This book is dedicated to Paul Simmons, for being a great teacher in 2015, and Mrs. Easley, who also taught me in 2015

Preview audio:

storyj.mp/af3zjx7jtdiq

Maria was safe inside her home. She would never admit it, but the dark scared her. She snuggled under the blankets for comfort. Without warning, a shadow loomed in the doorway. Mouth open in a silent scream, she looked on in horror... then she giggled. It was just Mom. She REALLY needed to get over her fear of the dark. Then she heard another noise, and somehow, she didn't think it was Mom this time. It was different..yet so human-like...she pointedly ignored it. In the bunk above her, her brother Bill was snoring obnoxiously. "I want to KILL you!" she fumed under her breath. Suddenly...there it was again, that noise, then she realised it was CALLING her!

She jumped out of bed, her palms getting sweaty. She considered running and telling Mom, but she knew that Bill would call her a scaredy cat if she did. Once, just this once, she would figure it out on her own. She opened the door an inch, and tiptoed down the hallway. As Maria slipped through the kitchen door, it gave a loud creak. She held her breath, hoping that Mom wouldn't hear...silence. Maria let out a sigh of relief. She grabbed a candle, and lit a match. Maria knew she wasn't supposed to light matches, but this time she was desperate. She took the box of matches with her, just to be safe. She slid through the front door, and out into the clearing in front of her house. Even though the worst was over, she was still shaking

like a rattle. Maria slipped over the dewy lawn, and in a moment she was out in the forest. What she saw inside took the breath away from her. Lying in the clearing was a silver unicorn. She suddenly noticed that the poor beast was hurt. It had a deep gash down one leg. A small stream was running down through the thick mud. A broken coconut shell was lying uselessly on the ground. Maria picked it up and filled it with water from the stream. She then stripped a piece of flax from a nearby bush, and washed it. Maria poured the water onto the gash, and wound the flax around it. The mystical beast rose to its feet immediately, and spoke in a soft voice. "thank you, Maria, you may have one wish.

"I wish to see you again." Maria whispered.

"Oh, you will." Then he limped into the forest and flew away.

It had been ten years since Maria had seen the unicorn. She was sixteen now, and getting terribly worried. Maria had HAD ENOUGH. She rushed out into the clearing, and stalked into the woods. When she arrived in the clearing where she had first glimpsed the unicorn, she found, much to her surprise, a fairy. It began to speak in a tinkling voice: "Hello, stranger, my name is Pixie, and the Wizard sent me to grant you one wish. Strange, huh? Well, never mind, I have a lot of things to tell you..."

She ranted on and on. Finally, losing her temper, Maria yelled at the top of her lungs, "Would you get to the point already?!"

Chapter one