Phantom: One Last Chance Read Free

turn Phantom and slow him down. Charlie would just have to hope she could cling on until he pulled himself up, but as he dodged around a low bush she tipped forward perilously and lost a stirrup. Phantom flung his head up in the air and tripped over a knotted tree root, stumbling and scraping the woodland floor with his nose. Charlie, already unseated, was thrown from the saddle. She closed her eyes tight, disoriented as she tumbled down and crashed into the bushes with an explosion of icy spray.
    She lay there for a second, winded and shaken, then gingerly stood up, feeling sore and stiff all down her left side as she untangled herself from the brambles. Phantom pulled himself up ahead of her, his head high and his nostrils flaring as he snorted. As she heard the thudding of hooves on the path behind her Charlie dabbed her stinging cheek with a gloved finger. She brought it away and saw blood just as Alicepulled up behind her and squeaked at the sight.
    “That looks nasty!” she gasped, squinting at the jagged bramble scratch across Charlie’s face. “Does it hurt?”
    Charlie nodded, not trusting herself to speak. It had been threatening for ages, but it was the first time she’d actually fallen from Phantom and it had been every bit as painful as she’d imagined it would be. Her eyes welled up and she turned away, looking towards Phantom.
    Mia and Wish appeared a second later, closely followed by Megan and Pirate. The little bay charged up bright-eyed as if he’d loved every second of the high-speed chase. Megan, on the other hand, was looking a bit sick.
    “I didn’t realise he could go quite that fast,” she gulped, catching her breath.
    “Are you okay, Charlie?” Mia asked, seeing Charlie’s hands shake as she touched her cheek again.
    At that second Rosie appeared, puffing, whileDancer’s eyes goggled out on stalks at having been asked to canter flat out around so many bends.
    “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.

Chapter Three
    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 uneasystep 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,