There were upsides to moving to the girls’ home. That Christmas, Penny was given a new sweater. The plain, generically purple sweater–that was nearer to a sweatshirt–was the first article of new clothing she had ever had. She wore it as often as she was able.

The other was that the other girls were not nearly as mean as Aaliyah and the girls at her previous home, at least not overtly. The administrators were much more strict, so physical fights were squashed before they broke out, but they couldn't stop cold shouldering or backhanded remarks.

It was such a pleasant change that Penny barely noticed when she was on the receiving end.

To continue the pleasantness, she got along fairly well with her assigned buddy. Paige was older with dusty brown hair and slightly bucked teeth. Since she had a driver’s license and was a long-term resident in good standing with the administration, she acted as Penny’s chaperon during most outings. Paige volunteered often for the chance to escort Penny around; being a fan of her photos, she boasted about how she was the force behind the scenes.

The challenge was for Penny to distract Paige while she searched for appropriate pictures of fairies and other creatures. She could only risk seeing Hodge if her chaperon was thoroughly distracted by Garrett, which became increasingly easier over the months. There was a shift in her posts to show more of her face (along with Paige) out and about to fill the long stretches between pictures that she was truly interested in posting.

Spring was beginning to take hold as the week long break from school arrived. Penny’s middle school break lined up perfectly with her old school's while not lining up with Paige's high school. She managed to convince Paige she could be unattended for a day, giving her time to stock up on Hodge pictures and spend uninterrupted quality time with him.

The young unicorn was fading into a warm, ivory color. His rump and back were dappled with gold. His legs were still gray, but his feathers being a downy white led Penny to believe his legs too would change.

She hummed serenely as she untangled his wavy mane, sectioning it off to create little braids. It was now long enough to create a curtain down half his strong neck.

Her phone alarm jerked both of them from their calm stupor. She silenced it with annoyance, Hodge reflecting her mood with a series of snorts and stomps.

“I know. I’m sorry,” Penny said, stroking his nose. “Paige will send Garrett and Colton to search for me if I'm not back before her.” She laughed ruefully. “They’d sure be surprised knowing I was hanging out in their backyard all this time.” She nuzzled him as he nuzzled her cheek. “I’ll try to come back soon.”

She stashed her grooming supplies in a tree hollow just beyond the ivy veil. She blew Hodge a kiss as she stomped through the long grass, leaving him and the glade behind.

The typical meeting point was on the corner near Colton’s house. Penny had explained to Paige that them coming and going on the property would stress out Colton’s mom. Not true as far as she knew, but it made it easier for her to sneak to the glade without Colton noticing she was there.

She waved Paige down and quickly jumped into the front seat. She twisted around to stare behind them as Paige continued on to Colton’s.

“We’re not going back,” Penny asked.

“I wanted to see Garrett,” Paige said. “My break starts Monday, so I’m thinking we can hang out Saturday or Sunday.” She smirked. “Just us two. You and Colton will have to entertain yourselves.”

Penny slumped in her seat as they pulled up to the house. Paige had always just picked her up and headed back with the drive as long as it was. There was great danger of them all realizing that she had been coming over and not hanging out with them. It wouldn't be a leap for Colton at least to realize she'd been going right to the glade, and for that to turn into him and his brother staking the place out.

Paige beeped her horn as she cut the engine. She rushed from the car and snuggled up to Garrett as he appeared on the front step. They giggled and whispered inches from each other’s faces as they strolled off towards the ATV shed, Paige clinging to his arm.

“They sure are sickening,” Colton mused, jerking his head in their direction as he exited the house. He grinned. “Wondering if you’d ever make an appearance. Our break is almost over.”

“Yeah… I know,” Penny said, shaking her head. “It went too fast. We’d probably’ve been here every day if Paige had the same break.”

Colton stuffed his hands in his pockets, swaying on the spot. "Think we can hang out this weekend?”

“Oh, yeah, of course,” Penny said. “Paige’s planning on it. We can go ATVing with the guys. Give those two time alone.”

“Actually…,” Colton blushed, “I wanted just us to spend time together….” He sank onto the stoop, refusing to look up at her. “I… l-like you, Penny.”

“Oh.”

“I have. For a while.”

“...Oh.”

“So… I was thinking…,” he trailed off, gulping. “Want to be my girlfriend?”

Penny hadn’t thought about Colton as anything other than her friend, one that Brooke–her first, real friend–introduced her to. She did hang out with him most consistently out of all her friends, and she did like to hang out with him for the most part.

