Horse Stone (Book 1 of Ilyrian Series)

Chapter 9

"Go away," the horse snorted, shaking his head. He bared his teeth and narrowed his eyes at me. "You don't belong here."

I looked around to make sure that we were alone before looking at him. "Nor do you," I retorted. "Or do you like being caged?"

The stallion snorted and shook his head, his black mane shining red in the sun before looking black. He pawed at the ground and tossed his head, his mane, again turning red.

"Why does your mane do that?" I asked, peering at him with narrowed eyes. "It just turned red."

The stallion blinked and peered at me. He walked hesitantly forward, tucking his head near his chest before lifting it up. "You can see it?" he asked, shaking his head.

"Ya," I replied. "And, I understand you."

The stallion stopped until he reached the wood that I was standing on and stared at me. "What are you?" he asked.

"I could be asking you the same thing," I replied. "I don't know of any breed that has a mane like that."

The stallion moved another step closer. "What if I told you that I am not from this Earth?"

"Then, I'd believe you," I replied.

Looking back on my seventeen years, I could have sworn that a lot of magical stuff had happened to me. I could have sworn that some animals had this knowledge about them that was almost "human" like. Some would bow their heads to me in a sign of respect, and it normally confused the crap out of me. If I tried to point it out to a family member, the animal would act more animalish, and my family would call me weird.

Sometimes, I thought Tigra was different. However, if I pointed it out to my family, they wouldn't see it. They just told me that I was imagining things which kind of annoyed me to no end. I had an imagination, but I knew that I couldn't imagine what I had seen or had dealt with. 

"Why?" he asked.

"Because a lot of weird stuff has happened to me," I said, placing my arms on the top board and leaning on them. "And, it makes a lot of sense."

The stallion took another step forward. "What are you called?" he asked.

"Hadley," I replied. "Hadley Rose."

"I am called Vanar, but they named me Shadow." He narrowed his eyes at the gate, and I could tell that he didn't like this. He turned his gaze back to me and studied me. "How can you understand me?"

"You know how," I replied, having a feeling that he did. "Why did it choose me?"

"The gem chooses a young maiden with a good heart. She is pure in all aspects, and it is written in the stars."

I looked down and licked my lips. My cheeks turned red in embarrassment because I wasn't pure in "all" aspects. There was some stuff that I didn't come to terms with, and I really did not need to be told that it was my fault. I have been told that many times by him, and I had believed him until the crash that had killed my mother and almost killed me. 

Vanar narrowed his eyes at me. Again, he took a step forward until he was near enough for me to touch. "What is that look for?" he asked.

"It's... nothing," I said, licking my lips. I cleared my throat and pushed the panic that wanted to consume my body. I did not want to have a panic attack in the open like this. I had no idea who would walk by and didn't know how they would react if I just collapsed to the ground and started shaking. "I-I think I should get going." I cleared my throat again. "I brought you food. It's mostly sugar content."

Vanar narrowed his eyes farther. "What are you hiding?" he asked.

"Something that I don't want to admit," I replied. I hopped off the board and walked around the pen, trying to find a good place to put what I had into there. I could feel Vanar on the other side and knew that he was pissed at me not answering his question.

"Hadley, what are you hiding?" his voice was softer than it had been. There was a spot that was barely large enough to fit my hand through, and I had a feeling that this had been placed there to feed him. He had his eye pressed against it and watched as I dropped my bag to my feet.

"It's... complicated," I said, pulling at the zippers of my bag to show the content that I had in it. I took out a bag of homemade horse treats and stood, my side pulling again. I hissed out in pain and clutched it, almost dropping the ziplock baggie. "Come on, stupid side," I grunted.

"What was that for?" Vanar asked as I stood up fully. He narrowed his eyes at me. "Do not tell me that it is complicated."

"I had a "freak accident" before I moved," I replied. "I still have bruises from it." I pulled open the ziplock baggie and smirked at him tiredly. "I was told that I shouldn't be riding until it fully healed, but the pain never bothered me anyway."