Free Silver Dream by Angela Dorsey

breathing.”
    Joanna looked at the bed.
Angelica was right. The unmade bed was empty. Relief flooded
through her. Now they could quickly search this last room, find
David, and get out.
    But Cally wasn’t relieved. She
plopped down on her grandfather’s bed. “Oh no.”
    “What?” asked Joanna. Angelica
was already checking the closet.
    “What if he’s gone to steal
another horse?”
    “David was here.” Angelica’s
voice came from the closet.
    “You found him?” Joanna rushed
to Angelica’s side.
    “No. I found this.” She held out
a cell phone with a golden chain wrapped around it. “It was on the
top shelf and I recognize the chain. It is one that I gave to
David, years ago, when he was a small boy. He ran away on his
headstrong Skookum and I almost lost them to the river. It was
flooding…” Her voice faded away, then grew strong again as her fist
closed around the cell phone and necklace. “We must find him. He
has to be here somewhere.”
     

 

     
    There it was, the barn. Now to get
inside and find Thunder. They had so many ponies here. Hopefully,
he’d recognize the white gelding when he saw him. His memory wasn’t
what it once was, but surely he’d know Thunder the moment he saw
him. Guilt had seared the pony’s appearance into his brain.
    How happy Kathy was going to be when
Thunder joined the others, especially now that she’d rediscovered
her love for horses. So good to see the reblossoming of her
passion. He’d enjoyed seeing Dancer especially react to her care.
It was amazing how calm the big stallion was around her. She
definitely had a way with horses, once she opened her heart to
them. Of course, he didn’t blame her for being cautious to begin
with. After all, they’d been taken away once before. But now she
seemed the same loving girl she’d always been. And having her
Thunder back home would help her repair her broken heart even more.
He was the ultimate surprise.
    But enough daydreaming. He needed to
concentrate on the task at hand, or he’d never find the pony. Then,
after locating him, he had to get Thunder away without being
detected. So many things to think of, and he was so, so tired.
     

 

     
    “What about Grandpa? Shouldn’t we go
find him?” Cally asked, desperately.
    “This might be our only chance
to find David before your parents come tomorrow,” said Joanna.
“Your grandpa would get in a lot more trouble if people knew he was
kidnapping teenagers too. Stealing horses isn’t as serious as
that.”
    Angelica nodded. “Joanna is
right. Also, if a horse needs my help, I will know, and will go
quickly to their aid. If no horse calls, we will still go find your
grandfather as soon as David is safe.” She bent to look under the
bed.
    Cally exchanged a look with
Joanna, her forehead furrowed. What? she mouthed.
    Joanna shrugged in response. It
didn’t make sense to her either.
    Quickly, they explored the rest
of the bedroom but found no more signs that David had been
there.
    “Now what?” asked Joanna,
plopping down on the bedside chair. There was nowhere left to
look.
    “Are there any more rooms that
might not be obvious, Cally? An attic maybe?” asked Angelica, her
words coming quickly.
    Cally sighed. “I imagine there’s
a space up there, but I don’t know how to access it.”
    “A basement?” asked Joanna.
    “Maybe,” Cally said slowly, as
if trying to recall. “In the kitchen, there’s a trapdoor. I asked
Grandpa about it when I was little, and I think he said it was the
crawlspace under the house.”
    Angelica rushed out of the
bedroom door, and Joanna and Cally hurried after her. When they got
to the kitchen, the older girl was standing in the center of the
room looking wildly about.
    “I think it’s under the rug,”
said Cally, pointing, and Angelica flung the braided rug aside. A
heavy trap door, covered with the same worn linoleum as the kitchen
floor, lay beneath the rug. Angelica grabbed the rusty ring set in
the door and jerked