Paige and Garrett continued their simpering and giggling near the ATV shed. They swayed together as if they were dancing to music only they could hear. Penny fought to keep her nose from wrinkling at the odd, overly affectionate display.

“Penny?” Colton was watching her, paler and pleading.

“Um… sure,” Penny said, her stomach flopping. “I guess we can give it a try.” She threw her hands up, smiling nervously. “Yeah. Why not? I mean, we do have fun together. Why not just be a couple?”

“Really?” He jumped up, hopping in place. “So, should we hug, or….” He turned bright red. “S-should we hug,” he repeated, his voice higher.

She laughed, her cheeks tinting red. She eased into an awkward hug, mimicking his back patting. They jumped apart at the sound of the front door opening again.

“Ah,” Colton’s mother said, a small smile on her lips. “I thought you were trending this way….” She stepped through them like landmines. “Don’t mind me. Just running to get groceries. Carry on.”

They were both too embarrassed to hug again, and promptly went to separate Paige and Garrett. It was best to leave their newfound relationship to stew on a somewhat high note.

---

I liked the unicorn pics better.

Cute! But I miss the unicorn.

Traded Hodge for humans, lmao.

Penny frowned as she scrolled the comments on her newest picture. It was one of her and Colton making faces with a sparkle filter overlay. It wasn't her best. She was terrible at selfies, hated taking them, and greatly disliked the filters associated with them, but she had used her last Hodge photo and needed to put up something.

She had a better reaction from people when she posted her impromptu video about being moved almost a year ago. There had even been talks of donations, but since no one–she included–could figure out for what, that never materialized.

“Authenticity,” Penny murmured. “That’s got to be it.”

“What’s that, babe,” Colton asked, dropping into the booth next to her. He laughed at her scowl. “I couldn’t resist.” He set her soda from the fountain in front of her. “I gotta get your attention somehow when you’re glued to that phone.”

Levi dropped onto the other side of the booth with his girlfriend, each of them carrying a tray of fries. Penny had forgotten the girlfriend’s name shortly after they met a couple of weeks ago, and had since avoided needing to say it while waiting for someone else to say it. Unfortunately, she suspected Colton had also forgotten her name since he always referred to her as Levi’s girl, and Levi always used a pet name.

“I got the extra large in case you change your mind,” Levi said to Penny.

Penny found it hard to participate in the double date. The three of them went to the same school, and she was not too interested in reliving when she also attended. That would lead back to more awkward and painful topics like what happened with Brooke, and that was too personal to share with Levi’s girlfriend.

She contributed when she could while stealing glances at her photos. There must’ve been old ones she hadn’t put up yet that she could use.

“Babe,” Colton said, his tone not as playful.

She flipped her phone over in her lap. “Sorry.”

“Penny does a lot of Instagram,” Levi said in a loud whisper to his girlfriend.

“Oh, cool,” she said politely. “I’m on there too.” She tried to hide her smug smirk. “I just crossed one hundred followers.”

“Awesome! The first hundred is hard,” Penny said. 

“How many do you have?”

She narrowed her eyes as Colton roughly nudged her shin. “I’m nearing eleven million.”

Levi choked on his soda loud enough and dramatic enough that it had his girlfriend's reaction go from shock to concern in half a second. Colton went around the table to slap him on the back.

“E-eleven… million,” Levi choked out.

“I've been on for years,” Penny said dismissively. “It’s a time thing.”

“I've been on since the fourth grade,” the girlfriend said flatly.

Penny awkwardly sipped her soda.

The boys tried to shift gears by talking about some streamer they both watched, which did nothing except distract them from the tension between their girlfriends. Penny kept trying to look friendly, but the ache in her face indicated that she was doing poorly at hiding the strain of it.

“Penny, come with me to the bathroom,” the girlfriend said.

She had heard of this phenomenon of girls going to the bathroom together. She guessed she was now old enough to be initiated. She gave Colton a slight shrug and followed the girlfriend from the table.

Not needing the bathroom, she waited by the mirrors. She inspected her green eyes and checked her teeth.

The girlfriend washed her hands and applied lip gloss. “Eleven million. Wow.” She smacked her lips. “Do you put couple pics up? What gets more traction? Kissing or cutesy?”

“Me and Colton haven't…,” she trailed off, blushing furiously.

The girlfriend's reflection gave her a triumphant smirk. She fluffed her hair and headed out of the bathroom. Penny gave it a beat before following to allow her burning cheeks to cool.

