Sapphire (7 page)

She suddenly stopped like she’d been slapped across
the face. Lula bumped into the back of her head and sneezed.

“What'd you stop for?” Lula said irritably, rubbing
her nose.

“Lula. I’m crazy, aren't I? I'm a crazy person. I'm
in a padded room talking to the wall.”

Lula just stared at her like she was crazy.

“Yyyes,” Lula said slowly, looking concerned. “I
have no idea what you’re talking about.”

She peered at Shawna, then decided a unicorn would
be better company at the moment.

“I knew it,” Shawna sighed, shaking her head and
continuing to follow the mythical creatures in front of her. “Well,
if I am insane, at least it's not that bad.” Then she remembered
the all too real molochs and shuddered.

Night had finally fallen after a long day of
traveling through ferns and massive trees, whose tall tops
disappeared into low fog. Mira had provided them with a remarkable
fire to huddle around. She touched her horn to the ground, and a
white fire flamed into existence from thin air. It hung, suspended,
burning nothing. She lay on her side, her horn glowing dully
against the silhouetted forest surrounding them.

Shawna was glad for the provisions Capella had given
her, though she tried her best not to wonder if the dried meat was
Troll or not. Fairies, it seemed, could fend easily enough for
themselves, along with unicorns, so no extra provisions were given
to them. She gnawed on the hopefully-not-troll-jerky, staring at
the flames.

“What exactly are molochs? Why are they after me?”
She stared intensely at Mira as if it would force out an
answer.

She was unable tell what Mira was thinking, but Lula
jumped closer to the firelight.

“Don't talk about those!” she squeaked. “Why would
you want to talk about that right now? What's wrong with you?”

She tried not to laugh at Lula's distress; instead,
she turned back to Mira who replied, “We should leave such
discussions, as Lula said, for some other time.”

Shawna wanted to protest, but found her lips would
not work properly when she tried to repeat the question. “Then tell
me how you can do
that.
How are you able to make people
think or do what you want them to?”

“Yeah,” said Lula. “So I can tell you to go snort
bees the next time you want to trample my flowers.”

“We all have powers,” Mira said. “Some we discover,
some we never do, but all power comes from everything around us. It
is our intention that shapes it.”

“Our
intention?”
Shawna said while trying to
rip a piece of tough meat with her teeth.

“Yes. Belief can be a very powerful weapon.” She
pointed her horn at the floating fire. “If you don’t truly believe
you have the power, say, to do this. Then you’ll never even manage
a flicker.”

Lula was staring intently at the white flames like
they would reveal their non-pink secrets.

“But I can’t make a fire appear like that,” said
Shawna, pointing the jerky at it.

“Of course not.”

“You just said if I believed I could, then I
could.”

“And obviously you don’t. There’s more to it than
just
thinking
you can.
True
belief and intention is
not the same as just thinking you can do something. You must also
mold it, let it mold you, and you will become, you will create,
what you believe.”

Shawna dropped the jerky with a scoff.
“
Really?
” It took an inordinate amount of willpower to not
roll her eyes. “You sound like Mary and her,
Power of Prayer and
the Light Within,
self-help books. With all that righteous
light within her you’d think she’d…” She fell silent and picked up
a stone at her feet.

A little ache started squirming its barbed emotion
into her throat. She hadn’t realized how home-sick she suddenly
was. Then she imagined Tara freaking out about her strange
disappearance and felt guilty. Despite her longing, she’d never
want her friend to experience anything like this, even if it meant
seeing her again. Suddenly a few sparks of blue light leapt from
her fingers, and the stone burst into sand.

“Whoa!” Shawna and Lula said at the same time.

She scrambled to her feet. “What did I do?!”

“All that righteous light within,” giggled Lula.

Shawna glared at her, and Lula blushed. “It’s okay,”
she said, flying over and patting her on the shoulder. “So, little
sparks fly from your fingers, and you have no idea how. Just don’t
touch anyone you care about…like me.”

Shawna smiled a little as Lula continued. “Just
imagine sneezing every time you use your powers, or only being able
to turn things pink.” She was examining her tiny hands with
disappointment.

“But isn’t that your power?” Shawna asked.

“Not really.” Lula shook her little golden head. “I
actually hate that color. Pink’s ghastly. I just can’t seem to
change it.”

“Too much
pink
righteous light within?”
Shawna smirked.

“Oh, you’re funny.” Lula crossed her arms but
smiled.

“You focus on it too much,” said Mira. “You focus on
what a ‘ghastly’ color you think it is.” Lula looked unconvinced as
Mira preached on. “There are other more important things than what
color your power manifests as.”

Shawna raised an eyebrow and rolled her eyes. It was
a habit of hers when presented with “woo-woo,” her own term for
anything she thought absolutely ridiculous.
Like Tara believing
she’ll be famous singer.
She laughed silently, remembering the
off-tune yowling noises whenever her friend tried to sing.

“You okay?” Lula asked.

“Yeah.” She ran a finger through the pile of sand.
“Does everyone know I’m gone? What will happen when I go back?”

Mira turned her head towards her. “Go back?”

Shock ignited in her limbs, making them tingle and
her heart race. “But I…I
am
going back aren’t I?”

“This is your home. Those people that raised you
were useful in their own way, however, they are no longer
needed.”

“
What?
I’m supposed to
stay
here?”

“I am sorry if that distresses you.” Mira dipped her
head in sincere apology. “That is no longer where you belong. It
was a haven from those that would harm you. Nothing else.”

She wanted to shout back,
It was my home!
Instead, she just swallowed the fear thrashing inside of her. She
had
wanted this her entire life. Right? She had hoped every
night for things to be different, for her life to be more than it
was. She’d wanted this escape.
Then why do I still feel
trapped?
She bit her lip and stared at the fire.

