A/N: I just want to thank everybody who reviewed and followed/favorited. It makes me happy that you're going to give this story a chance. You'll start to get some answers to what happened in the prologue, maybe not in this chapter, but really soon. The pieces will start coming together. Here's the official first chapter; enjoy.

~ Chapter One ~

~~ Whispers in the Hall ~~

Three Months Earlier, …

"Now, this project isn't due until next month," Mrs. Callahan said. The teacher stood at the front of the classroom in front of the chalkboard, speaking to her class of twenty seventh graders. "But I want you all to brainstorm and write down some ideas of who are you today and who you might be in the future. Tomorrow, I'll pair you up with a partner and you'll go over your lists with your partner adding to it."

Georgie glanced down at the paper explaining the project, and then at her blank notebook page. The thirteen year old looked around at some nearby classmates, finding that quite a few of them had already written some stuff down. She sighed and dropped her chin in her hand. She didn't really know who she was now and definitely not who she would be in the future. She tapped her pencil against her page and watched as her pencil made a cluster of small dots on the paper.

The bell rang, and Mrs. Callahan dismissed her class. Georgie closed her notebook and picked it up along with her textbook, standing up to leave. She made her way up the aisle when a girl with perfect blonde hair from the front of her row stood up and stepped in her way. Georgie groaned inwardly, suppressing the urge to roll her eyes. The other girl, as usual, was dressed intricately and polished. Her smooth jeans were tucked into her designer boots and her pink plaid shirt looked to neat and fancy to ride in. She always looked perfect, but Georgie felt completely comfortable in her own dark flare jeans and red long sleeve shirt with a sketch outline of wild horses depicted on it.

"Your project shouldn't be too hard, Georgie," Olivia sneered, with a cat grin. "You are the little orphan horse girl."

"At least horses like me," George retorted, bitingly.

If the words stung, Olivia didn't let it show. She still smiled like she won and turned on her heel, her hair flipping around. She sauntered out of the classroom. Georgie glared at her back, before leaving the classroom herself, a good distance away from Olivia. She walked down the hallway, heading toward her locker. She arrived at her locker, which was right by her math classroom. Georgie spun the numbered dial easily, popping her locker open.

She just slid her book and notebook inside, when there was a quiet greeting from the locker next to her. Georgie looked over, seeing her new friend, Steven. She smiled at him. "Hi," she greeted him. "How was math?"

"It was good," Steven replied, taking a book out of his own locker. "Watch out. Mr. Temmy is calling kids up to the board to do problems. Most of the class did it, my problem wasn't that hard."

"Ok, got it," Georgie said, laughing. Since they had a couple of the same teachers, they've started to relay what happened during the class so that the other one could be prepared. It was their tradition everyday at this time. Georgie pulled out her math book. "Mrs. Callahan is assigning a real whopper of a project. I don't even know how to begin." Steven nodded, shutting his locker.

Just then, a quiet commotion erupted a couple feet down the hall from them. A group of kids were gathered around someone's phone, watching something intently. They were talking animatedly and laughing occasionally. Georgie grew curious. "What's going on over there?" she muttered, closing her locker with a soft bang. Steven shrugged unknowingly.

Georgie started wandering over to the group, with Steven walking slowly behind her. "What are you guys watching?" she asked the group.

The owner of the phone, a tall tan-skinned boy with black hair, whom Georgie thought his name was Gus, looked up at her. "A new episode of Man vs. Horse was just uploaded," he told her. "It's awesome!"

Georgie narrowed her eyes in confusion and curiosity. "What's Man vs. Horse?" she asked. She leaned in to try to catch a glimpse of the phone's screen.

"It's a web series. There's a new episode every week," a short, red curly-headed girl named Abigail explained this time. "It's about this guy who goes up against wild horses. It gets really crazy and scary sometimes."

Georgie felt a hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach. It sounded like an entertaining show, but something told her that something about it was wrong. A voice cut through the crowd, and Georgie turned her head to see Olivia standing there, leaning on her hip.

"That show is for barbarians," Olivia stated. Her eyes landed on Georgie and she smirked. "Then again, maybe it's just your type, Georgie."

Olivia walked away, and Georgie couldn't find any good comeback. Her mind was still focused on this awful show. She turned back to Gus' phone, moving in closer to get a better view. Dramatic music played in the background as horrible scenes played out. A tan horse reared up high, his eyes rolling in fear. The man facing him had his arms upraised, a whip clasped in one hand. The pair stood in a round pen. The man snapped the whip at the stallion, and the horse neighed louder, swinging out his front legs, landing, and then kicked out with his back legs. The man kept advancing on the horse, pushing him up against the fence.

"...I think it's filmed over on the old Caldwell ranch..." Gus was saying, as his eyes were still glued to his phone. Other kids began talking of their own theories, too.

Georgie had to look away, feeling sick to her stomach. Her eyes were wide and a gasp was on her lips but no sound came out. That man was torturing that horse, it was so obvious to her. But what could she do about it?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ty took a deep breath and steeled himself. He'd been working at Bob's animal rescue farm, and he's taken care of some different animals that he normally wouldn't work with in a vet clinic. He loved working the new animals, but, as he walked toward this next enclosure, he felt his steps slow with trepidation. It was feeding time, and he saved this particular animal for last on purpose. The black bear clambered to his feet, having smelled the raw meat in the bucket Ty carried. The bear smiled a big toothy grin, as he walked over to the fence.

Ty swallowed, moving closer to the fence. He shouldn't have been nervous, he had treated the bear when he came in. The bear was in bad shape, after having been in a vicious attack with a pack of wolves. The bear was in pretty bad shape when he came in, with deep gashes and contusions all over his body. However, Bob said that the bear gave as good as he got. While the rest of the wolves had disappeared, there was one dead wolf lying a couple feet from the bear. The bear was injured and sedated when Ty treated the injuries, but now it was awake, albeit limping on its' broken leg.

