Amelia Fang and the Unicorns of Glitteropolis Read online

  But time was running out. She had no idea how long Florence could keep the unicorns distracted. She had to get to the candy chambers.

  Making sure there were no more guards lurking around, Amelia tiptoed up to the painting of Alpha Unicorn and carefully pulled it open. Sure enough, a long staircase stretched into the darkness. Amelia walked down, as quickly and quietly as she could, until she reached a huge metal door framed by frosted cakes and stripy candy. Above the door was a sign that read:

  WELCOME TO THE CANDY CHAMBERS

  Amelia pushed the door open slowly and peered into a room that looked like an enormous sparkly prison made of candy.

  Two rows of chambers with shiny candy-cane bars, one on top of the other, lined the walls. A fairy flew up to the stripy bars and shouted, “You won’t get away with this!”

  Even though the fairy was clearly angry, her voice was soft. She stared at Amelia with her big eyes. She looked sad. She was small, but not tiny, perhaps the length of an adult’s arm, and her hair was sparkling white.

  Behind the bars, the fairy frowned. “You’re an odd-looking unicorn,” she said. “Are you a new guard?”

  “Not exactly,” Amelia said. She felt nervous, but she wasn’t sure why. Slowly, she removed her unicorn disguise and stepped into the light.

  “You’re…a vampire?” the fairy said. She didn’t seem scared of Amelia, just slightly confused. “Who are you?”

  Amelia suddenly realized why this fairy wasn’t scared of her. This was the same fairy she’d seen in King Vladimir’s scrapbook of memories.

  It was Tangine’s mother, Queen Fairyweather La Floofle.

  Amelia smiled. “I’m Amelia Fang. I’m a friend of Tangine, and we’ve come to help you escape.”

  Fairyweather’s eyes widened and she took a step backward. “You know my son?” she whispered.

  Amelia nodded. “We traveled from Nocturnia to Glitteropolis to find you.”

  “You did?” Fairyweather said breathlessly. “But Glitteropolis was built so that it would be almost impossible to find….”

  “Well, it was for a while,” Amelia said. “A long while. King Vladimir spent years looking for you.”

  Fairyweather bowed her head. “My dear husband,” she said quietly. “How is he?”

  “Um,” Amelia began. “He could be better….” She paused. “But he’ll be much happier once you’re home.” Amelia didn’t feel it was the right time to tell Fairyweather that her husband was currently a bee.

  “Oh, sparkling,” said Fairyweather, looking a little more hopeful. “I want nothing more than to go home to my family—but how are we going to escape this place? The unicorn lords will surely see us.”

  “Well, we got in, so we can get out!” Amelia grinned.

  A rosy-cheeked leprechaun skipped up to the bars of the next chamber and punched the air joyfully. “A good determined lass you are!”

  “You must be McShine!” said Amelia, shaking the leprechaun’s hand. “Your brother helped us find Glitteropolis.”

  “Ah, my brother’s a gem. I’ve missed him!” said McShine, tipping his hat.

  “Oh, it’s youuuuu! Cooooo-eeeeeeeee!” said another fairy, waving from the candy chamber above McShine. She was much smaller than Fairyweather, with a higher voice. “I’m Sherryweather! We’ve met before! In the Petrified Forest that time.”

  “Oh yes! I recognize you,” said Amelia, waving back.

  “I think you were a bit scared, though,” Sherryweather said, “and then your friend nearly squished me.”

  Amelia put her head in her hands. “I’m so sorry about that. Back then, we still believed fairies stole vampires’ fangs! We were terrified of you,” she said, blushing.

  Sherryweather laughed and flapped a hand. “Oh, don’t worry, sweetpea! In fact, I’ve been wanting to thank your yeti friend. She fixed my bad back!” she said, twirling around on the spot.

  Amelia smiled weakly. “Oh well, that’s good! I’m glad you weren’t…completely squished.”

  “We used to travel to your kingdom every night just before sunrise to try to find King Vladimir,” Sherryweather said. “We wanted to tell him what had happened to Fairyweather, but there was never any sign of him.”

  “He was either looking for her in the Kingdom of the Light or hidden away in the palace,” Amelia said sadly.