She slipped in next to Colton and grabbed for her soda. She could feel Levi's girlfriend watching her with superior satisfaction as she toyed with her boyfriend's hair.

“Oh, yeah, know what I heard,” Levi said, batting her away. “I heard Aaliyah failed.”

“Garrett did say something,” Colton said. He grinned wickedly. “From all he's told me, her failing a grade is the least of the Sizemores’ issues with her.” He nudged Penny. “Could be the opening you need to move back.”

“How’s that going to work,” Penny wondered out loud. “Aaliyah is about to age out. How’s she going to do another year of school?”

“Dunno,” Colton said. “Maybe she won’t finish.”

“Who really cares,” Levi said. “She’s such a nasty…,” he looked at his girlfriend’s scowl, “person.”

A stab hit Penny right in the chest as she thought over Aaliyah. She disliked her, very much, but knowing she was aging out was rough. Not only did her mother never come for her, but Aaliyah had been an adoption candidate. She opened all paths to gain a family, and nothing came of it.

Colton did have a point; this could be her opening into moving closer to Hodge. The Sizemores had expressed some interest in her last year, and once Aaliyah aged out, they would no longer get a stipend. She would have to bring up the Sizemores the next time she met with her caseworker.

The double date ended with Levi’s girlfriend’s mother picking them up. The fast food place wasn’t a grueling walk from Colton’s, so they opted for a stroll rather than interrupt Paige and Garrett.

They didn't talk about anything specific, but Penny could sense an anxiousness coming off her friend. He fidgeted more and would not meet her eye.

They were in Colton’s driveway when he finally said, “So… what do girls do when they do that bathroom thing…?”

“You want to know if we talked about you guys," Penny smirked. “Only a little.”

“A little… good or bad?”

Penny shrugged. “It was more about pictures  and I think….” She didn't want to tell him that the girlfriend had been probing in one of those odd bullying moves girls seemed to do. “Well, she asked for some advice, but I didn't really have any. I've only put up two pictures of us, and none of them were kissing.”

Her cheeks grew hot. She had practically forgotten that the probing was that specific and personal. She froze on the front step, her mind racing for an excuse to leave rather than to wait for Paige. She stole a look at him and found his round face red too.

“So, um… I have thought about that…,” Colton said, failing to sound casual. “My mom… when I said you were my girlfriend, she was really strict about not putting any kind of pressure on you… so I haven't said anything about… kissing….”

“Then …you want to?”

“Well, of course! Levi and Gage says it's great. And Gage isn't pretending this time. I caught him with an actual girl by the lockers. And Garrett and Paige always look really happy, so….” He turned more scarlet. He cleared his throat. “D-do you want to?”

It hadn’t crossed her mind to kiss Colton, or anyone, until that moment in the bathroom. “Um… I guess?”

Colton lit up, the presence of his heavy blush making him look like he was glowing red. They planted their feet, squaring up to each other. It took a minute before they could meet each other’s eyes, and another before they moved from their frozen spots.

Penny squeezed her eyes shut, peeking to make sure she was still leaning towards Colton (him doing the exact same). His mouth bumped against hers. She held still, slowly opening her eyes to see if there was some kind of cue to what she was supposed to be doing. She pulled away when none presented. They smiled shyly at each other.

“Want to come in to wait,” Colton asked, a grin all over his face.

She shook her head. “I’m going to walk by the Sizemores’ place,” Penny said. “Put myself on their minds. Tell Paige to pick me up there?”

She immediately went to the glade, her heart thumping and a smile forming on her face. The kiss was weird, but not bad. It helped that it was Colton. They had been friends for a long time, and he had been just as awkward. She felt as if she crossed some previously unknown threshold; she was older now.

“Hodge,” she called softly. “Hodge, come here, handsome. We don’t have long.”

The unicorn appeared through the curtain. He calmly strode over, giving her a nicker and bobbing his head happily.

Penny jump-stomped through the long grass to reach him. She reached out to stroke his cheek, but he jerked back. She looked over her shoulder, saw nothing, and reached again.

Hodge flattened his ears and snorted. He backed up, tossing his head.

“What’s wrong?” She tried to pet him, shushing him soothingly, but it agitated him more. “Hodge?”

She recoiled, her heart dropping into her stomach. The book Mother Mary Clare had, the entry on unicorns, said they were calmed only by virgin maidens. They were hostile to non-virgin women, and outright aggressive to men.

"But… Hodge,” Penny pleaded, tears forming in her eyes, “it was a kiss. Not even open-mouthed or anything.” She reached for him. “Hodge, please….”

