She spotted Will leaning against the fence and went to say hi. He said it first. “Hello. I’m looking for a girl who’s looking for a horse?” He held Wayne’s reins while the gelding stood patiently behind him, fully tacked up.
“Really?” Kit asked. “Yours?” She didn’t want to sound so doubtful, but after Nav’s outburst about her borrowing Prince, she hadn’t dared to ask anyone else. How did Will know she needed a horse, anyway? Because who would ride Coco Pie in a league trial? she answered herself. Coco Pie was a sweetie, but the mare wasn’t used to jumping. Kit needed an experienced jumper, and Will knew that. “But Wayne’s a daredevil,” she pointed out. When Will and Wayne rode a jumper course, they left skid marks behind. Wouldn’t Wayne be too spirited for her?
“Nah,” said Will with a heart-melting smile. “Nah, that’s me. Wayne’s a big baby. He’ll do whatever you want.”
Fantastic! Her horse problem was solved! That only made the next problem feel even worse, and the truth slipped out. “I’m so scared.”
“Yeah, I know.” Will grinned as Wayne lipped at his collar. Will gave the horse a pat. “But I’ll be standing right here, and I’ll be holding him. It’ll be just like a pony ride, all right? Come on.”
Kit took a deep breath and approached Wayne’s left side. On a count of three, Will helped hoist her into the saddle. She sat perfectly still for several seconds, getting used to Wayne’s height. He was a big horse like TK, and the ground looked like it was a mile down.
“Keep breathing,” Will suggested. “It’s important. Essential, actually.”
Kit hadn’t even realized that she’d been holding her breath. She let it out with a weak chuckle, feeling nervous as well as excited. I got on, and I didn’t faint! she thought, mentally giving herself a round of applause.
“Do you want to take a walk around the course?” Will asked.
Kit had been concentrating so hard on making it into the saddle that she’d forgotten that the purpose of mounting a horse was to ride it. “What if Wayne doesn’t like me?” she fretted.
“I can already tell he does,” replied Will. “See how relaxed he is?”
“So he’s not going to suddenly bolt and go tearing for the trees?”
“No, no.” Will gave the horse a loving stroke down his long neck. “He knows this course. Plus, with the trotting poles, it’ll feel like a warm-up for him. And he’s had loads of riders. He’s pretty cool like that.”
Kit gripped the reins, appreciating Will’s quiet reassurances more than he would ever know. As a rider, Will Palmerston was the epitome of cool. It was nice to know that Wayne shared that quality. “Can he memorize the course for me?” she asked, recalling sessions with Elaine that had involved plastic horses and way too much planking.
Will offered a better idea: “My brother had a really good way of memorizing courses. He’d assign a memory to each jump.”
“Like how?”
“Well, like, your first jump is number eight. When I was eight, I had to get stitches — not from falling off a horse or anything. My brother conked me on the head with a rake.”
Kit nodded. “That explains a lot.” She laughed at Will’s insulted expression. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding! Keep going.”
“Okay, so when I was six, I had chicken pox. And when I was twelve, I built a tree fort. Your jump order is going to be eight, six, twelve, so that’s stitches, chicken pox, tree fort.”
“Like remembering a funny story.”
“Yeah, exactly. Do you want to try it out?”
Truthfully, Kit answered, “No.”
“Great! Let’s go for it.” Will led Wayne at a trot to the first jump, a series of four poles lying on the ground. Kit tried her hardest to remain calm as Wayne trotted over them easy as pie. “Great!” Will cheered. “Well done!”
“Thanks!” said Kit, dizzy with relief.
“I was talking to Wayne.”
Kit never dreamed that she would laugh her way through a jumper course, but that’s exactly what she did, thanks to Will.
Josh and Anya were discovering that “being Elaine” wasn’t easy.
First Josh had looked up yoga on the web. Now he read out instructions for the tree pose from his mobile while Anya tried to do it. “Vuh-rik-shay-SAY-nuh will improve your balance,” he read.
“It’s vrik-SHAH-suh-nuh,” Anya said, correcting him, standing on one foot with her other foot drawn up to her thigh at a right angle and her palms pressed together at chest level.
