Chapter Eleven: Problems Arising

Carole stood watch at the window. Veronica was looking at some magazines with Lisa, pointing out the things she really wanted to get. Carole was surprised they were getting along so well. Eventually Max and Red popped in.

"Hey girls, would you mind walking up to the barn with us?" Max asked. Carole tore her gaze from the window.

"Why?" She asked, curious.

"Well, we've been snowed in. Don't worry, I made sure to tell your parents." Max groaned. "It's like a group…..sleepover."

Carole looked at Lisa excited. They were thrilled to be able to sleep over at Pine Hollow.

Veronica, on the other hand, scowled at them. "This is horrible!" She cried. Max placed a hand on her shoulder.

"You'll be fine. One night won't kill you." He turned to the other girls. "Help me grab some blankets and food from the kitchen." He called.

About twenty minutes later they trudged through to the barn where they met up with everyone else. Mrs. R had laid out sleeping bags in the hay loft, and Carole and Lisa went around draping blankets over each one.

"Everyone come here! I need to do a head count!" Max called. Everyone raced to the center of the barn. They got in a long line as Max counted heads.

"Um…where are Phil and Stevie?" He asked ten minutes later. Carole looked at Lisa worried. She had totally forgot about them in the excitement of the sleepover.

"Um…..Max?" Lisa motioned Max over to them. Max waved everybody else off and approached the girls.

"Yes? Where are they?" Max demanded.

"Well…you see….." Lisa trailed off, a bit nervous.

"Stevie and Phil went on a trail ride." Carole spoke up. Max stared at them wide-eyed.

"You let them? They-How long have they been gone?" He asked, frantically trying to figure out what to do.

"About half an hour…" Carole sighed. Max groaned. He paced back and forth for a good ten minutes before replying.

"Do you know where they were going?" He asked.

"Um...they said they were heading towards the lake, and then your old barn." Lisa chided. Max nodded.

"Well, it's too late to send a team out now, and the snow is too deep. We'll have to go tomorrow morning." He looked at the two worried faces. "If they made it to the old barn they should be fine." He assured them. "This is Stevie, remember? She'll figure out what to do. In the meantime, there's leftover pizza in the office for everyone." The girls nodded and walked off. Mrs. R approached Max.

"What's wrong?" She asked, seeing the panicked look on Max's face.

"It's Stevie and Phil, they're out in the blizzard." He replied, and Mrs. R gasped.

"Will they be okay?" She asked.

"I sure hope so." Max sighed and he walked off to help the other riders.

Out at the barn…

Stevie helped Phil drag out a few old tarps from under a pile of wood. They had found these while looking for horse blankets. They had been very lucky.

Stevie pulled out a couple of horse blankets. She gave one to Phil, and put the other on Belle.

"Cool!" Phil said as she handed him his. "That's a great find Stevie!"

Stevie grinned. "You bet! We've been extremely lucky. Two tarps and horse blankets?" She tried to laugh, but ended up coughing instead.

"Hey, are you okay?" Phil asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Stevie went back to the pile. "Hey Phil! Look!" She held up two more horse blankets. Phil smiled and took one. They placed them on the tarps. Stevie glanced at her watch. It was only 5:15.

After an hour of preparing and lifting stuff up to make room, Stevie and Phil sat back on one of the hay bales. The horses were munching away happily at some of the loose hay. Stevie sat down and leaned back on the large stack of hay bales behind them. Phil did the same.

"Hey Stevie," Phil turned to her.

"Yeah?" Stevie sat up.

"Um…why were you so mean to Carole and Lisa earlier?" He asked softly.

Stevie looked at her feet. "I know, I was awfully mean wasn't I?" She smiled weakly. Phil nodded. "I'm sorry." She felt like she was going to cry, but held it back. She didn't want to appear weak.

"It's not me you should apologize to." Phil looked up at her. Stevie nodded.

"I know. I just wasn't feeling well. Not sick, just upset. This past week has been really hard, and, I guess I just took out my anger on them. I fell horrible, I shouldn't have done that." Stevie looked away.

