Shades of Starlight (Hiatus)

Book Two: Chapter One

"Says, like, the most powerful Beguiler ever," Sophie teased. I laughed.

"I'm nothing compared to you," I told her. She was the famous one. I was just her friend. We stopped for a breath at a misty stream.

"How are you doing this in those shoes?" Sophie panted. I examined the three-inch heel on one of the black boots I was wearing.

"It's not that hard. Only a few inches, anyway." Sophie raised an eyebrow. She was wearing a plain tan tunic and brown pants. My tunic was fitted black, edged with purple velvet on the sleeves and hem, with matching purple leggings. While Sophie's clothes and shoes were splattered with mud, however, mine were spotless.

"You're supposed to stay by my side," Sandor complained when he reached our stopping point. Sophie ignored him and pointed toward the snow-capped mountains I'd been admiring.

"It's there," she told us.

"No more separating," Grady ordered. "I don't know this part of the forest." I wasn't surprised. It was wild up here, and it looked like nobody had been here for centuries. As we followed the stream higher up the mountain, the ground turned to extremely squishy moss. The moss was very slick, too, and Sophie was constantly slipping on it. I took her arm, steadying her as she pinpointed the creature's location yet again.

All of a sudden, she hurried forward and stepped on a branch with a loud 'Crack!' She jerked her arm out of my hand and started sprinting again. I took off after her as fast as I could, trying to keep up. Her feet were barely touching the ground, it looked like she was flying. I channeled energy from my brain to my legs like my P.E teacher had taught us, running harder and harder. Just as I was almost caught up, she stopped. I leaned against a pine trunk covered in rough bark, breathing hard.

"It's behind those trees," Sophie whispered. I nodded, almost ready. We each took a few deep breaths and entered the clearing.

***

I gasped, and I heard Sophie do the same next to me. The sound echoed off of the circle of trees as I stared at the creature in front of us. A few feet away stood a pale, glittering horse with extended feathery wings. It had a wavy silver mane down its back that parted around a horn of swirled silver and white in the center of its forehead. I knew what it was instantly. I'd read about them in books and had even seen one before, in the Sanctuary.

"An alicorn," I breathed, turning to Sophie, who was staring into the alicorn's deep brown eyes, flecked with gold. The alicorn whinnied.

"It's okay, we won't hurt you," Sophie told her. The alicorn stamped her hooves and nickered, but didn't fly away.

"We're friends," I said to the alicorn. Sophie's eyes widened, and she looked sad all of a sudden.

"You're lonely?" Sophie whispered to the creature.

"There you are," Grady said as he and Sandor walked into the clearing. The alicorn whinnied again and launched itself into the sky. Grady's jaw dropped by about a foot.

"A friend," I said calmly to the alicorn, putting a little bit of Beguiling power into my voice. The alicorn looked slightly less panicked... maybe? I really didn't know.

"Sandor, you're scaring it. You need to get back," Sophie told her bodyguard. Sandor didn't move a muscle. I rolled my eyes. He was so stubborn.

"Please. We can't lose this creature. You know how essential it is to our world," Grady pleaded. Sandor sighed and thundered out of the clearing, muttering to himself about his job.

"This horse is that important?" Sophie asked, squinting at the poor alicorn.

"Yeah. We've only found one ever. We thought they were extinct for years, but we found another one a long time ago and took it to the Sanctuary. I've seen it," I said, staring at the beautiful animal. She was magnificent.

"Can either of you call it down?" Grady asked. Could Beguiling really affect alicorns? I'd tried to Beguile it earlier, but I had no idea if it had worked. It was worth a shot, though.

"Come down. It's okay, we don't mean you any harm." I put as much honey in my voice as possible, hoping the alicorn would be soothed by it. Sophie was transmitting to it, I could tell. The alicorn circled around in the air and landed only inches away from us.

"Good girl," I told the alicorn, not sure how I knew her gender. Grady's eyes widened.

"Girl?" he asked. Sophie and I both nodded. Then I sucked in a breath.

"The alicorn at the Sanctuary is male!" Grady and I both said at the same time. Sophie grinned, looking lost in thought. This was the find of a lifetime! It meant that we wouldn't lose the alicorns forever after all. But wait...

"Um... how are we going to get her home, though?" I asked, killing everyone's excitement. Grady took out his sasquatch harness, which was clearly far too big for the long, skinny alicorn.

"Good question. It's not like we have an alicorn restraint or anything," he said. Sophie was staring into the alicorn's eyes again.

"Maybe we don't need one." She reached out a hand and took a small step forward.

"Easy," I told the alicorn as Sophie took another step. The alicorn nickered. Sophie closed the space between them and patted the bridge of the alicorn's nose. She let out a sigh and nuzzled Sophie's shoulder. I giggled.

"Do you think she'll let me touch her?" Grady asked, starting forward. The alicorn reared and flapped her wings, terrified again. I guess that was a no.

"I can leap her to-" Sophie offered. Grady cut her off.

"Absolutely not! It's far too dangerous," Grady nearly shouted, spooking the alicorn.

"I can handle it," Sophie insisted. I took a small step forward.

"It's okay, I'll go with her," I told Grady. "She likes me, anyway," I said, addressing the alicorn. "Don't you, girl?" I stroked her mane gently, carefully. The alicorn didn't move. Grady sighed.

"I guess two is better than one, but I still don't like it. Sandor and I will leap to Havenfield at the same time to make sure everything goes well, okay?" Sophie and I agreed and pulled out our Havenfield crystals.

"Three... two... one!" I counted down. In unison, we stepped into the light our crystals refracted and let the shimmering rainbow sweep us away.