"Wake up, Arthur! You're in danger!"
"Huh?" Sitting up, Arthur fumbled for his glasses and found them on the nightstand. "Professor? Is that you?"
As he walked barefooted from his room, he was confronted by his drowsy-looking parents. "Did you hear it too, Arthur?" asked Mrs. Read as she stifled a yawn.
"It's like someone's trying to warn us," said Mr. Read.
"D.W.!" Mrs. Read exclaimed. She quickly threw open the door to D.W.'s room, finding to her relief that the girl was in bed, asleep. Kate, in the nearby crib, was also snoring peacefully.
Mr. Read breathed a sigh of relief. "I'll go make sure Pal's all right," he offered.
"Dave, wait!" said Mrs. Read. Her husband stopped and turned at the head of the stairway. "That voice...it was the same voice that warned me to get out of the Sneers store. I'm sure of it."
Before Mr. Read had a chance to ponder his wife's statement, the front door burst open. The robed and hooded strangers walked (if it could be called walking when there was no apparent movement of feet or legs) into the house as the determined Pal nipped uselessly at the skirts of their robes, barking wildly but making no noise.
The alarmed Reads gasped when they saw the intruders.
"Jane, get the girls," Mr. Read barked. "Arthur, you're with me."
One of the robed figures raised its arm at them. "Surrender the girl," it commanded, with a voice like a woman's.
"Do not resist us," said the other figure, who sounded like a man.
As Mrs. Read hastily gathered D.W. and Kate into her arms and Mr. Read led Arthur into his room, the three heard once again the soothing voice that had roused them from slumber. "Hold them off as long as you can," it said. "We're on our way."
Rushing to the stairway with her daughters flung over her shoulders, Mrs. Read found her escape cut off by the robed strangers, who appeared to be floating up the stairs. She cried out in horror.
"You must cooperate," said the female intruder. "It is for the girl's best interests."
While Arthur called the police on the bedroom phone, Mr. Read charged out of the room carrying the revolver that he normally kept in a lockbox on a high closet shelf. When he reached the stairway, he stood next to his wife and pointed the weapon at the strangers. "Don't move!" he roared.
The male intruder waved his hand at Mr. Read. "You cannot harm us," he said in a voice that seemed free of malice or any other emotion.
"Not another step!" Mr. Read shot back.
Awakened by the shouting, D.W. rubbed her eyes and looked at the approaching strangers with terror. "It's Santa's elves!" she cried. "They've come to get me!"
Mrs. Read tightened her grip on the two girls and raced into her bedroom, where she found Arthur still talking on the phone with the police. "Fire drill!" she yelled in a panicked voice.
Arthur quickly put down the phone, scurried to the window, and threw it open. To his chagrin, two more robed figures were standing at the bottom of the escape ladder. "They've cut us off!" he shouted to his mother.
In the meantime, the strangers inside of the house were almost on top of Mr. Read when he pulled the trigger on his revolver...and nothing happened.
Incensed, he pulled the trigger again, with the same ineffectual result. "I loaded it!" he cried out in anger.
Before he could make a third attempt, one of the intruders picked him up by the collar of his nightshirt and tossed him aside. Dazed, he sat up and watched as the mysterious visitors made their way toward the bedroom where his wife and children were trapped.
Leaving the revolver on the floor, Mr. Read threw himself at the back of one of the intruders, knocking it down. The other intruder took him by the shoulder and hurled him backwards effortlessly.
As he pulled himself to his feet, he saw the two figures suddenly leap over the guardrail to the floor below. Landing unharmed, they strode hurriedly through the still-open front door and vanished into the night.
His path now unimpeded, Mr. Read bolted into his room, fearing that the ones he loved might have been harmed. What he saw shocked him to the core.
Arthur and his mother showed no signs of injury, other than the disconsolate looks on their faces. Kate was safely nestled in Mrs. Read's arms.
But D.W. was nowhere to be seen.
"Where's D.W.?" yelled Mr. Read, livid with fury.
"They took her away," said Mrs. Read weakly. "They climbed up the escape ladder."
"More like floated up," said Arthur.
"Stay here," Mr. Read ordered.
A moment later he raced out of the house and to the sidewalk, still clad in his nightshirt. A block and a half away he could see several robed figures, moving along the street at a superhuman pace. D.W., her golden horn visible, was lying over the shoulder of one of the figures, waving her arms and screaming but making no sound.
