Unicorn School (5 page)

‘He's not going to get better if he doesn't come to lessons.' Willow frowned in the direction of the stables. ‘We should tell him he's got to come and practise.'

‘Atlas will be really cross if we're late,' said Troy, looking worried.

‘I know,' Willow whinnied. ‘But I think we should talk to Storm. Look, why don't you two go on and say I'm on my way?' The others nodded and she set off for the stables.

When she reached the courtyard she stopped in surprise. Storm was standing on the far side, talking to another unicorn. It was Oriel!

Why was Storm talking to Oriel?
Willow wondered.
Usually all Oriel
ever did was tease Storm and make him feel uncomfortable.
Their backs were towards her. She edged closer and saw Oriel pass Storm something. She couldn't see what it was but Storm took it in his mouth.

Oriel cantered off.

Storm turned and saw Willow. He looked very guilty.

‘What did Oriel just give you?' Willow demanded, trotting over to him.

‘Mind your own business!' Storm mumbled. And before Willow could say anything more he cantered away swiftly towards the stables.

Wait, Storm!' Willow whinnied. She cantered after him but Storm was much faster than her. By the time she reached the top of the tower, Storm was already standing in his stall. There was nothing in his mouth, but Willow spotted a small
heap of cloud at his feet.

Willow was panting for breath. ‘What are you hiding?'

‘I don't know what you're talking about,' Storm muttered.

Willow looked at the lump on the ground. ‘So what's that you're covering up then?'

‘Nothing,' Storm said hastily. ‘No! Wait!' he exclaimed as Willow stepped forward and impatiently

swept away the cloud with one of her front hooves.

A glittering silver horseshoe lay on the floor.

‘OK,' Willow said slowly, looking up at Storm. ‘What's going on?'

Storm sighed. ‘It's a lucky charm,' he admitted unhappily. ‘Oriel told me that if I sleep with it in my stall tonight then it will help me fly better tomorrow.'

Willow was puzzled. ‘You know we're not supposed to use charms to help with our magic. But why would you trust anything Oriel gave you?'

‘He came to say sorry for teasing me about my flying. He was really
nice,' Storm said. ‘He said he wanted to make up for the teasing by helping me.'

Willow blinked. ‘Maybe he isn't so bad after all,' she said. ‘But you still mustn't use the charm, Storm. It would be really wrong.'

Storm looked longingly at the glittering horseshoe. ‘Perhaps if I just used it once, I'd learn what to do and then be able to fly without it.' His voice dropped. ‘You don't know what it's like being so bad at flying, Willow,' he snorted unhappily.

He looked so sad that Willow couldn't help feeling sorry for him. ‘Well,' she said slowly, ‘maybe using it just once won't matter too much.
But after that you must
promise
to go back to flying using your own magic.'

Storm nodded. ‘I will. I promise.'

Willow realized how late she was for the flying lesson. ‘Look, I'd better go,' she said.

‘Please don't tell the others,' Storm begged her. ‘They'll just laugh at me.'

‘They won't,' Willow said. ‘But if you really don't want me to tell them I won't.'

‘Thank you!' Storm said.

And leaving him looking much happier, Willow cantered down the tower.

Luckily Atlas was late for the flying lesson too. With a rush of

 

relief, Willow joined Sapphire and Troy.

‘Is Storm OK?' Sapphire asked anxiously.

Willow nodded. She longed to tell Sapphire and Troy about the charm but she had to keep her promise to Storm. ‘He's fine. He's going to come flying tomorrow.' She had an
uncomfortable feeling in her tummy. What was going to happen then?

At breakfast next day Storm was looking happy and excited. ‘You seem in a good mood,' Sapphire said to him.

Storm nodded. ‘I can't wait to go flying today.'

Sapphire and Troy looked astonished.

Willow gulped. She was beginning to have a seriously bad feeling about this. The more she thought about it, the more strange it seemed that Oriel would have given Storm a lucky charm. Further along the table, she saw Oriel and his three
friends Sorrel, Gemini and Hera watching them. Oriel whispered something and his friends all giggled. Willow's feelings of unease grew.

