Dreams Read Free

anyone else. Now, although they still shared those things when they needed to, they also had a simpler daily communication as well.
    Into her head came a picture of the field behind the stables.
    You’d like to go out in the field? she guessed.
    A wave of positive energy flooded towards her. Yes.
    Ellie saw a new picture, this time of herself riding Spirit. And you’d like to be ridden?
    Only by you.
    I’ll ride you later , Ellie told him. We’ll go out in the woods with Joe and Merlin later.
    She became aware of a slight ache in her bones, particularly lower down her legs. She frowned, wondering if the feeling was coming from Spirit, but as soon as she started to focus on it, it disappeared.
    She waited to see if she felt it again but she didn’t.
    A picture of the field pushed back into her mind, this time with Spirit grazing in it in the spring sun.
    Ellie smiled. OK, I get the message. You can go out straight after breakfast. She realized time must be passing and, stepping back, she let the connection between them fade.
    As she did so, she heard doors banging on the yard and horses whinnying. She glanced at her watch. It was ten past seven. She’d lost track of time. “Oh, great,” she groaned under her breath, suddenly remembering Joe’s warning about not being late for morning feeds. “I must go,” she told Spirit. “I’ll be back with your breakfast soon.”
    Shutting his door, Ellie hurried back towards the main yard. Even though she knew she was late, she was buzzing inside. She loved talking to Spirit. In the last few weeks, she’d also been wondering if she could talk to other horses in the same way. Picasso, one of the ponies she rode for her uncle, had become scared of the horsebox and so she’d tried to speak to him. She hadn’t managed to communicate with him as she did with Spirit, but she’d felt a slight connection and was sure he’d understood what she was saying even if he hadn’t replied. Afterwards he seemed to trust her more and, with Spirit’s calming presence, she’d managed to get him into the horsebox. She’d attempted to talk to him a few more times since then, but so far he still hadn’t actually answered. She kept hoping that one day he would—it would be amazing to speak properly with other horses too.
    Maybe if I just keep trying , she thought hopefully.
    Reaching the feedroom, she found Uncle Len mixing the feeds while Joe piled up the buckets ready to take them to the pony barn. The yard was busy now. The grooms—Stuart, Helen and Sasha—had arrived and were busy refilling water buckets, and Luke, Joe’s eighteen-year-old cousin from the other side of the family who worked full time for Len, was on his way to the hay barn to get the haynets.
    Len looked up with a frown as Ellie came into the feedroom. He was a short stocky man with gray hair cropped close to his head. His eyes were the same gray-blue as Ellie’s, but far harder, like granite. “You’re late.”
    Ellie felt her temper prickle, but she controlled it. If she wanted to keep Spirit on the yard, she had to keep on the right side of her uncle. She couldn’t risk making him angry even though she hated his bullying ways. She gritted her teeth but kept her voice level. “I’m sorry. I was just with Spirit. I lost track of time.”
    Her uncle’s expression left her in no doubt that he didn’t think that a good excuse. “If that horse of yours is going to start interfering with your work…” The threat was left hanging in the air.
    “He’s not,” Ellie said quickly.
    “We did some good work with Solo this morning, Dad,” Joe broke in, trying to deflect attention from Ellie. “He joined-up and everything.”
    His distraction worked. Len snorted. “Joined-up!” He pointed the mixing stick at Joe. “You’d be far better concentrating on the show ring, not messing about with silly things like ‘joining-up.’”
    Joe didn’t reply. He simply bent his head and started to pile up buckets. Len