The purples and pinks that settled at the tops of the rolling grassy hillsides made a sky of warm cotton candy. It would be dark soon.

Justin had been gone too long.

Kayla sat by the fire that Andres made, hugging her middle as the chill of night began to creep in. Andres stood at the edge of their make-shift camp, picking nervously at a twig as he kept his eyes on the horizon. They both had been gone too long.

"Should we go look for them?" Kayla said.

It was a long time before Andres answered. When he finally did, "No," was all he said.

"Why not?" said Kayla. "It'll be dark soon. What if something's happened to them?"

Andres nodded, considering. Then turned to face her. "They've got Gaisgeil with them," he said. "If there was trouble, Gaisgeil would have gotten them out of there. Brought them back."

"How can you be so sure?"

He grinned. "I've seen Gaisgeil fight enough times to be sure."

"Not fight worms you haven't."

He shrugged. "They seemed upset enough by her scream, didn't they?"

Yes, Kayla had to concede that was true. But still, something didn't feel right. After all, it wasn't just Gaisgeil and Nat out there. It was Justin. And Justin wouldn't want to be out, away from Kayla, after dark. Gaisgeil or no Gaisgeil.

At least, that was how it always was.

Before she nearly betrayed them all.

A wave of shame washed over as she remembered how she succumbed to the worms back in the forest. How she nearly got them all killed. Before Justin had looked at her the way he did.

Maybe now, Justin didn't care what happened to Kayla after dark.

And maybe that was as it should be. Wasn't that exactly what Kayla had wanted from him for so long? A bit of space? A bit of distance? A bit of time to re-evaluate whether Justin & Kayla should even still be Justin & Kayla?

It was safer for him if they weren't.

By being with Kayla, she knew, he could never be safe.

Maybe now, after what happened – after what she'd let happen – he was finally starting to figure that out.

And that was good.

That would keep him safe.

Why then, did her chest ache at the thought of it?

"There they are," said Andres, a heavy relief in his voice.

On the horizon they could see Gaisgeil pounding her way across the field. But there was no rider.

Kayla frowned. "Andres, do you see them?"

The cowboy didn't answer. His body tensed, his hands balling into fists at his side. Gasgeil was alone.

The way the unicorn ran – Kayla could tell – was wrong. The beast ran hard, too hard, legs pounding with a fierce determination as it drove straight for them – horn lowered for attack.

"What's wrong with her?" Kayla shouted.

But Andres was already running. He ran to Kayla and pulled her into the trees as the murder horse drove closer. "We have to get high!" he shouted at her. He pushed her at a sparse pine tree. "Climb!" he screamed, propping up her foot. Kayla pulled herself up, branch by branch, her body trembling, terrified to look down – to see what she didn't want to see – two meters of sharp spiraled tusk, dripping with poison and ready to impale her and Andres.

Andres –

Kayla risked a glance down and saw him starting to climb –

But it was too late –

The unicorn was on them –

It drove at Andres and he leaped from the branch, landing on Gaisgeil's back. The unicorn screamed – that ghostly horror wail, and bucked and twisted, trying to shake him off.

"Andres!" Kayla screamed.

How long could he hold on? The unicorn was massive, and impossibly strong. Not even the biggest mustang could rival the sheer power of Gaisgeil. But Andres clung to the beast as best he could.

Kayla clung to her branch, frantically scanning the world around them for anything that could help. But there was nothing. They were in the middle of the woods with no supplies. No help. They were on their own.

Andres roared, grabbing Gaisgeil by the mane and pulling – with a practiced expertise - her head up hard. The beast stopped bucking, screaming and spinning in a circle.

The cowboy knew how to handle a horse.

But Gaisgeil was no horse.

She wasn't even a unicorn anymore. Not really. Kayla could see in the cloudy blaze of her eyes that Gaisgeil was in the grips of the Whole.

And then she heard them.

Kayla's breath escaped her, her stomach twisting. "No," she whispered.

But the voices were there – inside her head.

The unicorn needs a rider, Kayla, the voices purred. She has come for you. Command the power of the unicorn, Kayla.

"Nat is her rider, Kayla growled inside her head. Where was Nat? How could she have let this happen?

The Whole laughed, a deep rumble that shook the meat of her mind. Not anymore.

"Stop it!" Kayla screamed, pressing her palms to her ears, as if that could make it stop.

Fall to the ground, the Whole whispered. Let Gaisgeil take you away. Take you to us.

"Go away!"

Perhaps you would prefer at different mount, whispered the Whole. And all at once, Kayla felt the cool of the ocean's depths against her skin – skin that wasn't hers. She felt the subtle shift and pulse of the water betraying life – food – all around her. She was a shark patrolling the waters of Point Chester.

And then she blinked, and her padded feet met the earth with each might foot fall, her stomach rumbling for flesh, her massive fangs dripping with blood. A saber.

"Get out of my head!" Kayla roared.

Gaisgeil shrieked and reared up, sending Andres to the ground.

Where was Nat?

Why don't you ask the question you really want to? the Whole taunted inside her head as Gaisgeil circled Andres, horn lowered.

Justin –

What have you done to him? she demanded.

The Whole just laughed. Come and find him, Kayla. Come and join him in the dark...

The dark. She'd been there once. And almost couldn't find her way back.

It was Justin. Justin who pulled her back from the dark.

And she could feel it now. The dark of the Whole. She could glimpse it, closing in on the edges of her mind. She could feel the hoards of sabers, of sharks, of worms, all writhing and laughing and singing their victory. She could feel Gaisgeil - the true Gaisgeil -  frantic and trapped somewhere in the murk.

Andres screamed and Kayla saw the unicorn's massive helix tusk stab him in the arm as he rolled away. The unicorn reared up, shrieking in victory.

But what she didn't see –

What she couldn't find –

Was Justin.

You don't have him, she realized.

And as soon as she thought it, the Whole drew back, shutting her out like a door slamming shut on her mind.

And Gaisgeil –

The stolen unicorn –

She was gone.

Kayla scrambled down from the tree and dropped beside Andres in the dirt – his wound was deep, oozing blood and the thick black mucous of Gaisgeil's horn.

"I'm ok," he said, wincing from the pain. "Lucky it was just my arm."

"What do I do?" she asked.

"Can you get my belt?" he said. "We should try and make a tourniquet."

She unhooked it from his waist and set to work wrapping the wound as tightly as she could. He hissed through his teeth.

"Sorry," said Kayla.

"We gotta get to that manor," said Andres. "If the Whole has taken Gaisgeil, we might already be too late."

"We're not."

"How do you know?"

"Because I can hear them."

"The Whole?" said Andres.

She nodded. She could hear them.

And they were salivating.

Thanks for reading! So sorry for the delay in keeping this crazy worm story moving - but I am back at it now! New chapter coming next week! In the meantime, if you want to learn more about my writing process or general notebook nerdiness, follow me on wattpad or come find me on instagram!