Eye of the Storm

with Fran and Katie. As she passed Kestrel’s door, Chloe looked over towards it. For a moment she seemed to hesitate. Erin’s fingers tightened on Kestrel’s mane. Please stop , she thought. But then Fran said something to Chloe and they laughed and walked on by.

    Erin spent the afternoon on her own. When she went into the tack room to get Kestrel’s grooming kit, Fran and Katie were there without Chloe. Fran stuck her leg out and Erin stumbled over it.
    ‘Have a good trip!’ Fran smirked and Katie giggled.
    ‘Come on,’ said Fran to Katie. ‘Let’s go and find Chloe.’
    As the time passed, Erin got more miserable and the rain got heavier. The fields were waterlogged and water flowed from them on to the yard. The girls put sandbags outside the stable doors to try to stop water flooding in and soaking the horses’ beds. Soon they were all sloshing around in ten centimetres of water and Jackie said that she thought they should all go home.
    ‘The roads are starting to flood. Do you want to give your parents a ring and see if they can collect you early?’
    As Erin sat on the bench in the tack room waiting for Jo to arrive, unease shivered through her. The storm was definitely coming. Chloe, Fran and Katie hurried up the yard from Ziggy’s stable. Their heads were bent against the wind and rain.
    Chloe’s eyes met Erin’s. She looked worried.
    Erin turned away.
    ‘Ooh, there’s a funny smell in here,’ said Fran, wrinkling her nose and looking pointedly at Erin as she came into the tack room.
    Erin tried to ignore her. She knew Fran was just trying to get her to react. It was pouring down outside and she didn’t want to have to wait in the rain, but she didn’t want to be in the tack room with Fran and Katie either.
    ‘I want to sit there,’ said Fran, hands on her hips. ‘Move, Erin.’ She frowned when Erin didn’t move. ‘Didn’t you hear what I said?’
    Chloe opened her mouth, but Erin had had enough. She was upset over Chloe, worried about the storm and scared about what Marianne might do. She had magic powers, even if she couldn’t use them properly at the moment. Why should she have to put up with Fran and her dumb comments any longer? Her temper snapped. ‘I heard, but I’ll move when I want to!’
    Fran couldn’t have looked more shocked if the tack-trunk in the corner had started talking.
    ‘Just leave me alone,’ Erin went on, anger beating through her, hot and strong. ‘You’re a bully. You think you’re so great, but the only friend you’ve got is Katie. Chloe doesn’t really like you. You just go around acting like you’re cool. Well, you’re so not!’

    Fran’s mouth gaped open.
    Katie’s eyes were wide.
    ‘So you don’t want to be friends with me, well that’s fine,’ Erin went on. ‘I don’t want to be friends with you either. But I’m fed up with all your comments and the stuff you do. If you don’t stop, I’m going to tell Jackie.’
    ‘You wouldn’t say anything,’ Fran said, but Erin heard the slight tremor in her voice.
    ‘Want to bet!’ Erin lifted her chin and stood up. ‘You can sit down now, but only because I don’t want to any more!’ She marched out of the tack room. The rain fell on her heated face, little spots of cold, but she didn’t care. She felt as if a huge weight had lifted from her shoulders. For months now, she’d put up with Fran getting at her – I did it! she thought. I really did it. I stood up to her!
    ‘Erin!’ She heard Chloe calling her, heard her feet splashing through the puddles.
    But Erin didn’t want to speak to her. To her relief, she saw Jo’s car pull into the car park. She broke into a jog and, ignoring Chloe’s shouts, ran to meet her stepmum. Jumping into the car, she pulled the door shut.
    ‘Hi,’ said Jo.
    ‘Hi,’ said Erin, her heart beating fast.
    She looked out through the rain-covered window. Chloe was standing in the car park, staring after her as Jo drove away.

CHAPTER
Nine
    ‘What did you say?’ Erin stared at her dad and Jo, who were sitting across the table. Around them there was the sound of waiters bustling about, people talking and faint music playing. But Erin felt it all fade away. All she could think about was what her dad had just said. ‘I’m getting Kestrel? He’s going to be mine ?’
    Erin’s dad nodded. ‘Jackie rang us up to say she wasn’t sure he was cut out to be a riding-school pony and she’d noticed what a bond you had with him…’
    ‘And she