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It was nearly time to go through the portal and Rani said Mum had to go where the other parents were all standing huddled together, so Mum gave them each a hug and a kiss and told them for about the eightieth time to wrap up warm.
‘Will there be snow at Unicorn School?’ Mira asked her sister.
‘Only if you do the snow dance,’ said Rani.
‘What’s the snow dance?’ said Mira.
Rani sighed. ‘It’s quite difficult. Only Class Yellow can do it. You probably won’t manage it.’
Mira narrowed her eyes. She didn’t always believe the things her sister told her, but she also didn’t want to take any chances. Especially when it came to unicorn stuff. Rani had been at school for longer than Mira and had LOTS of medals, as she always liked to remind Mira.
‘Just tell me how to do the snow dance,’ she said.
‘Fine!’ said Rani. ‘You have to squat like a frog and then stomp around, waving your hands in the air and grunting.’
Mira shuffled into position.
‘Make sure you close your eyes and really get into it,’ said Rani.
Mira started doing the snow dance. It was a bit slippy and slidey on the slushy floor, but the dance wasn’t hard at all – she didn’t know what Rani was on about.
‘Mira . . .?’
Mira opened her eyes. Her friend Darcy was there, looking concerned. Lots of the other children were backing away.
‘I’m doing the snow dance,’ said Mira.
‘Oh. I thought you really needed the loo.’ Darcy moved her wheelchair next to Mira in the magic portal queue and they did their usual high-five greeting. Darcy was wearing a coat with rainbow stripes and a matching hat.
‘Is Raheem here yet?’ said Mira. She wondered if the snow dance was more powerful if more people did it.
Darcy pointed over to the bike racks, where Raheem was doing a strange sort of hop. ‘He’s been doing that for a while. And before that he was reading a story about teddy bears out loud.’ She paused. ‘Everyone’s being weird today.’
There was a small girl clinging to Raheem’s leg. She must be his little sister, Mira thought. Raheem’s dad was there, trying to untangle them as the girl cried loudly.
‘He’s only going away for a little bit, Tia!’ said Raheem’s dad.
The girl wailed even more. ‘I want to go with you!’ she sobbed.
Raheem looked at his dad.
‘You can’t, Tia sweetheart,’ said Raheem’s dad.
The little girl clung to Raheem’s leg even tighter and sobbed even louder.
Darcy held out a biscuit and whistled. ‘Tia! Come on!’ She waved the biscuit and clicked her fingers.
Tia stopped crying for a second and gave Darcy a strange look, before bursting into loud sobs again.
Darcy shrugged. ‘It works with my dog,’ she said.
They watched as Raheem continued to struggle. Then Mira had an idea.
‘Look!’ she shouted. ‘One of the unicorns has come through the magic portal and into the car park!’
Everyone in the car park turned to look where Mira was pointing, including Raheem’s little sister. Mira and Darcy grabbed Raheem and dragged him towards the magic portal, pushing past the queue of children.
‘Love you, Tia! Love you, Dad!’ Raheem called back, but his dad was looking around worriedly for the escaped unicorn.
They reached the clump of bushes.
Raheem didn’t have the chance to be nervous going through the magic portal. Mira and Darcy were still holding on to his arms, and they pulled him through the entrance.
Mira would never get used to the magic portal – the way it sucked you through, and then zoomed you along the rainbow like you were on a rollercoaster but a million times faster and not wearing safety belts. Mira gripped her friends’ hands and the exciting feeling grew in her chest until she thought she might burst. Rainbow colours and sparkly stars flew past them – and Mira was sure that this time, she could see flurries of snowflakes . . .
They all arrived with a thud on the landing haystack. Mira peered around and blinked.
‘THE SNOW DANCE WORKED!’ she yelled.
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