Unicorn Uproar Read online

  “I left Sparkle to help Mayor Strong,” Seth answered. “He said it was important—”

  “What could be more important than our main attraction?” Rex cut in. “Maybe you left the gate open!”

  “When I came back, the gate was latched,” Seth said. “Sparkle must have found some other way to get out.”

  “I don’t care how he got out,” Rex huffed. “Just call me the second you find him.”

  “Why don’t I call the police in the meantime?” Seth suggested. “Maybe they can look for Sparkle.”

  “Not the police!” Rex cried. “If our guests see the police, they’ll know something is wrong.”

  “But—,” Seth started to say.

  “Sparkle will come back when he’s hungry,” Rex cut in. “In the meantime let’s take that sign down so people won’t look for a unicorn in here.”

  Rex and Seth left the pen, not bothering to lock the gate. After Rex pulled the sign out of the ground, the two walked right past the girls in the direction of the parade.

  “If that guy Seth said the gate was latched,” George wondered out loud, “how could Sparkle have gotten out?”

  “Maybe Nancy’s magic wand made Sparkle disappear,” Bess said.

  “My wand?” Nancy cried.

  “Enchanted Elly said you just point and poof,” Bess explained. “Maybe you pointed your wand at Destiny but poofed Sparkle by mistake.”

  Nancy glanced at her wand. She shook her head and said, “Sparkle was still in his pen after I waved my wand. You waved good-bye to him, remember?”

  “Some spells might take longer to work,” George said.

  Nancy couldn’t believe her ears. Now both her best friends were blaming her wand!

  “There’s got to be a reason Sparkle isn’t in his pen,” Nancy said. “And we’re going to find out why.”

  “You mean as the Clue Crew?” Bess asked.

  “Here?” George said. “At a medieval fair?”

  “Sure,” Nancy said, smiling. “Finding a missing unicorn is more important than finding the queen’s tarts!”

  The girls walked through the gate into Sparkle’s pen. Nancy found hundreds of hoofprints in the mud-packed ground. Bess found something too—a tiny golden bell!

  “Where did this come from?” Bess asked. She held it up and gave it a jingle. The sound made Nancy think of Toby.

  “Toby was wearing bells on his jester’s cap,”

  Nancy pointed out. “Maybe he was here inside the pen.”

  “Hey,” George said, “maybe that idea Toby came up with was to steal Sparkle.”

  “Why would Toby steal a unicorn?” Bess asked.

  “To sell!” George exclaimed. “If he could get a dollar for a dumb joke, think how much he could get for something magical that leaps over rainbows.”

  “He’d be richer than Destiny Delgado,” Bess agreed.

  “Destiny wanted a unicorn for her Totally Tubular Tenth Birthday Party,” Nancy said excitedly. “And whatever Destiny wants, Destiny gets.”

  The girls had two suspects. But they needed more clues. As Nancy studied the hoofprints, something clicked.

  “There are no hoofprints leading to the gate,” Nancy pointed out. “So Sparkle couldn’t have left through there.”

  “Sparkle is a unicorn,” Bess stated. “If unicorns can leap over rainbows, they can leap over fences.”

  “Hey, you!” a voice called out.

  Nancy, Bess, and George spun around. Standing outside the pen was Seth, Sparkle’s handler.

  “What are you doing?” Seth demanded. “You won’t find anything in there.”

  “That’s what he thinks,” Bess whispered as she pocketed the tiny gold bell. “We already did.”

  “Did you plant tomatoes, Hannah?” Nancy asked. “You know how much I love tomatoes!”

  It was late afternoon and Nancy was home from the fair. She carefully plucked a ripe tomato from Hannah’s vegetable garden in the Drews’ backyard. Hannah Gruen picked up something too—Nancy’s wand. She pointed it at Nancy and said, “You wish for tomatoes? And so you shall have!”

  “Hannah, don’t!” Nancy gasped. “You might turn me into a tomato—or a toad!”

  Hannah laughed as she placed the wand back on the picnic table. “Nancy, I’ve been your housekeeper since you were three years old,” she teased. “If I wanted to turn you into a toad, I would have done it a long time ago.”

  Nancy knew that Hannah was a lot more than a housekeeper. Hannah loved Nancy almost as much as her mother once had, before she’d died. And she would never turn Nancy into a toad!