“Why am I reading these instructions? You already know it!” Josh complained, though his irritation was a complete put-on. He enjoyed watching Anya get into the tree pose. With her gorgeous long black hair and petite figure, it made her look like a statue of a goddess.
She broke the pose and put her hands on her hips. “I only know how to say it. I don’t know how to do it.”
That simply made Josh want to help more. The problem was he had no idea how to do that. So, in typical Luders fashion, he faked it. “Hey, well, just, uh, I don’t know, kind of — focus on something. You know?”
Anya snorted at him. “Thanks, guru.”
Josh noticed a young man he’d never seen before coming toward them. He wasn’t wearing a Covington uniform, but he was very well dressed. “Sorry,” the stranger said to Anya in a butter-smooth Spanish accent. “May I?” He held out a hand as if to help her with the pose.
“Who are you?” Anya asked.
The young man gave her a formal bow. “I am Santiago Andrada.”
Josh rolled his eyes while Anya said, “No more explanation required.” She allowed Santiago to hold her steady as she resumed the pose.
Josh didn’t appreciate having another Andrada around. One was bad enough. But while Nav’s elegant voice and movements annoyed him at most, there was something about Santiago that Josh found . . . oily. And having him step in like this and act like he knew more than Josh did, well, it was downright impolite.
Josh opened his mouth to protest just as Santiago purred to Anya, “Now send the energy up and out, aiming it toward the heavens.” He guided Anya’s arms so that she wasn’t holding them at chest level but up over her head with her elbows out.
“Oh!” said Anya as she held the corrected pose. “That changes everything!”
Josh had seen enough. “Okay, okay,” he told Santiago. “I’m the guru. I got this, all right?”
Santiago stepped back with a smug smile. “Okay.”
That’s when Elaine breezed by on her way to the main building. “I hope you two have a plan to up your rank on the field,” she sniped. “We’re not going to tank because you”— she frowned at Josh — “can’t jump and you”— now at Anya — “are a scatterbrain.” She leaned in threateningly. “Do I need to intervene?”
“Absolutely not!” Josh snapped. “We’ve so got this!” He growled to himself as she left, mystified by how she managed to survive her own ultra-über-perfection day after day. She was such a pest! A talented, high-scoring pest. But a pest nonetheless. At least the Santiago fellow was leaving, though he gave Anya a wink as he did. Josh drew Anya’s attention back to him by saying, “Elaine is terrifying. I mean, she’s, like, eighty percent of the way to being a full Lady Covington.”
“I know,” agreed Anya, watching as Elaine disappeared up the stairs. “I’d so rather train with you.”
Those words were music to Josh’s ears! He dived back into Guru Mode. “Well, then, um, you know, you get . . .” He put his arms over his head and stuck one leg out. “You get up to, uh, to the heavens and, uh . . .” He watched Anya struggle a little, then find her balance and hold the tree pose. “Yeah, like that. Right!”
Josh liked being Anya’s guru. Definitely.
Nav had no wish to spend any quality time with his cousin. Still, he couldn’t very well ignore him, either. Santiago was the kind of guy you had to keep an eye on. So when Santiago showed up later that morning to “chat,” Nav humored him.
They strolled through the sta
bles. “Cousin,” Santiago said, “do you still have that young buck, Prince?”
“Prince is proving to be an excellent horse,” replied Nav, hoping this wasn’t going to turn into a my-horse-is-better-than-your-horse competition.
Santiago looked around while walking as though judging the quality of the stable facilities. “Well, wait till you see my new steed. You’ll see him in the league gala. He’s called King.”
The hairs on the back of Nav’s neck rose like a dog’s hackles, but before he could say anything, Elaine crossed right in front of them with Thunder. “Nicely now, Thunder,” she said to the horse as she led him to his stall.
Santiago perked up as she went by. “Who is that?”
“She’s not your type,” said Nav.
“Bold? Focused? Clearly a winner? I think she’s exactly my type.”
“She’s not interested in boys. She’s interested in winning.”
“Perhaps she just hasn’t met the right cousin yet.”
