Horse Capades Read Online Free Page B

near the entrance to the indoor ring where a battered horseshoe was nailed to the wall. It was Pine Hollow’s official lucky horseshoe, and no rider who touched it before going out had ever been seriously hurt.
    Reaching up, Stevie tapped the horseshoe with her fingers. “I think we’re going to need all the luck we can get if we want to win anything at that competition,” she told Belle. “And I could use some extra luck for my project, too.”
    She turned and began leading Belle toward the indoor ring. The wooden doors were propped open, and Stevie could hear Carole calling instructions to Lisa inside. Stevie and Belle were just outside the entrance when a sudden, shrill noise broke the peaceful quiet of the stable. It sounded like a fire alarm and a car horn all rolled into one. Echoing off the low stable roof, the sound was terrifying.
    Stevie gasped, and Belle jumped two feet to one side, rolling her eyes until the whites showed. After a few seconds, the alarm stopped abruptly. Before Stevie’s heartbeat could slow to its normal rate, Veronica stepped forward from the nearest row of stalls.On her face was a sweet, apologetic smile, and in her hand was a black plastic gadget about the size of a small flashlight.
    “I’m
sooo
sorry, Stevie,” Veronica cooed insincerely. “My personal safety alarm just went off by accident. I hope it didn’t startle you.”
    “Your what?” Stevie gasped. Beside her, Belle was still tossing her head nervously. But fortunately, the mare wasn’t frightened as easily as some horses. Otherwise, she might have panicked at the sound and reared or raced off, hurting herself, Stevie, or someone else.
    Veronica held up the gadget. “My personal safety alarm. It’s the latest thing. I carry it with me in my purse or my pocket, and if someone tries to mug me or something, all I have to do is press this button. Like this, see?”
    Her finger moved toward a small gray button, and Stevie tensed, expecting the piercing noise to begin again.
    But Veronica’s finger paused a hair’s breadth from the button, and she smiled. “Just kidding,” she said.
    Stevie didn’t think it was funny. What’s more, she didn’t think the alarm had gone off by accident the first time. “You idiot,” she said, glaring. “You’re justlucky Belle isn’t more high-strung, or she might have trampled you.”
Or me
, she thought. “And you’re lucky I wasn’t in the saddle yet.” Stevie remembered the last time Veronica’s thoughtless actions had startled Belle. That time, Veronica had scared Belle by taking a flash photograph of her, and Stevie had taken a spill, ending up with a bad concussion.
    Just then Red O’Malley raced around the corner, his freckled face pale and anxious. “What on earth was that?” he asked. “I heard an alarm—”
    Veronica gave Red the same explanation she’d given Stevie, but Red barely paused to listen.
    “Go check the horses in the aisle behind you,” he ordered Veronica in a no-nonsense voice. “Make sure they didn’t panic and hurt themselves. I’ll check this aisle.” He glanced at Belle. “Stevie, you’d better get Belle away from here. She looks all right, but she needs some calming down.”
    Stevie nodded. As a grumpy-looking Veronica began to do as Red said, Stevie and Belle headed into the indoor ring. Stevie moved slowly, talking to the mare soothingly.
    But when she entered the ring, she dropped the reins and raced forward as fast as she could, leaving Belle ground-tied near the entrance. She had just seenthat Veronica’s dangerous prank had affected a more high-strung horse than her own. It was Prancer. The mare was dancing nervously at the far end of the ring, her eyes rolling and her mouth flecked with foam.
    Lying on the ground beside one of the jumps was the motionless form of Lisa Atwood.

“L ISA !” S TEVIE CRIED , racing toward her friend. Carole had dismounted and was struggling to control Starlight, who seemed on the verge of racing