The Naughtiest Unicorn Read online

  For Eloise – LB

  For Helen and Helen – RLO

  For Emily – David O’Connell

  Cover and interior illustrations by David O’Connell

  Special thanks to Liz Bankes and Rebecca Lewis-Oakes

  Text first published in Great Britain in 2019

  by Egmont UK Limited

  The Yellow Building, 1 Nicholas Road, London W11 4AN

  Text copyright © 2019 Egmont UK Ltd

  Illustrations copyright © 2019 David O’Connell

  ISBN 978 1 4052 9478 2

  Ebook ISBN 978 1 4052 9477 5

  www.egmont.co.uk

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

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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  Contents

  Cover

  Dedication and Copyright page

  Title page

  Map

  Chapter One: Magic Monday

  Chapter Two: Through the Portal

  Chapter Three: Unicorn Best Friend Forever!

  Chapter Four: Dave’s Doughnuts

  Chapter Five: History Comes Alive . . .

  Chapter Six: Perfect Prancing

  Chapter Seven: An Unexpected Quest

  Chapter Eight: The Fearsome Forest

  Chapter Nine: To the Rescue!

  Chapter Ten: Party Time

  Who is your Unicorn Best Friend Forever (UBFF)?

  Unicorn Jokes

  Look out for more brilliant adventures with Dave and Mira!

  CHAPTER ONE

  Magic Monday

  It was Monday morning and Mira Desai was VERY excited. This was no ordinary Monday morning. This Monday morning was the first day of the holidays AND it was Mira’s first day at a new school! Because this was no ordinary school . . . this was:

  Mira had been desperate to go to Unicorn School since her sister Rani started going two summers ago. Rani wouldn’t stop going on about how wonderful her unicorn (Angelica) was. She kept saying how amazing she was at all the magical quests. And she was always making whinnying noises in Mira’s ear to make her jealous. AND she’d brought home about a hundred Unicorn School quest medals, which had their own special shelf in the living room.

  Rani said that quests could go on for days and days and were super exciting. And the time Rani spent at Unicorn School did seem like ages to Mira. But time passed differently at Unicorn School, and Rani was really only ever gone for a day in normal time.

  Mira had dreamed of having her own unicorn since FOREVER. She practised plaiting the manes and tails of all her toy horses, persuaded her dad to let her groom his beard and even tried attaching a horn to their cat, Pickles. He wasn’t very pleased.

  It was a bit of a mystery who was selected to go to Unicorn School and who wasn’t. Lots of people from Mira’s family had gone to Unicorn School, including Mira’s mum, so Mira hoped more than anything that she would get to go, too. Mira always tried to live her life as open to magic as possible. She wished on stars, she believed in fairies, she said hello to black cats who crossed her path. And then, one incredible day, Mira woke up with a sparkly envelope on her pillow.

  Mira remembered it as if it was yesterday. (It was actually last Thursday.) She screamed so loudly that Pickles flung himself off Mira’s bed into a pile of dirty clothes, and Mira’s dad came running in to check what was wrong.

  But there was nothing wrong. Everything was finally right. Her hands shaking with excitement, Mira opened the letter:

  Dear Mira Desai,

  We are delighted to invite you to join us at Unicorn School. You will be in Class RED.

  Please use the Magic Portal to access the school.

  We look forward to seeing you soon.

  Yours sincerely,

  Madame Shetland

  ‘DAD!’ Mira yelled and started jumping on the bed. ‘I’M GOING TO UNICORN SCHOOL!’

  Terrified, Pickles jumped on to Mira’s dad’s face and wouldn’t let go of his beard. ‘Mfmfmfmf !’ he said cheerfully and gave Mira a thumbs up, before leaving the room and walking into the wall.

  Mira reached inside the envelope and pulled out a leaflet containing all the information about the school, including a map and the School Rules. Mira thought she might faint with delight. Unicorn School was going to be BRILLIANT!

