Page 61 of Enchanted in Time
“What’s going on?” She opened her eyes, but she couldn’t see a thing. It was pitch black and the middle of the night. She heard rustling and snapping sounds. Something scurried across the forest floor nearby. The next moment, all was still again. “What was that?”
“Shh!” Irmgard whispered. She positioned herself in front of Hannah, who had sat up and was leaning against the trunk of the larch.
A deep, dark voice began to speak. “Don’t you miss your children? Emi, Leon, and Marco are having nightmares right at this very moment. They’re crying because you’re gone, and they’re afraid you’ll never come home.”
“Who’s there?” Hannah murmured.
“Shh!” Irmgard whispered again.
“But the voice?—”
“What voice?”
Hannah heard it speak again. “Your children feel abandoned. How could you be so selfish and go off without them? You should have stayed. Now they’re in danger of becoming orphans. Just what have you done?”
Her chest tightened at the sound of these words, and she trembled as she listened, spellbound, to the dark voice. It was expressing just what Hannah was thinking. It was expressing just what Hannah feared. How could she have left her little children all by themselves? How could she have been so selfish?
“I can help you. I can take you to them. You don’t need to remain here, lonely and all by yourself. I am with you. I am your friend! Come—come one step closer, and take my hand!”
Hannah could feel the goosebumps creeping down her spine. She hunched her shoulders and wrapped her arms around herself. The Evil! It was the Evil that was speaking to her! She had to stay strong, had to keep her resolve. She could not let it seduce her!
“Come with me,” the voice crooned. “Come, Hannah, come a few steps closer, and I will be right there. There’s no need to fear. I’ll take you to your children. Can you see them before you? Leon, with his big, round eyes. Emi, with those cute little dimples. And Marco, with his crooked smile. Just think how wonderful it will be to hold them in your arms. Just think how good it will feel. You and your children, together again at last. Come, Hannah, come closer, and take my hand. All you have to do is take three steps. There’s no need to remain here.”
Hannah clenched her teeth.Don’t let it lull you. Don’t believe the Evil. It wants to seduce you. It’s not going to take you to them. It wants to lure you away from the protection of the trees!
Something cold was approaching her from behind. Something eerie, though it also felt like a blanket that you yearned for, that you wanted to snuggle into—a place where you could forget all your troubles.
“Come with me, Hannah. Everything will be fine.”
It was so strong. It was so powerful. It was pulling her away from the larches.
“Irmgard...” Hannah whispered. It took so much strength to say the unicorn’s name that Hannah’s knees were about to give way. “It... is... behind... me.”
The unicorn neighed loudly and reared up. “Stay by the tree!” She thrust her hooves into the air and leapt into the darkness behind Hannah. “Clear out!” she neighed as her hooves came crashing down onto the ground with a thunderous noise. “Clear out!”
“Come with me. I will help you...”
“NO!” Hannah screamed as she desperately clung to herself, her only support. “I will not go with you!”
There was a sudden surge of wind. A powerful force was pulling her away from the larch, but she hugged the trunk and held on tight. The wind grew stronger and tugged at her hair as her dress flapped in the wind and her tattered skirt ballooned.
“Away with you!” Irmgard let out a mighty neigh and thrust her hooves once more at the darkness behind Hannah. “Away, I say! You will not get her soul!” She tensed her muscles. The magical power of the unicorns coursed through her being and made her shine brighter and brighter until the radiance reached beyond her and lit up the gloom. The shadows retreated.
“You can come to me anytime. All you have to do is summon me...”
Hannah heard the cajoling voice one final time before it was gone from her head. Nothing remained but an emptiness, a desolate feeling. More than ever before, she longed for herchildren. More than ever before, she blamed herself for not being there, for not protecting them. She slumped down onto the ground and hugged herself tightly.
Hannah wasn’t able to get any more sleep before daybreak came. Irmgard had settled down on the ground between the larches so that Hannah could nestle against her, and together they had watched the gloomy stillness in silence.
The Evil did not return. But the thought that it had been there to take her soul still sent a chill down Hannah’s spine.
“Am I so weak and desperate that it tried to seduce me?”
“No, dear Hannah, you’re not. You just proved that you have strength and hope! If not, you wouldn’t have been able to resist.”
“Will the Evil visit Maximilian as well? Or maybe it’s already done that by now?”
“No. I don’t think so. With his soul, the Evil would have gained so much power that I would have felt it.”
