The Unicorn Emergency by Brett Bean & Lucy Coats

The Unicorn Emergency by Brett Bean & Lucy Coats

Author:Brett Bean & Lucy Coats
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2018-02-27T00:00:00+00:00


“He’s a good boy and a good healer,” Pan said. “It’s time you Olympians showed him some respect. Most of you threaten him and treat him like dirt, but who do you turn to when one of your precious beasts is sick? Has he ever let any of you down?”

Demon’s heart swelled, and he felt tears prick at the back of his eyes. His dad had neglected him for most of his life. In fact, he’d never even met the forest god till he came and whisked Demon away to the Stables of the Gods. But it seemed his dad had been noticing things after all. And now he was standing up for him against Zeus’s own daughter.

Artemis threw up her hands.

“Oh, very well,” she said. “Since you all seem to think so much of the boy, I’ll be nice. And anyway, I’m sure he’ll cure my unicorns, so none of it will be necessary, anyway.”

Pan laughed, striding over to lift Demon up into a god-hug that smelled of pungent green things, goaty musk, and old, stale blood.

“Of course he will,” the god chuckled. “Won’t you, my boy?”

“Y-yes, Your Dadness,” he said breathlessly as his father set him down again. Pan’s hugs were always very rib-squeezing.

“All right, then,” said Pan. “Now that’s settled, I’ll be off. I promised your mother I’d drop in on her and the twins, and I’m already late.” With that, he disappeared into the trees as if he’d never been there. The dryads slipped back into their pines, and then it was just Demon, Artemis, and the hounds in the glade. Demon had a hollow feeling just below his ribs. For a minute he wished his dad had taken him along. Although he knew his mom was happy with her new babies, he still missed her sometimes.

Then, in the quiet stillness Pan and the dryads had left behind, the hair on the nape of his neck prickled, just as it had back on Olympus. Suddenly, Demon felt a breath on his cheek that shouldn’t have been there.

Whirling around, he looked behind him, but there was nobody to be seen.

“No need to be so jumpy, Pandemonius,” said Artemis. “I said I’d be nice.”

“I-it’s not you, Your Moonlight Magnificence,” he said. “I just thought . . . well, I just thought someone else was here. But I must have been mistaken.”

Artemis laughed. “Maybe there is, maybe there isn’t,” she said mysteriously. “But come, there is no more time to waste. Bring your things and follow me. My unicorns are waiting.”

With a cry like a horn blowing, she ran out of the glade, the hounds loping behind her like white smoke.



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