A story dedicated to my friends and their horses.

 

BAREBACK FRIENDS

 

 

PROLOGUE

 

“Misty! Misty, come here!” Molly called to her horse. Misty came over and playfully nipped at her shoulder.

“Oh Misty!” Molly said exasperatedly to her large, well formed, grey, seventeen hand Quarter Horse as she stroked her long mane.

“Hey Molly,” Alex called from her (very dangerous) doorless jeep as it pulled the six-horse trailer up to the gate. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing much. How’s Defiance?” she asked, as she walked toward the shorter girl at the gate.

“Great.” Alex replied. Defiance was her gargantuan, red roan, twenty-two point one hand, Clydesdale-Shire cross. He was unbelievably tall, even for both of those breeds. (You could say that what Alex lacked in height, her horse more than made up for.) He nickered to Misty, as he was already loaded into the trailer.

He, Misty, Alex, Molly, her mom, and her mother’s sixteen point three hand, twenty-five year old dapple grey Thoroughbred gelding Miller, would be living in it for the next several weeks during their trip to go riding in the Colorado Rockies for Alex‘s twenty-second birthday. They were going to be staying in it because Molly’s mother thought it was bad enough that they were staying in her good friend’s; the McCurlys; backyard for four and a half weeks, she didn’t want to intrude into their private lives by asking for room and board. However, they were the only people they knew who lived within fifty miles of the Rockies, so when the McCurlys found out they were going to be riding on some of the trails that led right to their far field, they had offered them the entire fenced area for the duration of their stay.

Molly didn’t care what her mom thought; she was excited that her two best friends from different sides of the continent were finally getting to meet. Alex didn’t care because she just didn’t care (when Alex told Molly this, she couldn’t help but think back to their eighth grade Civics class when they had learned about apathy from their study of the reasons why most people don‘t vote. Alex was, and always would be, an apathist.). The McCurly’s daughter Ashley didn’t care because she was going to see one of her best friends after over nine years of being apart. Basically, nobody but Molly’s mother cared.

Misty nickered back and Miller whinnied from his field, ready to be loaded too. Suddenly they heard shouting from the neighboring field.

“Come on Shadow! Come on girl! I know you can do it!”

“Who the heck was that?!?” Alex asked to no one in particular. They both walked over to the trailer where Molly’s mother was waiting, watching the girl in the back field work on her horse.

“Hey Mom! Look who just pulled in!” Molly called to her mother. She looked up at her daughter and away from the mystery rider.

“Hi Molly. I see you found Alex.” she replied. Molly nodded in response. Her mom had driven in on her own, just after Molly had completed teaching her last beginner class for the next month and a half.

“How are you both doing?”

“Fine.” they answered in unison.

“Do you know that rider, Molly?” she said, referring to the girl on the horse the girl had called Shadow. “I mean, since you work here, I thought you might.”

“I think I recognize the mare as one of the stall boarders.” Molly answered after a bit of thought. “Show name of Shadow Mist. A fifteen hand Arab-Paint cross. She was recovering from some surgeries on her leg after a really bad fall at her regular stable. They moved her here to be closer to her owner’s preferred vet. I have absolutely no clue about her rider though.” She turned to Alex and asked, “Do you have any idea?” Alex shook her head and answered,

“No clue whatsoever.” As Molly mounted up onto Misty, her mom and Alex moved to watch the unknown girl on the apparently still recovering mare. As she moved up to join them, I’m positive none of the could have known. That girl was me. How do I know all of this?

 

Let me start at the beginning…

 

 

CHAPTER ONE

Emma; Oceana Stables

 

“You’re doing great Shadow!” I said encouragingly to my sixteen hand, black-grey-brown and red mare. I was trying to strengthen her legs, which were very weak after the four previous surgeries to repair her injuries. I was also trying to get back in sync with my beautiful girl because we hadn’t been performing as well as we used to since the accident.

‘The accident,’ I remembered. ‘That nearly cost Shadow her life.’ As I urge her into a canter, I close my eyes and try not to think about it.

 

It doesn’t work.

 

 

 

CHAPTER TWO

Molly; Oceana Stables

 

As I look out, the small horse and rider had just started to canter. I ask Alex; who is standing to my right,

“She looks vaguely familiar, but I just can’t place it. I know I’ve never seen her at the stables before. Does she look at all familiar in any way to you, Alex?” She just shakes her head in response, her eyes glued onto the girl. Then, something inside the back of my mind stirs after sleeping for nine years. It came forward slowly, and I was able to remember it perfectly…

*

“Molly?” a quiet voice says to me. It came from out in the empty field behind the stables, where you could practice without the limitations of a small fenced ring.

