Cassie was getting a bit agitated by now. Her rider wasn't the problem, since she was barely aware of his presence on her back. It was the bit in her mouth that was making her mad, that and the scents of all the other stallions so close by. One scent in particular, that of the dark-brown stallion that she had been so annoyed by earlier, stuck with her and made her more angry. She snorted at the stallion, who by bad luck or chance had ended up in the lane right next to her.
"Easy boy, easy does it," Cassie's rider said, pulling back on the reins attached to Cassie's bridle.
Cassie ignored him. But the lone boy edging his way though the thronging racing fans at the stands around the track did manage to catch her attention. It was Marco, with a look on his face that suggested he'd just discovered the secret to eternal life, or something of that caliber.
(Take it easy, Marco. It's just me, there's nothing to worry about.)
"Who says I'm worried?" Marco's grin grew wider. "I'm wondering if you're going to win. I've got five bucks that I could bet on you!"
A few of the patrons at the track rolled their eyes at Marco's antics, and some of them raised their eyebrows at his style of dress. But for the most part, they ignored him.
(Ha-ha, very funny Marco.)
Cassie walked on, then the jockey started to pull on her reins, digging the toe of his boot into her right side. Cassie thought about what he might want, using her human mind. After all, while she may have had the inborn instincts of a horse, she didn't have any of the professional training of the racehorse she had morphed. Hence the need for consideration.
Figuring out that what her rider wanted her to do was walk up to the starting gates, Cassie did so. Once she had gotten to the gates she saw that the man with the cigar, who had been one of the first people to spot the Animorphs when they had entered the barn, was standing almost right in front of her. Cassie was surprised to see him, but not at all worried that he might recognize her. She was a horse now, and what sane person who wasn't an Animorph would suggest that someone could change into a horse?
"Did you find those kids who were hanging around the stalls?"
"No," the man said with a disgusted flick of his cigar. "They all managed somehow to get away, though I'm not really sure how those last two guys managed it. I thought we'd have them for sure."
Cassie snorted at him, not pleased in the least to have been mistaken for a guy twice in one day.
"Max seems to be a little out of sorts today," Cassie's rider commented.
"He's always been a little balky at the gates," Cigar-man said, by way of explanation.
Cassie was substantially more aggravated than she ever remembered being on an Animorph mission, coupled with the fact that the horse mind within her own was getting really agitated by the scents of all the other stallions standing all around them. Cassie took the Cigar-man's words as a personal insult, even though that was not what he had meant when he had said them. Tossing her head proudly, Cassie walked calmly into the small stall that would hold her for the few seconds left before the race started.
That calm didn't last very long. Once Cassie had gotten inside stall, both she and the stallion mind saw it as a trap; somewhere that they would never be able to get out of. Panicking, Cassie reared up and kicked against the door in front of her, flailing her hooves wildly and neighing at the top of her voice.
"Whoa boy! Steady there, easy does it! Calm down, Max!"
Cassie was frustrated, nervous, and getting more and more angry. All things that added up to not being able to think clearly. When she looked back on this, then she would see more clearly what she should have done. But for now, Cassie wasn't thinking about secrecy or consequences.
(You calm down, I'm the one who's jammed into a little box!)
Cassie did make sure to use private thought-speak, so perhaps she was thinking a little more clearly than her emotional state would have suggested.
"What the hell?! Who just said that?!" Cassie's rider, who's name was Morely, wailed.
All of the other jockeys just stared at him, so Morely just decided to pretend that he hadn't heard anything. That turned out to be easier than he thought it might be, since the race started a mere few seconds after he had heard those words. The gates snapped open at once, letting the excited horses finally thunder out onto the racetrack.
Cassie kicked out with her powerful leg muscles, stirring up a huge cloud of dust in her wake. Now, now that she was running, Cassie and the horse felt just fine. The scents of all the other horses had faded behind her, and so they had also faded from Cassie's thoughts. Running was all she cared about, and so running was what Cassie did. Morely sitting up on Cassie's back, tried to rein her in, to get her to conserve her limited strength for the end of the race.
