Storm and the Silver Bridle Read Online Free Page B

Issie finally came back to the stables.
    “Yes,” Issie said. “Aren’t you?”
    “I know it must be hard,” Avery said gently, “after what happened the last time Francoise was here, and everything you went through with Blaze…But Issie, this isn’t the same thing at all. Francoise has no claim over this colt. It doesn’t matter what she says, Storm’s your horse and nothing will change that.” Avery reached over and ruffled her hair. “Now go home,” he smiled. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

    Mrs Brown took one look at Issie’s face when she came through the front door and knew instantly that something was very wrong.
    “I get the feeling it didn’t go well at the pony club?” Mrs Brown asked.
    Issie shook her head. “No, Mum, it went fine…but Francoise was there. She’s in town. She’s come to see Nightstorm.”
    Mrs Brown was surprised at this. “Francoise’s in town? But I thought you hadn’t even heard from her? What does she want?”
    “She wants Nightstorm,” Issie said. “She’s offered to buy him. She’s coming to the farm tomorrow morning to meet with me and Tom. We told her that Nightstorm wasn’t for sale, but she said she had things to tell us…”
    “What do you mean?”
    “I don’t know,” Issie said, “but whatever it is, it can’t be good.”
    Mrs Brown dropped the pile of laundry she had been sorting. “What on earth is Francoise playing at? First of all she doesn’t even answer your letters and then she just turns up and demands that you sell her your horse? What time is she coming tomorrow? I can’t wait to tell her myself that Storm isn’t for sale and give her a piece of my mind!”
    Issie shook her head. “It’s OK, Mum. I can handle it. It isn’t like that…” Issie couldn’t believe she was defending Francoise, but in spite of everything she was still convinced that the Frenchwoman was her friend. “Tom has already told her Storm isn’t for sale, we’re just going to talk about stuff.”
    “Are you sure?” Mrs Brown arched a sceptical eyebrow.
    “You don’t need me to come too? You can always call me on my mobile if you like and I can—”
    “Mum, really. I’ll be OK,” Issie managed a smile. “Tom will be there to back me up.”
    Mrs Brown didn’t look convinced, but she let the matter drop and didn’t bring it up again that evening.
    Issie went to bed that night feeling utterly drained after everything that had happened. Once she was actually in bed, though, she couldn’t sleep. She kept thinking about Francoise’s strange comment. What did she mean when she said that she had so much more to tell them? Why was Nightstorm so important to El Caballo Danza Magnifico?
    Despite her worries, she eventually dozed off, but she’d only been asleep a little while when her subconscious took over and the nightmare began. In her sleep, she tossed and turned, and vivid images flashed through her head as she relived that fateful day at the pony club. The day that Mystic died.
    Mystic had been Issie’s very first horse. With his swayed back and a dapple-grey coat that had faded with age, he was hardly the best-looking horse in the paddock at Chevalier Point. That didn’t matter to Issie, though. She adored Mystic and thought he was the most beautifulhorse ever. To her, Mystic would always be the horse that she had loved first, the one who had changed everything.
    In her nightmare, Issie was back at the pony club, and it was the day of the accident. It was all happening again, in heart-wrenching slow motion. She saw Goldrush, Toby and Coco break loose, then panic and bolt for the pony-club gates. And then, before she could think it through, she was following on Mystic, galloping after them, trying to head them off before they reached the deadly main highway.
    As they struck the road she heard the clean chime of Mystic’s horseshoes on the tarmac. The ponies were ahead of them—at any moment they might be hit by a speeding car! She rode