by Terri Farley
Hoku’s head came up again, ears pricked, but not toward Darby. The filly concentrated on the patch of the rain forest surrounding the old man lichen rock. By the trail.
Darby looked, listened, and heard nothing that sounded out of place.
Of course Hoku would be watchful, she thought; every sound here was new.
Darby returned to her list.
5. sees things that aren’t there
6. paws dirt
7. shakes head
8. scratches neck on fence
9. swings head around and uses teeth to scratch her back
10. uses hind hoof to reach up and scratch her chin
That last gesture made the filly look like a foal. She was so cute that Darby had to force herself to keep writing.
11. like a little kid, Hoku checks to see if I’m paying attention
12. goes to the bathroom in the same place every time
13. neighs at…
Nothing? That’s the word Darby had been about to write when she heard someone coming through the forest. Someone, for sure, not something. She hadn’t noticed signs of the wild pig since the night before last. She was sorry she’d mentioned it to Cade, because he’d probably told Jonah about it.
Darby waited in silence, but no one came out of the forest.
Shrugging, she looked at her list and saw that she’d made it halfway through her homework. There’d been no sign of Tango, and the shade that had cooled her had been replaced by tropical brightness that made her squint at the notebook paper.
Standing up to stretch, Darby awarded herself a break.
“Let’s take you back to your corral, pretty girl.”
Hoku yawned as if she’d been wakened, and followed as Darby led.
Quiet moments like this built as much trust as brushing and blowing bubbles, Darby thought, and she wasn’t going to throw away the progress she was making with her filly for the wild idea that had crept into her dreams last night.
She hadn’t given up on the crazy project of mending Cade and Megan’s friendship, only to take on a more insane and dangerous task.
She was not going to try to ride Hoku.
They’d reached the corral gate now. A trumpet-shaped flower on the vine winding around the fence bobbed against Darby’s hand as she opened the gate. It might have been pecking her, saying, “liar, liar, liar.”
As Darby looked down at the flower, something else caught her attention. Black hair was snagged on the splintery bottom board of the gate.
For a moment, her heart pounded. There was a low spot in the dirt and some animal had squeezed underneath.
It was probably a wirehaired black dog, Darby told herself. Not a wild pig. Those little black hairs could have been there for years.
Hoku’s snort jerked Darby’s attention back. The filly stared at her so intently, Darby glanced over her shoulders, but there was nothing there.
“You ready to go back inside?” Darby asked, and Hoku all but let herself into the corral.
But even when Darby had closed and locked the gate, Hoku watched her, signaling with her ears and eyes, as if she wanted to have an equine-human conversation.
I’ve been ridden before, Hoku’s dark eyes told Darby.
“Yeah, too young,” Darby said aloud. “It was a terrible experience. Like child abuse.”
Hoku swished her tail, then tossed her chin toward her hindquarters, chasing away Darby’s response. Or a bee.
I was ridden by a cruel man. Not by you. Not by someone I trust.
“Uh-huh, but that’s the thing. Will you still trust me if I try to ride you too early?” Darby asked her horse.
Hoku stepped closer to the fence and Darby caught a teasing look in the filly’s eyes. If I let you climb on, then change my mind, who cares?
“Good point,” Darby told Hoku. “If I get bucked off, hurt, and no one’s here to help me, I’d better die, ’cause if I don’t, Jonah will kill me.”
The filly trotted to the middle of the corral and stopped. As Hoku shook all over, her mane flipped from side to side, making an arc of light. Then she lowered herself to the ground and rolled.
Hoku felt so safe with Darby, she put herself in a vulnerable position—off all four hooves—in a strange place. Even as dust clouded her view of the forest, the horse was so relaxed, she groaned in pleasure, letting the ground massage her back.
Walk away from the corral, Darby ordered herself.
She did, glancing guiltily at the trees ringing the clearing.
She’d had way too many visitors to think she wouldn’t be caught, if she kept talking to Hoku as if the filly were human. Or if she tried to ride her.
