He hung his clothes on a hook inside the door and combed his hair before closing the wardrobe. He was surprised that he looked the same as ever. He thought perhaps he had somehow changed when he arrived in this place.
He left the room and returned to the main part of the house. Hilda told him he looked nice as she showed him to his place at the table – despite having been told he was Lord Teddy, she did not give him one of the armed chairs. She set out trenchers for each of them and dished out the stew she had been making when he arrived. When all was ready, she and Taurek sat.
“What do you do for a living?” Teddy asked after they had been eating for a while.
“I captain a ship.”
“A ship? Where?” Teddy asked, nearly laughing.
“The sea is just the other side of the castle. Did you not see it when you visited the castle?”
“No, I never did.”
“Fury will show you, I’m sure. We will be shipping out the day after tomorrow for two weeks. It’s a fishing vessel, and we supply the king with his fish.”
“Won’t you miss him?” Teddy asked Hilda.
“Well, certainly. But I will have much to do caring for the cows, sheep and chickens.”
Teddy found all this very odd. He’d seen nothing of farm animals when he arrived. They were in the middle of the village.
“Where are the animals?”
“Across the field. Did you notice the mountain when you were in your room?”
“All the way out there?”
Hilda laughed. No, not so far. But in the evening the mountain makes it difficult to see the barn buildings. The animals graze out in that field.”
“All together?”
“No, the chickens have a yard to keep them from being trampled or getting lost. I wouldn’t want to spend my days searching for eggs.”
They had a merry meal, with Teddy telling them about life at home and the jobs his parents had. They found the idea of offices quite strange, but were glad to know he lived near farms. They told him stories of their land.
Taurek spoke of how life was when he was growing up. His father had been a farmer. Taurek, as eldest son, was to inherit the farm, but three years of drought had forced his father to sell the land and move into town. Taurek and his younger brother had worked and saved to buy their ship.
“So you go with your brother to fish?”
“No more. He has never loved the sea. He is apprenticed to the blacksmith now.”
“I met the blacksmith. He was making a sword.”
“My brother so far works on horseshoes. He was likely not there today.”
“I didn’t see him.”
Hilda had been quiet during this discussion, and now Teddy turned to her.
“Did you live on a farm, too, when you were growing up?” he asked her.
“I came from your land,” she replied. “We lived near the sea and grew grapes for wine. One day there was a terrible earthquake. My family’s land was destroyed. I was sent to live with relatives in Oklahoma. They didn’t like that I was living with them, even though it was temporary. Life was so bad that I ran away. I picked a poor moment to run away. A storm blew up. I managed to find a small shelter when a tornado struck. I barely escaped with my life, and saw my relatives’ home torn to shreds. I know they were there when it happened, so they were all killed. When the storm was over, I was here.
“There is a cyclone here. It doesn’t move, but twirls in one place and never goes away, something like a machine. When I arrived, I was dangerously near the cyclone. The unicorn at the time, Braveheart, saved me. But he perished in the process, so I was never able to return.”
“Fury couldn’t take you?”
She shook her head. “In our realm unicorns usually live very long lives. Until you become an adult, you can come and go whenever the conditions are right. But once you become an adult, you must choose which realm you want to live in, and your choice becomes final. If anything happens to the unicorn and it dies before you are old enough to make the choice, you are forever bound to the realm you are in when the unicorn dies.”
“How old were you?”
“Fourteen. Kind people took me in and raised me as their own. And then I met Taurek.”
“We have been married these last five years now.”
“That unicorn who died,” Teddy asked tentatively, “was he Fury’s father?”
“He was,” Taurek said. “We don’t speak of it before Fury out of courtesy. You should not speak of it to him, either.”
When their dinner was over, they went outside. Taurek taught Teddy about the stars in their heavens. He pointed out one, called Frem Dexitous.
“That is the star I use to find my way home,” Taurek said. “That one will always point the way.”
Teddy studied the sky and tried to find the various stars and constellations Taurek had shown him. He had often looked at the sky at home. It amazed him that none of the constellations were the same. They didn’t simply have different names; they were totally different.
The breeze grew chilly. Taurek suggested they go in for the night. It was comfortable having the fire, even though it was early summer. He had thought it would make the house hot, but banked it radiated only a small amount of heat so the damp and chill were kept at bay.
As he prepared for bed, he wondered about his mother in the storm cellar. He hoped his father was safe. He wondered how he would get back. What if something happened to Fury? Teddy was their only son.
He fell asleep with those thoughts racing through his head without resolution.
Chapter 2
“Well, that wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” Mrs. Lyndhurst said.
Teddy sat up and pushed the sleeping bag away from his head.
“Mom? You’re here?”
“Yes, of course, Teddy. Where else would I be?”
“Um –”
“Let’s get you out of here. The all safe siren just sounded.”
Teddy got out of the sleeping bag and looked at his clothes. He was wearing the same things he’d been wearing when he entered the storm cellar.