He let loose a high-pitched, angry bray and took off for the woods.

-----------------------------------

The guess with Colton's mom was right; she clearly saw her son was developing a crush and just noped them from being foster candidates. I've grown to like Colton's unnamed mom, lol. I would have to double check the timeline, but I think Penny is 12/13 now. She's more of a "late bloomer" in the dating and romance (also call she's being a normal pre-teen) compared to the others. The first part of this would be March/April, the second part would be late June/July.

Penny's animal friend being a unicorn was always going to present an interesting problem as she got older. Hodge rebuffing her over a very simple, three second kiss was one of the earliest scenes I had with the two of them.

The group home allowed Penny to stay after winter break ended, but made it very clear that they were the most temporary of temporary. Her caseworker ended up extending her search to the very edges of the school district, with multiple warnings that she may need to prepare to switch schools. Those conversations were frequent once the school year ended.

Hodge was her solace. She spent nearly every day in the glade, brushing him smooth and detangling his mane. His body had lightened to a glowing silver, and she could see golden dapples emerging on his haunches. His mane and tail tuft were now white with waves and loose curls; the tail tuft ended with a tight, little spiral that half the time she left alone if she wasn’t fluffing it out.

She flipped through her book lazily, humming in mild amusement. “You having cloven hooves means you need to chew cud… Oh, wait, pigs don’t chew cud. I guess that means you don’t need to? So… you’re like a horse and pig mixed together?” She laughed at Hodge’s loud snort. “Sorry, I know you’re unique. I’m trying to figure out what I can.”

She spent the next forty minutes combing out his mane and weaving pink and yellow ribbons into it. She brushed his forelock with her fingers, fluffing it up around his black, spiral horn. Her fingertips lightly touched the base and traced up to the tip.

“There must be something I can use to take care of it,” Penny mused. “Like with your hooves. There’s hoof polish. Doesn’t feel like the same thing as your hooves though....” She heartily patted his neck. “Go ahead. Act natural.”

Hodge blinked his large eyes at her before he went to graze. She took out her phone, recording five-second clips and taking pictures from different angles.

Her Instagram account had been gaining hundreds of followers a week since she started showing photos of Hodge. There was much debate in the comments about if he was real or not, with the final verdict typically being the non-believers badgering the others into accepting unicorns did not exist.

She never tipped the scale one way or another, never responded to comments at all except to say thanks if someone said something particularly meaningful or offered a good suggestion. The arguing was too amusing.

Hodge jerked his head up, ears pointed forward before flattening into his mane.

“What's—?”

Penny heard it too. The unmistakable sounds of ATVs, and fast approaching. She rushed at Hodge, waving her arms and hissing “shoo”. The unicorn gave her a hurt, reproachful look before moving at a slow trot through the ivy curtain. She raced for the same curtain, jerking still, and spinning back to collect her things.

The ATVs crashed into the glade seconds later. She guiltily put her bucket and backpack behind her back, nervously smiling at Garrett and Colton as they sped by. Colton’s ATV made a wide turn, flattening more of the ivy, and doubled back to her.

“Penny?” He turned off the engine, blinking at her in surprise. “What… what are you doing out here?” He looked around. “How’d you get here?”

“Walked… I’ve been taking pictures of the glade. I’m obsessed with it.”

“Right…,” Colton trailed off, looking at her as if she lost her mind. “Want a ride back?”

Her eyes darted to the treeline. She could sense Hodge waiting, watching, could practically see him pawing impatiently at the ground as he waited for her to call him back out.

It would be suspicious if she sent Colton away. He might even stick around–secretly or otherwise–to see why she wanted to stay.

“Yeah, sure, that’d save me a walk,” Penny said. She glanced at the bucket of horse combs and her backpack. “Umm…. Oh! Colton, look!”

She threw the bucket towards the rock when Colton turned, flinching at how red it was among the green. She shouldered her bag, and jumped on behind him, shrugging when he turned in his seat to look at her quizzically.

“Thought I saw something up on the trail,” she said sheepishly. “Ready?”

They sat on Colton’s front step drinking soda. He caught her up on his adventures with Levi and Gage (whose girlfriend never did materialize over the school year). Destiny and Whitney had found some other girls into crochet and knitting, so were regulated more as friends that just exchanged waves in the hall. Penny had guessed as much having found herself hanging out with either the guys or the girls, and gradually more with the guys over the seventh grade year, but it sounded as if they hadn’t texted or spoken to Colton and the guys since summer started.