If I get bucked off, I’d better die, she’d just told Hoku.
Darby’s cheeks heated in embarrassment, even though she was alone. How would that sound to anyone who knew of Ben Kato’s fatal accident?
She’d better keep Ben’s death in mind, Darby decided. If an expert horseman, a paniolo, could be killed in a riding accident, what could happen to her?
She’d think about that as she sat on the top fence rail of the corral.
Darby’s boots had stopped walking. Hoku was a magnet, pulling her back to the corral. But she’d only watch her wild filly. And maybe finish her homework.
One thing was for sure: The filly’s back was off-limits.
After a while, Darby could balance on the top rail of the fence, almost without thinking. It made her feel like a real cowgirl.
By noon, the sun stabbed through the canopy of leaves here, too, making Darby perspire. She squirmed as the tip of her ponytail tickled the damp nape of her neck. Balancing, she reached up and tightened it.
Hoku left her place across the corral and jogged straight to Darby so fast the sun struck rainbows on her golden coat.
“You’re such a pretty girl,” Darby said as Hoku brushed against her knees, then stopped a few steps past her.
What brought her over here? Darby wondered.
Her thoughts circled around an unlikely answer. To test the theory, Darby tightened her ponytail again.
Hoku backed up and turned her head to watch Darby.
Wow. Could Hoku be taking the movement as a signal to come close?
Darby was about to climb into the corral and try the gesture again, but Hoku trotted away. Darby tightened her ponytail. Here came Hoku again.
She wasn’t imagining it. She might have blown a silent whistle only Hoku could hear.
This time the filly rubbed against Darby’s leg more slowly, then trotted off, giving a little buck as if she liked this game.
For a fourth time, Darby tightened a ponytail already stinging her scalp from pulling her hair, and Hoku jumped her way, nuzzled Darby’s leg, and slid her head under it.
Darby swallowed hard, as if that would stop her heart’s pounding. Her ankle rested on the other side of Hoku’s neck.
She didn’t move. She barely breathed as she remembered her first sight of Hoku running on the snowy Nevada range. Then she recalled Hoku on the night she’d pranced and bucked before galloping into the Hawaiian darkness.
Hoku loved to run. Her wild heart told her she’d been born to do it. Yet Jonah insisted Hoku stay in small corrals. Hoku couldn’t possibly know a rider was her passport out of confinement, could she?
But if I rode you, we could go running together, Darby thought. We could gallop as far and fast as you like, because if you’re carrying me, I can remind you to go back home.
Darby looked at the gate. What if she started by riding inside the corral?
She’d just tighten her ponytail, slip onto Hoku’s back, and ride in circles until she was certain they understood each other. What would be the harm in that?
Darby’s fear dropped away as she and Hoku stared at each other. Trust went both ways. If Hoku trusted Darby to sit on her back, she would have to trust Hoku not to throw her.
Hoku lifted her head. A longing neigh drifted from her lips.
Yes! Darby thought. Do it!
Ch
apter 8
As she watched her horse, Darby’s senses were turned up higher than they’d ever been before.
That was probably why she heard footsteps, even though the person approaching was working at stealth.
Close, quick, and light, the feet came on.
Darby jumped off the top rail and onto the ground outside the corral.
“Megan!” Darby clapped her hands together.
She’d missed her chance to ride Hoku, but there’d be another. She was sure of it.
She was excited by the sight of her friend. Until she got a good look at her.
Megan looked tired, which was strange. Megan was usually pep personified, and a total athlete. Usually, Darby thought her friend’s thick russet hair and agile-cat strides would make her a TV star if she did commercials for protein bars or an expensive gym. But not today.
Now Megan walked a little off-balance, carrying something by its handle, and her face was flushed.
Megan hadn’t returned her greeting or taken off her dark glasses. And her hair…Megan never had a bad hair day. Or if she did, she hid it under a boyish cap that somehow made her look even more feminine.
“What’s wrong?” Darby asked. “Did something happen?”
