Somerset, Maryland
April 2, 1998
6:00 pm
Sunset cast lengthly and strange shadows across the street where Officers O’Connell and Patrick were patrolling.
"Hey, look at that," Patrick said, pointing.
O’Connell looked. A woman, no more than a girl, really, was sitting on the sidewalk wearing nothing but a dirty white shirt. "Let’s check it out," he said.
O’Connell pulled the car over and the two officers got out and walked toward the woman. She saw them, and got up to run, but she only went a few steps before she stumbled and fell.
"Hey, it’s okay," Patrick said as they caught up to her. "We aren’t going to hurt you. We want to help."
"What’s your name, honey?" O’Connell asked. The woman looked up at them, fear in her big blue eyes. She didn’t say anything. "Let’s get her back to the stationhouse. Maybe someone’s called in a missing persons report."
"Sure thing," Patrick answered. They helped the girl to her feet and to the squad car.
"I looked over, and there she was, sitting on the sidewalk," Patrick said to the sergeant.
"Yeah, and when we stopped to help her, she tried to run away. She was afraid of us for some reason," O’Connell added.
"Tried to run away? She couldn’t run?" the sergeant asked.
O’Connell shook his head. "Nope. She could barely walk. She reminded me of my one-year-old, like she’s just learning how to walk. Knows how it’s supposed to work but can’t quite do it."
"Well, I’m going to call Dr. Young. He can take care of her until we find her family."
J. Edgar Hoover Building, Washington, D.C.
April 17, 1998
9:00 am
Scully was already in the office when Mulder walked in. "Morning, Mulder."
"Good morning, Scully. You’re here early."
"A.D. Skinner wanted to talk to me about a case."
Mulder’s eyebrows went up. "Oh, yeah? What kind of case?"
"It’s not an X-File, Mulder. He wants me to investigate reports of abuse at a local mental hospital. With my medical training, I’d be more likely to spot signs of abuse, even if the hospital authorities tried to hide it."
"Can’t someone else do that?" Mulder asked, pacing a few steps and then turning to look at her. "Surely you’re not the only agent with medical training, and I thought some other government department handled stuff like that, like Health and Human Services, or something."
"Normally they would, but the department is undergoing a major overhaul, trying to get rid of some corrupt officials. I might not be the only agent with medical training, Mulder, but Skinner asked me, and we’re not working on anything big right now, anyway." Scully crossed her arms. "For once, Mulder, I’d like to work on a normal case. Is that too much to ask?"
Mulder shrugged and grinned. "Sorry, Scully. You’re right."
Facility for Mental Healing, Somerset, Maryland
11:00 am
"The Facility for Mental Healing? That’s a bit too PC, isn’t it?" Mulder looked over at Scully, hands on his hips, as she got out of the driver’s seat.
She awarded him a smile. "Well, you know how it is, nowadays, Mulder. Words like ‘the loony bin’ aren’t allowed anymore."
The hospital director met them at the door, a slightly overweight, fifty-ish man with graying hair. "Ah, Agents Scully and Mulder. I heard you were coming. I’m Dr. Young." They shook hands and went inside. Dr. Young continued to talk as they walked down a hall. "I was very disturbed when I’d heard that someone was claiming we abused our patients here. I assure you that we screen our employees very carefully before we hire them. Anyone who works here has to have a great deal of patience and kindness."
As they toured the facility, Scully had to admit there was no evidence of any abuse. None of the patients had any visible marks or acted frightened of Dr. Young or any of the nurses and orderlies. As they were heading back to the front doors, there was a high-pitched shriek from one of the common lounges. They bolted into the room, closely followed by Dr. Young and three nurses.
A female patient was hanging halfway out of a window, with another woman clinging desperately to her clothing, keeping her from falling. It was the woman in the window that was screaming, beating at the other woman’s hands with one hand as she tried to pull herself out of the window with the other. The three nurses hurried and grabbed the woman, pulling her back into the room. "There now, Jenny," one soothed. "It’s all right now." They led her out through another door.
Another nurse ran into the room. "Who’s supposed to be on duty here?" Dr. Young demanded.
