Chapter 4, aka the beginning of the good part! In real time I am working on Chapter 17, which is towards the end and honestly, really hard to ride. But I'm still having fun- this whole fic has been crazy fun to write. I am getting back to my roots.
Also, I decided to set this story in modern day instead of the 2000s because I didn't even know how to read at the time Phantom Stallion came out. You think I remembered anything about the culture at the time? Nah.
I can't remember if Sam taking care of Witch while Jake is in college is a canon thing, or from somebody else's fic, so sorry if I stole your plotline whoops.
Family dinner was awkward. At least it was just the family- Sam, Wyatt, Brynna, Gram, and two-year-old Cody. For a long time, the ranch hands had been involved in family dinner as well, but Pepper had recently started a food-themed YouTube channel ("Just Add Pepper") and now he cooked for Ross and Dallas in the bunkhouse. Sam had eaten his food once and been sick for a week, but the guys seemed to enjoy it.
Wyatt and Brynna must have talked while Sam was outside, and they must have filled Gram in on it too, because no one was talking about It. Actually, no one was talking, period, aside from Cody's "buh-buh-buh" and banging his spoon on the table. When it suited him, he could produce words and even sentences, but most of the time, he preferred unintelligible syllables. Sam called him her little beatboxer.
Brynna cleared her throat somewhat awkwardly. "Sam, can you pass the p-"
"Potatoes?" Sam finished for her, handing her the heaping bowl with a little too much enthusiasm. Even Wyatt cringed.
Brynna still managed a perfectly polite "thank you", because she was Brynna Freaking Forster and if the actual emergency hadn't been enough to make her lose her cool, then neither was a tiny bit of spilled potatoes. Sam apologized right away, and Brynna grabbed her napkin, and dinner went on as usual.
"Buh-buh-buh-buh…"
Sam just picked at her chicken. Even though she'd completely skipped lunch, she wasn't at all hungry, but she didn't want to make a big scene when the overall feeling at the dinner table was already so tense. When people said they could cut the tension with a knife, this was exactly what they were talking about.
It was almost a relief when Wyatt slammed his silverware onto the table. "I can't believe you brought that horse here."
Sam couldn't either. She didn't exactly regret it, but the whole thing was such a tangled mess it made her chest hurt to think about it. She'd gone against every Phantom-related instinct she had, and despite what everyone else seemed to think, it hadn't been an easy choice for her to make.
"The alternative was to let him die," Sam pointed out, fighting to keep her voice steady. "Brynna, tell him."
"I've already told him," Brynna replied in a perfectly neutral tone. She was really good at that. "It's just a lot to process. For all of us."
Sam included. "It's not like I planned this," she huffed. If it had been up to her, she never would have had to choose between the Phantom's life and freedom, and even if she had, she never would have scheduled it when she already had so much on her plate.
"No, we know you didn't," Gram assured her, although her words came out a little strained, like she might have preferred to be scolding her granddaughter. If that was the case, she would have to get in line. "We're just a little worried about your time management."
Sam grimaced. Even she was aware that time management was not her best thing, but she tried to approach the thinly-veiled accusation rationally, which was not her best thing either. "Well, I won't keep Windy forever, and Witch is going home ASAP. Tempest is still too little to start, so I'll just have three to do groundwork with and keep up with riding Ace!"
Her family looked at her dubiously.
"I can do it!" Sam insisted. She would never admit it, but it did hurt her feelings that they were all so quick to believe she couldn't. "It's not even that different from what I've already been doing! And I've handled that, haven't I?"
Wyatt just shook his head. "When I was…oh, never mind. Do you have a plan for paying his vet bills? And adoption fee?"
He actually took a fairly even tone, but Sam's hackles still raised and she felt like she had to go on the defensive. "I have my savings! And my job at the BLM!"
Her solutions did not impress the table. "Sam, you make ten-twenty-five per hour," Gram pointed out.
