Winter Wonderland #5 Read online

Preeti could see that he was badly missing his twin sister. “We’ll go out looking every night,” she promised. “Maybe it will be easier to find her with no people or cars around. Everywhere is deserted because of the snow.”

  “That is true.” Comet gave a long soft blow as he looked around with renewed interest. His breath hung in the freezing air like twinkling clouds of steam.

  Slowing his stride, he moved at a gentler pace. Preeti rose to the trot as they checked out some woods. Soon they emerged opposite a deep railway cutting before moving onward again. But they didn’t see any other ponies.

  Preeti noticed a faint rosy light beginning to wash across the sky. Dawn was approaching.

  “I think we’d better head home. Grandma gets up really early,” she said reluctantly.

  “Very well.” Comet took a circular route that eventually brought them back across the fields and to the road leading into town.

  It began to snow more heavily, making it difficult to see far ahead. Preeti shivered, wishing now that she’d taken the time to put on her warmest coat with the fake fur–trimmed hood and her newest boots. The coat she’d picked up in a hurry was a very light spring one.

  “You are cold,” Comet whickered.

  Preeti felt a faint tingling feeling in her fingertips as Comet’s mane twinkled with tiny violet sparkles. A clear bubble spread around her, keeping her warm and dry. The snowflakes melted as they touched the bubble’s surface, so she could also see where they were going.

  “That’s much better. Thanks, Comet.” Suddenly, Preeti caught a movement from the corner of her eye. “Hold on. Look! Over there. In that ditch.”

  “Is it Destiny?” Comet neighed urgently, rocking onto his back legs as he halted.

  Preeti clung tightly. Just beyond the roadside, the ground sloped sharply away. Comet stood looking down into the ditch, which seemed to be filled by a big lumpy snowdrift. But there was no pony sheltering there.

  “What’s that?” Preeti frowned, puzzled, staring at the pile of snow. “It looks like part of a door and back window.” Her eyes widened in shock. “Oh my goodness! There’s a car under there! And I think someone’s inside it!”

  “We have to help!” Preeti cried.

  Comet nodded. “Lean against me. We will climb down together.”

  Quickly dismounting, Preeti put one arm around Comet’s neck and braced herself against his strong shoulder as they slid and stumbled down the deep bank until they reached the ditch.

  Luckily the car seemed to have just slid down and landed the right way up. The front of it was sloping slightly downward.

  Preeti began frantically trying to clear snow from the side windows. “If I can just brush some of this away, we’ll be able to see inside the car!” But in just seconds, her hands were numb with cold.

  “I will help,” Comet neighed beside her.

  Preeti felt another warm prickling sensation flowing to the ends of her fingers as he huffed out a sparkly breath that twinkled with thousands of tiny rainbow stars. The glittering mist swirled around the car for a few seconds and swept up the entire covering of snow, which then fell far away in the field beyond.

  As the car was revealed, Preeti saw two faces looking out at them. It was a woman and a little girl who looked about Viren’s age. They were huddled together under layers of coats as they tried to keep warm.

  “Are you okay?” Preeti called, tapping on the window.

  The woman nodded. She leaned over to speak to her through the closed window. “We’re not hurt, just a bit cold,” she shouted. “I called for help on my cell. We’ve been waiting here for hours. I think a big truck or something went past a while back, but it didn’t see us. I didn’t want to leave Emily and go up to the road to flag it down. I stayed here and tried to keep us both warm.”

  “That was the best thing to do,” Comet whinnied to Preeti.

  The woman in the car did a double take as she heard pony noises. She peered over Preeti’s shoulder and seemed to see Comet for the first time in the thick swirling snow. “Is that your pony? But . . . how come . . .? What . . .?”

  Preeti thought quickly. “We’re . . . er . . . helping the . . . rescue team,” she said vaguely. “Don’t worry. Help will be here soon.”

  The woman nodded gratefully. “We have a chance of being seen, now that you’ve cleared the snow away, though I don’t know how you did it. And it’s strange, but it feels a lot warmer in here now.”