"I am, sir," the nurse said, "along with Nurse Thomas. She went to get a drink, and I had to use the necessary. I’m sorry, sir. They were all behaving. I didn’t think that anything would happen." Tears glistened in her eyes.
"Now you know why I insist that at least on person be in the room with the patients at all times," Dr. Young said sternly. Then he sighed and patted the nurse’s bowed head. "It’s all right, Nurse Wilkins. No harm done. Just remember from now on, okay?"
"Yes, sir," Nurse Wilkins replied, wiping her tears away with one hand and smiling. "I’ll remember."
Dr. Young then turned and smiled at the woman patient who had kept Jenny from falling out the window. "You did a very good job," he told her. "I’m proud of you." She didn’t say anything, but blushed, coloring her pale-skinned cheeks a delicate pink.
Mulder studied the woman. She was very pretty, if unusual. Her skin was so pale it was nearly white, and her hair was silver and fell to her knees. He thought she was an albino, but when she looked at him he could see that she had deep blue eyes. She noticed his scrutiny and blushed again, lowering her eyelids so that her long dark lashes brushed against her high cheekbones while a shy smile curved her small mouth.
"Mulder!" Scully’s voice broke into his thoughts. He turned and looked at her.
"Yeah, Scully?"
She was standing by the door. "It’s time to go," she said.
Dr. Young accompanied them to the front doors. "Who is she?" Mulder asked him.
"We don’t know. She was found wandering the streets, and the police decided that she would do well here. I took her in because I couldn’t think of any other place for her to go, and I think she might have been traumatized by something she’d seen."
"Why do you think that?" Scully asked.
"She doesn’t speak at all, not one sound. Also, she has nightmares. When the nurses check on her at night, they always find her tossing and turning, a frown on her face." He shrugged. "I don’t know how to help her."
"Her hair’s really long," Mulder said.
"I think that might be part of her trauma. We tried a couple of times to cut it, but she fights. If she could’ve screamed, she would have. I’ve never seen such panic in anyone’s eyes like what I saw in hers at those times."
The stopped at the front door and shook hands. "I was wondering if you could find out who made the accusation against us," Dr. Young said.
"I think it was anonymous," Scully said. "We wouldn’t have any way of finding out who did it."
"Oh, yes, I suppose it would be anonymous, wouldn’t it? Oh, well, I just hope it doesn’t happen again."
"I’m sure it won’t," Scully said, smiling reassuringly. They said their good-byes and the agents went back to their car.
Facility for Mental Healing
April 18
1:00 pm
Although Mulder usually made an appearance at FBI Headquarters on Saturdays, he decided to take the day off and go visit that woman. He shook his head. She was constantly on his mind, and he didn’t know why.
A nurse showed him down the hall to the lounge. The woman looked up from the book she was reading as she approached, and she smiled. Mulder glanced at the title of her book. "Here There Be Unicorns? Do you like unicorns?" he asked as he sat down in a chair near her. Her eyes darkened and she bit her lower lip. "I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you sad," Mulder said hastily, reaching forward and touching her arm. The woman put the book down, got up, and walked over to stand by the windows. "Hey, what did I do?" Mulder asked, following her. She turned her head halfway toward him and then back, but not before he caught the gleam of a tear sliding down her cheek. "Hey, come here, I’m sorry," he said tenderly, putting an arm around her shoulders and gently pulling her towards him. She resisted a moment, looking up at him, startled. Then she relaxed and pressed against him, resting her head on his chest. He held her close, enjoying the softness of her skin and the light floral scent she gave off.
A door opened, and she jumped backward out of his grasp, terror in her eyes. He spun around, but didn’t see anyone or anything dangerous. A dark-haired man in a dark suit was standing next to Dr. Young. "There she is," he said. The woman hid behind Mulder, and he could feel her quivering against his back. "Come on sweetheart, it’s okay. It’s time to go home," the man said, walking toward and around Mulder so he could see the woman. She flinched away from him, trembling.
Mulder turned so that he was between them again. "May I ask what’s going on?"
