“Look Daddy! There’s a black pegasus kissing Sierra!”

  As Amanda and Sirius made their way up the road toward the farmhouse, the door opened and young girl about the age of seven or eight came running out. She ran to the edge of the fence and hung her arms over.

  The white pegasus, Sierra, broke free from Ghost, and made her way over to the little girl. The pegasus was rewarded with a grin and forehead scritches.

  “Why have the fence?” Sirius asked as they drew closer, “if they can just fly out anyway.”

  “The fence is for other things. Why do you put walls on a house?”

  “To keep the rain out,” he replied quickly.

  Amanda frowned. It wasn’t the answer she had been going for. She tried again. “But you could just build a bigger roof.”

  As they watched, Ghost joined Sierra by the fence. At first the girl stood stock still and just watched the pair. Then Ghost put his muzzle up by her face and nuzzled the girl. When he blew a raspberry at her, she finally burst into giggles and then gave him some scritches as well.

  “To keep the wind out,” Sirius replied with a soft chuckle.

  Amanda scowled at him but it was a short-lived scowl as her gaze found its way back to watching the girl.

  “You’re trying to say it keeps out the predators,” Sirius guessed as they reached the end of the road.

  Amanda gave a nod. “That and it makes them feel secure. More the latter.”

  Finally the girl glanced over and noticed them. Her eyes went wide and she hopped down off the fence. “Hello,” she said. Then she turned and yelled toward the open door of the farmhouse. “Daddy!”

  A man’s voice yelled back. “I’m coming, sweetheart.”

  When he didn’t immediately appear, the girl yelled again. “Daddy! There’s people.”

  That got him out faster. A wiry looking man with wiry looking hair stuck his head out of the doorway. “Oh hello!” he said. “Are you..?”

  “We’re here to deliver some horses,” Sirius said. “I’m Sirius, and this is Amanda.” He gestured to Amanda.

  “Oh. Excellent. I’m George. That there is Daisy.” The man nodded at the girl and then glanced around as if looking for the horses.

  “They’re down at the pier, or at least they will be soon,” Sirius told him.

  George’s gaze fixed on the pegasus. “I don’t remember a pegasus being on the list?”

  Oh no, he’s our ride,” Sirius explained.

  Daisy beamed up at them. “He’s beautiful, and Sierra likes him too!”

  “Ah, well, come in, come in.” George beckoned them inside. “ Have you had lunch?”

  “We have,” Sirius said as they stepped into the house.

  The doorway was low enough that Sirius had to stoop. George only just fit as if the place had been made exactly to his height. Amanda had plenty of room to spare. Daisy skipped in after them with one last look back at the pegasi.

  “How about a tea then?” George asked, already reaching for some cups.

  “We probably should get going soonish,” Sirius said. “There’s a good chance they’re at the docks already."

  “But you can eat first and meet us there if you want,” Amanda said, unsure if they had eaten their lunch already.

  “Oh, um-”

  “Can I ride Sierra down, Daddy?” Daisy asked, interrupting her father.

  Her father frowned. He turned to Amanda and Sirius. “What’s the wind like out there?”

  Amanda glanced at Sirius and then looked back at George. “Reasonably low. It’s a bit more breezy up the tops but fine for pegasus flying. You’ll probably want something warmer though,” she added to the girl, noting her yellow singlet.

  The girl turned to her father with light in her eyes.

  “Alright,” he said.

  “Yes!” she squealed and took off running. Her feet pounded up a set of wooden stairs.

  George sighed. “That pegasus was her mother’s before…” He trailed off slowly and then perked up again. “Anyway, just give me a few minutes and I’ll saddle my own horse. He’s in the upper paddock with many of the others. Do either of you want a spare horse to ride down on or are you alright both on the pegasus?”

  “I’ll ride with you,” Sirius said. “I’ve got some things I want to discuss.” He turned to Amanda. “How about you ride Ghost down with Daisy and Sierra and we’ll meet you down there?”

  She gave him a surprised look but nodded. He probably wanted to talk business. She was curious what business but she knew Ghost was likely itching to fly with that other pegasus and she wasn’t sure how that might affect the girl’s flying if they let him fly after them on his own. It was probably best someone had control of him.