  “When we spotted you and your friends, we thought we might try to communicate, but we should have known you’d probably be too scared of us,” Sherryweather said kindly.

  “I tried to sing you the truth about what had happened,” another, deeper voice said, “but I got blown away. One does not appreciate being blown away.”

  An angel-kitten in a ruffled collar appeared in another candy chamber.

  Amelia gasped. “You must be Adonis! I think I found something of yours.” She pulled the jeweled feather duster out of her sleeve and passed it through the bars to the little angel-kitten.

  “Glittering gibbons!” said Adonis, taking the feather duster. “My prized possession! My collar is so dusty right now I thought I might die, you know—”

  “Oh, Adonis,” said Fairyweather with a twinkly laugh, “you’re such a drama cat.”

  “I am an actor, sweetling! I’m famous!” he said in a theatrical voice.

  “Famously annoying,” another voice said.

  Amelia looked across the room to another dark chamber. A beautiful rainbow-haired unicorn stepped into the light. Amelia recognized her from the newspaper.

  “Flavia!” Amelia beamed. Flavia bowed her head.

  “I still can’t believe you found us, Amelia,” Fairyweather said.

  “I promised Tangine we would find you,” Amelia replied. “And friends don’t break promises. He needs you, Fairyweather.”

  “Ever since I met Vladimir and realized the truth about our two kingdoms, I’ve wanted to bring the Creatures of the Light and the Dark together,” Fairyweather said. “But somehow, the unicorn lords found out about us and they kidnapped me. Since then, they’ve hunted down anyone who knew the truth.”

  “Well, we will show those unicorns—” Amelia began, just as the candy chambers’ doors burst open.

  “Show those unicorns WHAT?” Fabio shouted.

  “I knew it!” Fabio spat. “IMPOSTER! You’re not a unicorn at all!”

  Florence came running in close behind. “I’M SORRY, AMELIA,” she said. “EVERYTHING WAS GOING FINE, BUT THEN WHEN I FINISHED SINGING, I HAD GAS AND I BELCHED. APPARENTLY REAL UNICORNS CAN’T BELCH!”

  The two unicorn guards charged in, dragging a very big wriggly sack.

  “LET US OUT!” came Tangine’s voice.

  “Help, Amelia!” Grimaldi cried from inside.

  “Found these two lurking around the haunted-house ride trying to catch bees!” the guard named Ricky said. Then he caught sight of Amelia and screamed. “Aaaaaargh! Vampire! Graham!” he called to the other unicorn guard. “It’s a vampire! Get it before it sucks our blooooood!”

  “VAMPIRES DON’T SUCK BLOOD!” Florence shouted. She pulled off her unicorn horn.

  “Twinkling Tootsies!” the guard named Graham cried. “It’s a BEAST!”

  “Florence is not a BEAST!” Tangine shouted as he burst out of the sack, followed by a cloud of bees. “She is a RARE BREED OF YETI!”

  Fairyweather gasped at the sight of her son and fell to her knees.

  “Tangine?” she called.

  Tangine looked over at Fairyweather and froze.

  “Tangine,” his mother repeated. A glittery tear rolled down her cheek.

  Tangine didn’t move. Grimaldi poked his face out of the hole made in the sack to see what was happening.

  “M-Mom?” stammered Tangine at last, taking a step toward Fairyweather.

  “It’s me, Tangine! It’s me!” she cried, and stretched
her arms through the candy-cane bars.

  Tangine ran full speed toward his mother’s chamber and grabbed both of her hands tightly.

  “Oh, Tangine!” Fairyweather said. “My son!”

  “WHAAAAAAAAT?” Ricky and Graham gawked.

  “Can someone please explain what’s going on here?” Graham said.

  Tangine bowed his head. His voice broke as he muttered, “Mom, I can’t believe it’s really you….”

  He leaned his forehead on Fairyweather’s and closed his eyes.

  “I thought I’d never see you again!” Fairyweather wept.

  “ENOUGH!” said Fabio, dragging Tangine away from her and into a candy chamber on the other side of the room.

  “You’d better join him in that chamber—and keep quiet—otherwise, Fairyweather is FAIRY TOAST,” Fabio said to Amelia, Florence and Grimaldi.

