Second Term at Tall Towers by Lou Kuenzler

Author:Lou Kuenzler
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic UK
Published: 2014-07-10T16:00:00+00:00

The girls were so excited that they almost ran back through the cave, tripping in the darkness as they hurried towards the bright light outside.

Flump had already bolted out into the Gemstone Glade, determined to get as far away from the little dragon as he could.

“Don’t worry, Huffle. We’ll be back soon,” Grace called over her shoulder.

Her mind was whirling like a spinning ballerina.

They had a real dragon pup to look after: a secret only she and Hetty could know about. It was just about the most brilliant thing that had ever happened to her.

“All we need to do is jump on Billy and ride to the cow pasture,” she said.

But as they stepped out into the sunny glade, Hetty’s face turned as white as a bucket of milk.

“But where is Billy?” she gasped. “I tied him to that tree. I know I did. I used the special safety knot you taught me.”

Grace stared at the birch tree. There was no sign of Billy, just a frayed length of rope, no longer than a hair ribbon.

“I’m so sorry.” Hetty’s eyes filled with tears. “I really thought I tied him properly.”

“I’m sure you did,” smiled Grace kindly. She felt the end of the rope. It was damp and soggy. “Just as I thought. Billy’s chewed right through this,” she said. “There was nothing you could have done to stop him.”

She glanced around the glade, but the naughty unicorn was long gone.

“He’s so greedy, I’ll bet he’s headed back to the stable to see if there’s any fresh peaches in his trough,” she sighed. “Come on. We’d better find him.”

They heard hooves approaching behind them and turned round. But it wasn’t Billy. It was Chalky, the unicorn foal. He followed close behind Hetty, trotting to catch up whenever she walked faster.

“You really have got a friend there,” laughed Grace as they hurried through the trees.

She wasn’t too worried about Billy; she was sure he had just become tired of waiting and taken himself back to Tall Towers.

But as they came out of the woods, she heard someone calling on the path.

“Grace? Grace? Are you there?”

“Izumi?” Grace answered the call.

“Are you all right?” It was Scarlet shouting now. And, a moment later, Grace’s friends came hurrying round the corner.

“Are you hurt?” asked Izumi.

“We were worried you’d had a fall,” explained Scarlet. “Billy came charging down the drive towards school. When we saw he had no rider we thought something terrible might have happened.”

She pointed back down the track. Precious appeared, riding Billy side-saddle towards them. She was holding his reins far too tight and Billy was tossing his head furiously.

“But you didn’t fall off, did you, Grace?” sneered Precious, pulling even harder so that Billy came to a stop. “You weren’t even riding, were you?”

“No. Billy was tied to a tree,” said Grace, trying desperately not to mention either the Gemstone Glade or the dragon pup. “Hetty and I were just…”

“Having a riding lesson!” said Precious cutting right across her. “Look!”

She slid to the ground and held out the stirrup leathers.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.