Phantom: One Last Chance Read online

“Ooh, that looks painful.” Rosie winced as she caught sight of the livid scratch on her friend’s cheek.

  “I’d better get Phantom,” Charlie said, turning and walking shakily towards her black horse, who had stopped further up the path, his ears pricked, staring into the woods. As Charlie approached, a girl suddenly stepped out onto the path right in front of Phantom. Charlie was about to call out to her to be careful when the girl gently took his reins, looking up at him in wonder. The black horse lowered his head and breathed on her. She reached up and patted his neck as if he was the quietest horse in the world.

  THE girl had long, wavy black hair and huge blue eyes with dark shadows under them. She looked about the same age as the others, but her frame was small and her face so pale that it was almost translucent. She was wrapped in a huge, red padded jacket and was wearing faded jeans and green wellies. Charlie hobbled up the path towards them, feeling an unwelcome tinge of jealousy as she watched Phantom stand calmly on a loose rein in front of the girl, his head low and his eyes half closing, as if he was under some kind of magical spell. It wasn’t until Charlie had walked right up to them that the girl finally broke her connection with the black horse. Phantom snorted and raised his head, taking an uneasy step back. Charlie noticed, as the girl passed her Phantom’s reins, that her eyes were glistening.

  “Thanks,” Charlie said, taking the reins from her. “Are you okay?”

  The girl nodded unconvincingly. Then she sighed and shook her head. “Well, no, not really,” she replied in a soft Irish accent as the rest of the Pony Detectives joined them. “I used to live near here years ago, and I thought I could remember my way through the woods, but I don’t recognise any of it at all. I was trying to find an old bridge, one that my mum used to take me to. Only I couldn’t find the bridge and I ended up totally lost. It feels like I’ve been wandering about in these woods for ever.”

  “Oh, do you mean Whispering Bridge?” Alice asked. “That’s the one where everyone goes to make wishes! In the summer, the bottom of the stream sparkles with pennies dropped in there.”

  “Yes, that’s the one!” the girl replied, her face lighting up.

  “You’re way off track,” Mia told her, twisting in her saddle and pointing further into the wood. “If you follow the brook just beyond the path you’ll get there, but it takes ages on foot.”

  “There is a short cut,” Alice added, “but it’s a pretty scary ride – we never go that way – far too twisty and hilly, and the path’s always pretty tangled up.”

  “And all the walkers avoid it during the winter anyway,” Rosie said. “The water rises really high, and the rocks around the bank get all slimy and slippery. Seriously dodgy.”

  The girl was still staring into the woods where Mia had pointed, as if she’d drifted into a different world. Then she shivered and looked back at the others. “Well, I guess I’d better try to get back. Only, I’m still kind of lost,” she said shyly. “I don’t suppose you could tell me how to get back to the village from here, could you?”

  “Of course,” Mia smiled. “We’ll take you right the way home.”

  “Oh no, you don’t need to do that,” the girl said quickly. “I don’t want to put you out.”

  “You aren’t,” Rosie said.

  “And it’s really not out of our way,” Alice added, to reassure her. She could sense how lost the girl was, and it had nothing to do with not knowing her way back to the village.

  The girl smiled. “Ok then, thanks.”

  Charlie pulled the reins over Phantom’s head and ran the stirrups up on his saddle.

  “Aren’t you getting back on?” Mia asked, frowning. Charlie never walked anywhere when she could ride.

  “Oh, I thought it would be nicer for…” Charlie looked towards the girl.

  “Neve,” she said quietly.

  “I thought it would be nicer for Neve if I walked with her,” Charlie said, not looking Mia in the eye. Something powerful was stopping her getting back into the saddle; it felt as if a switch inside her had been flicked, and the thought of it made her freeze. For the first time ever, she was too scared to ride. She just didn’t trust Phantom. She clung onto his reins tightly as he fought against her, scuttling backwards and threatening to rear. Neve glanced over at her.

  “Try loosening your grip a bit,” she suggested “That way you’re not giving your horse anything to fight against.”

  Charlie realised Neve was right – her fingers were locked with cold and fear, and she was rigidly hanging onto the reins. She softened her grip and Phantom shook his head, relaxed and lowered his neck slightly. She looked sideways at Neve, secretly impressed but also kicking herself for looking like a complete novice with her own horse.

