Puzzle: The Runaway Pony (6 page)

Chapter Eight

“I RECOGNISE that pony!” Mrs Millar, the owner of Clover Hill Stables, boomed as she walked bow-legged towards the gate with a huge smile, her grey hair pulled back into a hairnet beneath her velvet riding hat. “Wish Me Luck! How’s she doing? She looks a picture! What a lovely surprise!”

Mrs Millar gave Wish a hearty slap on the rump, startling the mare, who dipped her back end, her ears out sideways. Then, Mrs Millar turned to Mia and gave her a crushing hug before asking them to come on in, sizing up and appraising the ponies as she spoke.

The girls dismounted and led their ponies into
the small, weathered but tidy yard. A couple of the helpers recognised Wish and ran over to say hello, wanting to hear all about her. Mia was happy to update them, listing the highlights of her winning sequence since buying the palomino a year and a half ago.

After the helpers had patted and fussed over Wish, saying how nice it was to see her and Mia, they jogged back to their hectic round of preparing the horses on the yard for exercise. When the helpers had ridden out on two of them, Mrs Millar asked the girls to walk with her as she got her next horse, a flighty three-year-old, ready to lunge.

“Mrs Millar… Do you remember a horse you had on the yard called Faraway Phantom?” Mia asked, pulling the photo out of her pocket. She stood back as the horse in the stable squealed, his ears pricked while Mrs Millar calmly and coolly busied around him.

Mrs Millar’s eyes lit up. “Of course I do! Young horse, quirky to sit on, had a difficult
background before I got him, but a real superstar over a fence.”

Mia nodded and the other girls grinned at each other, realising they’d made the right decision to come to this yard.

“Went to Compton Manor quite recently,” Mrs Millar said, pausing for a second and looking at the girls. “He’s not for sale again already, is he? I had him here for another year after you bought Wish, you know. He wouldn’t have suited everyone. I only sold him, what, must be six months ago now.”

“No, he’s not for sale,” Mia explained, “but he’s escaped from Compton Manor, and we, well, we were hoping he might have somehow made his way back here, considering he knew the place.”

Mrs Millar shook her head, a look of concern on her face.

“Good thought,” she agreed, “but sadly not. Well, I’ll certainly keep my eye out for the poor chap, and give you a ring if I see him. I hope he’s
going to be okay if he’s wandering about in this weather. He’s a light-conditioned horse, easily unsettled and always worrying his weight off at the best of times.”

The girls looked at each other: that was exactly what they’d feared.

“What did you think about Pixie, the girl who bought him?” Charlie asked. “How did she get on when she tried Phantom?”

Mrs Millar shook her head. “Didn’t see the girl – Pixie, did you say her name was? Yes, I remember that now. No, her father came, nice enough chap but not really horsey. Said he wanted a top competition horse for his daughter, said that money was no object, he wanted the best. Said the horse would be going to Compton Manor, where his daughter would be able to have lots of lessons from experienced competition riders, and they’d promised to help her with whichever horse he bought.” Mrs Millar paused to tuck a strap into its keeper on the horse’s bridle.

“I wouldn’t normally have sold a horse without seeing the rider”, she continued, “but I’d called Compton Manor myself and spoken to Mrs Compton. She’d assured me that her daughter, who was in charge of the Under 16s yard, would personally look after Pixie and would report any problems straight to her. I offered to come over and give Pixie lessons myself, but Mrs Compton said that they’d take care of everything. I was convinced, and Pixie’s father said his daughter was a very good little rider, anyway.”

The girls exchanged glances, thinking that he’d clearly exaggerated a bit.

Mrs Millar opened the stable door and the girls stood back as the youngster bounced out of his stable on his toes, skittering sideways. The girls followed at a distance.

“Anyway, got to get on. Was there anything else at all?” Mrs Millar asked, paying attention to the huge, playful chestnut on the end of the lunge line as she led him to the school.

