Magical Unicorn Potion

Rachel found it near Marahoon’s cabin labeled “Magical Unicorn Potion.”   She put the vial into her hoodie pocket, got on her bicycle and raced home.  She was barely able to speak when she got to my house to show me the vial.  

It was no secret Marahoon was a sorcerer, an evil one at that.

“Do you really think this is a magic potion?” She asked me.  Rachel Narrack had been my neighbor for as long as I could remember.  She was as level headed as anyone I had ever known, but this was anything we had ever encountered on our excursions into the dark woods.  Our parents had given us  stern warnings about traversing too deep into those haunted woods because of some of the stories that the local folks would tell.  But the fact was the older we got the more daring we became. 

Once I had gone with her when we found Marahoon’s cabin.  You could tell that something evil was happening with all of the junk that had accumulated in his yard covered with the thorny bushes. Some of the trees surrounding his hovel appeared like skeletal hands reaching for the sky.  

There were all kinds of warning signs hanging from the branches of the trees saying, “Keep Out” and “Beware” with a skull and crossbones sketched into the sign. 

“What do you suppose he does?” She asked me at the time.

“I don’t know and I don’t want to find out.” I shook my head slowly. 

“Yeah, I think this is an evil place.” She said as she glanced at the cabin one last time before we went home. 

Since then, I have had nightmares.  I’ve seen shadows race across my periphery.

“What is wrong, Donny?” My mum would ask me after I jumped.

“Nothing, mum.” I’d lie hoping she would not notice a slight shudder.

Now standing in my yard as she held the vial in her hand, she looked at the clear liquid in the vial, “Do you suppose it’s real?”

“I don’t want to find out, do you?” I sniffed.

“Donny, what if it is real.  What do you suppose it would do?” Her blue eyes were wide with wonder. 

“I don’t wish to find out.” I inhaled, “Whatever is in there belongs to Marahoon and we should give it back.” 

“Are you serious?” She scoffed, “We could have a secret potion that would turn someone into a unicorn.”

“What of it?  What good are unicorns anyway?” I swallowed hard. 

“Are you kidding?  Unicorns are magical.  We could be magical too.” She smiled. 

“I don’t want to be magical.” I shook my head. 

“Come on, Donny, let’s be brave.  Let’s be brave for once.” She twisted off the stopper.  My heart began to race, because I knew once the vial was open there was no going back.  Before I could stop her, Rachel drank half of the liquid contents of the vial and then handed it to me, “Now you, Donny.” 

“I don’t want to.” I shook my head vehemently.

“Are you chicken?” She smiled.

“No.” I snapped. 

“Then go ahead.  It has no flavor.” She held the vial under my nose.

“I’m not going to.” I said emphatically.

“Alright, have it your way.” She put the stopper back on the vial. “It was just water.  This is not a magic potion.” 

She laughed a very unsettling laugh.

“It’s getting dark.  It’s time for me to go home.” I nodded, studying her closely for any changes to her face, but there was no change whatsoever to any part of her.  

“Go ahead, you mama’s boy.” She jeered.  At that moment, I felt my first trepidation towards her.

“Night.” I waved as I walked in my door.

“That’s right, walk away.  Walk away.” She continued to jeer. 

“Hallo, Donny boy.” My mum greeted me wearing her apron, “Dinner will be ready shortly.” 

The small house we lived in was warm and a hearty smell hovered in the room.  It was her famous roast.  It was one of my favorite meals. Pa walked in the back door after spending most of his day in our corn field.  His hands were dirty, so we washed them in the sink and dried them on a towel hanging from a hook on the wall.  

“Smells wonderful.” He said just before kissing mum on her rosy red cheek. 

“It will be served shortly.” She smiled at him.

“Wonderful, Mildred me love.” He nodded. 

“What’s new, Donny?” He asked as we sat at the table with the roast steaming in a big cast iron pot.

“Nothing.” I was quick with my response. 

“How’s Rachel?” Mum asked.

“How should I know?” I nearly snapped.

“Oh, but I seen ya talking to her before ye came inside.” Mum shrugged.

“Oh yeah, I was just saying hello.” I put a forkful into my mouth. Pa gave me a sidelong glance. 

“She ain’t your girl, now is she?” Pa finally asked. 

“No, no, she is not my girl.” I denied quickly. 

“Seems suspicious.” He grunted. 

Elizabeth, my younger sister, nodded, “She saws that you’re sweet on her.”

“Well I’m not.” I was a bit short in my response, because I was tired of talking about this and was eager to move onto another subject. 