The deep cold of the sidewalk was already starting to numb the skin of his feet, but Mr. Read made pursuit nonetheless.
One block...two blocks...three blocks...
Although he ran with all his might, the robed kidnappers faded further and further from his view. "Nobody can run that fast," he said bitterly to himself. "It's like chasing a car."
Four blocks...five blocks...
...and then the robed figures suddenly stopped.
Exhausted and angry, Mr. Read was surprised to find that he was gaining ground on the fugitives. But nothing had prepared him for what he saw when he finally caught up with them...
As far as he could make out in the dim light of the street lamps, the four robed intruders were locked in battle with four dogs of varying breeds and sizes. The dogs were not fighting with teeth and claws; rather, each one seemed to have a special talent or attribute useful for combat. One of the dogs, a fierce-looking male pit bull, lashed out repeatedly at his robed foe with foot-long razor blades that protruded from his paws. Another, a female greyhound, had levitated her enemy using beams of mental energy from her eyes. Not far away, a female German shepherd was employing blasts of wind and lightning bolts as defensive weapons. Most astonishing of all was a blue-furred male Doberman who confused his foe by constantly disappearing and reappearing at various locations, while occasionally landing a well-aimed punch. His enemy's hood had been knocked backwards, exposing the face and horn of an adult male unicorn.
"So they're unicorns," Mr. Read mused. He sought in vain for D.W. in the melee...when the girl suddenly flew through the air toward him, catching him by surprise and knocking him off balance.
Mr. Read sat up and wrapped his arms around his daughter, too pleased over her safety to care that his nightshirt was now soaked in bitter cold water.
"Get out of here," spoke a voice in his head. "Don't go home. They'll look for you there."
Glancing around, Mr. Read saw a wheelchair-bound Shih Tzu who was gazing at him in an almost intelligent manner. He recognized him as the dog who had briefly stayed with his family in the days leading up to Christmas.
"What are you waiting for, you stupid human?" came the voice again.
Without a moment's pause, Mr. Read jumped to his bare feet and hurried down the sidewalk, clutching D.W. tightly. As he ran, two thoughts became predominant in his mind. One was the question of where to go if he couldn't safely return to his house, and the other was regret that he had no opportunity to thank the canine warriors who had rescued his daughter.
"Don't thank me," said the strange voice. "It was Pal who telepathically alerted us when the Sentinels arrived. You're lucky to belong to such a fine dog. As for where to stay, I have an old enemy at the Frensky apartment who'll be more than happy to take you in."
----
The news that someone had tried to kidnap D.W. horrified the neighborhood. The next day, Mr. and Mrs. Read were visited by countless reporters and newscasters.
"And what happened when you caught up with the kidnappers?" asked Wolf Blitzen, who was holding a microphone to Mr. Read's face.
"I fought them off singlehandedly, of course," Mr. Read boasted. "I'm a former Green Beret, you know."
"Do you expect the viewing public to believe that?" asked Wolf.
"They certainly won't believe it if I tell them the truth."
"Did you get a look at any of their faces?" the reporter persisted.
"Yes, but not a good look," Mr. Read answered. "It was too dark to make out any details."
"Where is your daughter now?" Wolf inquired.
"In an undisclosed location, where she'll be safe."
All over the city, people tuned in with interest to the astonishing story of the little aardvark girl who had changed into a pony, then become the victim of a kidnap attempt.
"I know what it's all about," said George, who was watching the news broadcast with his parents. "D.W. is really an alien princess who ran away from her planet. Now the aliens have come to take her back so she can claim her kingdom."
Meanwhile, the hippo family of Ralph and Joy Baker, with their two boys Ralph Jr. and Leo, discussed the report.
"I've never heard of anything like it," said Mrs. Baker. "What could make someone change like that?"
"I haven't the foggiest idea," Mr. Baker replied. At the same time he thought, So it's possible for a normal person to become a unicorn. I must find that girl.
Shortly after the newscast, Muffy, Alan, and Beat gathered at Arthur's house to ask questions and satiate their curiosity in regards to his family's harrowing experience.
"I won't ask you where D.W. is," said Alan, "but I'd like to know why you're hiding her. Do you think they'll come back?"
