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  As she reached the paddock, she saw Twilight still lying where she had left him. His nose was resting heavily on the ground, his eyes were closed. ‘Twilight!’ Lauren cried out. Twilight’s ears flickered and he half-raised his head. He looked exhausted. Lauren scrambled over the gate and raced across the grass. Throwing herself down on the ground beside him, she touched his neck. ‘Twilight!’ she gasped. ‘What’s the matter? You look really ill!’

  Other books in the series

  THE MAGIC SPELL

  DREAMS COME TRUE

  FLYING HIGH

  STARLIGHT SURPRISE

  Linda Chapman

  Illustrated by Biz Hull

  PUFFIN BOOKS

  PUFFIN BOOKS

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  Penguin Putnam Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA

  Penguin Books Australia Ltd, 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia

  Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2

  Penguin Books India (P) Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi – 110 017, India

  Penguin Books (NZ) Ltd, Cnr Rosedale and Airborne Roads, Albany, Auckland, New Zealand

  Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank 2196, South Africa

  Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  www.penguin.com

  First published 2003

  20

  Text copyright © Working Partners Ltd, 2003

  Illustrations copyright © Biz Hull, 2003

  Created by Working Partners Ltd, London W6 0QT

  All rights reserved

  The moral right of the author and illustrator has been asserted

  Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

  British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

  ISBN: 978-0-14-191624-8

  For Bramble – my own Buddy – you loved life so much. I miss you every single day.

  One

  ‘I love this place,’ Lauren Foster whispered as she sat on Twilight’s warm back. Fireflies danced around them, lighting up the dusky shadows of the peaceful forest glade.

  Moonlight shone on Twilight’s silvery horn as he nodded. ‘Me too.’

  Lauren patted him. She could hardly believe how lucky she was. Most of the time, Twilight looked like any ordinary grey pony, but when she said the words of the Turning Spell, he transformed into a magical unicorn and they flew to places like this secret glade in the woods.

  ‘When we’re here, I feel like anything could happen,’ Lauren said, looking round at the unusual pinky-grey rocks.

  ‘That’s because it’s a special place,’ Twilight told her. ‘There’s magic in the air.’ He snorted softly. ‘Shall we stay here or shall we fly some more?’

  Lauren glanced at her watch. ‘We should really go home.’

  Lauren’s parents had no idea that Twilight was a unicorn. At the moment,

  they just thought she was outside in his paddock, feeding him.

  ‘I could use my unicorn powers to see whether they’re worrying,’ Twilight suggested. ‘If they aren’t, we could stay out a little longer.’

  ‘That’s a great idea,’ Lauren replied.

  Twilight trotted over to one of the unusual rocks at the side of the clearing. As a unicorn, he had many magical powers. One of them allowed him to use the rocks of rose quartz to see what was happening anywhere else in the world. Touching his horn to the surface of one, he said, ‘Granger’s Farm!’

  There was a bright purple flash and mist started to swirl. As it cleared, an image of Lauren’s home – Granger’s Farm – appeared in the rock. Lauren slid off Twilight’s back to look more closely. She could see Twilight’s paddock, the surrounding fields filled with cows, her bedroom window, her mum’s car…

  ‘Lauren’s mum and dad,’ Twilight said to the rock.

  The picture wobbled and suddenly Mr and Mrs Foster appeared. They were talking, but all Lauren could hear was a faint buzz. Tucking her long, fair hair behind her ears, she leaned closer to the rock. The buzz turned into voices.

  ‘Is Lauren still outside with Twilight?’ she heard her dad say.

  Lauren tensed, but to her relief her mum spoke calmly.

  ‘She is, but don’t worry. She knows to be in by bedtime. She just likes spending as much time with him as possible,’ Mrs Foster said, smiling. ‘It’s one of the best things about having moved to the country. Lauren and Max can have so much more freedom. If we were still in the city…’

  Lauren saw her dad take her mum’s hand. ‘Moving here was the best thing we ever did,’ he said.

  Lauren sat back on her heels. ‘It’s OK,’ she said to Twilight. ‘I think we’re safe for a while.’

  ‘Shall we do some flying then?’ Twilight said eagerly.