  Neve walked with her head down, quietly. Charlie noticed that she kept looking over at Phantom, as if she couldn’t take her eyes off him. But at the same time, it was like she was miles away. They walked on in silence until they came to a fork in the bridleway.

  “I think I’ll take Pirate back now, if that’s okay, Charlie?” Megan asked, still looking a bit wobbly.

  “No probs,” Charlie replied. “I’ll see you back at the yard, Megan.”

  “Are you sure you should be carrying on?” Alice asked, concerned.

  Charlie nodded, not particularly feeling up to another enthusiastic dressage conversation with Megan, let alone having to tell her that she couldn’t take Pirate on loan. Megan turned a reluctant Pirate away from the others and jogged him up the right-hand path.

  “Blackberry Farm, where Rosie lives and where we keep our ponies, is just up there,” Alice told Neve. Neve nodded. “You can always pop round if you come out to the woods again.”

  “Thanks,” Neve replied quietly, “but I’m going back to Ireland straight after Christmas, so I won’t be around for long.”

  “Well, that’s another couple of weeks yet and school breaks up this Thursday, so if you change your mind,” Rosie said, “the offer’s there.”

  Neve smiled up at her fleetingly, before looking down again. Together they walked along the bridleway until it joined a lane, which curved around the outskirts of the village. They turned off onto a smaller lane which led to the duck pond and post office, then saw an elderly couple looking up anxiously from a garden gate. The girls recognised the man at once as Mr McCuthers, the local large-animal vet. He’d come to Blackberry Farm to look after Mr Honeycott’s sheep in the past and had checked out Scout when Alice had first taken him on loan. Mr McCuthers recognised the girls too and nodded to them.

  “Thanks for bringing me back,” Neve said quickly. “There are my grandparents.”

  She walked to the gate without looking back. The girls thought they had better leave her to it, but just as they were about to ride on, Dancer took Rosie by surprise, diving suddenly towards an evergreen bush in front of the house. Rosie tugged on the reins, but Dancer stubbornly refused to move, and the Pony Detectives couldn’t help but overhear the conversation that had started between Neve and her grandparents.

  “You’ve been gone ages, and you forgot your phone,” the old woman, who they guessed was Neve’s nan, said. Her soft Irish accent was the same as Neve’s, and her face was etched with worry.

  “I got lost,” Neve explained. “Then I heard hoof beats and luckily I bumped into those guys and they brought me home.”

  “Well, it’s nice that you’ve made some friends,” Mr McCuthers said, looking uneasily at his wife. “They might even go to the same school you’re joining in the new year.”

  “I don’t need new friends – I’ve got lots back in Ireland, at my old school,” Neve said, her voice wobbling. “And I’ve told you already, I’m not staying here, I want to go home!” With that she turned and ran up the path into the cottage. Neve’s grandparents looked at each other and shook their heads.

  “Thanks for bringing Neve home,” Mr McCuthers said, forcing a smile as he and Mrs McCuthers said goodbye to the girls.

  “No problem,” Mia smiled. Danc
er finally backed out of the hedge and the Pony Detectives turned along the lane to head out of the village. Charlie felt a weight upon her. She looked over her shoulder and saw Neve’s pale face pressed up against the bedroom window, her haunted eyes fixed on Phantom.

  “Aren’t you going to ride now we’ve dropped Neve off?” Alice asked.

  “My leg’s a bit too stiff,” Charlie said, not before catching the questioning look on Mia’s face.

  “It’d be easier to ride then, wouldn’t it?” Rosie asked. She’d been watching Charlie hobble fast to keep up with the black horse, who she noticed was fretting again, now that they’d left the village.

  They turned off the lane back into the woods. Charlie felt as if her arms were being pulled out of their sockets each time Phantom shied and spooked along the path, and her fingers ached as he jerked and snatched at the reins.

  “Is there anything he’s not scared of?” Rosie asked, leaning down to hug Dancer. She felt grateful that her pony was too lazy to flap about most things, unlike Phantom, who had just leaped across the path ahead of them, again.

  Charlie didn’t answer. As she struggled to hold Phantom, she knew that right now, out of the two of them, it wasn’t the black horse who was the most scared.