  For one thing, Mira couldn’t WAIT to bring home her own medals. She’d already started making a space for them on the shelf (and had accidentally knocked a couple of Rani’s medals into Pickles’s bowl).

  But the thing Mira was MOST excited about was getting to meet her unicorn.

  Her sister said that the unicorns were specially chosen for each person for specific magical reasons. You would get to spend all day every day with your unicorn: going to lessons, working on projects and going on quests. (Basically your unicorn would be your best friend.)

  Mira did have a best friend already at normal school (Katie with a K) but she could definitely squeeze another one into her life. She’d spent a lot of time thinking about her dream unicorn best friend (Princess Delilah Sparklehoof). She’d filled a whole notebook with drawings of her and made a list of all the brilliant things they would do together.

  1. Have amazing, magical adventures!

  2. Be great at quests

  3. Get LOADS OF MEDALS

  Before heading to the Magic Portal that would take them to Unicorn School, Mira’s mum took them to the supermarket. Mira and Rani needed to get treats for their unicorns and Mum needed to buy doughnuts for someone’s birthday at work.

  Mira was wondering what treats unicorns like.

  Which aisle do you go to for magic treats? she thought to herself. But when she asked her sister Rani rolled her eyes and said, ‘Unicorns like carrots, obviously’. And so they all headed over to the vegetable aisle.

  When they’d bought their carrots they went back to the car. Rani also had some hay left over from last term and Mum thought it would be nice if she shared it with Mira.

  The Magic Portal was in the car park by the leisure centre. Mira had never actually seen it – the portal could only be seen by current Unicorn School pupils. Even Mira’s mum couldn’t see it any more, since she had left Unicorn School roughly a thousand years ago. Usually when they dropped her off, Rani got out round the corner so that she wouldn’t be seen with them. But TODAY Mira would be going with her. And she would be one step closer to meeting her unicorn!

  There had been quite a bit of traffic on the way and Mum was running late for work.

  ‘It’s okay, Mum,’ said Rani. ‘I’ll take Mira through.’

  Mum looked from one sister to the other and then at her watch.

  ‘Fine,’ she said. And then she fixed Rani with a LOOK. ‘Make sure you take care of your little sister on her first day.’

  Mum handed them their treat bags, gave them both a hug and jumped back in the car. Rani had already started stomping off when Mum rolled down her window. She leaned out with her phone in hand.

  ‘Girls! Let me take a picture. Your first day at Unicorn School together!’

/>   Rani turned, tutted and folded her arms. ‘MUM, are you crying? That’s so embarrassing.’

  Mum sniffed. ‘It brings back such amazing memories of MY first day at Unicorn School! Oh, happy times . . .’ Their mum stared off into the distance for a moment, before she smiled again and blew her nose. ‘Now, smile girls!’

  Rani rolled her eyes. Mira smiled and gave two thumbs up as Mum’s phone camera CLICKED.

  ‘Love you, girls. Have fun!’ Mum drove off, waving one hand at them out of the window as she left the car park. Mira felt a bit nervous.

  ‘Where’s the Magic Portal?’ she asked Rani.

  ‘Over here,’ said her sister. ‘Come on.’

  Rani stopped by the wheelie bins in the corner of the car park.

  ‘So you have to get in the bin, spin round three times and then jump out and scream. Then you’ll be at Unicorn School,’ she said.

  Mira looked up at the bin.

  ‘Are you sure?’ she said.

  ‘Er, which one of us has a medal for being the Best at the Magic Portal?’ said her sister.

  ‘Okay . . .’ said Mira.

  Mira clambered into the bin and held her breath. This was SO exciting! (Also, it really stank.) In just a few seconds she’d be in Unicorn School . . .

  CHAPTER TWO

  Through the Portal

  Mira leaped out of the bin, yelling at the top of her voice.

  ‘AAAARRRRRRGGGGGGH!’ came the reply, as she collided with someone.

  Mira looked down to see a boy on the ground, staring up at her with wide eyes. Behind him was a man cowering by a bike rack.

