Page 28 of A Flash of Neon
“I’m not sure. I think so.” Another lie, and one Tilly’s parents wouldn’t be happy about – they’re not the type of people to leave a guest sleeping in a barn, especially not a teenager. I sigh. “OK, fine. No, they don’t.”
“Wow. Your decision-making has been really impressive lately.”
“I didn’t know any of this was going to happen!” I snap. “I made up a boy and suddenly he was there at the train station. It’s not my fault.”
The unicorn takes a step back and knocks over a bar of soap from the edge of the bath with her tail. She seems upset by the tension between us, and that’s enough to make both Joel and me calm down and lower our voices.
“OK, OK. Sorry.” My brother sighs and runs a hand through his hair, still completely baffled. “The most important thing is that we get her out of here before Mum and Mutti come home. Let’s just pray we can do it without anyone spotting her.”
Joel brings the car round to the front door, then comes back to the bathroom to help me take the unicorn downstairs. At first we try to carry her together, but it’s easier for Joel to do it himself – she weighs about as much as a packet of marshmallows. I run ahead and open the car door. Before Joel steps out, a voice makes me jump.
“Hiya, love.” I turn round to see Carrie sitting on her front step. “How are things?”
“Oh, f-fine, thanks,” I stammer. My eyes flit to Joel: he’s frozen in the doorway, the unicorn cradled in his arms like an oversized puppy. “How are you?”
“Not so good, to be honest.” Carrie sighs. “I heard this morning that the puppet theatre in Estonia that I worked for has closed down. Those were three of the best years of my life.”
My heart sinks – we’re going to be stuck here for half an hour if Carrie launches into one of her stories. I need to create a distraction fast.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Actually, Carrie, I was wondering if you had the recipe for that shepherd’s pie you brought us the other day? It was so good, I want to try making it myself.”
Her eyes light up. “Of course I do! You know me, I keep everything. Come on in. I’ll find it for you.”
She turns and beckons for me to follow her inside. I stare at Joel as I walk past, telepathically telling him to hurry out while he can. Still hidden in our doorway, he nods and shifts the unicorn in his arms. If we weren’t in such a hurry, I’d take a photo – it’s the weirdest sight I’ve ever seen in my life, and also one of the best.
Inside, I follow Carrie down her hallway. I’ve only been in her house a couple of times. She babysat Joel and me quite often when we were younger, but she always came to ours since all our toys and games were there. The place looks a lot more normal than you’d expect from someone as quirky as her, except for a few very Carrie touches – she’s got a framed photo of herself shaking hands with Nelson Mandela in the hallway and a tapestry of the solar system that she made herself hanging up in her living room. She turns into her kitchen and opens a drawer beside the sink.
“It’s somewhere in here…” Carrie begins riffling through hundreds of scraps of paper and newspaper clippings. There are so many that I doubt she’ll be able to find what she’s looking for but, after a few seconds, she pulls one out and waves it at me. “Got it!”
“Thanks so much.” I carefully fold the recipe and slip it into my back pocket. “I’d better go. Joel’s giving me a lift over to my friend’s house. I’ll let you know how the pie turns out!”
I hurry out but Carrie follows me down the hallway. “How did your performance go? I heard you and your friend practising the other day – you sounded great. I love a bit of Journey. I saw them in Osaka in 2004, while I was playing Shrek at Universal Studios.”
“Oh, I actually decided not to do it this time. I get really bad stage fright, but…”
I stop abruptly as I reach the front door. To the right of the hallway is the living room, with Carrie’s squashy yellow sofa and the fireplace in view. Lined up on the mantelpiece are a dozen unicorns. One is in a snow globe and one is in an open music box, but the rest are figurines in various shades of pink, white and purple.
“Do you like unicorns, Carrie?”
She follows my gaze to her collection. “Oh, I love them. My friends and family always get me one on my birthday. I know it’s a bit silly but they make me happy. They’re so magical, aren’t they?”
I nod weakly. “Really magical.” I pause, unsure of how to phrase my next question. “But you don’t … think they’re real, do you?”
Carrie looks confused but laughs lightly. “Well, I know I’m not going to spot one any time soon, but I’m sure they existed at one stage! There have been some skulls found in Siberia that look like they belonged to unicorns, and there’s a painting of one in the Lascaux Cave in France – those are some of the oldest paintings in the world. Plus, they’re Scotland’s national animal, so it makes sense they would have existed at some stage.”
I don’t point out that the national animal of Wales is a red dragon and you don’t see many of those flying around, either. This must be how the unicorn got here – because Carrie believes in them enough to have summoned one. I’ve always thought she was a bit eccentric, but I didn’t think she was believes-in-mythical-creatures eccentric.
She tells me about how unicorn sightings have been recorded by cultures all across the world, her words picking up speed as she gets swept up in the explanation. I steal a glance through the front door. The back of Joel’s head is now visible in the car window. Looks like the coast is clear.
“That’s amazing,” I blurt out. “Joel’s waiting for me, but we should talk more about this another time.”
“I’d love that, Laurie. Come round whenever you like.”
Carrie says goodbye, waves to Joel and closes the door behind me. When I get back to the car, the unicorn is sitting quietly across the back seat with a blanket over her head to shield her from view. I try to pull one of the seat belts over her but she’s too big, so I climb in beside her and drape an arm across her instead.
“Is she OK back there?” Joel glances at the unicorn in the rear-view mirror. “Make sure nobody sees her!”
“Don’t worry, she’s fine.” I take a nervous look around. “But drive extra carefully.”
