Phantom: One Last Chance

by Belinda Rapley

  “Advice?” Charlie’s mum asked, frowning. “Who from?”

  “I… I’m not sure,” Charlie replied, looking down at her wrist. “But I’ve been reading this diary that was dropped off here…”

  “A diary? Whose diary? Who dropped it off?” Her mum frowned.

  “Well, I don’t exactly know,” Charlie winced, sitting up and looking round Rosie’s bedroom. “I left it here last night but it… it’s disappeared.”

  “Disappearing diaries that get dropped off by magic?” her mum said, shaking her head. “No, my mind’s made up. Phantom goes tomorrow.”

  Charlie tried to protest but her voice got stuck in her throat. She heard the others calling out goodbye to Neve and then thudding footsteps as they climbed the stairs.

  “Now, come on. I should get you home.”

  “There’s no way I’m leaving Phantom tonight,” Charlie said defiantly. “I know it’s Christmas Eve tomorrow but I’ve got to be here in case he needs me. I haven’t even seen the vet yet – is he still here?”

  “He was leaving as I arrived,” her mum said with a sigh. “He said that Phantom’s pretty exhausted and that someone needs to keep an eye on him, in case anything changes. In your state I don’t think that someone should be you.”

  “We’re all staying, if that helps?” Mia suggested, cheekily popping her head round the door. “We’ve checked with our parents and it’s okay, so we can keep an eye on Phantom and Charlie.”

  Alice and Rosie crept in behind her, nodding.

  “Well, only if it’s okay with Rosie’s parents,” Charlie’s mum said tentatively.

  “Already asked,” Rosie beamed, “and they’ve said it’s okay.”

  “Well, all right then,” Charlie’s mum replied, heading to the door, “but make sure you rest well today, and it doesn’t change anything about tomorrow. Mrs Millar’s coming with her horsebox, and that’s final.”

  Charlie collapsed back against the pillows, exhausted and defeated, her eyes filling with tears.

  Mia sat in the window seat, looking out over the yard. The front door of the cottage opened and Neve appeared, still bundled up in Rosie’s jumpers, with plastic bags inside her wellies to keep her feet dry, and wrapped in thick blankets. Mr and Mrs McCuthers walked with her. Mia watched as Neve looked across the yard, then climbed into the back seat of a car that was parked as if it had been left in a hurry. Beanie followed her, hopping over the snow in little leaps, bouncing up and down at Neve’s side. As the engine stirred and the car began to move off slowly, wheels slipping on the snow towards the drive, Beanie raced after it as far as the tall hedge then trotted back to the house, ducking back into the warmth.

  Mia chewed her lip, frowning, as Rosie and Alice tried to come up with a plan to save Phantom. Charlie closed her eyes, not wanting to talk. She knew that no words could stop the growing ache she felt inside at the thought of losing Phantom, just when she’d started to understand him. She also finally understood a tiny bit of the heartache that Neve must have felt since she’d come to England, after losing almost every thing she cared about.

  Charlie drifted in and out of sleep all afternoon before finally waking up properly to find the room had grown dark. Her wrist ached as she sat up awkwardly. She switched on the bedside lamp and saw a note scrawled by Rosie propped up against it.

  Sorting out the ponies’ feeds and rugs, back soon with pizza! Yum!!

  Charlie smiled at the note then struggled up, feeling stiff all over. A moment later there was a snuffle at the door and Beanie’s alert little face appeared. He jumped up on the bed and shoved his wet nose into her good hand, circled, then flumped down. Charlie heard creaking on the stairs and along the hallway.

  “Charlie?” A voice whispered. “Are you awake?”

  “Yes,” she replied quietly. A second later Rosie, Alice and Mia pushed the door open, carrying plates laden with slices of pizza and salad into the room. They climbed onto the bed, sitting with their legs crossed under them.

  “How’s Phantom?” Charlie asked, taking the slice Rosie pushed towards her, and suddenly realising how hungry she was.

  “Well, we’ve been checking him every five seconds,” Rosie said. Charlie noticed Mia and Alice exchange worried looks.

  “And?” Charlie persisted.

  “Well, he’s still not really settled,” Mia told her hesitantly. “We’ll check him again after we’ve finished this.”

