Prize Problems by Janet Rising

Author:Janet Rising
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
Published: 2011-10-17T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Fourteen pairs of eyes swung around toward me and several mouths dropped in astonishment. Annabelle blinked several times as Alex Willard, possibly the most famous horse behaviorist in the world, walked across and gave me a hug. I couldn’t believe he remembered me. It was astonishing—and totally thrilling!

“Pia and I met when we were on the TV together,” he explained to everyone. Like it was a perfectly ordinary thing to do—meet on TV. My heart sank.

“On TV? Together?” asked Annabelle incredulously, looking at me anew.

“That’s right, on the Cecily Armstrong show,” explained Alex.

“You? And Pia?” said Annabelle, confused. Her gaze alternated between me and her hero and everyone else except Bean looked at me in amazement, too. I felt myself go hot and realized that my face was turning crimson.

“But you know about Pia, don’t you?” Alex continued, unaware of the damage he was doing.

Oh no, I thought, please don’t tell them…

“What do you mean?” said Amber gleefully, her eyes like saucers. “What is there to know?”

“You know she’s the Pony Whisperer? She can talk to ponies—and horses, of course. I watched Pony Whispering Live! Pia. You were amazing—that poor pony who had been a war horse. Do you know what happened to her?”

“Um, I think her owner was going to move her to a yard where she couldn’t hear the gun shots.” I mumbled. Shoving my hands in my pockets it seemed that Epona leapt into my hand, mocking me. I bet if I could hear my stone statue talking instead of ponies I’d have heard ha, ha, ha! I hated to think of how the others were going to take the news of my pony-whispering powers.

“I said I knew you!” exclaimed Amber, pointing at me. “I saw Pony Whispering Live! It’s you, Pia Edwards, the Pony Whisperer! You wait till I tell everyone at the riding school. They’ll never believe I’ve met you. They’ll be soooo jealous!”

“Wow!” breathed Grace. “Can you really hear what ponies are saying?”

I knew what was coming…

“So can you hear what our ponies are saying?” asked Zoe, the truth dawning on her at last.

“What’s Sorrel like?” yelled Amber, jumping up and down. “Does she like me? Is she really cool? What’s her favorite thing to do?”

“How about Shadow?” asked Grace. “Can you tell him how much I love him?”

“You can tell him yourself, he can understand you, Grace,” I said.

“And Dot?” asked Zoe. “Oh, I know she’s sensitive and intelligent, I don’t need you to tell me that!”

You see, this is why I hate anyone knowing about my PW status. How could I disillusion poor Zoe? How could I tell Amber that Sorrel was grumpy and totally superior? I was going to have to be a bit economical with the truth if I didn’t want to ruin anyone’s vacation. Especially mine.

“I bet you knew!” cried Amber, poking Bean in the side.

“Ouch!” said Bean. “I’m as surprised as you are,” she lied, shooting me a glance.

“Can you hear absolutely everything ponies say?” demanded Ellie.

Amber softly punched my arm.

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