D. MacHale - SYLO

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe there’s something wrong with me but I like it here. My parents chose to come here and Dad loves his garden—uh, landscaping business. I can see going into business with him someday.”

“And spend your life spreading manure on other people’s flowers?” Tori asked, as if I had said I wanted to be a professional assassin.

“Yeah,” I answered sharply. “Sorry if that doesn’t meet with your approval.”

Tori opened her mouth to say something quickly, but then thought better of it and stopped. “Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to insult you.”

“Yeah, you did. Why don’t you cut the mystery. I’m tired and I’m sore and I want to know why the hell you dragged me out here.”

“We’re here,” she said.

We had arrived at a fence with a gate that was shut and padlocked. Tori dismounted and went to unlock it.

“The horses don’t belong to us,” she explained. “Some rich guy pays us to board them so he’s got some toys when he comes out on weekends. Nice, huh?”

“You really resent rich guys, don’t you?” I said sarcastically.

She shot me a cutting look, swung the gate open, then climbed back on her horse and we walked through the gate.

“This whole area is fenced in. I think it may be the biggest parcel of undeveloped land left on Pemberwick. The guy said I should let the horses run free and get as much exercise as they wanted. Nice life.”

“His or the horses?” I asked.

“Both. It’s a great gig for me. I love the horses and ride whenever I want. It’s like they’re mine.”

“But you didn’t name them,” I pointed out.

“Derby,” she said. “Her name is Derby. This one is Racer.”

I patted Derby on the neck. “Sorry, Lassie.”

I thought I saw Tori smile, but it quickly vanished.

“There were two others,” she said softly. “Remi and Nimbus.”

“‘Were’?”

She fell silent and gazed out over the ocean. Her head had gone to another place, just like when we were at the Lobster Pot Festival. I’m not sure what made me finally realize the truth. Maybe it was seeing her on that horse as if she were born to ride. Maybe it was being out there on the bluffs. Or maybe it was the way the tears were growing in her eyes. It was probably all of the above, because in that moment, I understood.

“It was you that night, wasn’t it?” I asked. “You were the one riding on the bluffs when the shadow exploded.”

Tori didn’t answer right away, which was her answer. I looked around to realize we were very close to where we had chased the shadow down.

“It was your dad who spoke to Deputy Donald, right? I thought I recognized him.”

Tori kept her eyes on the ocean and said, “He didn’t want me to get involved. He’s always protecting me. He told them he was the one who got thrown from the horse when the shadow exploded.”

“Did you get hurt?” I asked.

“Just bruises,” she replied, trying to control her emotions. “I know how to fall.”

The image of the massive explosion that silhouetted the rearing horse and rider was one I thought I’d never forget. Now that I knew it was Tori, there was no chance I’d ever forget it.

“So then whose pickup truck was parked on the bluff that night?” I asked. “I thought it belonged to the guy who said he saw the whole thing, but if that was your father and he wasn’t out here, whose truck was it?”

Tori shrugged. “I don’t know. I wondered that myself. When I rode back to my house, it was gone.”

“So maybe there was another witness,” I said.

“Maybe,” Tori agreed.

“You could have told me this sooner,” I said. “I’m not a bad guy.”

Tori finally looked at me with a pained expression that I truly didn’t understand. She was hurting and it wasn’t from being tossed off the horse.

“What did you bring me out here to see?” I asked gently.

Tori took a deep breath and said, “A few days after the explosion, I rode Derby out here to round up the other three. Racer was waiting by the gate. The other two were…”

Her throat convulsed as if she had trouble saying the words. “I saw them coming over that rise,” she said, pointing. “They were galloping. Fast. Like, impossibly fast. I thought it was an optical illusion but they flew by me like they were, well, flying. Saliva was spraying from their mouths and their eyes were wild. They pulled up just beyond that dune and started jumping. Up and down, like bucking broncos.”

She was fighting to keep her emotions in check.

“I didn’t dare get off Derby. I was afraid they’d trample me. So I cautiously walked her over, calling to them, trying to get them to focus on me and calm down. It didn’t work. They were out of control. Their whinnying was horrible, like they were excited and in agony at the same time. Then suddenly they took off together, charging back the way they came.”

I was afraid I knew where this story was going but didn’t interrupt. Tori had to tell it her way.

“I galloped after them but there was no way I could keep up. They were just so fast. Eventually they circled back toward here and—”

The words caught in her throat as tears starting streaming down her cheeks.

“When I got over that rise, I saw them. Both on the ground. Dead. Just like that.”

“Just like Marty,” I said.

“They actually looked like they were at peace. Nimbus had her head on Remi’s belly. Those two loved each other.”

Tori sniffed back tears, then nudged Racer to walk, headed for the shore. I followed on Derby, quietly. After about twenty yards, we came to what looked like a pile of rocks that had washed up from the sea. When we got closer, I saw it for what it really was…two large graves. We stood over them silently.

After a few moments, I couldn’t take it anymore and said, “You think Feit gave them the Ruby?”

Tori’s look turned hard. “Is that what he calls it?”

I nodded and said, “How did he give it to them?”

“He didn’t.”

Tori reined Racer and continued toward the shore. We approached a sandy bluff that led directly down to a small, rocky beach. It was a beautiful view, looking out over the ocean and a brilliant, cloudless sky.

“They found it themselves,” she said and pointed down to the beach.

I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be seeing. It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust and to register the horror that lay below. What at first looked like a beach covered with rocks, wasn’t.

Instead of tide-washed stones, the beach was littered with chunks of red crystal. Most of them were baseball-sized, but some were as big as grapefruits. The larger chunks rested on a bed of smaller, shattered crystals. There had to be a ton of the stuff, just sitting there as if it had washed up like so much sea glass.

It was the Ruby.

“I saw Remi and Nimbus an hour before they died,” she said. “They were down there, grazing. Whatever that wicked stuff is, it turned my horses into demons and then killed them. And now that Feit character is feeding it to people.”

“I took some,” I blurted out, without thinking.

Tori shot me a look of surprise and confusion.

“He said it would improve my performance,” I added. “Serious understatement. I only took a few tiny crystals but the result was incredible. I felt like like…Superman.”

“But you’re okay now,” Tori stated, confused.

“Because I hardly took any. Feit said Marty took too much, and obviously so did the horses. I guess your body can operate in overdrive for just so long before it crashes.” I looked at Tori and said, “You’re the only person I’ve told.”

“What is the stuff?” she asked. “Why is Feit pushing it?”