“What Emma?” I ask to the shorter eighth grade friend of mine, who was riding double behind me.

“Remember, years from now, if you ever see a girl with waist length hair in nothing but jeans and a T-shirt without a helmet on cantering out here in the field, know that it’s me.” I turn and smile at one of my best friends, saying,

“I’ll remember Emma. I promise.” A much younger, and friskier, Misty Gray canters off, the two girls on her back laughing and enjoying every second.

*

I remembered. As I turned my now older mount around, I catch Alex looking at me oddly. Then I pass her, but I can still feel her sith-like eyes drilling holes in the back of my head as I trot off. Just after I pass the trailer with Defiance still inside, I turn Misty back. Our big road trip to visit my other best friend and ride the Rocky Mountain trails would just have to wait.

I kick Misty into a canter and aim straight for the fence. Just before I reach Alex I call to her,

“I know who it is! It’s-” but the rest of my words are cut off because the jump is suddenly in front of us. I see Emma stop her horse at the opposite edge of the field. I cling to Misty’s mane and squeeze my legs on her sides as we threaten to crash into the four foot fence. As we take off, I hear Emma shout out my name and I think,

‘Weird. How could she remember me when I barely remember her?’ Then, with my long brown hair whipping out behind me, my mind goes blank with the love of jumping both Misty and I share. Actually, it’s more like flying. As time seems to stretch, we soar through the air, unburdened by our earlier thoughts and fears.

 

Then we touch down, and all worries come rushing back.

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER THREE

Alex; Oceana Stables

 

I watch the girl with long, honey blonde hair in nothing but jeans and a T-shirt. Molly and Misty are to my left, and her mother to my right as the odd, short girl pushes the horse called Shadow into a canter. Her face looks pained, like she is trying hard not to cry. Molly turns in her seat and asks me,

“She looks vaguely familiar, but I just can’t place it. I know I’ve never seen her at the stables before. Does she look at all familiar in any way to you Alex?” I shake my long redish braid over my shoulder, freeing my mind to think and at the same time answering no. I try to place her, but I just can’t. Then the pair rushes by and I get a good look at her face with her eyes shut tight.

Something almost clicks, and I can almost name her. But the answer eludes me. I look up at Molly and just catch a glint of recognition in her stormy-grey eyes before she turns and trots off, mid-back length thick dark brown hair bouncing just off beat of the trot with her five foot seven frame. She turns around just past the trailer with my giant of a horse inside, and I turn back to the very familiar girl.

“I know who it is! It’s-” Molly shouts to me, but the rest of her words are cut off as the horse and rider in the field stop and look just past me. I turn back toward Molly just in time.

 

I watch my best friend kick her bareback horse over the four foot fence. Right, in front, of my nose.

 

 

CHAPTER FOUR

Emma; Oceana Stables and Queensland Australia

 

I try as hard as I can not to remember that day, but it comes forward anyway.

*

“Shadow! Come on!” I pleaded with my horse. “It’s just an eighteen-inch jump! We’ve done these a million times before!” I was trying to get her to go over the jumps but after an hour she still hadn’t budged. Then I noticed a little gleam in her eye.

‘Uh oh.’ I thought to myself. ‘There’s that look again.’ Aloud I told my excited and energetic mount,

“You’re just playing with me, aren’t you girl? Fine, lets go on a trail.” We were walking along our favorite one when it happened. She reared, frightened by a little snake crossing our path. Because she reared she backed up and fell, her hind leg stepping into a hole we had just avoided. I was thrown from her back, just before she toppled over. Then I heard it. That hope-shattering, gut wrenching, heart breaking snap. I sat on the ground in total shock, watching my horse fall, her white left back leg, now covered in a river of flowing blood, crumpling under her.

“Shadow! No!” I screamed, “Oh please! Dear God no!” I ran up to hold her down. I knew that if she got up all hopes were shot. As I reached for the cell phone in my pocket to call my favorite vet in my home country of Queensland, Australia; Dr. Jones; I made a mental list of her injuries. Leg broken, and at least two pulled muscles. This was going to be a heck of a long, painful ride.

