A Hundred Horses by Sarah Lean Read Free Book Online Page A

me, standing just like me, barely able to stop herself from laughing again. I was not like her. And I was not going to give her the satisfaction!
    I stomped off down the hill.
    “You don’t even want me around, so why are you following me?” I said over my shoulder.
    “I’m not,” she said, giggling.
    “Yes, you are. Stop following me!”
    “I’m going this way anyway,” she said, then muttered, “So easy to wind up.”
    That did it. I wheeled around.
    “What’s down here then?” I snapped. “Something else to steal?”
    Her eyes quivered. I thought she was going to deny it.
    But she smiled, like something really pleased her, like I’d played into her hands. Then she froze, her eyes still piercing mine, as a horse’s neigh echoed through the valley.

Seventeen
    A ngel took off, almost flying down the hillside, her tiny feet barely touching the ground, her long coat streaming out behind her. Even after all she’d said, like a magnet I was stuck with her because she had the carousel suitcase.
    She jumped down from the top of the gate as softly as a cat and sprinted toward Rita’s farmyard. Eventually I managed to get down the hillside, tripping only once, and scrambled over the mossy gate.
    There were voices coming from the yard. I peered around the corner to see Mrs. Barker talking to Rita. They were by an old Land Rover with a horse box on the back, the driver’s door open, the engine still running. Kip, the collie dog, was leaning out of the other open window with his paws on the edge and his twitching nose in the air.
    We heard Mrs. Barker say, “I’m just doing Old Chambers a favor and looking for Belle. I heard her neighing as I was driving down the lane. I thought perhaps she’d found her way back here.”
    “Well, I’ll be sure to let you know if I see her or your goat,” Rita said.
    “Kip!” Mrs. Barker called. “What’re you doing over there?”
    Kip had jumped out of the window and was slinking across the yard, ears flattened. He crept, belly to the ground, toward a stable door.
    Angel crouched, yanked me down beside her, and put her hand over my mouth. Her eyes blazed.
    “Your suitcase isn’t in the stables. Do something for me, and I promise I’ll give it back.”
    She took her hand away, and I realized then she wasn’t holding me there, not with her hands anyway. My heart was thumping and not just because I’d been running. I was wide awake, alive; the tin girl was spinning in my head.
    “Do what?” I said.
    “Think of something. You mustn’t let her go in the stable.”
    Just like that, the answer clunked in my head: Angel was hiding Mrs. Barker’s stolen goat in the stables. I don’t know what made me do what I did next. I didn’t stop to think why. I just wanted the carousel.
    “I saw your goat!” I shouted, running into the yard. “She’s up the hill by the oaks. I saw it.”

Eighteen
    M rs. Barker tipped her head to tell Kip to get back in the Land Rover, and then she left to go find her goat.
    Rita beckoned me over. Her hands were rough but warm as she held my chin up.
    “Up on the hill, you say?” she said. “Is that right, Angel?”
    Angel appeared from behind the wall. Rita looked at her, but Angel stared at the ground.
    I had lied, but I thought Rita would understand when I told her the truth as soon as Angel gave the suitcase back. Which was going to be any minute now.
    “Well, this is a first,” Rita said. “Now come on inside and put the kettle on, love. Three cups.”
    Angel didn’t come. She must have gone to get my suitcase at last because I’d helped her just like she asked me to.
    I got the tea things from the kitchen and took in what we needed on a tray. Rita was sitting on the side of her bed.
    “Why did you say this is a first?” I said. “Did you mean people can’t normally find Angel?”
    Rita put her cup back on the saucer. She was looking at me in that way people do when they’re wondering about you.
    “I meant that when they do