“Not much different from you,” Colton said.

“Me? I haven't ditched you guys,” Penny protested.

“Not as obviously, but you don't hang out like you did. You come by sometimes and text, but you're always running off to do your photo thing.” Colton drained his bottle. “But Garrett says it's normal. You hit seventh grade, new people and all that, and it's worse if you're girls and guys.”

It felt a bit unfair and as if Colton was blaming her. Gage had ditched them long before she started pulling away. Levi too. She was managing her photography, keeping under the radar at the home, keeping her grades up to add no additional concerns or reasons to be moved, and keeping Hodge a secret. Having any social life was doing well. Colton had no idea.

“You know… you mentioned that place wanting to get rid of you…,” Colton trailed off. “I said something about it to my mom…”

“Why?”

He shrugged. “She complains me and Garrett are too much. I thought maybe she’d want to take a try at having a girl around.”

“You asked her to foster me?” 

Little bubbles of happiness burst in her chest. Colton’s mom seemed nice. She got along with Colton and Garrett. The best yet, Hodge was in the backyard.

Her smile faltered. “Oh… I think it takes a long time to get approved for that….”

“Yeah… she said that,” Colton said uneasily. “And… um, isn’t sure it’s a great idea….”

A cold wave washed over her. She was still damaged goods, even according to her friend’s mother. She set her mostly empty bottle aside and got to her feet.

“I should head back. I got to show my face around the home soon so they don’t worry.”

“Garrett can—.”

“I got my bus pass; it’s fine,” Penny dismissed. “Text later? We can all hang out or something.”

She thought of going back for her grooming bucket, or to say a proper goodbye to Hodge, but didn’t want to risk Colton or Garrett driving through the glade again. She alternated between a brisk walk and jog to the bus stop, then promptly sat and cried on her knees until it came.

---

Her caseworker looked much more exhausted than during previous visits. She no longer had pink streaks in her hair. There was a dullness to the blonde locks, and she had started the habit of wearing large frames to filter out blue-light; she previously complained about headaches and blamed the screens.

Penny sat still in her chair, her green eyes wandering to her open phone whenever she was sure the caseworker was too preoccupied to notice. A small, satisfied smile tugged at her lips at the 9.9 million count next to the followers label.

“It’s not looking good….” Penny quickly covered her phone and watched the caseworker. “The home feels they’ve been more than generous… I did reach out to the Lamberts to see if they’d clarify on the aggression thing, but they didn’t want to talk. No hope getting that expunged.”

“Figures.”

“The Sizemores did express some interest. Not enough to take you tomorrow, but they do have you on their mind from time to time.” She glanced over the top of her glasses. “They have your previous foster sister, right?”

“As far as I know.”

“Could be an option then….”

She shuttered at the idea of once more living with Aaliyah. The home was full of kids worse, but in the group setting there were other targets.

“What about foster to adopt? That could open other options.”

Penny vigorously shook her head.

“Right… Well, that leaves really only one path forward, and I was trying to avoid it….” She removed her glasses with a heavy sigh, and knitted her fingers in front of her. “Your home has been impressed with your behavioral shift, and that’s another reason they won’t keep you anymore. They recommended a home for girls your age. …It’s not in your school district.”

The girls’ home was over an hour away, closer to the city. She would be bumped down into a middle school for eighth grade. This home was more strict with outings, usually needing a chaperon or buddy for even basic walks. Visiting Hodge would be completely out of the question unless she snuck out in the middle of the night, and the buses wouldn’t be running then.

“I think that’s all… You’ll have the weekend to pack up. They want you moved before the first day. Complete fresh start and all.” The caseworker pinched at her eyes and stifled a small yawn. “Sorry I couldn't get it worked out for you. You're one of the nice ones. If all my cases were like you, I wouldn't be going back to school to find something else.”

“Oh… I had a feeling you were quitting,” Penny muttered. 

“Changing careers isn't quitting.  …Some of these other kids are vicious though. All I want is to help, but they couldn't care less.” She cleared her throat and straightened. “Anyway, questions?”

“Yeah….” Penny fiddled with her phone, keeping her eyes down. “I wasn’t always an adoption candidate, so… was there some kind of update with my mom?”

The caseworker raised an  overtweezed eyebrow. She went back to her computer, typed something, and propped her face up with her hand. She had a glazed expression. She gave a shrug.