  Silently, they did what they were told.

  “GUARDS! Keep watch!” Fabio said. “My father will decide their fate.”

  He galloped out, leaving the nervous Ricky and Graham keeping watch.

  Amelia scowled at them both before something caught her eye from behind one of the huge sparkly pillars. She craned her neck, but nothing was there. Had she imagined it?

  But when she looked again, her heart leapt. There, peeking out, was a little orange pumpkin dressed as a daisy.

  Amelia beckoned Florence and Grimaldi over. “Grimaldi, I need you to distract the guards. I have an idea!”

  “Okay, I’ll do my best.” Grimaldi removed his angel-kitten ears and tail to reveal his own black cloak. With one waft, he floated up to the chamber bars and sighed loudly.

  “ARGH!” shrieked Ricky, stumbling backward. “Ooh, he made me jump, Graham!”

  “He can’t hurt us from behind those bars, Ricky,” Graham said. “Don’t worry.”

  “I have something to tell you,” Grimaldi said casually.

  “Hush, evil Creature of the Dark!” Ricky warned.

  “Oh, okay. I guess you don’t want to know your fate, then?” Grimaldi said.

  “Don’t listen to him, Ricky,” Graham said.

  “But, Graham,” Ricky whispered, “he said he knows my fate!”

  “He’s a Creature of the Dark!” Graham exclaimed. “He’s trying to trick you.”

  “But what if he’s not, Graham?”

  The two unicorn guards bent down. “Tell us, dark creature, what does my future look like?” Ricky said.

  Grimaldi pretended to think carefully. “You must keep extra still so I can read your fate.”

  While the unicorns were focused on Grimaldi, Squashy silently rolled across the floor. Then, very carefully, he grabbed the keys dangling from Ricky’s belt with his mouth and swallowed them whole. GULP.

  “Hey!” said Ricky, turning and pointing at Squashy.

  Amelia froze.

  “Graham,” he went on, “what did I tell you about bringing flowers into the candy chambers? You know I’m allergic!”

  Squashy kept as still as possible. Graham bent down so that his nose was level with the little pumpkin. “I don’t remember doing that, Ricky. And besides, what a strange daisy that is. And I know my daisies.”

  Then, without warning, Squashy bit Graham’s nose with an almighty CHOMP!

  “AAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!” Graham cried.

  While the two unicorn guards danced around and fell over each other in a panic, Squashy bounced up to Amelia and burped out the keys. Amelia swiftly unlocked the chamber and ran out, picking up Squashy on her way. Graham rolled around on the floor, holding his nose.

  “Hey!” Ricky shouted. “Get back here!” He picked himself up and galloped toward Amelia.

  “I GOT THIS!” said Florence. She stood between Amelia and the unicorn guard so that Amelia could unlock the other chambers. As Amelia freed the other prisoners, she tickled the lucky charm behind her ear. “McSparkle,” she whispered, “I hope you’re listening….”

  “Move it, BEAST!” Ricky said.

  “WHEN ARE YOU GONNA GET IT INTO YOUR FAT HEAD…I AM NOT A BEAST!” Florence roared. “I’M A RARE BREED OF YETI!”

  Across the chamber, Tangine sped toward his mom. But before he could reach her, a giant sparkly net landed over him. Amelia watched as her friend was dragged across the room to the doorway, stopping at the hooves of Alpha Unicorn.

  “Now, now, now, what do we have here?” Alpha Unicorn said, peering down at Tangine.

  “Don’t you lay one hoof on my son!” yelled Fairyweather, flying across the room. Another sparkly net sent her crashing to the ground.

  “Mom!” Tangine shrieked.

  “Oh, now, this is pure gold,” Alpha Unicorn said. “I KNEW you’d been hanging around with vampires, but you kept this quiet.” He pointed at Tangine and lowered his head until he was eye level with him.

  “You are no Creature of the Light, nor are you a Creature of the Dark,” Alpha Unicorn sneered. “You do not belong anywhere!”

  “Don’t talk to our friend like that!” Amelia said.

  Adonis swooped down and landed on his back two paws next to her. “This is unacceptaaaaaaable!” he sang dramatically, waving his duster in the air.

