You, Me: Us

7. Tryouts

Lainey was stuck at her house most of the day, trying to take care of Daniel by herself. It was impossible. Nothing was making him feel better and he was just constantly dehydrated. All he wanted to do was sleep, but he couldn't. He just laid there in pain.

"We need to take you to a doctor," she insisted as she dropped off some soup.

Daniel shook his head, "No, I just need to sleep. Besides, you shouldn't be around me. Go, please. Go give Ariel her checkup or something." He sipped his soup and slightly closed his eyes.

Lainey's face dropped, "are you sure?"

"Yes," he nodded. "I'll call you every hour."

She sighed and gave in, "fine, but call every hour or text if you need to, but if you don't, I will be coming after you."

He raised his hand and laid back against his bed, "good, just go."

~

When she made it to Bright Fields, everyone had already left for tryouts so the yard was pretty empty.

Not just pretty empty, totally empty. It was weird. Sure there were some yard workers, but all of the riders and their horses were gone. "Hey, Ben!" Lainey shouted out and he walked over from mucking out Bob's stable. "Where's everyone?"

"Tracking down the herd, something about the trackers not working," he told her, leaning on his broom, sadly.

"What's wrong?" She questioned.

He shrugged, "With Becky teaching breakfast club, I haven't been able to ride Bob or any horse really." Lainey nodded and looked around.

"Okay, so don't tell anyone I told you this, but Sparkles and Blaze were actually bought by my mom, not Uncle Elliot." Ben looked at her confused.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

Lainey laughed at him, "she gave them to my brother and I. Since they're not being ridden by anyone other than for beginners, why don't you choose one and ride them?"

His eyes lit up and he smiled excitedly, "Really? You mean it?"

"Of course, then, when Rosie gets back, the two of you can go looking for Pirate Smugglers again." Ben rushed forward and hugged her.

"Thanks, Lainey."

She hugged him back, it was weird, the little boy she knew her entire life was now almost as tall as her, "You're welcome. Now, come on, we're going to go give Ariel and Scout a check up." Pin was busy trying to help heal the moor pony so she was on her own, not that she needed him for this, but it was good to have him around.

They walked to the back stables where Ariel and Scout were and opened the stable door only to stop in their tracks. "Where's Ariel?" Lainey looked at Ben and he shook his head.

"I don't know, breakfast club was with her this morning." She sighed and ran to Scout. "Awe, hi baby, I know you're scared. It'll be alright, we're gonna find your mum." She turned to Ben. "If Breakfast club was with her before they left, she couldn't have gone far, come on."

They ran from the back stables to the front and Lainey opened Blaze's stable door, "Go on, tack him up."

The boy looked apprehensive, "are you sure, I've only ever ridden on Bob."

Lainey smiled at him, "Ben, I'm sure, I've seen you ride. Now, come on, we can't waste time." He nodded with an excited smile, running to the tack room to grab gear.

'~

They were off down the path to the castle. That's where the wild herd liked to go the most and she was probably with them. However, as they were riding off, they saw the most peculiar thing, Jade, Becky, Pin, Alex, and the breakfast club were all riding out in the field. "Ben," Lainey, gestured towards his sister and they both rode over to them. "HEY!" They turned around and looked at them confused, "are you out looking for Ariel as well?"

Pin's eyes widened, "what do you mean looking for Ariel? We're looking for the wild horses, they're in danger."

"Are you saying Ariel got out?" Jade asked and both her and Ben nodded.

"I'm so–" Aaron started, but Heather took over.

"No, I'm sorry. It was me, I forgot to shut the stable gate and she got out and hasn't come back, we were hoping she'd be with the herd," she explained and Lainey sighed, shaking her head.

"So where is the herd?"

Jade bit her lip, "we're tracking the last tracker now, it's moving fast. Come with us." Lainey nodded and they rode off after Jade.

"Ben, who are you riding?" Becky asked him confused. "You only ride Bob."

He shrugged, "haven't been out riding lately because you always have him so Lainey said I could borrow Blaze if I wanted."

Becky smiled at her friend, "oh, thanks Lains." Ben looked very happy to be out again, so much so, he was riding ahead, closer to Pin and Jade while Alex and Lainey stayed near Becky.

They stopped riding when they came to the tryouts location. "Why would the wild horses come here?" Alex questioned.

"Maybe they wanted to try out for the team?" Becky questioned, trying to make a joke. Lainey stood next to Pin and noticed how pale he looked. He looked like Daniel did, but was a little better.

"This doesn't make any sense." The group walked around the fence that separated the road from the fields to go and look for the horses.

"They're here, though, or at least one of them is. Erm... signal's coming from....The signal's coming from in there," she pointed over to the building. They ran to the entrance and around the corner, following the GPS.

It took them to the dumpster out back where Winnie went digging until she pulled out one of the orange trackers. "I found something!"

"It's one of my tags," Jade grabbed it from her hands to inspect it. "Someone's cut it off."

"Why would someone deliberately ruin your project?" Becky questioned and Ben shook his head at his sister. "Do you have science enemies."

"It isn't about the project itself."

"Ben's right. It's about the horses, they're in trouble," Pin told them in a panic. Jade went fishing back in the dumpster and gasped.

"Look, Pin's right, they're in major amounts of trouble," Jade said worriedly. "We have to tell Zoe." All of them went running into the building, but Lainey grabbed Pin.

"Love, you don't look well. You need to go home."

Pin shook his head, "I'm fine." He tried to follow, but Lainey held his arm and wouldn't let him move. "Let go."

"No," she glared at him. "You're telling me to take care of myself, look in a mirror. You're coming home with me and I'm taking care of both you and my brother. This has gone on long enough. Let's go congratulate whoever made the team and then leave."

They got to the entrance and heard the end of their conversation, "the kingdom will be fine, look here's the duke and duchess now." Zoe started walking over with a small smile. "Hey."

"Hey," Lainey smiled back and Pin tried to smile. He took a step forward before his eyes rolled back. Everything happened so fast. Lainey caught him and they both fell to the ground. "Pin. Pin. Pin wake up. Wake up. Ted," she cried, looking over at her father-in-law who had run over. "Help! He needs help!"