Stella peered through the thick trees at the sky. It was going to snow later but not for many hours yet. She should be gone from this forest by then. She walked among the trees at an even pace. She kind of had to in these strappy heels. She could have changed her shoes but then it wouldn’t have had the same effect and it wasn’t like she needed to walk fast. She had left with time enough to get to precisely where she intended at a comfortable pace. To an outside observer it might have looked strange. A petite blond woman in a black cocktail dress out for a stroll in the woods between the sea and a string of sparsely separated farm estates. All of them were large and on fertile land but they had also been here awhile and many were in questionable states of repair, not unlivable but far from desired by the elite. Out here was working man’s land with only dirt roads for access. There wasn’t even a nice view unless one liked the forest, which some did. The ancient woods kept the livestock and crops protected from the fierce winds that struck the north end of the eastern coast the hardest, but today the air was calm in an almost eerie kind of way.

Stella’s path might look odd to an outside observer. She was headed toward a particular house but it was a very roundabout way of getting there. Stella knew what she was doing and precisely what was coming. This was one of Murphy’s jobs, the last one she would do for awhile she had decided. She walked forward with the look of one who had a plan for everything, except perhaps, for the iridescent unicorn which stepped right into the middle of her path.

Stella paused. She had not seen that coming, at least not magically. She also really really did not like horses. Unicorns were supposed to be far smarter than horses but it didn’t matter, to Stella they all looked the same and intelligence if anything just made them even harder to predict. It was bad enough trying to figure out what a regular horse what going to do, let alone one with superpowers. People were the hardest of all, especially if the future involved Stella interacting with them. She could still do it, view the conversations as they were likely to happen in her mind. The problem was that seeing something, inevitably unconsciously altered one’s own behaviour and sometimes even the smallest shift in facial expression could have wildly different consequences. So much of communication was in the unspoken. For a horse, the way one sat and shifted about made all the difference.

She had seen it coming in a physical sense, out of the corner of her eye but she had figured it would just move on by if she ignored it. Unicorns were not meant to be easy to capture so why then had it walked directly up to her and stopped right in the middle of her path?

She waved her hands at it.

“Shoo!” she told it timidly.

Most unicorns tended toward one colour or another but this one was a little bit of everything. It probably made it a very expensive beast, maybe even worth more than some of the houses out here. But Stella was not interested, she had plenty of money and knew a million different ways to get more. She just didn’t want the big scary creature with sharp horn and hooves to get any closer.

“Go away horse.”

It was said that unicorns were proud animals and that some of them understood language although they could not speak it. Stella hoped the insult would make it leave her alone. But instead the pretty creature took another step closer.

“Oh no.” Stella scrunched up her eyes, balled her fists, and pulled her elbows in tight near her body, as the thing got right up next to her. “No, no. Go away please.” Even if it was slenderer than a regular horse it was still so much bigger than she was. And then there was that sharp horn.

She whimpered as the creature put it’s nostrils into her hair and then nuzzled her neck. She stood stock still, too afraid to move.

She breathed out and opened her eyes as she felt the thing take a step back. She could feel her whole body shaking and it had nothing to do with the cold. Why hadn’t she seen this coming? Even without having meditated properly she should have seen this. She had done some scouting ahead of this day. Plus the thing being here was throwing of the timing.

It stood looking at her. Maybe she could walk around it now? She tried to see ahead, to find a way out, but she found the immediate future conspicuously blank.

She glanced off to the side. Then it stepped close again. Stella whimpered but she didn’t close her eyes. It nuzzled her shoulder gently and blew out softly through it’s nose. It seemed like it wanted her to do something but she wasn’t sure what.

Carefully she raised one hand and placed it on the creature’s neck. She spared no thought for how lucky she might have appeared to anyone else if anyone else had the fortune to even view such a scene. Many people went their whole lives having only dreamed about touching a unicorn. But to Stella it was the most terrifying thing she had ever done up until the thing that happened about 5 minutes after that.

The fur of the unicorn was soft and silky, not like any horse at all. It was more like cat hair than horse hair, and so much finer still. As she touched the unicorn, it lowered it’s horn and rested it against her skin. At first Stella flinched. She knew how sharp those things were, but then she felt a vision coming on, different from her usual visions. In it she saw a shared future and when she broke apart from the unicorn a moment later she was no longer as scared as she had been for this creature was just like her, almost.

“You’re a psychic too?” Stella said to it. It explained her difficulty seeing ahead. The presence of another psychic always made foresight a little more difficult, even a weaker one hampered things a little, while a stronger one could shut another’s visions down completely.

She wasn’t expecting an answer. It did bow it’s head though. The movement was so slight that Stella couldn’t be sure if it was just a coincidence or not. It didn’t matter though, from what she had seen, she knew the unicorn understood at least some of what the future held even if it wasn’t in quite the same way she did.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Surprising even herself Stella raised her hand and stroked it’s fine neck. “I don’t blame you for running given what’s to come, but you’ll help won’t you? That’s why you’re here?”

Another slight bow that could have been just a head bob.

“But you have to go back after. You should.”

The creature shook its mane. Stella still wasn’t sure if it was just her imagination.

“I’ll get Coal to buy you for me. He would have to. I’m not allowed to interact directly, you understand why don’t you?”

The unicorn lowered it’s head and stretched it’s neck and gave as small huff through the nostrils. Stella took that as acquiescence.

“And you’ve made me late you know.” It was a gentle playful chide but there was truth in it too. Stella wasn’t so keen on having to run to get there, not in these heels.

