"It's back to the library with you," Angus announced at their bungalow. It was now nearly four o'clock, and they had five hours before Roarke's imposed deadline. "I have some things I gotta handle, so the three of you start lookin' around over there."
"What 'things' do you have to handle, exactly?" Dori demanded ominously. "Damn it, Angus, you haven't lifted a single finger to help us this entire time. You just stand around issuin' orders, like you're the king of the world or something. Why don't you haul your sorry carcass to the library with us and give us some help searchin'?"
Angus glared at her. "That's your job. I have my job to do, and you don't need to know what it is."
"Who says we don't?" Colin put in, standing beside his sister and glaring at Angus. "Seems to me you're getting real lazy all of a sudden. You know, Angus, the rule usually goes that if you don't share in the work, you won't share in the reward."
"It was my idea to come to Fantasy Island in the first place," Angus told him, eyes blazing. "And I made all the arrangements too, y'know. Now I've somethin' in mind to make sure we're the ones who leave this island ownin' that horse. I thought you wanted to be owners too. Don't ya?" Colin and Dori looked at each other doubtfully; Hugh simply watched, looking slightly confused. "I got a plan, so just leave it to me and do your research, nice and fair-like, so Roarke don't suspect anythin'."
"Wait a minute," Hugh said suddenly. "That means you're gonna cheat, Angus, and that ain't right. We gotta win the horse fair-like, the way you said."
"He's right," Dori realized. Colin nodded agreement.
"Then y'don't want to own the horse, is that it?" said Angus in a low voice.
"Dammit, Angus, of course we do, but we want to do it right," Colin snapped. "That way, when we win, there's no question about how we did it, and no one can come back and investigate and suggest we cheated. Hugh's right—it sounds like you're plannin' to."
"And we ain't havin' no cheater on our team," Hugh said, getting to his feet and facing Angus full-on. Hugh and Angus were the same height, but it was clear that Hugh had an advantage over his older brother due to an extra twenty pounds or so of muscle. Angus was lanky and wiry, but Hugh had more brute strength. The two glared at each other for a very long moment while Dori and Colin watched tensely; then Angus finally snapped.
"Then I'll do it alone," he growled and stalked out of the bungalow. His younger siblings watched him leave; then Hugh looked at Dori and Colin.
"This way it's more fair-like," he said, again with childlike logic. "Now there's the same number of us as Carpenters, so it's all even."
Colin and Dori stared at him, then looked at each other and started to laugh. "Hugh, sometimes I think you're smarter than everybody else in this family," Dori remarked cheerfully. "Well, come on, we might as well get to the library and start researching."
Graeme, Melissa and Linda spent about an hour sitting at the pool, feet dangling in the water, while they talked in low tones about the contest. Actually, they wasted almost forty-five minutes of that hour arguing over whether Pegasus was a myth, and if he was, how the Black Phantom could possibly be descended from a myth. When Graeme finally checked his watch and realized how long they'd been there, the three of them made a beeline out of the pool area and toward Amberville and the library, without even realizing they'd brushed past Roarke and Leslie, who had arrived there on their routine rounds.
"No rest for the weary," Leslie remarked with a grin, and her adoptive father laughed softly and nodded, guiding her along to check with the bartender on his stock of drink ingredients. Leslie glanced after the fleeing Carpenters once before turning her full attention to the usual necessities of business.
Colin Markham looked up when the threesome entered the library doors, smiled unexpectedly and went back to the book he was going through. Melissa bit her lip; Linda caught the action and eyed her curiously; and Graeme scowled. "Forget that bloke," he told Melissa curtly. "We've work to do. Get over here and sit down."
The library ultimately proved to be a dead end for both clans, who wandered into the deepening twilight worrying over what came next. When Graeme saw Colin and Melissa shooting each other furtive glances, he made an ostentatious point of steering his two sisters away from the Markhams, guiding them back to their bungalow.
"What happened to Angus?" Linda wondered aloud on the way there.
Graeme looked at her and then rolled his eyes. "Maybe a snake or some jungle beast took him out of action," he suggested sarcastically. "If there're crocs on this island, I hope one of 'em ate him."
