Page 29 of A Flash of Neon
Ten minutes later, we arrive at the farm, leave the car at the bottom of the road and lead the unicorn up the path. We crouch behind the hedges as we draw closer to the farmhouse, checking Tilly’s parents aren’t around, then hurry down to the barn. I throw a pebble at the door before we go in. Neon’s face peeks through the gap – then falls when he sees the unicorn.
“You brought ithere?! What if someone saw you?”
“Well, we can’t keep her at ours,” I snap. “What were you thinking, putting her in our bathroom?”
Tilly follows him out. She lets out a shriek, then clamps both hands over her mouth when she sees who Joel and I have with us. “Is that…”
“A unicorn,” Neon says, sighing. “I know, I know, I shouldn’t have left it there like that. I’m sorry. But it was standing at the bottom of Carrie’s garden. I had to get it out of sight before she noticed it.”
The unicorn’s glow has become brighter. She seems happier here, in the wide open space and fresh air, than she was in the bathtub or the back of our car. She stomps at the ground and trots round us in a circle, throwing back her head and shaking her shimmering mane.
Tilly looks anxiously towards the farmhouse. “Let’s go inside. My parents are back. I don’t want them spotting it.”
The barn is already set up for Neon: there’s a sleeping bag laid out on top of a pile of hay, a space heater hooked up to a portable battery, and some pumpkin-shaped fairy lights hanging from the beams. I feel a rush of nostalgia remembering all the times Tilly and I played here as kids. We tried to have a sleepover once but we got scared by the mice scurrying around and owls hooting outside and snuck back to her bedroom. Her parents had warned us that would happen, but they were nice enough not to say, ‘I told you so.’
We beckon to the unicorn to follow us towards the hay, then gesture at her to sit. She lies down elegantly beside me, crossing her hooves and blowing her fringe out of her face.
“How did she get here?” Tilly asks, gawping at her.
“It’s because Carrie believes in unicorns.”
I fill them in on our conversation back at her house. A few hours ago, Joel would have found the idea of Carrie being a devout unicorn believer absolutely hilarious, but now he doesn’t even grin.
“Surely this can’t be a coincidence,” I tell Neon. “Not after the pink rabbit that we saw.”
“Um, sorry?” Joel looks from me to Neon and Tilly, who returns his blank expression with a shrug. “What pink rabbit?”
Neon and I are both too focused on the problem at hand to answer him right away. Neon sighs and rubs his face. “You’re right. There’s no way three of us would all turn up in the same small town unless something strange was going on.”
“Well, can you take her back?” I ask Neon. “Is there, like, a portal somewhere?”
He shakes his head. “It doesn’t work like that. There’s not some door that magically appears for us to hop through. Before I came here, I had this odd feeling – it was like I was in two places at once, here and there, and I could choose to step fully into the real world or stay in the Realm. Then I blinked, and I was standing on the train as it arrived in Inverness.”
“So how does anyone get back?” Joel asks.
“I think you can tap into that feeling again and take a step in the opposite direction. Going back shouldn’t be as difficult as coming here. We’re supposed to be there.” Neon presses his lips together. “It’s a bit more difficult with animals and other characters, though. Some of them act like humans, so they can follow instructions. You could tell them it’s time to go and they would understand, even though it might be tricky to get them to actually do it.”
“But what about her?” I ask. The unicorn looks up at me with her sparkling amethyst eyes, as if she knows we’re talking about her.
“Maybe,” Neon says, nodding. “Unicorns are smart. I’m sure she’d understand.”
He shuffles on the ground so he’s facing the unicorn. He gently puts both hands on her muzzle and looks deep into her eyes. The unicorn meets his gaze, and for a long moment it seems as if some silent current of communication is passing between them. But then she gives a light, tingling whinny and tosses her mane towards Neon. She knows what he’s asking. But, like Neon, she doesn’t want to do it.
Neon sits back on his heels and sighs. “I guess I could take her myself. I’d need to hold on to her and lead us both back. It wouldn’t be hard.” He bites his lip. “The thing is, I don’t know if I’d ever be able to get back again.”
“Surely it’d be easier now?” Tilly asks. “Loads of people believe you’re real – everyone you’ve met at school, all the people in town.”
“That’s true,” Neon says, “but if they know I’ve done it once, they might stop me from leaving again. I don’t want to take that risk.”
“Who are ‘they’? Actually don’t tell me. I don’t think my brain can handle any more of this.” Joel rubs his eyes and looks at each of us in turn. “You three need to sort this out. And if you want to do it before Tilly’s parents find a literalunicornin their barn, you’d better do it fast.”
Our house smells amazing when Joel and I eventually get home, which is usually a sign that Gio is in the kitchen. Mum and Mutti have him over a couple of times a month, and a few years ago he gently suggested that he take over the cooking when he comes. It turned out he’s a phenomenal chef, so now my parents buy the ingredients and let him do his thing. I come in to find him standing over the stove with two steaming pans in front of him.
“Hey, Laurie.” He waves a wooden spoon at me. “How does mango chicken curry and coconut rice sound?”
“Sounds amazing.”
I drop my bag and give him a hug. We left the house in such a hurry that I haven’t eaten since breakfast, except for some crisps and biscuits that Tilly brought to the barn earlier in the afternoon, and my stomach growls at the sight of the curry.