His mother unlatched the door and pushed it back. Once outside, he looked around. The tornado had cut a swath through the neighborhood, but it looked like it had mainly gone down the street, upending a few trees, and breaking apart several sheds. Their house was undamaged.
Once they went inside the house, Teddy’s excitement bubbled out of him.
“Mom, you should’ve seen it! I went to this really cool place. There was a unicorn named Fury, and he talked to me. Well, he didn’t exactly talk, it was more like he talked right into my brain without moving his mouth. I got to ride him, and he took me to a crystal castle where the king lives. The king was really nice –”
“Teddy, what are you talking about?”
“When we were in the storm cellar. Somehow I went to this other world.”
Mrs. Lyndhurst ruffled his hair. “You have a very good imagination,” she said.
“It wasn’t imagination, Mom. I really went there. And I stayed overnight in this house with a thatched roof with Hilda and Taurek.”
“Hilda and Taurek? Were they adults?”
“Yes.”
“And they let you call them by their first names?”
“Yes. They said I was Lord Teddy because I’m from the real world.”
“Teddy, we were in the storm cellar for fifteen minutes. How could you do all of those things and stay overnight?”
“They said time moves differently there than it does here.”
“And you just stayed with strangers?”
“Fury said it was okay, and Taurek said it was an honor to have me there. They were really nice.”
“Teddy, it’s nice that you can pretend so well, but you do know that it couldn’t really happen, don’t you?”
“But it did, Mom!”
“And you know you shouldn’t talk to strangers or stay in a stranger’s house, don’t you?”
She could see he really believed what he was saying, but she thought the best way to make him let it go was to not make a big deal of out of it.
The electricity was out when they first went into the house, but came back on a short time later. Once it was on, Mrs. Lyndhurst was able to make dinner.
By the time Mr. Lyndhurst arrived home, everything was back to normal. He told them that one area he drove through had not fared as well as their neighborhood, and he’d had to detour around some damage. The city, where he worked, had had no bad weather at all.
Teddy was silent about his adventures. His mother hadn’t believed him. He thought his father would be less likely to believe his adventure. He didn’t want them to think he was crazy, and the more time that passed, the more he wondered whether or not his adventure had actually happened. It had seemed so real, but there were times dreams had felt real, too.
The next morning started bright and sunny. Teddy didn’t know whether or not his mother had mentioned what he’d told her to his father. His dad hadn’t said anything. Usually, he would get a serious look on his face and talk to Teddy about things he didn’t want the boy to do. But his father had said nothing the evening before, and had already left for work by the time Teddy woke up.
Mrs. Lyndhurst was a teacher, so during the summer, she was home. She was a favorite in the sixth grade, but Teddy was pretty sure that she wouldn’t be his teacher in a few years when he reached sixth grade. It was hard enough when other teachers expected him to know all of the answers because his mother was a teacher. He didn’t want his classmates to think he had any advantages by having his mother as his teacher.
Mrs. Lyndhurst was outside weeding the garden in front of their porch when Teddy came downstairs. She had put his bowl and the box of cereal on the table. He poured himself cereal and put milk on it, then walked outside carrying the bowl and eating.
“Mom, can Kenny come over to go swimming today?” he asked.
“Sure, if it’s all right with his mother. Finish your breakfast and your chores first.”
Teddy’s chores consisted of feeding the five chickens and collecting the eggs. His breakfast and chores were easily completed, and then he dashed down the road to his friend, Kenny’s house
Kenny was one of the smaller boys in Teddy’s class. Like Teddy, Kenny didn’t have a lot of friends. But Kenny was better at sports, so he wasn’t as often alone. Still, he wouldn’t turn down an invitation to swim in Teddy’s pool.
The day was hot with no threat of storms, and the boys played in the water all morning. Mrs. Lyndhurst made them both lunch.
While the boys were eating at the picnic table in the yard, Teddy became serious.
“Kenny, if I tell you something, do you promise you won’t tell anyone?”
“Sure.”
“This will probably sound kind of weird.”
“That’s ok. I like weird.”
He told Kenny about being in the storm cellar, and suddenly being somewhere else. When he told him about the talking unicorn, Kenny thought that was about the coolest thing he could have seen. Teddy related everything that happened, but unlike his mother, his friend believed him.
“Did you tell your mom?”
“Yeah. She thought I was making it up because we were in the storm cellar as long as I was in the other world.”
“But you could do whatever you wanted there?”
“I guess.”
“When are you going again?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know how I got there. Maybe I have to wait for another storm.”
“Can I go with you next time?”
“I guess, if you’re with me.”
It was great to have someone believe him. It had hurt that his own mother thought he had made it all up. He’d gladly take Kenny if he could. It might be safer to have a friend with him. And perhaps people would believe him if both of them saw these wonders.
Summer meandered along with mainly hot, sunny days and occasional rainy ones. There was the odd thunder storm, but no tornadoes in their part of the state. That was good news for the farmers whose crops ripened in abundance.
