Read Online Comet and the Champion's Cup by Stacy Gregg - Free Book Online Page A

beam back and forth trying to find the horse again. There! He was standing next to Comet. She could see him quite clearly this time. She could even make out the grey dapples of his coat, the flash of silver mane. Her heart leapt as she realised who it was.
    â€œMystic?” Issie called out. “Is that you?” She held the torch with both hands to keep it steady, worried that if the light beam slipped away even for a moment then the grey horse would disappear and she wouldn’t be able to find him again.
    â€œHey, boy?” Issie called out. She was close now, almost there…Issie kept expecting the horse to vanish, but he was there. He stood perfectly still in the torchlight and his black eyes shone back at her. He was waiting for her. She reached out a hand and touched the thick, coarse strands of Mystic’s silver mane. “Hey, boy,” she breathed softly. “It’s good to see you.”
    Mystic nickered softly as Issie stepped closer to him and leant against his shoulder, wrapping her arms around the pony’s neck, burying her face deep in the grey pony’s mane as she hugged him tight.
    Their embrace was interrupted by the sound of Comet moving behind her. From the moment Issie had met Comet she had sensed there was something special about the skewbald pony. Maybe Mystic sensed it too? Certainly, it was no coincidence that Mystic was here. It meant something.
    â€œAre you here to keep an eye on him?” Issie murmured to Mystic. “Maybe you can convincehim to stay in his paddock for the night for once?”
    The grey gelding seemed to acknowledge his new task as Comet’s babysitter. He gave a soft nicker at Issie’s instructions, then wheeled about and trotted off into the darkness, fading out of her sight. Comet raised his head up as Mystic disappeared, then he trotted after him, following the grey horse across the paddock.
    Issie grinned. If anyone could help control a wayward pony like Comet, it had to be Mystic. She stood there for a moment longer in the dark, flashing the beam of her torch where the horses had been. But they were too far away for her torch to penetrate now, lost in the pitch black at the far side of the field.
    â€œG’night, Mystic,” Issie murmured. “Keep him safe, OK?”
    Issie walked back to the manor deep in thought. As much as she was thrilled to see Mystic again, her horse’s appearance had left her worried. If Mystic was here then it meant trouble of some kind.
    As she took off her boots and put her torch down on the table by the back door, she felt a chill run down her spine. She walked through the kitchen and was about to head upstairs to her room when something made her stop. There was a light on in the small alcove off the kitchenthat Hester used as her office. Issie tiptoed in her socks across the parquet floor and peered through the door of the alcove. Her aunt was hunched over her desk, a mound of paperwork stacked in front of her. Hester took off her reading glasses to rub her eyes and as she did so she caught sight of Issie standing behind her. Startled, she dropped her glasses and then scrambled to pick them up again so she could see who was standing in the doorway.
    â€œIssie! I thought you were sleeping at the cottage. You gave me quite a turn!” Hester looked tense.
    â€œThe kids threw me out. They’re fine. I came back here to sleep,” Issie explained. “What are you doing, Aunty Hess?”
    Hester readjusted her spectacles. “A bit of bookkeeping–the farm accounts, that sort of thing.” Issie looked at the mound of bills on the writing desk in front of her aunt.
    â€œIs it true, what Aidan said? You might have to sell the farm?”
    Hester took her glasses back off and rubbed her eyes a second time. “Yes, well, Aidan’s jumping the gun a bit. I’m not selling it just yet. We have enough money in the emergency coffers to see us through for another