"I'll figure it out!" Sam insisted, although her stomach flip-flopped at the prospect of attempting such a feat. "Brynna said it could be my birthday present!"
That was not exactly what she said, but it slipped out of Sam's mouth before she could think better of it.
Wyatt turned his accusing glare toward his wife. "Did you say that? Do you know much we usually spend on her birthday?"
"It can be her Christmas present, too!" Brynna said reasonably. Oh, thank god. Someone was on her side. "There are grants we can apply for that'll help too. We'll figure it out."
Oh, right. When Sam said she'd "figure it out", everyone looked at her like she'd suggested turning Ace into meatballs, but it was perfectly logical when Brynna said it. Life really wasn't fair.
As if determined to prove she had this family wrapped around her finger, Brynna told them all what to do a second time. "Let's talk about something else and enjoy this meal. I heard from Maxine that Jake will be back tomorrow."
For some reason, Sam wasn't sure why, the mention of Jake made her tense up. Of course, it had already been a fairly tense day, so maybe it was nothing.
"Do you talk to Jake very much, Sam?"
Sam gritted her teeth. "No, not really. Just once in a while."
She was pretty sure the last time she had spoken to Jake was when he came home for Christmas. It wasn't that she didn't miss him or he didn't miss her. It just felt impossible to connect over the phone or email- Sam had considered writing him a letter once, but brushed it off as too childish.
"You don't send him pictures of the horses? On ChatSnap?" Gram asked innocently.
Sam groaned. It had been a rough day and she absolutely did not have the energy to explain SnapChat to her grandmother. "No, Gram, we don't do that. I'll talk to Jake when he gets back, alright?"
"Is he going to be working here this summer?"
"I don't know; I haven't been talking to him!"
"Well, maybe you should ask him!" Brynna prodded.
"I am not going to ask him anything after not hearing from him in six months!" Sam burst out. She shoved her chair away from the dinner table abruptly. "I'm going to the barn."
Good thing she hadn't been hungry anyway.
Ten minutes later, Sam felt substantially better, flying across the desert on Witch. Her other option, Ace, had looked positively desolate when she rode by, but Sam had promised to take him out next time. This was her last chance to ride Witch- at least, she hoped it was.
When Witch was running full out and the sound of hoofbeats roared in Sam's ears, it was impossible to think of the Phantom or time management or if she'd made the right choice this morning. She could leave all that behind- albeit temporarily- while they streaked across the countryside, churning up the ground beneath them, right as the sun began to set.
Unfortunately, it was not quite impossible to think of Jake. Everything about Witch reminded Sam of him. Even though the black mare and her owner had nothing in common personality-wise, they were irrevocably connected in Sam's mind. She couldn't look at Witch without thinking of Jake, a thought that made her grip the reins with a little more force than necessary.
She didn't know why it bothered her so much that her family had brought up Jake at dinner, or that they'd all assumed the two would have kept in contact. Seriously, did they know Jake at all? Or worse, had he been regularly texting everyone except her? Sam pictured Jake on FaceTime with her dad and it irritated her so much she spurred Witch into a higher gear.
Witch obliged willingly, even though she couldn't possible have much more speed left in her. Sam leaned forward in the saddle, keeping her body position low to avoid any unnecessary air resistance. This wasn't a race; there was no opponent besides their own lengthening shadows, but there was something so freeing about going as fast as you possibly could. Sam had only discovered that with Witch, and only after much trial and error. It had taken a lot of guts to let Witch go the first time, and the second time, but by their last ride, Sam trusted Witch almost as much as she trusted Ace.
Almost.
A jackrabbit burst out in front of them, causing Witch to spook. Sam grabbed the saddle horn to steady herself while her mount snorted at the spot where the rabbit had been. "You're an idiot," Sam told her, although she stroked the mare's neck kindly. They were both a little shaky, coming down from the adrenaline rush.
Witch flicked one ear back. After so many months, she was used to it, but she had initially not vibed at all with Sam's habit of talking to horses like they were human. She'd been so used to quiet Jake, who said exactly what needed to be said and nothing more.