"That girl is my niece. I’ve come to take her home."
"Prove it."
"Prove what?"
"Prove that you’re her uncle. Show me a birth certificate, pictures, something."
"I don’t have to prove anything to you! Who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"
"Special Agent Fox Mulder of the FBI," Mulder answered, pulling out his ID and flipping it open. The man stepped back and stared at him. Their eyes met for a moment, then the man turned and walked out of the room.
"What’s going on?" Dr. Young asked, confused.
"I don’t think that man was her uncle," Mulder said. "Was he?" he asked the woman. She looked up at him, fear lingering in her eyes, and shook her head. Then she snuggled against him again, wrapping her arms around his waist.
A building in New York
April 18
3:00 pm
"Mulder was there," the dark-haired man said nervously. He didn’t like being here, in this dim room with so many powerful men.
"Mulder? What was he doing there?" one of the men asked.
"I don’t know. I think he was just visiting."
"But visiting her? Does he have it?"
The dark-haired man shook his head. "No. If he did, she wouldn’t have even been there."
"True," another man said, cigarette smoke curling out of his mouth. The others turned to look at him. "Mulder wouldn’t waste any time helping her if he had it." A couple of the others nodded.
"We have to find it!" The speaker pounded his fist on the arm of his chair, but not hard enough to muss his well-tailored suit or move a hair out of place on his head.
"We will. It can’t stay hidden forever."
J. Edgar Hoover Building
April 23
10:00 am
Mulder sighed heavily and sat down at his desk. "Scully, why did it take us three days to figure out that the ‘mysterious noises’ were that guy’s next-door neighbor’s cats yowling at night?"
"Because we weren’t there at night, Mulder, until the third day. They didn’t make a sound during the day." She had one elbow on the desk, her chin in her hand. She smiled at him. "Besides, I wasn’t the one all fired up to go investigate this."
"Ugh. Don’t remind me." The phone rang. "Mulder," he said when he picked it up. He sat upright with a start. "What! When?" Scully also sat straight, staring at him. "I’ll be right there." He hung up, grabbed his coat, and headed out the door.
"Mulder, wait! Where are you going?" Scully called, doing the same.
"Remember that mental hospital?"
"Yes."
"Well, I went back to visit that woman the next day. And this guy in a dark suit came in, claiming to be her uncle. You should’ve seen her reaction, Scully. She was terrified of this guy. I asked him to give me proof that he was her uncle, and he wouldn’t do it. Then, when I told him I was an FBI agent, he left."
"So? Why are you telling me all this?"
"Dr. Young just called. He said that someone broke into the hospital last night, and now she’s gone."
"Maybe she was just breaking out."
Mulder shook his head. "I don’t think so."
They made it to the hospital in record time. Local police were already there, so the agents didn’t really have anything to do. "Whoever it was cut the wires to the alarm system," Dr. Young explained. "When the nurse opened the door this morning to wake the girl, she was gone and everything was thrown around the room like this."
The head detective came over. "Well, there was definitely a struggle. So far we haven’t lifted any prints but the girl’s."
"I don’t think you will, either," Mulder said. "These people weren’t meant to be found."
Mulder’s apartment
9:00 pm
Mulder slowly approached the door to his apartment building. He’d gone out for a while after work, trying to stop worrying about the woman, but he couldn’t. Was she all right? Were they doing something to her?
"Mulder," came a voice out of the dark. Mulder turned to look, and his eyebrows went up in surprise as he saw the person stepping out into the light. It couldn’t be--
"Krycek? What do you want?"
Krycek held up a long object wrapped in cloth. "They want this, not the girl."
"So why did they kidnap her?"
"She can guide them to it."
"Why do you have it?"
Krycek smiled. "I borrowed it."
"I’m not even going to ask how you did it," Mulder said. Krycek handed it to him. "What is it?"
"Open it. But not out here." Krycek turned away and took a few steps, then turned back around. "Oh, yeah. I wouldn’t recommend touching it barehanded." He lifted his hands to the light. The palms were covered in burns. Then he disappeared into the dark again.
