"Now, how to get home?" Ivy wondered, but Lucky seemed to want to pull her off to the left.
Ivy looked where Lucky was heading and saw a clear trail marking.
"Yes!" Ivy said. "Clever Lucky."
Chapter Eleven.
"What should we do?" Rebecca said, clearly distraught.
"I think she"s gone looking for Lucky," Olivia said. She knew her sister felt responsible and that Ivy wouldn"t be able to sit around doing nothing.
"But she doesn"t know her way around those woods!" Mr Vega declared. "We have to find her."
"We can"t let Ivy get lost!" Olivia cried, her stomach doing a triple flip.
Just then, there was a clap of thunder.
"There"s a storm coming," Rebecca said. "We"ve got to act fast."
Knock, knock.
Someone was at the front door!
Olivia, Rebecca and Mr Vega rushed down the hall and Olivia flung open the door. It was Brendan, looking damp and worried. His black hair was sticking to his pale face and his boots were caked in mud.
"I had two missed calls from Ivy but now her phone is off." He shivered on the porch. "Her phone is never off. Something"s wrong, so I got my parents to drop me here."
Rebecca looked as stormy as the sky but didn"t say anything.
Olivia was even more worried seeing the state he was in. "Something is wrong. Ivy"s missing."
"Come in; come in," Mr Vega said, while Rebecca stayed silent.
Brendan stepped into the hall and wiped his feet on the mat. "I know I"m not exactly welcome," he said to Rebecca, "but I had to find out what was happening."
"I can tell you what"s happening," Rebecca snapped, blocking his way down the hall. "Because of you, my niece is wandering in unfamiliar woods looking for a lost and frightened horse with a storm on the way. You never should have been alone with Ivy in the stable."
Olivia was stunned at Rebecca"s outburst. They were all upset, but there was no reason to take it out on Brendan.
"Rebecca, please," Mr Vega said. "Brendan is a good kid; he"s just worried."
Brendan looked miserable at having caused all this tension.
"Of course you would defend him," Rebecca snapped. "He"s just like you."
Mr Vega took a step back. "What does that mean?"
Rebecca"s eyes flashed. "It means he will take Ivy away from her family just like you took Susannah."
"Stop!" shouted Olivia. She couldn"t take it any more.
Mr Vega"s face was white with shock even more than normal. "Is that really what you"ve thought all these years? Rebecca ..."
But as he took a step towards her, holding out his hand, the house was rattled by another huge thunderclap and the sky outside glowed from the lightning.
Brendan turned on his heel and ran at full speed into the woods. "Ivy!" he shouted.
"Brendan!" yelled Mr Vega, but he was gone.
Olivia started to run after him but Mr Vega grabbed her by the shoulders. "You are staying put. This is nearing crisis. We have two children out in the woods with a dangerous storm coming." He turned to Rebecca. "No matter what you may think of me, we need to focus on that."
Rebecca nodded mutely. Olivia wondered if she was realising that she had practically driven Brendan out into the storm. "I"ll call the sheriff."
Olivia closed her eyes as another thunderbolt hit. Please let everything be OK. Please!
Ivy was struggling to see from all the water pouring down her face. She wasn"t going to relax her grip on Lucky"s lead for anything, which meant she only had one hand free to wipe the rain from her eyes.
"Stay dark; gonna block out the light. I wear my sungla.s.ses at night."
Ivy had sung the chorus about a hundred times but it kept Lucky and her steadily moving forwards along the trail, which was turning into a little stream.
Her coat was soaked and so were her jeans. Rain was dripping off Lucky"s mane. Ivy had hoped the trail would lead them back to the ranch, but so far there hadn"t been any sight of her aunt"s home.
Then, an old barn came into view. It didn"t look recently used, but it was shelter and would do until the storm calmed.
She led Lucky inside the empty building, singing the whole time. There were several leaks in the roof, so the floor was wet, but at least there was some shelter.
The heavy rain sounded like pebbles beating down on the rickety roof. Soon, Ivy started to shiver in the wet and cold.
"You must be cold, too," she said to Lucky and the horse swung his head towards hear and nuzzled her shoulder.
Ivy was stunned. It was like Lucky was giving her a hug. Carefully, still holding on to the lead with one hand, Ivy put her other arm around the white horse.
The thunder clapped and Lucky stiffened, so Ivy sang louder.
"Ivy?" came a m.u.f.fled but familiar voice from outside.
"Brendan?" she called back.
"Ivy!" he shouted, sounding nearer and Lucky started getting skittish.
"Wait! Don"t come in!" Ivy called, in between singing.
"What do you mean?" He was right outside now.
