Chapter 1
Fairy Tales?
I was 2 when I first became interested in Unicorns. They were the most beautiful creatures in those fairy tale books. But that's all they were, just fairy tales. At least, that's what everyone else in my family believed. My name is Sarah, and I had a sister named Cindy. I also had three brothers. Travis was only a year older than me and was the one I played with. Mark was three years older than me, and he kept to his Nintendo 64 and computer. The oldest was Tom, he was eighteen. Tom was too busy dating girls to play with me or bother with the computer. Cindy didn't really care about anything I did and was sixteen. She was too busy with her makeup, clothes, and friends to play with me. I was fourteen at the time and still believed in Unicorns.
Cindy walked into my room and gaped. "What a mess! I'm telling mom about this! She'll really get on your case." She spun on her heal and headed for the door, then turned around to look back at my room. "What's that mud doing on your boots?!" She frowned at me. Suddenly, her face shown with amazement. "Mom said you can't be out in those woods playing Unicorns! She said they were pretend, and that you need to quit acting like a baby!"
I fought my anger and calmly said,"That's not what Mom said. She said I need to grow up soon, not now."
Cindy shifted her weight to her other side and stomped out. I heard her telling mom about me and instantly knew I was in for it.
I was half way down the stairs when my mom called,"Sarah! Get down here right now!"
I held my head high, kept my shoulders back, and cooled my hot temper. "Mom, I wasn't eve...," I started.
But Cindy interrupted. "Yes, she was disobeying!"
Mom gave Cindy a scolding look, and Cindy left mumbling about how she wished she could stay for my lecture.
"Now," said my mother turning back to me. "What's all this about Unicorns, young lady."
I took a deep breath and continued,"I wasn't even halfway through the woods! I was just playing around for a while, and you didn't say I couldn't play in there. You said I had to stop playing Dragons in the woods; so I stopped."
My mom sighed a deep sigh. I held my breath. "You know what I mean. You need to grow up. You're not a two year old anymore! And you wonder why you have no friends at school. There is only one girl at school who mildly likes you! Can't you just be a normal girl?"
I hung my head. "I'm not ashamed at what I do. You said I need to grow up soon, not now."
Mom's tone of voice changed, and I knew she meant business. "Well, that's too bad. You're going to stop playing that in the woods from now on. Got that? And I mean, grow up now." She turned to the soup that was about to spill over the pot and dismissed me with a wave of her hand. I straightened up and raced outside.
Once outside in the cool fall air, I found my favorite tree. It was an apple tree; the apples weren't red quite yet. I sat against it, and called into the wind using my favorite sound. I used a strange whinny that I always used when playing Unicorns. That's when I saw it. A cloud, and yet, this cloud was coming closer. As it came closer to me, it started to form a shape. Closer and closer it came. I stood and peered up at it. The sun was in my eyes, for it wasn't even past five yet. I heard a whinny like the one I'd been doing all those years. I took a deep breath and whinnied back. The sound came from the strange form again. It was taking on the shape of a horse. I hadn't been able to tell what shape it was when it was so far up in the sky. But now I could clearly see it was a pure white horse. Closer it came, till it was only seven feet from my twelve foot high house. It looked about to land on the roof, but then it flapped its great white wings and flew toward me. The horse landed on the ground seven feet from me, and looked at me curiously.
"Hello," I said.
It cocked its head and spoke. When it spoke, I didn't actually hear it. It was more like it vibrated through my head, and I was hearing it, only no one else could. It said,"You are ready to come, are you not?"
I swallowed and nodded my head, somehow instantly knowing what it was talking about.
"Then come. Hop on my back."
I walked toward her, then stopped. "Ummm... What about my family?"
She smiled and said,"They won't remember they had another daughter, now come."
I walked closer, until I was within inches of its body.
"My name is Quint, and I am a female Unicorn."
I looked at her forehead, and sure enough, there was a horn there. Her horn was clear, but how it shown in the sun!
"My name is...," I started.
But she finished the sentence,"Sarah. Yes, yes, I already know. We've had our eye on you from the time you were two. The first time you looked in a fairy tale book with unicorns in it we knew you were to come with us. But we had to make sure you were old enough to make the choice yourself. Now, are you coming? I only have two hours to get home, and that is not much time."
I took a shaky breath, and decided to nod instead of speak. I was afraid my voice would give away my fear.