“EEEE!” screamed Lula so loudly that Shawna nearly
stumbled into the fire as she and Mira leapt to their feet.

“What?!” Shawna yelled, frantically looking
around.

Lula zipped into the air and pointed towards a dark
hole in a nearby tree.

“I saw eyes! There’s something in there!”

Mira backed herself towards them, horn lowered at
the eye-level hole.

“Reveal yourself!”

Then they all saw it; a pair of large glowing eyes
peered at them from within the tree’s trunk.

“What is it?!” Lula cried out, then sneezed.

“Reveal yourself. I command you!” shouted Mira.

Her horn glowed brighter, and onto the stump of a
branch below the hole crawled a little furred body with huge round
eyes. It crept forward another inch, then sat back on its haunches.
Shawna had never seen anything so cute in her life.

I nearly peed myself because of
that?

It looked like a cross between a panda cub and a
tailless monkey. It had a round, fat, gray-furred body, big almond
eyes surrounded by two dark patches, and a tiny short muzzle with a
permanent looking smile. It scratched its nose with a tiny
monkey-like hand, its stubby hind legs sticking out to either side
of its potbelly, then looked at them forlornly. It was nauseatingly
want to squeeze it into a squishy pulp
cute.

“This creature is no danger to us,” Mira said,
raising her head. “It is a LorLor.”

Lula giggled and fluttered towards their little
spy.

“Hel-lo,” she said slowly. “What dooo yooou
waaaaant?”

The fur-ball raised two little fists up to its
squashed snout as its big dopey eyes stared up at her.

“Do all animals talk here?” Shawna asked, fighting
the urge to snatch the thing up and cuddle it.

“Apparently not,” said Lula.

“They are honorable creatures of the forest.” Mira
was looking at the LorLor, who was scratching its rump, with great
respect. “They take care of living things. They are stewards of the
forest. Some say they can even touch the spirit realm.”

“Spirit realm?” said Shawna. “You mean like souls
and stuff like that? You believe in that?”

“Of course. You don’t?” Mira snorted at her.

Shawna snorted back. “No. You
do?
Have you
ever seen a ghost, or soul, or whatever?”

“Yes.”

Mira said it so matter-of-factly that Shawna’s
prepared retort came out as an, “Uhh, ah…oh.”

Something wailed in the distance. Mira whirled
around, ears locked towards the direction of the frightening
sound.

“Moloch?!” shrieked Lula.

The LorLor had closed its eyes and covered its small
round ears, scrunching up into a fluffy ball. The fact that the
unicorn was obviously so worried frightened Shawna more than the
second wail, this time sounding closer.

“Get on,” Mira said urgently, kneeling to the ground
for Shawna.

Their furry little friend uncurled and raised its
arms towards them, waving its tiny hands as if urging them to hurry
away.

“Mar mar moo,” it said in a high nasally voice. “Ma
numa nune.”

It sounded nonsensical to everyone but Mira. She
shuddered, then said, “Thank you. We heed your warning.”

“Warning?” said Lula. “I thought it just wanted a
hug.”

The LorLor looked so pleading and terrified that
Shawna’s heart nearly broke. She wanted to protect the little guy
from whatever it seemed so afraid of, but a second later Mira
launched herself into the dark woods. The silver flecks in her horn
streaked like meteor showers as the LorLor’s big doleful eyes
disappeared behind them. Lula had buried herself deep inside
Shawna's leather backpack with a piece of jerky pulled over her
head like a shield.

It was amazing how agile the unicorn was through the
thick and pitch black forest. Shawna hung on with all the strength
she could, hugging the powerful neck, trying to stay on despite
sudden maneuvers around trees or boulders. Every few seconds she
would glance behind, afraid to see their assailant, but all she saw
was darkness.

It seemed like they had been running for a very long
time, her fingers gone numb from gripping so tightly, when she
heard another set of thudding feet and heavy breathing behind them.
The instant she heard this awful reality, Lula gave a high-pitched
scream.

“It’s behind us!”

Shawna was petrified, too afraid to turn her head.
Mira knotted her muscles and shot away so quickly that Shawna
nearly fell before she clutched the long mane whipping her
face.

“Stop fearing it!” ordered Mira. “Think of something
else!”

There was a flash of light. All thoughts of the
howling beast dissipated. Old memory-visions clouded Shawna’s
mind.

The Elm tree at her window fluttered gently in a
warm Montana breeze. An art project, this time involving her
step-mother’s Gospel CD collection, the microwave, and twine, threw
rainbows around her room. She liked how the CD’s crackled with
lightning in the microwave, creating fractals across their surface.
It was beautiful.

The memory changed.

She fell backwards onto her bed. Jarred’s words
she’d overheard at school that day echoed in her head. “Shawna?
Hot? Sure, if I liked guys.” Why did he have to be so mean and good
looking at the same time? Why did she like him so much anyway? She
closed her eyes to stop the tears.

In a flash it changed once again.

It was dark. Tree tops were visible against the
stars. Someone was talking. Shawna moved her pudgy little arms and
wailed. The arms she lay in rocked her, and she calmed down.

“…
In fifteen years everything will align,” a
familiar woman’s voice was saying. “I will then be able to open the
doorway to our worlds once more.”

There was a moment of silence.

“
Fifteen?” said a man’s voice. “Then you’ll come
back? For her? And give us everything you promised?”

Some distant part of Shawna, the one watching this
memory, understood and recognized the voices. Where had she heard
the man’s voice before? Everything felt foggy and distant.

“
Yes. Do not fail me, and I will not fail
you.”