Mulder hurried up to his apartment and set the cloth-wrapped object on his coffee table. He reached toward it, but remembering the burns on Krycek’s hands, thought better of it and left it wrapped.
April 24
3:00 am
The ringing of the telephone brought Mulder out of a restless sleep. "Hello?" he said, while looking at the clock.
"Mr. Mulder." The voice was familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it.
"Yeah, what do you want?"
"We have been told that you have something that belongs to us." In a flash, Mulder recognized the voice. It was the well-groomed man Scully and he had met in Victor Klemper’s greenhouse.
"And what might that be?"
"Don’t play games, Mr. Mulder."
"Where’s the girl?"
"Ah, yes, the young woman. She’s alive and unharmed. As of right now, anyway."
"Don’t you dare hurt her!" Mulder shouted, getting to his feet.
"Mr. Mulder, no need to make threats, especially empty ones. Bring us the object, and we’ll make an even exchange."
"Yeah, right. Is that what you told Deep Throat?"
"I assure you, no harm will come to you or the young woman if you do as I say. Go to the old mine. You know which one. Be there at midnight tonight with the object. Make sure you’re alone." There was a click, and then the dial tone began. Mulder stared at the receiver for a moment before setting it back into the cradle. He sighed and flopped back down onto his couch. How could he risk it? How could he not?
The abandoned mine, West Virginia
11:55 pm
Mulder walked into the large, dark building, holding a cloth-wrapped object in one hand and his Sig Sauer 9mm in the other. He looked around the ground floor warily before heading up the stairs to the second floor. He was halfway up the stairs when a sound made him turn around. There was a group of men standing on the ground floor, their guns drawn and pointed at him. The woman was easily recognizable by the way her silver hair caught and reflected the moonlight. From what Mulder could see of her, she looked all right.
The Well-Groomed Man stepped out of the shadows. "I see you have it, Mr. Mulder. Good. Come down and we’ll do this like civilized people."
Mulder went back down to the bottom of the stairs. "What’s so important about this thing, anyway?" he said.
"You don’t need to know that."
"Really? It’s important enough to try to shut down a mental hospital, isn’t it?"
The Well-Groomed Man smiled and inclined his head in assent. "Yes, but you don’t need to know what it is or why it’s so important."
"I’d tell you but I’d have to kill you?"
The man sighed. "I’m tiring of this, Mr. Mulder. Bring the object to me."
Mulder shook his head. "She comes to me first, then I’ll toss it to you."
The Well-Groomed Man lifted an eyebrow, then nodded. "All right." He turned to the woman. "Go."
Glancing at the men around her, the woman walked to Mulder. As she got close he could see her shaking. "Get behind me," he said to her. She walked around him, her fingers lightly brushing the object. She gave a slight gasp. "Here," Mulder said when she was safe, tossing the object to the Well-Groomed Man.
"It has been a pleasure doing business with you," the man said, smiling.
Mulder left first, making sure that the woman was out of the line of fire at all times. She looked at him when they were outside, her eyes full of questions. He smiled at her, and she smiled back.
The New York building
April 25
3:00 am
The Well-Groomed Man laid the object on the table, and the others looked at it. "I don’t know why you have such problems with Mr. Mulder," he said, looking at the Cigarette-Smoking Man. "He was perfectly reasonable with me." He unwrapped it, and his eyebrows went up in surprise. Lying in the cloth was a long stick.
The Cigarette-Smoking Man smiled. "Surely you didn’t think Mulder would be above pulling a trick like that?"
The Well-Groomed Man gestured, and one of his men stepped forward. "Are they in place?"
"Yes, sir."
"Execute the contingency plan." The man left, and he turned to the Cigarette-Smoking Man. "I had hoped that Mr. Mulder would be honorable, but as he is not, we’ll have to provides stronger persuasion."
