by Ann Atkins
In a mystical realm, worlds away, hidden by the veil. Lush green grass and rolling hills beside waters of crystal blue, cloudless skies and sunny days; they are at home in this sacred place. There is no darkness, only light, endless days, and never a night.
This haven is not left willingly and cannot be entered by mortal man. Evil does not touch it; there is no sorrow, pain, or fear. And only those with pure intent can hope to draw them near.
The Unus Cornus hears only a maiden’s call. She must have the power to reach beyond the veil, to touch him with her heart, and ensnare him with her spell.
I summon thee Unus Cornus to protect us from all harm. I ask thee humbly with an open heart to cross through worlds and time and space, until you stand before me, and evil vanishes without a trace.
I finished reading and we all, collectively, held our breath as we waited for the Unicorn to appear. Eventually, we started to turn blue and were forced to draw air into our lungs once more. Everyone looked nervous as their eyes darted here and there, looking for something that wasn’t coming. I had failed.
“It didn’t work,” I said dejectedly.
“You don’t know that,” Mason reassured me. “Let’s just wait a few more minutes and see what happens.”
“Maybe we should read it together,” Cassie suggested. “I don’t have any power, but I am a girl.”
“Maybe it senses all the testosterone around here,” Matt added. “It’s probably not you. It doesn’t like guys, right? So, maybe it’s our fault.”
I must seem pretty bummed out if even, Matt, was trying to cheer me up. I didn’t say anything; I just gave them all a sad, grateful smile, but I was not giving up; I’d read the spell a hundred times if I had to.
“All right, Cass, get over here and read this spell with me; I’m willing to try anything; I’ll even stand on my head if I have to,” I said, snapping myself out of my funk and getting back to business.
“Don’t bother,” Eric said, and I was a little hurt by his lack of faith in me.
I opened my mouth to ask him why he thinks I should give up, but he wasn’t looking at me; he was staring into the trees. Apparently, the squirrels held more appeal, but then, he pointed and said, “Look!”
We all turned around and looked at a spot next to the tree line, and I gasped. The most beautiful little ball of pinkish-purple light I have ever seen was right in front of me, hovering in midair. As I watched, it began to grow larger and glow even brighter, and we all stared at it as if we were in a trance.
The glowing light ball suddenly began to shake, and it grew so bright that we had to look away. Finally, the brightness dimmed, and the ball of light exploded like a giant firework, and in its place, was the most beautiful thing I have ever laid eyes on!
His coat was the purest shade of white I have ever seen, and it sparkled and glittered like thousands of tiny diamonds; the only thing I can think of to compare it to, is sunlight on the snow. His mane and tail were a bright and shining silver, and his hooves looked like they were made of pure gold. His eyes are a pale shade of blue and his horn was glowing with every color of the rainbow. He was magnificent!
Cassie and I slowly started walking toward him as if invisible strings were pulling us forward. And he did the most amazing thing; he lowered one of his front legs to the ground and bowed his head to us, before standing tall once again. He was massive, not the size of a normal horse at all; he was even bigger than a Clydesdale!
When we finally reached him, I slowly reached my hand out to him and he nuzzled my fingers. He then turned to Cassie and nuzzled the top of her head. We both buried our fingers in his coat, and it was as soft as satin. I was overcome with emotion at the privilege of even being able to look upon something so beautiful, and I wrapped my arms around his neck and buried my face in his mane. He nickered softly, and we both laughed.
I turned around to look at the boys with a radiant smile and misty eyes. I have only just met this beautiful, miraculous creature, but, already, I am in love. There are really no words to accurately describe how I feel, and I wish I could keep him forever.
“He’s amazing,” Matt said as he stared in awe.
“Can we pet him?” Eric asked.
“You can try, but I don’t know how receptive he will be,” Mason said.
All the boys started to walk forward, and the Unicorn immediately shied away. He began to snort and shake his head, pawing at the ground nervously.
“It’s okay, big boy. They won’t hurt you, sweetheart,” I cooed to him, staring deeply into his eyes, and he immediately calmed down.
He allowed each of them to pet him once, before stepping backwards out of their reach.
“Good boy! You’re a good boy! Yes, you are,” I told him, and he walked forward, nuzzling my hand, encouraging me to pet him.
“Allie, there is something we need from him, and you are the only one he will give it to, because it’s you he came here to protect,” Mason told me.
“What’s that?” I asked absently, still enthralled by my Unicorn.
“Powder from his horn,” he replied.
“How do we get that?” I asked.
“You’ll have to use my pocket-knife to scrape the horn,” he said, holding it out to me.
I gasped. “Are you insane? I’m not going to hurt him!”
“It won’t hurt him! He won’t even feel it! That horn contains the purest white magic there is, and we need it!”
“I don’t care, Mason! I’m still not doing it!” I yelled.
“Ask him, Allie. They are extremely intelligent creatures. He will give you what you need.”
“What are we gonna do with it?” I asked.
“We are going to sprinkle it on the ground, because anything evil and dark won’t come anywhere near something as pure as a Unicorn.”