  What was I thinking? Nancy thought glumly. Now I’m starting to believe my wand is magic too!

  The phone rang inside the house.

  “I’ll get it, Hannah,” Nancy said. “It might be Bess or George.”

  “Of course!” Hannah chuckled. “You haven’t seen one another for two whole hours.”

  Nancy entered the kitchen through the back door. She picked up the phone and said, “Hello?”

  “Is this Nancy?” a girl’s voice asked. “Nancy Drew?”

  Nancy frowned. The voice sounded shaky, as if the girl on the other end were worried.

  “This is Nancy,” Nancy said slowly.

  “Good,” the girl said. “Because I need your help and I need it now.”

  Chapter Four

  Horseplay

  “Who is this?” Nancy asked.

  “Sophie Wang,” the girl answered. “I go to your school. I’m in the fifth grade.”

  A fifth grader is calling me? Nancy thought excitedly. Cool!

  “What’s up, Sophie?” Nancy asked, trying not to sound too excited.

  “I take horseback riding lessons at the River Heights Riding Academy,” Sophie explained. “I’m going to be in a big horse show there next Saturday.”

  “Neat!” Nancy said.

  “Not anymore,” Sophie sighed. “The horse I always ride at the academy has been missing for days.”

  “How do you know he’s missing?” Nancy asked. “Did someone tell you he is?”

  “Not really,” Sophie said. “My instructor Matt just keeps telling me the same thing over and over again: ‘Carrot Cake is unavailable right now.’”

  “Did you ask him why?” Nancy asked.

  “Every time I do, Matt changes the subject,” Sophie said. “That’s why I think something is wrong.”

  Nancy thought so too. Why wouldn’t Matt tell Sophie what had happened to Carrot Cake unless it was something bad?

  “I can ride a horse named Babe in the show,” Sophie sighed. “But Babe doesn’t jump as high as Carrot Cake. And she has the worst oat breath!”

  “So … what do you want me to do?” Nancy asked.

  “I’ve heard about the Clue Crew at school,” Sophie explained. “I want you and your friends to find Carrot Cake so I can ride him in the show.”

  “Really?” Nancy squeaked. A fifth grader wanted the Clue Crew’s help? Wait until Bess and George heard!

  But then Nancy remembered Sparkle. Solving two cases in one weekend would be too much—even for the Clue Crew.

  “Well? Can you do it?” Sophie asked.

  Nancy took a deep breath, then said, “Sorry, Sophie. But we can’t.”

  “Why?” Sophie cried.

  “Because we have to find a—” Nancy stopped mid-sentence. How could she tell a fifth grader they had to find a missing unicorn?

  “Find a what?” Sophie asked.

  “It’s top secret,” Nancy blurted. “Like all of the Clue Crew’s cases.”

  “Please?” Sophie asked again. “I know you’re only eight, but I heard you guys are smart for third graders.”

  Nancy wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or an insult. But it didn’t matter. They couldn’t help Sophie find Carrot Cake. And that was that.

  “Sorry, Sophie,” Nancy said gently. “Maybe Carrot Cake is at the vet. Or at the blacksmith getting new shoes—”

  CLICK.

/>   Nancy hung up too. She saw her dog, Chocolate Chip, padding into the kitchen. Her Labrador puppy was holding her magic wand between her teeth.

  Poor Sophie, Nancy thought as Chip chewed the wand on the kitchen floor. But we have to find the missing unicorn first.

  Kneeling down, Nancy grabbed the wand from Chip’s mouth. She held it up and sighed. “Before everybody blames this.”

  “You turned down a fifth grader?” George exclaimed the next morning. “This could have been huge!”

  Nancy sat next to Bess and George in the backseat of Mrs. Fayne’s van. They were headed for the second day of the Dragon’s Breath Fair.

  “We can’t find a horse and a unicorn at the same time,” Nancy insisted.

  “But this Sophie was a fifth grader!” Bess cried.

  “We could have played with them at recess.”

  “Fifth graders get the best equipment at recess,” George agreed.

  “But third graders play better games,” Nancy said. “And finding a missing unicorn is way cooler than finding a missing horse anyway.”