  Charlie saw the worry in their faces, and climbed off the bed.

  “Where are you off to?” Alice asked as Charlie struggled to pull on another jumper. “We’re meant to be making sure you don’t wander off anywhere.”

  “If the look on your faces is anything to go by,” Charlie said in a small voice, “I need to be on the yard with Phantom, not stuck up here. Especially if this is going to be my last night with him.”

  “Well, if you’re going, we’re coming with you,” Alice replied. “Come on.”

  “Hang on a sec,” Rosie protested. “What about this pizza? We can’t just abandon it – it’ll go cold!”

  As the others followed Charlie, Rosie resignedly shoved half a slice of pizza in her mouth, much to Mia’s disapproval. Rosie ignored her as they crept out of the room, down the stairs and past the living-room door which was pulled shut, muffled sounds of Christmas carols from the television and conversation coming from behind it.

  Charlie pulled on her wellies and Alice helped her get her jacket on. She shivered as Mia opened the back door and the icy air swirled in. The Pony Detectives stepped into the dark and scrunched across the snow to the gate. Suddenly Rosie raised her hand and pointed as they looked across the yard.

  “Pirate’s stable door,” she whispered, feeling a tingle race up her spine. “It’s open!”

  They looked at each other with thumping hearts. In the mayhem over Neve and Phantom, they’d forgotten all about the mystery of Pirate’s escape!

  Rosie and Alice grabbed each other’s arms, as they quickly tiptoed across the dark yard towards Pirate’s open stable door, Charlie and Mia following closely behind. There was no way they could check for footprints this time – the yard was covered in them. As they got closer they could just make out Pirate’s shining eye from under his huge forelock – he was still inside. But when they heard a shuffling coming from his stable they realised with thudding hearts that he wasn’t alone.

  The next second someone stepped out of the stable dressed all in black, a hoodie pulled down over their face. Both Rosie and Alice squealed while Mia lost her cool for a second and shrieked, terrified. Charlie thought she was going to faint again. But then the hooded figure shrank back against the stable door, looking as petrified as the Pony Detectives. As the stranger pulled their hood back, long black hair tumbled over their shoulders, and a pale face glowed in the moonlight.

  “Neve!” Charlie cried. “What are you doing here? What are you doing in Pirate’s stable?!”

  “It’s Phantom,” Neve said urgently, her eyes filled with tears. “He’s taken a turn for the worse, he looks seriously ill. I… I think it’s colic, which if it isn’t caught in time can be…”

  “Fatal,” Charlie said, her mouth dry as she rushed to look over Phantom’s door. Hettie was standing anxiously in the corner. Phantom was sweated up again and was pacing, his ears back as he turned his head to nip his sides, kicking at his belly with his hind hooves.

  Neve looked directly at Charlie, her eyes filled with panic. “It… it’s what Fable died of,” she whispered. Charlie nodded, understanding. “This is all my fault! Just like before…”

  “What do you mean?” Alice asked, but Neve ignored the question and carried on.

  “I tried to ring granddad,” she explained quickly, focusing again. “He… he’d know what to do – but his mobile’s going straight to voicemail and the landline’s engaged. I thought the quickest thing to do would be to ride over there – I could cut across the footpath to the village. I was going to borrow one of your ponies to ride ov
er; I didn’t think you’d mind…”

  “No, of course not,” Charlie said quickly, suddenly feeling faint again. Neve nodded and dumped the rucksack she had slung over her shoulder. It fell sideways as she disappeared back into Pirate’s stable; she vaulted onto his back, then ducked under the stable door lintel and rode him out into the yard, bareback on top of one of his rugs, with just his headcollar and lead rope to steer. Charlie’s eyes widened at the sight. Then she noticed how bright Pirate looked, his ears pricked, excited by his moonlit adventure. Rosie had already rushed over to open the gate and without another word Neve trotted Pirate out of the yard, sitting easily as she urged him into canter up the drive.

  Charlie’s mind whirred as she let herself into Phantom’s stable, slipping his headcollar over his hot, damp ears.

  “She rode him straight from the stable,” Mia said, coming to stand by the stable door.