I sighed and opened my mouth to petition the Unicorn for his help, but he walked away. He began to scrape his horn along trees and rocks as multi-colored glitter fell to the ground.
“I told you he was smart,” Mason gloated.
“He understood everything you guys said, didn’t he?” Cassie asked in amazement.
“Yeah, I guess he did,” I said with a smile.
“Are you ready to begin your test?” Mason asked.
“No, I just wanna stand here and watch him forever,” I replied.
“I know, but even when we send him back, he’ll never forget you, and he will always return when you call,” he reassured me.
“Really? I’ll see him again?” I asked hopefully.
“Yeah, you belong to each other now. Your spell brought him here this time, but it’s because of his love for you that he will return.”
I nodded, unable to find my voice as silent tears ran down my cheeks. I knew this animal would give its life for me if necessary, so how could I not love him? How could I keep from being sad when I had to let him go?
“Can’t he at least stay until we leave this afternoon?” Cassie asked.
“Sure,” Mason answered with a smile, and I hugged him and Cassie both.
“So, what will I be quizzed on first, Mr. Adams?”
“Let’s start with some faerie magic.”
“No fair! I just found out I am one like a minute ago,” I protested.
“Yes, but you’ve been undergoing magical training all week long,” he said with a smile. “How bout we start with a protection spell?”
“Here goes nothing,” I said as I moved away from everyone else. I stood alone in the middle of the field, with my eyes squeezed tightly shut, concentrating as hard as I could. I’m not sure how long I’d been standing like that when Matt’s voice broke through and crashed my train of thought.
“I really don’t see how standing there looking constipated is going to help her,” he said.
“Hush! You’re breaking my concentration!” I scolded him and closed my eyes once more. And when I opened them again, there was a huge grin on my face.
There is a look of pride in Ma
son’s eyes, and he immediately turns to Matt with a smirk. “Attack her,” he said.
Matt grinned and began to run toward me, but I stood my ground. He was only a few feet away from me when he smacked into the invisible bubble I had created around myself. He landed on his butt, hard, with a confused look on his face.
I began to laugh and jump up and down. “I did it! I did it!” I shrieked as I dropped the shield and ran and jumped into Mason’s arms.
Matt still looks a little addled, but he finally said, “Wouldn’t it be more effective if it was harder? I just bounced right off of it.”
“Yes, honey, but I couldn’t do that to you. If it were someone or something that actually intended to hurt me, there would have been no bounce.”
“And now for a defensive spell,” Eric said and Cassie clapped; Matt glared at both of them.
I immediately held out my hand and said, “Flamma!”
Tiny flames began to flicker at my fingertips and race towards my palm. The orange and yellow flames quickly formed into a glowing, red-hot ball of fire, and I began to toss it from hand to hand. “Batter up, Mattie,” I said as I advanced toward him and raised my arm to pitch the ball.
He scrambled to his feet and ran behind Mason, using him as a human shield. I laughed and closed my fist on the fireball, and smoke billowed out through my closed fingers.
“What next?” I asked eagerly, thoroughly enjoying being able to amaze and entertain my friends.
“Well, I think you have coercion down pat, and your Fey powers seem very strong, so lets try some elemental magic,” he suggested.
“What do you want?”
He glanced at the Unicorn, who was watching us intently, and said, “How about some gentle rain, and then a rainbow?”
I tried to sense the ice particles in the air. I imagined them growing and getting bigger, and a fat drop of rain landed on the end of my nose. One raindrop quickly followed the next, and before I knew it, the rain was coming down in buckets.
“I said gentle rainfall, Allie,” Mason yelled over the noise of the pounding rain.
“Sorry,” I called back to him. “I’ll stop it.” But it took me almost fifteen minutes to do that, and we were all drenched.
“Clearly some of my powers need a little work,” I said apologetically.
“Ya think?” Matt said, wringing out his shirt.
“How ‘bout that rainbow? I can’t screw that up, right?”
No one answered me, but I began to mentally construct the rainbow, anyway. I imagined the sunlight shining through the drops of rain in the air and breaking it into different component colors. The colors are refracted by different wavelengths, which creates different colors in the rainbow.
Sarah has taught me more about the weather in the past week than I’ve ever wanted to know. She insisted that if I was going to learn how to control it, I needed to know a little bit about it; so I indulged her.
It took almost ten minutes, but, eventually, two perfect rainbows appeared in the sky, right beside of each other. The beautiful colors matched Snowflake’s horn to perfection. I was tired of calling him “the Unicorn,” so I decided to name him.
We all stood staring up at the sky and wishing that the whole world was nothing but Unicorns and rainbows, but unfortunately, there is so much more ugliness in this world than beauty, I can testify to that, but I am going to embrace the light while I can, because the shadows are soon to follow.
Chapter Sixteen
Shadows
As my friends stared up at the beautiful shades of yellow, pink, blue, and green, I was seized by an idea that is both exciting and terrifying. Instead of being tested by others, I think it’s time I tested myself, and I honestly don’t know if I’m more afraid that it won’t work, or that it will.
I weighed the pros and cons inside my head. If it works, it will be thrilling, but will I still be me inside there? And what if I get stuck that way? What if I can’t change back? What if I can’t do it at all? What if it just turns out to be an epic fail?