"We should probably head home," Sam murmured, taking the reins in both hands again. She was suddenly and keenly aware of how close it was to dark, and what Dr. Scott had said about riding alone with whatever had attacked the Phantom still on the loose. She'd been so frustrated when she first rode out that she hadn't even thought of it, but it was starting to sound really important. "Actually, let's go home really fast."
By all logic, Witch should have been tired, but she didn't protest when Sam spurred her on again. If anything, she ran faster the second time.
Sam thanked God for summer sunsets. It still wasn't fully dark when she got back to River Bend with Witch, even though they'd spent an extra twenty minutes walking up and down the driveway, waiting for the sweat on Witch's shoulders to dry. Equal parts relieved to be alive and relieved no one was waiting on the porch to scold her, Sam led Witch into the barn. "Well, chica, that's it for us, our last ride. You're that other guy's problem now."
Witch snorted. Sam's dad liked to tell her that horses couldn't understand English, but Witch had made it very clear over the past few months that she did not appreciate being referred to as "chica".
By the time Sam had Witch untacked and turned out, the sun had pretty well set, but the Phantom's silvery coat seemed to glow in the moonlight. Sam hovered outside the round pen, uncertain if she should try to greet him or not. Ever since he'd gone wild nearly six years ago, they'd connected better under the cover of darkness, but maybe that didn't matter, anyway. The Phantom wasn't wild anymore, but he wasn't tame, either. The way he walked that line made him dangerous, and he proved that point by rearing and spinning to turn away from Sam.
"This is why you can't have pain meds," Sam told him, trying to act like she wasn't hurt by his rejection. "You'd probably kill yourself."
The Phantom refused to look at her, but the swish of his tail indicated she was probably right.
Sam's alarm went off way too early the next morning. Normally, she didn't set an alarm on the days she didn't work, but she knew this day wasn't exactly going to be normal. Brynna had made that more than clear the night before.
Step one: haul yourself out of bed. Step two: the barn. Sam felt like she didn't even wake up until she was halfway down the barn aisle and all the horses were clamoring for feed. "I'm doing my best!" Sam informed them, hurrying to the feed room and pouring grain into buckets once again.
She fed the stalled horses, then ventured back outside to the Phantom and Windy. The stallion and the gelding were staring each other down from their respective round pens, and Sam was pretty sure neither of them had touched their hay overnight. "Really? You guys need to grow up."
Not surprisingly, neither of the horses responded. Sam slid a pan of feed into each pen; it didn't matter who got which. The meals were identical- oats, sweet feed, and powdered antibiotics on top. The Phantom needed medicine because he (obviously) had lost a fight to a pack of wolves or whatever, and Windy needed it to keep his castration incision from getting infected. Talk about a horse you didn't want to try cleaning a wound on.
"Bon appetit," said Sam. She took a couple steps back to encourage the skittish horses to approach but kept watching for a few minutes. Once again, Windy was bribable. He lowered his head almost immediately and started nibbling at the grain. The Phantom was less sure. He snorted loudly, letting everyone know his feelings on the matter, and cautiously sniffed the feed pan.
"Don't think about it too hard," Sam said dryly. "In case you've forgotten, you used to eat from a bucket regularly."
That had been such a long time ago. Sam still couldn't believe he was back, and he would probably be back forever. It just seemed so wrong to see the Phantom fenced in, even though she fully understood why. Did she love him too much to put him through this? Or was this the second beginning of their once-beautiful partnership?
"I hope you can be happy here, Zanzibar," Sam murmured. "That's all I ask."
He didn't look at her or acknowledge the secret name, but he did take a bite of his grain. To Sam, that counted for something.
She headed back to the barn somewhat reluctantly. She could have watched her horses all day, but unfortunately, she had responsibilities, and she could already hear one of them kicking at her stall.