  ‘In a minute,’ Lauren said. She was enjoying looking at her family. ‘Can I have a look at Max first?’

  ‘All right,’ Twilight said obligingly. ‘Max!’ he said.

  The picture focused to show Max,

  Lauren’s six-year-old brother. He was playing in his bedroom with his Bernese mountain dog puppy, Buddy.

  Lauren could tell from the way he was holding a dog treat in his hand that he was trying to get Buddy to sit.

  She grinned at Twilight. ‘Max and Buddy are starting dog-training classes tomorrow.’ She watched the picture for a few more seconds. It was fun not being seen. ‘Let’s have a look at Mel now,’ she said to Twilight. ‘Just quickly.’

  Mel Cassidy was Lauren’s neighbour and one of her best friends. Twilight murmured Mel’s name and the picture changed to show Mel sitting in her bedroom with her mum. Mrs Cassidy had her arm round Mel’s shoulders.

  ‘Mel’s crying!’ Lauren said in alarm. She started to lean forward and then stopped. Listening to her own family was one thing, but somehow listening in on a friend talking to her mum didn’t seem right. ‘I don’t know if we should listen,’ she said doubtfully.

  ‘But perhaps if we know what’s wrong, we can help,’ Twilight pointed out.

  Lauren hesitated for a moment. She and Twilight were good at helping people in trouble. That’s why unicorns came to live in the human world – to use their magical powers to do good deeds with their human owners. She looked at the picture in the rock. Mel looked really upset. Quickly, Lauren made up her mind. ‘OK, but we’ll only listen for a second,’ she said.

  Lauren and Twilight leaned closer.

  ‘It’s not fair,’ she heard Mel say. ‘I just can’t do it, Mum. I’ve asked Mr Noland to explain twice now and I still don’t get it!’

  ‘You’ll just have to ask Mr Noland to go through it again,’ Mrs Cassidy said gently.

  Lauren frowned in surprise. Mr Noland was their class teacher. What could be upsetting Mel?

  ‘But then Lauren and Jessica will think I’m really dumb!’ Mel cried.

  ‘I’m sure they won’t,’ Mrs Cassidy said, hugging her. ‘They’re your friends.’

  ‘But they can do fractions. It’s just me who can’t!’ Mel said.

  Fractions! Lauren sat back and the voices faded to a buzz again.

  ‘Fractions?’ Twilight said, sounding puzzled. ‘What are t
hey?’

  ‘They’re something we’re doing in maths,’ Lauren answered.

  ‘So it’s nothing serious then,’ Twilight said in relief.

  ‘Well, I don’t know.’ Lauren hesitated. ‘If Mel’s upset by it, then it is serious. She seems to think Jessica and I will laugh at her.’ She shook her head. ‘But we’d never do that. We don’t care if she can do fractions or not. She’s our friend.’ She chewed a fingernail. ‘Poor Mel,’ she said softly. ‘I wish I could help her.’

  Twilight looked doubtful. ‘I don’t think any of my magic powers can help people do maths.’

  ‘I guess not,’ Lauren said. ‘It looks like this is one problem I’ll have to solve on my own.’

  Twilight touched his horn to the rock. With a purple flash the picture disappeared. ‘Let’s go flying now,’ he said.

  Lauren didn’t need any more encouragement. She vaulted on to Twilight’s warm back. Taking two strides, he leapt upwards into the sky.

  The wind whipped against Lauren’s face and her hair blew out behind her as they swooped through the air before finally flying back to Granger’s Farm.

  ‘So, how are you going to help Mel?’ Twilight asked her as they landed.

  ‘I’m not sure yet,’ Lauren replied. ‘But I’ll try to think of something by tomorrow.’ She hugged him and said the Undoing Spell.

  There was a purple flash and suddenly Twilight was no longer a unicorn but a small grey pony.

  ‘Good night, Twilight,’ Lauren whispered.

  Twilight whickered softly and, giving him one last hug, Lauren hurried into the house.

  Two

  ‘Lauren! You’re going to be late for school!’ Mrs Foster called up the stairs the next morning.

  Lauren pulled a brush through her hair and hurried downstairs. School mornings were always a rush. As she ran into the kitchen, she almost fell over Buddy.

