TEA WITH THE MIDNIGHT MONSTERS

MILLIE'S TURN

"It's happening..." Millie said.

The beam of light began to fade.

Pim rested on his coat, shivering under Hope's blanket. Millie sat next to him and turned to Max. "You said it doesn't hurt, correct?" She was feeling nervous.

Max shook his head. "No, really. It's fine. You'll be fine."

She stared up high, from where the light fell. "The only thing? You'd think Red would close up the hole if he could. If he knew it would turn him back to a child. Why wouldn't he block the light?"

"They've tried," said Max. "Red flew up and tried to seal the hole. Whatever he did, though, the light broke through. We weren't sure why, at the time. Why he was trying to close up the hole. Except to make it darker down here."

"That's curious," Pim said. "He couldn't close it?"

"Then the Crumbs went into the park, to seal it up from the outside. But that didn't work." Suddenly, Max stopped talking. He started to tremble and looked away. "Here we go," he whispered to Millie.

"Bye," Millie said.

"It's not good-bye," Pim admonished her. "Don't say that."

"Right," said Millie. "Will you watch?"

"Not a chance," Pim assured her, and closed his eyes. "Unless you want me to? Do you?" he asked.

Millie shook her head and closed her eyes, too, as she felt a tingle in her fingertips. The tingle then spread through her hands and arms, and moved into her chest. It traveled up and into her head and down into her tummy, legs, feet, and toes. A pressure was building from the inside, as Max had said, and it forced her to move to her hands and knees and tuck her chin.

But Max was correct. She felt no pain. It felt, Millie thought, like a prodding, a stretching, a kneading of her organs -- from inside.

Over soon, she assured herself, as she felt her hands shrink and her arms and legs stretch. Soon, soon, all will be well. She felt her jaw and face elongate, her nostrils expand, her teeth grow. Something, too, was pushing, thrusting itself from her back, and something else grew from the top of her head -- three things, in fact, sprouted in a row. I'll still be me, she thought and thought, I'll still be me... for at least nine weeks...

And two minutes later, it was done.

"Pim? Pim? What am I?" she said, her eyes still closed.

"Are you finished?" he said, his face buried in his hands.

"Tell me what I am!" Then she opened her eyes and looked down to find two thin legs with white hair and hooves.

Pim rose to sitting, eyes wide with wonder. "You're -- oh, Mills, you're Dad!"

"Dad? I turned into Dad?"

"No, Mills. The Paras. The Shetland Pegasus. A unicorn Pegasus! The badge! The emblem! The symbol of the Airborne Infantry!"

Millie took a sharp breath in. "I'm an alicorn? Then I have wings?" And she absolutely did. She had wings! Large, beautiful, white feathered wings! "I can fly out?"

Max, now a basilisk, sidled up. "Wow, look at you! You're beautiful!"

Millie blushed. She was pretty: a white foal with a butter colored mane, long neck, and long white tail. Her hooves were black and lips pink. Her glorious wings were tucked into her sides and so large, they hid her barrel.

"You've got to go now," Pim said, feeling a surge of energy, of wellness. "Right away. Right this second."

"Yes," Millie said.