"Hey, big guy," Ty said to the bear, just as he would to any other animal. "You ready to eat?" He held up the bucket, and the bear took a big sniff. Ty chuckled. He picked up a chuck of meat with a gloved hand and heaved it over the enclosure's fence. The bear pounced on it with his big paws, ripping into the meat with sharp canines. Ty tossed the rest of the meat from the bucket to the bear. The bear chomped on his food and picked up his head, chewing. The bear seemed to look right at Ty, saying thank you for the food and for the medical treatment.

Ty turned to leave, chuckling lightly to himself. Amy was rubbing off on him. He loved that about her, always thinking and putting a horse first. The way she spoke to it and handled it, he could watch her in complete blissful silence forever. He smiled just thinking of her, the way she'd lay her hand on a horse's face like she was trying to read his mind or the way she rode in on Spartan at their wedding, looking like an angel in white. Ty shook his head, telling himself to focus on work. He approached the bird enclosure, finding Bob in there attending to the small injured gray bird.

"How's she doing?" Ty asked, leaning his hand on the fence. The small bird had injured its' wing when it got a thorn embedded in its' wing.

"Almost as good as new," Bob explained, setting the bird on a swinging perch. "Her wing is healing nicely, no more infection. She's trying to fly, which is good thing."

"Are you going to release her soon?" Ty asked, taking a step back when Bob started to open gate.

Bob shook his head. "Nah," he said, stepping out of the enclosure and locking it behind him. "I'm going to keep her for another week, to make sure she'll be able to fly alright."

Ty nodded. Bob dusted off his gloved hands and faced Ty. "I'm going to go set the deer free, it's time," he told Ty. "Can you help me load them up in the truck? Then, you can take your break."

"Sure," Ty agreed. They set off side by side on the path to the deer pen. Ty knew that there were two does and a fawn, that were hit by a car. Ty was anxious to call Amy to know if she heard anything or not. He felt for his phone in his pocket and pulled it out. He checked the screen, but it was blank. No missed calls or messages. Right after he help Bob load the deer in the trailer, Ty was going to call Amy. Whether or not she had any news, he couldn't pass up a chance to hear her voice.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Good girl, Moonstone," Amy murmured to the chestnut mare. She rubbed the mare's face between her eyes. Moonstone stood quietly, calmly, in front of Amy. They stood in the round pen at Heartland, going through Moonstone's new training as a blind horse. Amy slowly unclasped the lead rope from Moonstone's halter, and tossed it gently behind her. Amy praised the horse again, before turning away and walking away from the mare. Then, she stopped and turned back around.

"Moon, here, girl," Amy called to the mare. Moonstone pricked her ears and turned her head in the direction of Amy's voice. The horse started walking over to Amy, even going into an excited trot before coming to a stop in front of Amy. Amy smiled, giving Moon another pat. Moonstone was really coming along in her training. Once she had calmed down and learned to rely on her other senses, she became a lot more attentive. Amy ran her hand down the mare's neck, then along her side, walking as she did so. Moonstone paid close attention to Amy with her ears pricked and flicking back and forth, Amy's hand keeping her calm. Amy ached to get on Moonstone to begin to see how the horse will respond to a rider, but she didn't want to push it.

"Amy!"

Amy turned at the sound of her sister's voice. Lou stood on the porch of the farmhouse, waving something in her hand. "Phone's for you!"

Amy waved back at her sister. "Okay," she called back. She turned back to Moonstone. "I'll be right back, ok, girl?" She rubbed the mare's neck, and then, as a last thought, reached into her pocket and fed Moonstone a mint.

Moonstone ate it up, bobbing her head happily. Amy left Moon in the round pen, closing and locking the gate behind her. She laid the lead rope over the fence. Moonstone stood in the center, listening to Amy leave. Finally, the horse lowered her head and nosed at the ground.

Amy jogged over to the farmhouse. She went through the gate and took the porch steps two at a time. Her niece, Katie, sat on the porch with her blocks spread out and making her toy horse and rider jump over the blocks. Amy smiled down at the little girl.

"Hi, Katie," Amy greeted her.

Katie looked up to see who has spoken to her. She saw Amy, then pointed back at Moonstone in the round pen. "Good girl, Moon," she mimicked Amy from earlier. Katie had been watching Amy's session with the horse.

"Yeah, she's a good girl," Amy said. "Maybe when I'm done on the phone, you can give Moon a carrot." Katie smiled grandly, and Amy ruffled the little girl's hair. She opened the door and slipped inside.

Lou was practically waiting inside the door and ambushed her when she walked inside. She had a big grin on her face. "I think this is it," Lou told her, in a stage whisper. "I think it's positive news." She pressed the phone into Amy's hands.

Amy laughed at her sister's eagerness, but she felt her own heart flutter in excitement. She walked further into the kitchen, pulling out a chair, and sitting down. She put the phone to her ear and listened to the woman on the other end of the phone line. Lou walked outside to the porch to get Katie, giving Amy some privacy. Amy spoke on the phone for about ten minutes, flying high and her heart soaring with happiness. She couldn't stop smiling from her excitement. Lou came back in with Katie on her hip just as Amy was ending the phone call.

"Okay, thank you so much," Amy replied, standing up. "We'll be there." She hung up the phone and placed it on the receiver.

"Well,..." Lou insisted, waiting to hear the news.

Amy turned around, her grin nearly splitting her face in two. She couldn't hold it back anymore. "They accepted our offer," she explained, happily. "The ranch is ours."

A/N: Well, how was it? Did you all like it? I hope it started to answer a few questions. Any new theories? Please tell me what you think and like about this story in a review.