Megan ignored Darby’s questions. She swung the drink jug she carried.
“I brought some lemonade. I wish we hadn’t eaten all of m-my paniolo pizza.” Megan’s voice caught as if she’d been crying, but she plowed ahead as if it hadn’t. “What did you think of it?”
“I loved it, but you can’t—I mean, you didn’t come out here to ask me that.”
Tutu had told Darby that Megan hadn’t come to the rain forest camp since the accident, but suddenly here she was.
Silently, Darby vowed not to start meddling again, but she had to wonder.
“No,” Megan said, “I didn’t.” She set the jug on the ground, took off her dark glasses to show eyes swollen from crying, and crossed her arms.
“I had a fight with Cade, and then my mom g-got into it.” Megan stopped and cleared her throat. “It was bad, but at least my mom said I could skip school today.”
“She did?” Darby asked, aghast. Even in the short time she’d been at ‘Iolani Ranch, she’d learned Auntie Cathy put school before almost everything.
“Yeah, it was a miracle. She said the fresh air would do me good.”
Darby tried to sound casual when she asked, “So what happened?”
“I was getting ready for school when Cade yelled from outside. He was standing at the bottom of our stairs, with all the dogs bouncing around him. He looked so excited.
“And he’s yelling, ‘We’re going to catch your horse!’ Just like that. It’s been almost two years. He said he’d found Tango in the forest not far from where—” Megan broke off, shaking her head. “No, he really said you’d found Tango.”
It was just a reflex, Darby thought as Megan flashed her an accusatory look. Megan blamed Darby for uncovering the tender part of her that still mourned her father, but the look was quickly replaced by a wry smile.
“After all this time, you just go out there and Tango comes to you. I guess you really are—”
“Don’t say it,” Darby interrupted. “Tango was looking for you.”
A look of hope crossed Megan’s face before she asked, “What makes you think so?”
“The bubbles. She didn’t come into the clearing and stay until I started blowing bubbles for Hoku.”
“Good,” Megan said. She stared into the forest until she looked almost peaceful. Then she shook her head and said, “But I’ve still messed things up at home. Big time. When Cade said he’d have Biscuit saddled when I got home from school and we could get Kit to help us track down Tango, he looked all hopeful, like when he was a kid. That poor little kid….”
In that minute, it was so quiet, Darby heard the claws of a lizard climbing the tree next to her. But she barely glanced at it.
“I asked him,” Megan said with self-loathing, “if he hadn’t already done enough.”
Darby couldn’t help wincing and Megan nodded. She knew how cruel that had been.
“And that’s when my mother got into it,” Megan went on. “So then I yelled at her, saying she hadn’t been there, so what did she know, and I must have been pretty loud, because that’s what sent the dogs slinking away and then Kimo drove up, got out of his truck, took in the whole stupid situation, and said, ‘What’s shakin’, Mekana? You skip school, you gonna end up like me.’”
After the perfect imitation of Kimo, Megan let out a gigantic sigh and fell silent.
Finally, Darby tried to distract her friend. She looked at the jug Megan had set down between them.
“So, this is lemonade,” Darby said.
Megan made a gulping noise that was half sob and half laugh.
“Yeah, Mom made me bring it, so that I”—her voice caught, but she kept going—“stay hydrated.” She used both hands to wipe her cheeks. “Really, I didn’t know I had this many tears left in me.”
Megan’s lower lip trembled, but Darby would bet Megan wasn’t just feeling sorry for herself, but for Cade, too. And she must be missing her father all over again.
But Darby didn’t say that. She’d given up meddling. Still, she felt like she should do something.
Casting around for a way to make Megan feel better, Darby suddenly knew what to say.
“I have chocolate.”
“It’s too sweet to have with the lemonade, and I can’t play soccer today, so I won’t be able to work it off, and besides…” Megan rolled her eyes. “Darby.”
“What?”
“I know my eyes are all swollen up like…a stomped-on toad, so you don’t have to try so hard not to look at them.”
