“Why not use the necklace?” A high voice came from the misty darkness. “With the necklace you can wish yourself out.”

    Vesper looked down and saw the necklace around her neck was glowing, swirling with dark and light shades of blue, and gently tugging at her. Soon it would be under the mud along with her shoulders and neck.

    Vesper grabbed the sapphire pendant and called out—

    “Get me out of this mud!”

    She took several quick, desperate last breaths. She smelled the stench of the mud as it crawled up her neck to her jaw. The necklace was gone, somewhere under the mud, somewhere she would soon be as well.

    Then, she stopped sinking.

    Vesper began to slowly rise out of the bog. The necklace glowed brightly, its light evaporating the mud which tried to cling to the sapphire. An unseen force was pulling her up. The mud squelched as her legs were freed from the wet ground and an unseen force placed her safely on solid ground, off to the side of the bog.

    Vesper gasped and coughed, realizing how close she had come to suffocating, to drowning.

    Her clothes were soaked with mud—again—and she was chilled to the bone. Between shivers she called out:

    “Who’s there?”

    “We are the nocs,” the voice sang.

    Vesper saw a pair of beautiful wings open above her, and then watched as a huge owl-like bird lowered itself to perch on a branch near her. As it flapped its wings there was no sound, just a beautiful sweep of colours from its wing feathers. The owl seemed like it was half-person, and wore clothing and leather armor that wrapped around its chest and legs, and it stood almost as tall as Vesper.

    “That was a close call, Evening Star. I am Ruby, commander of this flight of noc owls. I am also, as it happens, the jeweler who crafted the necklace you wear,” the great owl said proudly. “The fairy queen vested it with the magic power it now possesses. There are not so many magical artifacts around anymore, so I’d try not to part with it, if I were you.”

    “You made this for me?”

    Vesper was still tightly clutching the necklace.

    “I made this necklace as a gift for the daughter of the fairy queen, on the day of her birth,” Ruby replied. “Very few nocs are jewelers. It’s a hobby of mine that I picked up many years ago. The noc owls and the fairies have lived in peace for many ages. You see, we have made a pledge to defend the forest from intruders during the night while the fairy folk sleep.”

    Just then, Vesper noticed a dozen pairs of eyes staring down on her from the tree branches above. Ruby was not alone. Several more noc owls silently filled the trees above in rank and file, until there were too many to count..

    “Intruders?” Vesper asked. “You mean, like me? Do you think I am an intruder?”

    “You are no intruder, Evening Star. You are home.”

    “How do you know me? And why does everyone call me ‘evening star’?”

    “This muddy unicorn is our evening star?” Otis asked—his large owl-eyes wide with wonder. Then he added, “So, no fighting then?”

    “No fighting, Otis,” said Ruby. “This was a strange night for us because we were not meant to fight—we were meant to find our evening star. We are honoured to meet you.”

    Ruby bowed, and the entire flight followed.

    Ruby continued, “And we call you that, princess, because that’s your name, isn’t it?”

    “My name is Vesper.”

    “Yes, and Vesper means evening star. Did your mother not teach you this? Well then, Vesper, you have much to learn. You should also know that this forest is yours. And we are yours to command.”

    “What do you mean yours to command? I’m not even from here. I live in a house with my grandfather, nowhere near here, nowhere close to this—”

Just then there was a commotion up in the tree among the nocs, and then an owl fell from its perch and landed noisily just behind Ruby. She glanced back and sighed. “No surprise, our newest recruit. Otis, help George back to his post,” Ruby commanded.

    “Vesper?” said the fallen owl. “Vesper, it’s me, George.”

    “George?” Vesper could not believe her eyes. George came to his feet and Vesper recognized his eyes behind the owl mask. “Your mask . . . just like mine . . .”

    George’s mask had fused to his face just as Vesper’s had. Feathers grew from the skin around his face and neck, and the mask no longer looked like a mask. The end of his nose sharpened into a small beak. As he stepped closer, Vesper noticed that he still walked on human legs, but George had long wings that grew from the centre of his back. They were attached along his upper arms and separated at the elbow so he still had use of his hands. Tail feathers jutted down behind his legs.

    “So you’re the evening star every noc has been chattering about. You know . . . somehow, it makes sense.”

    “I see you’ve got wings,” Vesper noted.

    “Not used to flying yet. But it is pretty awesome.” George opened his wings, admiring the feathers. “Hey, it’s pretty cool now that you are half-human and half-unicorn,” said George.

    “Rubbish,” said Ruby.

    “Huh?” said George, taken aback by Ruby’s comment. “Commander, you see that don’t you? I’m not the only one who sees the horn, right?”

    “Of course I see it, fledgling. It’s just that Vesper is neither half-human nor half-unicorn,” said Ruby.

    “What does that mean?” asked Vesper.

    “It means, young Vesper, you are not human. Your mother is a fairy, and your father an elf. That makes you . . .”

