Entangled with a Unicorn



Book 3



Lynn Donovan

Copyright

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are all products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, organizations, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.

The book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. All rights are reserved with the exceptions of quotes used in reviews. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage system without express written permission from the author.

Beyond the VEIL Series

©2020 Lynn Donovan

Cover Design by Virginia McKevitt

Editing by Cyndi Rule

Appreciation

Thank you to everybody in my life who has contributed in one way or another to the writing of this book. My husband, my children, my children-in-law, and my grandchildren. You all are my unconditional fans. My BETA readers, writers’ group, and grammar guru who make me look gooder than I am. [Bad grammar intended.] My fellow author friends who chat with me daily to exchange ideas, encourage, maintain sanity, and keep me from being a total recluse/hermit.

Mostly, I thank God for the talent he has given me. I hope to hear you say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant,” when I cross the Jordan and run into your arms—Many, many years from now. God bless you all!

Dedication

To Hannah

Introduction

Blaze Moonstar took on a mystic persona to escape her father’s radical pretenses, but karma had other plans.

Janson Hollingsworth has his own secrets but his heart has other ideas. When he happens to find Blaze in need of help, things change drastically for both of them.

When a means to escape literally explodes out of nowhere, a unicorn takes the chance and goes through the portal. Now she needs help and instincts lead her to the one destined to make things better.

Can fate twist enough for Blaze and Janson to find happiness when they become entangled with a unicorn?

Chapter One

Blaze Moonstar gripped the steering wheel with what her mom would have called a death grip. The sudden white-out blizzard was early even for Mount Herman. The cone of lights from her trusty Subaru Outback lit up the huge feathery snowflakes but she could barely see the reflective yellow and white lines on the two lane blacktop road that led to her new place. The winding road weaving up the mountain to the thirty-five acres kept anyone from driving too fast, but with this blanket of snow she could barely go more than twenty five miles per hour.

She was tired and anxious to get home. She rubbed the amethyst crystal that hung from a hemp braid around her neck to calm herself and to ensure her safety, then grabbed the steering wheel with both hands. She let a vision develop in her mind arriving safe and sound to the new home, then she visualized the scene in a pink bubble. She let it go, floating up, up, up so that it would manifest and come back to her from the cosmos. Hopefully the cosmos would not take too long and it would affect this trip through the blizzard.

It had been a long, stressful day and tonight would be her first time to use the key her new landlord gave her just two hours ago. Her friend, author R.G. Donovan, had come to her with an unusual proposition. He owned a two-bedroom log home on thirty-five acres ten miles north of Loville. A writer’s retreat, he called it. But he needed to either close it down for the winter or hire someone to live there until next summer, maybe longer.

She had signed a standard renter’s agreement, although she would be more like a hired watch person and camp host to the small five-acre RV park he maintained at the southeastern-most section of the acreage. She had his writer’s retreat all to herself and it would be a peaceful home to go to after running her Mystique Emporium and dealing with eclectic people all day.

Living above the emporium had been convenient and a nuisance at the same time. People knew she lived upstairs and would rap on her alley-side door at all hours, after hours, before hours, because they had some emergency needs for her teas, calming stones, and incenses. Once a guy from the VEIL facility insisted he needed to buy the doll house in her display window. It was an emergency last-minute gift for his niece who was in town.

She shook her head. The things people deemed an emergency generally translated to not planning ahead—

A large white animal leapt into the road, filling the cone of light. Barely distinguishable from the white snow, it reared on its hind legs and whinnied as warm breath puffed in a cloud from its mouth. It pawed the air like Silver on the Lone Ranger show. Blaze instinctively slammed on her brakes. Her mountain goat of a car slid despite the anti-lock brakes. Blaze’s eyes were wide with fear as she stared at the animal. Her car skidded out-of-control toward it. Don’t let me hit her!

The animal came down hard on her front legs. The Subaru’s headlights reflected off the pure white coat. A horse. A startlingly white horse. Her Subaru fishtailed, she turned into the spin like she had been taught, but the wheels hadn’t had the same lesson. Her car turned all the way around. She lost sight of the horse, anticipating slamming sideway into its body, she closed her eyes.

