Chapter 27

The meadow was very foggy when the two girls got there, but they could still see vague shapes moving in the distance.

“What are we supposed to do?” asked Crystal.

Freckles shrugged. “I guess we walk very slowly towards the middle of the meadow.”

The two girls moved forward, and as they did, they heard horses snorting. Freckles reached over and grabbed Crystal’s hand for comfort. Freyja said the horses were gentle and protective, but now that they were standing in the meadow Freckles remembered how frightening it was when the horses stampeded.

It was too foggy to know for sure how far into the meadow they had gone, but after about two minutes the shapes out in the fog started moving towards them.

“I’m going to stand here and wait for them,” said Freckles.

Crystal was much less frightened than Freckles. She took another couple of steps, then called out into the fog, “Come here, sweetie. I won’t hurt you. I’ve been waiting for this all my life.”

As soon as she had spoken, a horse came out of the fog and stood before Crystal. This was definitely one of the horses they had seen earlier. It was in between pony size and horse size and had a light tan coat with a long brown mane and tail. But the fog allowed her to see something else, something she could hardly believe. When the horse moved its head, the mist swirled around high on its forehead, outlining a long thin invisible horn. Crystal realized that she was standing in front of a unicorn.

Crystal put her hand out to stroke the horse’s head. The horse gave a soft whinny and shifted its head so that she touched the horn. As soon as her hand confirmed what her eyes told her was there, she could see the horn start to glow a gentle purple.

“Freckles, you’re not going to believe this,” called Crystal. “Get over here, now.”

Freckles walked up and stood next to Crystal. “It’s a beautiful horse,” she said. “Can I touch it?”

Crystal shrugged. “I guess it is up to the horse. But don’t you see what I see?”

“I see a beautiful horse. What else is there?”

“What about that horn? It’s something, isn’t it? If there really are unicorns, then maybe Freyja really is a Norse God.”

“What horn?” asked Freckles, staring at the horse. “The horn sticking out of its head, silly,” said Crystal.

“You're silly,” said Freckles. “These are horses. There’s no such thing as unicorns.”

Crystal took Freckles’ hand to guide it up to the horn, but as soon as Crystal touched her, Freckles gasped and jumped back a step.

Crystal was afraid that Freckles jumping around would spook the unicorn, but it calmly stood there waiting for the humans to get used to it.

“Is the horn a glowing purple color?” asked Freckles.

“Yes! So, you can see it.”

Freckles walked back and stood next to Crystal. She extended her arm and touched Crystal, then moved it away, then touched Crystal again, then dropped her hand to her side. “I can only see it when I’m touching you.”

Crystal looked at Freckles, then shrugged. She began to stroke her unicorn’s neck, then moved her hand back to the unicorn’s shoulders. The unicorn gave another soft whinny and knelt on its front knees so that Crystal could climb onto its back easily. Crystal grabbed a handful of mane, then gently swung her right leg over the unicorn’s back. As soon as she was settled in, the unicorn stood.

Crystal stroked unicorn and cooed to it, “Good boy. Good boy.”

When the unicorn heard that it shook its head violently and pawed the ground.

“Oh, you’re a girl, not a boy. Sorry about that,” Crystal apologized. “Should I give you a name?”

The unicorn nodded its head up and down.

“This is ...Umm I don’t know the English word ... Very, very, very, strange,” complained Freckles.

But Crystal wasn’t listening to Freckles. She was busy thinking of a name for her unicorn. It should be a strong name. It should be a Viking name. It should make her feel safe and protected.

The obvious choice was Rayna, her mother’s name. She had been born in Sweden, and her parents chose the name Rayna for her because it meant Mighty. Her mom was indeed a very strong woman, who knew how to stand up for herself and her family.

Crystal thought about how angry she had been with her mother for sending her off to camp, but she also remembered how important her mother had been to her throughout her entire life. In her heart, Crystal realized that it wasn’t really her mother’s fault that she went to camp instead of the expedition; sometimes parents have to do what they think is best, even if their children don’t like it.

And besides, even if it were her mother’s decision, Crystal wouldn’t trade this experience for anything.

“I will call you Rayna,” Crystal said to the unicorn, who bobbed her head in approval. “Shall we go for a walk, Rayna?”