“No, that’s it. Thanks very much, Mrs Millar,” Mia called out.

“Well, let me know when you find him, won’t you?” Mrs Millar said genuinely, before pausing a second and looking over at Charlie. “And let me know if you’d like me to fix you up with your next horse. I’ve got some lovely ones at the moment. About time you moved up to something bigger, I’d say.”

Charlie’s mouth dropped open for a second, and she put her arm defensively around Pirate’s neck and hugged him to her. Pirate leaned back against her.

“Phantom,” Mrs Millar said, as she strode out to the school, “very distinctive, what with his—”

At that second her mobile phone rang and she fished it out of her pocket. “Got to go, girls. Lovely to meet you all. Stay in touch! Hello? Mrs Millar speaking…”

The girls remounted. Charlie put Pirate in the lead and he jigged forward, eager to be off.
The others looked across at each other, then at Charlie.

“Listen, Charlie, about what Mrs Millar said…” Mia began.

“She was really helpful about Phantom, wasn’t she?” Charlie said, smiling too brightly.

“Er, yes…” Mia said, “but that wasn’t what I was talking about. I meant—”

“I know what you meant, but I don’t get why everyone suddenly wants to talk about me and my pony, especially when we’ve got much more important things to worry about,” Charlie said, more sharply than she meant to. “We need to focus on the reason we
actually
came here: Phantom.”

Charlie’s eyes glistened just for a second before she cleared her throat. “Pixie’s dad has been mentioned a couple of times now,” she continued, making it crystal clear that Mrs Millar’s comment about her getting a new horse was not up for discussion.

Mia shrugged to Alice and Rosie. They
guessed that if Charlie wanted to talk about it, she would, so they changed the subject.

“Right. So what do we know about Pixie’s dad?” Alice said, as Charlie rode slightly ahead, staying quiet.

“We know now that he bought Phantom without Pixie being there to help choose him,” Mia said, “which fits with Pixie not knowing he came from Clover Hill.”

“And it sounds like he set her up at Compton Manor,” Alice added.

“But then he seems to have disappeared soon after,” Rosie said. “Maybe her parents split up?”

“Possibly,” Mia agreed. “That might explain a few things. Anyway, Pixie knew that her time was up at Compton Manor, thanks to Sasha, so where was she going to take Phantom next? She must have had a plan. I mean, it sounds like she could’ve been asked to leave any day.”

The girls rode in silence for a moment.

“I wonder why she didn’t tell us about any of
that stuff?” Alice asked. “I mean, it’s kind of relevant, isn’t it?”

“Maybe she felt embarrassed?” Rosie suggested as they continued speculating on the way back to the yard. “Anyway, it doesn’t really matter, does it? Phantom’s still missing, either way.”

But all their discussions kept coming back to Pixie and the lack of detail that she’d told them about the case.

“The trouble is, Pixie keeping stuff back might be getting in the way of us finding Phantom – we just don’t know,” Mia said as they reached Blackberry Farm and slid out of their saddles, just as the rain started to fall again. “I think we need to go back over the details we have so far.”

They quickly put the ponies away, rugging them up and checking that they had full haynets and water buckets. Then they rushed round to the hay barn, sliding the door shut and climbing up into the loft as the rain started to patter more heavily on the roof above them. Alice shivered
and pulled a rug over her shoulders, as Mia got out her notebook and flipped to the page with Phantom’s name at the top, adding the details from Mrs Millar and Sasha.

“Look, Pixie has given us very little information so far,” Mia pointed out, showing the others the page. “It’s just basic stuff about what Phantom looks like.”

“Everything else has come from what we found out today,” Charlie said, looking a bit less glum now that everyone was concentrating on the mysteries again.

They looked down the list that Mia had written below Pixie’s description of Phantom and his disappearance.

“Pixie could have told us all of that right at the start,” Alice said, reading through it.

“It’s almost as if she doesn’t
want
us to find Phantom,” Rosie suggested. “But why?”

