Phantom Horse (6 page)

This time it was different. Her nightmare was just as vividly imprinted on her mind now as it had been the second she woke up, and she had no idea why. The rational part of her mind knew that the dream didn’t mean anything. Obviously her spill of the day before had combined with Troy’s Halloween story to create the scary nightmare. But in the less rational part of her mind, Carole wondered: Was there such a thing as a phantom horse? Was it possible for an animal she thought she knew inside and out to change into another sort of creature entirely? Had Starlight’s sudden outburst the day before
really
been the result of an insect bite?

Carole knew she was being silly. But she was tired, and as she dragged herself through the school day thoughts of her dream, Troy’s phantom horse, and Starlight kept swirling through her head.

She had made plans to meet Stevie and Lisa at Pine Hollow after school for a trail ride, but by the end of the day she felt almost too tired to make it to the stable. Then another thought occurred to her. Her two best friends would be the perfect people to take her mind off her strange dream and even stranger thoughts. Lisa was so sensible that she would make things seem okay just by listening; and Stevie, despite her wild schemes and crazy sense of humor, was down-to-earth about the things that really mattered.

Carole felt relieved the moment she’d thought of this. School was almost over, and soon she’d be with her friends at the stable. All this nonsense would be behind her. Besides, just seeing Starlight himself would make her feel better—wouldn’t it?

W
HEN
C
AROLE
ARRIVED
at Pine Hollow, her friends were nowhere to be found, so she headed straight to Starlight’s stall. She ignored the slight fluttering in her stomach as she turned the corner and headed down the aisle, and to her relief the sight of his mahogany head peering out at her over the half door of his stall brought an automatic smile to her lips, just like always.

“Hi, boy,” she said softly, reaching forward to stroke his velvety muzzle. She let herself into the stall and ran her hand down his neck, searching for the insect bite. It wasn’t difficult to find; in fact, it seemed to be larger than it had been the day before. Carole frowned. It must have swollen overnight.

“Carole? Are you in there?” called a voice from outside. It was Troy.

Carole let herself out of the stall. The groom was leaning against the wall, chewing on a piece of hay. Normally Carole might have found it an amusing sight—tough-looking Troy, in his leather jacket and earrings, chewing hay like a TV image of a country boy. But today she didn’t feel much like laughing.

“There you are,” Troy drawled. “I hope I didn’t scare you this time.”

Carole didn’t bother to answer that. “I think Starlight’s shoulder is swelling,” she said. “He got a bug bite yesterday and it’s bigger now than it was then.”

“I know,” Troy said calmly. “Max wanted me to come tell you he already had the vet in to look at it. She said it’s nothing serious. You should just keep it clean and keep an eye on it, and call her if it doesn’t start clearing up within a few days.”

Carole glanced back at Starlight. “What about riding him? Did she say it would be okay?”

Troy shrugged. “She didn’t say it wouldn’t.” He spit out the piece of hay and turned to go. “I guess it’s your call. See you later.”

“Bye. And thanks,” Carole said. She watched him go, thinking about what he had said. The local equine veterinarian, Judy Barker, was one of Carole’s heroes. Judy definitely knew what she was doing, and she was nothing if not
cautious and thorough when it came to her patients’ health. If she hadn’t left orders that Starlight wasn’t to be ridden, that meant it was okay for Carole to ride him.

Carole glanced at Starlight again. He looked back at her unblinkingly, his eyes large and dark. Carole bit her lip. Wasn’t it possible that just this once Judy had forgotten to mention that Carole shouldn’t ride Starlight? A swollen insect bite didn’t seem very serious, but then again, neither did a cough, and that could lead to bronchitis, the flu, or pneumonia, which in turn could lead to broken wind.

Carole decided she’d better play it safe, and that meant no riding until the swelling went down. She felt relieved once she’d made the decision, but she wasn’t entirely sure that her relief was because she knew she’d made the right choice. Was it possible that she didn’t want to ride Starlight today anyway?

Instead of thinking about that, she went to look for Max. She found him in the grain shed helping Red mix the feed for the next week. The two men looked up as she entered.