How absurd to think such a thing, Rachel and I had been friends since she moved into the neighborhood seven years ago.  She liked unicorns and I like riding my bicycle and playing baseball.  My sister was a constant source of irritation and commiseration.

The next morning I got on my bicycle after mum told me not to ride into the dark woods, but that's where I was headed.  I no sooner got on the path when I stopped dead in my tracks.  

"Did I just see what I thought I saw?" I wondered aloud. I stood there doubting what I had just seen, but the creature had four legs and A single horn in the middle of its forehead and was galloping up ahead on the path.  At the next bend, the Forest became darker as the trees became denser and more sinister, if trees could be more evil. Around the bend after that was Silas Marathon's cabin.

Silas was evil.  Every story I had ever heard about him confirmed this assessment of the white haired wizard. 

"Donny!" I heard Rachel's voice calling my name from the shadows of the woods..  When I stained my eyes against the darkness, I saw A unicorn. "It's me, Rachel." 

She stepped onto the path, all four legs and horn.  

"You have changed." I swallowed hard.

"You noticed." She replied

"Hard not to." I shook my head.

"Want a ride." She offered.

"Where to?" 

"I want to talk to Silas Marahoon." She nodded her horned head.

"The wizard?" 

"I want to see if he can reverse this." She said as I climbed on her back.  She began to trot down the path into the dark wood as I held onto her mane.

"What if he can't or won't?" I asked.

"I am pretty persuasive." She stopped in front of Marahoon's cabin. I dismounted.  The wizard was tending to the devil's root in his garden.  He looked up and saw us on the path in front of his cabin.

"Good day.  How can I help you?" His eyes fell on Rachel. "What do we have here?" 

"I drank some potion we found on the path." Rachel explained.

"I wondered what happened to it." He smiled through his unkempt beard.  "Please tell me you did not drink the entire potion." 

"I drank half of it." She admitted.

"Perhaps there is hope, then." He nodded.  He seemed quite welcoming for A couple of strangers showing up out of nowhere even if one of us was A unicorn. "Follow me." 

Rachel was compliant, but I was hesitant.  

"Let me see." He put his hand to his bearded chin as he looked over his plants, "Witch hazel can often remove unwanted spells and curses."  

"I will try it." Rachel bowed her horned head.

"Don't be so quick, Rachel." I warned her.

"Don't be so cynical, young man. What she did was very careless drinking an unmarked potion." He looked over the top of his spectacles. 

"It was marked." I pointed out.

"Dear, is that true?" He looked at Rachel.

"Yes..." She admitted.

"That was quite a risky thing to do." He tilted his head.

"Why did you make this potion?" I asked.

"The magic wood has its fair share of unicorns.  They are peaceful and gentle creatures.  They help add to the beauty of these woods." He smiled as he stroked her mane. "This was not intended for human consumption, however." 

"Who was it intended for, then?" I asked leery of his motives.  My uncle told me that real wizards are aligned with evil and do not have our best interests in mind.

"There are creatures who come to me wishing to become unicorns." He shrugged nonchalantly. "I have my cauldron over the fire, perhaps I can brew up a remedy." 

After saying that he pulled some leaves off his plant and walked in the door of his cabin.

"Are we supposed to follow?" Rachel nuzzled me.

"I don't know." I shrugged.

"Are you coming in?" Silas poked his head out the door.

"Will I fit?" Rachel asked.

"I do not see a problem." He nodded.

Walking in, I could not get over the endless number of bookshelves jammed with tomes and volumes of books in ancient bindings. Despite the overwhelming clutter, Rachel had no trouble finding room in his cabin.  From the outside, the cabin seemed small, too small to be occupied by a unicorn, but the interior was spacious and roomy.

Silas bent over his cauldron hanging on a tripod bubbling as the flames licked at the cast iron.  Carefully he dropped the leaves he had picked in his garden into the bubbling liquid. Putting a spoon into the black concoction, he took a small taste and grimaced, "Woo, it is quite bitter, but I need a certain concentration.  I think this will do it." 

"What are all these books for?" I asked with trepidation.  

"Tools of my trade." He answered with pride.

"They speak of witchcraft." I pulled a tome from the shelves. 

"Any wizard worth his salt must be well versed in witchcraft." He stirred the liquid in his cauldron.

"Witchcraft is of the devil. Witchcraft is evil." I spouted off.

"What is contained in those pages is not evil or from the devil." He laughed, "Many villagers have it in their heads that evil is the wolf baying at the door. The reality is that witchcraft was once a solemn worship of the natural world.  How people have confused Satan, I will never know.  Evil lives in the hearts of those who choose hate over love." 