  “Yeah!” screamed Sherryweather, spin-flying across the room.

  “Quiet, fairy!” Alpha Unicorn sneered.

  McShine cartwheeled between the guards and then jigged aggressively toward Alpha Unicorn, who looked on, unimpressed.

  “You’re not gonna beat us again, you big bully!” McShine said.

  “Is that so?” Alpha Unicorn said flatly.

  Tangine bowed his head. He looked defeated. “I don’t care what you do to me,” he muttered. “Just let my mom go.”

  “And why should I listen to you?” Alpha Unicorn said. “You’re an abomination.”

  “My son is no different from you or me,” Fairyweather cried. Then she stopped and broke into a smile. “Actually, I take that back. He is different…. He’s better than you!”

  “Do not speak to my father in that manner!” said Fabio, stepping out from behind Alpha Unicorn.

  “You’re such a creep, Fabio,” said Flavia, strutting over to join Adonis, Sherryweather and McShine.

  Fabio walked slowly up to Flavia until his nose was almost touching hers.

  “I expected better from you…sister,” he sneered.

  Amelia gasped.

  “You can still be one of us, Flavia,” said Alpha Unicorn, turning from Fairyweather. “You don’t have to do this. You were born to be so much more! You’re a Creature of the Light! You’re a unicorn. Look at your perfect city. Why would you want to ruin it?”

  “It’s not perfect, Father,” Flavia said. “You lie to your citizens. You invent stories to make them scared of the Creatures of the Dark!”

  “She’s right,” Fairyweather said. “The Creatures of the Dark aren’t dangerous and they are certainly not evil. There’s no reason the two kingdoms should be divided. Think of all the wonderful things we could do together!”

  “That will never happen!” Alpha Unicorn spat. “As long as both kingdoms are scared of each other, I am in control!”

  “You wrote all the books we read at school,” said Amelia, remembering her discovery in the printing room. “Why would you write books that lie about your own kind?”

  “Teaching each kingdom to fear the other is the key to my success as ruler of this city. If you fear us, you stay away. Simple. But some of my own creatures were still determined to break the rules….” Alpha Unicorn glared at Fairyweather. “Wandering beyond the border into the Petrified Forest after hours, and trying to communicate with the Creatures of the Dark! I cannot have you telling the rest of my kingdom the truth. You leave me only one option.”

  “Ooo, oooo! I know!” said Ricky, with his hoof in the air.

  “It’s
the Memory Flush, right? Right?”

  Alpha Unicorn’s shoulders slumped. “You totally ruined my evil reveal,” he said, narrowing his eyes.

  “Oops, sorry,” Ricky said. “But…am I right?”

  “I think it’s time I put my top-secret plan into action,” Alpha Unicorn continued. “It’s time for…” He puffed his chest out.

  “He’s totally going to say Memory Flush this time!” Ricky said excitedly.

  Alpha Unicorn glared at the guard. “Get out.”

  Ricky walked out of the candy chambers with his tail between his legs.

  “As I was saying. It’s…MEMORY FLUSH TIME!” Alpha Unicorn bellowed.

  “What do you mean, Memory Flush?” Flavia asked.

  “Allow me to explain,” said Alpha Unicorn, slowly circling Amelia and her friends. “Your brains will be flushed through and you will not remember anything. You won’t even remember each other. So enjoy your last moments together.”

  Alpha Unicorn laughed maniacally as a huge multicolored contraption was lowered from the ceiling.

  “You can’t do this!” Fairyweather cried. “I can’t believe you’d erase your own daughter’s memory!”

  “She’s better off this way,” Alpha Unicorn said. “Come on, Fabio. Let’s activate the Memory Flush together.”

  Fabio gave the friends an evil grin and followed his father toward the candy chambers’ exit.

  Amelia took a deep breath and hugged Squashy tightly. Florence and Grimaldi held hands. Fairyweather and Tangine embraced through the holes in the nets that still held them. Flavia, Adonis, McShine and Sherryweather bowed their heads and linked arms.

  This was it.

  But just as Alpha Unicorn and Fabio approached the exit, Ricky burst back through the doors, breathing heavily. From behind him came a rumbling sound.