CHAPTER 12

Look!” Agnes cried as she ran through the pub. She pointed up at a mounted horn on the wall. “A unicorn horn! My little brain is going to explode!”

Edith rolled her eyes. “Ugh, Agnes. That’s a fake.”

Agnes stared at the horn, her smile falling.

“Ohhhh, it’s real alright,” a voice said behind them.

A burly man put a drink down in front of a customer, then leaned over the bar, smiling at the little girls. “That horn came from the Crooked Forest. The only place on earth where unicorns still live.”

A couple at one of the tables started laughing. Another man snickered as he threw a dart. It seemed as if all the villagers had heard this story before.

“Go on, laugh!” the bartender said. “Laugh, all of you! They all think I’m crazy. But I’m telling you, I saw one once. With my own eye!”

Agnes stared up at the man, completely enthralled. “Wait, wait, wait…,” she said. “You saw a for-real, live unicorn? What did it look like? Did you pet it? Did it smell like candy? Was it… fluffy?”

“It was so fluffy I thought I was going to die,” the bartender said.

“Do you think maybe I could find one, too?” Agnes asked.

The man nodded. “They say if a maiden pure of heart goes into the Crooked Forest, the unicorn will come… and be hers forever.”

Agnes couldn’t take it anymore. A real, live unicorn that she could take home as a pet? She squealed in excitement, her shriek filling the entire pub.

Just then Lucy busted through the doors with a high kick. She made her way through the crowd, kicking and punching patrons as she went. A chubby, bearded man took a boot to the face. She threw another man into an arcade game. She lifted a table and smashed it down on two villagers’ heads. Then she grabbed the handles on a foosball table and slammed them into a man’s gut.

“Goal!” she yelled.

She was so pumped up it took her a moment to remember where she was. She spotted Agnes and Edith across the room. “Girls! Don’t worry, I’m here!”

She grabbed Agnes, hugging the girl to her chest. “Are you okay?” she asked.

“We’re fine—are you?” Edith eyed Lucy as if she were insane.

Agnes looked at Lucy, grinning.

“Unicorns are really real! And I’m gonna find one!!” she said, pointing to the unicorn horn mounted on the pub wall.

Agnes ran out of the pub, still yelling in excitement. Lucy grabbed Edith’s hand, finally realizing the havoc she’d caused. There were people strewn all over the floor. A grown man was sobbing loudly, his face in his hands.

“Sorry I went a little mama bear on you,” she said, backing out the door. “You know, I heard a scream and… yeah, okay. Have a good one!”

She smiled and waved, trying to sound as cheerful as possible. Then they rushed off to find Fritz.