Secrets (11 page)

They cannot see or hear me when I am invisible. Only you can.

Ellie bit her lip.
Oh.
She hated the idea of Spirit longing for horse company. But what could she do? Unless …

She stopped her train of thought there. No, it was a solution, but she wouldn’t even consider it. She and Spirit were going to be together forever.

I love you, Spirit
, she thought, resting her head against his neck.

She felt the love coming from him in return, enveloping her. Overhead, a dark cloud drifted over the moon.

The next day, Ellie was up at 7 a.m., straight back into the usual yard routine. Luke had been given the day off and had left to spend it with Anna. The horses who had been at the show the last few days were being rested, so Ellie used the extra time to catch up with the horses she hadn’t seen. Remembering what Spirit had said, she went to see Hope first thing. However, the little foal was nowhere near as welcoming as Spirit. She butted her head hard against Ellie’s stomach when Ellie went into her stall.

“Steady!” Ellie gasped as Hope gave her a sharp nip, as if in punishment for deserting her. “Hope, don’t do that!”

The filly turned her back on her.

“Come here, silly!” Ellie said, walking to her head and trying to hug her, but the filly turned away again. Ellie moved after her, but once again Hope swung around.

Ellie felt a prickle of disappointment that the foal wasn’t more pleased to see her. “All right, be like that!” she said, half-exasperated.

After helping with the feeds, she went to check on Lexi and Rocky in the other barn. Lexi was looking good. Stuart had told her the physio had been a few times and Lexi seemed to be responding well to treatment. Ellie stroked the gray mare. Even in just a week she could feel Lexi was so much more relaxed and happy.

She wished she could say the same about Rocky. When she went to his stall that morning, he looked tense and anxious. He jumped to the back of his stall, his head high, the whites of his eyes showing as he watched her warily. She remembered how quiet he had seemed when he has first arrived.

“What’s up with Rocky?” Ellie called to Stuart, who was across the aisle checking the water buckets.

“He’s been like this all week,” Stuart replied. “I don’t know why. No one’s done anything to him. I tried moving him from the courtyard to this stable in here to see if it would help, but it’s not made a blind bit of difference. Sasha won’t go in his stall now—he took a chunk out of her arm on Tuesday when she went in with the feedbucket. Watch yourself if you have to go in for any reason, particularly if you’re carrying a bucket.”

Ellie frowned. “Can I spend a bit of time with him this morning, Stu?”

“I was hoping you’d offer. See if you can work your usual magic.”

Stuart left her to it. Ellie thought about what he’d just said. Most horses wouldn’t attack you when you had a feed for them; it was usually when they were at their most affectionate so what had made Rocky go for Sasha? And why had he become so anxious? Neither Sasha nor Stuart would have hurt him in any way. What had caused the change in him in the last week?

She opened her mind to him.
You can talk to me if you want
, she thought gently.
Tell me what’s wrong.

But, just as before, she had the distinct feeling he was throwing up a wall between them.

Ellie sent the horse waves of reassurance and love, telling him over and over again that there was no need for him to be afraid of her. Then she opened the door. Rocky didn’t try and bite her, but he turned his back on her, one back hoof stamping down threateningly. She hesitated but decided that taking little steps might be the answer. She would be patient and wait.

“You’re safe here,” she murmured, wishing she could make him believe it. “And when you’re ready to talk, I’ll be listening.”

He turned to watch her as she left the stall.

“Any luck?” Stuart called from the water tap as she walked down the yard.

“Sorry,” Ellie replied. “I think we’ll just have to give him a bit more time.”

Stuart nodded. “OK. Can you groom Barney? His new owners are coming to pick him up later.”

Ellie’s heart sank. “Already?”

“Yes.” Stuart saw her face. “But he’s going to a good home—so don’t be too upset.”

Even knowing he was leaving for a good home, Ellie still felt her heart wrench as Barney walked into the trailer, his chestnut coat shining in the sun. His ears were pricked as he pulled cheekily at the T-shirt that Alex, his new owner, was wearing. He seemed to think he was just off to a horse show.
Where are we going this time?
he seemed to say.

“Bye, boy,” Ellie murmured, feeding him a last mint when he was tied up inside the trailer. She turned to Alex. “Make sure you always lock and bolt his stable door and tie him up with a double knot. He’s a complete Houdini.”