“I’m not sure she’s even missing him,” Charlie added after a short silence. “Maybe, just maybe, if she was as scared as Sasha said she was, and Phantom’s as much of a handful as Mrs Millar described, then she might even be relieved that Sasha set him loose.”

“Especially if she didn’t have a clue where to stable him after her time was up at Compton Manor,” Alice agreed.

At that moment there was a squeal of bike brakes. As Puzzle whickered a welcome, they knew that Pixie had arrived.

Chapter Nine

AS the girls emerged out of the hay barn and into the yard Pixie skipped across without noticing them, beaming as she headed straight to Puzzle’s stable. She was getting more and more confident with him, probably because he was very quiet and affectionate, unlike the description they’d got earlier of Phantom.

Although it was raining, Pixie was like a ray of sunshine in her yellow waterproof jacket and pale blue jods, with her yellow bag and a long,
multi-coloured
scarf wrapped around her customary plait. Minutes later Daisy arrived, after her dad dropped her off at the end of her morning shift at Hope Farm.

“I’d really love another pony,” Daisy sighed as
she joined Pixie in Puzzle’s stable and they began grooming him. “If I could have one like Puzzle, I’d be really happy.”

“Me too,” Pixie said dreamily, giving him a hug, before looking suddenly guilty and backtracking. “I mean, I love Phantom, it’s not that, I… I just meant that if I
didn’t
have Phantom, then Puzzle’s the kind of pony I might like.”

Charlie, who had been standing at the door, tickling Puzzle’s drooping lower lip, glanced up. Pixie blushed, distracting herself by grabbing the spare bridle Mia had adjusted. Puzzle had put on weight since getting to the yard, and they’d decided that, as his leg was healing brilliantly, they’d see what he was like to ride. Then, if he was okay, the next morning while Daisy was at Hope Farm Pixie could join the other four and ride him on a hack. They were going to the field where they’d put up the notice, to check that it was still in position.

Pixie slipped the headpiece over Puzzle’s ears
as he lowered his head for her, and gently slid in the bit. Then she led him out of the stable. They hadn’t put a saddle on because they didn’t think any of theirs would fit well enough not to rub or press him in the wrong places.

The other five girls had voted that Charlie, the bravest of the riders, should be the first to sit on Puzzle. Charlie had happily agreed, and Rosie had legged her up onto Puzzle’s broad back. Charlie felt the warmth of his sturdy body as she wrapped her legs around him. He was a hand taller than Pirate at 14.2hh, but Puzzle felt much bigger because he was very chunky and cobby and her legs had to stretch much further to get round him.

Charlie squeezed Puzzle. That would’ve been enough to send Pirate into an immediate speedy jog, but Puzzle took a moment longer to respond. After a second or two’s delay, he walked steadily out into the muddy ring in the schooling paddock behind the stables. Charlie walked him on both reins, making sure that he was warmed
up before squeezing him into a trot. At first nothing happened, so Charlie asked again, this time more firmly, and he popped into a slow, comfortable trot. His ears flickered back and forward as he listened to Charlie. She smiled, thinking how short-striding and speedy Pirate’s trot was compared to Puzzle’s.

She asked him for a canter and he bobbed forward. Charlie sat easily on his broad back as he cantered steadily and slightly lazily, his pink nose poking out just a bit. Then after a circuit of the ring Charlie squeezed on the reins and he fell back into a trot. She re-balanced him and rode him over to the others, who were sitting on the fence huddled up in their jackets as they watched.

“He’s so sweet!” Charlie beamed, patting Puzzle. His ears pricked, and he got mints offered from all sides. “He didn’t put a hoof wrong. He’s a bit stiff at the moment, but that’s not surprising. I reckon he hasn’t been ridden for a while, but he’s been nicely schooled in the past – it wouldn’t take
long to get him going really well again. Daisy, Pixie, do either of you want to have a go on him?”