  “True, we have to find Sparkle before the fair ends tomorrow,” Bess said. “And we only have two suspects: Toby and Destiny.”

  “Destiny’s Totally Tubular Tenth Birthday Party is this afternoon at one o’clock,” George informed them. “It said so on her blog.”

  “Destiny has her own blog?” Bess groaned. “Remind me never to read it.”

  “Okay, Clue Crew,” Mrs. Fayne said, smiling into the rearview mirror. “Why don’t you take a break from your case until we get to the fair?”

  The girls decided to play a guessing game. They tried to guess what Mrs. Fayne was delivering to the festival by the smells inside the van.

  “I smell hot dogs with mustard,” Bess declared.

  Nancy took a whiff and said, “Baked ziti.”

  “Toby Leo!” George shouted.

  “You smell Toby Leo?” Bess cried.

  “No!” George said, pointing out the van window. “I see Toby Leo right over there.”

  Nancy leaned over Bess and George to look out the window. Sure enough, Toby was walking his big sheepdog, Duncan, along River Street.

  While Mrs. Fayne stopped for a red light, George rolled down the window and shouted, “Toby! Where are you going?”

  Toby glanced sideways at the girls. Then without a word he began walking faster and faster. Duncan’s shaggy white hair bounced as he hurried to keep up.

  “Wait, Toby,” Bess said. She held the little gold bell out the window. “Is this yours?”

  But Toby and Duncan had already turned the corner.

  “If Toby has a dog,” Bess said, dropping the bell back into her pocket, “why would he want a unicorn, too?”

  “Because he’s allergic to cats?” George guessed.

  “Well, we can’t question Toby if he doesn’t go to the fair today,” Bess said.

  “Destiny is a suspect too,” Nancy said in a low voice. “We have to find a way to go to her party today.”

  “You mean her tenth birthday party?” Bess asked. “That would be totally … tubular!”

  Mrs. Fayne drove the van onto the fairgrounds. Nancy, Bess, and George helped Mrs. Fayne carry some light boxes to the food stalls.

  “Thanks, girls,” Mrs. Fayne said after they were finished. “Why don’t you go watch the joust now? I think it starts in a few minutes.”

  The girls had no trouble finding the jousting field. It was already filled with people climbing onto the bleachers.

  “Look,” George said, pointing, “there’s Mayor Strong. I mean—Sir Mayor the Strong.”

  Helping Mayor Strong onto a horse was Seth. Once up, the mayor toppled back and forth in his bulky armor.

  “I guess the mayor found a horse,” Bess said.

  The horse was wearing a tall feathery headdress. Draped over his body was a thick blanket decorated with colorful crests. His legs, tail, and mane were snowy white.

  That horse is as white as Sparkle, Nancy told herself. She bit her lower lip as another thought flashed into her head. Unless … that horse is Sparkle!

  Nancy turned to her friends. “Mayor Strong needed a horse to be in the joust, right?” she asked.

  “Right,” Bess said with a nod.

  “So,” Nancy said with a grin. “What if Mayor Strong’s horse is really a unicorn?”

  Chapter Five

  Sparkle or Speckle?

  “How could that horse be a unicorn?” Bess asked. “Unicorns have horns on their heads.”

  “Look at the huge headdress the horse is wearing,” Nancy pointed out. “His horn could be hidden underneath.”

  “If it is Sparkle,” George said, tilting her head to study the horse, “how did the mayor get him?”

  “Seth said he was helping Mayor Strong at the time Sparkle went missing,” Nancy said. “Maybe he was helping the mayor get Sparkle!”

  “But why would Mayor Strong want a unicorn instead of a horse?” Bess asked.

  “Why not?” George said. “If unicorns jump superhigh, maybe they can run superfast, too!”

  Seth led Mayor Strong and the mystery horse onto the jousting field.

  “If we could only look under that headdress to see if there’s a horn,” Nancy said softly.

  Three men wearing blue velvet tunics and tights walked to the middle of the field. They blew loudly into long skinny trumpets.

  “Hear ye, hear ye, good people!” one man announced. “Challenging Sir Mayor the Strong in the royal joust shall be Sir Bragalot the Bold!”

  Another knight in armor rode onto the field.

  He was riding a black horse that was also wearing a headdress and blanket.

