Silver Dream (15 page)

The ride back was slow and peaceful.
Bonnie ambled along at a relaxed walk, so of course David teased
Joanna that Bonnie wasn’t
that
hard to ride bareback, and
that he was obviously a much better rider than she was. Joanna
dared him to go faster, but when he asked the mare to pace, she
wouldn’t listen to him.

“Joanna had no problem getting
her to go fast,” said Cally, joining the banter.

David tried to get Bonnie to
pace again, but she’d have none of that. Instead she stubbornly
continued to walk, her ears back.

“Well, she is in foal,” said
Joanna.

“Oh, I didn’t know,” said David.
He leaned over the black’s neck. “Sorry, girl.”

Bonnie sighed deeply, obviously
exasperated with humans. The two horses’ hoof beats drummed a
regular tattoo on the road. The night was warm and bright. “Breeze
is lovely to ride,” said Joanna. “So smooth, and a nice long
stride.”

“Is he?” asked Cally. “He seems
bumpy to me.”

“I’ll let you ride Raven
tomorrow. Then you can see the difference that a long stride
makes.”

“I’m leaving tomorrow,
remember?”

“Oh, yeah,” Joanna said softly.
“I wish…”

“Me too.” A long moment of
silence. “Hey, do you have any ideas yet on what to do with
Raven?”

“Who’s Raven, and what’s the
problem?” asked David.

“Joanna’s pony. She’s growing
too big for him.”

“You have to sell him?”

“I hope not,” said Joanna. “I
wish I could think of some way to keep him.”

“You don’t have any younger
brothers or sisters, eh?”

“Just two older brothers.”

“Younger cousins? Or what about
leasing him to a younger sister or brother of a friend?”

Joanna paused. She didn’t have
any younger cousins who lived nearby, but leasing to a friend’s
younger sibling? That was a possibility. She couldn’t think of any
friends with an obviously horse crazy little brother or sister, but
still, it was the best idea she’d heard yet.

“It’s so dark,” said Cally,
bringing Joanna’s attention back to their surroundings.

“What?”

“The house. Look. He’s not home
yet.”

Cally was right. They’d come in
sight of the house and every light was still off. “Don’t worry,”
said Joanna. “Angelica will help him.”

“What if he grabbed her like he
tried before?”

“Don’t worry about Angelica,”
said David. “She can take care of herself. She’ll have some trick
up her sleeve.”

They came to the head of the
driveway, and Breeze automatically turned in as if he were going
home. Bonnie paused at the road to look in the direction Joanna
knew her farm was, then reluctantly followed Breeze.

“Tomorrow, Bonnie. Don’t worry.
You can go home tomorrow.”

“Look,” said Cally, her voice a
hushed whisper. She pointed toward the shed.

Now that they were closer,
Joanna could see a faint light come from the small building,
obviously not the bare electrical bulb that hung from the ceiling.
This was a soft rainbow glow.

She slipped to the ground, and
Cally dismounted after her.

“Don’t worry. I know what it
is,” said David, sliding from Bonnie’s sleek back.

“What?” asked Joanna.

David smiled. “I’m guessing one
of the coolest things we’ll ever see.”

Together Joanna and Cally crept
to the open shed door, David right behind them.

Cally inhaled sharply, and
Joanna’s mouth dropped open. There in the center of the small shed
stood six ponies – Silver Sky and the fillies. Light sparked along
their backbones to their manes, between their ears, and down their
noses to Mr. Thomas, lying sound asleep on a straw bed at their
hooves. In the narrow spaces between the ponies’ bodies, Joanna
watched the sparkles land on him and dance for a moment, then
slowly fade away.

“What are they doing?” whispered
Cally.

“Something good,” David
whispered back. “With Angelica it’s always something good.”

They were all around him, his horses,
grey and dull, just as usual. The dream was back.

He tried to open his eyes. Tried to
wake. But he couldn’t. He wanted to scream with frustration. Was
this nightmare going to accuse him for the rest of his days?

A tiny whispered melody brushed against
his mind. A flash of rainbow light touched Dancer’s back, then
leapt to Rocket Gal’s mane, to Thunder’s flank, to Wings’ shoulder.
And everywhere it sparkled, it grew.

What was happening? The dream was
different now. Amazingly, gloriously different!

Dullness slid from horse bodies until
they glistened black, red, bay, white. Then the grey melted from
the landscape all around them.

He was standing in a green field now.
Amazed, he turned in a circle. The sky was sapphire blue, and the
grass vibrant with life. A massive oak displayed florescent leaves
on graceful boughs. More horses grazed in the distance, greys,
bays, blacks, and chestnuts. Familiar horses. Horses he had raised,
horses who had once lived on his farm, long ago.

