Shawna awoke in a panic, then realized she was lying in a very musty moth-eaten bed. Sunlight streamed in from grimy glass panes. Through her bedside window, rolling green hills met a vast forest stretching to the horizon.
“All right, my dear?”
She whirled around. An old, nearly toothless woman was grinning at her. The woman looked like she used a swamp for personal hygiene. Her matted gray hair hung with bracken, and Shawna was certain she saw a frog peep out from a clump of twigs.
“Nose swollen? Ears shriveled? Pox in your pits?” croaked the old lady.
Shawna silently raised an eyebrow.
The crone looked disappointed. “Oh well,” she sighed, leaning back in her cushioned chair. “Not all are blessed with such afflictions. Some lose their minds and hop around croaking like toads for the rest of their lives after going through a portal like that. Feeling hoppy?”
“What is this?” Shawna said, scooting back against the headboard.
The old woman just continued to peer at her through layers of eyelid. Shawna was about to raise her voice to repeat herself, then fell silent. A golden glittering haze floated in from a window. As it came nearer, she saw that it was a tiny winged girl wearing a dress of pink flower petals. She could hardly believe what she was seeing. Dream, she told herself. It’s a dream. I’m dreaming.
The fairy fluttered just within arm’s reach, then, “achoo!”
There was a puff of dusty gold as the fairy violently sneezed herself into a spider web. The hag crowed with laughter, but Shawna gasped when a large black spider excitedly scurried towards its prey. The fairy swung up her leg and there was a sharp, smack, as she kicked the spider from the web. It made an audible, “eep,” as it fell and scurried away.
Shawna just sat there, stunned, while the crone continued to cackle and snort. The chair looked ready to collapse under the old lady’s convulsions of glee. The fairy daintily extracted herself from her disgracing situation, and fluttered over.
“Hellooo,” she said in a sweet sing-song voice as if nothing at all had just happened.
She glided over to Shawna, still trailing spider web, and alighted on a bedpost.
“I’m Lula, and that’s Capella,” said the fairy, throwing a disgusted look at the old hag. “You probably think you’ve lost your mind like that shriveled old harpy”—she thumbed over her shoulder at Capella—“but don’t worry. You haven’t.”
“What is going on?!” Shawna shouted.
Lula and Capella looked at each other as a loud snort then a whistle came from above. Shawna slowly raised her eyes to see a large pink bat hanging from the rafters. It was asleep and making little whistles as it exhaled. Shawna bit her lip and stared around warily at the strangers before her.
“Oh, she’s got spice,” said Capella, throwing her arms out and back-handing Lula off the bedpost. “I like that. She’ll be just fine. Well, besides the possibility of death.”
Lula unsteadily flew back to the post, rubbing her head, and glaring furiously at the boisterous old crone.
“What are you talking about?” Shawna glowered. “This is only a dream.” She looked around like everything would suddenly dissolve and she’d wake up in her own bed.
“Actually, no, it is not.” Capella suddenly reached out and flicked Shawna’s nose with a knobby finger.
Shawna jumped a mile, knocking her head against the wall.
“See, not a dream.” Capella laughed.
Shawna wondered what she could use for self defense, but saw nothing except dust and spider webs. While she sat there, at a loss for words or action, a glossy black head with dark violet eyes poked through the open window.
“She jests but means well,” echoed the unicorn’s calming voice in her mind.
Flashes of memory from last night came back to her: the creature, falling from the tree, red eyes, and…the black unicorn.
“Poor little muskrat,” tittered Capella. “Her tongue must have shriveled up, and she’s swallowed it.” She whacked Shawna hard on the back.
With a choking cough, Shawna yelled something incoherent and plastered herself against the wall, glaring fiercely. Capella looked unimpressed.
“Good. Almost got your tongue back,” Capella said. “I do, if need be, have methods of re-growing things. I once re-grew a man’s eyes after they popped out of his head, and he can see abso-lute-ly fine now.” She grinned which only made her look more unconvincing.
“No he can’t,” said Lula. “You just gave him one big eye.” She poked her own forehead. “Here.”
“Well,” said Capella, shifting in her seat, bones and chair creaking together. “It was his own silly fault for peeping at me while I was bathing in the waterfall.” She stuck her nose in the air, hairs sticking out from her nostrils.
Lula rolled her eyes. The unicorn looked amused and shook her mane. Shawna was staring at the only door, a few strides behind Capella, wondering if she should make a run for it, when the unicorn spoke to her in a calming tone.
“Come outside, Ava. There’s something I want you to see.”
Shawna looked around, then realized the unicorn had meant her. Some part of her mind tried to refuse and say, no, and my name is Shawna, but she found herself standing. She wanted nothing more than to obey the unicorn’s command. Not glancing at Capella or Lula, she walked out into the sunlight.
Something furry and heavy plopped onto her head, startling her from her fog of tranquility. She screamed like a banshee as leathery wings frantically whacked her in the face. The thing flopped from her head to the ground, flapping wildly.
“Sparkle!” snapped Capella, hobbling forward to retrieve the hapless bat. “You stupid flying rat, the horse didn’t mean you.”
Stunned, Shawna’s hands clutched her tangled hair. She looked down at the pink fox-faced bat and its big brown eyes. It looked so confused and dejected that she had a strange urge to pick it up and comfort the poor thing. Capella stooped over, wobbled a little, and scooped up the googily-eyed bat.
“Get it away from me. Get it away,” Shawna started muttering until Lula piped up.
“Exactly what I said.” She crossed her tiny arms as she hovered by the door. “If that bat comes near me again I’ll do more than turn it pink.”
“You will, will you?” Capella said.
“Yes,” Lula threatened, hands on her hips. “I’ll turn him into a cute, fuzzy, little….bunny.”
Capella gasped in mock alarm. “You wouldn’t.”
Lula narrowed her eyes. “Bun-nyyy.”
With a snort, Capella shuffled back over to Shawna and peered at her through rheumy eyes.
“Sparkle likes to eat fairies.”
The bat squeaked in excitement at the word fairy as she bustled off, lovingly cradling him.
The unicorn stamped the ground with a front hoof. “My apologies. My tone of voice can be…very persuasive.”
As the unicorn’s peaceful power washed over her once more, Shawna began to relax. Her fidgeting hands dropped to her sides.
“I’m really not dreaming?” she said, her eyes scanning the very real landscape.
The unicorn stepped closer and she stepped back, a bit intimidated by the large mythical creature.
“I wish you were, but I’m afraid this is more real than the world you knew. Let me show you.”
Before she could react, a shining horn pricked her forehead, and she was submerged into a vision.