Unicorns in Uniform: Dragon Inferno by Tracy Curran
I've just finished reading and this first book in the series is exciting and full of action! Continue to find out more about the book and then read an extract from the start of the book.
Book Summary
When two young dragons accidentally set fire to The Witchy Wood, firefighting unicorn, Blaze, and her emergency vehicle, Quench, race to the scene. As they struggle to get everyone to safety and stop the flames from spreading, a witch called Jinx decides her magical abilities are exactly the help they need to stop the inferno. But Jinx’s magic only spells one thing...DISASTER. And soon the flames are raging towards a treehouse full of powerful potions. Can Blaze and Quench get everyone out before the whole of Witchy Wood goes up in smoke?
Extract
Chapter 1 - Sparks in the Sky
It had been a busy morning. Blaze’s tummy grumbled loudly as she and her emergency vehicle, Quench, pulled up in front of the Unicorns in Uniforms’ headquarters. The grumpy sound coming from her stomach matched Blaze’s mood. She was soaking wet and muddy, all thanks to Quench’s love of mischief.
“It’s a double wash and polish for you,”
Blaze scolded the fire engine, turning down her very loud music. She breathed in the calming view of Sizzling Sands beach, which stretched out in front of the headquarters, and pressed the button on her key ring that activated the doors to the headquarters garage. “Your hosepipe tricks are tickling my temper!”
A noise that sounded very much like a hiccup echoed through Quench’s dashboard. Quench was a brilliant emergency vehicle, but he liked to have fun on the job. Already that morning, during a charity car wash, he’d turned his water jets on at full power and given everyone a soaking. Then, after dealing with a nasty kitchen fire at The Bakehorse Bakery, he’d managed to get Bagel, the bakery’s dog, stuck on the roof by shooting him into the air on a fountain of water. He’d created so many muddy puddles, the bakery was now surrounded by ducks.
“Is that your idea of an apology?” tutted Blaze, as she drove Quench into his parking bay.
Quench blew a raspberry and Blaze’s grumpy scowl broke into a smile. As annoying as her emergency vehicle was, there was no way she would be without him. She liked his spirit too much.
Blaze turned the radio back up to full volume, grabbed a bucket and sponge and scrubbed at Quench’s flame red bodywork until it was spotless. The fire engine showed his disapproval at being cleaned by blasting his horn in time to the beat of the music, promptly giving Blaze a headache.
The pink-nosed unicorn ignored it and scrubbed twice as hard. Blaze could be fiery and impatient, but she loved her job and had super-high standards. By the time she had finished polishing, her bright pink mane and shiny golden horn, which swirled like sunshine, were gleaming with sweat. Blaze searched for any specks of dirt she might have missed, but there were none. She nodded in satisfaction.
“Now it’s time to clean myself up,” she told Quench, “and then I’m going to pop to the Mane Control Room before whipping up some spicy fajitas for lunch.”
Blaze loved spicy food, even though the other unicorns joked that it inflamed her temper.
Blaze clip-clopped upstairs to the unicorns’ living quarters and into the cluttered and messy dormitory she shared with Sunny, Locke and Dash. Hanging off her top bunk was a clean, blue firefighting uniform that had the Unicorns in Uniforms logo embroidered on the jacket pocket and yellow high-vis stripes sewn across the body. Blaze smiled. The Sunshine Realm, with its mishmash of fantasy creatures and animals, really was a beautiful place and she was proud to be one of the emergency workers who kept everyone happy, safe and protected.
Suddenly, the dormitory went dark.
Blaze glanced up just in time to see a huge figure flash past the window.
“What was that?” She frowned. The Unicorns in Uniforms were trained to be on constant alert and that shadow had been too big to be any kind of seabird, even an albatross. Quickly, Blaze stuck her head out of the window.
“GAH!” A jet of hot flames shot down from the rooftop, scorching Blaze’s mane and almost melting the tip of her horn.
Then came a giggle and the scrabbling of claws.
Red dots of fury danced in Blaze’s eyes as she dashed into the bathroom, stuck her head in the sink and turned on the cold tap to extinguish any lingering sparks. After all the safety talks she’d given throughout the realm, someone was playing with fire on the roof of their emergency headquarters!
With her soaking wet mane dripping water in her eyes, Blaze raced outside and looked up. More giggling sounded from the rooftop of the cubed building, followed by a flash of silver.
“Who’s there? Come down at once!”
Blaze demanded.
There was a scuffle and then silence. Blaze huffed. She was going to have to get a ladder. Or... maybe Aquarius had seen who was messing about? She trotted towards the Mane Control Room.
The Mane Control Room was a big boathouse that was attached to the side of the main headquarters building. It had been cleverly designed so Aquarius, the sea-rescue narwhal – who was known as a ‘unicorn of the sea’ – could swim inside from her rockpool, monitor the control panel and keep track of any emergency calls via a waterproof headset.
“Aquarius?” called Blaze, motioning for her to swim outside. “Did you just see...?” But Blaze didn’t get to finish her sentence.
A bright trail of fire whooshed across the sky as two large, winged beasts, shadowy in the sun, launched themselves off the roof of the headquarters and dived towards them at a frightening speed. Blaze whinnied in alarm. They were going way too fast to stop, and there was no time for her to do anything but...
Author Bio
Tracy Curran writes picture books, young fiction and funny middle-grade. She was a primary school teacher for sixteen years and is now a carer for her autistic daughter. At around the age of three, Tracy fell into a storybook and discovered a world of magic! As a result, you’ll now find her immersed in the pages of another imagined world or running along the beach, conjuring up her own stories. Her pile of books is taller than she is! Tracy lives on the Cornish coast with her husband, three children, five rabbits, four chickens and one dog.
Illustrator Bio
Steve Wood lives in North London and works from a little studio in his house. While most of his time is spent spying on the neighbourhood cats and trying to lure them into his house, he does love to doodle. When drawing, Steve’s main focus is always the cast of characters that brings life and movement to the picture. He loves to emphasise subtle humour, taking influence from the adventure stories he loved as a child. Whether that’s tales of pirates and sunken treasure, cowboys, knights and dragons, or classic murder mystery stories, they all shape the pictures he loves to draw. When not working, Steve's favourite hobby is stealing biscuits from his girlfriend and blaming the ‘house mouse’.
To make a Fireman's Sour, add all the following ingredients and shake with ice, strain out the ice and then dry shake (without ice) again. Strain into glass filled with ice. 60ml white rum, 30ml lime juice, 15ml grenadine, 15ml egg white.