*

I stop Shadow and see three people at the fence whom I instantly recognize. The tall girl that’s mounted on the white horse to my right has turned and trotted off. She’s back a few seconds later, aiming straight at the fence. She’s going to jump it. I try and call out her name,

“Molly!” But it’s too late.

 

She’s in the air.

 

 

CHAPTER FIVE

Alex; Oceana Stables and Corporate Landing Middle School

 

I watch in shock (and burning envy) as Molly clears the four foot fence surrounding the back field that strange girl is in with what seemed like a foot to spare. But also I wonder about just how it was that that she could remember Molly; because just as they take off, I hear her name shouted from across the field,

“Molly!” Then, that something in my mind that just wouldn’t click, finally does. I’m hit hard, fast, and furiously with a thought that hasn’t stirred since the long ago eighth grade.

*

I looked up as the chair across from my new friend Molly was pulled out and someone sat in it. It was Emily, who had been my friend since the sixth grade. I introduced them,

“Molly, this is Emily Penn, Emily, this is Molly Speck.” We chatted for awhile; mostly about nothing; what classes we had, which teachers we liked, and so on. Then Molly; who as we talked, I was finding creepily more and more like me: asked,

“Emily? Do you mind if I call you Emma? I just know so many Emilys already…” trailing off.

“Sure!” Emily, now Emma, replied, thinking about it for a little bit.

*

I’m pulled back to the present with the thud of Misty’s hooves hitting the ground. The girl that I now know as Emma cries out again,

“Molly!”

 

I turn around and head for the six-horse trailer holding Defiance. I plan to join them in the field soon, but he and I will go over the three foot gate. He can’t jump as high as Misty, but he can sure jump farther.

 

 

CHAPTER SIX

Christi; Oceana Stables

 

I lean against the rough wood of the fence and watch the girl ride. Eventually I hear my daughter ask Alex if she’s sure she doesn’t know the girl. I hear a rustling and something beating on the ground. My little wavy-haired Molly calls out,

“I know who it is! It’s-”

Then I nearly fall over in shock. My daughter has just jumped a four foot fence. Bareback. As she landed that unknown rider called out her name.

‘How the heck does she know my little girl?’ I thought to myself. Then, Molly turns to look at Alex’s jeep and the trailer Molly’s boss Natalie had lent her for this trip, and breaks into gales of laughter. I thought she was aiming her humor at the expression of fear on my face.

Then I heard hoof beats behind me.

Like I said, I thought.

My back stiffens as I turn slowly around. My eyes fly open wider and I jump out of Defiance’s way just in time. Alex; up high on her horse’s giant back; has a little smirk in the corner of her mouth, but I know it’s not because she wanted to run me down. I follow her gaze-

“God, no…” She’s aiming right at the gap in the fence where the gate is. She’s going to jump bareback into the field too.

 

Her mother, is going, to murder me.

 

 

CHAPTER SEVEN

Molly; Oceana Stables

 

As soon as I hear the tell-tale ‘ba-BUMP’ announcing our landing, I pull Misty down to a trot, because I know that if I don’t, she’ll just turn around and go right back over. Then Emma calls out my name again,

“Molly!” I turn around before I answer and see Alex on Defiance, cantering toward the gate. I give a little grin and laugh while shaking my head, knowing she couldn’t stand to be out done. I also knew how far that giant freak could jump, so I holler back,

“Emma, don’t go within twenty feet of that gate until Alex and Defiance clear it! That handsome; and freakishly large; hunk of horseflesh might not jump too high, but he can go really far!” She stops in her tracks, awed that I wasn’t mistaking her for someone else. She knew, that I knew, that she knew, who I was, but I could tell by the shock on her face that she thought I was just showing off how good a rider I was to impress some random stranger. Did she really think I had changed that much?

I hear a loud ’THUD’ and I look toward the gate where Alex has just recently landed. She turns to me and nods, her face going crimson. I laugh; she was the one showing off, and she knew I knew. We walk over to each other and our eyes meet. Mine seem to say to hers, ‘Ready?’ Hers reply with a roll, saying loud and clear, ‘When have I not been ready?’ I laugh again, and this time she joins me, both of us recalling a million different hurried homework copyings. We turn our horses as one to the spot we both had last caught a glimpse of Emma.

 

She isn’t anywhere to be seen.