Pixie almost fell off the fence as she pushed Daisy in front of her, and Daisy almost fell off in her eagerness to have a go. Charlie legged Daisy up while Puzzle stood quietly, looking round as she landed gently on his back. She walked him round and even tried a little jog, but then started laughing and nearly slid off, so she brought him back to the fence.

“Come on, Pixie,” she said, “even
I
felt safe up there, and that’s saying something. He really is lovely to sit on.”

Pixie didn’t look convinced, but the others persuaded her and she suddenly gave in.

“Okay, okay!” She smiled, and hopped off the fence. “I’ll do it!”

Charlie gave her a leg-up and stood beside her to begin with. Pixie looked anxious and jittery, tipping forward and holding her reins far too tight, so much so that Puzzle raised his head, a confused
look on his big, honest face. Pixie squealed nervously, looking as if she was going to get off. But Charlie just told her to ease up on the reins and, when she did, Puzzle dropped his head and stepped forward. It wasn’t long before Pixie started to radiate happiness as sunny as her yellow raincoat as she went round. Once she’d relaxed and realised that Puzzle wasn’t going to do anything scary, it became clear that she was actually a good rider, just like her dad had told Mrs Millar.

Pixie rode over to them, beaming.

“So, all set for the ride to the field tomorrow, then?” Rosie asked, jumping off the fence and patting the contented cob. Everyone looked at Pixie expectantly, including Daisy, who was having to miss the ride.

“Er… I guess I am!” She laughed, leaning down along Puzzle’s neck and putting her arms around him. He pricked his ears as everyone gave him lots of fuss, and Rosie was convinced that he was smiling as they led him back to the stables.

On Sunday morning the heavens opened, and it wasn’t until nearly lunchtime that it finally eased up and the five could set out under a sullen sky. They agreed to ride at a walk the whole way to the field as Pixie didn’t have a saddle. After her trial ride the day before she looked totally relaxed from the start. As Puzzle strode happily along, his fluffy ears pricked and his eyes bright, it seemed like a million years ago that he’d turned up looking wild and abandoned. His coat was already so much better from all the grooming and fuss that Pixie and Daisy had given him.

They eventually turned onto the bridleway alongside the edge of the woods, which led to the field where they’d pinned the notice. The path started off with enough room to ride two abreast between the woods and the fencing, and Mia and Alice led at the front, followed by Rosie. Behind them Pixie rode along next to Charlie.
Pixie glanced sideways as Charlie took her feet out of the stirrups, letting her legs hang down.

“You’re going to need longer stirrups soon,” Pixie smiled.

“Or a bigger horse,” Charlie replied with a huge sigh, “as everyone keeps telling me.”

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t realise…” Pixie said, looking awkward for a second.

“No, it’s okay, I didn’t mean you,” Charlie said quietly. “But you’re right. Everyone’s noticing how tall I’m getting, and Pirate here isn’t growing with me, are you, boy?”

Charlie leaned down and hugged Pirate’s chunky bay neck. He flickered his ears back for a second, then pricked them forwards again.

“So what are you going to do?” Pixie asked.

“Well, I’ve tried not thinking about it,” Charlie smiled brightly, acting as if it was no big deal. But as she looked up at Pixie’s pale face and sympathetic eyes she realised that she wasn’t fooling anyone, least of all herself. She sighed
heavily. She knew she finally had to face what was happening. “The trouble is I can’t afford to buy another horse without selling Pirate, but there’s no way I’d ever do that. I’d rather not ride at all and keep him, but I don’t know if that’s fair on him. Everything seems really muddled at the moment. I feel totally stuck, and I don’t know what to do next.”

“I know how
tha
t feels,” Pixie said quietly, twisting Puzzle’s mane in her fingers as above and around them drizzle began to patter down heavily. Charlie glanced at her and was about to ask why, when Mia pulled up Wish just ahead and called out to them.

