Free Stormchaser and the Silver Mist by Belinda Rapley

she turned towards the stables, where the other helpers were gathered. But before she left, she called back over her shoulder to the girls, “Oh, no, hang on. Mrs Greenfield did say she’d heard something… I think she said a motorbike was revving up like crazy, then it raced off. But that’s all.”
    Charlie’s mouth fell open and she looked at the others.
    “This has to be connected to the other ponies being let out, it can’t be a coincidence,” Charlie said. “Come on, let’s see if there are any clues in the field.”
    They swung their ponies round and walked them up the path that led to the field. The gate was still standing open. They dismountedto lead their ponies closer, then heard hoof beats behind them. It was Archie, trotting his little grey, Rascal, to catch up with them. Archie’s face looked pinched as he slid from the saddle.
    “What happened?” Archie asked.
    “Some ponies were let out of this field last night,” Mia told him. “It’s the third lot in just over two weeks.”
    “It’s happened again?” Archie blurted out, then bit his lip. He looked anxious, tugging at the tight shirt collar around his neck. Alice noticed, and exchanged a look with Rosie, who’d noticed too.
    “Oh, is Stormchaser okay, by the way?” Charlie asked, remembering seeing Estoni covered in dirt after school on Friday. Archie frowned. “After Estoni’s fall, I mean.”
    “No, he didn’t fall off Storm, luckily,” Archie explained, sounding a bit distracted. “He was riding Thimble. Thimble stumbled on one of the gallops, he… he put his hoof down a bit of a hole and sent Estoni flying. Thimble was going to be Estoni’s ride for one of the chukkas in theWinter Cup. He’s twisted his fetlock, though, so he’s been ruled out.”
    “Oooh, nasty,” Rosie winced, “although it could’ve been a lot worse, sounds like they were both pretty lucky.”
    As the girls began to search the area surrounding the paddock gate, they fell silent. Archie glanced at them, then at the ground, too.
    “Um, are you looking for something?” he asked.
    Rosie tapped her nose. “Clues,” she whispered dramatically.
    Charlie expanded on Rosie’s explanation. “To see if it gives us an idea about who might have done this.”
    Alice noticed Archie stiffen slightly, as Mia led Wish a couple of steps closer to the gate, then held up the bits of baler twine that had secured it shut.
    “I bet one of the ponies leant on that, and it snapped,” Archie jumped in quickly, before the others could speak. “It’s not much twine to keep all those ponies in a field, really.”
    Mia turned the twine over in her fingers.“But why would they suddenly rush against the fence last night, when they’ve never done that before?”
    “It’s more likely this gate was opened deliberately,” Alice said. “Just like the others.”
    “And it sounds like the culprit made a sharp exit afterwards on his motorbike,” Rosie shook her head.
    Archie dropped his gaze, quietly searching the ground, moving some of the hard earth and grass to the side with his boot. Suddenly he pointed off to his right.
    “Is that a glove, hanging on that bush over there?”
    The four girls turned, ducking under their ponies’ necks to get a clearer look in the direction that Archie was pointing. As Alice turned back to check where Archie meant, she saw him crouch down by Rascal’s hoof. His pony turned his head to look at him.
    “I can’t see anything,” Alice frowned. “Where did you mean?”
    Archie jerked back up at the sound of Alice’s voice, sliding his hand into his jodhpurpocket and looking sheepish.
    “Oh, maybe I was mistaken,” Archie mumbled. He jumped back into his saddle. Rascal immediately turned, ready to go.
    “Anyway, I guess I had better get Rascal back,” he said, quickly squeezing Rascal into a brisk walk, and disappearing from sight without a backward glance.
    The others were about to carry on their search when they noticed Alice