  “She must have walked around the edge of the yard, under the eaves where there wasn’t any snow, then got on Pirate in his stable. That might explain why there weren’t any footprints on the yard the other night,” Alice said, thinking like a Pony Detective.

  “And why Pirate’s lead rope was clipped to the side of his headcollar again,” Charlie added. “So it was ready for Neve to ride him.”

  “I saw Beanie playing around her earlier when she left the house,” Mia remembered. “He was behaving like he knew her really well.”

  “But if she hadn’t ever been to the yard, how would he know her?” Rosie said.

  “Unless she’d been sneaking in when we weren’t here,” Mia said.

  “But what I don’t get is that she knew Charlie was looking for a new rider for Pirate,” Alice frowned. “Why didn’t she just ask?”

  “I don’t know,” Charlie sighed, “but it’s obvious how perfectly matched they are.”

  Mia ducked down to set the rucksack back upright. It was heavy and she noticed that it was stuffed with clothes. Then she saw something red that had fallen out of it and into the snow: Fable’s diary.

  “That’s why I couldn’t find it earlier!” Charlie said as Mia showed her.

  “Neve got changed in Rosie’s room,” Mia said, “remember? She must have taken it then. And if she knew it was there, she must have been the one to drop it off for you.”

  “Looks like she was planning to run away again,” Alice said. “Do you reckon she was going to take Pirate with her?”

  Charlie shook her head. “I heard someone on the stairs earlier when my mum got here,” she explained. “It was before you all came up, just before Neve left. If it was Neve she must have heard Mum saying that Phantom had to go. Phantom’s her last connection to Fable and to her mum. She probably couldn’t face the thought of losing him too. I bet she gave me the diary to try and help me keep him. But when that didn’t work, I reckon she came back here to run away with him tonight.”

  “Only when she got back here she found he was ill,” Rosie said, “so she changed her plans.”

  At that moment Phantom groaned, twisting his head round to bite violently at his side. Charlie’s heart raced. She checked her watch. It felt like hours since Neve had disappeared into the night, but it had only been fifteen minutes. She stroked Phantom’s neck, but he shook his head, then stretched it out, his hooves splayed in pain.

  “What do you think Neve meant by everything being her fault?” Alice asked as she looked over to the drive, willing Neve to reappear as Mia went to put the diary back into the bag. As she did, a couple of loose pages tucked in the back, and a horse passport, fluttered to the floor.

  Mia unfolded them, and started to read. “I think these might be the missing pages Charlie asked Fran Hope about,” she whispered. Charlie looked up as Mia moved to the door, under the stable light. Mia scanned through them. “Caitlin writes about Neve being over the moon that Fable finally accepted an apple from her hand – only when she found Neve trying to give Fable another one, she had to tell her that she couldn’t give Fable too many. That night Fable got colic – that’s the last entry – with Caitlin waiting for her dad, Mr McCuthers, to arrive.”

  Charlie’s breath caught in her throat. She couldn’t let herself think about what happened to Fable – she had to concentrate on the here and now, not the past.

  “And there’s a passport here,” Mia said, looking through it. She looked up slowly. “Guess what Fable’s full name is?”

  The others stared at her.

  “Faraway Fable,” she whispered. Any last possible bit of doubt over Phantom being Fable’s foal vanished in an instant.

  At that second they heard a jeep rumbling down the drive, crackling over frozen puddles, followed by headlight beams sweeping into the yard before the engine cut out. Charlie felt flooded with relief as car doors slammed and footsteps hurried through the gate. She came to the front of the stable and saw Mr McCuthers, carrying a large brown leather case. Alice looked beyond him, but there was no sign of Neve. They quickly exchanged hellos, but Mr McCuthers didn’t waste a second.

  “Right, let’s see the patient,” he said efficiently as Mia showed him which stable Phantom was in. He let himself straight into Phantom’s stable. Charlie noticed, as she anxiously held the lead rope, that Mr McCuthers faltered for a moment, his eyes drinking in the black horse as he rested one hand on his hot neck.

  “Now then, boy,” he said under his breath, “I’m on your side, and it’s time for you to fight.”

