Unicorn Academy: Ivy and Flame E-Book

Julie Sykes

• Herausgeber: Nosy Crow
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Serie: Unicorn Academy: Where Magic Happens
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 63

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

When your best friend is a unicorn, magical adventures are guaranteed! Join in the fun at Unicorn Academy with the bestselling, action-packed, fantasy series by award-winning author, Julie Sykes. Inspiration for the Netflix series. New York Times Bestseller (Unicorn Academy: Sophia and Rainbow) in Middle Grade Fiction. Imagine a school where you meet your own unicorn and have amazing adventures together! That's what happens for the girls at Unicorn Academy on beautiful Unicorn Island. Ivy loves her adventurous unicorn, Flame. They're having loads of fun exploring Unicorn Academy while they search for a mysterious hidden treasure! Ivy is over the moon when Flame starts to discover his magic, but he's struggling to control it! Can they learn how to use his Flame's magic safely before he breaks something that can't be fixed? With a glittery cover and beautifully illustrated throughout by Lucy Truman, Unicorn Academy is the perfect series for 7+ readers who love magic and adventure! The magic doesn't stop there! Have you read: - Unicorn Academy: Sienna and Sparkle - Unicorn Academy: Scarlett and Blaze - Unicorn Academy: Ava and Star - and many more epic friendships at Unicorn Academy!

Leseprobe

Flame stamped his hoof. There was a loud bang and something shot into the air. Ivy shrieked as everything went black.

“Ivy! Ivy! Are you OK?” she heard Flame gasp. “What have I done?”

To Cici Viner, who loves unicorns and magic.

Chapter One

“Look, Flame. A three-horned deer! Isn’t it cute?”

Ivy crouched down on her picnic blanket so as not to disturb the little creature that was grazing nearby. She munched her chocolate-chip cookie and watched the deer.

“Mmm,” said Flame. He tossed his head and the sun lit up his golden mane, making its pink and green streaks sparkle.

Ivy gave Flame a curious look. “Are you OK? You’ve barely touched the picnic.” She looked at all the food she’d brought – cheese rolls, grapes and chocolate cookies for herself, and apples, sky 2berries and special unicorn cookies for Flame – and frowned. She had hoped the picnic would help them to bond. At home she loved having family picnics and sit-down meals with her brothers, sisters and cousins, but Flame seemed distracted. “Don’t you like that?” she asked, looking at the cookie on the grass that he had only nibbled at.

3Flame sighed. “I do, but I’m not really in the mood for a picnic. Don’t you think we should be trying to find my magic instead of sitting around?”

Ivy put her own cookie down and went over and hugged him. “Oh, Flame, don’t stress. There’s plenty of time for you to find your magic. Autumn’s barely started and we don’t graduate until December.”

“But I really want to discover my powers,” said Flame impatiently. “Misty and Sunshine say it’s so much fun doing magic.”

Misty and Sunshine were paired with two of Ivy’s dorm-mates, Lyra and Evie. Misty had bubble magic and Sunshine had exploding magic. Lyra and Evie also had flashes of colour in their hair to match their unicorns’ manes, which showed that they had bonded with their unicorns. Bonding was the highest form of friendship. Students and unicorns were paired up when they 4arrived at Unicorn Academy and had to discover the unicorn’s magical power and bond before they were able to graduate and become guardians of the beautiful Unicorn Island.

Flame stamped a hoof. “There must be something we can do to help me find my powers.”

Ivy stroked him. “Chill, Flame. I know it will be amazing to be able to do magic, but just being at Unicorn Academy is loads of fun. So far it’s been the best year of my life! Be patient and let it happen.”

“What if it doesn’t? What if we can’t graduate and have to come back next year?” asked Flame.

Ivy kissed his nose. “Then we’ll come back. Anyway, Sienna and Sparkle haven’t discovered Sparkle’s magic yet either so it’s not just us. Stop being such a worrywart.”

In the distance Ivy heard Lyra’s voice then Sienna and Evie joining in. She pulled a face. 5Lyra, Sienna and Evie were her best friends but they always wanted to do stuff instead of just hanging out and chatting. She bet they were looking for her now so they could make plans about the treasure map.

Back in January the four girls had discovered part of a treasure map hidden in a secret room in the school. They’d solved the riddle that was written on the back and found a second piece of the map behind an underground waterfall. The next riddle had led them to an old tower in the school grounds where they’d found the third quarter of the map. Now they just had to find the final piece so the map could show them how to reach the treasure, the legendary Unicorn’s Diamond, a precious jewel that could grant people their hearts’ desire.

“Aren’t you going to answer them?” asked Flame.

6“I will,” said Ivy, “but I’d really rather stay here. I wish I’d brought more food, then we could all have had a picnic together.”

Flame plucked a long feathery strand of grass from the meadow and tickled Ivy’s nose with it. “I like having adventures together. Maybe one of them has solved the final riddle and we can go on another scary quest!”

Ivy squirmed away. “OK! OK!” She reached for her cookie. “Hey, Flame, have you been eating my biscuit?” she said, frowning.

“No!” said Flame in surprise.

7“Weird.” Ivy held the cookie up. “It’s definitely smaller than it was.”

“That deer probably ate some while we were talking,” said Flame.

Just then they heard Lyra shouting their names again. Flame whinnied. “We’re over here! By the oak tree!”

Ivy packed away the remains of the picnic as the others cantered into sight.

“We’ve been looking for you for ages!” Lyra said as Misty halted. “I’ve had another idea about the third riddle and we need a meeting right now!”

Ivy smiled good-naturedly. “OK. Here, come and share my picnic rug.”

Everyone dismounted and sat down. Lyra eased three rectangles of old yellowing paper from her pocket and spread them out. The paper crackled as she fitted the pieces together, smoothing them with her hand. In one corner of each piece there 8was a tiny picture of Daybreak, the first unicorn to have ever lived on Unicorn Island, crying a teardrop of happiness

“So, a recap,” said Lyra, taking control as usual. “We’ve got three quarters of the map now and we think that the treasure is the Unicorn’s Diamond.”

The others nodded.

Lyra pointed to the map’s centre. “There’s a maze here that looks like it’s marked with an X. We think that’s where the diamond is hidden but we need the final part of the map to be sure. And that’s where we’re stuck – we can’t find it.”

“Because we haven’t solved the third riddle,” said Sienna. “It’s impossible!”

Evie began to recite the riddle they had all been puzzling over.

“A starry place with an all-seeing eye

Shows that what you seek is towering high.

9Impossible to climb? But remember you must

Or all your hopes and dreams will turn to dust.”

“I know that’s what it says but what does it mean?” said Sienna in frustration.

Ivy looked at Lyra. “What’s your new idea?”

Lyra leaned back and looked round at them all, her eyes shining. “I think that the starry place with an all-seeing eye means the hall!”

Ivy frowned. The main hall at Unicorn Academy was a huge room where the students gathered for assemblies. In the centre was a magical map – a beautiful model of the whole of Unicorn Island. It was so detailed that it even showed miniature trees and houses and it could transport people and their unicorns anywhere on the island; all they had to do was touch where they wanted to go and say its name. It was protected by a force field that only let students past if they had a teacher’s permission to use it – or if the map agreed with their journey. But 10why would the hall be the place mentioned in the riddle? The others looked just as puzzled as she felt.

“Think about it,” Lyra said. “The hall has a domed roof and the stars shine through the coloured glass at night.”

“I guess,” Evie said slowly. “But I wouldn’t exactly call it a starry place.”

“It’s not got any more stars than if you went outside and stood in the gardens,” Sienna pointed out.