Scully’s apartment
5:00 am
Mulder and the woman went up the steps to Scully’s apartment. They’d been lucky enough to catch an early morning flight to D.C., but Mulder figured that the Well-Groomed Man had already discovered the trick and had men waiting at his apartment. They walked down the hall to Scully’s door, and Mulder froze. The door was ajar. He grabbed his gun and carefully pushed open the door. "Scully?" The whole place was a mess; clothes, papers, and other things strewn everywhere. He looked around in dismay, wondering where Scully was and if she’d seen this. Then the phone rang. "Hello?" he said, answering it.
"Mulder."
"Scully! Where are you? Someone did a number on your place."
"Mulder, I know. I--" Her voice suddenly cut off.
"Scully? Scully!"
"Mr. Mulder," said a too-familiar voice, and Mulder’s guts turned to ice.
"What?" he finally said.
The Well-Groomed Man chuckled. "I see I finally have your complete attention. No more games, Mr. Mulder. Bring it, or else you won’t see Miss Scully alive again. And bring the girl, too." He told Mulder where to go and then hung up. Mulder let the phone drop back into the cradle. He looked at the woman. She walked to him and took his hand in hers. She smiled tenderly at him, then turned and led him out of the apartment and back to his car.
The office of The Lone Gunman
6:00 am
The moment he saw Mulder, Langly went into another room and came back with the cloth-wrapped object. "Thanks for keeping this for me, guys," Mulder said.
"No problem, Mulder," Langly replied. "It didn’t cause us any trouble."
"You didn’t bring the lovely Agent Scully?" Frohike asked, disappointed. At that moment, the woman peeked out from behind Mulder and then stepped up to stand next to him. "Oh wow," was the only thing Frohike could say.
She reached out and took the object from Langly. She held it to her body and face, closing her eyes. "What is it, Mulder?" Byers asked. "You told us not to open it, so we didn’t, but that only made us more curious."
"I have no idea. I just know it’s important." Important enough to threaten the life of an FBI agent, he thought but didn’t say. "Thanks again." He put his hand on the woman’s shoulder and guided her back to the car. She held the object close all the way to the meeting place.
An abandoned warehouse
6:30 am
Mulder spotted Scully immediately by virtue of the sole light on in the dark warehouse. She was tied up at one end of a catwalk. "Stay here," Mulder told the woman, then, carrying the object, climbed the stairs and started to cross the catwalk.
A shot rang out, and the bullet passed so close to his face he jumped backward. He looked down. The ground floor was swarming with men in dark suits. Another shot, and Mulder dropped to the catwalk floor. He lost his grip on the object and grabbed for it as it began to fall, but all he got was a handful of cloth. The object unwrapped until there was no more cloth, then fell by itself. Mulder stared at it, unsure of what he was seeing. It looked like some type of animal horn, about three feet in length and pearl-colored, tapering to a sharp-looking point.
One of the men caught it and yelled in pain as it burned his hands. He dropped it. Others went to pick it up and jerked back as it burned fingers. The woman made her way through the men. She bent and picked it up. She looked up to where Mulder was staring at her in surprise, smiled, and fell on the point of the horn. "No!" Mulder shouted, horrified. Then a bright white glow enveloped the woman, and suddenly the horn vanished. She fell on her side, the glow burning brighter, almost painful to look at. Then she changed. When the light died, the most beautiful creature Mulder had ever seen got to its feet. "My God," he said, unconsciously mimicking Scully. "She’s a unicorn."
The men started to walk toward the unicorn, their guns pointed at her. Her horn began to glow brightly. Suddenly there was a brilliant flash and the men screamed in pain, dropping their guns and grabbing at their eyes. Mulder jerked upright, eyes closed against the sparkles that danced in front of him. He opened his eyes again. "I can’t see," he said aloud.
"Mulder," Scully said, and he felt her hands on his face.
"How’d you get free?" he asked.
"I don’t know. The ropes just came loose."
"Do you see her? Is she still down there?"
"Who? The woman? No, I don’t see her, Mulder."
"She’s not a woman. She’s a unicorn."
"Mulder..."
"No, Scully, she is. She made that flash so that she could get away from the men, but it blinded me too."
"Mulder, it was a flash grenade or something." Light flashed in Mulder’s eyes, and he blinked, wincing. "You’ll be fine," Scully said.