The centrifugal force slammed her head against the side window and the Subaru came to a halt. She opened her eyes. The horse stood in Blaze’s headlights. She must have spun a full three-sixty. It dipped its head, bringing the top of its ears into the cone of light.

She gasped.

An iridescent rainbow-sheened horn sat on top of its head.

She squeezed her eyes closed. It had to be a hallucination. Too much CBD oil in her lotion. Maybe she hit her head too hard. Her imagination was running away with her mind from a concussion. Was she having an aneurysm?

There was no such thing as a unicorn! Opening her eyes again, she focused on the horse’s head. Nope, the horn was still there. A full-grown, solid white unicorn stood right there in front of her Subaru in the snowstorm.

The windshield wiper swiped delicate flakes from view. She gawked at the creature that remained in the small stream of light as if it were waiting on her. But for what?

Should she get out? Maybe if she opened her door, this strange creature would go back to wherever it had come from. Surely it knew its way home. Even in a storm like this.

She unsnapped her seat belt and gingerly opened her car door. The unicorn didn’t flinch or move. Slowly she stepped out, pulling her coat tighter around her neck and flipping the hood over her head. She took a step. The fantastical creature still didn’t shy away from her.

Slowly she approached the beast. It dipped its head as she pulled off her glove and reached up. Her hand gripped the horn, gently at first. She felt the solid spiral against her palm, following its length to the fine point. It was solid… and real.

The beast turned its head slightly, aligning its huge eyes with hers. For a moment Blaze felt a connection with her. Time hovered, suspended, unmoving. She could see in her mind the terror, a witch or at least a horrible human throwing what looked like lightning bolts at her. The unicorn ran, trying to get away. The Queen was angry, but why? She had come down from her castle. The loud explosion that startled everyone in Velona had brought the Queen down in search of the cause. A strange wall of sparkling stone had appeared where the explosion had happened. No one knew what it was or why, but several were now missing.

The unicorn had dug her hooves into the ground and turned away from the tyrant that ruled their land. She ran and ran, but there was nowhere to go. The Queen was behind and full of anger. The terrifying wall was ahead. Both were dangerous.

Exhaustion frothed from her back like clumps of clouds. She saw the scintillating wall of stone. The woman’s wrath echoed across the vast land behind the unicorn. There was no choice. She leapt toward the sparkling lit wall, not knowing if she’d crash into the rock or end up where the other’s had gone. But she leapt despite her fear of the unknown.

Her front feet left the ground. Up, up, up, she went toward the solid-looking wall. Air brushed her underbelly. She closed her eyes, anticipating her head would smash against the hard surface. A sweep of cold air washed over her body as she passed through the glittery structure. A fog engulfed her before her front feet touched down on a solid surface. She had never experienced anything like it.

Two creatures who looked similar to the queen, but different, cried out as she landed on the other side. They smelled of fear and wonder. They were afraid of the unicorn? So different from the Queen. She was always in a state of wrath and vengeance.

The unicorn looked around. Escape? She was inside some building. Was this the Queen’s castle? But she could smell trees and dry air. Not a jungle like where she came from, something different. Inside this structure, with these terrified creatures who stood on their hind legs, was definitely the wrong way.

She twisted her body and ran toward the tree smell. She ran and ran, dodging tall green trees with a sharp pungent smell and short white-trunked trees with flittering leaves. It was drier here. There was grass under her feet instead of moss. The sky was dark, but there was light and clouds. On she ran upward, like on the Queen’s mountain, except there was no castle ahead that the unicorn could see. The trees were thick, helping her hide, but as she ran they thinned out. A lot of lights shone ahead. A village? Her white coat reflected the light in the sky making her feel vulnerable. Especially as she left the cover of those trees. She would need to create a cover. Twisting her head slightly, making her horn loop in a circle, she summoned the elements from the benign clouds and drew down frozen flakes and continued to run.

