Laura Ellen Anderson - Amelia Fang and the Unicorn Lords

PFFFFFFFFFFFTTT!

‘AAAARGH!’ Florence bellowed as the envelope exploded into a cloud of glitter. The glitter-cloud then rearranged itself to spell out:

THANK YOU FOR YOUR FIRST WISH. WE HOPE IT WAS FULFILLED TO YOUR EXPECTATIONS.

Then the glitter words disappeared.

‘WHAT? I DIDN’T MAKE A WISH!’ yelled Florence.

But the well was silent. It made no sound, not even a bubble.

Amelia put her head in her hands. ‘I think you did make a wish, Florence. You wished the well would stop talking .’

‘THAT WASN’T A PROPER WISH!’ said Florence.

‘You have to be extra careful with what you say,’ explained the king.

The well was still silent.

‘I guess we need to wish for the well to speak again?’ said Tangine looking to his dad.

‘Hmmm, it does seem like the only way,’ the king said.

‘ALL RIGHT. FINE,’ said Florence. ‘I WISH THE WELL WOULD SPEAK AGAIN . . .’

Another small envelope came hurtling from inside the well, landing at Florence’s feet, and then exploding into a cloud of glitter spelling out the words:

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SECOND WISH. WE HOPE IT WAS FULFILLED TO YOUR EXPECTATIONS.

‘Well done,’ said the well. ‘You just wasted two of your three wishes. It’s the standard three wish rule and you speak for everyone here, yeti.’

‘I AM NOT—’ Florence began. ‘OH, WAIT. I AM A YETI.’ She trailed off.

‘ Guuuys , we only have one wish left!’ said Grimaldi, twizzling his angel-kitten tail nervously. ‘We should ask about Glitteropolis!’

‘WELL, ’IS MAJESTY NEEDS TO FIND ’IS WIFE, RIGHT?’ said Florence. ‘SO . . .’

‘Perhaps someone else should make this wish, Florence,’ said Amelia warily.

‘I agree, I can make this w—’ the king began.

‘I GOT THIS,’ Florence interrupted and stomped up to the edge of the well. ‘I WISH KING VLADIMIR WOULD—’ Suddenly Florence began coughing and spluttering. ‘ BEEEE! A BEE! ’ she choked. ‘AAARGH! IT FLEW INTO ME MOUf !’

‘Oh no, Florence ,’ stammered the king. ‘What have you done?’

Florence spat and coughed. ‘SORRY ’BOUT THAT. LEMME START AGAIN.’

But before Florence could carry on, an envelope came flying out of the well, landing at her feet with the usual glitter explosion.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR THIRD WISH. WE HOPE IT WAS FULFILLED TO YOUR EXPECTATIONS.

Then . . .

The king disappeared into a puff of glittery smoke.

‘ Pottering pumpkins! ’ cried Amelia.

‘WHERE’D THE KING GO?’ said Florence.

‘What did you do with my dad?’ Tangine yelled into the well.

‘We’ve wasted all the wishes!’ Grimaldi had entered full-blown panic mode.

Where the king had been, a small bumblebee perched on a flower.

‘Florence! You turned the king into a BEE!’ cried Amelia.

‘BUT I DIDN’T! IT WAS THE WELL WHAT DID IT! I ’AD A BEE IN MY MOUf ! MY WISH GOT INTERRUPTED SO IT SHOUDN’T ’AVE BEEN GRANTED!’ said Florence.

Tangine ran over to the bee. ‘Dad?’ he cried.

Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzz buzz buzzzzzz , buzzed the bee.

‘ Daaaaaad! ’ said Tangine. He tried to pick his dad up.

Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

‘Oh, Dad,’ said Tangine. ‘What do we do?’

The bee buzzed and then his little wings began vibrating and he flew away.

‘’E BUZZED OFf !’ said Florence.

‘Oh no! We’re going to lose him!’ said Amelia.

‘What if he gets eaten or trampled on?’ squealed Grimaldi, his eyes wide with panic. Tangine started twiddling his thumbs. ‘I’ve lost my mum and my dad now!’ Then he stamped his foot angrily, creating a puff of glitter. ‘How has this HAPPENED?’

‘Please leave,’ said the well calmly. ‘Your wishes are complete. You must wait for one year before you can make another three wishes.’

‘A YEAR?’ said the friends in unison.

‘That’s the rule,’ said the well.

‘My dad can’t be a bumblebee for that long!’ whined Tangine, slumping down on to the grass.

Amelia sat down next to Tangine and put an arm around his shoulder. ‘We’ll work this out, I promise.’

‘But how ?’ said Tangine sadly.

Amongst the long grass, Amelia caught sight of the piece of glittery parchment the king had kept hold of since Fairyweather’s disappearance. She picked it up and tucked it safely behind one of her wings.

‘I don’t know right now, but when we find your mum, I’m sure she’ll know what to do.’ Amelia smiled.

Tangine nodded and took a deep breath.

‘We can’t carry on with this quest without the king!’ said Grimaldi.

‘We can, and we will,’ said Amelia. ‘We have each other and we have to work together .’

‘NO FANKS TO THIS BIG PILE OF STONES.’ Florence kicked at the side of the well.

Suddenly a huge SPLOSH of water drenched her from head to toe, knocking off her unicorn horn. Amelia gasped as the horn went tumbling down, down, down into the depths of the well.

‘ Noooooooooooo! ’ she squealed. ‘The map is in the horn!’

But it was gone.

‘I AM GOING TO DISMANTLE YOU STONE BY STONE,’ said Florence, trying to climb into the well.

‘No king and no map!’ Grimaldi wailed. ‘We’re lost and helpless and oooooooh this is the ennnnnnd—’

Suddenly a spurt of water came flying out of the well, followed by Florence’s unicorn horn.

‘I am not a rubbish bin,’ said the well. And then it sprinkled Grimaldi with water. ‘And you are way too dramatic.’

‘THE MAP!’ Florence and Amelia cried. Amelia scooped up the dripping wet horn and pulled out the soaking map. It was now a big smudged mess.

‘OH DEAR . . .’ said Florence taking the map from Amelia. ‘I’M SURE WE CAN FIX IT.’ She wiped her paw across the sheet of parchment, making the smudge worse. It was no good. The map was ruined.

Grimaldi was breathing fast. ‘We really should go back . . .’

Amelia stared at the ruined map, then screwed up her face. ‘No!’ she said firmly. ‘We got this far. And we’re here to find Tangine’s mum. And work out how to turn his dad back into a vampire. We must keep going, map or no map!’