“Half-fairy, half-elf, and half-unicorn?!” interrupted George with an astonished look.

    “Shh,” Vesper said as she nudged George’s wing.

    “No,” Ruby continued patiently. “Half-fairy, half-elven, true. Yet, somehow, all unicorn.”

    “So, you think my mother is the fairy queen?” asked Vesper.

    “Quite so,” said Ruby. “And that would make you the unicorn princess.”

    “What’s my mother’s name, then?” Vesper asked in an attempt to disprove Ruby’s claim.

    “I realize your mother didn’t teach you much about this world, but I thought for sure she would have told you her name,” Ruby said with a sigh. “Your mother’s name is Aina, dear one.”

    “And do you know for sure that the fairy queen is alive?” Vesper asked. “Where I came from. . . I thought she died.”

    Ruby let out a nervous chirp, “Of course she’s alive, dear Vesper.”

    “You didn’t leave me a strange note, did you?” asked Vesper. “In the book?”

    “What book do you mean?” asked Ruby.

    “Forget about it. If she’s alive, I need to know where she is.”

    “The queen rests in the forever tree. No one can see her until she comes out of her own accord,” said Ruby. “Not even the unicorn princess, I’m afraid.”

    “And,” Vesper paused, “did you know my father?”

    “Yes, quite well. Silas Meridian, a general in the elven guard. Now, sadly, the guard has been disbanded, and I haven’t seen Silas for many, many moons. . .”

    “So he was a warrior. . . like Eon,” Vesper said to herself.

    Vesper was in deep thought, trying to gauge how to respond to what the owl was telling her.

    “You said you’ll follow my orders, right?”

    “That’s right, princess,” said Ruby.

    “I want George to stay with me,” said Vesper.

    “Very well,” said Ruby. “George, our new recruit, will stay with you. George noc, your assignment is to protect the princess above all else. Be careful, Vesper, and you too, George, and we will check in with you as we do our night rounds. But now we must go. Day is breaking and we must rest. Please remember, the kobalin horde is amassing its forces in the mountains of the north, and you must always be on guard in case they attack—especially at night. I suggest you head due south, and when the forest thickens, go west toward the city of Nnoom. And Vesper, I know you still have many questions about your family. But don’t worry, with time the answers will come.”

She turned away to fly, then stopped. She turned her head back, as owls do, and added:

    “Oh, and if you still need proof, Vesper, you may want to look at the engraving on your necklace. Stay safe, princess. George.”

    And with those words, Ruby opened her beautiful wings and launched herself up above the trees. The other nocs followed.

    Liisa noc flew down and landed beside George and Vesper.

    “So, I guess this is goodbye, for now,” said Liisa.

    “For now,” said George.

    “Take care of yourself, and the unicorn. I hope we meet again soon,” said Liisa.

    “I’m sure we will,” said George.

    Ruby briefly circled back through the branches overhead, gathering the giant owls into formation.

    Liisa looked up, then suddenly took flight to join the formation. They were gone from sight in a silent flash.

    “George!” Vesper said as she gave him a hug. “I can’t believe you’re here. How did you even get here?”

    “The same way you did, I think.”

    “The tunnel? You saw that too?”

    “Yeah, there was a crash, and the tunnel appeared in the gym.”

    “Yeah, the white unicorn horn!”

    “Is that what it was? Well I saw you enter the tunnel—the horn . . .”

    “You could see me?”

    “Yeah, of course. But you didn’t respond when I called out to you . . .”

    “Did you see anyone else?”

    “I saw Sadie enter the tunnel after you, and I followed. By the time I got inside neither of you were there.”

    “I saw no one, like there was no one left in the school, like it was deserted,” said Vesper.

    “Me too, except for you and Sadie,” said George.

    “Do you think Sadie’s here somewhere?”

    “I’m not sure. I hope not—but probably.”

    “And even stranger,” continued Vesper, “is how our masks are stuck, and how we were transformed when we went through the tunnel. . .”

    “Horn.” They both said at once.

    Vesper and George laughed.

    “Sadie was dressed as a black swan,” said Vesper, “I wonder what that would mean in this strange place? Would she be a bird now? Like you?”

    “I haven’t seen any swans here. All I know is I get to fly!”

    “Yeah, that is pretty awesome. All I get is a horn on my head and a shadow dragon to fight. No biggy.”

    “No biggy. Hey, I thought of a joke,” said George with a smile.

    “Now? This is not really joke time, George,” Vesper said.

    “Hey, I spent the last few days getting pecked and poked by those nocs, training to dive-bomb kobalins and land without killing myself. It’s just one joke.”

    “Well, that all sounds terrible,” Vesper said. “But it looked like it wasn’t all bad. Seems at least one of those nocs likes you.”

    “Who, Liisa? Yeah, I guess. She’s nice. A good flyer too.”

    “It looked a lot like she’s crushing on you,” said Vesper.