“Hi, Red. Hi, Max,” she said.

“Are you all right, Carole?” Red asked, an expression of concern on his freckled face. “Your eyes look a little red.”

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Carole said, rubbing her eyes. “I didn’t get enough sleep last night, that’s all.”

“I hope it wasn’t because you were worrying about Starlight,” Max said, measuring out a cupful of barley. “I noticed that bite was swelling, so I asked Judy to take a look. But she
said there’s nothing to worry about. It will be gone in a day or two.”

Carole nodded. “Troy told me. But I think I’ll let Starlight rest today, just to be on the safe side. I’m not going to ride him.”

Max shrugged. “It’s up to you,” he said. “I really don’t think there’d be any harm in riding him today, though. Anyway, I thought I saw your two co-conspirators arriving a few minutes ago. Won’t they be disappointed if you have to cancel your trail ride, or whatever you three have planned?”

Carole shook her head, looking a little stubborn. “I’m not going to ride him today.”

Max and Red exchanged glances. “Okay,” Max said. “As I said, it’s up to you. He’s your horse. But I really would hate to see your friends disappointed. When Stevie gets disappointed, strange things have a way of happening. So why don’t you take Barq out today, no charge? Actually you’d be doing me a favor. He hasn’t been ridden for two days, and he’s getting bored.”

“Really?” Carole said. “Are you sure you wouldn’t mind?”

“Of course not,” Max replied with a smile. “Unless you’d rather stay here and help us mix this feed, that is.”

“Thanks, Max,” Carole said gratefully. She hurried out of the shed before Max could change his mind. She went to Belle’s stall, arriving there as Stevie walked up carrying Belle’s tack.

“There you are,” Stevie said. “Lisa and I were wondering
where you’d gone. She looked for you after school, but you’d already disappeared.”

“I came straight here,” Carole said. “I guess I forgot to wait for her.”

“Well, she
might
forgive you,” Stevie teased. “Especially if you help her get Prancer tacked up. Is Starlight ready to go?”

“Urn, I’m not riding Starlight today,” Carole said. She was dying to tell Stevie all about her nightmare, but she decided to wait until Lisa was there, too. “That bite he got yesterday swelled up a little.”

“Is he going to be all right?” Stevie asked, immediately concerned.

Carole nodded. “Judy said it’s not serious. It’ll be gone in a couple of days.”

“But you can’t ride him?” Stevie said. “What a pain in the neck. Get it? A pain in the neck?”

“Ha ha,” Carole said. “Actually, Max said it would probably be okay to ride Starlight today. But I don’t want to take any chances, and Max offered to let me ride Barq. I’d better go get his tack now.”

“Oh. Okay,” Stevie said. As she watched her friend walk down the aisle toward the tack room, her eyes narrowed curiously. Carole hadn’t seemed very disappointed about missing a ride on Starlight. That wasn’t like her at all. Usually she could hardly bear to be parted from her horse, even to eat, sleep, or go to school. Now she was switching to Barq with hardly a blink of the eye. After a moment Stevie
shrugged and turned back to Belle. It was probably nothing. If something was wrong, Carole would tell her.

A
FEW
MINUTES
later Carole, Stevie, and Lisa met up near the outdoor ring. Stevie was riding Belle, and Lisa was mounted on Prancer. Carole was aboard Barq, a lively Arabian with a white blaze down his nose, a favorite of many of the young riders at Pine Hollow. He was also the horse Carole had ridden regularly before she owned Starlight.

“Where should we go today?” Stevie asked as the threesome rode out of the stable yard and into the field beyond. The land around Pine Hollow was threaded with dozens of riding trails, and at one time or another The Saddle Club had explored nearly every one.

“Do you think it’s too cold for our favorite spot?” Lisa asked. The other two knew immediately where she meant—a shady clearing in the woods overlooking the lazy little stream that had given the town of Willow Creek its name. On warm spring and summer days, the girls loved to sit on the banks of the creek and cool their feet in the clear water. It was one of their favorite places to hold Saddle Club meetings.

