Barn Sour (Show Jumping Dreams ~ Book 26) Read online

  “Bluebird,” I sobbed, forcing back the tears. I couldn’t fall apart now. I had to help the others.

  For a moment I saw him turn his head and look straight at me. He let out a throaty nicker but stayed where he was. And as long as he was safe, that was all I cared about.

  “Bluebird, Arion and Hashtag are fine,” I told my father as he came stumbling out of the now brightly lit barn.

  “The horses inside are fine too,” he said. “But the foal’s paddock is empty.”

  “I told you we should have put them inside,” I said.

  But my father had insisted that Canterbury get the empty stall, telling me that since he was worth more than the others and that since he was going to sell him then he needed it the most. I’d tried to plead with him so that Bluebird could have the stall. Cat had done the same for Phoenix but Dad wouldn’t budge.

  “The gate is shut,” Cat said when she found us. Her hair was dripping, wet streaks plastered to her face. She was shivering too, wrapping her arms around her and for the first time I realized that her coat wasn’t waterproof. “Where is my foal?”

  “He’s out,” I said.

  “Wizard is too,” she said. “He ran down the drive and nearly jumped over me. I waved my arms and he galloped back this way. Did you see him?”

  “No,” I said. “I didn’t.”

  Searching for a black horse in the dark of night was going to be nearly impossible and where had the others gone? Phoenix, Chantilly and Bandit? They were out there somewhere in the dark and the rain. Alone and scared and possibly hurt.

  “We have to find them,” Cat sobbed.

  “It’s okay, we will,” I told her.

  “That’s alright for you to say,” she said. “Your horses are all safe.”

  “Bandit is mine,” I said. “And Wizard belongs to Jordan. What do you think he’s going to do if his horse gets hurt?”

  “It’s not what he might do that you should be worried about,” Dad said. “It’s what his mother will do.”

  We all stood there at the entrance to the barn, the rain still blowing in and soaking us. How were you supposed to catch horses in the dark? It was like trying to catch smoke or air. Even if we found them and even if they came to us, it was going to be nearly impossible to get halters on them and then what? We had no more stalls. We’d have to try and hold them in the barn or tie them up. Wizard had been freaking out all evening in his field, I didn’t think he’d exactly be the quietest horse to hold. And what if the fence line was down? That meant they could be anywhere. Running wild over Jess’s property or even further away than that.

  “We should have brought them in here before the storm hit,” I said. “We could have used the panels. Made something temporary for them.”

  I looked around the half-finished barn. If we’d had enough money to finish it then all our horses would have been in stalls. All our horses would have been safe. But as it was they weren’t and as Dad was always telling me, money didn’t grow on trees. You had to earn it and I was going to make darn sure that I earned more of it in the future so that we would never be stuck in a situation like this again.

  “So what do we do?” Cat said, looking at me. I was the leader now. I was in charge whether I wanted to be or not.

  “We go out and look,” I said. “And we don’t come back here until we’ve found them.”

  CHAPTER FORTY FOUR

  I stumbled through the dark. I was wet, cold and thoroughly miserable but all I could think about was finding our horses and bringing them back to the safety of the barn. I’d stand in there and hold them all night if I had to and I knew that we should have made a better plan. We should have found a way to tuck them all safely inside but we had storms all the time. Cold fronts that swept through with a line of storms and usually they were nothing much to worry about. This one was.

  The paddock where the foal and the others had been was empty. I swung my flashlight back and forth and found the spot where they’d got out, a board that had split in two and fallen, taking a couple of the others with it. They would have walked right out. Or galloped. I followed the hoof prints in the mud, my flashlight blinking a couple of times. I shook it hard.

  “Don't you dare give out on me,” I said.

  The trail went over to the field where if I pointed my flashlight just right I could still make out my three horses standing under the tree. The others had come here to see them, then they’d gone along the fence line.

  Where the field was separated and we’d strung the electric tape to keep in Wizard, I stopped. Strands of it had broken and were snapping back and forth in the wind. By the break the hoof prints were all muddy and swirled around so that I couldn’t tell which way the horses had gone. But I suspected that they had galloped up the hill, away from the barn though I didn’t know why. A smart horse would have gone to the one place they knew was safe. But Wizard was new. He hadn’t been here long enough to know that the barn was where the food came from and where safety was. All he knew was that he was here and he didn’t want to be and that he was probably scared out of his mind. He must have circled the farm looking for a way out and then led the others away.

  The rain hit my face as I carried on up the hill but I could barely feel it. My fingers were going numb. I couldn’t feel my toes at all but I called out for the lost horses anyway, knowing they would never come for me. They weren’t like the show horses. They didn’t know me like my horses did. If anything Cat had spent more time with Chantilly and the foal than I had and poor Bandit hadn’t really done much since we’d been at Second Chance Farm. I vowed that if we found them safe and sound then I would devote more of my time to them. They deserved it just as much as the others did. I’d help Cat with Phoenix and teach Bandit to pull a cart just like I always wanted to do and I would train Wizard so that there wouldn’t be a person around who wouldn’t want to buy him.

