What an odd sensation.
Stealing another deep breath, she tried to move her tongue again. It was awkward and stiff. Slowly, as she had to concentrate on each word she wanted to say, she asked, “Wha . . . What do . . . y . . . you mmmean?”
His answer was a nod towards herself—to her body.
Her skin was covered in white hair, her legs were long, and instead of feet, she had split hooves. She jolted in surprise, becoming acutely aware that she now had a tail. More than a little alarmed, she tried to stand, but her legs tangled underneath her, and she didn’t make it off the ground. “W-What the hell?!” she screamed, her words overpronounced as her tongue fumbled to find its rhythm.
“You transformed,” Damien explained. “You’re a unicorn, Luna.”
“No.” She shook her head, denying the truth before her very eyes. “This is just . . . a bad dream.” Any moment now, she would wake up in her cozy bed, and this nightmare would be over.
She shut her eyes and then silently counted down from ten.
When she reached zero, she slowly opened them.
“Dammit!” Hair still covered her body. Unable to control herself, she unleashed a string of profanities followed by more denial. “This can’t be happening.” How couldshebe a unicorn? She didn’t have any magic. She washuman.
Damien’s soft voice interrupted her panic. “Are you okay?”
“Do I look okay?!” she snapped at him. Her mane whipped around her as she shook her head. “I don’t understand . . . I can’t—I can’t be a unicorn.”
The corners of his lips wrinkled in a way that she instinctively knew was a smile. Did he think this was funny?
“Did . . .” Her head twisted sideways. “Did you do this to me?”
“Make you a unicorn?” He snorted, as if the mere suggestion was obtuse. “No. There’s no magic in any world that could make a human a unicorn.”
Her soul left her body. Wouldn’t she have known she wasn’t a human? Damien had to be lying. Her thoughts tumbled in her mind as she tried to think of any moment in her life that would’ve indicated she was a unicorn. She shook her head. “I’m a human. I’m not a . . . a—” She sneered, her lips folding up from the movement, stopping herself from finishing that sentence; now was not the time to refer to unicorns as vile beasts.
His eyes softened. “It’s true. Luna, you’re a unicorn. Humans don’t bleed magic.”
His words pierced her heart. Her chest heaved, and she gasped for breath. He was referring to the cuts he’d healed after she escaped the palace walls. She had thought the light was due to her illness. Never would she have suspected the light was magic.
So, I really am a . . . a . . .She couldn’t even bear to think the truth, let alone say it aloud.
Tears welled in her eyes. What would her family think of her? Why couldn’t she just be normal like everyone else? First, her illness, and now this. “Just change me back. Please. I just want to go home.”
He jerked his chin, snapping his head towards his chest, clearly appalled by her reaction. “Your plan is to return and pretend you aren’t a unicorn? The very being that everyone, including your family, hates so much.”
Inhaling, she took a deep breath, filling her lungs, and then let it out. The air was fresher through this nose, and the scent of sweet grass soothed her frazzled nerves.
As stupid as it might sound, that’s exactly what she wanted to do. She wanted to pretend this was all a dream and go back to her normal life. She lifted her chin. “Yes.”
Damien turned his head away from her. The wind played with his long black mane, wisping about. His gaze focused somewhere off in the distance as if he was contemplating what to do. “Shifting to human form isn’t easy.”
That was a yes, right? He was going to help her. But, of course, he was. This man—well, unicorn—had only ever shown her kindness. She tilted her head. “What do you mean?”
He shifted his weight from one leg to the other, clearly uncomfortable with the information he was going to give her. His silence was agonizing and tension built. Her mouth went dry as she imagined the worst possible scenario. She was trapped as a beast.
When he finally answered her question, she barely heard him above her panicked thoughts and the pounding of her own heart. “Changing between forms takes time to learn, you need to be able to control your magic. It’s not something you can learn in a matter of minutes.”
A vision flashed in her mind of her parents waking up the next morning and realizing she wasn’t there. “I don’t have time; I’m supposed to be back home already.” But what other option did she have? She wouldn’t beable to go home like this. Unicorns were known for their ruthless fury to destroy anything human. They were the enemy. Luna’s throat bobbed.I’m the enemy.Or at least, that’s how everyone would see her now. Pain radiated from her heart, spreading across her chest and travelling down her limbs. A gentle whinny burst from her lips.
Damien grunted, interrupting the pity party he wasn’t invited to. His ears were flipped backwards, flattening against his head. Clearly, he didn’t like how this conversation was going. “There are worse things than being a unicorn,” he corrected, his voice rumbling softly.
She couldn’t help herself. “I can’t think of a single thing that could be worse than this.” She had spent her entire life wanting to be normal. To not be sick, to be able to live like everyone else did; being a unicorn did not align with that dream.
Her eyes widened and a realization dawned on her. Had Damien known she was a unicorn the whole time? Even when she had called him the enemy. What a hypocrite she must have looked like.How embarrassing.Heat, matching the fury of the sun, burned her cheeks. For a brief moment, she was thankful she was a unicorn so at least he couldn’t see her embarrassment, but her relief was short-lived.I must be losing my mind. There is nothing good about being a unicorn.She pushed the thoughts aside, wanting answers, and she forced herself to ask, “I was always told I had this condition . . . That if I got injured, I would die. No one ever said that my illness was because I was a unicorn.”
