Free Lucky Horse by Bonnie Bryant Page A

to put it in her cubby when they got back to civilization.
    Starlight. Her horse’s name suddenly had a whole new meaning. It was as if she’d never known what starlight was until this trip. Her mind wandered back to Pine Hollow, and she thought about her friends and the fun they must be having. Were they looking after her horse as they’d promised? Of course. That was what friends did. This weekend it was as if Starlight had two owners instead of one. He was a lucky horse indeed.
    Carole settled back down and looked up into the Milky Way, thoughts of Pine Hollow settling comfortably into the back of her mind.
    Though the stars twinkled a little more dimly than they had earlier, it was still the most magical and mysterious thing she’d ever seen. She sighed and felt like a tiny spot in the universe, no bigger than the amoebas she’d studied in science the previous year. She felt her eyelids growing heavy as she thought about amoebas and stars and starlight and Starlight and Stevie and Lisa and—
    Carole jumped. A loud rumble had broken the stillness of the night. Something must have fallen nearby. Maybe it was the telescope! She opened her eyes. She was still lying on the top of Mount Stringfellow; in fact, her father was curled up just a short distance away. He must have gotten as tired as she had and fallen asleep, too. But what was that noise she’d heard?
    She rose on one elbow. A fierce gust of wind blew hard against her eyes and she felt the sting of raindrops on her face. She tried to look up at the stars, but they were gone, covered by a huge black storm cloud that blotted all light from the sky.
    “Dad!” she cried. “Dad! We need to get out of here!”
    “What?” Colonel Hanson jolted awake.
    “A storm has blown up. We need to find some shelter.” The wind suddenly started to blow so hard that Carole had to yell to be heard. She watched her father get up and grab the telescope.
    “Let’s go over to those rocks!” he yelled, pointing to a pile of boulders on the very top of the mountain. “We’ll be safe there as long as there’s no lightning!”
    He grabbed her by the hand and pulled her to her feet, and together they ran toward the boulders. They hadn’t taken three steps before rain began to pour down so hard that Carole had trouble keeping hereyes open. It was impossible to see anything, and the wind howled like some savage animal. It whipped the rain against her even harder. She lowered her head and ran hard to keep up with her father.
    Finally they reached the boulders. There was a small outcropping of rock that sheltered them from the rain, but not the wind. “Are you okay?” her father yelled, frowning with concern.
    Carole nodded. “I just hope it doesn’t start lightening.”
    “If we’re lucky, it won’t,” Colonel Hanson said just as a huge clap of thunder broke overhead. He turned to scan the northwest horizon. As he did, blistering fingers of lightning crackled down from the clouds. First one, then another, and a third. All reaching from the heart of a dark black cloud down to the earth below; all seemed to be heading straight toward Carole and her father.
    “Did you see that?” her father shouted as another clap of thunder rent the air.
    Carole nodded; she was too scared to speak.
    Colonel Hanson looked at her gravely. “We’ve got to get off this mountain now! That storm’s tracking straight at us, and this is the absolute worst place to be in a thunderstorm.”
    “Where can we go?” she asked in a squeaky voice.
    “We’d be better off under a lot of trees in a valley,but anyplace is better than this,” her father yelled. “Grab your flashlight and we’ll try to find the trail back down the mountain!”
    “Okay.” Fortunately, Carole had remembered to pick up her flashlight when the storm had started. She switched it on, but its normally bright beam looked more like a candle in the thick, wet darkness.
    “Hurry!” Her father yelled. “And stay close behind