Mission Unicorn

Chapter Two

Charlotte chewed her pancakes slowly and tried to gauge the situation. As soon as Indy's dad had appeared out of the dark last night and swept Zoe back to bed, Sook and Maddison had started excitedly chattering about ghost stories and nightmares and Ouija boards, only pausing for a few hours of sleep and never stopping long enough to realize that Indy was fuming. Now they were at it again, talking in too much code for Indy's dad to understand, but Indy sure noticed. She'd barely spoken all morning. Charlotte felt she should do her best to bridge the growing divide.

"So Indy, what should we do today? We never, um, we never decided last night."

"Because we got interrupted," snapped Indy. Unfortunately, when it came to dealing with people, Charlotte's best often wasn't very good.

"Well, we could play Minecraft?" suggested Charlotte. "Or maybe make cupcakes? Oh, or I could go get my volcano kit..."

"I do NOT want to stay here all day," said Indy.

"Why don't you girls do something outside?" said Indy's father from the stove where he was pouring more batter onto a sizzling frying pan. "Go ride that bike we spent good money on. I'm sure it would appreciate getting out of the garage once in awhile."

"Oh... my... god," said Sook. "We should go to the forest!"

"That's a terrible idea," said Indy.

"That a great idea," said Indy's dad. "I can pack you all a lunch. No nuts," he said, pointing his spatula at Charlotte, "no meat," he said, pointing at Maddison, then he turned to Sook. "And, um...?"

"No restrictions, Mr. Choudhury," said Sook, smiling.

"Oh, I'm Mr. Fisher," said Indy's dad. "But you can call me Ben."

"I kept my mom's name," Indy explained.

Sook did the quick calculation. Indy and her mother had similar caramel skin, brown hair, and brown eyes. Ben, with his pale skin and sandy brown hair, looked like he should be Maddison's dad, or maybe Charlotte's. This was Indy's step-father, and Zoe was her half-sister. Sook had assumed Indy's jealously over her sister stealing the show last night was just regular sibling rivalry. But maybe there was more to it than that. In Sook's experience, the only way to find out something like that was to push it.

When Ben turned his attention back to breakfast-making, Sook turned to the other girls at the table and said in a quiet voice, "You know what else we should take to the forest besides a lunch?"

"Bug spray? Sunscreen? GPS?"

"No Charlotte. We should take Zoe."

And with that, Indy regretted inviting Sook to her sleepover at all. The new girl had seemed nice enough and kind of cool in class, and adding a fourth to their group of best friends sounded like a fun idea. But now Indy missed when easy-going Maddison and wishy-washy Charlotte had left all the decisions to her.

"Speak of the devil," muttered Maddison, and Indy looked up to see her saviour walking in - her mom, carrying a barely-awake Zoe.

"Hey Mom, can we take Zoe to the forest today?" Indy asked brightly.

"No, don't ask!" hissed Sook, but it was too late.

"What? No. Absolutely not. No one is going to the forest," said Indy's mother, lowering Zoe into a chair.

"Sorry," said Indy to her friends. "I tried. Looks like none of us can go."

"But Lola, sweetheart, why not?" said Ben. "I think it would be good for them to get outside."

While Indy's parents settled into a debate on the pros and cons of fresh air and pointy sticks, Maddison tuned them out and fixed her gaze on Zoe. What did the kid mean when she said she had died in the forest? Was it just a silly kid story, or a movie she'd seen, or a dream? Or was it something more? Because, although she'd never told anyone, there was a strange feeling Maddison got in that forest, different from all of the other wild places her parents had taken her. Why had Zoe told her to be careful?

"Good morning, Zoe. Did you have a good sleep?"

Zoe scrunched up her face against the bright kitchen lights and rubbed her eyes.

"Did you dream last night?"

Zoe nodded. Maddison glanced up and saw the other girls were listening in. Sook looked excited, Charlotte looked scared, and Indy looked... well, Indy always looked grumpy in the morning. The adults were still talking in circles, as adults do.

"What did you dream about, Zoe? Were you in the forest?"

Zoe shook her head, no.

"Did you dream about unicorns?"

Zoe shook her head again. As quietly as she could, Maddison asked,

"Did you dream about dying?"

"Maddison!" yelped Charlotte. But Zoe wasn't upset; she was grinning.

"I dreamed about BREAKFAST!" she announced.

"Then you shall have it," said Ben as he placed a plate of small pancakes in front of her.

"See Maddy?" said Indy. "She's just being a goof. Can we move on now?"

"I want coffee!" said Zoe, and her parents laughed.

"You don't drink coffee," said Lola. Then she looked at Sook directly, the only person in the room she was worried might doubt her parenting skills. "We've never let her drink coffee."

"I like my coffee black, no sugar," said Zoe.

"I really don't know where she gets this stuff," said Lola, laughing nervously.

"It must be from the TV," said Ben.

"Does she... does she say stuff like that a lot?" asked Maddison, glancing at Indy.

"What was it last week? We saw some kind of pick-up truck and she said it was hers," laughed Ben.

"My red Silverado," muttered Zoe, and Maddison felt something tighten in her chest. Something about this was very not right, but nobody else seemed to have heard, or else they were pretending not to notice. Maddison needed to get more time with Zoe, without the little girl's parents around to hear.

"Anyway, good news," said Lola. "Your dad and I have reached a compromise. No one may go to the forest today, but you CAN take Zoe to the playground."

And as Zoe started chanting "play-ground!" over and over again it took everything Indy had not to scream.