Stella by Starlight

Author:Sharon M. Draper
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers

27

Bucket Brigade

Oh my heavens! The Spencer house. It’s burning! Stella could smell it now as well. She broke into a run. At the same time, riding toward her, away from the fire, were three figures on horseback. Bearing down swiftly, dust pluming around them, the horses pounded in her direction. Stella stopped in her tracks, mouth agape.

The horses were nearly upon her, but more terrifying were the horsemen. Each wore a white full-length robe. And a pointed white hood. And each carried a flaming torch in his left hand. The Klan.

Stella scrambled to the side of the road just as they reached her. They reined back to an abrupt halt, the horses snorting and whinnying. Stella could smell the sharp sweat of the heaving animals, the acrid kerosene that kept the flames bright. Even the horses were covered with white sheets, from head to rump.

The tallest rider pointed his torch directly at her. “Tell your daddy and the rest of those boys they were told to expect trouble,” he spat out. “The Grand Dragon is watching.” Then he added ominously, “Everything will burn.” Despite her fear, and despite the fact that the man’s voice was muffled through the fabric of the hood, Stella was sure she’d heard it before. And that saddle . . . the saddle was shiny and silver-studded, not worn and brown like the other riders’.

Stella scuttled farther away, stones cutting into her palms. But she never took her eyes from the eyeholes in the face cloth that hung from the man’s pointed hood. The man who spoke to her had green eyes—emerald like a summer leaf, but cold as a winter snow. Black saddle. Green eyes. She knew who he was!

The man signaled to his cohorts, and in unison, all three horses reared. Stella curled into a tight ball, waiting for the hooves to pummel her, wondering if it would hurt very much when she died. But oh, thank the Lord, thank the Lord, she felt their thunder on the earth beside her. She dared not even peek until she was certain they were far down the road.

Stella wanted to run for help, wanted to run to the Spencers’, wanted to run home to her mother. But she couldn’t get her body to do any of those things. Her arms pressed against her head, she couldn’t move a muscle.

“Stella!” a familiar voice cried. “Stella! Are you hurt? I’ll go get my father!”

It was Tony Hawkins, running toward her. A moment later he and Randy were standing over her, their faces strained. Stella couldn’t hold it back any longer—she burst into tears, not caring a whit who saw her.

“Is anything broken?” Tony asked.

“No. I’m fine. I’m fine,” she said, trying to pull herself together. She pressed her hands against her eyes to stop the tears. Be a stone! Be a stone!

She checked to ensure that the men were gone. “It was the Klan. They torched the Spencer house!”

“We saw them! They rode lickety-split right past us,” Randy exclaimed, helping her up.

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