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Aurora gripped Coralie’s arm, her fingers embedding into her skin.   “Coralie, he’s staring at me,” she whispered, her eyes nearly dangling from her sockets.  “He’s really staring at me.”

“This is so cool.”  Chris’s whisper, unlike Aurora’s terrified one, hummed with excitement.  He reached down, extending his hand.

“Don’t!” Coralie cried as his fingers wrapped around the golden pointed horn.  The unicorn reared back, it’s dark eyes flashing with annoyance.  Chris’s fingers locked around the horn, his feet flying off the ground as the unicorn turned and ran deeper into the forest.

“Whoa!”  Chris shouted, cringing as his body slammed toward the stone patio.

“Oh my gosh!”  Aurora turned her head into Coralie’s shoulder, squeezing her eyes shut.  “Tell him to close his mouth!  His teeth!”

But Coralie didn’t have time.  For Chris’s face did not slam into the stone, shattering his nose and his teeth.  Instead, Chris passed through the stone, his whole body shimmering into a golden shower of glitter as he fell onto the grassy meadow below them.  Coralie sucked in her breath, staring at his wavering reflection.  His terrified eyes were dark as her drawing rippled around her feet, lapping against her toes like she had thrown a pebble into a pond. The unicorn continued to run, his hooves thundering in the distance.  Chris stared at his empty hand, then glanced at the scene around him.  Several elves backed away, dropping their sandwiches and abandoning their picnic lunch.   A few dwarfs crept forward, curiosity in every wrinkle of their wrinkled faces.  Coralie watched as the flowers she had drawn turned their faces toward Chris, the grass she had drawn waving in the breeze around his knees.  The trees shaded by her fingers rustled, the butterflies she had sketched fluttered around him.

It was every artist’s dream come to life.

“Is he conscious?” Aurora cracked an eye open, her fingers digging deeper into Coralie’s shoulder.  “Is he ok?”

“He’s…gone.”  Coralie watched as one dwarf threw a ruby at Chris, ducking behind his friend as it bounced off Chris’s shoulder.

“He’s gone?”  Aurora raised her head.  She turned and glanced down at the patio, gasping.  “Coralie!  He’s….gone!”

“That’s precisely what I said.”  Coralie rolled her eyes.

“How do we get him out?”  Aurora’s hands fluttered, her lips pressing together.  “We have to get him out!”

Coralie raised an eyebrow.  “Five minutes ago, you didn’t even want him here.”

“Well, I don’t want him here.  But I don’t want him there either!”  Aurora moaned, shaking her head.  “This would have never happened if you hadn’t brought him here.”

“What?” Coralie’s mouth dropped open.  “But he defended my honor!  He kept me from getting detention!”  She scowled as Aurora frowned back.  “Besides, none of this would have happened if the drawings hadn’t come to life.”  She turned and grabbed the chalk the boy had sold her from the patio table, rearing her arm back.  “I should have gotten rid of this a long time ago!”

“Wait!” Aurora wretched the chalk from her hand, clutching it to her chest.  “Don’t do that!  We need this!”

“No, we don’t.”  Coralie grabbed for the chalk as Aurora twisted and turned from her grasping hands.  “We need to get rid of it.  All it’s done is cause me trouble.”

“No, we need it.”  Aurora shoved her friend to the side, the chalk firmly pressed to her collerbone.  “And we need to be careful, since we can’t get anymore.”  She peeked at it through her fingers, awe across her face.  “It’s enchanted.  It’s magical.”  She twisted around, beaming.  “Don’t you see, Coralie?  We finally have magic in our lives!  Real magic!”  With her free hand, she pointed down.  “I mean, look!  Your fairy tale came to life!”

Coralie glanced down.  The elves were now sharing their sandwiches with Chris as the dwarfs juggled rubies and diamonds, trying to win his attention back.  A baby unicorn accompanied by a golden-haired princess grazed nearby, while butterflies and hummingbirds danced around them.

“For all we know, this chalk could be the bad kind of enchanted.”  Coralie moved carefully around the drawing, wary of stepping on one of the creatures.  If Chris had fallen through, she didn’t want her foot to crush her flowers or one of the butterflies.  “What if this chalk is cursed?  What if it’s bad magic?”

“It’s not bad magic.”  Aurora shook her head.

“How do you know?”  Coralie challenged, lunging forward for the chalk.  Aurora twisted deftly out of her grasp, leaping over the wavering image below their feet.

“Because I can feel it.  I just know.”  Aurora stared down at Chris, gnawing on a turkey leg.  At least, she hoped it was a turkey leg.  “Hey, I know how to get him out!”

“How?”  Coralie’s brow furrowed as she glanced down.  “I don’t think I have a rope long enough.”

“Draw one.”  Aurora held up the chalk, beaming.  “You can draw his way out.”

Coralie stared at the chalk, then at her drawing.  “You know that’s  not a bad idea,” she said, grudgingly.   She took the box of chalk from Aurora, shoving it in her dress pocket.  Pulling out a golden piece, she began to sketch the rope at the corner of the drawing.  The stone, while firm, shimmered and rippled under her fingertips.

As she sketched, Coralie watched as the elves began to play on flutes, the dwarfs dancing about.  Suddenly, just as Chris had coaxed the baby unicorn to nuzzle a carrot from his fingers, a dark shadow enveloped them.  A large green and purple dragon with pink eyes glared down, orange flames billowing from his nose.  Frozen in horror, all she could do is watch as the dragon snatched up the princess and unicorn, the elves and drawfs fleeing into the forest.

“Coralie!” Aurora bounced up and down on the patio, her hands flapping.  “Do something!  Save her!  Save her!”

“I don’t know how!”  Her chalk paused, halfway sketched the golden rope spiraling below, Coralie watched in desperation as Chris thew a ruby at the dragon, shouting something.  The dragon whirled around, flames from his nose scorching the earth below.  In one quick move, the dragon snatched up Chris in his free hand, marching across the meadow.  The baby unicorn shivered in their wake, his mother bursting from the forest trees to comfort him.

“Coralie!” Aurora screamed, her feet pounding the patio as she slammed repeatedly into the patio.  “Do something!”

So Coralie did the only thing she could think of.

She jumped.

Stay tuned, Invisible Friends!  We have a week of whimsy coming up!

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