A large woven wall, like thick silver crisscrossed threads, blocked her from running further. It was as tall as her head and brought her to a halt. There were spirals across the top with thorns that looked flat and sharp, making it higher than her horn when she held it up. Not a challenge. She turned around, regaining some ground, and charged toward it. Easily, she glided over the strange obstruction and kept running. A sharp pain stitched at her side, but she kept running.

Blaze let go of the horn and staggered back. Blinking her eyes. She had seen the unicorn’s escape from… that woman. Some sort of a queen? An oily disgust filled Blaze’s gut. That woman was evil. The white beast blew through her lips, vibrating a cloud of foggy breath, and tossed her head. She turned and trotted down the road, vanishing from Blaze’s sight within a few steps. The snow continued to fall around her, illuminated by her headlights. She glared into the blackness, but the fantastical beast was gone.

Slowly, she turned staggering to her car and collapsed into the seat, still staring at the vacant blankness. Instinctively she pulled the seatbelt around her and buckled it. The car was still running. She put it in gear and eased down on the gas.

The wheels spun, the car glided to her left. She was stuck. The magic of the moment remained with her and she just stared after the empty space where the amazing unicorn had disappeared. This was a moment she’d never forget.

Even if it was a hallucination.

Blaze quit trying to coax her Subaru to move with a heavy sigh. Reality slowly replaced the enchantment. She was stuck. Pulling her phone out of her pocket, she stared at the screen. Should she call Patrick? He didn’t even know she’d made the arrangements for the cabin with Mr. Donovan. He’d be mad about that. Especially when she explained she was nearly ten miles from Loville, in the snowstorm, and stuck. What could he do? He wasn’t mechanically inclined, but maybe he could push while she eased on the gas to get un-stuck, then she’d invite him to come see her new place.

And apologize for not calling recently.

She thumbed down to his name and stared at his picture. She loved his quirky haircut, close buzz from the sides down and spiky across the top. For a computer geek, he looked in-character. For a computer geek, he was an alright boyfriend… or just a friend. She loved his hair and his out-of-step-with-the-world ways. She loved his quirky pink-haired sister and even liked his older sister, who was very serious as most western medical doctors were. She just wished she could say she loved him.

She smiled at his photo on her screen. She’d talked him into some auburn and blond highlights too. He was fun to be around—

The windshield wiper screeched as it dragged across the snow-laden glass, causing her to gasp with a jerk. The phone toppled from her ice-cold hand! Its screen-glow illuminated the floorboard. She could just reach between the seat and the console to retrieve it with two fingers before the screen faded to black. If it weren’t for her headlights she would be in solid darkness.

A tap on her side window caused her heart to leap into overdrive. She sucked in air and jerked so hard, her entire body stiffened. She spun her head toward the tap. Two ice-blue eyes peered out of a fur-trimmed hood of an Alaskan-style parka. “Are you alright?”

Blaze closed her eyes, trying to settle her heart and her lungs. She nodded. “Yes. But I seem to be stuck.”

Her eyes darted to the end of her headlights illumination. Had this guy seen the unicorn? Did she? Really?

She opened her door, unbuckled her belt, and pulled her glove back on. “If you could push, I can try to get this ol’ goat moving.”

The parka hood moved up and down. “Sure.”

He walked to the back of her Subaru and lifted up on the bumper as he pushed. “Go!”

She scrambled to get into position and eased down on the pedal. The tires spun in place.

“Stop, stop!” He let go and walked toward her door. “You’re really stuck. Hold on, I have a winch, I can pull you. How far do you have to go?”

What did he have in mind, pulling her all the way home? Where did he live? Did she want a complete stranger knowing where her new place was? Especially since it was an isolated writer’s cabin on the far end of thirty-five acres? It was bad enough there were a dozen or so transient campers renting space on the little five-acre track at the corner of R.G.’s land. Surely if he hooked her little car to a winch and pulled her out of this spot she’d dug herself into, she could make it the rest of the way home.