“The notice is still here.”

The ponies gathered round the gatepost. The notice was flapping in the breeze in its plastic covering, but looking slightly weathered.

“And we haven’t had any calls yet,” Alice sighed. “So I guess no one’s seen it yet, either.”

They stood and looked at the notice for
a second, wondering what to do next. Then Wish suddenly raised her head and stared into the woods. She let out an ear-piercing neigh and broke into a trot, following the path as it disappeared into the trees. The mare ignored Mia as she sat into the saddle and squeezed the reins to bring her back to walk.

“Wish!” Mia said, using the reins a bit harder until her mare begrudgingly listened to her and waited restlessly for the others.

“Is she okay?” Pixie asked as they caught up. The rain was starting to fall more heavily while the skies darkened above, making the path even gloomier.

“Hang on a sec!” Rosie gulped, starting to panic. “If we follow this path deeper into the woods, it’ll take us close to…”

“The Old Forge!” Alice said, feeling the hairs stand up on her arms as Wish let out another shrill neigh.

Mia looked at her mare – Wish’s
caramel-coloured
ears, darkened and dripping with rain, were pricked, her head high.

“Maybe we
should
go back there,” she said, unsure, as they stood gathered in a bunch on the path inside the woods. “I mean, Wish seems to think we should. We can have a really quick look and then head back, that’s all.”

“That’s all?!” Rosie squeaked. “That won’t be all when we’re racing away from here again and one of us gets left behind and sucked up by the ghouls! It’s all right for you – you’re on a fast horse. Think about me and Pixie – she hasn’t even got a saddle to cling onto if Puzzle gets spooked!”

“Rosie’s right,” Pixie suddenly piped up, looking whiter than a sheet as she sat rigidly on Puzzle at the back of the group. “I… I don’t really fancy heading down there. It’s a seriously scary place. I think we should stop right now and go back.”

“Maybe Mia’s got a point, though.” Charlie shivered as Pirate stomped his front hoof
impatiently. “I know it’s spooky, but we could just take a really quick look…?”

At that second Wish let out another shrill neigh and shot forward, staring into the gloom of the path. The other ponies followed instinctively, then suddenly there was a loud cry behind them. They quickly pulled up and turned to see Pixie sitting on the muddy ground, holding her left wrist gingerly. Puzzle was gazing down at her with big questioning eyes. Charlie immediately jumped off Pirate and knelt down next to Pixie. After prodding Pixie’s wrist gently, making her yelp, Charlie stood back and sighed.

“I’m not really sure,” she said uncertainly, “but Pixie can still move it quite a bit, so it could just be sprained.”

“What happened?” Alice asked, looking behind her.

“I… I don’t know,” Pixie said, shaking her head. “I think Puzzle must have been spooked by Wish. He just kind of jumped forward a bit when
the other ponies set off and I slid sideways…”

The others looked quizzically at each other, then at Puzzle. He didn’t seem like the kind of pony to be spooked by anything.

“He was most likely terrified by the ghost horse,” Rosie agreed.

“We should probably get back,” Mia said, looking at Pixie’s white, scared face.

Charlie legged Pixie back up onto Puzzle, then jumped onto Pirate. Mia battled to turn Wish away from the path, with the mare raising her head and fighting for a second before she swung her quarters round with a sigh, her ears grumpily turned out sideways. They took it really slowly because of Pixie, but almost as soon as they reached the lane she seemed to get some colour back in her face and looked less pinched as she rode along with her left arm tucked into her jacket as a makeshift sling.

By the time they got back to Blackberry Farm the rain had just about stopped. Daisy was there waiting for them, and she helped the girls get
their ponies settled in their stables, out of the moaning wind. They left the ponies cosily tucked up in their rugs, munching on their hay.

The ride home had taken longer than they’d planned because they could only walk and had to take it really slowly. As they all headed over to the feed room Pixie seemed unsettled as she checked her watch.