Chapter 8 True Form
True Form
Long stalks of grass swished against her body, gently waking her. She felt . . . strangely whole. A feeling of completion—of being reborn.
Luna’s eyes fluttered open, revealing a new panoramic view. The grass rolled into hills that stretched to meet the endless sky at the horizon. She looked side to side, her head feeling like a marionette puppet. Had she hit her head before she passed out?
A beautiful onyx unicorn stood in front of her with his head dipped low. Damien, she realized. Even as a unicorn, she recognized those deep green eyes. But why had he changed? His nostrils flared as he inspected her.
Her flat, heavy tongue twisted in her mouth as she tried to speak, making her words incomprehensible. With a shake of her head, she tried to figure out what had happened, looking to her surroundings for answers; soft grass lay beneath her and dim stars above.
White, unearthly flowers bloomed in a spiral circle from where she lay, their centers glowing like tiny stars, each burning with white-hot fire. Where were they?
Taking a deep breath to steady her racing heart, she inhaled the scent of earth mixed with something sweet.
“Easy there. Go slow,” Damien said, his voice soft and reassuring.
The sound made her ears somehow flicker forward.
What an odd sensation.
Stealing another deep breath, she tried to move her tongue again. It was awkward and stiff. Slowly, as she had to concentrate on each word she wanted to say, she asked, “Wha . . . What do . . . y . . . you mmmean?”
His answer was a nod towards herself—to her body.
Her skin was covered in white hair, her legs were long, and instead of feet, she had split hooves.
She jolted in surprise, becoming acutely aware that she now had a tail.
More than a little alarmed, she tried to stand, but her legs tangled underneath her, and she didn’t make it off the ground.
“W-What the hell?!” she screamed, her words overpronounced as her tongue fumbled to find its rhythm.
“You transformed,” Damien explained. “You’re a unicorn, Luna.”
“No.” She shook her head, denying the truth before her very eyes. “This is just . . . a bad dream.” Any moment now, she would wake up in her cozy bed, and this nightmare would be over.
She shut her eyes and then silently counted down from ten.
When she reached zero, she slowly opened them.
“Dammit!” Hair still covered her body. Unable to control herself, she unleashed a string of profanities followed by more denial. “This can’t be happening.” How could she be a unicorn? She didn’t have any magic. She was human.
Damien’s soft voice interrupted her panic. “Are you okay?”
“Do I look okay?!” she snapped at him. Her mane whipped around her as she shook her head. “I don’t understand . . . I can’t—I can’t be a unicorn.”
The corners of his lips wrinkled in a way that she instinctively knew was a smile. Did he think this was funny?
“Did . . .” Her head twisted sideways. “Did you do this to me?”
“Make you a unicorn?” He snorted, as if the mere suggestion was obtuse. “No. There’s no magic in any world that could make a human a unicorn.”
Her soul left her body. Wouldn’t she have known she wasn’t a human?
Damien had to be lying. Her thoughts tumbled in her mind as she tried to think of any moment in her life that would’ve indicated she was a unicorn.
She shook her head. “I’m a human. I’m not a .
. . a—” She sneered, her lips folding up from the movement, stopping herself from finishing that sentence; now was not the time to refer to unicorns as vile beasts.
His eyes softened. “It’s true. Luna, you’re a unicorn. Humans don’t bleed magic.”
His words pierced her heart. Her chest heaved, and she gasped for breath. He was referring to the cuts he’d healed after she escaped the palace walls. She had thought the light was due to her illness. Never would she have suspected the light was magic.
So, I really am a . . . a . . . She couldn’t even bear to think the truth, let alone say it aloud.
Tears welled in her eyes. What would her family think of her? Why couldn’t she just be normal like everyone else? First, her illness, and now this. “Just change me back. Please. I just want to go home.”
He jerked his chin, snapping his head towards his chest, clearly appalled by her reaction. “Your plan is to return and pretend you aren’t a unicorn? The very being that everyone, including your family, hates so much.”
Inhaling, she took a deep breath, filling her lungs, and then let it out. The air was fresher through this nose, and the scent of sweet grass soothed her frazzled nerves.