"He'd get indigestion," commented Linda, which evoked unexpected laughter from her younger brother and sister. Feeling a little better, they began to mull aimlessly over the latest clue Roarke had given them. "So," Linda said, "let's assume Pegasus was a real living animal, instead of just something out of the collective Greek imagination. What kind of characteristics did Pegasus have that could've been inherited by the Black Phantom?"
Melissa said, "Supposedly Pegasus had crescent-moon-shaped hooves. That'd be a really distinctive trait, wouldn't it?"
Linda and Graeme looked at each other, both trying to picture a horse with such hooves. "I can't see it," Graeme finally said.
"No, I can't either. I mean, I can picture hooves that look like that, but the way I imagine 'em, it'd be like half the hoof was carved out to leave the rest shaped like a crescent. And how could any horse run on hooves like that?" Linda said.
"Well, Pegasus did," Melissa pointed out. "And Greek mythology says Pegasus was swifter than any ordinary mortal horse. Doesn't sound to me like his hooves gave him any problem. Maybe you're picturin' it wrong and his hooves were normal-sized, just shaped like crescents instead of bein' round."
At about the same time, Hugh Markham broke the pensive silence that had hung over the trio since leaving the library. "What's a crescent look like?"
"Sort of a C-shape," Colin explained to him. "A bit like a boomerang."
Hugh processed this. "Y'mean like the Boomerang Moon?"
Dori and Colin exchanged reminiscent grins; ever since he could talk, Hugh had called the twice-monthly crescent moon by that name. None of the family had ever figured out where he'd come up with it. "Yeah, you could say that," Colin said amiably.
"Do you honestly think the Black Phantom had crescent-shaped hooves?" Dori asked. "I mean, I did see it in that one book, but I can't figure out how on earth any horse could even walk, let alone run, on hooves like that."
"I dunno," Colin grumbled, kicking up dust along the path.
"Makes no sense," Hugh said suddenly. "Know why? Horses leave tracks in the dirt. Never saw nothin' said the Phantom had funny-shaped tracks."
Colin and Dori stared at him in amazement. "The things he comes out with!" Dori marveled. "I think he's right. If the Phantom had crescent-shaped hooves, it'd have been all over the media articles of the day. And Hugh's right; nothing mentioned hooves that looked like that, or tracks that would have fit them."
"Then it has to be something else," Colin said, scowling at the starry sky. "But what?"
"I still say no horse could possibly run on crescent-shaped hooves," Graeme said, rolling his eyes again. "Damn, Liss, the crazy stuff you think up. What good are sissy hooves like that gonna do a racehorse? It had to be somethin' else."
"How can you be so sure?" Melissa demanded.
"Because the Black Phantom would've left tracks in the dirt," Linda said impatiently. "No horse has crescent-shaped hooves, and if he did, they'd have stood out in the dirt on any racetrack. What's more, someone would've brought it up at his very first race, and it would've been mentioned in the media every race afterward. I saw hell-knows-how-many old newspaper articles in all those library books we looked through, and not a single one of them mentioned hooves at all—let alone crescent-shaped ones."
Melissa sighed, realizing they were right. "I see your point. But come on, the only other distinguishing characteristic Pegasus had was those wings, and it's pretty obvious the Phantom didn't inherit those—even though there were acres of quotes about him lookin' like he was flyin' through every race." Graeme and Linda shrugged, neither of them able to come up with a rejoinder, and they fell silent, ruminating as they walked.
Then Melissa stopped short, within sight of their bungalow, and blurted, "Wait! I just thought of somethin'! What if he did inherit wings?"
"He didn't, you idiotic little sheila," Graeme said, thoroughly exasperated. "Melissa Anne Carpenter, you must be the most fluff-headed female ever born."
Melissa whacked him in the shin with a substantial and very well-placed kick, making him howl and hop back several feet. "Why don't you go kiss a kangaroo, Graeme James Carpenter, you pig-headed horse's arse? He didn't inherit the wings themselves, I know that. But there could've been mutations over time. Who knows how long ago Pegasus lived, if he was real? Could've been long enough for mutations to take place. Maybe there'd be traces left of those wings, somehow. Like a place on each side of a horse where the wings would've been attached—a depression or dent, or an extra-large muscle to support the base of a wing. That'd explain a lot."
