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She made it to the edge of her front yard, but once there, a gap yawned between the hedge that fenced the lawn and her front door. Angelina got down on her belly and wiggled between two of the bushes that made up the hedge, hoping the thick leaves would hide her.
It seemed to work. The helicopters circled overhead, searching for her.
But she couldn’t stay here forever. What was she going to do?
Mom stepped out onto the porch, staring at the aircraft, one hand shading her eyes from the morning sun. Angelina shivered with fear. What if they hurt her mom?
“You there, the unicorn hiding in the hedge!” A man’s voice thundered through the air. “Move away from the foliage and lay down on your stomach in the open grass. Obey and you will not be harmed.”
Mom’s eyes widened in alarm. She stared at the hedge and the color drained out of her face as Angelina’s horn peeked over the leafy top. She ran down the steps toward the hedge. “Angelina!” she yelled. She fell to her knees when she reached the hedge, running her hands over Angelina’s coat. “Are you hurt? What happened?”
“Mrs. Finchhagle snitched ahn me to the Air Fahrce, and they showed up at mah school!”
Mom’s mouth pressed shut. When she spoke, her voice was angry and determined. “That woman has a lot to answer for. Right now, though, we need to figure out how to get you to someplace safe.”
Zip-whir! The sound ripped through the air and Angelina shivered as it repeated several times. The slap of boots on asphalt followed.
“Angelina, there isn’t much time. Listen carefully. When I give the signal, you run as fast as you can to the woods. They won’t be able to track you there. There are a lot of magical people there, and maybe you can find help. Just...” Mom hesitated, her eyes taking on a faraway, worried look. “Just be careful who you trust. Not everyone is who they seem to be. Understand?”
Angelina didn’t, really. But she knew Mom didn’t have time to explain, so she nodded.
Boots crunched on the concrete sidewalk. “Ma’am, for your own safety, we need you to step away from the unicorn. They are dangerous creatures.”
Mom jumped to her feet and turned around, her wild hair flying, standing out around her head like a halo. “Says who?” she snapped.
The man, a young officer, based on the insignia on his collar, stepped back. “Well, umm, all the books say so, Ma’am.”
“Books can be wrong.” Her hand behind her back so that only Angelina could see, Mom pointed toward the woods behind the house. Angelina inched out from under the hedge, just a couple of inches, getting ready. Mom held up three fingers. Angelina inched out a little more.
Mom stepped toward the officer. “That isn’t really a unicorn. That is my daughter, in a unicorn costume. This is all a stupid mistake.” She held up two fingers, still hiding them so the officer couldn’t see, but Angelina could. Angelina was halfway out from under the hedge now, hoping the officer couldn’t see her mom’s hand.
“Now, Ma’am, that is good to hear. We can just inspect the costume and if that’s true, we’ll be on our way. But we have a report of an unlicensed unicorn and, according to section 42.8 of the mythological beast control code, we have to investigate. You understand.” He gave her a fake smile and took a step closer.
Mom put down another finger and held her ground. Angelina was all the way out from under the hedge now, ready to spring up and run. “You are on private property, Lieutenant. If you don’t have a warrant, I suggest you leave before I call the cops and my lawyer.”
Angelina looked past her mom. The officer was alone. Angelina had seen Mom at the last school board meeting and knew he’d made a mistake.
The officer grinned. “Now, Ma’am, you may not realize this, but you could call out the whole Dabbletown police force and it wouldn’t do you any good. I can tell you’ve never dealt with the U.S. Air Force before, so I’ll—”
“And I can tell you’ve never dealt with a mother defending her child before,” Mom said, and Angelina jumped to her hooves. Mom dropped the last finger and Angelina ran for the woods.
Mom tackled the officer with a scream that shook the leaves on the hedge. The officer yelped and Angelina almost looked back, but she was afraid of what she might see.
“Run, Angelina!” Mom yelled. “I’ll hold him off.”
No one chased her on the ground, but the helicopters didn’t wait around for orders. They sped after Angelina, firing net balls at her. Brown and green puffs of earth and grass erupted from the ground on either side of her, making Angelina’s heart race in terror.
Angelina ran faster, until the ground blurred under her hooves, the grass becoming a skein of green silk dotted with smears of white that Angelina barely recognized as the little wildflowers she and her sisters liked to braid into crowns.
It seemed like one of those terrible dreams where you run and run, but your destination never gets any closer. But even the worst dreams end. The forest seemed impossibly far away one moment and the next; trees loomed over her.
The helicopters veered off, then backtracked, settling down into the open field, but by then, Angelina was in the forest, dodging trees and boulders, pushing deeper into the green darkness.
She ran as fast as she could, leaping over small streams, skipping around bushes and jumping over fallen logs, her unicorn body little more than a pale streak against the dark forest.
At first, the shouts of her pursuers followed close behind her, but with every beat of her hooves, the sounds grew fainter, until finally, they faded into silence. Still, Angelina ran on, putting as much distance between her and them as possible.
What seemed like hours later, she stumbled to a halt, leaning hard against a tree, her sides heaving, trying to catch her breath. A stream tumbled by, and she drank from it greedily, her throat dry from running so long without rest. The sun was low between the trees, setting the sky on fire with sunset reds and golds.
Angelina scanned her surroundings, and her heart sank.
She’d left her pursuers behind, and that was good, but she was also totally, completely lost.