 

 

CHAPTER EIGHT

Alex; Oceana Stables

 

As I race into the trailer that is hitched to my still idling jeep, my wonderful Defiance whickers to me, seeming to ask, ‘What’s going on out there? Why haven’t we started yet?’ I answer him,

“I know boy, I want to get started too, but come on! We need to prove we can jump just as well as everyone else can!” His eyes light up at the word ‘jump’ and then he stomps his foot, telling me to ‘Hurry up and get this darn rope untied!’ I back him out and mount up from the back wheel of the trailer, which was stuffed with all our riding and camping junk. He immediately springs into his soft, graceful canter that seems to flow like a river. Just as we take off at the gate I hear Molly laugh. I grin and continue on over. She knows I can’t stand to be bested at anything.

At the height of our huge leap I hear her warn Emma about Defiance’s jump range. As I land I go beet red in the face and look at Molly sheepishly before I nod to her. She just laughs to herself and shakes her head, dark-brown hair with blonde highlights slapping her face. We walk to each other and our eyes meet; my reddish-amber ones and her (now that she’s got a few less worried thoughts on her mind) blue-gray ones. We seem to ask each other if we were ready, and I roll mine, answering with a question; just to annoy her,

‘When have I not been?’ We burst out laughing, and I wonder if she remembers the same mornings I do, all of them spent copying the other person’s homework, mostly me off hers. As we calm down we turn our horses to where we last had seen our newfound friend Emma. I look at Molly in shock, and see all the excitement missing from her eyes.

 

Emma is gone.

 

 

CHAPTER NINE

Emma; Oceana Stables

 

“Molly!” I cry out again as she lands. Seemingly ignoring me, she turns back to the fence and laughs. I follow her gaze and look right at a humongous horse, with a small rider on it’s back. It’s Alex, headed straight at the gate in a flowing canter. Then Molly looks back at me and hollers,

“Emma, don’t go within twenty feet of that gate until Alex and Defiance clear it! That handsome; and freakishly large; hunk of horseflesh might not jump too high, but he can go really far!” I stop dead in my tracks. How did she know it was me? She had to know I knew her; as I had called out her name; but I didn’t know she had recognized me.

As Alex lands I see her turn bright red and look at Molly with a curt little nod. Molly shakes her head laughing, and I almost laugh too, remembering what a show-off Alex could be sometimes. Then they walk toward each other, I see an easily recognizable movement, and they start laughing again. Suddenly I feel very out of place. I had already seen the trailer, and I was almost positive that’s how Alex had gotten to her horse so quick, he had to have already been loaded in.

They were going on a trip, I instantly knew, probably to God knows where. I whip Shadow’s head around, and she gives a surprised snort. As they begin to laugh again, we head for the break I found in the fence earlier and we go out the same way we had gotten in that morning.

 

I won’t be hurt by them again.

 

 

CHAPTER TEN

Molly; Oceana Stables and Alex’s House

 

I look back at Alex, waist-length hair swishing as I turn, stunned. We had finally found Emma, of that I was sure, but she had run off. Again. I look up as I hear my mother calling to me.

“Girls, GIRLS! She went through that hole in the fence, out into the woods!” I curse, then turn back and see Alex already headed in that direction.

“Hold up!” I cry out and canter Misty to catch up to Defiance’s long striding (and very bouncy) trot. I tell her, “I have got to fix that broken section.” We pull our horses simultaneously to a walk as we near the broken fencing. I can hear Emma crying a bit further, on the trail in the woods. That jogs another memory loose, this one from the summer before ninth grade. I realize it was almost exactly eight years ago…

*

On a hot summer’s day in mid-June, I was cooling Misty out when my cell phone started to vibrate extra hard, having had its sound turned off so it doesn‘t spook the horses. It startles me and I nearly drop it in my haste to open and answer it.

*

I look at Alex and I know she remembers that call too, one of the few times I can ever remember having heard her cry. I close my eyes again.

*

“Hello?” I answer, knowing from the icon on the screen it’s Alex. “Aly, what’s up?” I hear quiet sobbing on the other end of the line. “Alex?”

“Oh Molly, Emma moved to Australia.” I sit in stunned silence on my horse’s back. “It says in this e-mail I just got that her step-dad got transferred and they probably won’t ever be coming back.” I think of what Emma told me just a few months ago on Misty’s wide grey back. Alex continued, “But I do have good news,”

“What? You‘re saving hundreds on car insurance?” I finally manage to ask. I hear her laugh through the sobs.