Graeme forgot the pain in his leg and stared at her; Linda blinked, mental wheels grinding furiously as she considered this idea. "Damn," Graeme finally said, as if reluctant to admit it, "that actually makes some sense."
"The only other thing that set Pegasus apart from any other horse is wings," Dori said. "Not that it could be possible, because you can tell from any photo that the original Black Phantom didn't have wings. But that's all we've got."
Colin thought it over. "Wings, wings… Pegasus' wings were attached to his sides, then, right? Closer to the front legs than the back ones? And up toward where the neck ended and the torso began." He stopped where he was and closed his eyes, calling forth a mental image of the mythical winged horse. "Those wings must've had a big, wide base on Pegasus' body, or they'd never have lifted him into the air. So they were about the biggest wings in existence, and they'd have needed a really substantial base on the torso. That means there'd have to be a major muscle there to support them."
Dori stared at him, eyes slowly widening as she grasped his meaning. "And that muscle would've been attached to leg muscles, right? Leg muscles that would've helped a horse run faster than any other horse…"
"So the Phantom had an extra muscle that helped him win races," Hugh broke in with a grin that nearly divided his face in two. "And I bet this Phantom has it too."
"We'd better get to the main house!" cried Dori, and as one the trio took to their heels.
"That extra-large muscle could have been the one that supposedly allowed the Black Phantom to beat every horse in every race, every time," Linda blurted excitedly. "Some kind of overlarge leg muscle that would have stored more energy for the Phantom to burn, so he could run faster or longer than all the other horses in a race."
"That has to be the answer," Graeme agreed, nodding. "I take it back, Liss, you're some kinda genius. And if we don't get to the main house with this right away, we're sunk! Let's get goin'!" They leaped off the porch of their bungalow and pelted up the path.
Roarke had just left for the monthly island council meeting, and Leslie was at the desk reading a letter from her former sister-in-law in Finland when the Markhams exploded into the foyer, almost throwing the door off its hinges. At the exact same moment, the Carpenters stampeded onto the terrace and came to a thundering halt just inside the open French shutter doors, having spied the Markhams who were frozen in the foyer, staring right back at them. Leslie looked up, glanced back and forth between the two groups and waited for someone to recover enough to speak.
When nothing happened, she eyed the ceiling and grinned fleetingly to herself, then said, "So what brings you folks over here in such a frenzy?"
That was enough to jolt all six Australians back to life at once, and they all began to talk simultaneously. Leslie stood up from Roarke's chair and held up her hands till they fell silent. "Calm down a little, please." She focused on Hugh Markham. "You tell me."
Hugh peered at her smiling face and suddenly smiled back, his eyes warming. "Y'see, Miss Leslie, we figured out what the Phantom inherited from that horse with the wings. We thought maybe boomerang-shaped hooves, but that ain't right—he'd leave tracks like that and people'd talk about it."
"It was a super-muscle," Linda Carpenter said insistently, unable to keep quiet.
Dori interrupted in her turn, afraid of being bested. "An extra one where Pegasus' wings would've been attached to his body—a big strong muscle that'd give him stamina."
"And extra speed to win races. Something that could've been passed down to his descendants," concluded Melissa.
"We finally figured it out on the way back to our bungalow," Colin said.
"We figured it out first," Graeme put in, shooting him a glare.
Leslie cleared her throat, which quieted them again. "Hm," she said when she knew she had their full attention. "Well, all of you are right: the Black Phantom did have an extra muscle—a very large one that gave him the extra strength and energy that put him ahead of any other horse he ever raced against. That's exactly the characteristic Mr. Roarke meant for you to find. Seems to me there's another tie."
"I told ya there'd be another tie," crowed Hugh, looking very pleased with himself.
Leslie laughed. "So you did," she agreed. "Well, your timing is exquisite, since Mr. Roarke just now left for a meeting. But that's all right. I'll bring him up to date when he gets back, and then tomorrow morning all of you should be here at the main house at ten. That's when Mr. Roarke'll tell you about the race and all the details you need to know." She surveyed them and frowned suddenly. "What happened to your brother Angus?"
