Chapter 9

CHAPTER NINE Matilda watched in delight as Pearl, disguised as a tiger, roared and sprinted after the panicked unicorn. She had no idea how Pearl was finding the strength to use her magic when she was already so tired. The cloaked figure and her unicorn crashed through the trees and disappeared from sight. "Pearl," yelled Matilda. "You can stop now. She's gone!" As Pearl slowed and turned back, her stripes faded and her body changed from a stocky tiger with huge paws back to a slender unicorn.

Matilda realised the hornets had disappeared along with the cloaked person. A thought flashed across her mind: Perhaps they have glamor magic too. Pearl walked back to Matilda, her sides heaving. "That was incredible!" gasped Rosa. "Wasn't it?" Matilda was glowing. "You were so brave, Pearl. I don't know how you did that when you were so tired." "I did it because you believed in me. You gave me the confidence to find more energy when I thought I was exhausted." Pearl pushed her head into Matilda's arms. Matilda hugged her tightly. "It was lucky the person thought I was a shape-shifter," Pearl went on. "If she'd realised it was just a glamour she'd have known I couldn't really hurt her. My tiger teeth might have looked sharp but they couldn't do any real damage." "Which makes you even braver for chasing

her away," said Matilda. "I'm really tired now," panted Pearl. "We need sky berries," said Freya. "They'll help Pearl get her energy back." "But we left them all by the tents," said Violet in dismay. "We left all the heavy stuff there with the rucksacks and tents– remember?" "It's OK, I've got some," said Ariana. She opened up the small knapsack she'd been carrying. "I brought an emergency supply with me just in case." She handed a pile of sky berries to Matilda who fed Pearl handfuls of them until her breathing slowed down and she started to look better. "Thank you," Matilda said gratefully, giving the empty bag back to Ariana. "I'm really glad you're always prepared for anything."

"That's OK, thank you for saving me," Ariana replied. They smiled at each other. "I'm sorry I said your drawings were scribbles earlier," Ariana went on quickly. "I didn't mean it at all, your drawings are brilliant. I was just cross about you forgetting your sleeping bag."

"I'm not surprised, it was stupid of me," Matilda admitted. "I should have read the list you gave me and made sure I had everything before we left." She looked round at her friends. "I promise I'll try and be more organised and less distracted by drawing from now on." She bit her bottom lip. "We're probably going to lose the competition because of me. If I hadn't stopped to sketch the Heart Tree we'd have been back by now." "But then we wouldn't have found out about the person harming the Heart Tree," said Rosa. "That's far more important than any competition. We need to get back and tell Ms Rivers straight away." "Even though we still haven't got everything for the scavenger hunt?" said Matilda. "You said we still needed an orange leaf, didn't you?" "The safety of Unicorn Island is far more important than winning a scavenger hunt!" said Rosa. "I know I like to win but the island comes

first." "Definitely. It's more important than anything. I think we should find Ms Rivers as quickly as we can," said Freya, nodding. "OK." Matilda put her hand on Pearl's mane to vault on to her back. "Matilda, what's that orange thing in your hair?" Pearl said suddenly. "You mean the streak of hair that shows we've bonded?' said Matilda. "It's not orange, is it? Your mane is yellow and pink." "I know that, silly! No– I mean, what's this? Look!" Pearl pulled a small orange leaf from Matilda's hair with her teeth. "It must be from the bush when we were hiding behind it!" exclaimed Matilda. Rosa shrieked in delight. "Matilda! You must have hidden behind a flame bush! That's the last thing we need for the scavenger hunt!" "We can still win!" said Ariana. "If we get back before anyone else," said