Disclaimer: I do not own the Unicorn Chronicles, the name Hunter, or anything else but my ideas and my computer.
The next morning, however, she was stopped from her daily explorations, by excruciating stomach pains. Unwilling to move from her bed other than to retch silently into a can near her head, while Rose's cool hands soothed her heated forehead. Jasper shook his head from the doorway, those chocolate eyes cold once again. "She probably picked something up in the forest." Rose frowned as he walked away, before glancing at Tessan, who mulishly refused to look at her.
She couldn't even keep down the soup Rose kept trying to feed her. Each spoonful of medicine only seemed to make her stomach rebel more, and by evening, Tessan felt more miserable than she had in years. She didn't get it – Tess knew for a fact she hadn't gotten into anything bad out in the forest. Not even poison ivy.
'Sick?' The word suddenly popped into her head, as clear as if someone had spoken it in the room. Blinking, the girl looked around blearily, confused. 'Well, gee, that's my guess, since I'm throwing up'…Her reply was in her mind, and only after she thought it did she realize that she was answering a voice inside her head. Maybe she was loony, not just sick.
'I hope you get well'. The voice was male, a nice baritone, and…Wait, it was her imagination, right? Tessan shook her head sharply, which only served to make her fall back onto her pillow dizzily. After a few moments, she figured that she might as well enjoy insanity.
'Who are you?' The girl asked what she assumed was her mind, curious as to whether she had control over this voice. Peter, she thought – surely this voice's name is Peter. It's in my head, so I can name it-
'I am…a friend. And my name is not Peter.' The voice almost sounded amused, which had Tessan been more lucid, might have frightened her. Instead, she argued. 'Hey, you're my imagination, so I can name you!' She could have sworn she heard a chuckle. 'I am in your imagination? Well, tell me, imaginator, what is your name?'
'…My name is Tessan. And are you saying you aren't my imagination? Prove it!' Forgetting about her nausea, Tess concentrated instead on this strange conversation with herself – or was it someone else? Again, she got the strange sensation of a laugh, before hearing a reply.
'Perhaps when you are better…And back within my forest, Tessan.' Instantly, Tessa's interested was piqued, and she actually sat up in the bed eagerly, firing questions as fast as she could think of them. 'Your forest? Who are you? How are you in my head? What's going on? Hello? Hey, come back!' The voice didn't answer, and an exhausted Tessan finally fell asleep.