Matilda?" "Fire magic," said Matilda. "And now?" Pearl walked very slowly, lifting each hoof in an exaggerated tiptoe. "Stop!" Matilda chuckled and dropped her pencil. "How can I draw anything when you keep making me laugh? What sort of magic is that supposed to be? Whatever it is, I hope you don't get it. You look like a circus pony!" Pearl trotted over and leaned over Matilda's shoulder, nuzzling her dark-red hair. "I don't mind what magic I have. I just wish I could find it," she said, blinking her long eyelashes. "It's summer already. We're halfway through our time at Unicorn Academy. What if I don't find out before the graduation ball in December? And we haven't bonded, either." All the unicorns at Unicorn Academy were trying to discover their magic power and bond

with their rider. When a rider and unicorn bonded, a strand of the rider's hair turned the same colour as their unicorn's mane. Matilda couldn't wait for a pink and yellow streak to appear in her long, red hair. She was sure it would soon. She and Pearl had been best friends ever since their first day at the academy when Ms Nettles, the headteacher, had paired them up. At first, Ms Nettles had seemed a little uncertain about it.

"I hope you're not going to be a bad influence on each other," she'd said, frowning behind her glasses. "Since you're both quite disorganised, maybe I should put you with someone else?" Matilda remembered how she'd crossed her fingers tightly behind her back, hoping that Ms Nettles would let her and Pearl go together. She'd loved Pearl from first sight.