Mission Unicorn

Chapter Four

Sky, trees.

Sky, trees.

Sky, trees.

Bird!

"Look!" Zoe tried to point, but the swing stopped and then Indy's not-fun friend was in the way, leaning too close, her big head blocking out the sky and the bird and everything.

"You have to hold on, okay? You could get hurt." Zoe grunted and leaned to the side, trying to see around the frizzy hair. It was too late. The bird was gone.

"As long as you hold on, I'll push you. Deal?"

Zoe scrunched up her face. "Push bigger."

"Uh, okay, I guess." Big Head looked worried. "How hard does Indy usually push you?"

Zoe shrugged. "Indy doesn't like to play with me."

"What? No, of course she does."

Zoe shook her head.

"She locks her door and she talks on her computer and she wants me to go away."

"She just, um... Sometimes your sister gets... you know, I'm one of her best friends and, I mean..." Big Head was still talking, and not pushing. Zoe started wiggling in the swing. "Your sister does care about other people," said the girl, looking over to where Indy was standing with her back to them. "But I think sometimes she forgets that they're there. Like, when she locks the door, then she forgets that she locked it, and doesn't realize there are people waiting outside."

"She should give us a key," said Zoe.

Maybe Indy's not-fun friend didn't know about keys. She just went behind Zoe and started pushing. Now Zoe was swinging back and forth so far she could see the little grey rocks beneath the swing, too. Sky, trees, rocks, trees, sky. She could hear Indy and the other girls talking about the forest. Zoe didn't like seeing the rocks below her. Rocks were sharp. But she liked the swing, and didn't want the girl to not want to push her anymore. Zoe held the cold, fat chains tighter and didn't say anything.

"You know what? I don't even care," said Indy, exasperated. "If you guys want to spend your whole afternoon talking to a three-year-old, go for it. If you play it right, maybe you can get my parents to pay you to babysit. Because Charlotte and I are going to go do something that's actually fun." Indy called out to Charlotte as she turned, then saw Charlotte was crouched in front of Zoe, who was sitting on the unmoving swing.

"Indy, what do I do?" Charlotte called back. "I don't know why she's crying!"

Indy groaned, then trotted over to the swing set with Sook and Maddison trailing behind her.

"Why did you leave me alone with her?" Charlotte blurted as they approached, her own eyes watery. "I don't know anything about kids. They're so breakable!"

"What happened?" said Indy, not sure yet who to feel worse for.

"I fell, I fell, I fell" cried Zoe over and over again, a bubble of snot appearing out of one nostril. Indy sighed and picked her up out of the swing.

Indy crouched down on the grass and stood Zoe in front of her.

"Where does it hurt?"

"But she DIDN'T fall," said Charlotte. "She was having a good time. I thought she was having a good time."

"Zoe," Indy prodded. "Were you having fun with Charlotte?"

Zoe blinked her wet eyes. She looked up at Charlotte. "Charlow was pushing me..."

"So then why are you crying?"

"I could hear you. Talking about the forest."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," said Maddison. "How could she know what we were talking about? There's no way she could have heard us."

"This is getting freaky," said Sook.

"What? No, it's not freaky at all," said Charlotte. "I could hear you guys. You were practically yelling."

"Oh," said Maddison. "Sorry."

Indy couldn't tell if Maddison was apologizing for being loud or for trying to credit Zoe with superhuman senses. Either way, Sook wasn't slowing down in the slightest.

"So why did hearing about the forest make you cry? Because of how scary it is?"

"Because I was looking for the unicorn and I fell on the rocks and it hurt for a long time and it was dark and I couldn't get up."

"Is that how you died in the forest?" said Sook. "You fell on the rocks?"

Zoe took a few short, sharp breaths and kept swallowing hard. Indy knew what Zoe's hurt cry sounded like and what her frustrated cry sounded like and her sad cry and even her fake cry, but she'd never heard Zoe make these noises before. She felt her stomach flip, and she couldn't resist reaching out and pulling Zoe against her.

"Hey, it's okay, Zoester Toaster..."

"Why was it dark? Did you fall at night?"

"Just back off for a minute Sook," said Indy.

Sook couldn't believe that Indy still wasn't on board with getting all the info they could out of the snot factory. And from the look on Maddison's face, it looked like she was wavering too.

"Okay, I just thought you said we could talk to her all afternoon, if we wanted to."

"Are you TRYING to make her cry?" Blurted Charlotte. "First you guys totally ignore her, then you just want to talk to her when you think she's going to be useful or funny or whatever you think this is?"

"Hey, no worries," said Sook, making a mental note that Charlotte might not have only been talking about the toddler. "Whatever you guys want is fine by me. I just thought, you know, based on all the time I've spent with my younger cousins, it seemed like maybe Zoe wanted to talk about it is all."

"She's just making up a story for you," Charlotte hissed quietly. But while not superhuman, Zoe did have the kind of hearing that comes with ears which are practically brand new.

"It's not a story," Zoe mumbled. "I climbed up on the big rock with the face on it and I saw him but I fell. There was a hole and it was sharp and dark and I don't like the rocks."

"The... the one with the face on it?" said Indy.

"The rock with the face. And the tall skinny hat."

Something had changed. Sook looked at the other three girls, who were exchanging glances.

"What?" said Sook.

"Are you SURE your parents haven't taken her?" Maddison asked Indy.

"Not a chance," said Indy.

"What?" Sook asked again.

"You can see it from where we camp," started Maddison.

"You can see it from the trails, too," said Charlotte.

"But you can't see it from the road," said Indy. "A boulder up on a ridge. It's got a nose that juts out and a single pine tree growing out of the top..."

"Like a hat!" Zoe was smiling. "Can we go on the slide now?"