“It doesn’t say anything specific. Says you were given up at birth, so you not being a candidate until recently is kind of weird. Let’s see…,” she scrolled, “yeah, nothing specific. My guess is there was some kind of contact between her and the system, but all that evaporated. Either she flat out said she wasn’t able to get her life together before you aged out, or she just fell off the map.”

“She was keeping tabs on me?” It made sense considering Aisling was her caretaker when she was small. “Is there anything in there about my aunt? Aisling Fox, or she might be under Sister Mary Agnes.”

“Nothing… There were inquiries made about where you were sent after your first home changed administrations, but it doesn’t give any names.” She leaned into the back of her chair. “Unless they suddenly appear in the next day or two, you’re still going to be sent to that girls’ home. I wouldn’t waste your energy thinking about this.”

It was the first real instance that a caseworker told her that Keena had tried to keep in her life. Something had changed that.

It was also the first time she had been told Aisling was looking for her. She had known that instinctively, but it was nice to hear it said out loud.

The more pressing issue was this move. It was imminent and she saw no way out of it.

She sighed heavily as she waited for her bus. She opened her phone, went to the camera, and turned it on herself. She took a breath and hit record.

“Hey! Behind the photos. I’m Penny. A foster kid, about to be moved again. Hodge pictures will be on hiatus for a bit.” Her eyes teared. “Sorry.”

She uploaded it to her Instagram and tucked her phone away.

Aisling was probably still looking for her, but if Keena had truly given her up this time, entertaining adoption could keep her from being moved too far. She could always sabotage her placement if the parents started to seriously consider keeping her, give Keena or Aisling more time to find her.

She stayed seated as her bus to the home drove off. She took the one that came out near Colton’s.

Hodge was half in the glade. The ivy curtain was draped over his back like a cape. He gave a happy nicker as soon as he spotted her, but did not trot over. He lowered his head and went back to grazing.

She sank onto her usual rock. Her eyes grew more and more teary as she watched Hodge until she couldn’t hold it back anymore. She hugged her knees and buried her face in them to stifle her sobbing. She was jolted out of her hopelessness by Hodge knocking her off the rock with a hard nosing.

She gave a watery laugh, hugging him around his face and then again around the neck once she stumbled up to her feet.

“I’ll come back,” she said. “They won’t keep us apart. I swear it.”

------------------------------

Where I mostly grew up, it was rural so after sixth grade you went to a combination junior-senior high school. It's not surper uncommon in non-rural areas. More common is having a middle school in the equation, so I figured where Penny was since leaving NY was rural WV and now she's being moved to slightly less rural WV.

And anything else I was going to say is gone because I'm having "what's that" shouted at me.

The full moon washed everything in ghostly, white light. The ivy shone black with the shadows even darker; the entire glade monochromatic. Penny hugged herself tightly against the early autumn night while keeping her phone out in front of her for some meager light.

She had to wait nearly a week until the full moon. There was no telling if this was the right glade, or if the unicorn colt was still there. The extra light from above was a non-negotiable for her midnight escapade. Not just for searching the glade, but for navigating the yards and smaller streets where the streetlights did not go.

Her breath caught as rustling reached her ears. She spun around, but her phone light was not strong enough to reach the ivy curtains. She took a breath and tucked her phone away, shutting her eyes.

The woods beyond crackled and chirped. There was rustling again, but there was a skittish quality that called to mind rabbits. A larger, more careful swish of the ivy and undergrowth reached her ears. The steps sounded more deliberate, closer to how a deer would move.

The glade looked brighter when she opened her eyes. She could see the ivy swaying as something passed through, but couldn’t see the creature. She crept nearer and an outline started to appear. 

It was roughly the size of a pony, but slimmer. It must’ve been grayish. The moonlight would not reflect off it, and it blended into the scenery too much to be either black or white.

She extracted a molasses cookie from her pocket, set it on a rock, and backed off. She waited, and waited. And waited.

Her head snapped up. She blinked drowsily, rubbing her eyes as she staggered up to her feet. She was damp with dew. The moon was not as high and the glade was now washed in soft gray as pre-dawn broke. Cold dread washed over her. The caretakers at the home would’ve noticed she was missing by now.

The cookie was gone. She stared at the spot with disappointment seeping into the pit of her stomach. She had missed it, unicorn or otherwise.

A snort behind her froze her solid.

The colt was the most magnificent animal she had ever seen. True, his knees were still knobbly, more like a horse foal compared to a two-year-old, and his slate gray coat, mane, and tail tuft were frizzy. Even still, his deep brown eyes had an intelligence greater than any animal she’d encountered. His black, spiraled horn was short but looked carved from obsidian. A lion-like tail flicked lazily, and he pawed the grass with cloven hooves.