"I found Lucky and I"m scared he"ll bolt if you frighten him."
"But, Ivy, the barn"s roof looks bowed," Brendan said. "It could collapse under the weight of all this water."
Ivy looked at the little waterfalls coming through the cracked roof and knew Brendan was right.
"OK, but I"m not leaving Lucky," Ivy said. "If you want to help, you have to sing."
"Uh, what?"
"Sing something!"
"The itsy bitsy spider ..." Brendan said and poked his head around the door. He was dripping wet, his black hair like tendrils on his pale skin.
Lucky eyed him warily. Ivy joined in, so they were singing together. "Down came the rain ..."
After a little while, Lucky calmed down and Ivy led him out with Brendan by her side.
"The farm is this way," Brendan said, pointing down a small path Ivy was sure she would have missed. "Out came the sun ..."
"How did you know to come looking for me?" Ivy said.
"You called me but when I tried to call back, your phone was off," he replied. "I knew something was wrong."
The rain eased a little, but they kept singing. Ivy couldn"t risk losing Lucky again. After a couple of bends in the path, Ivy saw the farmhouse through the trees. There were also the flashing lights of a police car.
Uh oh, Ivy thought.
As soon as they broke through the trees, the front door banged open and Olivia, her dad and Rebecca sprinted out to meet them, ignoring the rain.
"You found them!" Olivia cried to Brendan.
"Oh, Lucky!" said Rebecca, taking the lead from Ivy.
Mr Vega grabbed his two girls in a huge, damp hug.
A sheriff in a tan Stetson covered with plastic to keep off the rain followed. "Glad everything is under control. I"ll call the station." He walked off to his car.
Rebecca had been examining Lucky. "He"s under-fed, but he looks fine. I"ll just take him in and call the vet," Rebecca said. "Please, you all go inside and get warm. I"m going to check Lucky over."
Olivia went inside and rushed upstairs for towels and a change of clothes for Ivy, while their dad made some hot chocolate. Ivy sank down on to a wooden chair, exhausted.
"You will never, never do anything like that again," her dad said to Ivy, handing over a steaming mug. "That means you, too, Brendan."
Soon, Rebecca came into the kitchen, her arms across her chest.
"How did you find him?" she asked.
"I don"t know really," Ivy said. "I was just wandering, and I found him in a shack behind a really high fence. He"d caught his lead on the shelter, so was stuck. But the thing that made me able to bring him back was Mom"s journal."
"A journal?" Mr Vega said.
"We found Mom"s journal," Olivia said as Ivy pulled it out, still dry.
"It said that she used to sing to Lucky, and so Brendan and I sang all the way home."
Rebecca shot a look at Brendan. It wasn"t as angry as before, but she still wasn"t happy with his presence. Ivy took a deep breath. "If Brendan hadn"t come to find me, I don"t know how I would have found my way home. I was completely lost. And ..." Ivy had to say it. "It wasn"t Brendan that let Lucky escape. It was me. He just took the blame so that you wouldn"t hate me."
"I would never hate you!" Rebecca said, rushing over to give Ivy a hug. She finally met Brendan"s eye. "And it seems I misjudged you. I"m sorry, Brendan."
Brendan nodded, his wet curls still dripping on to the towel. "Don"t worry about it."
"And thank you, as well, for bringing my niece and my horse home." It was awkward but Rebecca wrapped Brendan in a big hug.
"Can I ...?" Mr Vega was staring at the journal.
Ivy looked at Olivia and knew that she was thinking the same thing.
"Of course," Ivy replied and pushed it across the table to him.
They all gathered around and read a section about how Susannah loved Lucky but not all the manure she had to muck out.
They were all in st.i.tches as Rebecca told the story of the first time Susannah mucked out Lucky"s stall and ended up slipping in the mess.
Rebecca turned to Mr Vega. "I think I should say sorry to you, too," she said in a moment of seriousness. "It"s so clear that you loved Susannah as much as I did, and I can"t blame you for what happened."
"I know you miss her," Mr Vega said. "But I hope that Ivy and Olivia can bring you back some of her joy, like they have for me."
Rebecca had tears in her eyes. "They already have. I should have said this days ago, but thank you for tracking me down."
"I know it"s what Susannah would have wanted," Mr Vega replied.
"Finally!" Ivy said, relieved that her dad and her aunt could start to work things out.
Ivy and Olivia leaped up for a group hug. At last their dad and their aunt had found something in common.
Ivy grinned at Olivia through Rebecca"s hug, and Olivia, who was slowly being crushed by Mr Vega, beamed right back.
It was starting to feel like they had a full family at last.
Sink your fangs into these:.
Switched.
Fangtastic!