Chapter 1

Maggie held her breath as she watched a silver unicorn pause at the edge of the stream. He was hard to see among the leaves of the trees. A lot of people wouldn’t have noticed him at all, but Maggie was special. She often saw things that most people missed in the Enchanted Forest.

“Oh!” Maggie cried when the unicorn turned to look at her. She froze, not wanting to scare him off.

The unicorn curled his lips to taste the cool air. Maggie stepped backward as he began to cross the stream and walk toward her. Because she wasn’t paying attention to what was behind her, she tripped and landed sitting down.

When hot breath tickled the top of Maggie’s head, she looked up. The unicorn was standing directly over her. She was too afraid to move as he knelt down and placed his head in her lap. Seeing prickers in his mane, she forgot to be afraid. Maggie gently pulled them out one by one. The unicorn seemed grateful and turned his head so she could reach all the prickers. When she was finished, he closed his eyes and relaxed.

Maggie loved the quiet of the Enchanted Forest. She especially loved the magic creatures she saw there. This was the first time she had ever been so close to one, however. She was thrilled that she was actually touching a unicorn!

“Maggie, what’s taking you so long?” shouted her stepbrother, Peter, from deeper in the woods.

At the sound of his loud voice, the unicorn raised his head. When a twig snapped, the unicorn scrambled to his feet and galloped back across the stream.

A small triangle glittered in her lap. It sparkled bright white with hints of delicate blue and silver. Maggie had never seen anything like it!

Her stepbrother strolled down the path, waving a long stick. Maggie stuck the triangle in her pocket to look at later as he held up a broken bird’s nest. “I knocked this out of a tree. Too bad there weren’t any birds in it.” He glanced at the bucket she’d left by the stream. “Mother’s waiting for that water.”

Maggie picked up her bucket and started toward the cottage. She longed to share her new treasure with a friend, but it wouldn’t do any good to tell Peter about the unicorn. His mother, Zelia, had married Maggie’s father only a few months ago. Before the wedding, Zelia had lived in town with her husband and children. When her husband died, a friend had introduced her to Maggie’s father. Neither Zelia nor her children had ever been in the Enchanted Forest before they moved there. No matter what Maggie said about magical creatures, her new family didn’t believe her. Peter would just accuse her of lying again. Her father’s new wife always took her own children’s word over Maggie’s.

Now that her father was off chopping wood on the far side of the forest, he would be gone for weeks. No one knew when he’d be back. It all depended on how long it would take for him to complete his job. And he’d had to go so deep in the forest that there was no way she could get a letter to him. Without her father there to stand up for her, Maggie felt more alone than ever. Talking about the magical unicorn would only get her into trouble.

Zelia was waiting outside when they reached the cottage. “You’re late again!” she said. “Always dawdling and making up stories to get out of work! Everyone in the family has jobs to do, and you never do yours the way you should. If you keep it up, I’m giving your bed to Peter. He does his work. He deserves a good night’s rest. Don’t let the family down again or Peter will get your bed. You’ll sleep in the loft with the twins.”

Peter grinned when he heard his mother.

“That isn’t fair!” said Maggie. “My father built that bed for me!”

“Do your work and the bed will still be yours,” said Zelia. “You can help Peter with the sheep today. Go on! No more of your dilly-dallying!”