She remembered the time when she first arrived at High Peak Stables and Joe had said the same words to her. She wished Joe could be there to say goodbye to Barney too, but maybe it was easier for him that he wasn’t.

“Thanks, any other tips?” twelve-year-old Alex asked eagerly.

“No, just give him lots of hugs and he’ll be happy.”

Alex smiled. “Oh, I think I can manage that,” she said, kissing Barney’s neck and ruffling his mane. “We’re going to have so much fun together, aren’t we, boy?”

Barney snorted all over her and she giggled. Ellie left the trailer, feeling slightly better but still sad.

Bye, Barney
, she thought as she stood with Len watching the trailer bump off down the drive.

“Now
that
was a good sale,” Len said, patting the check in his pocket.

Ellie felt a wave of dislike. The money was all that mattered to him.

“I imagine we’ll have some offers flooding in for Picasso after the win last week.” Len smiled with satisfaction. “Time for him to move on too. You can concentrate on the youngsters.”

Ellie couldn’t bear the thought of saying goodbye to Picasso as well as Barney, or hearing her uncle talking as if the horses were just cars or something inanimate he was selling. “I’m going up to the fields.”

“What? To hang around that grave some more?” Len’s eyes narrowed.

Ellie shrugged, trying to stay calm and not react.

Len shook his head. “You spend far too much bloody time there as it is. Go back on the yard and bring Gem out instead.”

“I just want ten minutes!” Ellie said.

Her uncle’s expression darkened. “Let’s have none of your arguments now. Just do as I say.”

“No!” Ellie retorted. For a long time she’d had to do what her uncle said because she knew if she really angered him he might not let Spirit stay on the yard, but now he didn’t have that hold on her. Hope wasn’t the same as Spirit. If her uncle threatened to throw her off the yard … well, she would deal with it.

“I’m taking a break,” she said, refusing to be intimidated. “Luke, Stuart, Helen, Sasha—they all have breaks and days off. I work just as hard as them. I’m going to take ten minutes!” She marched past him.

Len grabbed her arm, his other hand raising.

At the feel of his fingers on her arm, Ellie’s temper snapped and she turned on him like a wild cat, all the frustration of the last months bursting out. “Let me go!” she hissed. “If you lay a finger on me—I’ll report you!”

For a moment they stared furiously at each other. But then her uncle’s grip slowly released. “Ten minutes. No more!” he snapped.

Ellie walked away, her head spinning. She’d stood up to her uncle and won. She couldn’t quite believe it. She broke into a run as she reached the fields and raced up the hill to the peace of Spirit’s grave.

Chapter Eleven

“THIRD TIME LUCKY!”
Ellie muttered to herself as she picked herself off the schooling ring floor and dusted down her jodhpurs, though she didn’t know why she was bothering. She was bound to be thrown off again. Her uncle was getting his own back for her earlier rebellion by making her ride one of the newly backed young horses. She wished he could have chosen Solo or Maestro, both of them started by Joe with gentle methods before he’d left for Canada, but her uncle had decided to put her on a particularly stubborn dun filly called Sandy. Every time Len legged Ellie back into the saddle, the filly started bucking.

“We haven’t got all day!” Len snapped as Ellie walked slowly back to Sandy who was looking at her smugly. “Legs down, hang on to the neck strap and don’t let her throw you off this time.”

“Maybe we could start her by using join-up, like Joe did with Solo and Maestro,” said Ellie, her elbows scraped, her back aching.

Len fixed her with a hard look. “Maybe you could stop talking and just stay on!”

Gritting her teeth, Ellie put her hand on the saddle, lifting her left leg for a leg up. The instant she was on, she found her stirrups and grabbed the neck strap as she felt the filly hump her back.
Here we go!
she thought with a gasp.

Sandy threw her head down and kicked her heels up, but this time Ellie was ready. Clinging like a limpet, she stuck on four enormous bronco bucks at which point the filly stopped and looked around at her, surprised, as if to say,
Are you still there?

“Oh, yes,” Ellie told her, “I’m here.” She rewarded the pony with a pat for standing still and not bucking.

“We’re not done yet,” Len grunted. “Let’s have her walking.”