“No, my mom is letting me bring Defiance down!”

“WHAT!?!” I screech, nearly causing Misty to bolt. “Has she gone round the bend?!? Are you living with a maniac?!?” She laughs and says,

“I don’t know and I don’t care!!! This is too cool! He’ll be in a private stall board field by this time next week. Then, now that you’re buying Misty, we can ride together whenever we want!” I laugh and agree. Then we hang up.

*

Alex and I look at each other at the same time. We both know what’s wrong. I turn around and head to Shadow’s stall where I know Emma will eventually turn up. Alex turns Defiance and follows, looking back over her shoulder at our old friend who now sits sobbing on her beautiful mare’s back.

 

As we softly talk about the plan that is slowly forming between us, my mind is seared with that sad image of Emma and her mount, the horse comforting her instead of what should have been us.

 

 

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Christi; Oceana Stables

 

When Alex is at the peak of her jump, I hear my baby girl shout to Shadow’s rider,

“Emma, don’t go within twenty feet of that gate until Alex and Defiance clear it! That handsome; and freakishly large; hunk of horseflesh might not jump too high, but he can go really far!” Tearing my gaze away from the huge Clydesdale cross, I look out at the person who my Molly had just called Emma. It’s now that I recognize her, the small girl who would become one my baby’s best friends at her new school, along with Alex. Why hadn’t I realized who it was before? Then I see her turn away, but Alex and Molly don’t notice her yet. Once they finally stop giggling, Emma is long gone. I cry out,

“Girls, GIRLS! She went through that hole in the fence, out into the woods!” My daughter turns to me cursing while Alex rides off toward the gap. Molly tells her to hold up so that she can catch up. I turn back to Alex’s doorless jeep and then to my old gelding Miller’s field. I get his halter on and load him up, wondering about the girls. Eventually I hear them land again. Molly is saying something, but I can’t hear it. The reason I couldn’t hear it was because I had just screeched at them,

“What the heck is going on?!?” Molly tells Alex,

“It was your idea, not mine. I am not going to tell her.” Then she turns and races up the road toward the stables. I stand there, arms crossed, and glare at Alex until she finally cracks and tells me what they’re up to.

 

My entire skin went clammy. This was not going to be good.

 

CHAPTER TWELVE

Emma; Oceana Stables

 

As I turn into the woods I hear Molly’s mother’s voice, and though I can’t make out her words, I’m pretty sure she’s telling them where I went. I don’t care. If they want to see how badly they’ve hurt me, fine. Maybe once they’ve seen my pain they will realize you can’t toy with a person’s feelings. They were my best friends, and now; even when they must know what they have done to me; when they’ve finally found me they still don’t even care.

I know that at least Molly recognized what had been done because I had seen a look of understanding in her eyes soon after Defiance had landed with all the grace and elegance both he and Alex could muster. But then she did the unthinkable. She looks at Alex, nods her head toward me, and they both start laughing. I thought my moving to Australia and them ignoring me was incidental. Apparently not. I trusted them… how could they betray me like this?

And where are they going to anyway? That’s when I remembered. Alex’s birthday was six weeks away, and I had forgotten to get her something.

‘Get a grip!’ Mentally I screamed at myself. ‘When was the last time either of them sent you even a card on your birthday? Hmm?’ I nodded, but my heart disagreed. I started sobbing quietly on Shadow’s back as I faintly heard two sets of hoof beats plodding softly behind me. Suddenly they stop, and I can almost hear both Alex and Molly thinking about (what I can only assume was) what an idiot they thought I was. A few minutes later they turn and get fainter and fainter, joined with their quiet murmurings that faded at the same rate.

 

I sit on my horse’s back for at least another half an hour, crying.

 

 

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Alex; Oceana Stables and Alex’s House

 

I snap to attention as my best friend’s mother calls to us. She cries,

“Girls, GIRLS! She went through that hole in the fence, out into the woods!” I see Molly turn to her, then hear her curse under her breath, but I don‘t know what she says, I’m moving away too quickly. As I trot away toward the gap, Molly hollers out,

“Hold up!” and I slow Defiance down to the walk. I let her catch up and she says to me, “I have got to fix that broken area.” We turn our mounts at the same time when we pass through the broken pieces into the wood. I glance at my friend who helped convince me that the stranger really was the same Emma she’d given that nickname to. Her eyes are blank and expressionless, yet I can see the slight bit of remembrance that tells me she’s trying hard to recall exactly why this whole thing happened in the first place. That’s when I remember. I clear my mind (and appropriately my eyes) and let my thoughts drift back, all the way back to that horrible (and at the same time wonderful) day from the summer after our last year of middle school…

