‘Aunt Margaret, I told you not to tire yourself out serving customers. What happened to the notice I put on the door saying we were closed?’

‘I took it down,’ Mrs Fontana said calmly. ‘I’m fine, Catherine.’ She turned to Lauren. ‘This is my niece, Catherine Thomas. She’s been helping me run the shop for the last few weeks. Catherine, this is Lauren and Alice Foster.’

‘We met last time I was in,’ Mrs Foster said.

Catherine smiled quickly at her. ‘Yes, I remember.’ She turned her attention back to Mrs Fontana. ‘Please, Aunt Margaret. Sit down and rest.’

‘All right, Catherine,’ Mrs Fontana told

her. She turned to Lauren. ‘Say hi to Twilight for me.’

Their eyes met.

‘I will,’ Lauren promised. ‘Bye, Mrs Fontana.’

‘Goodbye, my dear.’ The old lady turned away.

Catherine put a hand on her shoulder. ‘Come and sit down, Aunt Margaret,’ Lauren heard her say softly.

Lauren took one last look at Mrs Fontana and then followed her mum out of the shop.

Mrs Foster looked worried as she unlocked the car. ‘Mrs Fontana didn’t look well.’

‘I know,’ Lauren replied. ‘She was coughing lots.’

‘I’m glad she’s got her niece to help her,’ Mrs Fontana said. She glanced across as Lauren got into the car and put the box on her knee. ‘What’s inside the chest?’ she asked curiously.

Lauren hesitated. She didn’t want to tell her mum that she wasn’t supposed to look yet. ‘Oh, just some stuff,’ she said vaguely, ‘about horses.’

‘Well, it was lovely of Mrs Fontana to give you it.’ Her mum started the engine. ‘She seems to have a real soft spot for you. First that other book and now this.’

Lauren looked at the box. What was inside? As she held it, a tingle of magic seemed to creep over her fingers. Lauren was sure that whatever was in the box was something about unicorns. If only she could open it. But she had to wait. How long for though? When would it be the right time?

Mrs Fontana’s voice seemed to echo in her ears. ‘You’ll know, my dear. You’ll know.’

CHAPTER

Three

Twilight was waiting for Lauren beside the gate of his paddock. She hurried down the path towards him, the chest in her arms. ‘Hi, Twilight!’

Twilight pricked up his ears and stared at the box.

‘Mrs Fontana gave it to me.’ Lauren climbed over the gate. ‘But I’m not allowed to open it yet.’

Twilight touched the box with his nose. He breathed in deeply and looked at Lauren. She wished she could tell what he was thinking.

‘I’ll come out as soon as I can tonight,’ she promised. ‘We can talk about it properly then.’ She rubbed his neck. ‘I’ll go and get out of my school things, then we can go for a ride in the woods. We won’t be able to go out for very long though because I’ve got loads of homework to do.’ She kissed his nose. ‘I’ll get changed as quickly as I can!’