“Allie?”
“Huh?”
“I’ve said your name like three times! Where have you been?” Cassie asked.
“Maybe she’s fried her brain with all this magic,” Matt said.
“You okay?” Mason asked, bumping his shoulder against mine.
“Yeah, just thinking,” I replied absentmindedly.
“About?” Matt asked.
“I was thinking about choosing my next task by myself,” I said after a few moments.
“What’cha gonna do?” Eric asked.
“It’s a surprise, and I have to be alone for a few moments for this one.”
Everybody looked confused, but intrigued, and they all nodded. I ran for the woods and the cool, shady cover of the trees.
Once I was completely hidden in the forest of trees, I took off every stitch of clothing on my body, and I stood there—naked and afraid—as I attempted to do something I have never done before. Well, if you wanna get technical about it, I have done it once before, but I have no memory of it or how in the heck I did it.
My heart was pounding and my body was shaking, but that’s okay—I keep telling myself—because courage isn’t the absence of fear; courage is being scared to death to do something, but brave enough to try it, anyway.
Mason has no idea that I’ve been reading anything and everything I can find on how Kitsune’s shape-shift. He thinks it’s too difficult for a young Kitsune, and that I was probably only able to do it at the lake because of the life-or-death situation I was in. Most aren’t even able to shift until they’re like fifty or a hundred years old, but like he keeps telling me, I’m not like anyone else, and I can and will do this!
I tried to imagine what color my fur would be and my eyes. I imagined my muscles, bones, and organs reshaping to accommodate the fox. I have also been studying the anatomy of foxes, since I found out that one lives underneath my skin.
In my mind, I went over and over everything I’d read about kitsunes and everything I’d read about ordinary foxes. I put everything I had into making the change happen, but nothing does.
My eyes were closed tight, and I was no longer cold; I was sweating. This seemed to be taking more out of me than I thought it would. I heard a twig snap, and my eyes popped wide open.
“Allie, you okay?” Matt called into the forest.
“Yes, I’m fine. I just need a little more time,” I called back to him.
“It’s already been thirty minutes, Al.”
“Well, just tell everyone to hold their horses! I’m doing this as fast as I can!” I said defensively.
“Do you need any help?”
“No!” I yelled loudly, but then I softened my voice and said, “No, go back and wait with the others. This is something that I really need to do alone.”
“All right.”
I heard him walk away, and I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Having, Matt, see me naked is definitely not on my to do list!
I tried focusing on one thing at a time, hoping that it would make things easier. I kept thinking about my golden fur, soft and long and thick. I imagined a light golden color with a little dark gold mixed in. I … I can’t remember what I was going to say next, because, I could swear that something just moved under my skin.
I looked down at my arm, and it looked like something was crawling beneath my skin. The light dusting of hair on my arms began to thicken and turn gold. I was so surprised, that I lost my mental image of the fox, and the fur disappeared almost as quickly as it appeared.
I stamped my foot in frustration, and I really wanted to scream, but that would just bring everyone running, and they would see me, naked as a jaybird.
Finally, I got down on all fours and imagined my body changing shape. I don’t know how long I stayed this way, before a sharp pain traveled up my spine and pain radiated throughout my entire body.
I fell onto my side and curled myself into the fetal position as the pain intensified. I read abou
t this too. Young kitsunes often experience discomfort during the change. If you think about it, it’s really not hard to see why. Imagine your internal organs being squeezed by an iron fist, your muscles being stretched and shrunk into a new shape, and your bones cracking, bending, and breaking, until a new creature stands where you once stood.
It felt kind of like I was giving birth to myself. I was bringing a new part of myself into this world. A part of me that I hadn’t even known existed a month ago, a part of me that had lain dormant—until now. A creature that was as much a part of me as the girl I’d always been. I was starting to realize that I didn’t have to choose only one; I could be both.
The pain was horrible, but brief, stopping almost as quickly as it had started. And I was dreading feeling it again, but I had to keep trying. I started to push myself up with my hands and feet, but I didn’t have any; four little paws had taken their place.
I stared, in shock, at the rest of my body, and I wished so badly that I had a mirror. I stood up on wobbly legs, not really used to this body yet. Two of my legs and my tail were also missing their fur, but after several failed attempts, the fur finally sprang forth. I was a fox!
I had expected to feel different, more like an animal I guess, but under the fur and tail and paws, I was still me.
I could hear small things scurrying all around me, which I hadn’t been able to hear before. I could even hear my friends talking and laughing in the meadow.
“What is taking her so long?” Cassie asked. “It’s been over an hour; if she doesn’t come out soon I’m going to go get her!”
“I’m sure she’s fine,” Mason reassured her. “I have an idea what she’s up to.”
“Well … what is it?” Matt asked.
“If I ruin her surprise, she will bite me,” he said with a laugh.
“Well, if you don’t tell us, I might bite you!” Cassie told him.
I guess I better get back quickly before they kill each other or this wears off. I just hope I don’t accidentally change back in front of everyone and show all of my goodies.