After breakfast all the Year Ones made their way to the Flying Heath. ‘Today you're going to concentrate on changing speed when you're in the air,' Atlas told them. ‘You need to learn how to go from slow to fast and then back to slow again.'

Willow slipped into place beside Storm. ‘Good luck,' she whispered.

‘Thanks.' He smiled at her anxious face. ‘Don't worry, Willow. I can tell this is going to work. I feel great today!'

Atlas told them to take off. Willow felt her body sparkle with magic and pushed down with her back legs. She plunged into the sky. She loved flying! She wondered where Storm was and glanced round.

Storm was cantering up into the air. He looked confident and happy, but then all of a sudden his body began to flip over.

‘Whoa!' he cried as he ended upside down. The next minute he was spinning round and round in the sky.

He crashed into Flint who whinnied in alarm and then gasped as he started spinning round too. ‘Help! Atlas! I can't stop turning!'
Flint whinnied. He spun into Moondust, a Year One from Star House, and she started turning too.

‘What's going on?' she neighed.

Atlas galloped into the sky as Storm crashed into Topaz and Starlight, setting them spinning as well. ‘Come down!' But as he spoke, Flint bumped into him and the next second Atlas was spinning round too!

Within seconds, the sky was full of spinning, whinnying unicorns!

Willow hastily dived to the ground, avoiding the other unicorns. She suddenly realized what was happening. The horseshoe that Oriel had given Storm wasn't a good luck charm. It was cursed!

‘Help!' Sapphire gasped from above.

Willow was the only unicorn not spinning – well, apart from another group of older unicorns who were having their lesson at the far end of the heath. She galloped towards them. She had to get help!

As she got nearer she saw that the unicorns were third years. Oriel and his friends were hanging around

near the outside of the group, watching the chaos among the Year Ones and laughing so hard they could hardly stand. Willow glared at them furiously. How could Oriel have done something like that to Storm! But right now she didn't have time to stop. She raced up to the teacher, a tall skinny unicorn called Fabian. He was busy instructing a group of third years in diving techniques and hadn't noticed the commotion at the other end of the heath.

‘Help!' Willow gasped, skidding to a stop beside him. ‘My class has caught a curse! Please help!'

As soon as Fabian realized what was happening, he plunged into the sky, his golden horn glittering. He flew to the other end of the heath and touched each of the spinning unicorns with his horn, muttering a short spell as he did so. One by one, the unicorns
stopped spinning. Looking very dazed, they all flew down to the ground.

‘Thank you,' Atlas whinnied gratefully to Fabian. He looked round sternly at the Year Ones. ‘Who was responsible for this curse? Someone could have crashed into the ground and been seriously hurt!'

No one said anything.

‘Well?' Atlas demanded.

Storm stepped forward. ‘It… it was my fault,' he admitted.

Atlas looked very surprised. ‘You? But why, Storm? Did you think it was going to be funny?'

‘No,' Storm stammered. ‘I didn't mean it to happen. Honestly. It was just… ' He hesitated. ‘Well,

 

someone gave me a charmed horseshoe. I thought it would help me fly. But it must have been cursed, not charmed after all.' He hung his head in shame.

‘Storm! You should know better than to try and improve your flying through charms!' Atlas snapped angrily. ‘Who gave you the horseshoe?'

Storm didn't answer.

Willow glanced round at the Year Threes. She saw Oriel looking guilty. He slipped to the back of his class.

‘Storm, if you don't tell me you will go back to your cloud stable and stay there for the rest of the day. And there will be no sports all week!'

Storm looked upset but he still didn't tell Atlas who had given him the charm.

‘Very well,' Atlas said coldly. ‘Go to your stable now. I'll be up to see you after the lesson has finished!' Storm walked unhappily away.

Willow felt awful. It wasn't fair that he was getting into trouble because of Oriel!

 

‘Right, everyone, back to the lesson,' Atlas said. ‘I think we'll do some talking on the ground while you all recover. And I hope the rest of you have learnt a lesson – never to use charms to help you in your flying!'