Stormchaser and the Silver Mist Read Online Free Page A

a closer look. She ran her gloved fingers over one of the prints. “Whoever dropped these horses off hasn’t got identical boot prints. Look at this – the left boot print is complete, but the right boot print is missing the heel part. How weird’s that?”
    Rosie gasped. “Maybe whoever dropped them off has only got half a foot!”
    Mia rolled her eyes. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Charlie and Alice couldn’t help collapsing into giggles.
    “It was just a thought,” Rosie said, trying not to smile as Mia gave her a withering look.
    Mia took out her phone and took a photo of the trailer tyre marks, the half boot print and both the horses.
    “So, what do we do now?” Alice asked. “There’s no way we can just leave the horses here to look out for themselves, can we?”
    “Well, there’s only one spare stable in the yard at the moment.” Rosie frowned. “The other one’s having its roof mended. We can’t take in one horse and not the other.”
    “I guess we could start by seeing if any of Wish’s old rugs might fit them,” Mia said, shivering from standing about in the icy cold for so long. “They might be a bit of a tight fit on the bay, but if we loosen off all the straps we could get away with it. And anything’s got to be better than standing around in this freezing weather without anything to keep them warm.”
    “If we can get near enough to put the rugs on, that is,” Alice added. “We might need to wait until they know us a bit better.”
    “We could see what they’re like coming over to us later this afternoon if we put more hay out then,” Charlie suggested.
    “I guess,” Mia agreed reluctantly, as they all stood watching the horses eat. She wanted to get them all tucked up right away. “But at leastwe can get the rugs sorted out, ready.”
    “Come on, then,” Rosie said, turning back towards the sheep field, suddenly on a mission. “If we’re going to come back here later and ride today, we better get a move on.”
    “What’s the rush?” Alice asked, jogging to catch up.
    Rosie checked her watch. “Because, Alice, I’m standing here watching these horses feed with my tummy rumbling. Mum said that she’d do us eggy bread for breakfast this morning and I’m convinced I can smell it from here! Come on!”
    Rosie sniffed the air dramatically, and set off, marching across the field and scattering sheep in her path. The others giggled and followed their friend, suddenly realising how hungry they were, too.

Chapter Three
    “I T says here that some horses escaped from Mrs Maplethorp’s field the night before last,” Mr Honeycott said, reading from his copy of the Eastly Daily Press, the local newspaper. Everyone was sitting at the large, battered wooden table, polished smooth over time by countless elbows. It was cosily nestled next to the ancient Aga in the farmhouse kitchen. Mrs Honeycott had made a huge stack of eggy bread, which was rapidly reducing in size.
    Alice paused mid-mouthful, looking worried. “Isn’t that the second time that’s happened recently?”
    “The second time?” Rosie asked, her voice thick with gooey bread. “It sounds like Mrs Maplethorp’s being a bit careless, if you ask me.”
    Charlie grinned and swatted Rosie. “Not the second time that they’ve escaped from MrsMaplethorp’s, dopey. Alice means the second time some horses have got loose from their field.”
    “Exactly,” Mia nodded. “Last time the horses escaped from Long Lane Livery. Remember, a week or so ago – when there was that really bad fog?”
    Rosie eyes lit up. “Oh yes! That was just an accident, though, wasn’t it?”
    “Well, that’s what everyone thought at the time,” Mr Honeycott said, putting the paper down so that the girls could read the article, “but now it’s happened a second time, at a different yard, within the space of two weeks, the police are a bit suspicious. They think there might be a pattern developing.”
    “It is a bit of a