The crowd moaned in shock and terror, their eyes fixed immovably on the ground just behind her, on Harry.
She spun back towards Harry.
But he was no longer here.
In his place, lying contentedly upon the floor, was a gloriously white unicorn.
*
Chapter 31
But we are children of light, having been illuminated by the dayspring of the spirit of the Lord from on high, and Where the Spirit of the Lord is, it says, there is liberty, for All things are pure to the pure.
Clement of Alexandria
Lil fell back, amazed, terrified. She scrambled, crab-like, on her arms and legs, rapidly moving farther back from the unicorn.
Then she looked down at herself.
She was dressed in nothing but white linen.
*
Chapter 32
Such inward torment of the mind,
Thee loving, dearest heart, I find,
Surmise alone can fully guess
And advertise my soul's distress.
Ibn Hazm, The Ring of the Dove
‘Azar, what’s happening?’
Lil rose to her feet, the unicorn rising with her, but keeping its distance.
Hearing the crowd behind her groan in fright, Lil briefly turned towards them.
Many had fled. Those that remained were horror-stricken, petrified, looking to her as if she were their only hope, their saviour.
‘I don’t understand.’ Lil looked back towards Azar for an explanation.
Azar calmly nodded towards the unicorn.
‘Call him,’ he said coolly.
‘I… I can’t,’ she said, fearing that the unicorn wouldn’t heed her call.
‘He will; he will come to anyone who needs him. As he came to me when my sisters called him.’
‘Your sisters? Martha, Mary? They called the unicorn?’
‘He lies within us all, Lil. “And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.”’
‘Never die? Like…like the beloved disciple? Like Lazarus?’
‘He didn’t say that I would never die. He said, “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?” And so I and my sisters wait for him.’
‘Then you’re…’
Azar nodded, smiled.
‘Lazarus. Meaning, “God has helped.” And just as he came to help me, we are here to help you, Lil.’
‘Help me?’
‘Help you. Call him, Lil.’
‘But…I can’t…not now. Not now I’m no longer…’
‘Call him.’
‘Harry,’ Lil said doubtfully, raising her arms up towards the unicorn, her linen garment falling away from her body.
The crowd gasped; and Lil, instantly feeling ashamed, instinctively glanced back at them.
But they weren’t looking at her. They had all – even Sidney – fallen to the floor, all bowing low.
Looking down at them, Lil caught a glimpse of herself.
A glimpse of purest white skin.
She was the white hind once more.
Alongside her, she sensed the unicorn slowly draw close.
Flesh against flesh.
Soul against soul.
The backs of the bowing people rippled, flowed, swiftly becoming nothing but dust, souls rising like a rapidly dissipating heat haze – for now isn’t their time, and they must be saved in their own way – their forms transforming and merging into rolling dips and hillocks of land. Rubble became rocks, walls crumbling and rounding into boulders, and houses into hills. The city fell, washed over, dropping away and flattening out like the waves of an ebbing sea, leaving only glorious mountains lying far beyond everything else. Grass grew, brightly coloured flowers spread, trees sprouted, stretched out, burgeoned into leafy cover, blossomed.
Coming up behind her, a naked Harry closed his arms around Lil’s bared waist.
‘Lil,’ he breathed.
‘My love.’
‘My life.’
*
In an English churchyard
Lillianne Violet Pine
9 March 1903 – 1 April 1919
Cruelly taken away from us
before she could truly enjoy life
End
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You may also enjoy (or you may know someone else who might enjoy) these other books by Jon Jacks.
The Caught – The Rules – Chapter One – The Changes – Sleeping Ugly
The Barking Detective Agency – The Healing – The Lost Fairy Tale
A Horse for a Kingdom – Charity – The Most Beautiful Things – The Last Train
The Dream Swallowers – Nyx; Granddaughter of the Night – Jonah and the Alligator
Glastonbury Sirens – Dr Jekyll’s Maid – The 500-Year Circus
P – The Endless Game – DoriaN A – Wyrd Girl – The Wicker Slippers
Heartache High (Vol I) – Heartache High: The Primer (Vol II) – Heartache High: The Wakening (Vol III)
Miss Terry Charm, Merry Kris Mouse & The Silver Egg – Seecrets – The Cull – Dragonsapien
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