CHAPTER THREE
Sarah awoke the next morning and checked the weather in the window opposite her. Ever since her parents let her stay with Bailey while they went on a small, parent re-bonding trip, she had been checking the weather every day for the day when the sun rose with a bright scarlet ring around it. That was her cue to come home because the day before her parents had arrived back to wait for her. No red outline today. Sarah sighed and began preparing for the day.
Swiftly, she climbed out her window and down to the stables to check on Scarlet. The mare was still asleep when Sarah walked in but the other horses started when they heard her footsteps. Button woke up first and spotted her right away. She screamed out in fear as Sarah got closer to her. This woke up Calypso and Aztec, which in turned succeeded in waking Chili, Pepper, and Jimber. Scarlet sighed and woke up to see what all the noise was about. She whinnied louder than the rest of the horses and the noise quieted immediately. Jimber nickered something to her and Scarlet huffed in reply. Sarah paid no mind to the conversation and patted Scarlet's coat affectionately.
"Hey Girl," she cooed softly. "You ready for the day?"
Scarlet glanced into her eyes before continuing to huff and whinny with Jimber. Sarah giggled and gave her another pat. She slowly crept into the house through the front door and headed for the kitchen. Opening the refrigerator, she looked around for her special stash of meat and was surprised to find nothing but everything other than meat in the fridge. She looked around the kitchen for any other signs of meat and found nothing. She sat at the table with a sigh and saw the others coming in the door.
"Hey Sarah," Molly called. "Did you see any leftover meat in the kitchen? We have to finish taking it out to the garbage for Bailey's parents."
Sarah raised her head and asked, "Why do they want it in the garbage?"
"Because," Bailey intoned. "The horses don't seem to enjoy the smell of meat on us because it makes them skittish. Would you like breakfast?"
Sarah shook her head and stood to leave. "I'm going to go for a quick run through the woods if you don't mind." She murmured. Jogging through the trees, she made her way through the trees at a fast run to anyone else but a slow jog to her. Panting slightly as she stopped, Sarah looked around for her old place to be. She finally spotted it and made her way over to the small rundown cottage painted to camouflage with the trees. The blonde sat in a rickety old chair and sighed again. "I'm hungry." She muttered. "I'll have to hunt instead in order to get my sustenance."
As she went out to hunt, she decided to have a small talk with the horses.
"Did you see that?" Molly gasped wide-eyed. "She didn't want breakfast once she found out that there wasn't any meat anywhere. What if she went out hunting, but since it's not a full moon she just uses her nails instead of claws. Quick, get the meat before she comes back empty-handed and tries to eat us!"
The others giggled as they pulled the meat from a bag high on the shelves. Just as they finished putting it away, Sarah walked back through the door, smiling softly like always.
"Hey Sarah, what's that on your mouth?" Alma asked uncertainly as the blonde moved closer.
"Huh?" Sarah wiped her mouth and found red liquid on her hand. "Oh, um, I went out to eat and got ketchup on me. I'll go clean up."
The others stared after her before turning to Molly. The dark-skinned girl shrugged with a worried look on her face. "This could be really bad." She murmured to which everyone nodded.
Later, the team was practicing on racing around the poles and Will had said don't hold anything back. Sarah sighed and realized that Scarlet wasn't going to listen to her this time.
"If we get into trouble," she whispered to the horse. "I'm holding you responsible."
Scarlet huffed to her in a promise and took off running. She curved her body around the poles easily and Sarah smiled as she realized that Scarlet was having fun. They stopped all too soon and turned to see Will holding the timer in shock.
"Sarah," he exclaimed. "You beat the world record by a whole minute! How did you do that?"
"I didn't," Sarah replied, giving her Arabian a firm pat. "Scarlet did. Good Girl, Scar."
Everyone stared at them for a moment before clapping half-heartedly. Sarah moved to the back of the line and patted Scarlet's pelt affectionately.
"I know Girl," she murmured. "Something smells fishy with our friends."
Scarlet nickered and took a deep breath. When practice was over, the others put their horses away before beginning to head to the house. Sarah walked in last with Scarlet and as soon as she crossed the threshold, the horses all began whinnying loudly. Sarah heard the others coming, so she hurriedly growled at the horses and reduced them to shuddering ponies. Turning, Sarah saw her friends returning with worried expressions.
"What happened?" Alma asked.
"Did something spook the horses?" Bailey panted.
"Yeah, I think they just got a little scared to see me cause I kinda barged in when I got in here. I got them to shush a little but that's it. Sorry, no big now."
Sarah tried to smile reassuringly, but her friends didn't seem all that convinced. She sighed and put Scarlet in her stall as the others calmed down their horses. A few minutes later, while shooting the blonde odd looks, the others left. Sarah turned to the horses, which all looked at her intently.
"What is wrong with you guys?" the rider asked them.
"Wrong with us?" Pepper demanded. "You're the were-beast and you have the audacity to-."
"Pepper," Sarah growled in a warning voice. She immediately quieted. "I've already told you that I won't hurt you. I know I eat animals, but I try to stay away from horses because Scarlet asks me to. Please just try to calm down; the others don't know about my transformations and I'm trying to keep it a secret. Please just try to stay calm?"
All of the horses huffed and Jimber spoke up. "Why should we believe you? You'd probably eat us at the next full moon if we were not careful. Why don't we get the truth from someone we trust?"
"How about me?" Scarlet asked.
"You?" Chili snorted. "Why would we listen, or even trust you? You're in cohorts with her!"
"Yes," answered the slightly frustrated Arabian. "but you must remember that even on the full moon, I'm still a vegetarian. So are you going to listen or not?"
All of the horses glanced at each other before reluctantly nodding. "Sarah won't eat you 1: because you're my friends and that would be insulting me and 2: you're her friends' horses so that would make her friends insanely unhappy and she doesn't want that. Now do you believe us or not?"
Scarlet fixed them all with a stern gaze while Sarah turned pleading eyes to them. "Alright, fine!" Chili and Pepper cried.
"But we're staying locked up next full moon." Button told them.
"Promise," Sarah told them. "So all I'll do is come out, get Scarlet and go. Better?"
The horses all whinnied in acceptance and went about their normal business while Sarah brushed Scarlet.
Haha, that was pretty funny with the horses. Now, review because your kind words make me happy.