A Hundred Horses by Sarah Lean Page A

where she had put Belle. They argued, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. Mrs. Barker glanced at me, then came over.
    “Do you know where this horse’s foal is? Is it at Rita’s farm?”
    Mrs. Barker tapped her lip when I didn’t answer.
    “The horses are going to auction on Saturday.” She hesitated. “Belle’s foal didn’t look too good when he was born, but I persuaded Old Chambers here to keep him and I’d take them both on when they come up in the auction. So you see, if you could tell me where the foal is, then I’ll make sure he gets looked after and stays with his mother.”
    That’s not what Angel had told me. But people said Angel was a liar, and I knew she was too. Was it true what she had told me, that Mrs. Barker wanted the foal put down? I was so confused. Something was bothering my stomach and my head and all my insides. And I couldn’t think which secrets I was supposed to be keeping, and then I remembered how Angel looked when I said if Lunar was healed, then somebody would want him. I didn’t know what it all meant. But then I remembered those eggshells in my hands.
    I looked everywhere but at Mrs. Barker. As if I could find an answer somewhere, anywhere, in the sky, in the trees.
    “Can I say good-bye to Belle?” I said, stalling.
    I got out of the Land Rover and went into the stables. Belle hung her head and pushed her nose into my shoulder. I ran my hand along her neck. Lunar needed his mother. What should I say? What should I do? I looked into the dark glass of Belle’s eye, and I saw me. Scruffy, my hair unbrushed, but I was still shining there in Belle’s eye. I knew the most important thing was to protect Angel.
    “Mrs. Barker . . . I’m not saying anything.”

Thirty-Two
    T he next morning Mrs. Barker telephoned Aunt Liv.
    She told Aunt Liv that her goat had gone missing again, and she seemed to think it might have something to do with me. I hated being blamed for something I hadn’t done. I hugged my elbows in, feeling like I was shriveling to nothing.
    I guessed Angel must have stolen the goat again because Lunar needed the milk now that Belle was back at Old Chambers’s farm. It was too complicated inside me. I didn’t want to tell on Angel. I had promised I wouldn’t tell anyone else she was here. Because she asked me. And because I wanted to. But it was so hard not to tell.
    Aunt Liv sat beside me on the sofa in the kitchen, so I didn’t have to look her in the eyes. The soft middle of the sofa tipped us together. She asked me if I had anything to do with the missing goat.
    “What if it’s really important and I can’t tell you?” I said. “What if it’s a matter of life and death?”
    “Life and death?” she said, lowering her head so she could look at my face.
    “What if,” I said, “you trusted me?”
    Aunt Liv was as startled as me that I asked that.
    “I mean, if I promise you I’m doing something for the right reason, and I promise by Saturday it will all get sorted out, would you?”
     
    I found Angel in the stable with Lunar and the goat. She spun around as I went in.
    “You let her take Belle! What about Lunar? What do you expect him to do without his mother?” Her lips trembled.
    “What was I supposed to do?”
    Angel gritted her teeth and glared. “You could have—”
    “No, I couldn’t! I couldn’t do anything!” I yelled. “And I’m in trouble and I’ve made my aunt Liv trust me and I don’t really know why. But I didn’t tell anyone you’re here with Lunar and Dorothy. So you’re going to have to trust me as well!”
    Angel smiled. Not the sort of smirky smile she usually had. Her eyes were watery and sad. She slid down the wall and crouched in the straw. She knew I was right. For once.
    I undid the braces on the foal’s legs so he could lie down and sleep. Already his legs looked straighter. Dorothy nestled next to him, chewing the hay. I looked at Angel crouched beside them, her arms wrapped tightly around her