  BY the time they’d walked the ponies back, the afternoon light was fading fast. The air was feeling icier, and the darkening sky was completely free of cloud. Pirate rushed to the front of his stable and whickered, his ears pricked as he watched the other ponies spill into the yard. Charlie’s scratched cheek stung as she untacked and settled Phantom for the night in his warm rugs. She filled his haynet and cracked the thin layer of ice in his water bucket before heading to the tack room with the others. As they pushed the door open, they found Megan looking much brighter. She quickly shut the copy of Pony Mad she was reading.

  She looked as if she was about to launch into a speech, but Charlie stopped her before she had a chance to get going.

  “Um, about loaning Pirate,” Charlie started awkwardly, as she hobbled over and sat down heavily on a blanket box, wondering how to put what she had to say. In the end, she decided to come straight out with it. “I… think it’s best if I find someone else, someone who wants to have fun with him and do lots of jumping – I mean, that’s what Pirate loves. I’m going to put up some more adverts. Sorry Megan.”

  “Oh, right,” Megan said quietly. “Are you sure?”

  Charlie nodded. Her parents might not be pleased, but Pirate would thank her for it.

  “Well, okay then,” Megan said, looking at the floor then picking up her red folder. “I guess I better get going.”

  She stood up and they watched her walk across to Pirate’s stable, pat his stocky neck, then disappear round the corner. Suddenly Rosie jumped up and called out.

  “Oh, and don’t forget to…”

  At that moment there was another cry, a bleat and a scuffle, then Hettie trotted past, heading to the feed room.

  “Climb the gate.”

  Rosie sighed as she and Alice got up again, well practised after a few days of shepherding duty. They rushed out into the dark winter evening, shivering as they turned on the yard light, which glowed pale yellow. At that moment they heard a couple of cars crunch slowly up the bumpy drive that led to the yard.

  “That’ll be your mum, Charlie,” Mia said, jumping up, “and my dad. We’d better feed and say goodnight to the ponies.”

  They hastily mixed feeds, dropping carrots and apples into the buckets before taking them out to the ponies, who whickered deeply, their nostrils fluttering at the sight of their dinner. The only horse that stayed back was Phantom. He stood stock still, like a statue, the whites of his eyes showing, until Charlie let herself out of his stable. Next she opened Pirate’s door and held his bucket for a second as he dived into it, then she put it down on the floor and gave him a long hug. Charlie wasn’t looking forward to showing her mum her scratched face – her mum would go mad – but Charlie couldn’t avoid it. She gave Pirate one final pat, then walked slowly towards the gate, where her mum was standing. Charlie kept her head down, trying not to limp too much. As she got nearer her mum gasped.

  “What happened to your face?” she asked, looking worried. Charlie winced as her mum gently guided her towards the yard light so she could get a better look.

  “I fell off Phantom,” Charlie said with a sigh.

  Charlie’s mum took a deep breath, sounding angry. “Well, from what you’ve told me about that horse I’m amazed it hasn’t happened before. But this is getting serious, Charlie. Look at you, limping as well – next time it could be a lot worse. He can’t be trusted, and you’re NOT to ride him again, not under any circumstances, until I can speak to Pixie’s mum and work out what we do next. And if he does anything bad between now and then, he goes. Phantom’s got one last chance, okay?”

  Mia, Alice and Rosie waited for Charlie to protest, but to their amazement she just sighed again, then nodded and climbed into the welcome warmth of her mum’s car. Alice jumped in beside her to get a lift home, chattering away anxiously to fill the tense silence as they pulled slowly up the track, away from Blackberry Farm.

  Charlie traced patterns in the beads of condensation on the side window. She couldn’t stop thinking about how easily Neve had handled Phantom. Charlie couldn’t help feeling useless compared to Neve. She had been fine bumbling along with a pony like Pirate, but who was she trying to kid? She’d got lucky the first few times she’d competed on Phantom, and she’d let it go to her head. But Neve proved today that the black horse wasn’t difficult, just that Charlie wasn’t good enough to cope with a horse like him. And it wasn’t as if Phantom would care for a second if he was taken away from Charlie, either – he was so cold and distant that he would leave without a backward glance. As Alice’s chatter faded and silence filled the car, the patterns on the window began to blur. Charlie felt herself getting cross at how unfair everything was. She wished it could all return to how it had been – before she outgrew Pirate and before she’d ever set eyes on Phantom.