*

“Oh, dear God.” I mutter to myself, begging for it to be a nightmare, a daymare, whatever, just not the truth. It couldn’t be true, it just couldn’t. I pick up my phone and call a certain cell phone number. The owner of that cell picks up and answers,

“Hello? Aly, what’s up?” I start quietly sobbing on my end of the line. “Alex?” Molly asks again. I reply; composing myself as best I can;

“Oh Molly, Emma moved to Australia.” All I hear is stunned silence on the other end. “It says in this e-mail I just got that her step-dad was transferred and they probably won’t ever be coming back.” I wait for an answer, but when I receive none I continue on with news I‘ve been waiting a month to share. “But I do have good news,”

“What? You‘re saving hundreds on car insurance?” I hear Molly croak hoarsely. I laugh right out loud at that one.

“No, my mom is letting me bring Defiance down!”

“WHAT!?!” she screeches, and I hear Misty whinny and snort. “Has she gone round the bend?!? Are you living with a maniac?!?” I laugh and say,

“I don’t know and I don’t care!!! This is too cool! He’ll be in the private stall board field by this time next week. Then, now that you’re buying Misty, we can ride together whenever we want!” I listen to her giggling and then she agrees. We hang up.

*

I snap back to the present with the little ‘click’ from our phones in my memory. Molly and I look at one another and we register together that we both know what’s the matter. She turns away as I look back over my shoulder at our (not quite) missing friend, who sits softly crying on Shadow’s back. I finally turn and follow Molly, who begins to explain a plan that is just starting to bloom in her mind. I slowly start to grin, then I break out in the biggest smile either of us can ever remember me wearing.

 

Emma Penn is about to get the biggest (and best) surprise of her twenty-two years.

 

 

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Molly; Oceana Stables

 

I tell Alex about my plan to go back to Shadow’s stall. Then I go entirely cold. It's Alex’s smile. Not just any smile, mind you, the smile. That smile she gets when she’s planning something. A shiver rolls down my spine as I ask,

“OK, ‘fess up. What are you planning?” She gives me her ‘innocent’ look and I respond to that saying, “The day you are innocent Alexandra Yerkes, I swear on my life that I will hunt down the person who abducted you and replaced you with a really nice clone. I’ll ask nicely, but only one more time: What are you planning?” She shakes her head and says,

“Nothing gets by you, does it?” I raise one brow to show that I’m waiting. “All right, all right. I was just thinking that if you put a different horse in Shadow’s stall with a note saying she’s been evicted for; oh I don’t know, keeping her out too long or something; and telling her that all of her things are in the parking lot, we could grab her and take her with us to your friend Ashley’s house. We’d tell Natalie so that she knows, of course. It’s not the best way I know, but it’s the only one I can think of that even might help us to know why she’s still mad at us.” I nod, slowly at first, but then faster as I see her point.

“You’re crazy Alex, but that’s what makes you, you.” She breaks into her barking, ‘I just swallowed a Chihuahua’ laugh as I continue, “It just might work! You’re a genius. Still crazy, but a genius none the less. You get the trailer up there while I move her things and put one of the stable’s horses in her stall.” She grins and kicks Defiance into a trot aiming straight back at the gate. I shake my head again. What a show-off! I click to Misty and she springs into her rolling canter, following in Alex’s wake.

 

We clear the gate with feet to spare.

 

 

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Alex; Oceana Stables

 

After telling Molly my brilliant (yeah right) plan and she (surprisingly) agrees to it, Defiance and I spring into action. We trot towards the same spot we had gotten in, and clear it by several feet. I pull him up and turn us around just in time to see Molly and Misty fly five feet in the air over the same gate Defiance and I had just proudly cleared. I cover my shock and anger by flipping my braided knee-length auburn locks over my shoulder and giving her one of my infamous smart aleck retorts.

“Are you sure that thing is a horse? Looks more like an albino frog to me.” She just laughs and says,

“Come on Yerkes. If we’re actually going to pull this off we need to get our sorry butts in gear. The trailer needs to be down in the parking lot and my mother has to know-”

“What the heck is going on?!?”