  Preeti smiled with relief when a moment later she saw Comet prick up his ears. Seconds later, Preeti heard it, too: the chugging rumble of a snowplow. Powerful searchlights penetrated the blinding snow as the big truck appeared around a bend.

  The woman and her daughter, Emily, would be fine now, but she and Comet had to leave before anyone else knew that they’d been there. She didn’t want her mom and dad finding out about her midnight ride.

  Comet leaned forward to gently snuffle her hair. “We must leave now,” he neighed. The sky was much lighter and the sound of the truck was getting closer.

  Preeti leaned close to the window to speak to the woman one final time. “We have to go now. Bye!” she called, backing away.

  “Wait! How can I thank you . . .?” the woman shouted.

  But her voice faded as Preeti turned and held onto Comet again, and they climbed out of the ditch. Once they were back on the road, she mounted again.

  “Well done, Comet!” she praised.

  Bending forward, she heard the wind whistling past them outside the magical bubble as Comet galloped flat out. The blizzard raged on, but she was safe and warm. In the early-morning light, the swirling snowflakes were tinted pale apricot and gold. Once again, Preeti felt the heart-stopping thrill of riding the magic pony. And she knew she would remember this amazing night for the rest of her life.

  Back at the barn, she rubbed Comet down and made sure he had fresh water and hay. “You were incredible tonight, Comet!” she told him, stroking his velvety nose. “Those people in the car will be rescued because of you.”

  His deep-violet eyes gleamed. “I am glad I could help.”

  “You deserve a rest. You’ve been riding hard,” she said fondly, stranding his mane through her fingers.

  “I would gallop all day without a rest, if it meant I would find Destiny,” he told her, blowing out a long breath through his flared nostrils. “You are lucky that your little brother is safe and here with you.”

  Preeti hadn’t thought about it like that. Viren was such a pest that she sometimes wished she were an only child, but she really did love him.

  “I know you miss Destiny a lot,” she said gently. She put her arms around his neck and laid her cheek against his warm silky coat. “I wish we could find her, too. And then maybe you could both live here with me? I could ask Mom and Dad if we could make part of the barn into a proper stable.”

  Comet shook his head slowly. “I am afraid that is not possible. Destiny and I must go back to our Lightning Herd on Rainbow Mist Island.”

  “Oh.” Preeti sighed. She supposed she knew that already, but she didn’t want to believe it. It was just too painful to think of her special friend leaving. She decided to push it to the back of her mind.

  “I’ll see you later,” she said as she went out and closed the barn door behind her.

  From now on, she was going to make sure that she enjoyed every single moment spent with Comet.

  “It is strange to think that we will celebrate Holi in a few days,” Grandma commented the following day. She was in the kitchen, making coconut sweets. “Who would think it would snow so heavily in March?”

  “I know, it doesn’t feel like we should be celebrating the coming of spring,” Preeti replied. She was helping to make the delicious sweets they usually gave away as gifts when visiting friends and relatives.

  Mrs. Nimesh came in from her office to have a coffee break. “You two look busy,” she said, smiling, looking at the trays of colorful treats. “So many? Who will eat them all? I think it might be
a rather quiet Holi this year.”

  Preeti felt disappointed, as she thought her mom could be right. The snow was keeping everyone from traveling.

  She loved it when everyone gathered together at festival times. Holi was particularly fun because it was associated with Lord Krishna, who was famous for making trouble and playing tricks on his friends. It was a time for everyone to do the same. People wore their oldest clothes and threw brightly colored powders at each other.

  Viren enjoyed it especially, because he was allowed to get really messy without being yelled at! But this year it looked as if their family would be celebrating alone because of the dangerously icy roads.

  “Couldn’t we have a party here?” Preeti pleaded, looking at her mom. “Some of our friends live close enough to walk. We could make a big bonfire in the snow. Dad’s got lots of dry wood in the barn. It would be fun and we could keep warm playing games and dancing.”

  Her mom looked thoughtful. “It would mean a lot of work, cooking and preparing party food.”