  AFTER a final week at school filled with carol-singing, the Christmas play, a non-uniform day and exchanging tons of Christmas cards, the Pony Detectives couldn’t wait to get to the yard on Friday. They had another pile of cards to deliver to their out-of-school friends, including Fran, who owned Hope Farm, the animal rescue centre.

  “Our first official Christmas ride!” Rosie had squealed as they mixed their ponies’ feeds first thing on Friday morning.

  “Or cycle,” Charlie added with a small smile. She wished she could just tack up Pirate and take him instead, but she was way too tall for him now and she knew it wouldn’t be fair. The others sighed, feeling bad for her.

  “We can fix some reindeer antlers on the handlebars,” Rosie said, “and pretend the bike’s Pirate.”

  While they waited for the ponies’ breakfasts to go down, Charlie took Phantom out for his daily pick at some grass, so that he didn’t spend all his time cooped up in his box. The others set about turning the yard into a grotto, covering the stable doors with their cards, lots of tinsel, baubles and fairy lights.

  They tacked up, with antlers on their bridles and tinsel on their reins. Rosie had pulled a Father Christmas hat over her jockey skull cap. They’d all wrapped up in as many warm layers as they could find against the icy cold sky. Charlie sat on her bike, which Rosie had insisted on smothering with baubles and jingle bells, as well as the reindeer antlers, and they all rode over to the gate. Charlie scraped it open just as Mrs Honeycott came scuttling out of the cottage, holding a huge ceramic bowl in one arm and waving a tea towel around, warbling at them to wait.

  “What is she up to now?” Rosie said, shaking her head. She was so used to her mum’s batty behaviour that nothing surprised her any more.

  “All of you have to stir the Christmas cake mix and make a wish before you disappear off!” Mrs Honeycott puffed. “I’m baking it this afternoon, and I didn’t want you to miss your opportunity.”
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  “Dancer, pay close attention to this, it involves you,” Rosie said, whirling the spoon stiffly with one hand and holding Dancer off with the other as the mare tried to dip her moustached muzzle into the bowl. “I wish you’d pay more attention to me and far less to passing snacks, including cake mix!”

  “Rosie!” Mia groaned. “Wishes are supposed to be secret!”

  “But the Pony Detectives always share their secrets, so what’s the big deal?’ Rosie said, looking quite pleased with her clever reply.

  She passed the spoon, like a baton, to Alice, who giggled and wished that Scout would always be happy. Alice leaned over to give the sticky spoon to Mia.

  “I wish that Wish Me Luck wins even more red rosettes than last year, if that’s actually possible!” Mia said, after pausing for a second to decide whether or not to wish out loud. “Charlie?”

  Charlie took the spoon, dipping it in the gooey mix, and sighed. She paused for a moment, looking over to her black horse’s stable. “I wish that Phantom gives me a sign, even a teeny one, that he likes me just a little bit. Coming to the front of his stable to say hello when I get to the yard would be nice. Oh, and that he lets me get near him just once without looking seriously cross.”

  “Er, you’re making a wish, Charlie,” Rosie said, “not asking for a miracle.”

  “What about Pirate?” Alice asked, scratching Scout’s withers as they waited.

  “That one’s easy,” Charlie smiled. “I wish that the perfect rider appears out of nowhere, who loves having fun, just like he does.”

  “Two miracles!” Rosie cried. “This needs to be one seriously powerful Christmas cake!”

  “Oh, and the person who finds the coin once it’s been baked gets a whole extra wish on top!” Mrs Honeycott beamed. “And I’m making some mince pies too – I’ll put some in a tin for you in the hay barn.”

  She took the mixing bowl and the spoon back inside the cottage as the girls gathered up their ponies’ reins and set off between the turnout and schooling paddocks. Pirate, who was turned out on his own, lifted his head from the grass as he heard the ponies. He took off, galloping and bucking, then skidding to a halt at the gate, his hooves sliding across the crisp frosty grass. His huge mane stuck up in every direction. Charlie stopped her bike and found him a mint from her pocket.