The demon shrugged.

“Whatever, either way it still solves the problem. She can’t snitch if she’s dead. So in the end there’s no harm done.”

“SHE’D BE DEAD, SO YES! YES, THERE’D BE HARM DONE!” Wheeler cried in protest.

“But not for us,” Mulock pointed out. “And that’s the important thing.”

Priscilla clamored for her wand, shooting a series of rocks from the ground towards the beast which only seemed to further enrage it.

“Number one rule of unicorns, do not go in their caves unless invited or they get extremely territorial. That’s a life lesson for you, kid.” Mulock paused. “Kid? You listening?” That's when the demon saw Wheeler sprinting towards the unicorn.

“What are you doing?” he snapped. “Get away from that thing!”

“I have to help her!” Wheeler called, continuing to charge forward.

The girl clutched her wand tightly as she desperately attempted to cast another spell. In her panic however, she kept stumbling over her words, the spell fizzing out time and time again. The unicorn reared up, its sparking hooves preparing to come down hard over Priscilla when Wheeler suddenly jumped in front of her, knocking her out of the way.

The unicorn’s attention instantly snapped to Wheeler, slamming the boy to the ground with its massive head. Wheeler let out a small hiss of pain, the sight causing a flare of panic to rise up in Mulock’s chest. Luckily, it seemed the creature's action had been gentle enough to not cause any serious harm. His relief was short lived when the unicorn lunged forward again, its giant mouth opening wide to display a frightening array of long, jagged teeth.

“Oh my God!” Priscilla screeched, “it's going to eat him!”

“Shit,” Mulock muttered under his breath. That stupid kid. The demon quickly sprung up, fully prepared to lunge forward.

And then, all of a sudden, the sound of Wheeler’s laughter rang through the air.

Mulock froze in shock.

“Oh!” Wheeler exclaimed, “you just wanted this!” The boy dug into his bag, removing a large cream puff which the unicorn quickly snarfed up from his hand. “You still hungry?” Wheeler asked with a grin.

The unicorn answered with an extremely loud neigh, its mouth opening wide once more. Wheeler continued to dig into his bag, feeding the unicorn dessert after dessert for at least several minutes. As this went on the creature slowly began to calm, its mane, once ablaze, dying down into a gentle crackle of soft blue flames.

At last, Wheeler held out his bag, giving it a little shake. “Seems that’s all the desserts I have. I hope you liked them!”

The unicorn leaned forward, giving Wheeler’s face a little nuzzle as Priscilla and Mulock watched on in stunned silence.

Wheeler reached up now, beginning to pet the massive creature.

“He...he befriended a unicorn,” Mulock breathed. “That should be virtually impossible. How the hell did he…”

“Hey, Miss Unicorn,” Wheeler said, “do you mind if my friend and I go into your cave for a minute?” The unicorn cast Priscilla a seething glance, the flames in its eyes beginning to spark once more. “She didn’t mean to go into your home uninvited,” Wheeler quickly added, continuing to pet the unicorn gently. He thought for a moment. “And, if you let us inside, I’ll come back and bring you even more sweets! I promise!”

That got the unicorn’s attention.

It looked Wheeler over before its gaze flickered to Priscilla, taking her in. After a moment, the unicorn reluctantly bowed its head.

“Thank you so much!” Wheeler beamed, swinging his arms around the unicorn's neck as he pulled it into a hug. “You’re the best!” The unicorn responded by giving his face a little nuzzle followed by a few licks to his hair, like a mother with her colt.

Mulock’s eyes narrowed. Did this unicorn just...adopt Wheeler?

After blessing Wheeler’s face with even more slobbery licks, the unicorn finally released him.

“You ready to see what's in the cave?“ Wheeler asked cheerfully, smoothing down his newly dampened mat of hair.

Priscilla swallowed hard, averting her gaze from the unicorn who was still watching her with a slightly hostile expression.

“Okay,” she said nervously.

Mulock trailed a ways behind them, fully satisfied to simply sit and watch from outside. No way was he going to risk pissing off this unicorn again.

Mulock plopped himself down at the cave’s entrance, keeping a watchful eye on Wheeler and Priscilla as they cautiously entered. Their eyes grew wide as they stepped inside. The interior was covered in amethyst and gold with a sparkling waterfall babbling near the back, its stream of glistening water the colors of a sunset. It cascaded down into a small pool where the shimmer of golden fish could be seen darting through the water. The unicorn approached the pool now, lowering its head as it began to lap up the water. Probably washing down that meal of pure diabetes, Mulock thought.

Treasures lined the walls of the cave. Gold, chests of jewels, tapestries, scrolls. Near the back was a worn wooden box, an iron clasp holding it tightly shut.

“That must be it!” Priscilla exclaimed. The two quickly ran to the box, practically bouncing with excitement as they yanked it open. When they actually peered inside however, Priscilla's smile instantly fell.

“Oh you have got to be kidding me!” she snapped.

“What is it?” Mulock called from outside.

Fuming, Priscilla snatched the box from Wheeler, holding up the item for Mulock to see.

In between her fingers was a single blue flower. “What the hell is this?!” Priscilla muttered angrily. “I could’ve just plucked this stupid thing from anywhere! We went through that whole ordeal just for one lame, stupid flower! Uggggh!” She let out a loud huff, stopping her foot.

Mulock shrugged. “Maybe the real gift was the life lessons you learned along the way.”

“Oh shut up,” Priscilla retorted with a glare. “You were trying to KILL me.”

“Exactly. As I said, life lessons. Don’t trust mysterious talking cats that tell you to go unaccompanied into random caves.”

“He’s kinda right,” Wheeler chimed in. “It actually is rather good advice--”

“Would you shut up!” Priscilla interrupted sharply, shooting an icy glare at both boy and cat.

Mister Pumpernickel let out a nervous croak.

“That includes you too!” Priscilla snapped, pointing a finger at the toad who shamefully sunk back down into Wheeler’s pocket.