“It’s never too cold,” Stevie declared. “Even if we can’t wade, that doesn’t mean we can’t just sit and watch the water go by.”

“Good point,” Lisa agreed. “Let’s go.”

Once they were under way, Carole decided it was time to
bring up the topic that was foremost in her mind. She cleared her throat. “I wanted to talk to you guys about something,” she began. “I had this really weird dream last night.”

“What kind of a dream?” Lisa asked.

“You didn’t dream who the Pine Hollow Pilferer is, did you?” Stevie asked. “That’s what I’ve decided to call our thief. What do you think?”

Lisa laughed. “I have to admit, that’s pretty good,” she said. “It sounds like the title of one of Ernestine Collier’s novels:
The Mystery of the Pine Hollow Pilferer.
”

“As I was saying,” Carole said meaningfully, then paused.

“Oh, sorry, Carole. Go ahead,” Lisa said contritely. “What was your dream about?”

“Well, I dreamed I was here at Pine Hollow,” Carole began. As the threesome rode slowly across the fields, she described the entire nightmare, trying not to leave out any important details. “… and then I woke up,” she finished.

“Wow. That’s pretty spooky,” Lisa said. “It reminds me of that story Troy told the other night at the party.”

“Me too,” Carole admitted. “Pretty silly, huh?”

“What’s silly is to think you’d ever jump a course without walking it first,” Stevie said. “As if an obstacle would ever catch
you
by surprise!”

Lisa laughed. “That’s a good point,” she said. “And how about this: Since when would Pine Hollow ever be deserted in the middle of the afternoon? It had to be a dream, Carole.
If it was real Max would have turned up, reminding you to clean your tack after you were finished.”

“Or reminding you to keep your heels down and your elbows in,” Stevie offered, sitting up a little straighter in her saddle to demonstrate.

“Or asking you to muck out some stalls when you had a free second,” Lisa said. “Now
that’s
what I call a nightmare!”

“Really?” Stevie asked. “Are you sure it’s not a night
stallion
?”

“Actually, since Starlight was the star of the dream, I think technically it would have to be called a nightgelding,” Lisa pointed out.

Carole sighed as she listened to her friends’ joking. It was clear they hadn’t understood how disturbed she had been by her dream. Otherwise they wouldn’t be making silly jokes about it. On the other hand, it
was
pretty silly of her to be so upset by something that wasn’t even real. The incident with Starlight the day before had been real enough, of course, but there was also a very real reason for his behavior. Troy’s story and her dream hadn’t been real at all. So why couldn’t she just forget about them?

“Here’s something to take your mind off nightmares, nightfoals,
and
nightponies,” Stevie told Carole as the girls entered the woods and headed toward the creek. “The Pine Hollow Pilferer.”

“I talked to Max about it today,” Lisa said. “He’s really mad that no one has turned in the missing stuff yet. But I got the impression he has no idea what to do about it.”

“That’s where we come in,” Stevie said. “We’ll have to track down the thief and retrieve the stolen goods. Especially Phil’s yarmulke.”

“What about my book?” Lisa asked, pretending to be hurt. “Don’t you even care that I may die of suspense if I don’t get it back soon?”

“Well, maybe a little,” Stevie said with a grin. The path they were following through the woods had been wide enough for the girls to ride three abreast, but now it began to grow narrower. Carole pulled Barq up to let her friends ride ahead.

Lisa stuck out her tongue at Stevie, who was still beside her. “Very funny. So what’s your plan to catch the thief? Sorry, I mean the pilferer.”

“I’m not quite sure yet,” Stevie admitted. “But I do know two things. One is that we have to do it before Phil’s bar mitzvah on Saturday.”

“That would be great,” Lisa said. “It will be awful if Phil has to do without his special yarmulke on his big day, particularly since his relatives sent it all the way from Israel.” She paused. “But if we’re going to solve the mystery, we’ll have to come up with some decent suspects. I mean, the detective in my book always says you should start with the most unlikely-seeming suspect and follow that lead first. But I
can’t think of any likely unlikely-seeming suspects, if you know what I mean.”