Stay True

Chapter 5

Colin set out the next morning after a quiet breakfast with Clara. She told him about how she had had to move Eve to a bed because her shoulder felt hot. Clara was worried that something had happened to Eve's shoulder and the heat was a sign of dislocation or a sprain. That was what Margaret had always taught her. If people have a spot of unnatural heat somewhere then it is likely they have pulled something. Colin nodded politely, but he was really concentrating on his task ahead. How am I going to search homes without disturbing people? How am I going to get them to trust me? Clara trusted me pretty fast at first, but who knows? She had no choice, after all.

"I'm sorry for upsetting you last night," she murmured, breaking him out of his thoughts. Colin supposed he must have looked pretty moody again, but he tried to brighten up at least a little for her sake.

"Oh, you didn't do anything. It was late, and I was tired. I'm sorry I worried you so much." He gave her a playful grin, and she smiled back, but it did not quite reach her eyes. She was still worried about him. Colin was actually rather touched, but he did not let it show. "Would you like to come to the stables with me?" he invited.

"Sure. I wonder if the horses have been affected," she said.

"No, they weren't. I checked on the first day. You know, after today, people-" He stopped. Are going to die, he finished in his head. He had not meant to start telling her that. No use worrying them both more. But it was too late. Clara had already realized what he was going to tell her. She shuddered.

"Let's just go. The horses will cheer me up," she finally said. Colin could tell the pressure was taking its toll. She had deep shadows under her eyes, and it seemed like her shoulders would never relax. How could you be so stupid? He berated himself. She's already stressed-don't give her more things to be tense about!

They headed down to the stables. Colin showed her the real way to get there, not the secret passage way. He thought that both he and Clara would probably never want to use that passageway again unless necessary. Also, should she ever want to go to the stables once she was pretending to be Melanie, there was no sense in her continued use of the secret passage.

Once at the stables, Colin quickly tacked up a horse that was not Clopfish. Clopfish was fine for a pleasure ride, but he had work to do. The horse he chose was named Ihora, for the far-off land from where she came.

Clara watched him ride off into the city as she slowly walked through the stables. She wanted to learn all the horses' names, but there were easily fifty or more and she did not think she could keep that many names in her head at once. It was especially difficult to remember when there were horses that were brothers, or just looked similar. Take Starlight and Shadow, for example. Both were a lovely dusky grey, and they had the same father, Scribe. Starlight's mother was Charisma, and Shadow's was Cloudy. Something like that. Anyway, the horses could have passed for the same horse. The first time Clara walked past their stalls (which were right next to each other) she got very confused. Then she looked back and realized that it was two different horses that just looked the same.

There were a great many horses named after foods. There was Apple, Plum, Walnut, Pomegranate, Grapes, Lemon, Carrots, Sugar, Raspberry...just learning their names made Clara's mouth water. There were also a great many flower names. There was Lily, Rose, Daisy, and so many more Clara just could not remember. And that was not even including the other half of the stable, with exotic spice names, like Sage, things in nature, like Moonpool, and names that could be given to people, like Clara's own horse Roxanne. There were so many to keep track of, and so many more to learn, that Clara was amply busy until Colin returned at around two. He sent his thoughts ahead. Clara! I will be with you in ten minutes. Meet me in the library. And do not forget to hide yourself well!