    “Knock, knock,” George said, changing the subject.

    “Okay, fine. Who’s there?”

    “Nocs.”

    “Nocs who?”

    “Of course they do! Nocs hoo hooo hoooo!”

    Vesper stared at George for a moment, then rolled her eyes.

    “That was a bad joke,” said Vesper, “but it is one hundred percent awesome to see a familiar face. Well, a sort of familiar face,” said Vesper. “I’m sure I look strange, too. And muddy. Let’s get moving. I really need to clean up.”

    “You know, it’s really good to see you, too. I haven’t met anyone but the noc owls all this time—except when we fought against kobalins, and a few others from a distance, but that was it,” said George.

    “What’s a kobalin?”

    “Well, there’s a horde of creatures crashing about the forest. They’re like goblins, they just call them kobalins here.”

    “Great, now goblins.”

    “Nasty, disgusting creatures. From what I’ve seen with the nocs, the kobalins have done some real damage here. They have weapons like swords, spears, bow and arrows—those are the scariest. No guns though, I haven’t seen or heard a gun here at all. The kobalins swarm through the land fighting everyone they run across, either killing them or capturing them for who-knows-what in their creepy lair in the northern mountains.”

    George lifted his chin with an air of importance:

    “The nocs protect the innocent from the kobalin’s tyranny—many wings, one purpose.” He saluted, then his chin lowered. “I’ve gotten pretty good at the sword, but the wings still need lots of work.”

    “Have you actually killed someone with that?” said Vesper, pointing at George’s sword.

    “It’s a war, Vesper. Of course I have—only kobalins, though. I’ll do what I have to do to protect you, too. But good thing for us you have that magic necklace, or we wouldn’t stand a chance against kobs on our own. Where’d it come from, anyway?”

    “The necklace! The inscription!” Vesper said.

    Vesper scrambled to take off the necklace. The woods were too dark to see anything, so she ran until she found a clearing, then rubbed the necklace on the dewy grass of the knoll.

    For a moment she paused, looking at the knoll inquisitively.

    “Froke?”

    Then she looked at George.

    “Don’t worry, I’m not going crazy.”

    “What’s a Froke?”

    “Not a what—a who. I met Froke—and Eon, and his fox, Finn. They were helping me. We’ve got to try to find them—right after I see this inscription to see if Ruby was telling the truth.”

    Vesper tried to clean a muddy necklace with her muddy hands.

    “I’m sure Ruby wouldn’t lie to you about something like that,” said George. “She risks her life to protect us—to protect all of the fairy folk in Noominia. She’s a pretty awesome fighter, and did you hear what she said to you? You’re a princess here!”

    Soon Vesper could see the colour and shape of the necklace again. The blue crystal sparkled in the first rays of the dawn light and for a moment the bronze setting and chain began to shine. She turned it over in her hands looking for the inscription and saw some letters along the top of the setting:

    “What does it say?” George asked.

    Vesper could not believe her eyes.

    “For Anna’s Vesper, Ruby,” said Vesper.

    “Told you she could be trusted,” said George.

    Vesper realized that Ruby was telling the whole, unmasked truth.

    “That means my mother is alive!” said Vesper. “Don’t you realize what this means for me? For us? All this time, my mother and grandfather—our families—have been keeping secrets from us. Big secrets! About who we are. About where we’re from,” said Vesper.

    Vesper began to pace. The chill in her bones was replaced by the heat of adrenaline, and she began to breathe hard. She replaced the necklace around her neck. The sapphire was no longer aglow, but resting quietly against her chest.

    “If my mother is alive, somewhere here, I’ll do whatever it takes to find her. I can’t leave without trying. Someone wanted me here—I never told you but I got this strange note the day before the dance. It said my mother was alive. They knew me, they knew what I would do, and they knew where I would go.”

    “If there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that staying here means fighting the kobalins, and you know I’m with you on that. A hundred percent. But do you think you’re ready to face a shadow dragon? It won’t do any good if you were killed before you even got to see your mom again.”

    Vesper paused, her eyes began to swell with tears.

    “Yes. If I have to face the dragon to see my mother I will—I’d face a hundred,” Vesper said. “She must’ve had a good reason not to tell me any of this, and I think the shadow dragon is that reason.”

    “Well, maybe one dragon is enough to deal with for now. And we should try to find you one of these,” said George, gesturing to his sword.

    Vesper turned away, wiping her eyes.

    “You okay?” asked George.

    “Not really. But I will be. We’ve got to get going. Now. We have to find Froke,” she commanded.

    George launched into the air, hoping to practice flying on the way.

    Tears streaked across Vesper’s cheeks as she began to run. She didn’t know where she was going, or what she would encounter, yet she ran with all her speed.

    “Hey, wait up!” called George from above the trees.

    For the next ten minutes, George struggled to keep up as Vesper carved an erratic path south, out of the bog and back into the woods.