Read Online Midnight Howl by Clare Hutton - Free Book Online

change in the weather, this might be a blizzard. We need to get home fast,” she said grimly.
    “A
blizzard
?” I said, looking back and forth between her and Jack. “It’s
September.
We just had a
picnic.”
    Jack shrugged. “It happens. We’d better head back right away.”
    An icy raindrop hit my face. At the edge of the clearing, the horses were shaking their heads and pawing at the ground.
    I’m not going to be able to get on her,
I thought, looking at Snowflake. There were no steps out here. But what choice did I have? Jack boosted me up, and somehow I settled into Snowflake’s saddle. Jackhanded me the reins and was fastening the leading rein to her harness when thunder cracked again, directly overhead.
    Snowflake reared, yanking the rein out of Jack’s hands. With a surge of speed, she bolted into the woods with me clinging to her back.
    We were charging straight toward branches, and I bent low over the horse’s neck, trying to shield my face. I wrapped my hands in the reins and hung on to her coarse mane, trying to squeeze her sides with my legs as tightly as I could.
    Snowflake was galloping along, and each step was so jarring I felt like I was going to fly right off her back. A pine branch brushed hard against my side, and I closed my eyes. I couldn’t get any lower, and I didn’t want to see what I was going to hit. I just concentrated on staying on the horse.
    Thunder rumbled right overhead. I heard my own ragged panting as the storm broke and the icy rain began to pour down over us. Snowflake tensed and began to gallop even faster. I suddenly pictured her losing her balance on this uneven ground, stepping in a hole, falling, and rolling on top of me.
    For a second, I thought maybe I should let go and fall off before that happened. But then I openedmy eyes. We were going so
fast.
There was no way I could fall off, even on purpose, without getting really hurt.
    I had thought I was holding on as hard as I could, but I forced my cold, wet hands and legs to cling tighter. My clothes were soaked. Something cold and sharp stung my arms and then my face. The rain was turning into hail.
    I whimpered as Snowflake lurched, but she caught her balance and ran on. Her sudden swerve made me look to one side, and I thought I saw something gray and yellow. It was gone before I could blink. Had it been one of the elusive wolves of Wolf Valley? Then again, maybe it had just been a ragged bush.
    I shrieked as we suddenly burst through a net of thin branches with a sharp cracking noise and found ourselves out in the open again.
    There was something big and dark in front of us, and I could feel Snowflake slowing down. Then she stopped and stood calmly.
    I took a big gasp of air and started to sob. We were back at the house. Snowflake had run home.
    I couldn’t move. I just sat there, clinging to Snowflake, shaking and crying as the hail poundedagainst me. Snowflake shook her head and shifted from side to side, looking back at me as if she was asking why we weren’t going to the barn yet.
    After a moment, Hailey and Jack galloped into the clearing. The hail had turned to a light, slushy snow.
    “Marisol!” Jack called, pulling Shadow to a halt and jumping down to run toward me. “Are you okay?” Hailey dismounted, too, and led the horses toward me.
    “I was so scared for you!” she said, her voice shaking. “We didn’t know if you would be able to hold on.”
    I managed to stop crying, but I couldn’t talk without starting again, so I just shook my head.
    “You’re okay,” Jack said reassuringly. He held up his hand to help me down. “Take it easy.” My fingers were numb, but I managed to untangle myself from the reins and slide off Snowflake’s back.
    Hailey hugged me. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “We shouldn’t have given you Snowflake when you can’t ride.”
    I sniffed and hugged her back. “You didn’t know it was going to storm. I’m okay.”
    The door of the house burst open, and my