A Magical Walk

 

            Rose was so excited. Finally, she was old enough to go with Cleo to the village. As a young witch, Rose hadn’t been allowed to venture out until she had learned all she needed to know about the mortal world. For fifteen long years, Rose had been confined to the cottage and the surrounding area. The forest was off-limits because it was full of magical creatures. Her mother had wanted to make sure she could handle herself against whatever she might come across.

            The bright sunshine kissed her face as Rose inhaled deeply. She was ready. “Come on, Cleo! Let’s go!” she shouted, anxious to get going.

            Cleo came out of the cottage with her basket on her arm. “All right, all right, I’m coming.” She looked sternly at Rose and said, “You’ve got your wand, right?”

            Rose showed her sister her wand in her hand. Then she slipped it inside her pocket. “Of course, now let’s go.” Then, for the first time ever, Rose crossed the magical border of their land and stepped into the deep, dark forest. She felt the protective magic leave her, but she continued on.

            At first, Rose looked carefully all around her as they started on the path to the village. She expected to see all the dangerous creatures her mother and sister had told her about, but she saw nothing. After nearly fifteen minutes of only seeing trees and bushes, Rose asked, “Where are they?”

            “Who?” Cleo asked.

            “You know, the dangerous magical creatures.”

            “There have been a few trips where I haven’t seen anything, but we’ve got a five-mile walk ahead of us. Plenty of time to run into something.”

            Appeased for the moment, Rose continued to look around as they walked along. After half an hour, she was starting to think that they wouldn’t see anything and was feeling disappointed. She was looking down at her feet when she heard a loud “snap.”

            Rose’s head jerked up and her eyes went wide as she saw a beautiful animal step onto the trail ahead of them. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw its white body with the silver horn sticking out of its forehead.

            “Amazing,” Rose breathed as she studied the unicorn. She and Cleo had both stopped to stare at the unicorn.

            “Wow,” Cleo said, sounding impressed. “I’ve actually never seen a unicorn before. They’re supposed to be super secretive and shy. Why would this one show itself to us?”

            Rose didn’t care why, she just wanted to get closer. The unicorn was more than twenty feet up the path, and it was grazing on the grass next to it. Rose slowly and silently started edging forward, watching the unicorn.

            The unicorn stopped its grazing and watched her. It seemed very patient and calm, not skittish like Rose would have thought. She slowly moved forward until she could reach out and touch the unicorn’s pure white fur.

            As Cleo watched her sister get closer and closer to the unicorn, something began to bother her. Why wasn’t the unicorn running away? This wasn’t normal unicorn behavior. Unicorns preferred to keep to themselves. When Rose had nearly reached the unicorn, something finally clicked in Cleo’s mind. “Wait, Rose, don’t touch it!” she shouted as she ran up right behind Rose.

            Rose actually had her hand extended and ready to pat the unicorn. “Why not? It’s like it’s waiting for me.”

            “But I think it’s a shapeshifter!” Cleo said desperately as she grabbed Rose’s hand just as Rose was about to touch the unicorn.

            The unicorn turned to glare at Cleo as Rose asked, “How do you know?”

            “There’s no way a real unicorn wouldn’t have run away by now.” She pulled Rose along by the arm, trying to get away from the unicorn.

            “Aww, come on!” Rose complained. “It’s just an innocent unicorn.” She pointed back to the unicorn, but it was gone. In its place was a nightmarish creature. A black, scraggly horse glared at them with red eyes. Long silver spikes ran along its back and two wicked-looking horns sat atop its head. It made a noise that was something between a horse’s neigh and a bear’s roar. It started to run after the girls.

            Rose yelped as she allowed Cleo to pull her along. Hoofbeats sounded behind them and urged her to move faster. Cleo grabbed her wand from her basket and spun around, just as the nightmare horse had nearly reached them. With a powerful burst of magic, Cleo performed a freezing spell.

            Rose watched as the creature immediately froze in place and ice formed all along its body. Cleo looked at Rose and said, “Never trust a unicorn that doesn’t automatically run off.”

            Rose swallowed, looking at the horse’s spikes that were as sharp as knives on its back. “Okay,” she said weakly.

            The rest of their walk to the village seemed uneventful after that. They did see a few more magical creatures on the way, but nothing else attacked them.

            Rose and Cleo conducted their business in the village, which fascinated Rose. The concept of money was completely new to her. When it was time to leave, however, Rose hesitated. Cleo guessed what was bothering her and said, “It’s okay. Those kinds of shapeshifters that we saw are very rare. I doubt we’ll come across one ever again.”

            Even so, Rose walked the entire way back to the cottage with her wand in her hand. When they finally stepped back over the magical border near their home, Rose relaxed in relief. She had never felt so glad to be home.