  I made all these promises as I slogged through the mud and the wind and the rain. I made them in the hope that someone up there would hear them and listen. So that I would find the horses and return with them safe and sound. But mostly I made them so that my mind wouldn’t swirl to all the horrible thoughts I really wanted to dwell on. Horses with broken legs and foals trapped in muddy swamps and the end of Second Chance Farm before it had even begun.

  CHAPTER FORTY FIVE

  By the time I reached the trees my flashlight had given out altogether. I banged it against my leg a couple of times but nothing would convince it to light my way. I left it by a tree stump. If I found the horses, I’d need both hands to catch them anyway.

  I stood there listening. The wind was less now and the rain had stopped going sideways. Now it just fell straight down from the black sky. I wiped my face and waited for my eyes to adjust to the darkness, listening for the sound of horses. And then I heard something. The stomp of a hoof. Or maybe it was just another branch falling from a tree and hitting the ground. I held my breath. Then I heard it again. Stumbling towards the trees, dragging the halters and lead ropes with me, hoping that I’d have a chance to use them.

  “Phoenix,” I screamed out. “Bandit. Chantilly.” Their names a mantra that I hoped would bind me to them with an invisible thread. One that this time I wouldn’t let go of.

  CHAPTER FORTY SIX

  I found them out there, huddled under the shelter of the trees. Chantilly, being the good mother that she was, had probably led the others to safety. Phoenix and Bandit were both huddled under her belly like two little foals.

  “Easy girl,” I said as I walked up to the mare.

  She eyed me warily, still skittish after her adventure in the dark. “You’re okay. You are a good momma.”

  I talked to her in a soothing voice, holding out a wet carrot. She stretched out her neck and took it gingerly, then let me slip her halter on. I knew that the others would follow her. Bandit nudged me with his little nose, demanding that he get a carrot too but the foal was shaking, his legs wobbling and eyes wide, frightened by the storm
and the dark.

  “Come on,” I said. “Let’s get you guys back to the barn.”

  The four of us walked slowly back. Phoenix followed the mare like I knew he would and Bandit trotted next to him, not wanting to be left behind. The rain was less now and it was easier to see. I scanned the dark for Wizard but I couldn’t see him anywhere. He hadn’t been in the hollow under the trees and I couldn’t see him further up the hill. It was like he had vanished into the night, a dark horse that wasn’t even supposed to be here. I hoped he was okay.

  “You found them,” Cat cried as I reached the light of the barn.

  She dashed out and the foal skittered away.

  “Easy,” I said. “They are still pretty shaken.”

  Dad and Cat had brought some of the panels into the barn and made a sort of makeshift pen. It was no bigger than a stall but it was better than nothing. I wished that we’d thought of it before. We herded them inside and gave them hay, rubbing their wet coats with towels and putting a blanket on the shivering foal.

  “Are they okay?” Cat asked, her voice shaking.

  “I think so,” I said. “I can’t see any visible injuries.”

  “It’s a miracle,” Dad said, patting the mare on the neck. “You did good old girl.”

  “But I couldn’t find Wizard,” I said. “I have to go back out and look for him.”

  Now that the others were safe, I couldn't get the black horse out of my mind. What if he was hurt? Jordan would kill me. But it was like every ounce of strength had left my body. My legs gave out as I climbed over the pen and I stumbled on the other side, falling to the ground.

  “I’m okay,” I told Dad as he helped me to my feet.

  “You’re not,” he said, wrapping a horse blanket around me. I hadn’t even realized that I was shivering. “And you are not going back out there. Not until the storm has passed. That horse will be okay.”

  I felt it in my gut that Wizard was most definitely not okay but annoyingly my father was right. If I went back out there I’d probably pass out in a pile of mud and that wouldn’t help anyone. I sat on a hay bale with Cat and Dad, all of us wet and shivering and huddled under blankets, watching the foal and the others. At least they were safe.

  “I’ll go and make us some hot cocoa,” Cat finally said. “And I’ll get some dry clothes too.”

  “Get Lily to help you,” Dad said.

  “You’re joking right?” I said as Cat walked away from us.

  I looked at Dad and he looked at me. He knew I was right. My mother was probably asleep, aided by whatever she’d drunk that evening and the ear plugs she used so she didn’t have to hear the horses at night. She would have had no idea that we’d been running around in the storm after loose horses and it was probably just as well. She didn’t need another reason to hate them. Or me.

  CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN

  When I woke up, I couldn’t remember where I was. There was a bird chirping loudly above my head and the smell of hay and wet horse was all around me. Every muscle in my body hurt and I felt hot and cold all at the same time. When I opened my eyes, I remembered. The storm. The horses. Wizard.

  I sat up, pulling off the horse blanket to find that I was wearing a dry, clean sweater but damp clothes underneath. I vaguely remembered Cat bringing clothes, taking off my coat and putting the sweater on me like I was a little kid, encouraging me to hold up my arms even though I was too tired to do so. She’d given me a mug of hot cocoa and made me drink it and then I didn’t remember anything else. She was curled up now on a hay bale in a sleeping bag that she’d obviously brought down from the house and Dad was nowhere to be seen.

