Becoming Magical [2]

C H A P T E R - 3 4

The force of the void was so strong Sophie felt like her body was being pulled and stretched and twisted. It didn't hurt. She honestly couldn't feel anything except a tugging and twirling as she whipped through the cold emptiness.

Silveny filled her mind with a crisp image: a lush meadow surrounded by snow-capped mountains. Then white light flashed and thunder cracked and everything squished back together, leaving her in the middle of a valley, staring at the same mountains she'd seen in Silveny's thoughts.

"Whoa," she breathed as Silveny touched down on the grassy floor, right next to the misty river. If she hadn't been able to feel tiny drips of the cold water splashing her skin, Sophie might've thought she was hallucinating.

She clung to Silveny's neck with all the strength she could muster, afraid that if she let go, Silveny would fly away and leave her there—wherever there was. "What was that?" she screamed, hearing her voice echo off the valley walls. "Did we just . . ."

She didn't even have a word for what just happened. One second they'd been at Havenfield, and then the sky tore open and now they were somewhere else—and it definitely hadn't been a light leap.

Free! Silveny told her, leaning down to take a drink. Sophie tumbled forward, and only her death grip on the alicorn's neck saved her from toppling headfirst into the rushing river. But she still drenched her legs as she landed on her feet in the shallows.

What did you do? she transmitted as she waded back to dry land. Her soggy shoes squished with every step.

A sound echoed through her head, and it took a second for her brain to translate the word.

"We teleported?"

Silveny whinnied.

Sophie didn't even know that was possible—though she supposed it explained how Silveny had visited so many places. And why alicorns were so elusive. It was hard to catch something that could rip an opening in the sky and vanish into it.

A wave of panic hit her as she considered what that must've looked like to the Council—or what they must be thinking now that she'd disappeared.

You have to take me back!

Silveny munched on the long stalks of grass. Free.

Sophie looked around for some clue to tell her where they were, but all she could see was that they were in the middle of nowhere—and that it was breathtakingly beautiful. She could understand why Silveny didn't want to go back to Havenfield and be caged again. Something about the pen must keep her trapped—maybe there wasn't enough space for her to get up to speed to teleport. That would explain why she'd seen Silveny dipping and diving sometimes. Trying to get away.

But they had to go home.

Grady was probably having a heart attack.

How could she convince the stubborn horse to take her home? She couldn't exactly teleport them back on her own.

Or maybe she didn't need to. There was more than one way to leap around the world.

She grabbed her home crystal and held it up to the sunlight, imagining her consciousness wrapping around Silveny's glimmering body. Before Silveny figured out what she was doing, she pressed her palm against the horse's neck and stepped into the light, letting the rushing warmth whisk them both away.

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To say sophie arrived back at Havenfield to pandemonium would have been understating things. Greatly.