Winter Wonderland #5 (6 page)

“I will help,” Comet neighed beside her.

Preeti felt another warm prickling sensation flowing to the ends of her fingers as he huffed out a sparkly breath that twinkled with thousands of tiny rainbow stars. The glittering mist swirled around the car for a few seconds and swept up the entire covering of snow, which then fell far away in the field beyond.

As the car was revealed, Preeti saw two faces looking out at them. It was a
woman and a little girl who looked about Viren’s age. They were huddled together under layers of coats as they tried to keep warm.

“Are you okay?” Preeti called, tapping on the window.

The woman nodded. She leaned over to speak to her through the closed window. “We’re not hurt, just a bit cold,” she shouted. “I called for help on my
cell. We’ve been waiting here for hours. I think a big truck or something went past a while back, but it didn’t see us. I didn’t want to leave Emily and go up to the road to flag it down. I stayed here and tried to keep us both warm.”

“That was the best thing to do,” Comet whinnied to Preeti.

The woman in the car did a double take as she heard pony noises. She peered over Preeti’s shoulder and seemed to see Comet for the first time in the thick swirling snow. “Is that your pony? But . . . how come . . .? What . . .?”

Preeti thought quickly. “We’re . . . er . . . helping the . . . rescue team,” she said vaguely. “Don’t worry. Help will be here soon.”

The woman nodded gratefully. “We
have a chance of being seen, now that you’ve cleared the snow away, though I don’t know how you did it. And it’s strange, but it feels a lot warmer in here now.”

Preeti smiled with relief when a moment later she saw Comet prick up his ears. Seconds later, Preeti heard it, too: the chugging rumble of a snowplow. Powerful searchlights penetrated the blinding snow as the big truck appeared around a bend.

The woman and her daughter, Emily, would be fine now, but she and Comet had to leave before anyone else knew that they’d been there. She didn’t want her mom and dad finding out about her midnight ride.

Comet leaned forward to gently
snuffle her hair. “We must leave now,” he neighed. The sky was much lighter and the sound of the truck was getting closer.

Preeti leaned close to the window to speak to the woman one final time. “We have to go now. Bye!” she called, backing away.

“Wait! How can I thank you . . .?” the woman shouted.

But her voice faded as Preeti turned and held onto Comet again, and they climbed out of the ditch. Once they were back on the road, she mounted again.

“Well done, Comet!” she praised.

Bending forward, she heard the wind whistling past them outside the magical bubble as Comet galloped flat out. The blizzard raged on, but she was safe and warm. In the early-morning light, the
swirling snowflakes were tinted pale apricot and gold. Once again, Preeti felt the heart-stopping thrill of riding the magic pony. And she knew she would remember this amazing night for the rest of her life.

Back at the barn, she rubbed Comet down and made sure he had fresh water
and hay. “You were incredible tonight, Comet!” she told him, stroking his velvety nose. “Those people in the car will be rescued because of you.”

His deep-violet eyes gleamed. “I am glad I could help.”

“You deserve a rest. You’ve been riding hard,” she said fondly, stranding his mane through her fingers.

“I would gallop all day without a rest, if it meant I would find Destiny,” he told her, blowing out a long breath through his flared nostrils. “You are lucky that your little brother is safe and here with you.”

Preeti hadn’t thought about it like that. Viren was such a pest that she sometimes wished she were an only child, but she really did love him.

“I know you miss Destiny a lot,” she
said gently. She put her arms around his neck and laid her cheek against his warm silky coat. “I wish we could find her, too. And then maybe you could both live here with me? I could ask Mom and Dad if we could make part of the barn into a proper stable.”

Comet shook his head slowly. “I am afraid that is not possible. Destiny and I must go back to our Lightning Herd on Rainbow Mist Island.”

“Oh.” Preeti sighed. She supposed she knew that already, but she didn’t want to believe it. It was just too painful to think of her special friend leaving. She decided to push it to the back of her mind.

“I’ll see you later,” she said as she went out and closed the barn door behind her.

From now on, she was going to make sure that she enjoyed every single moment spent with Comet.

“It is strange to think that we will celebrate
Holi
in a few days,” Grandma commented the following day. She was in the kitchen, making coconut sweets. “Who would think it would snow so heavily in March?”

“I know, it doesn’t feel like we should be celebrating the coming of spring,” Preeti replied. She was helping to make
the delicious sweets they usually gave away as gifts when visiting friends and relatives.

Mrs. Nimesh came in from her office to have a coffee break. “You two look busy,” she said, smiling, looking at the trays of colorful treats. “So many? Who will eat them all? I think it might be a rather quiet
Holi
this year.”

Preeti felt disappointed, as she thought
her mom could be right. The snow was keeping everyone from traveling.

She loved it when everyone gathered together at festival times.
Holi
was particularly fun because it was associated with Lord Krishna, who was famous for making trouble and playing tricks on his friends. It was a time for everyone to do the same. People wore their oldest clothes and threw brightly colored powders at each other.

Viren enjoyed it especially, because he was allowed to get really messy without being yelled at! But this year it looked as if their family would be celebrating alone because of the dangerously icy roads.

“Couldn’t we have a party here?” Preeti pleaded, looking at her mom. “Some of our friends live close enough to
walk. We could make a big bonfire in the snow. Dad’s got lots of dry wood in the barn. It would be fun and we could keep warm playing games and dancing.”

Her mom looked thoughtful. “It would mean a lot of work, cooking and preparing party food.”

“I’ll help!” Preeti offered at once.

Mrs. Nimesh nodded. “All right. Why not? I will go and make some phone calls, right away.”

“Yay!” Preeti cried delightedly.

Viren wandered in playing a video game. It was making twittering and popping noises as he pressed the buttons with his thumbs. He grabbed a few of the cooling coconut squares, and popped a piece in his mouth.

“Mmm. You make the best sweets
in the whole world, Grandma!” he exclaimed, rubbing his tummy.

“You silly boy! You will not get around me like that!” Grandma ruffled her grandson’s curly dark hair, but she was smiling with pleasure. “But that’s enough now, or you will not eat your lunch,” she scolded fondly.

Viren turned to Preeti. “Who’s Mom calling?” Preeti told him about the party they were planning. “Cool! A snow party. Comet can come, too. We’ll powder him with all different colors. He’ll love
Holi
!” Plunking himself on the sofa at the far end of the eat-in kitchen, Viren switched on the TV.

Preeti was rolling the sweet mixture into small balls when she heard the newscaster’s voice floating toward her.

“. . .
a woman who was rescued in the early hours of yesterday morning after her car skidded into a ditch has reported a mysterious ghostly sighting of a girl and a pony. Apparently the girl spoke to her. The driver of a snowplow also glimpsed them briefly in his headlights, before the girl and her pony disappeared without a trace. If anyone has any information . . .”

“Oh no!” Preeti murmured under
her breath. She felt herself growing hot and was sure her face must have been bright red. “I have to go and . . . um . . . do something in the barn,” she mumbled hastily, washing her sticky hands. “See you later!” she called over her shoulder as she hightailed it out of the kitchen.

Grandma and Viren didn’t respond. They were glued to the TV, spellbound by the story of the ghostly girl and her pony.