Even as she spoke, things began to come back into focus. He smiled at her. "You must have the healing touch, Scully."
"Can you see enough to get down from here?" she asked.
"Yeah." She helped him up and they made their way safely down from the catwalk.
By the time they got outside, Mulder could see perfectly again. He looked around. Neither the unicorn nor any of the dark-suited men could be seen. "I hope she got away from them," he said.
"I’m sure she did, Mulder," Scully said. "But let’s go. I’d still like you to go to the hospital to make sure there’s no damage to your eyes from that flash."
"I’m fine, Scully." He looked around again. "I have to find her."
"Mulder, she got away. They’re all still in the warehouse, lying on the floor. There was no one to chase her. Come on, let’s go home." Reluctantly, Mulder followed Scully to his car.
Mulder’s apartment
9:00 pm
There was a knock on the door, and Mulder got up and opened it. Behind him, a lamp on his desk highlighted a masking tape X on his window. "You wanted to talk, Mr. Mulder?" X said as he walked in.
"Is she safe?"
"I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about."
"The woman. The unicorn. Is she safe?"
"No one is safe, Mr. Mulder. Why should she be any different?"
"They know where to find her."
"Yes."
"Where?"
"I wouldn’t recommend getting involved in this--"
"Where?"
"There’s an old farm on the outskirts of the city. She’s there now. Tomorrow night they’ll catch her."
"When tomorrow night?"
"Nine. You’re risking your life by doing this."
Mulder shrugged. "I’m used to it."
The outskirts of Washington, D.C.
April 26
9:00 pm
Mulder drove faster than was rational along the bumpy old road toward the only farm left standing near Washington, D.C. He sighted the farmhouse, and then the barn, partially collapsed. Three or four dark cars already sat in front of the house. A car door opened, and a dark-suited man looked toward him. The man pointed, then got back in the car. Two of the cars started, then turned and drove toward Mulder.
Mulder floored the gas pedal and roared by the farm. The two cars followed him down the bumpy road. Shots pierced the back window, and Mulder ducked instinctively. Then his eyes widened as the headlights of his car caught a sign that said "End of Road". Almost immediately beyond the sign was a deep gorge.
Mulder jumped out of his car, landing hard on the rocky ground, but getting right up and running for the edge of a nearby forest. His car drove over the edge of the gorge and fell to the bottom. "I never really liked that car, anyway," Mulder said aloud.
He crouched down as the other cars stopped and the men got out to look into the gorge. They saw Mulder’s car at the bottom, looked at each other, then got back into their cars and headed back toward the farm.
All those hours spent running at the track paid off as Mulder made it back to the farm in record time. He pulled out his gun, checked the clip, and then chambered a round into the barrel. He crept up cautiously to the dark cars, but there was no one inside. A high-pitched, unearthly cry split the air, and Mulder bolted around the side of the house.
At the back of the house, Mulder could see out across a field. The unicorn was clearly visible in the moonlight, running toward the barn. The dark-suited men could only be perceived as dark shadows following closely behind her. "Hey!" Mulder shouted. A couple of the dark-suited men turned and fired at Mulder, who ducked down into the long grass. The men turned back to the chase. Mulder ran across the field as the unicorn disappeared into the barn with the men right behind her.
The dark-suited men entered the barn and began to close in on the unicorn. She whirled away from the collapsed part, staring at them, her breath harsh with fear. Then she lifted her head, the horn glowing brighter by the second. They pulled their guns and pointed them at her. Just as she released the magic toward the men, Mulder burst into the barn, his gun drawn. The magic whipped into him, throwing him backward against the wall.
An icy thread of fear jolted through the unicorn’s veins. She hurried through the fallen men to where Mulder lay. Relief flooded her body when she saw his chest rising and falling, but her sensitive ears could hear his heartbeat flutter. He wouldn’t live long unless she acted fast. Lowering her head, the unicorn pointed her horn directly at Mulder’s heart.