"Come then, hop on."
I had ridden many horses bare back and knew how to get on a horse. But she had wings, and I struggled to get on without injuring a wing. I lifted myself up, and swung my leg over her back. I was sitting on a Unicorn! What a thrill! I looked down, and she had no wings. "What happened to your wings?!" I asked her.
She said,"I can fold my wings into my body. It is not difficult, and does not hurt. It may seem strange the first few times you swing your legs up, being careful not to injure my wings, and find I have no wings, but you'll get used to it."
I took her word for it, and gripped her pure white mane.
"Alright, I'm going to unfold my wings, and take off. You must hold my mane tightly, and keep your legs pressed against my sides."
She unfolded her wings, and was about to take off, when I remembered something. "Wait! Stop! Don't go yet. I have something in the house I must get. I think you'll need something to eat, too."
Suddenly, she collapsed underneath me. "You might just be right," she said. "I am exhausted. Hurry and get your thing."
I hopped off her back, and ran into the house.
Once in the house, I ran for the stairs.
"It's dinner time! Get down here for supper, Sarah!"
I ran as fast as I could to my room and grabbed a crystal. I had found it in the woods two years ago and almost always wore it around my neck. It reminded me of a unicorn's horn, and the thought always comforted me. I jumped the steps, two at a time.
I raced past the kitchen, and heard my mother call after me,"Young lady! Get over here now. It is dinner time!"
But I ran on. I ran to the safety of the barn and called Quint to follow me. She came into the barn, just as I had gotten a bucket of oats for her dinner. I placed a bucket of water beside it; I'd found it sitting in a corner freshly filled.
"Thank you," she said. Then she thrust her head into the bucket and ate heartily. She switched between the bucket of oats and the bucket of water regularly.
I stood there, fingering my crystal.
Quint finished the oats within ten minutes, and called me out of my thoughts. "It is time to go. We have wasted too much time already. They will be closing the paths soon, and we must make it before night."
I nodded and followed her outside. She tucked her wings into her back and let me hop on again. She spread her wings out wide and reminded me to hold on tight. Then she moved so the wind was blowing against her and slowly started to rise. We flew diagonally into the wind. She didn't flap her wings but held them firm. I didn't know how she did it, but she did. We reached a cloud, and she stepped on it. The cloud was as solid as my backyard! She pawed the cloud three times, and it took her up to another cloud. We rode two more clouds and finally leaped into the air. She flapped her wings and took us straight toward the already setting sun. She flapped harder and harder, gaining altitude with each mighty stroke of her great wings. But that did not last for long. I looked down at her, and noticed her eyes shutting, then popping open again.
"What's wrong?" I asked her.
"I can't stay awake. We have an hour and a half left till we're home, but I will never make it. It must have been the drrrrrrrr...,"
But just then, we fell from the sky.
"Pull up! Wake up, Quint!" I felt her body tense as she awoke, and we soared to a nearby cloud.
"I am deeply sorry. We must spend the night here."
I looked around us as we sat on the cloud and noticed all the other clouds fading away.
"No, we can't. We'll fall," I told her.
But she did not answer. I kicked her side, and she jerked. "Get up! We have to fly!"
She mumbled something, and I kicked her side again. "Stop it! I'm sleepy, and I don't want to fly," she said.
I whispered in her ear,"We will fall to our deaths if you do not fly."
She looked up at me with those sleepy brown eyes of hers, and said,"You must do something only one other human has ever done."
She told me to look into her horn and imagine a Unicorn. Not her; a unique Unicorn. Then I would have to concentrate on that Unicorn for at least one minute. And not to take my concentration off, or my life would be like a nightmare. I did as she said and imagined a beautiful black Unicorn. I imagined the black see-through horn, like the tinted windows of a van, and the strong wings. The delicate hooves, and the broad chest. I was so amazed at how real my pretend Unicorn was. I imagined her on a cloud in front of me. She stepped back and forth and jumped into the wind. Soaring above the clouds and swooping toward the lakes. She would pull up just as a hoof touched the water. My eyes left the clear horn in front of me and followed the Unicorn. She dodged everything in her path and soon settled near a small pond. The Unicorn dipped her horn in the water and rubbed it in the grass to dry it. Then she looked into the setting sun and her horn sparkled in the sunlight. My mouth dropped open, and I stared at my beautiful, pretend Unicorn. The sudden sensation of falling made me lose my concentration. I looked around me and was terrified. My cloud had vanished, and I was plummeting to my doom.