Penny slowly stretched her hand out, inching nearer and nearer as he continued to stand still.

---

Her caseworker had pink streaks in her hair. Penny could not decide if she liked it or not, and always circled back to herself having dark hair. She would have to bleach it to change colors, and that extra step always put her off hair dying.

“Hmm… I don’t know, Penny, the home does have a good point….”

“It was once,” Penny said blandly.

“Yes, but you really freaked them out. Disappearing in the middle of the night is serious. They had to file a report.” She signed heavily, and fiddled with one of the pink locks in her blonde hair. “If this happened at a placement with a family, then you’d be relocated.”

“It was a full moon,” Penny said. “I wanted to see how my phone would do with night pictures. It won’t happen again. I swear!”

“They want to send you back to New York… That might be too extreme.” She shuffled through Penny’s file. “Your other group home exists, but—.”

“But it’s not the same people in charge,” Penny finished. “It’s even more for problem kids than this one.” She leaned forward. “You can’t send me away! I won’t disappear again.”

“It would suck to move right after starting junior high… You could end up at a really populated middle school, and that could lead to bullying or something….” The caseworker mumbled under her breath, checking different notes. “Your last placement was just a town over. Did you get to reconnect with old elementary friends?”

Penny nodded, her throat now too dry to respond. 

She suspected some type of fallout from sleeping outside, but the caretakers at the home had been subdued after screaming at her, and she thought she was in the clear. It didn’t occur to her that they had filed a police report, contacted the caseworker, and started the process of moving her elsewhere.

She had only managed to get back to the glade once between meeting the colt and this meeting, and he had not been around. She left him two molasses cookies and was itching to get back there to see if he would come out of hiding this time.

“There’s no red flags in your file other than the fighting with the other kids, and whatever it was that Lambert family was talking about. Which, to me, sounded like you were stressed because of what was going on with your friend, so I don’t know how much weight that really has.” She hummed, searching the file. “Yeah, nothing that suggests you’re getting into drugs, or self-harm, or sex… Which also means you’ve been safe from abuse according to what I learned in class….” She blinked and looked up quizzically. “You had a request to go to church? Really?”

“I was raised by nuns.”

“Oh. True. …Still, little weird, but if it keeps you grounded….” The caseworker shut the file. “How about I beg the home to keep you until winter break? I can try finding a placement in the same school district.” She shrugged. “Either they’ll decide you can stay, or you’ll get placed. You got to keep in line though, Penny. If you stray, they’ll flip out and I’ll be forced to move you. Got it?”

Penny sputtered her thanks repeatedly, keeping up the stream as she was ushered from the office.

She took the bus towards Colton’s rather than back to the group home. There was still time before dinner, and surely being slightly late could be chalked up to her meeting with the caseworker.

The cookies were gone. There were slight indents around the rock she had left them on, too big to be deer prints. She looked around but saw no other signs of the colt. She sat on the rock and dug out a thin book about horses from her backpack.

Movement caught her attention as the sky started darkening. Her heart blipped as the colt nosed through the curtain of ivy. He raised his head, staring, and silently walked nearer.

Penny carefully put her book away and took out the squashed, plastic-wrapped cookie from the bottom of her bag. She held it out to him, barely daring to breathe. Her face hurt from how wide her smile was when he took the cookie, bobbing his head in approval as he munched.

“I should bring you healthier snacks,” Penny murmured, “but I figured you eat enough grass and stuff.”

She tenderly stroked his nose with her fingertips; his dark, intelligent eyes half closed at her touch. She pet his smooth cheek with her other hand, marveling that he was allowing her to be so close and hold his face.

“I’ll try coming back tomorrow,” she told him. “It’s the weekend. I can spend all day here without anyone caring.”

It took several minutes for Penny to tear herself from him. The sky was now fully deep red with no hint of the sun left. She couldn’t risk angering the home further. She couldn’t risk them sending her far from this unicorn colt, especially with the knowledge that he would be all alone.

It was a relatable feeling punctuated by lapses with companions. Unlike her friends–with the expectation of Brooke–this colt also lacked a family to provide some feeling of comfort or safety, same as her.

Penny stared at the ceiling listening to the easy breathing of her roommates. Her eyelids were heavy. She smiled as a name flitted through her mind right before she fell asleep.

