The Prophet's Daughter (Black Army Sequel)

Chapter 13- The Secret's Out!

Chapter 13- The Secret’s Out

The next morning, Andy kept his promise. He woke Abbie up as soon as they got to the venue, which was very early, and took her to a clearing a half a mile away from the buses. Once they got there, Abbie stood and closed her eyes. After a few minutes, she started to worry. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t turn into a horse.

“Is something wrong?” he asked raising an eyebrow.

“I… I can’t do it,” she whispered, her eyes wide.

“Sure you can! If you want I can just turn around or something. Don’t worry, it’s perfectly safe.”

“It’s not like going to the bathroom! I don’t think you understand. I literally cannot turn into a horse.”

“Are you sure?”

“Hit me,” she said, looking at him seriously.

“Wh-what?” Andy stuttered.

“Hit me with something. Make me bleed. That’ll trigger something.”

“I… I can’t.” he looked down. “I could never hurt you.”

“Fine I’ll find something else to do it!” she said, irritated. She looked around for something she could use to cut herself.

“Andy?” Ella’s soft voice startled Abbie. The tall, slim woman walked through a wall of bushes and came into view. “What are you doing here?”

“I promised Abbie I’d take her for a walk,” Andy explained, looking at his daughter anxiously.

“Oh. Everybody was worried. Ashley told me to tell you and Abbie there were pancakes if we were interested.”

“Tell them we’ll be back in a few minutes, ok?” Just as Ella was about to leave, Abbie sneezed a loud, powerful sneeze that practically launched her into the air.

“Fuck!” she shouted, as she quickly grew into a large, beautiful bay horse.

“Really?” Andy said flatly, turning to look at a horse.

“I can’t help it! I change when I sneeze. I guess I just haven’t sneezed for a while!” Abbie protested. They both looked at Ella. She was frozen, eyes wide.

“Your daughter just turned into a horse. And… and that horse just talked. Andy why did she just turn into- how is that even- what’s going on?” she said, staring straight ahead. Abbie walked up to Ella so she could look the terrified woman in the eyes. She had to bow her head a little since she was quite a few inches taller than her.

“I am a shape shifter. I turn into a horse and that horse talks. I can also heal myself when I’m injured. In fact, when the guys went off to film a music video, they were really fighting a war and I joined them at the very end. There. No more secrets. No more surprises. Any questions?” she said as if it happened to her all the time. Ella shook her head, dumbfounded.

“Oh, and you can’t tell anyone because if you do I could be in grave danger. Like I could end up in eternal hell and be a slave to a demon or something. They’re extremely hard to escape from,” she added as an afterthought.

“You… you ride her?” Ella asked Andy. He smiled and nodded.

“You wanna see?” he asked, mischief filling his beautiful blue eyes. Ella bobbed her head frantically. Andy climbed onto Abbie’s back and they started to walk in a circle around the large clearing. He adjusted his balance so he was centered and gently intertwined his fingers around a few locks of her mane, wrapping his legs around her barrel and pushing her onward. She started off at a long walk, then a smooth trot to a flowing canter and finally a long, even gallop. Ella watched the two in awe. Abbie neighed in delight, loving the wind blowing through her mane and the comfort of having Andy sitting on her back as though he had been through years of vigorous training. She sped around the clearing for several laps, never wanting the feeling to end. Eventually, Andy had to tell her to stop because she would’ve galloped herself to death.

“What do ya’ think?” Andy asked, dismounting the tired bay mustang.

“Wow! Such great form! What a beautiful build! She’s every rider’s dream!” Ella exclaimed. Abbie shrank to a human and blushed.

“Why thank you!” she grinned, panting.

“And you, Andy, where did you learn to do that?” she asked in amazement.

“I didn’t. I just did what was natural. I guess Abbie just has that way with people,” he smiled, making her blush even more.

“Please, no one has ever sat on me like that. It was all you!”

“Ok, we should probably start heading out. Don’t worry, Abbie, we can do this again some other time,” Andy said, starting to walk out of the clearing. Abbie ran up and hugged Andy from behind, almost making him fall over.

“Thank you,” she whispered, a smile glued to her face.

When they all got back to the bus, Abbie’s big, cheesy grin was still plastered on her face.

“Where’s Lauren?” Andy asked CC firmly.

“She’s still at breakfast, why?” CC asked nervously.

“Ella knows.” Abbie said. Everyone looked at Ella, who nodded vigorously.

“Knows what?” CC asked innocently, furrowing his brow in thought.

“You know,” Abbie said, pawing at the air like a hoof and quietly neighing.

“That you’re… hungry?” CC asked with a hopeful smile. Andy smacked his face and shook his head, sighing.

“That I’m a horse!” Abbie practically shouted.

“Keep it down! Someone will hear you!” CC exclaimed in a loud whisper. Abbie was ready to hit the man. She loved him to pieces, but sometimes he drove her completely insane.

“Maybe we should head to breakfast now, the buffet’s almost closed,” Ashley said nervously, stepping in between Abbie and CC and gently nudging her towards the door.

“Good idea,” Andy said, quickly following the two off the bus.

Once they had gotten their food and sat down at an empty table, Abbie had an eerie feeling that she was being watched. She looked passed Ashley, who was seated across from her, to a table of rather scary-looking guys, only to find one of them staring back at her. They all had long black hair and wore a black t-shirt of some kind, and, what seemed to be part of the Warped Tour dress code, black skinny jeans. The one who was looking at her was almost as pale as she was, and his head was shaved on either side like Andy’s, only the remaining hair was shorter. Abbie quickly turned away and started eating her pancakes, staring down at her food.

“Everything ok, horse girl?” Ashley asked in an unusually concerned tone.

“Just fine, Ashley,” Abbie said, her voice shaky.

“Ashley?” Ashley asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Uh… Purdy Pants,” she corrected. Her heart pounded as the six tall men stood up from their table. They came towards their table, but, to Abbie’s relief, they just walked passed them. The same man glanced at her briefly, sending chills through her bones and taunting her with her own past’s fears.

“Are you sure everything’s ok?” Andy asked, concerned.

“Never better,” Abbie said, looking up at him and flashing him a nervous, fake smile. She could tell he wanted to ask more, but he was holding back. She gave Ashley her last pancake and didn’t speak for the rest of the breakfast.