  “Do you often ride Sierra?” Amanda asked Daisy as they walked out to the pegasi together. There was something about the girl’s enthusiasm and her obvious love for the animals that reminded Amanda of herself.

  “Uh huh.” The girl nodded as she skipped. “Daddy lets me ride whenever I want to, as long as the weather’s not too bad. That’s how we got Sierra. She got blown in during a storm. Her wing was all mangled up but mamma fixed it right up. She could’ve flown away after that but she never did. Mamma said it was her way of saying thank you.”

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Amanda nodded. “Pegasi often choose their owners one way or another.”

  Sierra shook her head. “I don’t own her. She’s part of the family. And one day, I’m gonna be a vet like mamma was and help all the hurt pegasi.”

  Daisy and Sierra took to the sky first. As soon as Ghost saw then go, there was no holding him back. He did a few loops around the other pegasus and all Amanda could do was hold on tight. So much for being in control.

  But since he didn’t seem to be getting too close to Sierra and Daisy, she let him burn off the initial burst of energy before she slowly started nudging him back in line.

  They flew out over the water, then around the bay a few times, and they still managed to beat the other two down to the docks. Amanda wondered what tragedy had befallen the girl’s mother, but she didn’t ask.

  The town was nestled between rolling green hills in a little cove. The peek the lighthouse stood on appeared taller even than many of the hills behind it. It would have been the highest point almost as far as the eye could see if not for the triangular snow-capped mountain that sat so far inland that it almost wasn’t visible at all.

  It was a small town, far far smaller than Little Rock. There was not a sign of a car, and every road that led to it looked more like a dirt farm track. The streets were cobblestoned and every building freshly painted except for those made of stone, which maintained their natural hue. There was lots of colour, especially on the doors and windowsills. There were bright yellow doors, and blue doors, and green doors, and one house that had been entirely painted to look like it was being eaten by the sea. An inky-looking tentacle ran along under two windows and around the corner of the house.

  This dock was similar to the one in Wildwater in that it ran out quite a way into the sea, only thinner and longer and far less fixed. Plastic barrels filled with air, propped up a wooden walkway that went right out into the deep. It bobbed up and down with the waves.

  A sign at the start of the pier said, ‘Welcome to Gert’ and someone had painted a bright yellow smiley face after the word ‘Gert,’ except they’d used a little too much paint on the smile causing one side to drip and look a little wonky.

  The ship had just arrived and was still getting itself tied on to the docks so they let the pregasi off to wander along the beach. Daisy walked along behind them, stooping every now and again to pick up sea shells.

  Amanda sat on a wooden box that seemed intended to be a seat, and watched Sirius and George ride up on their horses. Sirius’s horse skittered a little from side to side and after seeing how he was sitting, she could see why.

  She approached him slowly and took the horse's reins in her hand, then turned to lead them on to the edge of the pier. Almost immediately the horse calmed down.

  “She can tell when you’re nervous,” Amanda told him.

  “I’m not nervous,” he said with a frown.

  Amanda looked him right in the eye. “Bluff,” she told him with grin.

  “Okay, maybe a little,” he replied after a glance around to check George wasn’t in earshot. But George was already over near the sign, tying up his own horse.

  “I thought you’d gotten used to riding Ghost?” she said.

  “Yeah, well this ain’t Ghost,” Sirius replied as he dismounted. “And it was jumping about even before I got on it.”

  “She could probably sense you even before you got close. If you relax, she’ll relax.”

  “You sure it’s not just cause she likes you better?” he joked.

  She smiled and was about to give him some reassurance but his next comment distracted her before she could.

  “Anyway, I guess I’ll get plenty of practice over the next two days.”

  “What? Why?”

  “I’ve booked us on a horse trek. I thought you might like a day or two of calm riding in the hills before we start sailing back toward Little Rock.”

  “So is that what your business with George was earlier?”

  Sirius nodded.

  “Won’t that delay us?” she asked.

  Sirius shrugged and shook his head. “The men won’t mind and we don’t have any tight deadlines, plus the weather’s looking pretty good. Wind’s supposed to change in our favour too.”