Dori and Colin looked at each other. "I think he has other plans," Colin finally said, a little nervously. "He didn't want to work with us—said he was going to do something else towards helping us win ownership of the horse. Frankly, we didn't care for the implication of that, so we told him we didn't want any part of it, and he went his own way. Haven't seen him since then."
Leslie nodded slowly, aware of the surprised expressions on the Carpenters and the nervous looks on the Markhams. "Well, if he does anything illegal, there'll be repercussions. Mr. Roarke will know." She cleared her throat and took in the group as a whole. "Unless I miss my guess, none of you has eaten since lunch, and it's almost eight-thirty. Why don't you have a good, substantial meal at the hotel? By some stroke of luck, our hotel's chef has barramundi, and it's my understanding there may even be kangaroo steak."
Her guests stared at one another in astonishment. "I ain't ate kangaroo in years," Hugh said, his wondering gaze going to Leslie. "How'd you know that's my favorite treat, Miss Leslie?" His face broke into a huge smile, and she grinned back. "I'm for that. Come on, Dori and Colin, let's go!"
"I could eat barramundi all right," Graeme remarked.
"D'you think there'll be any Vegemite in the mornin', then?" Melissa asked hopefully.
Leslie shifted her grin from Hugh to Melissa. "I'm sure there will be. Why don't you ask when you go to breakfast? Enjoy your meal, everyone." They thanked her, and she watched them leave, smiling a little. Slowly she settled back into Roarke's chair and picked up the letter to finish reading.
Roarke came back shortly after nine and found her staring unseeingly out the open French shutters. "Leslie, are you all right?" he asked.
She came to with a start and blinked at him. "Oh, I didn't realize it was that late already," she said. "I was just thinking of something Mielikki said in her letter."
"I see," Roarke said, going to the front of the desk and dropping a car key into the gold box that sat there. He glanced at her; she was watching him, her eyes shining with sudden tears. "What's wrong?"
The gentle question prompted a tear to spill out of one eye. "She told me she's expecting a baby. It'll be their third." She looked away then, her gaze going right back to the starlit scene beyond the doors, her chin trembling just perceptibly.
And Roarke knew then. He circled the desk and drew her into a hug. "Tell me, Leslie. Don't keep it bottled inside you."
"Teppo and I wanted to have a baby," she said thickly, burrowing her head into his shoulder as if she were two decades younger than her nearly twenty-six years. "We wanted to, but somehow it never happened. We tried…my gosh, we tried everything in the book. We consulted a doctor, bought books, you name it…but nothing worked."
"Sometimes that happens," Roarke said softly. "It's frustrating at the very least, devastating at worst. Was any medical reason ever found for the problem?"
"No," she admitted. "And not for lack of trying to determine the answer either. We'd been discussing what we were going to do next when he was…" Leslie's voice gave out and she shook her head. "I guess it simply wasn't meant to be, but I still wish…"
"I know, my daughter," Roarke said, just above a whisper. "I know."
She let herself relax against him. He sounded as if he were speaking from experience, she thought, but didn't bother asking. She might be his daughter all right, but there were still many things she didn't know about him and felt it wasn't her business to ask him about. If he were ever so inclined, he might tell her someday; but when all was said and done, she realized it didn't really matter. He was there for her, the only family she had, and that was enough. Leslie smiled faintly and returned his hug in full.
After a few minutes Roarke patted her back and smiled at her when she lifted her head. "So, has anything else of note occurred this evening?"
"Ah yes," she remembered then. "I guess Stage Three of the Great Horse Quest will have to be put into motion." She joined in his chuckle at her terminology and explained what had happened with the Carpenters and Markhams. "I told them to be here at ten tomorrow morning so you can explain the race to them."
Roarke nodded. "You did a fine job, Leslie, very good. As to Angus Markham, it's his choice as to whether to participate in the race; but since you apparently feel that his siblings aren't sanguine about his disappearance, I will notify the island police to be alert for any sign of him. It's as much for his safety as that of everyone else."