“Speak of the devil…” I heard her mutter almost inaudibly under her breath, so I knew the comment was meant for my ears alone. I bite my lip so hard to keep from bursting out in loud giggles it started bleeding. Molly rolled her eyes towards me and says,

“It was your idea, not mine. I am not going to tell her.” I compose myself as best I can to explain to her mother what on earth was going on as Molly and her mount almost fly down the lane to initiate stage one of my ‘five-star’ plan.

 

Talking to Christi was a little tougher than I thought.

 

 

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Emma; Oceana Stables

 

I wiped my eyes in Shadow’s mane and gave her a pat on the shoulder.

“You’re getting extra carrots tonight sweetheart.” She nickered and shook her head. “Come on, let’s go.” We turned and headed toward the stables. As we neared her stall, I dismounted so I could check for any swelling of her legs. Thankfully, there wasn’t any. We walked into the barn and as soon as my swollen red eyes adjusted to the dim light, I noticed a strange horse in Shadow’s stall. Then I saw a note taped to it, addressed to ‘Shadow’. As I opened it, I realized it was an eviction notice. Holding onto my strong mare’s reins, I sank to the floor against Shad- I mean Magic’s stall. Then I composed myself. If Shadow was going to have a place to sleep tonight, we needed to move to the vet‘s. Fast.

We were halfway across the parking lot when I heard a loud, ‘THUD’ and a quiet “Shhhhhhhhhh!”. I thought to myself,

‘Probably just a boarder getting excited about their feed.’ I kept on walking, but Shadow was getting skittish. I sighed and continued on, but then she stopped dead in her tracks.

“Come on you really expensive horse, you.” She looked at me with fear in her eyes, then she screamed.

 

At that instant, my world went completely dark.

 

 

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Christi; Oceana Stables

 

Chills ran down my spine as Alex explained her plan to me. No wonder my Molly had said she wouldn’t tell me. This was insane! And I told Alex so. She just grinned.

“Whether you like it or not, we’re going. If you don’t want to, I can unload Miller for you. This is the only way I can think of that does as little harm as possible.” I burst out laughing at this point.

“Bashing her on the head and kidnapping her?!? That’s the least harmful way you could think of?!? HAH!!!”

“I take it you’re coming with us then, right?” This time it’s my turn to grin.

 

“Only to stop bloody murder.”

 

 

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Molly; Oceana Stables

 

As I gallop Misty easily down the road to the stable, I pull out my cell to call Ashley. She answers on the third ring.

“Hello?” she asks sleepily. I wince. I had forgotten the two hour time difference and it was still only five there, while it was seven here.

“So sorry to wake you lazy butt, but you need to prepare space for one more in that field of yours. Someone else er… volunteered to come along. Just one more person and one more horse, thanks!” Then I hang up before she has a chance to retaliate. I knew I’d be getting an angry call later when she actually woke up and her mind processed what I had said.

I slow my horse to a trot as I pass through the main yard. I tell Natalie; the manager; our plan, along with a brief history. She nods and hands me Black Magic’s lead line.

“Just be careful.” were her final words of warning before Alex (and my mom) showed up with the trailer. We moved her stuff in and I put up the note, along with Jupiter in her stall. Then I turned to Alex as I loaded my horse and said,

“You’re knocking her out since it was your idea, I’ll grab Shadow. Got it?”

“You’re not one to mince words, are you Molly?”

“Just get behind the truck!” The little witch just grinned at me. Then Emma entered the barn. Five minutes later, she was out again, eyes red and puffy. Then my idiot horse stomped her hoof. Shadow stopped in her tracks and screamed, just as Alex (always the track star) sprinted out from behind the trailer. Too late to change the plan now.

 

I slump down against the trailer and groan.

 

 

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Alex; Oceana Stables

 

My jeep pulls the trailer up just as Molly’s putting Magic into Shadow’s stall. As I jump out to help her put Misty in the trailer, she says,

“You’re knocking her out since it was your idea, I’ll grab Shadow. Got it?”

“You’re not one to mince words, are you Molly?” I respond.

“Just get behind the truck!” she yells at me. Just then, Emma turns the corner. She’s leading Shadow, and you could tell she’d been crying. Just then, several things happened at once.

Misty stomped her hoof, causing Shadow to stop, which I seized as a distraction to knock Emma out. But Shadow saw me coming and screamed. Dear God, I hope I never hear another scream like that. When I hit Emma (Pressure points. Gotta love ‘em!) I hear a ‘shick’ sound and a groan from Molly. She’s sitting on the ground, shaking her head.