  Amanda looked up at the relatively clear sky. There were only a few cottony clouds hanging around the horizon. “How do you know?”

  “That’s George’s power. He’s a weather psychic.”

  “Just the weather?”

  Sirius nodded. “Only decent psychic I’ve ever met, but he’s useless at foreseeing anything else.”

  “He asked about the wind before though?” She lowered her voice, conscious that they were getting closer to George.

  Sirius shrugged again. “Yeah, I dunno. He does the future, not the present. It’s like a bell curve.”

  “I did not do great at math,” she reminded him.

  He laughed. “I just mean there’s a specific day that he’s really good at predicting but the further away from that day he gets in either direction, the less accurate his prediction is.”

  “So not the immediate future…” Amanda trailed off as they reached where George was standing. She sent Sirius a questioning look.

  He just shrugged again.

  They didn’t talk much while they got the horses off the boat. Despite having been on a boat the last several days, quite a few of them refused to walk down the wobbly pier until Amanda suggested they try blindfolding them. It probably didn’t help that this pier was not designed for easy unloading and instead of being able to walk the horses off, each one had to be telekinetically lifted down on a platform.

  Amanda watched Shiv lift the last one down and wondered if maybe she should see if Fallon could infuse some telekinesis from Shiv into an item. Fallon was an alright infuser. Some of his items tended to last less time than it took him to make them though. It depended a lot on the magic and the practice he’d had infusing it. Telekinesis should be an easy one in theory.

  Sirius had no idea what he was doing but he watched how Amanda handled each horse and he did the same. He also instructed those who were less observant. Pretty soon the pier was filled with crew and several horses. Many of the horses were still pretty jittery and some of the crew were having trouble holding them, even after he’d instructed that they speak to the horses in a soothing tone. Not all of the crew were receptive to such instructions themselves but he’d tried to assign men he knew were the calmer sort. Some of them had doubled up, two to a horse.

  Sirius had assumed they would just walk them up the hill but as the last horse were led ashore, Amanda came up to him.

  “You want to swap? I can lead the muster up the hill. You take Ghost. We probably only need George and I anyway. The road is skinny enough, one at the front and one at the rear should do it.”

  Sirius didn’t know exactly what a muster was in this context. He figured she meant to herd them though. He nodded. “How do we go about doing that? Is it safe?”

  “You just need to point them in the right direction and release them one at at time, once George and I are ready. It needs to be one at a time cause we don’t want them banging into each other.” She eyed the horses. “We kind of have them in a line already. As long as they can see the one in front moving, the rest will follow.”

  “Alright. I’ll speak to the men. You let George know what we’re doing.”

  Sirius had worried that they’d just all run away or spook and run around in circles, but Amanda was right, as soon as the first horse was let off, George rode by it going fast and then headed for the road up the hill. The other horse followed along and soon, all the horses were heading up that way. Amanda kept them from running off toward the town instead, and it wasn’t long before the whole lot of them were off up the hill.

  It was the first time he’d really watched her ride, other than on Ghost, and after watching this performance he didn’t think that counted. He was amazed that she didn’t fall off, given the speed at which she turned her mount. Horse and rider moved almost as one.

  “That was easy,” remarked Shiv as he watched them go.

  Sirius nodded. It had gone easier than he’d expected.

  “Here’s your pegasus,” said a small voice.

  He turned around and there was Daisy with both pegasi.

  “Thank you. Are you ready to fly back up?” Sirius asked, not really sure how one talked to a young child. What did children talk about at that age? What had adults talked to him about when he was that age? How was it Amanda had made it look so easy?

  The girl was not worried though. With brightly lit eyes she declared, “Race you!” and sooner than one could blink, she was on the white pegasus and leaping into the air.

  Sirius nearly lost his hold on Ghost again, and as the animal saw Sierra flying away, he screamed bloody murder.

  “Alright, alright.” Sirius got on as quickly as he could. But it was a little too quick. His foot had barely left the ground and Ghost was already in the air. Sirius hadn’t had time to find his balance and no sooner had they left the ground than he found himself starting to fall.