Sandy had several more bucking fits, but each time Ellie was ready and stayed on. Soon the pony gave in and by the end of the session Ellie had her walking and trotting around. Not that her uncle seemed pleased. He simply opened the gate for her without saying a word as she rode through.

Ellie hosed Sandy down, every bone in her body sore. Not for the first time, she longed for Joe to be there to talk to. He’d have understood. She thought about what he might be doing now in Canada. Probably just getting up. She wondered if he’d have bought a Stetson hat like the one his new boss, Ray, wore, and cheered herself up by smiling at the thought of Joe in a Stetson and cowboy boots.

Luke didn’t come home until very late that night. Ellie woke as she heard his motorcycle, and stretched her aching limbs. She turned over in bed but couldn’t sleep. Her thoughts seemed to be jumping from one thing to another—her uncle, Luke and, most of all, Spirit. His words from yesterday had been haunting her. She hated the thought of him being lonely and unhappy, missing the company of other horses as well as missing her when she wasn’t there.

I’ll just have to spend more time with him
, she thought. It would be hard; there was never much opportunity for sneaking off, but she would do everything she could.

“So what’s up with you and Len?” Luke said the next morning. “You’re barely speaking to each other. What’s going on?”

“We had an argument yesterday,” Ellie admitted. “Then he put me on Sandy and I fell off. She went nuts, broncoing and everything.”

“You must really have annoyed him if he put you on her. Didn’t you hear she had Stuart off twice last week, and he can stay on anything?”

Ellie raised her eyebrows. “No, he didn’t tell me that.” Still, she couldn’t help feeling a flicker of pleasure that she’d managed to stay on Sandy in the end.

“Don’t get on Len’s bad side, Ellie,” Luke warned. “Just do what he wants, don’t argue.”

She frowned. “You argue with him.”

“Yeah, well, I’m me. Don’t you do it.”

She saw the concern in his eyes and looked away. She almost preferred it when Luke was being annoying. When he was caring, she found it even harder to be around him without wishing that things had turned out very differently after the kiss.

For a moment Luke looked as if he would say something more, but then he turned. “Right, better get on. Anna’s coming later to see Lucifer and Rocky.”

“Great!” Ellie muttered as Luke strode away down the yard.

Ellie spent as much time as she could at Spirit’s grave that day to avoid being on the yard with Luke and Anna. She felt a bit guilty, knowing she could be working with Hope. But the foal was still being stand-offish with her, refusing to be hugged and turning away. Spirit, in contrast was always delighted to see her.

The week went by and Ellie found herself visiting Spirit more and more. They would stand and talk in the days, and in the evenings she would sit on his back and they’d go out into the woods. She felt so much happier when she was with him than on the yard. Her uncle was still angry with her and spending time with Spirit meant she could avoid being with him—and seeing Luke. The only downside was that being with Spirit meant having less time to spend trying to listen to and heal the other horses on the yard.

On Thursday afternoon, she was just about to visit Spirit again when Len called to her, a bridle and saddle in his arms. “It’s time to try out this new horse of the Halletts. We need to start him being ridden so Anna can get on him. Come and help me in the school.”

“You’re getting on Rocky?” Ellie frowned. She’d had no luck so far with Anna’s new horse. He’d refused to talk to her and although he would now let her into his stable, she could tell he didn’t want her to touch him or to let her anywhere near him. “I don’t think he’s ready to be ridden yet.”

Len’s eyebrows shot up his forehead. “Oh, really?” Ellie felt a wave of dislike. “No, I don’t. I think there’s something wrong with him.”

“The only thing wrong with him is he’s in that stable guzzling hay and feed and not doing any work. I’m getting on him.”

“I really don’t think it’s a good idea,” Ellie insisted.

“Well, I do, and though you seem to be forgetting it, what I say goes around here!” Len strode to the barn.

Dread gripped Ellie. She was sure, utterly sure, that Len shouldn’t try riding Rocky. But what could she do? She couldn’t even ask one of the others to stop him. Stuart was out on a hack with Luke, it was Sasha’s day off, and Helen had gone to the feed shop.

Len led Rocky out of the stable. Already the horse’s neck was sweating and he looked scared.

“Don’t ride him!” Ellie’s anger faded as her fear intensified. She could feel the waves of stress coming from the horse.