Nav gave up. If Santiago insisted on going after Elaine, of all girls, he was about to get his heart handed back to him in a plastic bag. At least, Nav hoped so.
Oozing aristocratic charm, Santiago sidled up to his prey. “Your hair is like silk,” he murmured as if in awe, “and the way that it glistens in the sun? Forgive me, but you took my breath away.”
Nav was glad he hadn’t eaten recently. Talk about sickening opening lines!
Elaine, however, appeared to be swept away when Santiago took her hand, kissed it, and introduced himself. “Santiago Andrada.”
“Um, uh . . .” Elaine stammered. “Th-thank you!”
Nav couldn’t stand it. Shouldering his way in front of Santiago, he said smoothly, “Elaine, have I told you how much I liked your design for the league gala? It is the best I have ever seen.” Not to be outsuaved, he kissed Elaine’s hand, too.
Santiago stepped in front of Nav. “Fancy a hack later?” he asked Elaine. “I hear that you’re quite a talent.”
Nav, eyes smoldering, locked eyes with Elaine. “She has no time for a casual wander on the trail!” he scolded his cousin. He couldn’t believe he was actually wooing Elaine, but he refused to let Santiago win any competition, even this one. “She’s the best rider at this school, so she is always practicing,” he went on, pitching his voice low and alluring. “And congratulations, Elaine. Obviously Kit is only able to do her trial today because of your work. Shall we go to watch? Together?” He reached for her hand.
Santiago edged around him so that he cut off Nav’s reach. “Cousin, please. I haven’t the pleasure of seeing Elaine every day.” To Elaine, he asked, “May I take you to watch the trial?”
Elaine’s cheeks flushed a gentle pink. “Well,” she said, “far be it from me to come between family members.” She took Santiago’s arm on her left and Nav’s arm on her right and walked with both of them to the trials.
Anya was helping Kit get ready for her trial. “You’ve been at it all day,” she said reassuringly. “You’ll do aces!”
Kit shivered. “I’m just really nervous, especially after my first epic fail.”
“You just have to finish the course, and it doesn’t have to look pretty. As long as you jump all the jumps, you’ll get a rank!”
There was a knock on the door, and Elaine entered, wringing her hands. “I need your help,” she said in a strangely giddy voice. At the word help, Kit presumed that Elaine was talking to Anya, not her. She was right. “I need something to wear for Kit’s timed trial,” Elaine finished to Anya. “Please?”
“Aw, you don’t have to get all dressed up for me,” Kit teased.
“Actually, um . . .” Elaine shifted from one foot to the other. “I have a date.”
Amazed by this news, Kit demanded, “With who?” just as Anya asked the exact same thing. They sounded like twins.
Elaine didn’t look like she appreciated the question. “Well, thanks for being completely and utterly gobsmacked by the mere possibility,” she snapped.
“Sorry,” Kit said.
Anya indicated her wardrobe. “You can borrow anything you like.” She paused. “So who is it?”
Elaine gave in. “Well, there are actually two boys who might be interested.”
What did she do, put love potion in their morning orange juice? Kit wondered. Seriously, though, she was glad. Maybe if Elaine got a boyfriend, she would have better things to do than harp on everyone.
Out on the practice field, the league trials were about to begin. Students gathered at the fences to watch.
Elaine spotted Santiago. It was impossible not to notice him with his pristine powder-blue blazer, spotless trousers, and flawlessly coiffed hair. Everyone else wore riding gear, uniforms, or work clothes.
Elaine stopped by Anya first, to thank her again for the scarf she had borrowed and was now wearing. “Kit’s getting a rank,” Anya said excitedly, “and you’re getting a date!”
Elaine would have replied, but her mobile beeped. She pulled it out and saw that Santiago had sent her a text. “Oh, my gosh,” she said, reading. “Santiago’s had a botanical garden in Bangkok named after me!”
“No way!” Anya squealed.
