Page 48 of Bewitched By the Sea Monster
“Can anyone tell me why Mayo would be the best name for any horse, alicorn, and all equines?” The broad-chested guide swiveled his hazel eyes around the group. “Anyone? Because when they talk, you can declare, ‘Mayo neighs!’”
The cluster of kids in our group giggled. The adults mainly rolled their eyes, but we all gave him a good-natured chuckle. And then we were off, on an hour walking tour that I rememberednoneof.
I was so focused on ignoring the pain, on smiling and trying to look like a happy-go-lucky tourist, that there wasn’t any room left in my brain to absorb information.
Some parts stuck, sure. Like how very big the black furred alicorns looked while they rested in their airy box stalls, and how gentle they were when they were asked to step out into the aisle. Children ran around them, shrieking in delight, while everyone else poked and prodded and asked questions. The alicorns stood still, allowing the touches, and cordially answered each query.
The stables themselves were pristine,with spotless cobblestone floors and glistening black doors on the box stalls. Five gold chandeliers dangled overhead, suspended from thearched mahogany rafters. Above that, the ceiling opened to an expansive skylight, which coaxed as much illumination as it could from the fog-swaddled sky.
Afterward, as we took the wagon back to our cottage, Jackson buzzed with excitement. “I didnotknow all that. About how these creatures…are.Were. Did you?”
I clung to his exuberance nearly as tightly as I clung to his hand, trying to distract myself from the proverbial knives flaying ribbons of skin off my thigh. “Ummmm…which thing was that again?”
“Where they came from.”
“Ah.” Had that been a tour topic?
Jackson chuckled and tapped his thumb against my knuckles. “Did we lose you for a bit at that part? Or…wait, that might’ve been when you were off petting that alicorn with the blue mane.”
I vaguely remembered that. I had gravitated to one of the alicorns who’d had doleful eyes and seemed a little forlorn, and I’d given him neck scritches, hoping to cheer him up. But I couldn’t recall if he’d had blue in his mane.
“They were saying it’s some kinda old magic,” Jackson said. “When magic was a lot more common and not regulated. That five hundred or whatever years ago, the people on this island, back when it was part of Scotland, got cursed. ”
“But that’sillegal. To curse people.” Sorcerers had been executed for doing so. It was rare, when one tried to circumvent the law and drop a curse on someone, but it got splashed all across every news channel, magazine, blogging site, and social media feed when it happened.
“Yeah, now it is, but it wasn’t then. Because the town here got cursed. Everyone who died there couldn’t justdie,they had to come back as something else. So thousands of people kicked the bucket and resprouted as alicorns and banshees, andbasically the full mythical creature alphabet. And then they all…disappeared.”
“Disappeared?”
“Yeah. I guess everyone figured they’d died-died. And that was that.” He tapped my thigh. “This is our stop!”
My brain sputtered as I clambered off the wagon beside him. “I…Wait, are these…The alicorns and all…they’re not those people from five hundred years ago? Are they?”
The two alicorns pulling the wagon whuffled, as though they’d heard me.
“Stars, that was rude. Sor—” I pivoted to face them, but they’d already turned away, pulling the wagon of chattering tourists to the next stop. “—ry. Sorry.”
“They might be five-hundred-year-old farts.” Jackson shrugged. “Or might be those people banged out a bunch of kids, and these are their offspring. No one knows. Not even the creatures.”
“How can theynot know?”
“The spell that held them here. Up until it was lifted six years ago, it was fucking with their memories.”
My stomach tilted—either from the sorrow that slammed me at the thought of that alicorn with the doleful eyes, ofAlistairbeing trapped here for five hundred years, or from the vicious bite of pain that savaged my bones.
I swayed.
“Whoa, babe.” Jackson grabbed my arm. “You doing okay?”
No. My bones are being crushed into dust and my skin is on fire.
“I’m achy,” I said.
“I guess that’s a sign the healing stuff’s working, though, right? It’s about fucking time, too. Do we have any Tylenol you can take?” He led me to the door of our cottage.
“Yeah.” I had already popped some. It’d done nothing.
“Well—” Jackson started but cut off when a voice to our right trilled, “Yooo-hooo!”
