Mystery at Brightfields

Chapter 1.

"Raven!" Zoe awoke with a start. Another dream..great. She grabbed for her phone to check the time. 6:04. Might as well head to the barn. She thought. Morning feed started a few minutes ago and maybe she could have the arena to herself. She pulled on her breeches from yesterday, they weren't THAT dirty. Rosie would have thought otherwise. Zoe snuck down the hall to the stairs stopping briefly in front of her mom's room. She could her her talking. This early? I wonder who?She listened for a minute longer.

"Whats the status then? How long for closing with the cash offer? That's too long, I just want it taken care of, Rhonda. I'm tired of dealing with it thousands of miles away, Huck has been zero help."

Zoe mentally reminded herself to ask her mom about it once she got back. She crept down the stairway, being careful to avoid the creaky stair and made her way to the front door.

"Ahem"

She turned to grandpa in the kitchen. He winked at her and tossed her an apple. Whew.

The air was chilly outside on her way to the barn. Zoe was starting to realize that it was like that most of the year here on the island. No more LA sunshine. She grabbed her phone out of her pocket and went to her text from Pin...the most recent being from 4 days ago and it simply said "Miss you". Zoe sighed. His 2 week "explore the world" trip had turned into 32 days 13 hours and 13 minutes. Becky was keeping count for her. She missed talking to him. She just missed...him. Even when he was being moody.

The horses had only been moved back in to Brightfields for the last week. The new construction was finally over, meaning her walk to the barn was much shorter than walking to Holloway.

All of the stalls and buildings had been refinished and they had a new and bigger tack room. Pin hadn't even seen it yet. Ted was the one dealing with the checks and construction workers. It still felt homey Brightfields, but luckily in a newer updated kind of way.

Zoe walked around the brick corner of the barn and breathed in the fresh horse air. It definitely helped to cheer her up, it always did. It was liked Raven knew she was there and he popped his black head over the door to greet her.

"Hey boy, ready for a quiet workout?" stroked his soft nose.

"I actually had the same idea." said Marcus, coming up behind her. " See you in the ring in 15?"

"Sure" said Zoe. Slightly bummed she didn't have the arena to herself, but knew Marcus would be a helpful coach.

She ran to grab her tack and helmet from the tack room. On her way out, she spotted the arena board and saw the jump set up Marcus was planning for his morning workout.

Looked complex. Lovely. Her achy bones would probably be screaming at her for the rest of the day.

Zoe led Raven through the empty stable yard to the arena where Marcus was already warming up. Things had been semi awkward between them the last month while Pin had been away and Marcus seemed to be the only one happy that Pin had lengthened his trip. She tried to focus on Raven.. and Becky and Jade, when she was at the stable.

She ran Raven through his warm ups and jumped him through one of the easier looking combinations that Marcus had set up.

"Shorten your reins" he coached. Zoe smiled and rolled her eyes, it was always her reins. He continued.

"Now I want to see you over the vertical followed by the wall and finish by going over the liverpool. Try not to let Raven hesitate because of the water."

"But the liverpool is set to 3 feet, water and the highest we've jumped? I'm not feeling very confident and my ass does not want to be on the ground today." Zoe said back.

"Trust me. Trust Raven. You are ready."

"Distract me."

"When does your schooling start?"

"Ha. That's the worst distraction. I don't even want to think about it"

"Well then jump, Zo!" He laughed.

Zoe went over the order again. Vertical, wall, scary liverpool. Vertical, wall, scary liverpool.

"C'mon Raven, we got this. This is the highest we've jumped and Marcus wants me to get dumped..in more ways than one"

Raven jumped with ease over the first two and Zoe turned the corner towards the liverpool. She counted her strides. 1, 2, 3, 4, JUMP.

She heard the pole fall followed by Marcus clapping.

"But those were faults. We wouldn't have won the class!" Zoe said, discouraged.

"I didn't ask you to go clear, just to jump it, Zoe...and your reins..."

"I know I know" she sighed. "Where did you get this crazy jump combo anyways?"

"James left one of his training books in the office and I was able to salvage it" he laughed.

"Should have known, this seems like the devils work."

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People started to show up at the barn the last few minutes of their ride and Mia was calling Marcus's name...quite loudly.

"Well, I guess that's my cue. Lovely ride today, Zo. I'm impressed. We might have to take Holloway up on that rematch challenge." He said as he dismounted.

"That was real? I though they were kidding?" said Zoe.

"Holloway is always down for a challenge...except they usually win. I don't think they will this next time" he called, walking away.

She did kind of want to shove it in Gaby's face. In that moment she thought of Pin again. She sighed.

"What do you say, Raven? Up for a ride to go visit Elvis?" If she was missing Pin, Elvis was definitely missing him more. She started back through the woods towards Pin's house.

During her short ride to Pin's, Zoe's starting thinking about the conversation she had over heard that morning. Rhonda..Rhonda? She knew that name. Rhonda the Realtor? They were selling their house in LA?! No wonder her mom was trying to keep it a secret. She wondered if it meant they were moving to the island...

A whinny broke her thoughts. And all she saw was a flash of yellow coming right at her.