"And what does your heart choose?"

"Love, always love." He assured me as he retrieved a spoonful of the awful smelling liquid and stroked Rachel's head, "Open your mouth, my child."

"Alchemy and witchcraft are the tools of the devil.  Don't drink it, Rachel." I tried to step in between them, knocking the spoon from his hand.

"Donny, I don't want to be a unicorn anymore." Rachel pleaded.

"Donny, if I may address you like that, you must let me do my craft.  I need to administer the remedy.   Whatever you believe.  Whatever you believe I'm doing, she is the one who drank my potion.  She is the unicorn in the room. Her transformation was unintentional and she must be returned to her natural form.  If not, you will be the one who must inform her parents." 

He put the spoon in her mouth.  She grimaced as he has when he tasted it.

What followed was difficult for me to describe, but the room swirled around in a blending of color and shapes.  There was a strong wind that seemed to change the solid ground I thought I was standing on.  Voices also swirled around me in ancient languages that I was unfamiliar with.   

Silas stood in the middle of the whirlpool of color and sound.  Somewhere in all this chaos, Rachel was returned to her human form.  

As suddenly as the room swirled and twirled,  it returned to the stillness and order with Silas standing with his hands folded together as though nothing had happened. The only evidence we had of a radical disturbance was Rachel was standing with us without two extra legs or a horn on her forehead.

"How are you feeling, young lass?" He took a hold of her hand.

"I feel strange." She answered as she shook her head to clear the fogginess from her head.

"Be grateful that's all you feel." He tamped the tobacco in his Meerschaum pipe before lighting it with his index finger.  "Transitions can be hard sometimes."

"I can't thank you enough." She fought through A cloud of smoke to kiss him on the cheek.

"It was nothing." His cheeks turned red.

"Have you met my parents? If I went home as A unicorn...I dread even thinking about it." She shuddered.

"Which means you should use A bit of caution before you go drinking potions you know nothing about." He exhaled a cloud of smoke. "You were fortunate you did not drink the entire potion.  There might not have been enough elixir to transition you back."

"I wanted Donny to share it with me." She confessed.  Upon this revelation, I had to turn my head.

"Lad, what made you decide against it?" He put his elbow on the mantelpiece.

"I have been warned about the doings in these woods." I answered.

"I see." A quick expression of amusement washed over his face as he puffed his pipe.

"I have heard tales of things that happen in these woods." I looked away.

"Have you ever once thought that the tellers of these tales are only repeating what someone else has told them in complete confidence." He shook his head, "The reason I do not come to the village like I used to, is that I have grown tired over the past century of hearing these tales told from the tongues of those who believe them to be true." 

"But these books you have and the potions you brew, it's all part of the devil's plan." I pointed to the books on the shelves.

"Aye, there are those who use their power for selfish and evil intent, but there are those of us who use our power to restore a balance...a balance that people like yourself have removed."

"Like the unicorns that you conjure up?" 

"Hunted to near extinction for nothing more than the horn on their head...a prized trophy, it is." He shook his head as he tapped his pipe on the fireplace bricks to release the ashes to their proper place, "There are only a couple dozen of us left."

"A couple dozen what?" I was puzzled by what he told me.

"Wizards who, like me, have been tasked to keep the balance.  Each year it seems to get harder and then there are reckless people who drink potions they know little about." He cast a quick glance at Rachel.  She turned her head in embarrassment.     

"It's getting late, Donny.  We should be getting home." Rachel said after an awkward silence. Summoning up her courage, she turned to face Silas, "I can't thank you enough for helping me."

"You are a brave lass, but you must not misplace your courage in foolish deeds." He hugged her as we prepared to depart.

As we walked home down the path, she told me that she believed him to be a good wizard.  I did not disagree with her, because he had brought her back. As we rounded the bend, we stopped as several unicorns crossed the path in front of us.

"They are beautiful creatures." She marveled at them with their grace and elegance as they stood in the fading sunlight draining from the day.

"So, what was it like being a unicorn?" I asked.

"There is no way to describe it." She answered as our cottages came into view.  Mum was hanging wash out on the line.

"So, where might you two been?" She asked.

I made up some story that omitted the magical unicorn potion part and Rachel's transition to and from A unicorn.  Mum was never one to believe in Silas' magic.

A few weeks later, we ventured into the deep woods, but when we got to the second bend in the path Silas Marahoon's cabin was not there. It was as if he was never there at all.  I looked at Rachel and she looked at me wondering if which part was real and what part wasn't.