Unicorns? Get Real!

held a writhing mass of maggots. Another contained a murky liquid floating with leeches. On a table a small population of toads hopped about in a terrarium. A label on its side read “Nurse Bodkin’s Special Spotted Toads for Treatment of Warts.” A second terrarium was asquirm with lizards.
    The girls jumped back as the door swung wide open and Nurse Bodkin came out with a large bird perched on her arm. She was a strange-looking woman. Her complexion was sallow, and her skin crackled like an old manuscript. Her nose, however, was a vivid purple, with a tracery of minuscule blood vessels that reminded the princesses of exploding fireworks.
    “Good grief, it’s that stupid caladrius bird, Rufus,” muttered Princess Kristen.
    “What’s that?” asked Myrella.
    “I was just about to administer the CBDE on your friend Princess Gundersnap, dear.” Nurse Bodkin said.
    “The C-B what?” Alicia asked.
    “The Caladrius Bird Diagnostic Evaluation. We did it with your foot, Kristen, to determine if you were going to die of blood poisoning. Very accurate.”
    “Accurate, my foot!” Kristen said in a low, sarcastic voice. “I could have told her that without the bird.”
    “As a matter of fact, Your Highnesses, would you mind taking Rufus to Princess Gundersnap’s bed. I’ll be there in a moment, but I have to go lance a boil.”
    “Oh, don’t worry about it, Nurse Bodkin,” Princess Alicia said. “We’ll take care of everything.”
    Princess Kristen stuck out her arm, and the bird stepped onto it.
    Before she even greeted Gundersnap, Princess Kristen walked to the window, opened it, and stuck her arm out. “Scram, you quack! It’s only modern medicine here. Go find a real job.” The bird blinked at her as if he didn’t quite believe what she was saying was true. Then it spread its wings and flew off.
    Alicia giggled. “Kristen, you’ll get in trouble.”
    “I’ll think of something.”
    “What is it with the bird, anyhow? If the caladrius looks at you, you’ll live. If it looks away, you die?” Alicia asked.
    “Something like that,” Kristen said, and turned to Gundersnap. “But how are you feeling, Gunny? Gortle sent some tummy powders.”
    Princess Gundersnap just sighed. “I must be practical. There is absolutely nothing I can do about this. So I must clear it from my mind and not vorry, I mean worry.” Still, there was a sadness in Gundersnap’s eyes that touched them all. She held in her hands a little leather pouch.
    “What’s that?” Alicia asked.
    Gundersnap’s eyes filled with tears. “Gortle gave it to me with the letter. It’s strands from Menschmik’s mane. They always cut a pony’s mane when it goes into battle. It…it’s not practical!” She shut her eyes very tightly, as if to will away her tears. When she opened them again, there was a new brightness.
    “I have just had an idea.” She paused. “I mean, it’s more than just an idea. You know the problem with Menschmik seems hopeless, doesn’t it?” She looked at the three princesses with mournful eyes. “Admit it, it does.” Alicia, Myrella, and Kristen nodded their heads softly.
    “Yes, I suppose so,” Myrella said in barely a whisper.
    “But,” Gundersnap said, suddenly chipper, “Myrella doesn’t know about Berwynna.”
    “Ber-who?” Myrella asked.
    “Berwynna! I must go to the Forest of Chimes and find her. If anyone can help me, it’s Berwynna.”
    “What a brilliant idea!” Alicia exclaimed. She turned to Myrella, who knew nothing of Berwynna or the unfinished tapestry or the Ghost Princess that Alicia and Kristen and Gundersnap had encountered the last session. “I was the first to discover Berwynna,” Alicia said. “She is a little old lady, and a very strange one at that. She lives in the Forest of Chimes. It is said that she is Merlin the magician’s sister. Her magic isn’t half as good or half as strong, and sometimes she messes up a little bit. But she gave us hints about the unfinished tapestry, which was really the key to it all,” Alicia said. “I mean, the key to the Ghost Princess and why my bird finally did sing.”
    “Why yes, it sang brilliantly,” Myrella said, bewildered. “You won the Color Wars for us with his song. No cheating. But a Ghost Princess?”
    “No cheating at all, even though magic was involved,” Alicia said firmly. “You see, the unfinished tapestry was almost like a crystal ball. It told us things—not every little thing, but it gave