“Okay, but—”

He walked away, into the darkness behind her car. She heard an engine revving, and then the slapping of large treaded winter tires as his vehicle came alongside hers and continued into position in front. How had she not heard him approach before? There was a roll-bar across the top, with big lights and other strange things poking out everywhere across the roof. It looked like a storm-chaser SUV. The guy jumped out and ran to the back of his monstrosity, he bent to fidget with a dark box, then pulled a metal cable by a hook toward her stranded little Subaru.

Blaze bit her lip and rubbed her amethyst stone. Eye of Horus, please don’t let him tear my bumper off! But relief washed over her worry when she could hear him wrapping the cable around something solid on her undercarriage and then stood. “Okay, let me pull out ahead about ten feet and we’ll see if you get traction.”

She held up her fingers in the OKAY sign, put her car in neutral, and waited.

He jumped back into his SUV and eased the plow horse of a vehicle forward. Her little Subaru went with it. When he stopped, she waited.

He ran back to her window. “Okay put it in drive and see if you have traction.”

She did, but the traitorous vehicle spun its tires and skipped sideways.

“I was afraid of that. It’s really gotten slick. Listen, how far you gotta go?”

She sighed. This was exactly what she dreaded. “I’m not sure. This is my first time out here, but…” Here goes nothing. This better not be a serial killer. “I’m staying in a writer’s cabin up here. I think I’m almost there.”

The handsome blue eyes widened. “Oh. You’re R.G.’s house sitter! Yeah. You are really close, actually. I’m in a travel trailer at his RV park and I’ve been to his house a few times. Why don’t I just continue to pull you, until we get you to his cabin? He has a garage. Surely you can dig out tomorrow.” He chuckled.

She liked the sound of his laugh. Then she resisted slapping her palm against her forehead! What was she thinking? She was glad he wasn’t inviting her to get into his vehicle to take her home. She’d be stranded there come morning and her car would be left vulnerable to Murphy’s law here on the side of the road. Besides, if he was renting a space at the RV park, she’d be talking to him sooner or later to either collect rent or clean up the spot after he moved on.

R.G. had mentioned with all the excitement out at the VEIL facility, his little park was full of intriguing people. Intriguing, as in crazy. Alien chasers, UFO enthusiasts. Ever since something blew up out there, rumors had been running rampant around town about fantastical creatures—

Could it be…? Did the explosion explain why she just saw a unicorn? Was it one of those rumored creatures that had somehow been released into our… world? Was she seriously entertaining the idea that all this nonsense of fantastical creatures was real? Sure in some other dimension… wait? Some of her friends swore to have seen a faun, others had seen a huge golem. Another person, whom she considered quite sane, swore he spotted a cyclops. Said it was a female cyclops. Blaze shook her head. She’d never considered there’d be male and female cyclops… but—

“Why not?” she said out loud. The parka hood moved as if he’d nodded approval and he vanished into his vehicle. His taillights flashed red in her face, filling her front seat with a warming sensation. It was a signal to be ready. She slipped the gear into neutral and took hold of the steering wheel. She visualized a protective white light surrounding her and her car as he eased forward, her Subaru jerked slightly and obediently followed. She let go with one hand and massaged the amethyst.

This stranger knew the way. That was a plus, since she wasn’t sure. Everything looked very different at night and in a snowstorm. She considered her cell phone. Should she call Patrick? So someone knew she was being towed to her new place by a stranger who wore such a protective parka that she had no idea what he looked like except for his amazing blue eyes. She’d never forget those ice-blue eyes and long dark lashes.

And his laugh.

Hopefully she wouldn’t have to describe them to a forensic sketch artist in order to find him after she was brutally attacked and left for dead. At least she had on clean underwear.