Mulder lay flat on this back, staring up at the ceiling of the barn. A great weight pressed down on his chest, making him sleepy, so sleepy. His eyes began to close. He’d never felt so cold before. His breath grew shallow and his heartbeat began to falter. He could feel it, but he didn’t care. He just needed to get warm and to sleep a while. He was so tired.
A shape hovered above him, a white one. Mulder blinked, but his vision was still blurry, so the shape remained vague. He didn’t really care about that, either. He just wanted to sleep. As his eyes closed and his head began to loll to one side, he felt a sharp pain in his chest. He felt it drive deeper into him, then a lovely warmth flooded his body. He relaxed, no longer feeling the pain, enjoying the warmth.
Suddenly, the warmth brought with it a wide-awake awareness, and Mulder’s eyes snapped open. He sat up, absent-mindedly rubbing his chest where he’d felt the pain as he looked around and took stock of himself. He wasn’t cold or tired anymore. All he felt was a lingering tingle in his chest. His fingers touched something odd, and he looked down. There was a hole in his shirt, and a small, star-shaped scar marked the exact spot where he’d first felt the sharp pain. He bolted to his feet, suddenly remembering. She was gone. Then he saw the other men scattered on the floor like broken toys. He went to the first one and pressed a couple of fingers to his neck. The man was dead. The full impact of what had just happened suddenly hit like a lead weight. He’d been dying?
He ran outside, but there was no sign of the unicorn. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. He turned it on, praying that the little window wouldn’t say "no service". He was in luck. He dialed Scully’s number.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Scully, I need your help."
"My help? What’s wrong? Are you in trouble?"
"Not really. It’s just that I lost my car."
"Your car? Mulder I can understand losing your gun or your phone, but your car?"
"I can’t explain now. I’m at this old farm. Look on a map. It’s the only one around."
"Okay, Mulder. I’m on my way."
Forty-five minutes later Scully drove into the yard. "Thanks, Scully," Mulder said as he got in.
"So how did you lose your car?"
"There’s a gorge down the road. My car went over the edge. I was just lucky I was able to jump out in time."
"What were you doing here, anyway?"
"Protecting her."
"Who her? The girl?"
"The unicorn girl," Mulder said, nodding.
Scully rolled her eyes. "Mulder..."
"I know you don’t believe me, but I also know what I saw. And now she’s gone again. I hope she’s safe this time."
"If they found her before, what makes you think they can’t find her again?"
"Maybe they won’t want to find her. There’s about twenty dead men in that barn." And I was almost number twenty-one, Mulder thought.
"Because of her," Scully said, skeptical.
"Magic, Scully. It was like an invisible wave. Killed them all."
Scully smiled. "Mulder, I’m taking you home, and you have to promise me you’ll get some sleep."
Mulder laughed. "Okay, Scully. I promise."
Mulder’s apartment
midnight
Mulder’s first thought as he woke from a deep sleep was that he’d left the blinds open and a full moon was shining in. Then he saw her, dressed in flowing white, and sat up straight in surprise. At least he would have, but her hand came down on his bare chest and gently pushed him back down on the couch. The unicorn girl smiled, a soft white light radiating from her body. "How’d you get in here?" Mulder asked.
She laughed, a beautiful, bell-like sound. "I’m a unicorn, aren’t I, Fox?"
For once, Mulder didn’t mind someone calling him by his first name. "Why did you come here?"
"You were worried about me. I just wanted to show you that I’m okay."
"Aren’t you worried about those men?"
"They’ll never find me. I’m hidden from them now."
"More magic?"
"Of course."
"You saved my life," Mulder said, taking her hand in his.
"You saved mine. Besides, you’re a good person. Why shouldn’t I save your life?" She reached up with her other hand and smoothed a few strands of hair away from his forehead; brushed her fingers though his hair.
"I’m not saying you shouldn’t," he replied, smiling.
She smiled. "You have such a gentle spirit. Don’t ever lose it." Then she leaned forward. "Good night, Fox. Pleasant dreams." She kissed him, her lips feather-light against his. His eyes closed. She got up and walked to the door. Just before she opened it, she turned and looked back at the sleeping man on the couch. She smiled again, then opened the door and walked out.
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