  As Hettie hid by Phantom’s legs, Mr McCuthers eased back the black horse’s rugs gently. He started to examine him expertly, checking his eyes, his gums, holding a stethoscope to his chest and to his abdomen in various places. Charlie stepped outside as Mr McCuthers began his treatment, giving Phantom an injection to ease the pain to start with then dipping in and out of his bag. After fifteen minutes he stepped out of the stable.

  “This is a nasty case,” he said in a quiet, soft voice. “I’ll need to stay and monitor him for a bit, but be prepared – if he doesn’t improve, we may need to take him for an operation. I’ll call one of my colleagues and have them on standby, just in case.”

  They stood gathered anxiously by Phantom’s door, and Rosie ran to the cottage to tell her parents what was happening. As Rosie’s parents brought out cups of tea to warm everyone up, Mr McCuthers made his call. He kept checking Phantom while they waited for Neve to bring Pirate back.

  “If she comes back at all,” Rosie muttered. Mr McCuthers looked up sharply and Alice dug her in the ribs. Mia sighed and handed Mr McCuthers Neve’s bag. He looked inside, his face dropping as he saw the clothes and realised what Rosie had meant. But at that moment they heard soft hoofbeats in the snow and turned to see Neve trotting back into the chilly stable-lit yard and sliding off Pirate. She popped him into the box next door, then rushed out to where the others were standing by Phantom’s box.

  “How’s he doing?” Neve asked. Her hood was pulled up around her face, her long hair falling over one shoulder.

  “He’s hanging in there,” Charlie said, “but he’s not out of the woods yet.”

  Charlie heard a sniff and turned to see Neve’s pale, tearstained face.

  “I’m… I’m so sorry,” Neve whispered, burying her face in her hands.

  “It’s okay, Neve,” Charlie said quickly as Mr McCuthers stepped closer. “It’s not your fault.”

  “It is!” Neve said hoarsely, fiddling with the string pull on her hoodie. “It’s all my fault, all of it! You don’t understand…”

  “Hang on.” Mia glanced at the others, then back at Neve. “You think Fable got colic and died because you gave her an apple, right?” she asked gently. Neve looked up sharply, her face distraught.

  “Charlie read the diary but she noticed that some pages had been torn out,” Alice explained.

  “We found them tonight, when your bag tipped over and the diary fell out into the snow,” Rosie added. “Is that why you tore them out, because your mum had written about you giving Fable an apple?”

&
nbsp; Neve’s cheeks flushed red for a second.

  “It wasn’t just one, that was the problem. I… I gave Fable two more, when Mum wasn’t looking,” Neve said hesitantly, with a shiver. “She never knew and I never told her afterwards, I was too scared. But I’d been so happy about Fable eating from my hand. Hours later she was dead.” Neve gulped. “And if Fable hadn’t died, Mum wouldn’t have packed us up and gone to Ireland, and if she hadn’t gone to Ireland, maybe she might not have been…”

  Neve sobbed, unable to continue.

  “Neve, you were only five,” Mr McCuthers cut in. “She didn’t blame you at all for what happened. Fable’s colic wasn’t your fault. I tried my hardest, we all did, but Fable was just too weak to fight – that was the problem.”

  Neve looked unsure, her eyes puffy. “R-really? Mum didn’t blame me? You’re sure?”

  “One hundred per cent,” Mr McCuthers sighed.

  “But… I thought…” Neve started, looking confused.

  “Well you thought wrong,” Mr McCuthers said firmly.

  “But why did that make you want to run away?” Rosie asked as Neve stood, looking shocked.

  “I… I didn’t want to go back to Hope Farm,” Neve said in barely a whisper. “I worried that Fran might have seen me feeding the extra apples to Fable. I couldn’t face her…”

  “But Fran can’t wait for you to come back!” Mr McCuthers told her. “She was delighted when I told her we were looking for somewhere smaller to move to – she suggested the annexe and we thought it was perfect. She’s over the moon about you staying – she hasn’t stopped talking about it. She said you were just like your mum around horses and she can’t wait for you to help her with the problem ponies – with all her plans for you, you’re about to become very busy helping out at Hope Farm, in between school and homework that is!”

  Suddenly it was like a huge weight had lifted off Neve’s shoulders. She started to laugh with relief, only it turned into tears and her granddad gave her a warm hug.

  “Come on,” he said softly. “It’s time we took you home.”