As she walked, Cassie found it was nearly impossible for her to forget the scent of the dark-brown stallion she had smelled inside the barn. Something did manage to distract her for more than a few moments, or rather, someone managed to.
(Cassie, this is Tobias. I've managed to check in with all the others by now. They're all fine, so you're the last person I haven't heard from by now. If you can give me some kind of signal and let me know where you are.)
(Tobias, it's good to hear from you again,) Cassie said. (I'm glad to know the others have all gotten out okay. You said you managed to make contact with all the others, could you tell Slade that I said thank you for what he did back in the stalls?)
(Hey, you must be in morph to be thought-speaking!) Tobias exclaimed, surprised. (As for Slade, he's in raven morph. So why don't you tell him for yourself?)
(Slade, can you hear me?) Cassie asked.
(I'm here, Cassie,) came Slade's reassuring answer. (What do you need?)
(I just wanted to thank you for saving me back in the stalls, Slade,) Cassie said. (It might not have gone so well if you hadn't been there to help.)
(I'm just glad you made it out of there all right. You mean a lot to me, little sister,) Slade said fondly.
Cassie felt warm inside for a few seconds, then the rest of what Slade had said caught up with her. (Slade, what did you call me?)
(What?) Slade seemed to be genuinely confused.
(What did you just say?) Cassie asked.
(I said I was glad that you made it out of that place,) now Slade seemed to be utterly lost. He'd just expressed perfectly normal concern for her welfare, so why did she sound so confused?
(You just called me your little sister,) Cassie explained.
(I did?) Once again, Slade seemed utterly lost.
(Forget it,) Cassie said, deciding that she wouldn't press the issue any further. It had been a little confusing for her to hear Slade call her his little sister, but he'd seemed to have forgotten about the whole thing. So Cassie figured there was no real point in trying to remind him about his little slip-up.
(In any case,) Tobias said, a little unnerved by Slade's slip but figuring that finding out where Cassie had ended up was more important than most things Slade might say. (Where are you by now? And what are you by now?)
(I'm down on the track,) Cassie said with a mental sigh. (As for what morph I'm in, I'm the horse who's being led up to the starting gate. The horse with the number twenty-four on both sides, the one whose jockey is wearing red-and-green racing silks. You see me now?)
(Oh, Cassie you didn't,) Tobias said, with equal amounts of disbelief and incredulous humor in his silent voice.
(I'm afraid I did, Tobias.)
(How did you manage this little mishap?)
(It's a very long story, Tobias. And one I don't have time for right now. I have a race to run.) With those parting words, Cassie trotted off toward the starting gates.