He turned back to his friends, stroking
each on his or her satin neck, gratefully and reverently. They
didn’t seem to be accusing him any more.

But they didn’t need to. His own guilt
still stabbed at him.

“
I’m sorry, my friends,” he murmured.
“I didn’t see his trick in time to stop him. Even if I could’ve
proven what he did, I may have gotten you back. But I failed. I am
so sorry.”

“
Nevertheless, you are the one who
has indirectly brought Williams to justice.”

He spun around. “Who’s there?” he
stammered. A bay mare raised her head at the edge of the distant
herd.

“
A friend who tells you the
truth.”

He swallowed nervously. “You say that
Williams has been brought to justice?”

“
He has. Think no more of him. Enjoy
this time with your friends. Soon you will wake from this slumber
and you will not see them again until you pass over.”

The bay was walking toward him now and,
one by one, the others fell in behind, ears pricked forward and
eyes bright. He remembered the mare in the lead. She’d been a
promising young filly, bouncy and full of life, right from the
moment of her birth. Kathy had adored her and wanted to call her
Bunny because she was always leaping about. Though he had to give
her a real racehorse name, Dance In Time, her barn name became
Bunny – until Williams bought her.

No, he had to get that man out of his
head.

“
I must tell you a second thing,
which is as important. Remember, when you need help, do not be too
proud to ask. You will miss out on much if you cannot learn to move
beyond pride.”

What was the voice talking about?

“
Remember my words. Goodbye.”

“
Wait!”

Something touched his arm and he spun
around. Wings. The voice had said he wouldn’t see them again until
he crossed over. A sob caught in his throat. Did that mean his
friends were all dead, and he wouldn’t see them either until he
died?

But of course they were gone. They had
lived on his farm thirty years ago. How had he thought they were
still alive? Time was playing tricks in his mind. There was only
one thing to do. Obey the voice, and enjoy his limited time with
his friends. Forget Williams, forever. He could do that now,
especially since the man had been brought to justice. He wasn’t
worth another thought.

And the second thing the voice said,
about being proud – what was it talking about? How could he be too
proud when he felt so humbled by failure?

Yet it seemed wise, this voice, and it
had given him this perfect gift.

He’d think about pride later, he
decided. This moment he would not waste.

The magical sparks slowly disappeared
from the ponies and one by one they raised their heads to look at
Joanna, Cally, and David standing in the doorway.

“Where did they come from?”
asked Cally, bewildered. “What’s happening?”

“They’re our ponies,” Joanna
said. “But I have no idea what just happened.”

Silver Sky nickered to Joanna
and walked toward her, and when he moved she could see Angelica
kneeling near Mr. Thomas’s head.

“Angelica?” Joanna’s hand moved
automatically to stroke Silver Sky.

Angelica looked up at the three
of them. “We gave him good dreams this time,” she said and smiled.
“His long nightmares are over.”

Joanna yawned as she rode home from the
fillies’ paddock. It was such a relief to have them back in their
pasture, safe and sound, even though she hadn’t been too worried
about them. She knew Angelica would never purposefully put the
ponies in danger.

When they got to the first gate,
Silver Sky went through the movements like a pro. “Good boy, Sky,”
said Joanna and patted him on his glistening shoulder. “What a
night, eh? All this isn’t over either, but we can at least get some
sleep before the next round.”

Silver Sky nickered to her as he
strode along.

“You were magnificent tonight,
buddy.” And he had been. The way he, the fillies, and Angelica had
saved, possibly even changed, Mr. Thomas was amazing. After they’d
left the shed Angelica quickly explained to a worried Cally that
her grandfather was fine, and even potentially more than fine. The
ponies had given him peace, she said, and she’d given him some
advice that she hoped desperately he would take.

When Cally had asked what,
Angelica just smiled. That was between the two of them, she said.
Then she gave them each a necklace, including a new one for David,
and told them how to use the magical necklaces if they ever needed
her.

David’s car started right up,
and after exchanging contact information with Cally and Joanna he
wished them well and drove off, waving back through his open
window. Before Joanna took her ponies home she promised Cally she’d
be over the next morning. Angelica came with her as far as the
property boundary to show her where she’d made the hole in the
fence. Then, after Joanna had the ponies through and the rails were
back in place, Angelica gave each of them a farewell hug.

Joanna sighed and brushed the
tingling necklace with her fingertips. She was so glad Angelica had
given it to her. Thinking she might never see the otherworldly
teenager again would’ve made her far too sad. Also, the necklace
was her only reminder of David, Cally, and their whirlwind
adventure.

They went through the second
gate, and Joanna rode the stallion across the stable yard. Raven’s
loud neigh came from inside the barn as they approached.

Joanna tightened Silver Sky’s
reins, so the stallion wouldn’t respond. “Shhh, Sky. I don’t want
to wake anyone up.”