  “Sir Bragalot rides the brave and noble mare Midnight,” the man went on. “Sir Mayor the Strong will ride the gallant steed Speckle!”

  “Speckle?” Nancy repeated.

  “Speckle … Sparkle?” Bess said. She narrowed her eyes. “A coincidence? I think not.”

  “Brave knights, take thy places,” the man shouted. “And may the joust begin!”

  Both knights lowered their visors. They trotted their horses to the opposite ends of the arena.

  The knights then took pointed lances and shields from the horses’ handlers. Mayor Strong had trouble holding both, and he dropped his shield on Seth’s foot.

  “This is going to be dangerous,” Bess complained. She clapped her hand over her eyes. “I can’t watch.”

  Nancy kept one eye open, one eye closed. After three trumpet blasts the knights began to charge. George jumped to her feet and began to cheer, “Sir Mayor the Strong is red hot! Sir Bragalot is all shot!”

  Nancy gasped as the knights’ lances clashed. Sir Bragalot knocked the mayor’s lance from his hand—and the mayor from his horse!

  The whole crowd jumped to its feet as Mayor Strong lay motionless on the ground. Just when Nancy thought the mayor was hurt, he jumped up, raised his visor, and grinned.

  “I think I’ll stick to being the mayor of River Heights!” Mayor Strong boomed.

  The cheering was so loud that the bleachers shook. Sir Mayor the Strong and Sir Bragalot took off their gloves and shook hands. Then Seth led the horses away from the field.

  “I want to follow Speckle,” Nancy said, standing up, “and see if he’s really Sparkle.”

  The girls left the jousting field. They found the horses inside a pen behind the grandstand. Both were nibbling hay off the ground.

  “They’re still wearing their blankets and headdresses,” Bess said, peering through the chain-link fence. “Now we can’t see if Speckle has a horn or not.”

  “Who says we can’t?” George asked. She reached over the gate, lifted the latch, and swung it open.

  “George, we’re not allowed in there,” Nancy called.

  “This is a medieval festival!” Bess cried. “If they have a jousting field, they probably have a dungeon, too.”

  But George was already inside the horse pen.

  “D
o you want to see if Speckle is Sparkle or not?” she demanded.

  To Nancy the answer was yes. She darted into the pen, followed by a groaning Bess. George ran straight to Speckle and tugged gently on his headdress.

  “This thing is strapped on tight,” George said. “He’ll never hold still enough for us to look underneath.”

  “When Chip won’t hold still for her bath, I pet her gently,” Nancy said. “If it works with dogs, maybe it works with horses—or unicorns.”

  Nancy walked to Speckle’s side, careful not to get swatted by his tail. She lifted the horsy-smelling blanket. She was about to pet Speckle when her hand froze.

  “Bess, George,” Nancy called. “I think I know why they call him Speckle.”

  “Why?” Bess asked as she and George ran over.

  Nancy pointed to a flurry of black speckles on Speckle’s coat. “Because of these,” she said.

  “Sparkle had no speckles,” Bess sighed.

  “So Speckle isn’t Sparkle,” George decided.

  “Which means,” Nancy said, letting the horse blanket drop over Speckle’s back, “he’s a horse and not a unicorn.”

  “You again?” a voice shouted. “Get out of there. It’s not safe!”

  Nancy gulped as they spun around. Glaring at them from outside the fence was Seth.

  “Don’t throw us into the dungeon!” Bess pleaded. “We have a spelling bee in a few weeks! And our book reports are due next Friday and—”

  “Aren’t you those girls who were in Sparkle’s pen yesterday?” Seth cut in. “What do you want with Speckle?”

  “Nothing anymore,” George said.

  But Nancy still had questions. “What were you helping the mayor with yesterday?” she asked Seth. “When you should have been watching Sparkle?”

  “I was giving the mayor a riding lesson,” Seth said. “And as you just saw, he needed a lot more than just one.”

  Seth held the gate open as Nancy, Bess, and George filed out of the pen.

  “What do you think happened to Sparkle the unicorn, Seth?” Bess asked.

  “Who knows?” Seth groaned. “But if he doesn’t show up soon, Rex is going to flip.”

  As the girls walked away from the pen, Nancy glanced at her watch. Destiny’s party would start in about an hour. They had to figure out a way to get to it.