A Glittering Gallop (3 page)

Flame scampered outside after Zoe as she took a shortcut across the lawn to the orchard. The late afternoon sun cast long shadows from the apple trees. There was a summer house in one corner and a patch of fruit bushes nearby. Zoe began picking raspberries from their canes. “I love it down here. It’s almost like a secret garden,” she told Flame.

“It is warm and peaceful. I feel safe here,” Flame purred happily, stretching out full length in the warm grass.

Suddenly Zoe saw a flash of reddish
brown and a slim shape dashed through the trees.

“Wow! A fox,” she breathed.

She froze. But the fox had already seen her. It dashed toward the greenhouse and ducked under some bushes.

Flame sat bolt upright and gave an eager little mew.

“Did you see that fox, too? Wasn’t it gorgeous?” Zoe said excitedly.

Flame didn’t answer at first. He stared fixedly at a big, twisted tree that was near the garden wall. “There are some humans over there!”

“Where…?” Zoe began, frowning.

A boy and a girl shot out from behind the tree and hurtled toward the garden wall. They both wore jeans, T-shirts, and sneakers and looked about
ten years old, the same as Zoe.

“Hey!” Zoe yelled, sprinting after them. Those kids must have been trying to steal her nana’s apples!

The kids reached the wall. They scrambled up the uneven stone, as agile as monkeys. The girl reached the top first. She swung her leg over and disappeared down the other side. When the boy got to the top, he crouched there on his knees and glanced over his shoulder.

Zoe caught a glimpse of a thin, worried face, glasses, and floppy dark hair.

Suddenly, the boy wobbled. He gave a yell. Almost in slow motion, he toppled backward.

“Oh no! He’s falling!” Zoe gasped in horror.

Time seemed to stand still as Flame
appeared by Zoe’s feet, sparks igniting in his fluffy calico fur and his whiskers crackling with electricity.

A warm tingle flowed down Zoe’s spine and she shivered, strangely certain that something was about to happen.

Flame lifted a tiny, ginger-tipped white paw and a bright stream of sparks shot out from it, hitting an empty bag of candy at the base of the wall.

The bag instantly turned into an enormous pile of giant, squishy pink marshmallows.

It was only just in time.

“Oof!” The boy landed on the
massive marshmallow pile. His glasses slipped off his nose and bounced on to the grass as he sank deeper into the pillowy marshmallows.

Zoe ran over to him. “Are you okay?” she asked anxiously.

“I thought I was going to break a leg!” the boy said, sitting up and looking dazed.

“It would have served you right!” Zoe said indignantly to this apple-stealing boy, now that she could see he wasn’t hurt.

The boy blinked up at her shortsightedly. “Who are you? What have I landed on?”

Every time he moved, he slid and bounced about on the marshmallows. Pink blobs were stuck all over his hair and face. He looked so funny that Zoe had to bite back a smile.

“Um…leaves and grass and stuff!” she improvised, making frantic waving signs to Flame behind her back.

Flame waved his paw again. To Zoe’s relief, the pile of marshmallows magically transformed into a big pile of apple-tree leaves. She saw that every bit of pink
marshmallow had disappeared from the boy and the sparkles had faded from Flame’s fur.

The boy pushed himself on to his knees and started feeling all around him. “Where are my glasses? I can’t see a thing without them.”

“Well done, Flame,” Zoe whispered, as she started looking for the glasses.

Flame purred and rubbed himself against her ankles.

Zoe spotted the glasses in a patch of long grass. Picking them up, she handed them to the boy. “Here you are.”

“Thanks.” The boy put his glasses on and pushed his floppy dark hair out of his eyes. “Hi! I’m Todd Trapman,” he said, flashing Zoe a grin. “I live next
door. What are you doing here? I haven’t seen you before.”

“I’m Zoe. I’m staying with my nana. This is her garden, and you’re trespassing!” Zoe said. “I should report you for stealing her apples!”

“Me and Todd weren’t stealing!” called a girl’s voice.

Zoe looked up to see a girl perched on top of the wall. She had floppy, dark hair, too, but hers was long and tied into a ponytail. Except for the glasses, she looked exactly like Todd.

“That’s my sister, Tracy,” said Todd.

“You’re twins,” Zoe said.

“Ten out of ten for observation!” Tracy joked.

Zoe couldn’t help grinning. “Well, anyway, what were you doing in here?”

The twins exchanged wary glances. “Don’t tell her, Todd. I don’t think…” Tracy began.