"Help!" I said. And yet, I did not really say it. I instinctively opened my wings. "What?!" I asked myself. I flapped my wings to gain altitude and saw something falling way down below me. I pressed my wings along my back and dove straight down after it. The closer I came the more I recognized it. The object was a girl about my age. I flew down and swooped under her. She landed on my back with a thud, but the girl barely noticed.
"Take...us...up...to...," she started, then took a deep breath. "To...the...sky." She breathed in deeply and continued,"And swoop down straight." She took another deep breath and continued more strongly this time,"Then, right before you hit lake Fisher, fly straight up until you see a small sparkle in the sky. Fly straight for it. When you can see a Unicorn clearly, call up to it. Say,‘My friend is weary, and I have come with an invitation.' Then show her your horn...and let her examine it. She will let you...through. I must sleep..." And with that, she fell asleep on my back. She started to slip, so I gently floated toward the ground, landing on the edge of a field.
"What am I to do? You will surely fall if I do these things. Oh dear. If only you were awake. I must find something to help me."
I walked out of the wheat field and towards an old shed. I found the door open. I glanced around quickly, making sure no one was there, before I grabbed a rope in my teeth and ran back to the field I had just come from. I dropped the rope and the girl. I looked quickly down at her and found her strangely familiar. I wondered who she was and how she'd come to know so much about the sparkle in the sky. Then I began to wonder where Quint had gotten to. She had seemed so terribly sleepy. I hoped she was alright. With all of these thoughts running through my head, I ran off to another house. I stood outside, waiting for a young girl to come out. No one came. I flapped my wings, and soared into the sky towards my house. I stepped lightly on the roof, and waited for my sister to come out. She came out with her Teen magazine.
I called to her,"Cindy, I need your help. Follow me."
She looked up, and saw me fly off. She ran after me, trying to see who I was, and why I had called to her. She followed me a mile to the wheat field, and searched for me in the yard I had found the shed.
"No silly," I said. "Come in the wheat field."
She tiptoed towards the wheat field, peering cautiously into the wheat. I ducked down a little ways, and told her to come closer. She walked through the wheat, following the trail I had made.
"Alright, what do you want? Who are you?"
I said nothing, but slowly stood before my sister. She gazed up at me, but did not move to do anything.
"You must tie this girl to my back. I cannot tie her to my back, and if I do not secure her, she will die from landing so hard on the ground."
My sister looked at me curiously and finally picked up the rope. She lifted the girl onto my back and tied her securely. My wings were sticking out while she tied the rope, because I did not yet know how to fold them into my body. I thanked my sister and flew into the sky. My sister watched me go. She did not say a word but turned from where she had come and walked back to her house.
I soared up through the clouds and was barely able to see anything. I was running out of time, and there was nothing I could do about it but fly faster. I flapped harder and harder, and finally thought I was high enough. I turned and did a nose dive. I dove straight for Lake Fisher and did just as the girl had told me. I almost touched the water but flew up just in time. Once I was going up, I found it much harder to gain altitude. The days wind and warmth had gone, and I was stuck in the dead air of night. There was barely any sun left, and my eyes could not see as well. I flew on and on, looking for the sparkle in the sky. I started to worry, because I could not see the sparkle, but soon I found it. A small glittering sparkle in the night. I flew on, faster and faster. The sparkle wasn't getting any closer. I flew faster than ever and found myself gaining on it. I called to it, but I was not close enough yet. Suddenly, the sparkle disappeared.
"No! It can't have gone! I must make it there in time. I cannot stay here any longer," I cried as the reality slowly crept in. I straightened my body, and floated gently towards the ground. A million thoughts raced through my head, but none were good. Finally, I landed on the soft, firm ground. "How could this have happened?" I asked myself in a whisper. I stumbled out of the wheat field, and walked clumsily towards the trees of a forest. "Wait! I can go to my forest. I am no longer forbidden to go there!"
I was so excited, and couldn't believe my good luck. I would fly to my forest, and spend the night there. But what kind of a night would it be? What dangers awaited me? I guessed I would have to go there to find out. And that's just what I did.
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