‘Feeling better, love?’ Nan asked.
Tamzin nodded. ‘Yes. Thanks, Nan. For everything…’
Baggins had followed Nan into the room, and jumped up on to Tamzin’s lap, purring loudly and kneading with his front paws. Tamzin stroked him, and Nan added, ‘Supper’s nearly ready. Cheese and potato hotpot.’ She sat down in an armchair and sipped her own mug of chocolate. ‘That’s better. It’s nice to relax at last, isn’t it?’
It was, Tamzin thought. Nan was so calm that she made everything feel almost normal again – and normal feelings were exactly what Tamzin needed now.
The search party, with Nan in the lead, had taken Tamzin and Joel back to the stables, where a police car was waiting, together with a local doctor whose daughter had been taking part in the Fun Day. The doctor examined Tamzin and to her relief said there was no need for her go to hospital. The best thing for her, he said, was to go home and have a hot meal and a good night’s sleep.
Before she could go home, though, the police wanted to talk to her. They were searching for the runaway horse and also for Marga. They hoped Tamzin could tell them where Marga lived and who her family were. Joel had given them her mobile phone number but he must have written it down wrongly, they said, because that number did not exist.
Tamzin could have told them that Marga and Lossie did not exist, either; at least, not in the way that they meant. But of course they would not have believed her, so she simply repeated the story that Marga had told her.
While Tamzin talked to the police Nan had fetched the car round by the road way to take her home. Before they left Tamzin had had a few private minutes with Joel and Moonlight in the stable. Joel looked strained and weary, with dark shadows under his eyes. He was tongue-tied at first but finally he had blurted out a stumbling apology ‘for being so blind and stupid’, as he put it.
‘I should have seen through Marga,’ he said miserably. ‘I should have realized what she was.’
‘How could you have done?’ Tamzin asked. ‘Anyway, we don’t really know what she was, do we? I expect we never will. But because of you and Moonlight, she didn’t win. That’s the only thing that matters.’
Joel looked happier at that, though still uncertain. Tamzin hugged him. ‘Look after Moonlight for me,’ she said.
‘I will. He deserves the best of everything.’ Joel hesitated. ‘Will you come to the stables tomorrow?’
‘Of course, if Nan says I can.’
He managed to smile. ‘Your Nan’s an amazing person.’
‘She is,’ Tamzin agreed. ‘Bye then, Joel. Till tomorrow.’
And now she was home, warm and comfortable – and safe. So much had happened that it was hard to know where to begin talking about it. At last, though, she looked up at Nan.
‘It’s going to be strange at school when term starts next week,’ she said. ‘I wonder what they’ll all think happened to Marga?’ She suppressed a little shiver. ‘Nan, was she ever real?’
Nan thought for a moment or two, then replied, ‘No, love, I don’t believe she was. I think she and Lossie were a kind of… illusion, created by the Grey Horse. It was trying to take revenge on you – and but for Joel and Moonlight, it would have succeeded.’
Tamzin looked at her wrist, where her bracelet sparkled. ‘Joel broke the spell when he snatched it away from her, didn’t he?’ she said. ‘That was why Marga and Lossie jumped over the cliff.’
‘Yes. The Grey Horse knew that it had failed, so it had no need of them any more and it took them back to… well, to wherever it conjured them from. You won’t ever see them again.’
‘I know.’ Then Tamzin’s face clouded. ‘But there’ll be something else, won’t there? The Grey Horse wants me, and it won’t give up.’
‘That’s true, love. I can’t pretend it isn’t. But you have your talisman back now. It’s a powerful protector because it brings you closer to the Blue Horse. Which reminds me…’ She reached into a pocket and drew something out. ‘I think you ought to have this.’
She put a small, round, grey pebble into Tamzin’s hand.
‘What is it, Nan?’ Tamzin was puzzled.
‘It’s the stone that was in Moonlight’s hoof; that made him lame. I don’t know why, but I felt I should give it to you.’
Tamzin’s fingers closed over the pebble. For a second or two it felt cold… then suddenly, strangely, it became very warm and she felt a tiny tremor of movement under her palm.
She opened her hand again. The pebble had split in two. Inside it was another fragment of blue glass.
Tamzin gasped, and Nan leaned forwards eagerly to see. ‘Put it with the one on your bracelet,’ she urged. ‘See what happens!’
Tamzin held the new fragment against the first. The new one was a paler blue, sky rather than sea coloured, but it had the same odd, curling shape. The pieces touched – and Tamzin’s vision seemed to blur for a moment.
When it cleared, the two fragments had fused into one.
‘Oh, Nan!’ Tamzin could only stare in wonder.
‘It’s a sign,’ Nan said softly. ‘A sign from the Blue Horse. It’s with you, Tamzin. It’s helping you.’
With trembling fingertips Tamzin dared to touch the changed talisman, tracing its new shape. ‘It’s like part of a tiny horse’s head,’ she breathed. ‘Look, Nan; the cheeks, and the nostrils flaring…’
‘Yes, it is.’ Nan, too, touched the glass. ‘And those beautiful colours, blending together… There’ll be more battles, Tamzin. But the Blue Horse is getting stronger. You can win.’ She smiled. ‘We can win, and defeat the Grey Horse once and for all.’
Tamzin stroked the talisman. It felt neither cold nor warm now, but she could almost feel the Blue Horse’s strength flowing from it. Flowing into her.
‘Are you brave enough?’ Nan asked very gently.
Tamzin met her gaze with steady resolve. ‘Yes, Nan,’ she said. ‘I really think I am.’
Sea Horses: the Talisman Page 9