A Hundred Horses Read Online Free Page A

the first place. Isn’t that what Mom wanted, what we both had wanted, though? Everything of his to be gone.
    I suddenly felt far away from home, far away from everything.
    “Do you want your mom?” said Gem.
    She was right. I wanted my bed, my room, and my mom.
    “Lights out,” said Aunt Liv, coming back and flicking the light switch.
    She knelt down, tucked the duvet tight around me, held my hand to look at the scrape.
    “I feel sick,” I said. “I want to go home.”
    She kissed me softly on the cheek. Her hair smelled like summer.
    “I know,” she said. “It always feels like this when you’re away from your mom and you don’t know anybody and you’re not sure what to expect. That’s exactly how you’re supposed to feel.”
    I liked that she made it all right to feel that way; it made my eyes follow her as she went out and closed the door. But soon it was unearthly quiet. So quiet you feel you have to fill the silence up with some words.
    “Who’s that girl your mom was talking about earlier? The one who used to live here,” I said.
    I heard the shuffle of the quilt on the bottom bunk.
    In the dark Alfie whispered, “She’s called Angel.”
    “So that means she must be,” whispered Gem. “She stole ninety-nine horses.”
    I thought about when Gem said her name meant something precious. My name doesn’t even mean anything. And it does rhyme with hell and smell .
    “It doesn’t mean you’re it just because of a name,” I said.
    “How do you know?” whispered Alfie.
    “It’s obvious,” I whispered. “Angels don’t steal. Everyone knows that.”
    I could hear Alfie’s and Gem’s wide-awake breaths.
    “They’d be an angel if they had wings, though,” Gem whispered. “They might hide them under their clothes.”
    I turned on my side, curled my knees up, and closed my eyes.
    “Nobody’s got wings,” I said. “And anyway, nobody could steal that many horses. Not even an angel.”
    “Nell,” whispered Alfie, “if you do see her, don’t tell nobody.”
    “Why not?”
    “She’ll probably kill you.”

Ten
    M aggie, the pig, didn’t have a curly tail. It was straight, and she wagged it, just like a dog. She lived in a brick house with a tin roof in a fenced-off area of a big field.
    Aunt Liv had a few fields. She said Lemon Cottage was a smallholding, not a farm. She had three chickens, ducks, and one pig, but all the rest of her land was for growing things. The geese belonged to Rita at the farm next door. Aunt Liv was looking after them for now until Rita decided what to do with them because she was going to be moving soon.
    “Gem, Alfie, you can help clean out the pen,” Aunt Liv said. “Nell . . .” She looked at my red skirt and white sweater. “Perhaps you could check the water trough, see if it’s full.”
    The ground was soft and lumpy with sticky mud and ruining my shoes. Maggie followed me over, waddling behind me with her barrel belly and rolled ears and wrinkled piggy eyes. She nudged my leg with her flat piggy nose.
    “What’s she doing, Aunt Liv?” I said.
    “Don’t worry, Nell, she’s just wondering who you are.”
    Well, I wished she wouldn’t. I wished she would stop following me.
    “Nice Maggie piggy,” I said, and held my hands up because she probably couldn’t understand English. “Wait there.”
    Maggie’s ears twitched toward me. She seemed to be listening. But she nudged me again.
    She turned her back and flicked her tail against my legs. I supposed she wanted me to pat her. But there I was again, doing something I didn’t want to do. I saw Aunt Liv look over, so I thought I’d better do it. Maggie took a step away from me as I reached out. I felt my shoes sinking. I heard the sucking noise as I tried to free them, as Maggie moved away. Too late. I fell down in the mud.
    Maggie squealed and trotted back to her shed.
    “Maggie can be a bit naughty if she thinks you don’t like her,” Aunt Liv said, running over, holding her hand out