“A stomped-on toad?” Darby repeated.
“You’re from that other West,” Megan said, gesturing vaguely toward the mainland. “I thought all you guys talked that way.”
“Not me,” Darby said. “Besides, no one’s out here but us, and your eyes aren’t that noticeable—”
“You are such a bad liar,” Megan said flatly. “And just for that, I am going to eat your chocolate.”
Megan stalked toward the hut, and Darby shouted, “Not all of it!”
“Try to stop me!” Megan growled in mock menace.
She lifted Darby’s backpack and gave it a shake.
“First you have to find it!” Darby dared, but, as it turned out, she ended up helping Megan do just that. And they ate all the chocolate together.
Chapter 9
Late-afternoon rain showered the rain forest. Full of chocolate and lemonade, the girls retreated to Darby’s house of ferns, sat on her spread-out sleeping bag, and watched the raindrops turn a spiderweb just outside into a jeweled net.
“I saw a happy-face spider,” Darby said.
“They’re kind of cool, huh?”
Megan sounded sleepy, so Darby just nodded, then sat silently as raindrops drummed the leaves and branches.
Darby loved the warm tropical rainstorms that bathed the island.
Back on the ranch, the cowboys would work right through the showers, because they happened at least once a day. Darby wondered if they were wearing slickers now, or just moving under cover to drink coffee while they repaired and polished tack.
Thunder grumbled beyond the treetops and Darby soaked up the moody atmosphere of waiting out the rain while she listened to Hoku splashing in the puddle forming in her corral.
“I haven’t been back here for a long time,” Megan spoke up. “Not since my dad died.”
“I’m sorry,” Darby said, wishing she could think of something better to say.
“Mom always says he died doing what he loved.” Megan sighed, “But, you know? That doesn’t make me feel much better.”
Wind squalled through the clearing, spraying water on the girls’ faces, and they both scooted farther back into the shelter.
“I don’t see me walking home in this,” Megan said sourly.
“You walked?”
“Most of the way. We’re not supposed to bring horses in here without a reason.”
Darby nodded, remembering Cade had said the same thing.
“So, if you don’t mind me hanging around for a while…”
“Mind? I think it would be cool if you could spend the night!” Darby said.
“I don’t know about that….” Megan glanced around the shelter, raising her eyebrow as if these were awfully tight quarters for two.
“It’ll be dark soon, and you shouldn’t go out there. There’ve been wild pigs around, I think, and Cade said they could have rabies,” Darby said, even though she knew she was exaggerating Cade’s words.
“Cade…” For the first time Megan sounded understanding. “He’s paranoid about wild pigs. Of course, so am I.”
Darby remembered when they’d ridden into Crimson Vale together and Megan thought she’d spotted a black boar. She’d turned pale and shaky, and nearly lost control of Conch, the grulla horse she was riding.
“Do you know,” Megan said, as if she couldn’t believe her own words, “I used to be really afraid of Cade?”
Darby’s breath hitched in her throat. She coughed, wishing she’d stop, because she wanted to hear more.
“Afraid?” Darby repeated breathlessly.
“In that hysterical, slumber-party kind of way.” Megan tried to make light of her confession. “I’m older than him, so it didn’t make any sense.”
“Not that much older,” Darby said, making an excuse for her friend. “But what scared you about him?”
“My parents—” Megan stopped and sighed. “To be fair, I totally misunderstood what they were trying to tell me. My mom said, because Cade came from an abusive home, we had to help him learn there were other ways to solve problems besides violence.”
“That makes sense,” Darby said.
“Yeah, but she said violence had been ‘pounded into him.’ That scared me, made me stupid and paranoid.
“And then my dad said—” Megan broke off again, wearing a bittersweet smile. “He was a real paniolo, you know, like Jonah. And Cade, too, I guess. Did you know Cade’s the one who told my dad and Jonah about Tango? He’d seen her running up in Crimson Vale with Black Lava and thought she’d make a perfect horse for me.