Elaine knew that Santiago could hear them. He stood not ten feet away, tapping at his mobile and smiling as he eavesdropped. Elaine also knew that Nav was approaching from behind with a bouquet of flowers, the silly boy. She heard him mutter, “Well played, cousin,” as he overheard about the botanical garden. He slumped in defeat. Elaine had the strangest urge to pat him on the head and say, “Nice try, Navarro, but the fastest Andrada wins the race!”
Instead she ignored him and joined Santiago. “Hi,” she said breathlessly, giving a coy shoulder wiggle to make sure he noticed her scarf. “I’ve seen your stats. I’m very impressed.”
“It’s all about the training program,” Santiago said, favoring her with his radiant smile. “I’ve tailored my own to suit.”
“Oh, really? I’d love to hear all about it. I mean, I know you took home first during your school’s House Cup. Can anyone even keep up with you?”
Santiago’s ego seemed to eat up the praise. “Well, no, not really. Although we do have some strong riders. Paul Rutherford. He tries to keep up, but he has some problems with his release timing.”
“Oh? Tell me all about it. It sounds fascinating, truly.”
Kit paid no attention to Elaine, Santiago, or anyone else gathered to watch the trials. She walked steadily into the ring, followed by Rudy leading Wayne. This is it, Kit thought. I have this last chance to prove myself. I have to ace this!
“All right,” Rudy said, fishing around in his jacket pocket.
Kit saw the motion. “No! No Ugly Brooch! Not today. I don’t think it had its intended effect last time.”
Rudy kept fishing in his pocket until he pulled out a necklace. “I got you this instead,” he said, placing it in her hand. “For good luck and new beginnings.”
Kit sniffled. No, don’t go there! she thought, admiring the lovely silver horseshoe charm on its shiny silver chain. “Dad,” she whimpered, overcome with emotion. “You’re going to make me cry! And if I cry, then I can’t see the jumps, and even I know that’s kind of an important part.” She sniffled again while putting the necklace on. The chain length was perfect, allowing the little horseshoe to lie right at the base of her throat. My dad is the best dad in the whole world, she thought, touching the charm. If this doesn’t bring me luck, nothing will!
Rudy, uncomfortable with anything resembling mushy emotions, turned back to practical matters. “Do you feel safe up here?” He patted Wayne’s neck. “Wayne’s a good horse, but you need to feel safe.”
“I hear he’s a big baby,” Kit replied. “I feel good, Dad.” She moved to Wayne’s left side, and Rudy gave her a boost into the saddle. She slipped her toes into the stirrups and sat for a moment. Yes, it did feel good. Not great, but good. A few butterflies continued to flutter in her stomach, and her heart pounded, but that was fine.
I can handle it. I think.
“Now remember what your mom would say,” Rudy told her. “Believe you can, and you’re halfway there.”
“It’s going to be great,” Kit assured him.
“You know it.”
The judge announced, “Next up, rider Kit Bridges.”
“This is it, Wayne,” Kit murmured. “Let’s do it!”
A whinny! Kit suddenly heard the echo of a whinny blow past her ear.
There it came again!
And again, much louder!
Kit’s heart pounded for a different reason now. She dismounted Wayne and, dropping his reins, ran as fast as she could out of the ring.
Kit!” shouted Rudy. “What’s going on? Kit!”
Kit kept running. Whatever his daughter was doing, she wasn’t going to stop.
Rudy ran over to the judge. “The clock hadn’t started, so there’s no time fault, right?” he asked, barging on before the poor man could answer. “Will you please just move her down in my order and let her go near the end? I mean, as long as she rides before you go, all right?”
The judge frowned but nodded, marking his list. Rudy didn’t care if the man felt inconvenienced, as long as Kit still got her chance. Right now, he had to find out what had made her bolt like a deer across the school grounds.
He ran after her.
On the opposite side of the ring, Anya witnessed Kit’s sudden mad dash across the field. Where was she going?
Next to her, Josh was busy doing squats.
“Give it a rest,” Anya told him. “We’re not training right now. We need to go and see if Kit’s okay.”
“Will went after her,” Josh said, putting his hand on her arm. “Maybe you should just, I don’t know, give your friend and the cute boy a minute, eh?” He winked and resumed his squats.
The Search for TK Page 14