by Gwen Hansen
Sheila's pacing brought her around to her bedroom window. She stopped a moment and looked out, surprised to discover that in this world, too, the moon was full. What had Illyria said? Something about the full moon "pulling things."
"Oh, pull me back across time," Sheila prayed.
Nothing happened; but then she hadn't expected it would. After all, magic didn't work in this world… Or did it? Sheila stared at the moon intently. It couldn't hurt to try, she figured.
In an effort to do justice to Micula's lessons, Sheila began the process of grounding. This time she let herself feel the moon—its light, its pull, its power. And only when she felt truly grounded did she call out the words for one final summoning: "Moon above," she began, "please call Illyria the Unicorn Queen to me." Her voice shook as she said, "I only want to say good-bye properly, but please let me see her one more time."
"Good-bye…?”
Sheila couldn't see anything, but Illyria's voice was so clear that she nearly fell to the floor.
"I never say good-bye to any of my riders," Illyria went on with a laugh. "We are friends for all time, Sheila, never doubt it."
"Are the unicorns okay now?" Sheila asked. "Please tell Morning Star I miss her. I miss you all."
"They're fine," Illyria assured her. "And you mustn’t he so sad. After all, you've summoned me. Don't you know what that means?"
But Illyria never answered her own question. Her voice was gone as suddenly as it had come.
Sheila slumped down on the bed, bereft. She was working hard to fight the tears when another voice entered the room. As Micula had once told her, magic is unpredictable. And so it was Darian who answered Illyria's question.
"What that means, Sheila," he said, half-teasing, half-serious, exactly the way she remembered him, "is that you've taken the magic with you."
"Are you sure?" Sheila asked, her voice trembling with joy.
"As sure as the moon rules the night sky." Darian sounded fainter now, and Sheila knew the summoning wouldn't last, but still his last words were clear and steady. ''I don't know when or how, but you will find a way to reach us again. Of that, I have no doubt."