---

The leaves were starting to turn. It was cool and sunny, perfect for one of Penny’s favorite Goodwill sweaters (red and orange maple leaves falling across a sage green sweater). She sat on her usual rock in the now browning ivy glade, a book with different horse braids open on her knees. A red, plastic bucket was placed nearby. It had three different types of horse brushes and a large, metal comb for manes and tails.

“Hodge,” Penny called. She repeatedly clicked her tongue until the colt raised his head. “Come over here.”

She stroked his nose as he greeted her. She went to work gently using the metal curry comb and slicker on his slate gray body. He stood still, rotating between munching strands of grass and nodding sleepily.

This had been her ritual every Saturday for the last month and a half. She had slowly purchased the bucket and combs from the meager allowance the home let her have from the stipend they were paid. It took ridiculously long for her to convince the administrators to allow her a library card, citing the homeless and drug addicts that typically hung around the area, but they eventually caved to her pleas. She put on a show of having her nose in an age appropriate chapter book whenever one of the adults was around. She kept her actual borrows–history, folklore, horse and horse related books–under her bed.

Hodge’s mane and tail tuft were beginning to smooth the colder the weather became, but they were still too short for Penny to do much more than fuss over. She was noticing lighter grays and whites starting to appear, some being wavy. He was also growing silky, wavy hair on his lower legs above his hooves, which Penny knew from her books was referred to as feathers.

“I wish I’d gotten to see your mother,” Penny said. “I’ve only seen pictures of old tapestries. I don’t really know what to expect with you.” She searched her backpack for the molasses cookie stashed inside. “I bet you still miss your mother. Even if only a little. …I think I miss mine, and I never really met her. Here you go, handsome boy.”

Penny found her mind wandering often to Keena Fox since meeting Hodge. It may have been the knowledge that his mother was gone, or just because he was a stronger connection to the Realm than random gnomes and fairies. It may have also been that her hopes of Aisling finding her had started to wane considerably, partly because of time and partly because she didn't want to leave Hodge.

She had no one she could ask about her mother now. Even as reluctant as Aisling had been at times, she would still try to answer any questions about Keena.

The group home smelt of overcooked hamburger when she slipped through the front. She tiptoed up the steps but was blocked from the landing by a bulky boy at least four years older. He snatched the bucket from her hand.

“Give it back, Nick!”

He searched through the bucket, and then dumped it before tossing it aside. He grabbed at her backpack, but she was ready and tightened her grip. She was yanked onto the landing, one hand pressed against her face while he kept pulling with the other.

She lost her balance with one good yank. She released the backpack to grab the railing to avoid falling backwards down the stairs.

Nick ripped apart her backpack, dumping out books, pens, and some loose homework worksheets she did on the bus rides. He finally held up her wallet with a wicked smirk, and took out the few dollars tucked inside before throwing it down the stairs.

“You don’t mind, d'you, Penny? You're due for allowance on Monday.”

He knocked into her, causing her to fall another step down, on his way down the stairs.

Penny grabbed the heavy, rubber curry comb and aimed it at the back of Nick’s head. Her short nails bit into it, her arm shaking the longer she stayed frozen, ready to throw. Hot, angry tears fell from her eyes as she lowered her arm, growling out a sigh. She went up and down the stairs, and around the landing, repacking her bucket and bag, completely ignored by the other kids hurrying to and from dinner.

----------------------------

This one is pretty short too. Penny's story starts with early years like this, but then will go beyond Nellie's, so I'm getting to the point where some time skips are happening more.

I thought molasses cookies would be an approriate unicorn snack. Sugar cubes are kind of unusal to have in a house, same with hard peppermints/spearmints, and I figured Penny would gravitate to something sweeter for a mythical animal with unicorns accosiated with sparkles and sugar. (Come to think of it, we only had sugar cubes, peppermints, and spearmints when I had a horse.)

The combs I have in mind for the bucket are two curry combs, one rubber and one metal (metal works better but you always buy the rubber on first, lol, the metal is sharp and throws you off a bit if it's the first time grooming) and a slicker which is also metal. The good ones you can unhook the handle to turn into one long strip of metal with short teeth to clear out all the fur and dirt loosened by the curry.

I also fugured that unicorns would age a little differently than horses since they're not really horses. Hodge's mother was probably in her 70s, so Hodge being 2 is closer to under a year minus all the drawbacks of actually being under a year (needing mother). He's probably slightly stunted too since he's the last foal; it'd take him a bit longer to mature with his mother's lifeforce not anywhere near peak. He probably would've hung around his mother until she died both because she would be too werry to be stern and send him off, and because as he grew he would've offered her some protection.