Odds Are Good Read Online Free PDF

her honey-colored hair. Doves rustled and cooed at the edges of the clearing. They reminded him of the pigeons his father had raised.
    As he stood and watched her, every fiber of his being cried out that there was danger here. But it was not in the nature of a unicorn to resist such a girl.
    Lowering his head, he walked forward.
    â€œSo,” she said. “You’ve come at last.”
    He knelt beside her, and she began to stroke his mane. Her fingers felt cool against his neck, and she sang to him in a voice that seemed to wash away old sorrows. He relaxed into a sweet silence, content for the first time that he could remember.
    He wanted the moment to go on forever.
    But it ended almost instantly as the girl slipped a golden bridle over his head, and his uncle suddenly stepped into the clearing.
    The man was wearing a wizard’s garb, which didn’t surprise Jamie. Ten armed soldiers stood behind him.
    Jamie sprang to his feet. But he had been bound by the magic of the bridle; he could neither run, nor attack.
    Flanks heaving, he stared at his wizard uncle.
    â€œDid you really think you could get away from me?” asked the man.
    I have!
thought Jamie fiercely, knowing the thought would be understood.
    â€œDon’t be absurd!” snarled his uncle. “I’ll take your horn, as I did your father’s. And then I’ll take your shape, and finally your memory. You’ll come back with me and be no different than he was—a dreamy, foolish mortal, lost and out of place.”
    Why?
thought Jamie.
Why would anyone want to hold a unicom?
    His uncle didn’t answer.
    Jamie locked eyes with him, begging him to explain.
    No answer came. But he realized he had found a way to survive. Just as the golden bridle held him helpless, so his gaze could hold his uncle. As long as he could stare into the man’s eyes, he could keep him from moving.
    He knew, too, that as soon as he flinched, the battle would be over.
    Jamie had no idea how long the struggle actually lasted. They seemed to be in a place apart, far away from the clearing, away from the girl and the soldiers.
    He began to grow fearful. Sooner or later he would falter and his uncle would regain control. It wasn’t enough to hold him. He had to conquer him.
    But how?
How?
    He couldn’t win unless he knew why he was fighting. He had to discover why his uncle wanted to capture and hold him.
    But the only way to do that was to look deeper inside the man. The idea frightened him; he didn’t know what he would find there. Even worse, it would work two ways. He couldn’t look deeper into his uncle, without letting his uncle look more deeply into him.
    He hesitated. But there was no other way. Accepting the risk, he opened himself to his uncle.
    At the same time he plunged into the man’s soul.
    His uncle cried out, then dropped to his knees and buried his face in his hands, trembling with the humiliation of being seen.
    Jamie trembled too, for the emptiness he found inside this man could swallow suns and devour planets. This was the hunger that had driven him to capture unicorns, in the hope that their glory could fill his darkness.
    Then, at last, Jamie knew what he must do. Stepping forward, he pressed the tip of his horn against his uncle’s heart.
    He had been aware of his horn’s healing power, of course. But this was the first time he had tried to use it. He wasn’t expecting the shock of pain that jolted through him, or the wave of despair that followed as he took in the emptiness, and the fear and the hunger that had driven his uncle for so long.
    He wanted to pull away, to run in terror.
    But if he did, it would only start all over again. Only a healing would put an end to the pursuit. And this was the only way to heal this man, this wizard, who, he now understood, had never really been his uncle, but only his captor. He had to be seen, in all his sorrow and his ugliness; seen, and accepted, and loved.