“Get out here and grab the horse you idiot! I have to get Emma in the trailer! The only way that horse is gonna move is if it follows her, and she ain’t moving on her own!” Still shaking her head she grabs Shadow’s lead and follows me. As soon as she gets out and starts up the jeep again, I put Emma in the horse blanket trunk, shut the lid, and sit on it.

 

No way is Emma running away again.

 

 

CHAPTER TWENTY

Emma; Tack Trunk in the Trailer

 

After a quick, sharp smack on my right temple, I sleep… I sleep deep and dream… past and present run together in my mind… Alex… Molly… Shadow… pain… both emotional and physical… Suddenly I’m aware of not only darkness, but a constant rocking. Suddenly I stop. I hear a whinny, and it wakes me up fully. ‘I’d know that whinny anywhere.’ It’s Shadow! I try to move and smack my sore head on something. I wince and reach out, trying to find the limits of my prison. It’s not much larger than a tack box. I reach down, and when my hands make contact with horse blankets I know that I am in a tack box. I pound on the lid and I hear Alex’s Chihuahua impression. All of a sudden she stops and I hear Molly saying something, but I can’t make it out. My head starts throbbing.

 

I black out again…

 

 

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

Molly; Trailer on the Road to Colorado

 

I gripped the wheel of Alex’s jeep so tightly my knuckles were stark white. ‘What had I just done?’ I had been an accomplice in a kidnapping for one. Uh-oh. My mom was glaring daggers at me. And the jeep was almost out of gas. Pit stop!

As I jump out my mom slides over into the drivers seat. I want to groan but I know that’ll just make her madder than she already is. So, mumbling to myself, I get out and pay for a full tank of gas, then climb into the back of the trailer, where I can hear a barking noise. I tense until I realize it’s just Alex’s laugh. She doesn’t notice me in there until the jeep starts moving. Her face pales and that’s when I remember that she didn’t buy insurance for her quite dangerous vehicle.

It’s also then when I realize that my mother is driving the stupid jeep. (Believe me, if you could see how my mom drives, you’d be white too.) I answer her unasked questions while pulling out my cell to call my mom to tell her to pull over.

“Yes my mother is driving the jeep, and no, I did not just let her, she kicked me out.” As soon as we stop Alex flys out of that trailer and literally pushes my mom out of her seat. Then I go over to the blanket trunk to see for myself what exactly Alex was sitting on, and to see how much emotional damage she had done to our friend.

 

It’s not like she hadn’t done it before.

 

 

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

Christi; Oceana Stables and in the Jeep on the Road to Colorado

 

As soon as I jump into Alex’s black jeep, she sets off down the road from the field to the barn. When she pulls into a parking space and gets out, I wait silently. I hear a ‘THUD’, a “Shhhhhhhhhh!”, and then a few moments later a sickening horse’s scream. I also hear several ‘BANG’s and ‘thud’s before my daughter climbs into the seat next to me.

As we start down I-64 west, I glare at her while with one hand I hang on for dear life and the other holding my windblown hair out of my face. I hear a ding and I realize that the gas light has just turned on. As Molly turns into a gas station, I scoot over into her seat and buckle-up. When she finishes the gas and hops in the back, I start up the exit and get us going again. Not two minutes later I get a call from my little girl’s cell telling me to pull over. I tell her,

“I told you Alex was a bad influence but did you listen? No!!! why shou-”

“Listen Mom,” she snaps at me, “just pull over. This vehicle is not insured. Alex is going to come up and drive.” Then she just hangs up. I’m so shocked that I do what she says.

 

I’m silent for the rest of the day’s driving.

 

 

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

Alex; Trailer on the Road to Colorado

 

As we start moving again, I notice Molly moving around behind Misty. Nothing registers for about a minute, then I realize, ‘Hey, her mom is driving my jeep!’ Now, normally, I don’t mind Molly driving my jeep, but her mother is scary behind the wheel. (And I don’t scare that easily) I look at her, not knowing which question to throw at her first. She answers,

“Yes my mother is driving the jeep, and no, I did not just let her, she kicked me out.” as she pulls her cell phone from the pocket of her horsehair and dirt covered blue jean shorts. As I jump into the drivers seat a few minutes later, I tell myself,

 

‘You have got to get insurance girl!’