Chapter Two

Blaze steered as Parka Guy pulled her up the long, well maintained driveway. Most country driveways consisted of crushed granite and sandy dirt. Both vehicles came to stop on a rather long and wet concrete area that ended at a three bay garage door. She marveled at the building R.G. had called a writer’s cabin. This was way bigger than she was expecting! A chalet style log home with a garage decorated to look like a replica of an old-time carriage house, with lantern lights that lit up when they approached. Was the concrete heated? There wasn’t any snow, but it was very wet. Had to be heated. The snow was still falling heavily.

To her left, she glared at what R.G. had described as a two bedroom writer’s cabin. It was gorgeous, especially trimmed in snow. Embarrassingly huge for a mere two bedroom. She rose from her car while Parka Guy unhooked his winch and then pulled his storm-chaser SUV out of the way. He walked up to the garage door closest to the house and lifted a flap, then entered a code. The door slowly lifted. He waved her to drive into the garage.

He knows the garage code? How well does this guy know R.G. Donovan? Did she like the fact that he knew how to get in? She drove forward as commanded, with a frown. The guy waited by the panel. When she rose from her car, he pushed buttons and then turned to her. “Here. I’ve cleared that code and set it up for you to enter a new one. R.G. wanted you to feel safe and asked me to make sure you got the codes changed.”

Blaze gawked at him as she approached the panel. “You’re friends… with R.G.?”

“Well, yeah. He’s kind of an old friend of the family, actually.”

“Hum.” A crazy alien chaser knows R.G. Donovan? Perhaps by friend of the family his parents knew him before he became famous? She considered asking, but what did it matter? She just needed to get inside and let this RV-living weirdo be on his way.

Blaze turned to the panel. “I just enter a new number?”

“Yeah. Four numbers and then hit pound.” He turned away.

She hesitated. “And… you erased the previous number?”

He chuckled and held up three fingers. “Yep, Scout’s honor.”

She glared at him. His vibes were not deception, she let that settle in her heart. This was probably the dumbest thing she’d ever done, but she was going to trust him. At least that was what she’d tell the police when they found her bludgeoned body on the floor.

“I thought I could trust him. His parka looked so honest.”

She shook her head and cupped her hand over the panel. What number? Something no one would guess. “Hmm. Patrick’s birthday?” She entered the month and year. Surely if anyone were to guess the code, they wouldn’t associate Patrick with her. No one really knew she was dating Patrick. If that was what she was doing… with Patrick. Anything associated with Patrick for a secret code would work. Her dad came to mind. Did he know she and Patrick… hung out… occasionally? Nah, he wouldn’t do anything so stupid as hire a private detective to keep tabs on her… or worse, bug her apartment above the emporium… or the emporium itself. Would he?

Snapping her thoughts back to Parka Guy, she pushed pound and the garage door began to close.

“Hit Enter.” Parka Guy said quickly.

She did and the garage door went back up.

“Okay now you can park inside and enter from the garage.” He pushed his parka back from his head. Those brilliant blue eyes were framed by the most handsome face, a square, unshaven jaw, black hair pulled back in a man-bun. But it looked right on him. Sexy.

Blaze couldn’t pull her gaze away. At least if he were a serial killer, he was nice to look at. She laughed inside at her own ridiculous thoughts. A face like that couldn’t hurt a fly.

She hoped.

“R.G. probably left you the remote on the kitchen island.” Parka Guy stayed where he was just inside the garage.

“Yeah.” She nodded. R.G. had said he did, but how did Parka Guy know that? She had to stop calling him Parka Guy. “I’m sorry. What is your name?”

“Oh. I’m Janson. My friends just call me Jan.” He smiled and the stark whiteness of his teeth seemed to proverbially light up the garage. “I realize that may sound like a girl’s name, but I’m so used to it, I don’t even think of it that way anymore.”

She nodded. “I’m Blaze.”

He cocked his head sideways. “Touché. You win the prize for unusual names.”

“I didn’t know it was a contest.”

“I’m sorry. It’s not. You see with a name like Janson and nicknamed Jan, for a guy, I usually end up having a dialog about how I came to be called— you know what, never mind. It’s not a big deal.”

Blaze smirked a slight grin. “So… I’ll… just… park my car—”

“Oh, definitely. Yes. Get inside and get warm. There’s a nice fireplace and some split wood in the box next to the hearth.”

