The Magic Spell

mean?
    That night, when she went to bed, Lauren decided to read the book from the beginning through to the end.
    Starting at the first chapter, she began to read slowly and carefully. She read that after the floods had gone down, the magical creatures decided not to live on Earth any more and stayed in Arcadia. Arcadia was ruled by seven Golden Unicorns who watched the Earth through a magic mirror.
    Lauren read on, but she didn’t find the spell.
    She awoke the following morning to see the book lying beside her on her bed. She had just two chapters left to read. She wondered whether to start on them, but then she saw that it was seven o’clock. It was time to get up and give Twilight his breakfast. She took the book outside with her. She could read it while he was eating.
    Leaving it in the tack room, she brought Twilight in from the paddock and put him in his stall. Then she mixed up his feed. The sooner Twilight was fed, the sooner she could read a little more.
    Quickly, Lauren emptied the feed into the manger and then she fetched the book. Carrying it into his stable, she sat down on an upturned bucket and began to read. Surely the spell had to be in the book somewhere!
    Lauren became aware that Twilight had stopped eating. He was staring at the book. With a snort, he walked over to her.
    ‘Hello, boy,’ she said.
    Twilight blew gently. The pages of the book fluttered over.
    ‘Twilight! You’ve lost my place!’ Lauren said. But before she could turn back to the page she had been reading, Twilight breathed out again.

    ‘What are you doing?’ Lauren asked, as he nuzzled his soft lips against the back cover. They left a damp mark on the paper and she made to push his muzzle away but, as she did so, she realized that the last page of the book had been glued to the back cover. One corner of the page fluttered slightly as Twilight breathed on the book.
    Lauren carefully pulled at it. The glue gave way and the page turned.
    Inside the cover were some faint words written in pencil. It looked like a poem of some sort. Lauren read the title: The Turning Spell .

Eight
    T rembling with excitement, Lauren read the faintly pencilled words:
    Twilight Star, Twilight Star,
    Twinkling high above so far.
    Shining light, shining bright ,
    Will you grant my wish tonight?
    Let my little horse forlorn
    Be at last a unicorn!
    Her eyes flew to Twilight. ‘Oh, Twilight,’ she whispered. ‘It’s the spell!’
    Twilight bent his head as if he was nodding.
    Lauren jumped to. her feet. She had to take Twilight to the woods and pick one of those flowers!
    After giving Twilight time to digest his breakfast, Lauren tacked him up and rode into the woods. Twilight seemed to know just where they were going. With his ears pricked up he cantered along the track until they came to the little side-trail.
    They turned down the narrow track and followed it until they reached the sunny glade. It looked just the same as the day before. A cloud of butterflies swooped over the grass and the air had an expectant feeling.
    Lauren dismounted and led Twilight over to the grassy mound, where she found a single purple flower that had fallen to the ground. She picked it up. As she did so, a sharp tingle ran down her spine.
    She felt Twilight’s warm breath on her shoulder and she looked at him. ‘Oh, Twilight,’ she whispered. ‘I hope this is going to work.’
    ‘Dad, what time does the sun set?’ Lauren asked her father that afternoon. Her book had said that the Twilight Star only shone for ten minutes after the sun had set and that the spell had to be performed then.

    ‘About seven o’clock at the moment,’ her dad said. ‘Why?’
    ‘I just wondered,’ Lauren said quickly.
    At six-thirty her mum put supper out.
    Lauren ate as fast as she could. ‘May I leave the table, please?’ she asked as soon as her plate was empty.
    Her mum looked surprised. ‘You know better, Lauren – not till everyone’s finished,’ she said.
    So Lauren had to wait. Through the kitchen window she watched the sun dropping lower and lower in the sky. She was going to miss the sunset!
    At long last her dad put his knife and fork down. ‘That was delicious,’ he said.
    Before he had even finished speaking, Lauren had jumped to her feet. ‘Can I go and see Twilight now, Mum?’ she begged.
    ‘All right,’ Mrs Foster said. ‘Go on.’
    Lauren grabbed her jacket and ran out of the door. The book was still in the tack room. She fetched it and raced down to