  “I’ll help!” Preeti offered at once.

  Mrs. Nimesh nodded. “All right. Why not? I will go and make some phone calls, right away.”

  “Yay!” Preeti cried delightedly.

  Viren wandered in playing a video game. It was making twittering and popping noises as he pressed the buttons with his thumbs. He grabbed a few of the cooling coconut squares, and popped a piece in his mouth.

  “Mmm. You make the best sweets in the whole world, Grandma!” he exclaimed, rubbing his tummy.

  “You silly boy! You will not get around me like that!” Grandma ruffled her grandson’s curly dark hair, but she was smiling with pleasure. “But that’s enough now, or you will not eat your lunch,” she scolded fondly.

  Viren turned to Preeti. “Who’s Mom calling?” Preeti told him about the party they were planning. “Cool! A snow party. Comet can come, too. We’ll powder him with all different colors. He’ll love Holi!” Plunking himself on the sofa at the far end of the eat-in kitchen, Viren switched on the TV.

  Preeti was rolling the sweet mixture into small balls when she heard the newscaster’s voice floating toward her.

  “. . . a woman who was rescued in the early hours of yesterday morning after her car skidded into a ditch has reported a mysterious ghostly sighting of a girl and a pony. Apparently the girl spoke to her. The driver of a snowplow also glimpsed them briefly in his headlights, before the girl and her pony disappeared without a trace. If anyone has any information . . .”

  “Oh no!” Preeti murmured under her breath. She felt herself growing hot and was sure her face must have been bright red. “I have to go and . . . um . . . do something in the barn,” she mumbled hastily, washing her sticky hands. “See you later!” she called over her shoulder as she hightailed it out of the kitchen.

  Grandma and Viren didn’t respond. They were glued to the TV, spellbound by the story of the ghostly girl and her pony.

  “Phew! I didn’t expect to hear about us on the news!” Preeti said to Comet. She had removed his soiled bedding and spread fresh straw, and was now giving the guinea pigs some pieces of cucumber for a treat. Chandra and Surya were making excited grunting noises as they snuffled and licked cucumber juice from her fingers. “It’s a good thing that woman and the snowplow driver didn’t get a good look at us, or I’d be in deep trouble with Mom and Dad now!”

  With Comet looking after her, Preeti knew she couldn’t have been in safer hands. But her parents wouldn’t see it like that. She didn’t want to try to explain what she was doing riding around at night.

  Comet’s gray mane swung forward as he nodded in agreement. “When we go out looking for Destiny again, I will use my magic to make us both invisible.”

  “You can do that? Wow! That’s so cool! Then I don’t need to worry about anyone seeing us.”

  It had been so amazing to ride Comet. She had loved their exciting snowy adventure. “I’d like to go out with you again right now,” she said, although she knew it was far too risky, especially with Viren likely to pop his head into the barn at any moment. “Though I’d better wait and slip out when everyone’s asleep, like last night.”

  But by a stroke of luck, Preeti found herself with time on her hands that afternoon. Grandma was walking over to visit her friend Mr. Linford, and Mom and Viren had gone with her. Her dad was at the hospital, so the house was empty for once.

  “I pretended I had some homework to do,” she told Comet. “So I could stay here. Now we can go out looking for Destiny.”

  “Thank you, Preeti.” Comet’s eyes flashed, and he pawed the floor with one front hoof. “Climb onto my back again.”

  Preeti didn’t need to be told twice. As they galloped away from the barn, she showed him the way to a different part of town. Once again, Comet’s shining hooves skimmed the surface of the snow and their invisible passing left no trail.

  The snowplows had been busy, and traffic was beginning to move very slowly on the main road. Preeti saw lots of snow-covered cars left in driveways and parked along the side of the road. Ice and snow blocked all the side streets.

  “There’s a park just over there with lots of places where Destiny might hide,” Preeti said, pointing.

  Comet pricked his ears hopefully.

  As they drew closer, they could hear shouts and laughter. About thirty kids of all ages were playing in the snow. More of them were riding their sleds down a steep hill.