Blaze considered him. “You seem to have spent a lot of time here… with R.G.?”

“Yeah. He’s a cool guy. We get along.” He pulled his hood back over his head, took a step toward his SUV, then stopped abruptly.

“Oh, but I won’t come hang out now that you are housesitting…” An ornery smile curled his lips and twinkled in his eyes. “Unless I’m invited.”

She cocked her head back with a flash blink. How presumptuous! But then she heard herself say, “We’ll see.”

Why am I falling all over myself with this man-bun wearing, RV-living, alien chaser? She followed him out into the snow and got into her Subaru while he climbed into his storm-chaser SUV. She pulled into the garage and then walked to the door going into the house, and pushed the doorbell-like button next to the door. The garage door moved all the way down as Janson’s headlights faded down the driveway.

She entered her new home.

“Writer’s cabin, indeed?” She breathed the words. From the way R.G. described this place, she thought she was renting one of those small-houses where the so-called second bedroom was actually a loft.

This was a luxury cabin! R.G. had spared little expense building it. She knew he was well off, but this? She walked around, taking in every designer detail. The gourmet kitchen separated from the dining area by a long island bar. The living room lay beyond that with the fireplace Janson had mentioned. It was covered in river stone and rose to the second-story height of the ceiling. Next to the rock wall were huge ceiling to floor windows that had no curtains. They looked black because of the hour and the storm, but she could imagine the view she’d get to see in the morning. A guilty sense of anticipation washed over her.

There was a door under the stair landing that piqued her curiosity. She opened it and gasped. A spa-like bathroom the size of an ordinary bedroom lay behind the staircase.

She backed out and walked up the stairs. An open loft with bookshelves for walls, filled with books and trinkets. “Huh? R.G. is an antiquer.”

She perused the interesting and ancient items randomly placed between sections of books. A cobbler’s shoe form, a wood shaving tool, a small butter churn… So many interesting things. Curiosity filled her head. Why did these things intrigue R.G. enough to buy them? Loville was rather famous for its antique shops and she figured these things had come from those stores. Did he buy them just to be part of the community, or did they have a special meaning to him? She would ask him next time she saw him.

She walked to a small hall, to her left was another amazing bathroom, just past it she entered a bedroom. More accurately, a bedroom suite. There was a writing desk, a two-chair sitting area in a bay window, no dresser but a king-size four-poster bed and matching night stands. A set of double doors beckoned her to the other end of the room. She approached them gingerly, what could this be? She pulled both doors open.

A closet. The biggest closet Blaze had ever seen. It had hanging areas, double hanging areas, built-in drawers— some were deep like a normal dresser and some were thin, like for… she considered… ties? Flat apparel? Sweaters? If R.G. had left some clothes behind, she’d have a better idea of what went where. Ceiling-to-floor shoe shelves set at an angle, bat-wing slatted doors that when pulled apart shielded another hanging area.

Blaze shook her head. An entire Haitian family could live comfortably in this closet alone! She wasn’t even sure how to set up her clothes in here. Every space obviously had some sort of meaning as to what went where.

She released a sigh of guilty awe and returned to the loft. Did he write in here or at the desk in the bedroom? She trotted down the stairs and walked around them. Another door. She opened it to find a downstairs bedroom just as enormous as the one upstairs. Also with a writing desk and sitting area at a bay window. She considered sleeping here. Something about this room, the vibes she felt, told her R.G. did not sleep here. It felt more comfortable to her to claim it for herself.

“Okay.” She turned to go get her pillow cases filled with her clothes from the Subaru. A brilliant glow in the yard filled the huge windows across the kitchen sink. She stopped in her tracks, staring at the illumination. “What on earth—?”

She slid the glass door open that led to the back yard. A sharp breeze chilled her to the bone. Her mouth dropped.