  ‘Sit, Buddy! Buddy, sit!’ Max was saying.

  Seeing Lauren, Buddy leapt up in delight. Lauren tickled his ears. ‘Hey, boy,’ she said.

  ‘Buddy! Come here and sit!’ Max commanded sternly as the puppy gambolled around Lauren’s legs.

  Buddy crouched down with his front legs and stuck his bottom playfully in the air. ‘Woof!’ he barked, before bounding off wildly around the kitchen.

  ‘He’s going to be just great at obedience classes, Max,’ Lauren teased as Buddy skidded to a halt too late and cannoned into the fridge door. ‘He’ll be bottom of the class.’

  ‘He won’t!’ Max cried. ‘Mum!’ He turned to their mum. ‘He won’t, will he?’

  ‘Buddy will be just fine, honey,’ Mrs Foster said reassuringly. ‘Lauren, stop teasing Max and eat some breakfast.’

  Lauren sat down and buttered a piece of toast. Max was trying to open a new jar of chocolate spread.

  ‘Come on, Max,’ Lauren said impatiently. ‘We’ll be late.’

  Max twisted with all his strength but the lid wouldn’t come off.

  ‘Here, let me,’ Lauren said, taking it from him and opening it in one go.

  ‘Lauren!’ Max protested. ‘I wanted to do it! You always interfere!’

  ‘We’d have been here all morning,’ Lauren told him.

  ‘That’s enough, both of you!’ Mrs Foster said, running a hand through her hair. ‘Finish your toast and let’s go.’

  ‘Hi, Lauren!’ Jessica Parker called as Lauren ran into the classroom just before the bell rang.

  ‘Hi,’ Lauren said. She still hadn’t thought of a plan to help Mel and it was troubling her.

  ‘Samantha and I were looking at ponies for sale in a magazine last night,’ Jessica told Lauren. ‘There were three that we liked the sound of. We’ve been trying to get Dad to ring up about them.’

  ‘Any luck?’ Lauren asked. She knew how desperate Jessica and her stepsister were to have a pony.

  Jessica sighed. ‘No. Dad says we’ve got to wait until the summer holidays.’

  Just then, Mel hurried into the classroom.

  ‘Hi,’ Lauren said.

  ‘Hello,’ Mel replied. Lauren noticed that her voice was much quieter than usual.

  Before they could say anything else, the bell rang and Mr Noland came into the classroom. ‘Quiet, please!’ he said, clapping his hands.

  As Mr Noland took the register, Lauren watched Mel. She was looking pale and unhappy.

  ‘OK, everyone, maths books out, please,’ Mr Noland said as he put the register away. ‘I’d like you to work through exercise three on page twenty-two.’

  They fetched their maths books and quiet fell as everyone began working. Lauren could see that Mel was staring at the page of fractions, a panicky look on her face.

  ‘Are you stuck?’ Lauren whispered to her. ‘I can help if you like.’

  ‘No… no, I’m just thinking,’ Mel replied as she hastily scribbled down an answer.

  Lauren wracked her brains. She wanted to help Mel, but how?

  ‘You don’t seem to have done very much, Lauren.’ Mr Noland’s voice behind her made Lauren jump. ‘Do you need some help?’

  Lauren looked up guiltily. ‘No, I’m fine…’ she started to say but then she stopped. She’d had an idea. ‘Actually, I do need help, please,’ she said quickly. ‘I’m confused.’

  Mr Noland looked surprised. ‘But you’ve been managing fractions OK all week. What seems to be the problem?’ He leaned over her desk. ‘All you have to do is put the fractions in order, smallest first. You need to consider both the denominator and the numerator –’

  ‘The numerator is the number on top of the fraction and the denominator is the number on the bottom of the fraction, isn’t it?’ Lauren said, stopping him before he could race on ahead like he usually did.

  ‘Yes and –’

  ‘A fraction is just a small part of a whole, isn’t it, Mr Noland?’ Lauren said quickly. ‘Like one piece of a whole cake. The denominator – the bottom number – tells you how many pieces the cake has been cut into and the numerator – the top number – tells you how many pieces of cake you have.’ She glanced quickly to the side and was relieved to see that Mel was listening.

