Eliza rested comfortably on an armchair in the library, watching over Daphne. She was practicing her reading on the carpet, fidgeting around as young foals do. Their ears pricked up at the sound of trotting hooves coming down the hall. Ashley was hurrying down the stairs, Glacier following behind her.

  “Is everything alright?” Eliza called after them.

  “I’ll tell you later,” Ashley said back.

  Eliza sighed and settled back into her chair. Daphne jumped into her lap and curled up nervously.

  “Is Tabitha still coming home?” she asked.

  Eliza nodded and ruffled Daphne’s mane. “I’m sure she is.”

  Daphne had just settled back into her book when Ashley returned, with Greg, Marshall, Miracle and Glacier with her. Eliza grew tense with worry.

  “What’s going on?” she asked.

  Greg hurried over to her side to whisper in her ear. “Services knows we’re here. They’re coming after us soon. We need to make a game plan.”

  “What about Orion? Is he on his way back yet?” Eliza asked quietly.

  Greg hesitated, glancing over at Ashley. “We don’t know.”

  “We need to leave here. Now,” Eliza said. “Orion trusted us to look after ourselves. That’s what we’re going to do.”

  “Can’t we fight back?” Marshall offered. “I mean, come on. We all have supernatural powers. I can throw a little ice around and protect us.”

  “Our powers give us the upper hand, but we’re not invincible,” Ashley said. “There’s also the very real possibility that our enemies have powers too.”

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  “So that’s it? We abandon the house? When Orion returns, they’ll be here waiting for him,” Miracle said. “And based on what you saw, they aren’t in any condition to fight anyone else.”

  Daphne clung to Marshall’s side, crying. “Eliza, you promised Tabitha was coming back.”

  “Everyone calm down,” Greg said. “We need to find Orion and his group of horses so we can warn them of what’s coming, even if it means we’re travelling on foot. We have a better chance of making it out if we take this on together.”

  Marshall helped Daphne pack her bag, brushing away her tears. She didn’t have much to call her own, only a faded pair of brushing boots and a folded-up piece of canvas paper. Marshall curiously unfolded the paper while Daphne was rummaging through old cloaks to take with her.

  It was a small sketch, probably unfinished, with a mark of experience that Marshall didn’t recognize from any of Daphne’s drawings. The foal on the left of the drawing was the spitting image of Daphne; he could recognize her right away even in the sketch’s rudimentary state. In the middle, a darker, taller filly stood above her, as if she was watching over her. The third horse on the right was even taller but leaner, and had a stripe down the front of its head. The horse’s build was familiar-somewhat like Laci’s. The signature was hard to make out, but he definitely spotted a T.

  “Did Tabitha give this to you?” he said.

  She turned to him in surprise, snatching the drawing from his hooves and quickly folding it back up. “Don’t touch it.”

  “Jeez. My bad,” Marshall said.

  “Tabitha made it,” Daphne said, tucking it back into her bag. “She told me to keep it safe so she can paint it someday.”

  “Who are the other two horses?” Marshall asked.

  She unfolded the drawing again and pointed to the tallest horse. “That is Tony. He is the youngest, and he is the best at sports. He can jump really high, and outrun foals twice his age.”

  “So the horse in the middle must be Tabitha,” he gathered.

  Daphne nodded. “I just wish we were all together again, like this.”

  Marshall squeezed her tightly. “We’ll make it happen.”