The unicorn dipped her head and pawed at the ground, just ten feet from the covered deck. Blaze stepped out in the shelter of the deck, staring at the fantastical beast obviously beckoning her to it. She staggered closer. The unicorn lowered her horn and Blaze instinctively reached up to touch it. A vision flashed in her mind. A shelter. Straw. A dim light. Blaze fell back, releasing the horn. “You need shelter?”

The unique horse nodded her head, affirmative.

R.G. had explained the layout of his property. There was a horse barn and it had a heater. From what she’d seen of his two-bedroom cabin, she could only imagine what this horse barn looked like. She focused on the darkness toward the back area. A glow emanated from the beast, lighting every snowflake that fell around them like a nightlight. Blaze turned to see the unicorn’s horn illuminated, like a glow-in-the-dark cone. “That’s what’s making that light, cool!”

It projected just enough light to see about twenty feet around of them. Blaze and the unicorn walked toward the back of the lot. A white structure came into the sphere of illumination. The barn. It looked like a pristine, movie-set equestrian barn, with white washed walls and red trim, six crisscrossed Dutch doors to stalls and a man-size door at the end. Blaze looked back at the unicorn. She nodded her head and kept walking.

Blaze tugged at the door, surprised it was not locked, and entered. The unicorn at her heels. Immediately to her right she saw a switch. Thank the stars for the glow or she’d have never seen it. She flipped it up and a series of up-side-down lantern-like lights came on. “Well. What do you know?”

Blaze continued into the barn. It was cold as the dickens, but at least the roof was solid and would protect her new friend from the falling snow.

She looked around and saw what might be the heater. She approached the thin box on the wall. It looked like a water-on-demand heater. She flipped a switch on it and a whooshing sound filled the silent barn. Pipes that ran from the box filled with hot water. Condensing steam instantly vaporized from the metal tubes as heat penetrated the cold air. Blaze followed the pipe, seeing that it encircled the barn along the bottom of the walls and returned to this box. “Huh? Radiant heat. Efficient.”

The unicorn nodded and walked away from Blaze. She plodded toward a center stall and pulled the gate open with her chin, shoved it aside, and entered the stall. Blaze followed her. She didn’t see any need to lock the gate or the barn door. Obvious if this creature truly was a unicorn and this wasn’t just a dream, she could get out as easily as she got in… if she wanted. Blaze watched her settle down in the straw, on her side with her feet tucked in close to her body.

Blaze noticed dark dried blood on the unicorn’s underside. “What?” She remembered the vision the unicorn had shared. When she jumped over the razor wire, something had stung her side. She had cut herself. Blaze turned to the water heater, spotting a valve and some hand towels. She wetted a towel and returned to the unicorn. “Will you let me wipe that for you?”

The unicorn nodded slowly. Blaze stepped into the stall and gingerly wiped the dried blood out of the stark-white hair. A small cut had clotted and looked relatively clean.

“We’ll need to keep an eye on that,” she told the unicorn, somehow knowing the beast understood.

Blaze looked around. “Do you need a blanket?” She spotted a tan wrap with silver buckles. “Here’s one.”

She brought the wrap to the unicorn’s stall, holding it out, to figure how it went on the beast. Trying one way, then the other, she finally managed to get the amazing animal coated. She nodded her head and closed her eyes as she laid her head down.

Blaze nodded satisfaction. She’d handled that like an equestrian expert. “Huh?”

Great! She’d resorted to talking to herself. Bizarre situations bring out weirdness in a person. “Huh?”

Pleased with herself, and also convinced she’d wake up from this and think how strange the dream had been, she walked out of the barn, flipping off the light as she exited. The snow had stopped falling. Only moonlight reflected off the white ground but it was enough for Blaze to find her way to the back sliding glass door. She entered the house and yawned. Man! What a crazy night this had been. She considered making a cup of tea, but on second thought she probably didn’t need any help sleeping. Suddenly exhaustion filled her limbs. She made her way into the downstairs bedroom and prepared for bed.

That was a preview of Entangled with a Unicorn, Beyond the Veil Series, Book #3. To read the rest purchase the book.

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