  ‘Oh, hello!’ said Mira, as she helped the boy up. ‘Sorry about that.’

  The boy stared at her warily.

  ‘So this is Unicorn School,’ she said, looking around.

  To be honest, it didn’t look very different to the leisure centre car park.

  ‘Uh – no,’ said the man by the bike racks. Mira supposed he must be the boy’s dad because they looked quite alike and had matching briefcases. ‘This is where you go through the Magic Portal to get to the school. Raheem is just about to go through.’ He gestured at the boy, who gulped.

  ‘But –’ said Mira, as she looked around for her sister – who was nowhere to be seen. And then she realized – Rani had tricked her and gone through on her own! TYPICAL.

  ‘We can show you if you like?’ said Raheem’s dad. ‘It’s Raheem’s first day. We’ve had twelve practice runs, just to be safe.’ He squeezed Raheem’s shoulder.

  ‘Do . . . do you live in that bin?’ squeaked Raheem.

  ‘No! I was just . . . resting there before I went through the portal,’ said Mira. ‘It’s my first day too – I’m Mira. It would be brilliant if you could show me.’

  She followed the two of them past the bins and to a little clump of bushes at the edge of the car park.

  Raheem and his dad showed her a gap in the branches where the air looked kind of wobbly and shimmery. Magic, thought Mira. Her tummy gave a little lurch. This was really it!

  Mira waited for Raheem to say bye to his dad. It took a while because they checked Raheem’s briefcase twice and then sang a song about the ten Rules of Keeping Safe. But finally Mira and Raheem crawled through the gap in the bushes and into a clearing. Everything looked just a little bit sparkly.

  ‘Okay,’ breathed Mira. ‘Ready?’

  ‘Erfg,’ said Raheem.

  Mira decided to take that as a yes. She grabbed his arm with one hand and reached out towards the sparkles . . .

  There was a flash of light that split into the seven colours of the rainbow. Mira felt herself being lifted up and before she knew it they were hurtling through the air.

  Mira’s toes tingled and a giggly feeling tickled up her legs, into her tummy and arms and head. Even her hair felt excited. Everything was already so magical, she could hardly stand it. She was on her way to Unicorn School!

  ‘HOW FUN IS THIS?’ Mira yelled to Raheem, but he was too busy screaming to reply.

  Just as quickly as it had appeared, the rainbow light vanished, and for a moment the two of them hung in the air, before dropping with a thump onto a soft haystack.

  They climbed off the landing haystack, just as the next children were deposited by the rainbow. Mira looked around her and pulled strands of hay out of her hair. In front of them was Unicorn School. It was HUGE. It had turrets and a clocktower and looked a bit like a castle, but lots of it was all on one level, like a bungalow. (Because unicorns don’t like stairs, Mira thought. There was nothing about unicorns that she didn’t know.) Rani had told Mira that the dormitories, where the pupils slept at night-time, were up in the turrets and that the unicorns slept in their stables.

  The stables were in a large cobbled yard in front of the school. On the other side of the yard were fields with jumps set up. Those must be where the riding lessons are, Mira thought. She had never been horse-riding, but she had ridden a one-eared donkey at the beach last summer. She thought that unicorn-riding must be easier than that – and there would be less chance of falling in the sea.

  Behind the school, Mira could see the forest and, behind that, enormous ice-capped mountains. Rani said that the Fearsome Forest was where lots of the quests took place. It was huge – stretching as far as Mira could see.

  Mira’s toes were still tingling. She turned to Raheem and grinned. He still looked a bit vomity from the journey.

  The rainbow had dropped them off to the side of the Grand Paddock, which seemed to be the school playground for humans and unicorns. Real. Live. Actual. Unicorns! Groups of older kids stood chatting, each with a unicorn next to them, like it was no big deal. Mira realized her mouth was open in astonishment, and quickly closed it.