As stupid as it might sound, that’s exactly what she wanted to do. She wanted to pretend this was all a dream and go back to her normal life. She lifted her chin. “Yes.”
Damien turned his head away from her. The wind played with his long black mane, wisping about. His gaze focused somewhere off in the distance as if he was contemplating what to do. “Shifting to human form isn’t easy.”
That was a yes, right? He was going to help her. But, of course, he was. This man—well, unicorn—had only ever shown her kindness. She tilted her head. “What do you mean?”
He shifted his weight from one leg to the other, clearly uncomfortable with the information he was going to give her. His silence was agonizing and tension built. Her mouth went dry as she imagined the worst possible scenario. She was trapped as a beast.
When he finally answered her question, she barely heard him above her panicked thoughts and the pounding of her own heart. “Changing between forms takes time to learn, you need to be able to control your magic. It’s not something you can learn in a matter of minutes.”
A vision flashed in her mind of her parents waking up the next morning and realizing she wasn’t there.
“I don’t have time; I’m supposed to be back home already.
” But what other option did she have? She wouldn’t be able to go home like this.
Unicorns were known for their ruthless fury to destroy anything human.
They were the enemy. Luna’s throat bobbed.
I’m the enemy. Or at least, that’s how everyone would see her now.
Pain radiated from her heart, spreading across her chest and travelling down her limbs. A gentle whinny burst from her lips.
Damien grunted, interrupting the pity party he wasn’t invited to. His ears were flipped backwards, flattening against his head. Clearly, he didn’t like how this conversation was going. “There are worse things than being a unicorn,” he corrected, his voice rumbling softly.
She couldn’t help herself. “I can’t think of a single thing that could be worse than this.” She had spent her entire life wanting to be normal. To not be sick, to be able to live like everyone else did; being a unicorn did not align with that dream.
Her eyes widened and a realization dawned on her.
Had Damien known she was a unicorn the whole time?
Even when she had called him the enemy. What a hypocrite she must have looked like.
How embarrassing. Heat, matching the fury of the sun, burned her cheeks.
For a brief moment, she was thankful she was a unicorn so at least he couldn’t see her embarrassment, but her relief was short-lived.
I must be losing my mind. There is nothing good about being a unicorn.
She pushed the thoughts aside, wanting answers, and she forced herself to ask, “I was always told I had this condition . . . That if I got injured, I would die. No one ever said that my illness was because I was a unicorn.”
“It’s not. All unicorns can heal themselves; our magic gives us that ability. I’ve never heard of one having an illness that prevents them from doing so. The only way you would die from an injury is if you were given a magical inhibitor, then you wouldn’t be able to heal.”
“You’re telling me, I was never sick?”
He nodded, confirming what she already knew in her gut.
Everything she’d ever known about herself was a lie; she’d been living in a false reality.
She could physically feel her mind breaking, heart shattering.
She had never been sick. The words repeated themselves in her head, over and over, like her mind was an empty cavern, echoing endlessly.
How could her identity be kept from her for so long?
Who had orchestrated her so-called sickness?
And how did they do it? Whoever it was, they had gone to great lengths to not only lie to her, but everyone else as well.
She shook her head. It didn’t matter at the moment.
Right now, she needed to focus on turning back into a human and returning home.
“Tell me how to transform,” she demanded.
“Maybe I’ll be the exception to the norm and be able to right away!
” Then she could forget she was ever a unicorn, and everything would be okay again.
She’d go home and continue to keep her true identity a secret.
Pretend she was really sick—an easy task considering she had done so her whole life without knowing.
Yes. That’s what she needed to focus on.
He scoffed at her, as if she was being ridiculous.
“Well, I have to at least try,” she shot back.
He cranked his shadowy head in her direction and his eyes searched hers. Then he mumbled, “Very well.” With a lick of his velvety lips, he explained, “Let’s start with summoning your magic—one of the easiest things to do. Do you feel the sensation of your power under your skin?”
She drew in a deep breath, silencing her mind.
Closing her eyes, she searched for it. Searched for the light that she had seen when she was bleeding after falling off the wall.
She had never noticed her magic before, but now that she was looking for it, there was an undeniable sense of power brewing under her skin.