With his sword, Ben pointed to the human boot prints ground into the cedar-red dirt. He shivered and pulled his cloak tighter around him, over the coat Mrs. Murley had given him.
“They’re too small for Merrill, and they follow right alongside the unicorn,” Ben said.
“Someone’s taken him to Terracornus,” Twig said. “Who? How?”
Wonder neighed her impatience.
“We’re going, Wonder,” Ben assured her. “We’re going to find out.”
But Twig held Wonder back. “I can’t just disappear in there, Ben. What about the Murleys?”
“Twig!”
Ben whirled around at the cry. It was muffled by the hemlock branches, but soon a crashing followed, and a small body hurtled through and skidded onto the patch of cleared earth around the passage tree.
“You have to go!” Casey cried, still prone on the ground.
“Casey!”
Through the branches, a hand appeared, groping for Casey’s. Taylor. Janessa trailed behind her, clutching her hand. Then Regina and Mandy. A chain of girls tumbled into the secret heart of the island, wincing at their scrapes and crawling through the shadows, trying to find their feet.
“All of you?” Twig said.
Oh no. Not all of them. Ben groaned. He turned to Twig. “They cannot be here. I’ve broken the herders’ trust.”
“Maybe,” Casey said a little guiltily, a little hopefully, “we could all be herders too.”
“No!” Twig said. “No way. How could you do this? I trusted you.”
“Don’t yell at her!” Regina cried. “We wanted to see! It isn’t fair, hearing all the stories and not even getting to see.”
“There isn’t really another world, is there?”
That was Mandy, the blond one who was constantly frowning at Ben. Twig said she was always like that, but he wasn’t so sure.
Mandy narrowed her eyes at him. “That’s why you don’t want us here.”
You have no idea what I would give for you not to be here right now. He’d rather face the famous rider and tournament champion Reynald the Boy King than the scrutiny of these girls. He wanted to take Indy and just ride. Ride away from all of these people who wanted something from him. Even the herd. He imagined Indy gallop-gliding, away from everything, out of the trees and over the rocks along the shore, right off the island, right on top of the water. There was a wider world out there. There must be somewhere for a unicorn to go. Somewhere to just be. Twig and Wonder could come, but—
It didn’t matter. Indy was missing. There was no escaping that.
“No one is supposed to be here.” He ground out the words. This place is mine and my father’s. It was a secret. Ben had been so alone without him and then so glad to have Twig. But this was too much. He didn’t have Indy, and it was too much.
“We don’t have time for this,” Twig said. “I don’t know how you found us, but you’re all going to have to find your way back.”
“But we followed you,” Taylor said. “And it’s dark.”
“And this mist is creepy!” Regina hugged herself against its chill.
“It’s definitely not normal,” Mandy agreed.
“Twig.” Ben gestured for her to shine her flashlight on the bark of the ancient red cedar, the passage tree, so he could find the hidden keyhole quicker.
Ben pulled the key out from under his shirt, where he kept it on a chain. He reached out to unlock the door, and he stared at the tree, stunned. He dropped the key.
“Casey, keep back. You’re blocking the light!” Twig was oblivious to what Ben had seen.
The key swung against his chest, safe on its chain, but his hand trembled as he reached for a white square of paper pinned to the passage tree. He pulled it off and held it in Twig’s flashlight beam.
“What’s that?” The girls shushed each other and crowded around him.
He needed more light. He grabbed Mandy’s flashlight and illuminated the message.
Taylor peered over his shoulder and read it aloud. “‘The fate of one is the fate of them all. Now you know what it is like for those of us who still care about all unicorns. If you want to see your unicorn again, keep your oath and go to the queen.’”
“Is it a note from Merrill?” Janessa said.
“It’s not from Merrill,” Twig said, taking a peek. “That’s not his handwriting.”
“And it’s signed ‘The Unicorn Thief’!” Taylor said.
“Who’s that? What does it mean?” Casey said.
Twig just shook her head. Her eyes asked Ben the same question.
“I never made an oath to go to the queen!” Ben pulled himself together. “Forget the note. What matters is that Indy’s in there for sure. He’s gone through the passage.”
Taylor put her hand to the cedar trunk. “This tree is the passage?”
Twig touched Ben’s arm. “We’ll find him.”
But Mandy said, “It’s a trap.”
“Don’t go, Twig,” Taylor added.
And Janessa said, “Mandy’s right this time.”
“It’s up to Twig. She’s Wonder’s rider. Her life and Wonder’s will be at risk.” Ben fought to keep his voice steady, his heart from bursting, his terror from bringing him to his knees. He had no right to ask Twig for this.
Wonder sniffed and pawed away at the dirt. She whinnied her fear and yearning. That was her father in there.
“We are not going to leave Indy in Terracornus all by himself,” Twig said. “Besides, there’s no deciding for me to do. If we don’t let Wonder through the passage tree, she’ll dig it up by the roots.” Twig turned to Ben. “She hates coming here, but she didn’t fight it, the whole way. She wants to go in. She knows something. She can smell it.”
“Twig—” Ben began to protest.
“Didn’t you and Merrill tell me to trust my unicorn?”
“Wait,” Regina said, “why would anyone try to trap Ben? They already have Indy.”
“To get Wonder too,” Casey said.
“But how would anyone over there know about Wonder? Unless—” Mandy gasped and clamped a hand over mouth.
“What?” Twig said.
A new chill shuddered through Ben. “Merrill.” His old friend’s name barely came out. His mouth felt so dry.
Mandy nodded. “Your herder friend’s been hiding from the cops over there with that unicorn he’s not supposed to have.”
“Cops?” Another Earth Land word Ben didn’t know.
“The authorities,” Taylor explained.
“What if they caught him and…” Twig couldn’t finish.
But Regina said, “Tortured him or something. Do they do stuff like that there?”
Ben felt strangely numb. This couldn’t be happening. What if he lost Merrill too?
“We’ll make sure Merrill’s okay before we go in. But,” Twig warned the girls, “even if he isn’t okay, that doesn’t mean we’re not going. Ben, call Emmie. Casey, you go back with the others and get Rain Cloud. Ben will need a ride.”
Of course. They wouldn’t get far in Terracornus on foot. Wonder was only a year old and not strong enough to carry both of them.
“What about Feather?” Casey suggested.
Twig shook her head. “We can’t take Mrs. Murley’s horse.”
“That would be like stealing,” Janessa agreed.
“You would know,” Regina said, making a jab at Janessa’s past.
Ben didn’t know why all the other girls were living with the Murleys, but for some reason Janessa had confessed her thievery to him. She’d been proud to add that she hadn’t taken “a darn thing” in over a year.
The girls kept bickering. “That’s enough!” Ben’s numbness blew off in a blast of anger. “Stop picking at each other. You’re family!”
The girls exchanged skeptical glances.
“You’re all you have anyway. More than I have!”
Twig’s flashlight glow glinted off her eyes, strikingly blue, shining with tears. “You have us, Ben,” she whispered. “You have us too.”
“We’re sorry,” Janessa said. They all nodded and murmured their agreement. Mist-damp heads bowed.
Ben ducked his head and rubbed quickly at his eyes. Crying. For pity’s sake, standing here crying in front of all these silly girls.
Twig reached for Ben’s arm. “Indy—he’s not all you have now, Ben. But he is a lot. We’re going to get him back.”
Yes, he is all I have! Ben wanted to shout. He’s all I want. He’s never let me down.
But what if Indy had let him down? He’d gone quietly back to Terracornus. He’d left Ben sleeping in the hollow. He’d gone with someone else, without a cry of protest, without a whinny of good-bye.