  I stood up stiffly, stretching my muscles and dragging the horse blanket behind me as I walked to the front of the barn. My pony and horses were standing by their buckets like nothing had happened at all, eager for their food. Bluebird nickered when he saw me.

  The sun was out, shining down on the wet world and a cold breeze swirled around me. I pulled the blanket tighter around myself, knowing that I was sick but not caring. What had happened to Wizard? Was he lying in a ditch with a broken leg? If he was then Jordan would never speak to me again.

  Dad came out of the house with two steaming mugs of coffee and gave one to me.

  “You look terrible,” he said.

  “I’m fine,” I lied, knowing that at the very least I had a fever.

  I shivered and he put his hand to my forehead.

  “You’re burning up,” he said. “You need a hot shower and to go to bed.”

  “I need to find Wizard,” I said. “Did you look for him?”

  I went over the whole property,” he said. “He’s not here.”

  “Well he couldn’t just vanish,” I said. “He has to be somewhere.”

  “A lot of the fencing is down,” Dad said. “He must have got off the property.”

  “But we have to find him. We have to start looking,” I said. “What if he gets out on the road and hit by a car?”

  “Easy,” Dad said, putting his hand on my shoulder. “I’ve called the police and animal control. I’m going to take the truck and trailer out and start looking for him. We’ll find him. I promise.”

  “You have to,” I whispered, tears falling down my face. “He’s Jordan’s horse.”

  “I know,” Dad said. “I know.”

  THE END

  COMING SOON

  SHOW JUMPING DREAMS #27: HEART HORSE

  The storm swept through and wrecked Second Chance Farm and with it Emily’s heart. Jordan’s horse Wizard is missing and no one knows where he is. They’ve searched high and low and they can’t find him anywhere. Emily suspects he’s been stolen. Jordan thinks that the horse might be trying to make his way back home and Taylor thinks she might just sue Emily and her father.

  On top of that the next team show in the Junior Olympic series is fast approaching and with it Valentine's Day. Emily had thought that maybe Jordan would ask her out. Now she thinks that he just hates her because she lost his horse. And even though Bluebird is in top form, Emily isn’t feeling her best. She can’t shake the cold she caught in the storm and she’s worried that if she doesn’t get better, she might have to miss the show altogether and forfeit her place on the team.

  And it's not just Wizard that Emily is trying to find. There is another horse. One she’s caught a glimpse of and now can’t get out of her mind. The first horse she fell in love with. But can it really be possible that Harlow is out there competing again after Esther retired him? And if he is, why is it that he is sound and winning when his vets had resigned him to a life of lameness as a pasture pet?

  HEART HORSE: CHAPTER ONE

  My sleep wasn’t restful. I flitted in and out of nightmares like a hummingbird looking for nectar and finding only poison. There was Wizard before me in the rain, standing proud with his head high and ears pricked. Rearing up he lashed out at me, hit me with his steel hooves and pummeled me into the ground before galloping away.

  In another he was a foal, all fluffy with bandy legs and a bottle brush mane. He nuzzled my hand and then trotted away. I followed, calling after him to come back. He turned to look at me and stumbled into a swamp. It sucked him down into the murky waters and the more he struggled, the more it pulled him in until there was nothing more than the tip of a nose and then he was gone and I was left screaming for help. Only no one came. No one ever came.

  I woke up shaking, drenched with sweat and shivering cold beneath the blankets but I wasn’t in the barn anymore. I was safe in my bed. But Wizard wasn’t safe at all. He was out there alone and scared and possibly even hurt. And Jordan had brought him to our farm so that I would take care of him. I’d let him down. I’d let everyone down.

  I remembered being shoved into a hot shower by Cat. Her helping me pull on clean pajamas and tucking me into bed like my mother should have done, had she known or even cared. The time on my phone told me that it was nearly lunch. There were no messages from Dad. He’d promised that he would call me
if he found Wizard but there was always the chance that he didn’t want to wake me. That Wizard was standing down in the barn like the storm had never even happened.

  Pulling on a semi clean pair of jeans and a sweater, I rushed down the stairs and out into the cold day. I felt like I was burning up from the inside out and I’d started to cough, a hacking cough that made it so that I couldn’t catch air. Even now, breathing in the coldness caused a coughing fit that had me bending over just so that I could breathe. I clutched the frame of the door until I could catch my breath again. It scared me but not as much as the fact that Wizard had vanished.

  Bluebird and the others were out grazing. I hadn’t even checked my pony to make sure that he was okay but somehow I knew that he was. It was Wizard who wasn’t. I found Cat in the barn grooming Phoenix. She looked up when I came in.

  “You’re awake,” she said.

  “Sorry,” I replied. “I shouldn’t have slept so long.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Cat said.

  “Is he okay?” I asked, leaning on the panels that we’d set up in the barn last night. “He’s not sick, is he?”

  “He’s fine,” she said, patting the foal. “And the others are too. You don’t look so hot though.”

  “I’m fine,” I said, choking back a cough.

  “You don’t sound fine,” she said.

  “Where is Dad?” I asked.