  Preeti and Comet rode between the trees and snow-covered bushes, keeping a sharp eye out for any signs of a pony. At first, Preeti found it strange that no one paid them any attention, but she soon got used to it.

  Being invisible was a lot of fun!

  They investigated an area with clipped hedges, but found nothing. Comet snorted and they rode on toward a large frozen lake.

  Ducks and geese waddled on the surface, and noisy seagulls wheeled overhead. A forest of tall dried reeds stuck up through the snow along a stretch of the lakeside, providing enough cover for a lost pony. But once again they had no luck.

  Galloping away from the park, Comet headed toward a shopping center.

  “Let’s try over there,” Preeti said, squeezing him on, as she pointed to a superstore with a large parking lot. “Maybe it would be warmer behind the store. A pony could find shelter there.”

  Comet nodded, flicking up his tail with eagerness.

  But he had barely begun to cross the snow-covered parking lot when Preeti felt him stiffen. As her magic pony friend stopped and leaned down to look at the ground, she looked down, too.

  In front of them both and stretching all the way across the parking lot was a faint line of softly glowing violet hoofprints.

  “Destiny! She came this way!” Comet neighed excitedly.

  Preeti felt a pang. Did that mean her friend was leaving right now? “Are . . . are you going follow her?” she asked anxiously.

  Comet shook his head. “No. There is no point. This trail is not fresh. But it proves that Destiny was here. She cannot be too far away. When she is very close, I will be able to hear her hoofbeats.”

  “Will I be able to hear them, too?” Preeti asked.

  “Yes. But only if you are riding me, or we are together,” he explained in a soft neigh. “And I may have to leave suddenly, without saying good-bye, to catch up with her.”

  Preeti bit her lip during this reminder that Comet could not stay with her forever. She swallowed hard as tears threatened to well up, knowing that she would never be ready to lose her special magic friend.

  After searching for a while longer, with no more signs of Destiny, Preeti and Comet turned toward home. Preeti wasn’t sure how long Grandma, Mom, and Viren would stay at Mr. Linford’s house, and she hoped they would get back before they returned.

  On the way, they cut through some narrow lanes and alleyways and finally emerged at the far side of the park, a short way from the frozen lake. A group of people were on the shore. As they drew closer, shouts rang out.

&
nbsp; “A little boy’s fallen through the ice!” a girl cried.

  Preeti tightened her hands on Comet’s mane and looked toward the commotion. She had a bad feeling about this. More people were running toward the lake, where a tiny shape out on the ice was waving its arms around.

  As the magic pony checked his stride, Preeti frowned. There was something familiar about that figure. Then her heart missed a beat.

  “It’s Viren!” she gasped.

  What was her little brother doing here?

  Comet didn’t hesitate. “Hold tight!”

  He launched himself into the air in a mighty leap. Seconds later he landed lightly on the lake’s frozen surface, in the center of the reed bed. A foot away, Viren’s head and shoulders were sticking up through a hole in the ice as he tried to pull himself out.

  Quickly dismounting, Preeti crawled forward and knelt at the edge of the reeds.

  “Hang on, Viren!” she gasped.

  “Preeti? Is that you?” His frightened dark eyes widened in shock as he looked around, trying to see where her voice had come from. “Where . . . where are you?” he gulped, his teeth chattering.

  Preeti remembered that she and Comet were still invisible. What was she to do? How could she explain her sudden appearance? There was no blizzard to hide them this time. She felt torn. She had to help her brother, but she had promised to keep Comet’s secret.

  Preeti made up her mind.

  “Comet! Make me visible, please!” she whispered.

  The magic pony’s wise eyes gleamed. “Very well.”

  Preeti felt the familiar warm tingling feeling flow down her fingers and saw bright sparks igniting in Comet’s coat as a shimmering multicolored mist swirled around them. The magical rainbow fog spread out across the lake’s surface, making the ice safe and hiding them from the people on the shore.

  Preeti lay down and inched herself forward onto the thicker ice. “Don’t worry! I’m here!” she called to Viren.