Sea Horses: the Last Secret

by Louise Cooper

  ‘Oh, Nan…’ Tamzin hugged Nan too, and Nan smiled at her.

  ‘It really is over this time,’ she said quietly. ‘And it’s all because of you, love.’

  ‘No,’ said Tamzin. ‘No, it isn’t because of me. It’s because of Moonlight.’

  She looked out to sea once more. There was nothing there. But all the same she raised one hand a little, like a salute. Just in case…

  Then she turned back to the others, and they walked slowly away towards the car park.

  chapter thirteen

  Back at Chapel Cottage, Tamzin went straight to bed. She was asleep as soon as she laid her head on the pillow, and she slept soundly right through the night and nearly until lunchtime.

  She woke to a hot and sunny day, a day so beautiful that she felt sure it was a sign all was well. Downstairs, Nan had something to show her. She took Tamzin to her studio and there in the glass-fronted cabinet was the little statue of the Grey Horse. It showed no sign of ever having been broken – but it wasn’t grey any more. Instead, it shone with the soft colours of the glass that had flowed to cover its surface with a sheen of blue.

  Tamzin gazed at it. ‘So it really did happen the way I remember,’ she said. ‘I wondered if that part of it might have been a dream.’

  Nan smiled. ‘No, love. All the things that happened were very, very real. The Grey Horse is safely imprisoned again, and the magic that keeps it there is stronger than ever before.’

  Tamzin rubbed at her eyes as they went back to the kitchen. Then she remembered something.

  ‘Hannah…’ She looked at Nan in dismay. ‘How’s Hannah?’

  ‘She’s fine, love. I rang her parents yesterday evening. They’re angry with her for taking the boat without permission, but she’s come to no harm.’

  Tamzin nodded. ‘I don’t know how I’m going to explain everything to her.’

  ‘I don’t think you’ll have to,’ said Nan. ‘It’s my guess that she’s forgotten most of what happened. The Blue Horse will make sure of that.’

  ‘Yes… maybe it will. What about Alec, though?’

  ‘Oh, Alec’s a different matter. But he believed already, didn’t he?’

  ‘Yes. Yes, he did.’ Tamzin yawned and swallowed it back. ‘I feel so guilty, sleeping this late!’

  ‘It’s good for you,’ said Nan firmly. ‘Though you missed a couple of phone calls.’

  ‘Did I? I didn’t even hear it ring! Who were they from?’

  ‘The first was your mum and dad, last night. Don’t worry. It was quite late, so they didn’t think it was strange that you were asleep. They’re going to call again.’ Nan checked her watch, working out the difference between British and Canadian time. ‘Any minute now, I’d say.’

  ‘That’s lovely! I so much want to talk to them.’

  ‘The other call was from Joel. He’d like you to go to the stables as soon as you can. He sounded… mysterious.’

  Tamzin was just beginning to wonder what Joel had to tell her when the phone started to shrill. Nan went to answer it, and came back with the phone in her hand and an oddly secretive smile on her face.

  ‘Here she is, Peter,’ she said into the handset, and passed it to Tamzin.

  ‘Dad!’ Tamzin cried joyfully down the phone.

  ‘Hello, poppet!’ The line was a bit echoey but her father’s voice came through clearly. ‘We’ve got some good news. My job’s finished early, so Mum and I are coming home next week!’

  ‘Dad! Oh, that’s brilliant!’

  ‘You haven’t heard all of it yet,’ said Dad with laughter in his voice. ‘I’m getting time off because of the early finish. So as soon as we fly in, we’re coming straight down to Cornwall and we’ll all stay at Nan’s till the end of the school holidays!’

  ‘Oh, Dad… Oh, Dad…’ Tamzin couldn’t find more words, she was so overjoyed. She talked to her mother, who was just as excited, then when her parents rang off she turned to Nan with shining eyes. Nan was grinning broadly, and Tamzin said, ‘You knew, didn’t you?’

  ‘They told me last night. But they wanted you to hear the news from them. Isn’t it wonderful?’

  ‘Yes – oh, yes!’

  ‘And now,’ said Nan, ‘don’t you think it might be a good idea to find out what Joel wants?’

  Tamzin’s heart was bursting with joy as she hurried up the valley path towards the Richardses’ stables. She had missed Mum and Dad so much, and the thought that they would soon be together again was wonderful. Whatever Joel’s news was, she told herself, it couldn’t possibly be as exciting as hers!

  Barney, the Richardses’ shaggy dog, came bounding to meet her as usual as she opened the stable-yard gate. Tamzin made a big fuss of him, rubbing his ears hard in the way he loved, then looked up to see if anyone was around.

  And froze in mid-movement.

  ‘No…’ she whispered. It wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be possible…

  Directly ahead of her was a row of stalls and looseboxes. Their top doors were open, but the horses were all in the paddock and no heads were looking out. Except for one.

  Tamzin started to shake. She walked towards the loosebox, not daring to believe. Then she did believe, and broke into a run. The dapple-grey pony in the box had seen her, and he let out a whinny of delighted welcome as she rushed up to him and flung her arms around his neck.

  ‘Moonlight!’ Tamzin cried. ‘Oh, Moonlight!’

  ‘It’s absolutely incredible,’ said Mrs Richards, smiling happily. ‘We woke up this morning and there he was in the paddock with all the others!’

  ‘He must have escaped from whoever stole him and found his way home,’ Mr Richards added. ‘Clever old Moonlight!’

  Over Moonlight’s dappled back, Tamzin and Joel exchanged a shiny-eyed look. They knew the real truth. But they could never explain it to Joel’s parents. It was their secret – theirs and Nan’s and Alec’s – and it always would be.

  ‘The vet came to look at him earlier,’ said Mrs Richards, patting Moonlight, ‘and says he’s A1 fit. So how about you and Joel going off for an hour or so, Tamzin? And you can ride Moonlight.’

  Tamzin’s spirits soared at the thought. But then she paused. In the light of all that had happened, and all she knew about him, how could she saddle Moonlight and ride him as if he was just an ordinary pony? Surely it would be wrong. An insult to the Blue Horse…

  She looked at Moonlight with uncertainty in her eyes. Moonlight looked back at her. Then, without any warning, he gave her a playful nudge with his muzzle that nearly knocked her off her feet. Joel and his parents laughed out loud, and as Tamzin regained her balance Moonlight pushed his nose into her pocket and snuffled for titbits.

  She had her answer. The Blue Horse’s task was done; there was no more need for him to stay. But he – or the part of him that was Moonlight – wanted to stay. To be an ordinary pony, as he had been before. He would and could never be ordinary to Tamzin. But this had become his home, and home was where he wanted to be.

  She hugged him again, then let him go and smiled at the Richardses.

  ‘I’d love to ride him,’ she said. ‘Thank you!’ She thought of her parents’ phone call and her face broke into a smile. ‘And now I’ve got some wonderful news to tell you…’

  ∗ Told in The Talisman.

  ∗ Told in Gathering Storm.