The Painted Ponies of Partequineus and The Summer of the Kittens Read Online Free

ponies that Christina told me about? she wondered. And what if Mom comes home and I’m not here? But maybe she won’t know I’ve been gone. Last week I came back at exactly the same time I left. At least I think I did.
    Abruptly she made up her mind. This was an adventure, and she had no patience with people who were afraid to take a chance. She kicked off her Nikes and squirmed out of her school clothes, shivering in the cool air of her room. She reached out for the tunic, but before she could take hold of it, it soared weightlessly into the air above her head and settled down over her shoulders without touching her at all. Suddenly she was surrounded by the most amazing feeling of warmth, as if she stood in the light of her own private sun.
    The purple vapour was coming. She could sense it gathering somewhere in the chimney, ready to carry her off to Partequineus. She spread her arms and whirled about in a circle, and the mist flowed out of the fireplace and enveloped her. With growing confidence she strode forward - one step, two, three - and burst forth bravely into the wondrous place she had been so frightened of the week before. A vast landscape stretched out in front of her.

SEVEN
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    But there was no one else in sight. “Christina!” she called out. “Kathy! Where are you?”
    No one answered her. Huh , she thought. They invited me to come back, and now nobody is even here to meet me.
    And then she heard a clip-clop sound coming from somewhere behind her, a noise so familiar that it made her heart beat faster. She spun around quickly to find seven ponies trotting through the meadow, their hooves tapping a happy drumbeat in the bright, clear air. Their coats were glossy white, with black and brown and reddish auburn patches decorating their fine muscular bodies.
    Painted ponies , Vanessa thought.
    They pranced like circus horses, dancing to music no one but they could hear. Vanessa ran forward to meet them, surprised to find them much smaller than the ranch horses she and her friends rode at home. They were all different sizes, but the largest was only a little taller than she was. His huge, soft eyes were almost on the same level as hers. The smallest one barely came up to her waist, and he frisked and kicked up his heels as if overjoyed to see her.
    She reached out to the nearest pony and touched his mane, and he whinnied and stretched his head forward and nuzzled her arm. The others crowded around, and she patted them all in turn. And then the strangest thing happened. The ponies backed away, snorting and pawing the earth - all except one. He was the most beautiful of all, Vanessa thought, his coat dazzling white in the sunlight, his patches black and shiny as coal. A star blazed across his forehead.
    The pony stood proudly before her, straight and strong, and she noticed for the first time that he alone wore a saddle, and had a bit in his mouth and a bridle and reins. He nickered softly to her, then turned and presented his left side. He tossed his head. The meaning was clear - an invitation to ride.
    Vanessa thrust her foot expertly into the stirrup and swung aboard. The saddle was exactly the right size for her, made of the softest leather she had ever felt. She gathered up the reins and touched the pony’s flanks lightly with her heels. He tossed his head again and leapt forward, and they were off.
    The ground melted away beneath the pony’s galloping hooves, and Vanessa squealed with delight as they plunged through the meadow, jumped effortlessly across a narrow brook, and tore off across an enormous carpet of red and blue and yellow flowers. She looked back to find the rest of the ponies following closely behind, their hooves barely seeming to touch the ground.
    They plunged through a narrow canyon, then out into the meadow once more, and wheeled around toward the distant mountains with Vanessa’s mount in the lead. She had never felt so alive, so free, her hair