There was another soft snort and then the unicorn did something horrifying. It turned slightly side on, bent it’s legs, and lowered it’s body in a way that could mean only one thing. It was inviting her to ride.

Stella’s eyes widened and she shook her head. “Oh no no no no no.”

The unicorn snorted more strongly. Insistently.

“No, you don’t understand. I don’t ride.”

But the unicorn was waiting patiently and she was late.

Stella’s face crumpled and she shivered. “But I’m in a dress,” she complained as she climbed up on it’s slender back. It was bony and hard and even the hair of its mane felt slippery. Stella felt like she was sitting on top of an eel. She gave another small whimper as the creature rose. But despite not being as round or as comfortable as a horse, its movements were a lot smoother.

They loped through the forest, a three beat pace less jolting than a canter, leaping over fallen logs and dodging decaying stumps. Stella clung on for dear life, knowing she had no other option. Her small, sweaty hands, entangled themselves in the unicorn’s beautiful mane. Small ferns whipped past them and all too soon they reached a lone figure walking through the forest toward them.

The figure had her face down, holding a rubbish bag full of clothes and scrambling over large stumps with small hands, such that she didn’t see them until they were almost upon her.

Lily glanced up after climbing over yet another fallen log, to see before her an iridescent unicorn, closer than any of them had come to her so far. She hadn’t missed how every time she went near their paddock they’d move away from the fence. Amanda had said you couldn’t force a unicorn but it had seemed to Lily like it was almost as if they were frightened of her specifically. Did they know what she was? What she would become? Did they sense it? Even before she had known it herself.

She was pretty sure now, of what she was. She was something dangerous, a monster. So Lily had decided that she should leave and go somewhere far away, maybe to live with the other monsters. Maybe the werewolves in the woods would have her? She wasn’t sure and perhaps it didn’t matter. She didn’t think she had much time left anyway. She had brought food with her, stashed in the bag with her clothes but if she ran out and got hungry enough maybe she would suddenly learn how to hunt rabbits. Lily hadn’t really planned that far ahead and she certainly hadn’t planned to run into a unicorn. What was it doing all the way out here? Was it one of the ones that had been in the paddock back at the James’ farm. Truthfully, she hadn’t really gone that far from there yet.

She was so surprised by the sight of the unicorn that she didn’t see the rider until the woman slid of the creature’s back. And when she did see the rider she saw that she recognised her. It was the same woman who had been in the forest outside that house a week or so ago. The one who had told her everything was going to be alright and had then vanished. The one who said her name was Stella. Lily found herself trusting her more now that she had come back. Also she was riding a unicorn. Not even Amanda rode the unicorns, at least not often, not that Lily had ever seen. You had to be really special for the unicorns to let you ride them.

“Lily, what are you doing out here?” Stella asked. She sounded disappointed.

Lily dropped her eyes. “I was...” she shook her head. She glanced down at her sleeves. Some of the blood from the welts on her arms had been starting to soak through. She looked up at Stella and in a shaky voice spoke. “You said everything was going to be alright. But it’s not is it?”

“I found your parents,” was Stella’s reply. “And it will be alright, you just have to hang in there a little longer okay.”

Lily was stunned and hopeful but also suspicious. What if it was a lie? But then she glanced at the unicorn and looked back to the woman. They were both so pretty and unicorns were supposed to be creatures of powerful magic and intelligence. If this unicorn trusted her then Stella couldn’t be bad. And Stella was dressed so nicely, the sort of outfit Lily had seen her own mother wear so many times before. She remembered that much of her past. She even smelt familiar.

“You found them?”

Stella nodded.

“Can I see them?”

Stella shook her head. “Not yet. Just a little longer okay. You have to go back to the James’ house Lily. I’ll come get you when it’s time.”

Lily looked at her sadly. “I don’t think I have much time.”

“It’ll get better, even as soon as this afternoon. You’ll see, but you have to go back now okay?”

Lily hesitated.

Stella dropped down to her own height so they were eye-level. “I promise. You’ll see. If it’s not better by tonight then you can always run away again tomorrow. I won’t stop you.”

Lily eyed her. She seemed so genuine and that sounded reasonable to her. What was one more night? “Okay.”

Stella stood up again and smiled.

Lily looked at the unicorn. She wondered if she could pet it. “Can I...” but she trailed off. It felt wrong to ask so instead she switched to a different question. “Is that your unicorn?”

Stella shook her head. “She’s a friend.”

Lily took a hesitant step toward it.

The unicorn stiffened.

Stella stepped between then and lowered herself to Lily’s height again. “You can pat her next time you see her, okay?”

Lily nodded. “Okay.”

They seemed to be waiting for Lily to leave first. Lily slowly turned and walked away, back the way she had come. When she’d gone several metres she turned around to look back, but by then both the unicorn and rider had vanished into thin air.

Stella watched Lily return and from a distance she followed, hidden in plain sight with a glamour spell. When they reached the forest just behind the house Stella went no further. The unicorn brushed up against her to wait with her. Stella turned to it.

“You have to go back to. She won’t pick you if you stay on the south side of the paddock. Trust me. You’ll be safe there. The rest I can’t do much about but you know it’s necessary, for the rest of the herd.”

The unicorn gave an undignified huff but it obeyed, exiting the forest and leaping back over the fence to join a small herd of many-coloured unicorns, none with quite the same iridescent sheen. Stella watched as it approached a couple of the other beasts. If she hadn’t known better she would have assumed that it was calling a meeting.