  One group were playing football, but they were riding their unicorns, and the unicorns were kicking the ball with their hooves! And over in a far corner of the field some unicorns and their riders were leaping over the jumps. Mira thought they looked a bit like they were flying. Rani had told her that the unicorns developed magical powers as they got older, and that some of them could fly!

  The excited feeling in Mira’s chest got bigger and bigger until she felt like she might burst. The unicorns were all amazing – different colours with long legs, sleek, glossy manes and glittery horns. It was amazing to think that soon Mira would meet her very own unicorn!

  Just then Mira heard a burst of laughter to her right. There was Rani and her friends. They were in the third year now – Class Yellow. You started in Class Red and then moved up through the colours of the rainbow. And each year you had another stripe added to your school badge. Mira looked at the badge on the sleeve of her T-shirt. What would it look like when she had a full rainbow?

  ‘Um,’ said Raheem, taking her out of her daydream. ‘I think we go over there.’

  Turning away from her sister, Mira followed Raheem over to a big banner near the stables that read:

  WELCOME TO UNICORN SCHOOL, CLASS RED!

  CHAPTER THREE

  Unicorn Best Friend Forever!

  The bell in the clocktower chimed and everyone gathered in their classes. Mira’s class was the only one with just humans – each of the other six class groups were made up of children and unicorns!

  Seven teachers filed out of the school. Each of them wore a different-coloured rosette with their name on. A tall, dark-haired teacher stopped in front of Mira’s class. She was wearing a red rosette which said, ‘Miss Glitterhorn’.

  ‘Good morning, Class Red,’ said Miss Glitterhorn.

  ‘Good moooooorning, Miss Glitterhorn!’ chorused Class Red.

  ‘Now, before we head into assembly to meet the unicorns, I thought that it would be nice if we all got to know each other!’ trilled Miss Glitterhorn.

  Mira sighed. She was SO impatient to meet her new unicorn best friend . . . but she did like the idea of learning her classmates’ names. After all, they would be her friends too!

  A girl at the front put her hand up. She had
blonde curly hair and was in a wheelchair with rainbow wheels.

  ‘Yes?’ Miss Glitterhorn beamed.

  ‘Do you actually have a horn?’

  ‘No, I don’t,’ said Miss Glitterhorn. She smiled. ‘Now, we’ll all play a getting-to-know-you game where –’The girl put her hand up again. ‘Yes?’ said Miss Glitterhorn.

  ‘Do you have unicorns in your family?’

  ‘No, I don’t,’ said Miss Glitterhorn. She smiled again, although it was a bit smaller this time. ‘So we –’

  The girl put her hand up again. ‘So, is it a coincidence that you are called Miss Glitterhorn?’

  ‘YES,’ said Miss Glitterhorn. ‘Anyway –’

  After seventeen questions Miss Glitterhorn decided that actually they would go straight to the assembly and they could get to know each other on the way.

  Mira and Raheem walked alongside the girl who’d been asking all the questions. She told them her name was Darcy and that she was going to be famous one day.

  ‘Wow,’ said Raheem. ‘How will you be famous?’

  Darcy shrugged. ‘I’ll win a TV talent show probably.’

  ‘My dad says those shows are for people with no talent,’ said a boy walking next to them. His footsteps were really loud and Mira saw that he was wearing cowboy boots. He had a mop of dirty blond hair and a smug mouth. Mira had heard him saying earlier how his parents were Olympic showjumpers and were making sure he was given the best unicorn.

  Darcy opened her mouth to reply, but they’d reached the hall and a stern-looking teacher gave her a warning look.

  Mira gasped when she saw the Great Hall, which was in the centre of the main school building. It was a beautiful indoor paddock and the grass was sprinkled with wildflowers. At one end was a platform, with a glittery mounting block next to it. Around the sides of the hall was a gallery for people to sit in. The other six classes were already there with their unicorns. Miss Glitterhorn pointed Class Red to the front row. Mira felt a flutter of pride. Her sister would be there to see her get her unicorn!