  ‘Yes, that’s right,’ said Mr Noland, starting to sound a bit impatient.

  ‘So, if the fraction is one third – one over three – the denominator is three which means the cake has been cut into three pieces,’ she went on.

  ‘Yes,’ Mr Noland replied. ‘And if you see the fraction one fifth – one over five – the denominator is…?’

  Before Lauren could answer, Mel spoke up. ‘Five?’

  Lauren and Mr Noland looked round.

  ‘That’s right, Mel,’ Mr Noland said.

  ‘Which means the cake has been cut into five pieces. And the fraction one tenth would mean the cake had been cut

  into ten pieces,’ Mel said, her eyes starting to light up. ‘One fifth is bigger than one tenth because if you cut a cake into five pieces, each slice of the cake is bigger than if you’d cut it into ten pieces.’

  ‘That’s right,’ Mr Noland said to her.

  Mel’s eyes were shining. ‘It suddenly all makes sense.’

  ‘Well, that’s great,’ Mr Noland said. ‘How about you, Lauren? Do you understand now?’

  ‘Me?’ Lauren caught herself. ‘Oh, yes. Thank you, Mr Noland.’

  Mr Noland smiled. ‘Well, I’m glad you’re happier.’

  Lauren looked at the relief on Mel’s face and smiled. ‘Yes,’ she said, feeling warm inside. ‘I’m much happier now!’

  Lauren was still glowing when she got home after school. ‘You should have seen Mel’s face when she finally worked out fractions,’ she told Twilight as she groomed him before tacking him up to take him out on a ride with Mel and her pony, Shadow. ‘She looked so relieved.’

  Twilight snorted. When he was a pony he couldn’t talk to her, but Lauren knew he understood every word she said.

  ‘It kind of made me think,’ Lauren said as she cleaned out the curry-comb. ‘I know we try and help people whe
n they’ve got big problems – like helping Jessica when she was really upset about her dad getting remarried, but couldn’t we also use your powers to help those with smaller problems too? Sometimes people get almost as upset over something little as over something big.’ She looked at Twilight. He looked as though he was listening hard. ‘What do you think?’

  Twilight nodded his head.

  Lauren hugged him. ‘It’ll be evening soon,’ she whispered. ‘We can talk properly then.’

  Three

  Lauren was untacking Twilight after her ride with Mel when Buddy and Max came charging down the path that led from the house to the paddock.

  ‘We’ve been at obedience class,’ Max burst out. ‘Buddy was brilliant! The teacher said he was the best puppy there!’

  ‘That’s great,’ Lauren said, smiling.

  ‘He learned to sit and lie down and stay,’ said Max. ‘Watch!’ Taking a handful of dog treats out of his pocket, Max called Buddy. ‘Buddy! Here, boy!’

  Buddy trotted over. ‘Sit!’ Max said firmly, holding the treat above Buddy’s head.

  To Lauren’s amazement, Buddy sat.

  ‘And lie down,’ Max said, lowering the treat.

  Buddy did as he was told. ‘Now stay,’ Max said. He walked once round Buddy and then gave him the treat. ‘Good boy!’ he cried. ‘You did it!’

  ‘Wow,’ Lauren said, impressed.

  ‘I can’t wait until tomorrow’s class,’ Max said happily. ‘We’re going to learn how to get the puppies to walk on a lead. Here, boy,’ he called to Buddy, who was snuffling happily in Twilight’s grooming kit. ‘Let’s practise.’

  ‘Maybe it would be best to give Buddy a rest,’ Lauren suggested. ‘Before he gets tired of learning. We could play hide and seek.’

  It was a game that she and Max had just taught Buddy. One of them held the puppy while the other went and hid and then Buddy found them.

  ‘OK,’ Max said.

  Lauren turned Twilight out in the paddock and then she and Max took it in turns to hide. Buddy found them every time. It was great fun and even Twilight stopped grazing to look.

  ‘Twilight’s watching us!’ Max exclaimed, as he tried to push Buddy off his tummy. ‘Buddy! Get off!’ he cried as Buddy licked his nose.

  Twilight whinnied. Lauren smiled. It sounded almost as though he were laughing.