My Secret Unicorn (7 page)

‘OK, but you have to use this.'
Lauren handed her the jar of water and took the two moonflowers out of her pocket. ‘You can't just let her see a unicorn. You can use this water and these flowers to make a potion that will make Ellie forget what she's seen afterwards. Listen!' She quickly told Rosie how to make the Unseeing Potion. As she finished, she saw Ellie frowning in their direction. ‘You'd better go back to her. You must make her promise that she will drink the potion before you turn Sparkle into a unicorn.'

‘I will. That's brilliant. Thanks, Lauren!' Rosie was about to run back to her friend when she stopped. ‘Hang on. This won't work. If the potion makes
Ellie forget about having seen a unicorn then won't she also forget about her mum being OK?'

‘Not completely,' Lauren said, remembering the words in Mrs Fontana's journal and also remembering what had happened with Jessica. ‘She'll feel much happier though she won't quite know why. The memory won't be there but the happiness will be. Go on!' she urged, seeing Ellie starting to lead Sparkle towards them. ‘Twilight and I will wait through the trees. Good luck!' Before Ellie reached them she quickly slipped away.

Twilight whinnied softly. Lauren reached him and put an arm round his neck. ‘I hope this works!'

She and Twilight watched as Rosie spoke to Ellie. Ellie frowned then nodded, and Rosie turned Sparkle into a unicorn. Ellie looked absolutely amazed. Trotting over to some rose quartz, Sparkle touched his horn to it. As the smoke cleared Rosie pulled Ellie over and pointed into the stone.

‘It must be a picture of Ellie's mum,' Lauren whispered to Twilight as a look of delight spread across Ellie's face.

Ellie watched until Sparkle said something to her. She nodded and he touched his horn to the rock again. Ellie hugged him and Rosie. She looked like a great weight had fallen off her
shoulders – her eyes were sparkling.

Rosie said something to her. Ellie nodded. Rosie opened the jar of water and put the moonflowers and a hair from Sparkle's mane inside. Then she stood it in the moonlight. The water changed from clear to purple.

‘It's ready to drink,' Lauren said to Twilight as Ellie picked it up. Rosie turned Sparkle back into a pony and she and Ellie began to lead him back towards the house. Just as they entered the trees on the other side of the copse, Rosie handed the leadrope to Ellie and hurried back towards Lauren and Twilight.

‘Lauren?' she said, entering the shadows of the trees. ‘Twilight?'

‘We're here!' Lauren called softly.

Rosie ran over to them. ‘Thank you!' she exclaimed. ‘Ellie's so much happier now! She saw her mum in the rock and she knows she's OK. She's going to drink the potion when we get back to my room. I thought it might be best that way otherwise I'll have to explain to her what we're doing outside.'

‘Good thinking,' said Lauren.

‘Thank you for telling me what to do!' Rosie frowned. ‘I don't understand, though. I thought you weren't supposed to tell me things – I thought I had to work them out for myself.'

Lauren suddenly realized that she was right. Had she helped the other girl too much?

But then Mrs Fontana told
me
about the Unseeing Potion
, she thought.
So why shouldn't I have told Rosie?

‘I think it's all right,' she said. ‘I guess I'm not allowed to tell you exactly what Sparkle's powers are, but I can help you work out how to use them.' She let out a breath. ‘Oh dear, it's all so difficult,' she admitted to Rosie. ‘You're the first
person I've helped since I became Keeper of Secrets. I feel so confused half the time.' It was a relief to get the words out.

‘Well, I think you're a good Keeper of Secrets,' said Rosie, hugging her. ‘I thought the way you used a mint to help me and Sparkle find out about touching the rose quartz with his horn was really, really clever. You didn't tell me what I had to do but you helped me find out for myself.'

‘I didn't know you had seen that,' said Lauren. ‘Mrs Fontana wouldn't have done it like that.'

‘But you're not Mrs Fontana, you're you,' Rosie said to her. ‘Surely it doesn't
matter how you do things, as long as you help people. Right?'

Lauren felt a bit better. ‘I guess so.'

‘You really helped me, Lauren. Thank you,' said Rosie. She smiled at her. ‘Will you still visit me even when I'm not having problems? It would be great to go flying together.'

Lauren thought about how much fun she'd had with Michael the night before and grinned at her. ‘Yeah! That would be cool!'

‘Well, I'd better go now,' Rosie said quickly. ‘I need to put Sparkle away and then Ellie has to drink the potion. See you soon!'

‘Yeah. Bye!' Lauren called as Rosie
turned and ran through the trees.

She hugged Twilight. ‘We helped. We really helped!'

He nodded. ‘It's a brilliant feeling, isn't it?'

‘Yes,' Lauren said happily. ‘I think Rosie's right. I can't be Mrs Fontana – I have to help people in my own way.'

‘That must have been what Sidra meant when she told you to follow your heart,' Twilight said.

Lauren kissed him. ‘Well, from now on, that's what I'm going to do. Come on! Let's go and find Michael!'