"We think they're after D.W. for a reason," Arthur replied. "They didn't hurt anyone or take anything else."
"In England people aren't allowed to own handguns," Beat remarked, "so I have no experience with this sort of thing, but it seems funny to me that your father bought a gun to protect his family, but didn't load it."
Arthur shrugged. "I guess he just forgot."
"If I can help in any way, let me know," said Muffy. "The vast resources of the Crosswire used car empire are at your disposal."
Before Arthur could thank Muffy for her generosity, the phone rang. He answered it, and heard Francine's voice on the other end.
"Greta's at my apartment," she told him, "and she wants to talk to you."
----
"Why didn't you come to my house, like you always do?" Arthur asked Greta. He was sitting in the Frensky living room, with Francine and Greta at his sides. Greta had made her horn invisible, in case Francine's parents should suddenly arrive.
"After the newscast, everybody knows about D.W.'s change," Greta explained. "Mr. Baker and everyone else who believes in unicorns will want to find her now. It's not safe for either of us to go back to your house, Arthur."
"But D.W. can't hide forever," said Francine.
"She has no choice." Greta's tone became more somber than Arthur or Francine had ever heard it. "If she doesn't want to live with the unicorns, and doesn't want to be chased by unicorn hunters for the next two thousand years, then she'll have to remain in hiding."
"But you live with the unicorns," Arthur observed, "and you have human friends as well. Why can't D.W.?"
"That's different," Greta answered. "I don't have a human family. If D.W. joins the unicorns, then she'll be forbidden to see her family or friends again, although she may, over time, obtain permission to visit other humans."
"What do you mean, over time?" asked Francine.
"It's a special privilege for a unicorn to consort with humans," Greta went on. "I'm only allowed to do so because my parents are members of the Unicorn Council."
"The Unicorn Council?" asked Arthur curiously. "What's that?"
"The government body that rules over all unicorns," Greta replied.
"Did they send the Sentinels to kidnap D.W.?" asked Francine.
"Yes," said Greta. "You see, I've been in constant contact with my parents ever since I traveled into the human world to meet Fern. When I told them about Mr. Baker, that was troubling enough, but when they heard that Fern was suspicious as well, they convened the council and decreed that D.W. would have to be taken away immediately."
"But they can't!" said Arthur indignantly. "I won't let them!"
"The only thing you can do to stop them is to keep hiding D.W.," said Greta. "The Sentinels won't stop until they've found her. Even the X-Pets can't hold them off forever."
Francine's voice took on a pleading tone. "You said your parents are in the Council. Can't you talk to them and try to get them to change their minds?"
"The Council's decision is final," Greta informed her. "Even if I disagreed with it, I couldn't change it."
Arthur and Francine gaped at her with astonishment.
"You...you mean you support their decision?" said Francine unbelievingly.
Greta spoke unapologetically. "D.W. should be raised by unicorn parents. It's the only way her needs can be met. It's the only way to keep her safe."
Arthur pounded his knee with his fist. "I can't accept this! There's got to be a way to make D.W. normal again!"
"I already told you, there isn't," Greta insisted. "It's beyond the power of unicorn magic, and we don't know any other kind of magic."
"Wait a minute." Francine glared suspiciously at Greta. "How do we know you're telling the truth? You lied to Fern so she wouldn't find out that you're a unicorn. Maybe you're lying to us. Maybe there's a way to change D.W. back, but you're not telling us."
Greta suddenly looked wounded and angry. "I'm not lying to you!" she exclaimed. "I care about D.W. as well. If I could give my life to change her back, I would."
Francine smiled triumphantly. "Oh, is that all you have to do? Then what are we waiting for?"
Furious, Greta rose to her feet, swiveled, and glowered at Arthur and Francine. To their surprise, rather than launch into an angry tirade, the unicorn girl simply remained silent for a few seconds, then turned and marched out of the apartment.
Arthur turned to Francine. "I think you might have hurt her feelings."
"She's two hundred years old," said Francine callously. "She'll get over it."
Arthur sighed hopelessly. "Well, there goes Greta. How will we ever change D.W. back now?"
Francine shrugged. She and Arthur sat in thoughtful silence for what seemed like hours, and then she suddenly grinned.
"Arthur, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
(To be continued...)