Teddy sometimes helped Mr. Turner, one of their neighbors, bring in the corn. Ted liked nothing better than to run through the rows of corn pretending he was lost in a giant maze.
Kenny kept close for a few weeks, but when no sign of a tornado came, he became bored and returned to playing baseball with the other boys. He did still sometimes make time for Teddy.
Teddy didn’t mind. Kenny didn’t have much of an imagination. Teddy was just as happy that there were no tornadoes. They frightened him, and when he thought about it, being thrust into a strange land was almost as scary. Talking unicorns? Yeah, he could understand why his mother didn’t believe him. It was a little strange that Kenny did.
The summer wound down, and Mrs. Lyndhurst was busy with plans and meetings for school. Teddy had to go with her one day while she set up her classroom and prepared September bulletin boards.
The freshly waxed floors were shiny and gave off an odd smell. A few rooms had been painted, and the combination of smells reminded him of Mr. Neuland’s hardware store when it first opened, and everything smelled of paint and plastic. At least they were only at school half the day. The other half day was spent shopping for new clothes for the coming year as well as a new backpack, pencils, paper, and art supplies.
That night Teddy dreamed about drawing a unicorn in art class and having it come to life to take him to the other world. When he woke up, though, everything was the same as it had been the day before.
Chapter 3
The first day of school wasn’t the typical hot, still-summer day. It was hot and humid, but overcast. Teddy couldn’t remember a gloomier start of school.
The air felt odd, and a constant warm breeze blew. The sky looked a threatening grey-green, and the weather forecaster on the morning news said conditions were right for possible funnel clouds throughout the area.
Teddy hoped there wouldn’t be a tornado. His mother taught in the middle school across town, and having both parents somewhere he couldn't reach them was still a scary thought, even in fourth grade.
His teacher, Mr. Bloom, had everyone seated in a short time, and let them talk quietly while he gave out books. Then he lined everyone up and took them to the lavatories they would use in the fourth grade hall, letting three or four in at a time, and having them line up on the other side of the hall when they had finished and filled their water bottles. Once everyone had completed this, they quickly returned to the classroom for snack time. Then Mr. Bloom began to teach math.
Mr. Bloom was very good at reminding everyone what they had learned the year before, giving them practice problems before teaching something new. They were so focused on what he was teaching that no one noticed how much the sky had darkened, or that it had started to rain.
Mr. Bloom had finished math and moved on to reading when the principal, Mrs. Fenway, came on the loudspeaker with an announcement.
“Boys and girls, the sirens have sounded. Everyone is to line up quietly and go out into the hallway.”
A few of his classmates gasped or cried out briefly. Teddy felt too scared to make a sound.
“Quickly, everyone,” Mr. Bloom said.
He guided his class out into the hallway that was filling with students from other rooms. Some went into the bathrooms for shelter. Teddy was one of the students in the bathroom. The children in the hallway sat facing the walls, some with their hands clasped on their heads, a few with their empty backpacks on their heads. A few from the younger classes were whimpering, and their teachers spoke softly to them, trying to calm them.
In the silence of the hallway, they could hear the sirens in the town. The rain fell harder and sounded like hail hitting the roof. Before long the wind blew harder, and they heard a long whoosh while things hit
the sides of the school. Down the hall a window broke in one of the classrooms.
Teddy, in the bathroom stall, didn’t hear as much of the noise as the children in the hall did. Terrified, he closed his eyes, whispering, “Please don’t let me die; please don’t let me die,” over and over.
“Why would you think you will die?” asked a voice, familiar yet not anyone from school.
Teddy opened his eyes. The bathroom was gone. He was once again in the field, and Fury stood beside him.
“I’m back!”
“Hilda was surprised that you were gone the morning after you arrived last time. But that is the way of things.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No need to apologize. We do not control your coming and going.”
“Who does?”
The unicorn gazed at him. “You do. It’s probably nothing you can control. But it comes from you.”
“A tornado was coming. I was at school.”
Fury nodded. “Much has happened since you were here.”
“Will I get to go to the solstice party?”
“Ah, that was four years ago, and you have returned to us at a different time of year.”
Teddy looked around. The grass looked lighter, and the trees were just flowering.
“Four years?”
“Yes. Hilda and Taurek have two children now. Sven was born at the end of the year you were here. He is four. Altha, his sister, is two.”
“So, I guess I can’t stay with them. There won’t be any room.”
“Oh, but you can! They have done well for themselves, and have added on to their house. Hilda has started raising bees, and sells the honey. The children have heard about you and would love to meet you. Hilda and Taurek would be honored if you would stay with them.”
Teddy climbed onto Fury’s back once again and they rode to Taurek and Hilda’s home. Both were thrilled to see Teddy again, and they introduced him to Sven and Altha. Sven was a sturdy-looking boy with blond hair like his father’s. He had large brown eyes. By nature he was very friendly, and he approached Teddy to study him for a moment.
Fury: The Wind Unicorn (The Unicorn Tales Book 2) Page 2