They reached Twilight's field just as Michael arrived on Moonshine. ‘Hi!' Lauren called, flying to meet him. She saw that he was looking worried. ‘What's up?'

‘Jodie's really upset,' Michael replied. ‘We tried to drive over to her friends' house to get the sleigh this afternoon but more snow fell and the roads were
blocked. We're going to have to go back home without the sleigh and the mistletoe now.'

‘Well, she doesn't have to go back without mistletoe,' Lauren said. ‘We can easily go and get her some.'

‘But I don't want to get mistletoe, I want to play tag!' Michael said quickly.

Lauren was very surprised. It wasn't like Michael to be so selfish.

She hesitated. ‘You can't just have fun with a unicorn, Michael,' she told him slowly. ‘If you do they get sick. You have to keep doing good deeds to keep their magic strong.'

Michael looked alarmed. ‘I didn't
know that. So if I don't do good deeds Moonshine will get ill?'

‘Yes,' Lauren told him.

‘But if I do good deeds, then –' He broke off and quickly turned away. He brushed his hand across his eyes.

Lauren suddenly felt as if a light bulb had gone on in her head. Suddenly she realized what was worrying him. ‘Oh, Michael, you think Moonshine's going to go back to Arcadia if you do good deeds, don't you?' Everything clicked into place. She remembered him reading
the page of the unicorn book, which showed a Unicorn Elder taking a chosen unicorn back to Arcadia. Ever since, he'd been in a strange mood.

Michael looked at her. ‘She will, won't she?'

‘No. At least not yet!' Lauren felt awful. How could she not have realized that this was what was bothering him? She remembered how upset
she'd
been when she had first heard about unicorns going back to Arcadia. ‘It doesn't happen when they do a certain number of good deeds or anything like that.' She remembered what Mrs Fontana had said to her at the time. For a moment she wondered whether to say the same thing – after all,
hadn't she just decided to be more like herself and help in her own way? But the words were so right. She could still hear Mrs Fontana saying them to her. ‘Moonshine will stay with you as long as you need her – and as long as you can do good together,' she told Michael.

‘But I'll always need her,' Michael said.

Lauren smiled. It was exactly what she had said when Mrs Fontana had spoken the same words to her. Twilight put his head on her shoulder.

‘So it's OK?' said Michael, looking very relieved. ‘We can do good deeds? It won't mean Moonshine has to go back?'

‘No,' said Lauren.

‘I've been so worried about it,' Michael said.

‘You should have said,' Lauren told him.
Or I should have asked
, she added to herself, realizing she could so easily have put his mind at rest.

A grin broke out on Michael's face. ‘I feel loads better now! What are we waiting for? Let's get the mistletoe for Jodie!'

‘OK. I'll get some scissors in the tack room,' said Lauren. ‘We'll need them to cut the mistletoe off the trees.'

Twilight dived down. Lauren jumped off his back, hurried to the tack room and came back with the scissors. ‘What are we going to collect the mistletoe in?' she asked, getting back on Twilight.

‘Pity we haven't got the sleigh!' Michael said. ‘We could have put it in that. That really would be a surprise for Jodie in the morning!'

Lauren nodded. ‘I wish we
could
get it for her.'

‘Couldn't we go and fetch it?' Twilight said.

‘I suppose we could,' said Lauren. ‘But we'd never be able to explain to Jodie's friends about you.'

‘That wouldn't matter,' said Michael. ‘They're not there. They've gone away for Christmas. The sleigh's in a shed. We were supposed to pick up the key from under a plant pot near the door.'

‘So we could get it?' Lauren said.

‘Well, we could fly there and get it out of the shed,' said Michael. ‘But I'm not sure how we'd get it back. It's a horse-drawn sleigh, but even if we could attach the sleigh to Moonshine or Twilight, they wouldn't be able to fly with it.'

Moonshine whinnied softly. ‘Maybe we could.'

Michael looked at her. ‘But how?'

‘Magic,' said Moonshine.

For a moment they all looked at each other.

‘We could have a go,' said Twilight.

Lauren nodded. ‘I think we should.' She looked at Michael. ‘I don't know exactly how we'll do it but sometimes you just have to believe in magic and try anyway.'

‘OK,' he said excitedly. ‘It would be brilliant if we could get the sleigh for Jodie.'

‘But how are we going to find our way there?' Moonshine said.

‘Yes, how?' Michael said, his face falling. ‘I know the address – Fox Farm,
Bull Run Mountain – but I don't know how to get there.'

Twilight pushed Lauren with his nose. She grinned as she remembered the new power they'd discovered only the other day. ‘Don't worry about that! We'll lead the way!'

Twilight and Moonshine flew across the woods towards Bull Run Mountain. Michael didn't ask how Twilight knew the way there but Lauren had a feeling that he'd be trying to work it out with Moonshine soon enough!

‘What's Jodie going to say when the sleigh turns up at your house tomorrow?' Lauren asked.

‘Let's just see if we can get it back there first,' said Michael. ‘We can worry about that later!'

Lauren nodded. ‘Come on, Twilight! Faster!' she cried.