“It’s okay, Tracy. She helped me just now. I think we can trust her,” Todd said.

“We’ve been coming over here to feed Bracken. We think she’s probably had cubs,” he explained.

“Bracken?” Zoe asked, confused.

“The fox that lives near here,” Tracy explained.

Zoe’s face lit up. “Oh! I just saw her!”

Todd nodded. “She knows us now, but she’s still shy around strangers. That’s why she ran away when she saw you.”

“She hasn’t brought her cubs here yet, but we’re sure that she will when she thinks it’s safe. We’re dying to see them,” Tracy added.

Zoe felt excited. It would be great to see Bracken with her cubs.

“That’s a really cute kitten. Is it yours?” Todd said suddenly, bending down to stroke Flame’s tiny ears. The calico kitten purred in appreciation.

Zoe nodded. “Yes. His name is Flame. I, um…haven’t had him long.” She looked up at Tracy. “Why do you and Todd come over the wall? It’s really
dangerous. I bet my nana would let you use the gate if you asked her.”

“As if!” Tracy scoffed. “People who have chickens aren’t very eager to take care of foxes. She’s more likely to want to poison Bracken.”

“She wouldn’t!” Zoe cried, horrified. “Nana loves wildlife. She won’t even use slug pellets, in case a hedgehog eats one.”

“Really?” Todd said. “Maybe we
could
ask her, Tracy.”

Tracy’s eyes blazed. “No way! You swore we’d keep it a secret! Bracken relies on us, and I’m not letting her down. We can’t risk it.”

“But think about it, Tracy. I nearly broke my leg falling off the wall today. It would be a lot easier to come in through the garden gate,” Todd said
reasonably. “What about if Zoe puts in a word for us with her nana? Would you, Zoe?”

Zoe thought about it. She decided it would actually be nice to have some people her own age around. “Okay. We can go and ask her now if you like.”

“Ask me what?” said a voice behind Zoe.

Joy Swann came through the trees. “I came to see why you were taking so long to pick those raspberries.” She looked at Zoe and Todd, who was still stroking Flame. “Who’s your young friend, Zoe?” she asked and then she glanced up at Tracy. “And would someone like to tell me why there’s a girl sitting on the top of my garden wall?”

“…and that’s why Todd and Tracy have been climbing into the orchard for the past few weeks,” Zoe finished explaining about Bracken.

Her nana nodded, taking it all in, and then she smiled. “Well, I must say it’s nice to meet my new neighbors at last—even if it is in a rather unusual way! I was wondering who’d moved into the
old barn buildings across the back field.”

Todd smiled with relief, but Tracy still looked a little worried. “You…you won’t tell our parents about this, will you?” she asked. “Dad will go crazy if he finds out!”

“As you’re not going to be climbing over my wall from now on, I don’t think I need to speak to your parents,” Zoe’s nana said. “Now, why don’t we all go into the house, and you can have something to eat while you tell me a bit more about Bracken.”

In the kitchen, Zoe and the twins sat at the kitchen table. Zoe stroked Flame, who was curled up on her lap.

Her nana fetched cool drinks and

then passed around a plate piled with warm muffins, topped with butter
and raspberries.

“Wow! Thanks, Mrs. Swann,” Todd said, digging in.

“Call me Joy,” she replied, smiling and listening with interest as the twins told her their suspicions that Bracken had had cubs.

“We’ve seen her near the gardens at the back of Bants Lane a couple of times. We think she has a den over there,” Tracy told her.

Joy Swann nodded. “That’s a likely place for a fox’s den. Some of those gardens are really overgrown. Let me know if Bracken brings her cubs into my garden. I’d love to see them.”

“We will!” chorused Todd and Tracy.

“The old summer house is a good spot for a night watch, if you’d like to
come over sometime!” Zoe’s nana said with a twinkle in her eye.

“Cool!” Todd said.

Tracy’s eyes widened in surprise. “How come you don’t mind having a fox coming into your garden? What about your chickens?”

Joy Swann pushed a strand of unruly bright red hair off her face. “I built the henhouse myself. The run’s fox-proof, and I always shut the bantams away at night for good measure. Unless Bracken brings a pair of wire-cutters with her, my chickens are pretty safe!”

Everyone laughed.

“Thanks very much for the muffins, Mrs. Swann—I mean, Joy,” Todd corrected himself. “We have to go now. Our ponies need exercising.”