Water Lily

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Book: Water Lily by Terri Farley Read Free Book Online
Authors: Terri Farley
ruin. It was overgrown with vines, though the house next door, which Darby had only glimpsed down its long driveway when they drove by, appeared modern.
    The Zink property had been bordered with a barbed wire fence until Darby had become friends with Patrick Zink and let slip Jonah’s poor opinion of barbed wire. Now, expensive white wooden fencing enclosed the neighboring acreage.
    Patrick Zink was in the eighth grade with her atLehua High, but she hadn’t gotten to know him until she and her mom took a ride to the old sugar plantation.
    Darby smiled as she remembered Patrick’s pith helmet. She hadn’t known that anyone wore those hats outside of movies, but there he’d been, in real life, exploring the ruins of the old place.
    Soon Darby found out he loved books as much as she did, and he had an encyclopedic knowledge of the island’s history, especially the A-Z Sugar Plantation that had once been run by the Acosta and Zink families.
    Darby had only talked with Patrick twice since the ugly accident that had peeled off the top layer of skin on his leg. During their first conversation, Patrick said the doctors had referred to that part of his injury as “degloving.” Though she didn’t consider herself squeamish, Darby thought that was an unsettlingly accurate description.
    As she and Hoku neared the driveway to the Zink house, they looked both ways, then crossed the street to walk in the shade of ohia trees, which grew closer together on the Zinks’ side of the street.
    Darby was enjoying the red blossoms and salty sea air, when she heard a horse nicker.
    Hoku halted suddenly and sniffed, trying to locate the other horse by scent. When that didn’t work, Hoku stood soundless, listening for the other horse. When the nicker didn’t come again, Hoku snorted, asking the other horse to come out.
    And she did.
    A beautiful black-and-white paint stretched her nose out from behind a tree at the edge of the Zinks’ driveway. Then, she emerged completely.
    Mistwalker was masked by satiny black from muzzle to eye patches. Her flat cheeks, forehead, and neck were white, but she had a long, graceful, black throat and body, and her black mane fell in tendrils.
    â€œThat’s Patrick’s horse,” she told Hoku, “but what’s she doing here?”
    Just like Honi, Patrick’s paint mare was allowed to roam free, and Darby had mixed feelings about the horses’ liberty. Although this end of Moku Lio Hihiu wasn’t heavily inhabited, the streets had their share of cars.
    Darby looked around for Patrick. Even with a walking cast, he probably couldn’t go too far from the house, so it was no surprise she didn’t see him, but when Darby turned her gaze back to Mistwalker, she realized the mare was acting strange.
    The first time she and her mother had encountered the paint, they’d thought she was a wild horse. They’d realized their mistake when Mistwalker came to greet them. Clearly friendly and tame, the mare had nuzzled Navigator and nosed Ellen’s arm, but now the paint mare kept her distance.
    Darby clucked softly to the horse, then called, “Come here, girl.”
    Mistwalker threw back her forelock, neighed, and pawed the ground.
    Hoku answered the mare’s summons by trotting forward.
    Riding along the roadside hadn’t been one of her best ideas, Darby decided. Hoku ignored the impact of asphalt on her unshod hooves as she followed Mistwalker along the edge of the street.
    Mistwalker looked back at Hoku, snorting and urging the filly to come closer, but each time they drew near, Mistwalker moved faster.
    What did she want?
    Then, Darby saw Patrick.
    Sprawled in a folding chair next to a beach umbrella, he sat at the edge of the driveway. His eyes were shut beneath his round black-rimmed glasses. His face was an unnatural shade of pink that made the freckles across his nose and cheeks stand out. His khaki pants were cut short on

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