Phil laid a hand on her shoulder. "I understand. Maybe when we get out of this mess, you can say all that to them?"

Stevie nodded and smiled. Phil smiled as well. Things were looking better already.

"So Stevie, want to play a game or something? You know, to pass the time?" Phil offered.

"Sure! What do you have in mind?" She asked. Phil thought for a moment.

"Oh!" He got up and ran to his saddle bag. He reached inside and pulled out a deck of cards. "I always keep these with me, just in case!" He smiled and sat down on his tarp.

Stevie leapt to her feet. Bad idea, the room seemed to shake and her stomach tightened. Her head throbbed, and she put a hand to her forehead.

"Stevie?" Phil asked worried. "Are you okay?"

Stevie nodded as her vision cleared. "Yeah, just got up to fast…" She attempted to laugh again but it ended up a cough.

"Are you sure?" Phil started to get up.

"Yeah! I'm fine!" Stevie sat down next to Phil on her tarp. "Let's play."

Phil dealt the cards and they played go-fish for a while. After about an hour of card games Stevie got up to check on the horses. As soon as she stood up her vision swam again, and her head hurt. Phil looked at her oddly.

"Stevie, maybe you should sit down…" Phil trailed off. Stevie shook her head, which made her headache worse.

"I'm okay…..I'll just….check on the horses." She walked over and did a quick look over of the two of them. She accidentally woke Belle, who had been sleeping, and she quickly patted the horse in apology.

"They look fine." Stevie replied. Phil nodded, content.

"Good! We'll need them tomorrow to get home." He looked out the window. It seemed to have snowed about two feet of snow, which was a lot for where they were.

"Freak snowstorm…." He muttered.

Stevie started to walk over to her tarp when she stopped. Black dots danced in front of her eyes and she felt sick. She felt someone's hand on her shoulder and she turned.

"Stevie, you don't look so good. Maybe you should sit." Phil motioned to the tarp. "It's already 7:45, it would be good to get some sleep." Phil gently grabbed her hand. She pulled away suddenly.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

Stevie shivered. "Your hand is cold, that's all." She smiled at him, but he didn't smile back. He walked in front of her and placed his hand on her forehead. She shivered as the cold invaded her warmth.

"Stevie, you feel warm…" Phil trailed off. "Are you sure you're okay?" Stevie nodded.

"I'm fine."

Phil raised his eyebrow. "Okaaay…um…why don't you lie down. I'm going to sleep too, so….yeah." He watched as she practically collapsed onto her tarp. She pulled the horse blanket over her shivering body. Phil walked over to the light and flipped it off. He then crawled into his tarp and lay down. He looked over at Stevie. Her breathing had slowed and her eyes were closed. Phil was amazed at how quickly she had fallen asleep. Feeling his own tiredness sink in, he turned over and closed his eyes. They two slept peacefully, or almost peacefully.

Stevie woke up four times in the night. Once because she was cold, once because she wanted to check on Belle, and twice more because she had nightmares. She felt hot, but when she shook off the blanket, she was immediately freezing. Her throat hurt, and her head ached. Still, she managed to finally fall into a deep and dreamless sleep around 4:30 in the morning.

Phil woke up three times in the night. Once because he was cold, once because he was sore, and once because…well…he just did. The third time he woke was at 5:15 in the morning. He yawned and got up. He felt wide awake, and couldn't fall back asleep. He got up, checked on the horses, and then walked over to Stevie. He knelt down next to her head.

She shifted a little, but otherwise seemed to be fast asleep. He noticed her hands were clenched, and her face was flustered. Worried, he placed a hand on her forehead again. She shivered in her sleep, but otherwise didn't wake up. Phil pressed his hand against her skin. She was burning up. He stood up frantically. He didn't know what to do.

Everything was just getting worse; first the snow, then trapping them in the barn. Now Stevie was sick, and he had no way of helping her.