"I'M NOT TURNING YOU OUT!" Sam yelled. When she'd first brought Witch to River Bend, she had attempted to integrate the mare into the herd, but Witch had gone sicko mode and beat up all the other horses. Thus, the solitary confinement. Sam would be grateful when Witch went home and she would have one less stall to clean every day.
Halfway through the third stall, Sam heard her stepmother's voice from outside. "Sam! Let's go!"
"Already?!" Sam shrieked. She left the pitchfork in the half-cleaned stall and hurried out to meet Brynna. So much for having all her chores done before they left.
Sam was out of breath and basically infused with the scent of horse manure when she met Brynna by the Jeep. "Just so you know, I have not had breakfast yet. Or brushed my teeth."
Brynna slapped a Pop-Tart into her hand. "I brought you food. I guess I'll just have to deal with the smell."
"S'mores. My favorite."
The drive to Willow Springs was quiet. Even the crinkling of the foil packet felt like too much noise. Sam knew it was because they were supposed to be talking about What Was Going To Happen but neither of them wanted to. Brynna had already gone through it with her last night anyway.
Sam nibbled her Pop-Tart slowly for two reasons. One, so it would feel like a more substantial breakfast, and two, so she'd have an excuse not to chit-chat. She took her last bite right as Brynna was parking the car. She was saved from further conversation by Brynna's cell phone ringing at that very moment.
"I have to take this," Brynna mumbled, pressing the phone to her ear and power-walking into the office. Sam followed behind her and was immediately assaulted by her two favorite coworkers.
"SAM!" Tasha yelled, throwing her arms around her. "YOU'RE BACK!"
"Easy!" Sam sputtered, gently pushing the hug away. "It's been less than twenty-four hours since you saw me!"
"Yeah, but it was like the most dramatic twenty-four hours of our lives!" Kay-Lynn retorted. She'd been hanging back just a few feet. "First of all, we were left in charge of the office, and you know that's not good. Second, Boomer wouldn't tell us anything, so we have no idea what's going on."
"Boomer was your main source of information? That's your problem right there," Sam joked, but she followed it up with a deep sigh. "It's kind of a long story."
"Is the horse okay, at least?" Kay-Lynn asked.
Sam winced. "The horse is…not great. He's at my house and I'm adopting him."
Both Tasha and Kay-Lynn started freaking out. "That is so great!" Tasha cried. It was not great, but Tasha didn't know any better.
"It's like…Romeo and Juliet, but with a horse," Kay-Lynn said dreamily, and she didn't know the half of it.
Tasha swatted her on the arm. "Why do you always go straight to the one where they die at the end? Sam, do you have any pictures?"
After a moment of deliberation, Sam shook her head 'no'.
"Well, then please provide us with a detailed verbal description, starting now."
"Um…" Sam paused, not sure how deep she should jump into this story. Eventually, she realized she had the perfect angle right in front of her. "Have you ever heard the legend of the Phantom?"
Tasha gasped. Kay-Lynn covered her mouth. "You're kidding."
"I'm not kidding," Sam promised, and for the first time, she let herself feel a little bit excited about the Phantom's return. It would always be a little bittersweet, but there was something magical about getting her childhood horse back, too. "Magnificent white stallion acquired. But he's not in super great shape."
"Well, yeah," said Tasha. "I didn't figure they called the vet on him because he was just so fit and healthy."
Kay-Lynn elbowed her. "Can't you just listen to the story?"
Sam cleared her throat. "Well, okay, the complicated part is-"
She didn't get to tell them the complicated part. Brynna's office door swung open, and that dried up conversation quite effectively. The fearsome Brynna Olsen-Forster brought with her a grim expression and a stack of paperwork. "I have good news."
Her face did not look like she had good news. Sam tried to be optimistic anyway. "What's your good news?"
"Since it can't be photographically proven the Phantom is your runaway childhood horse from five years ago, there are substantially fewer hoops to jump through." Brynna mimed throwing confetti.
"WHAT?" Kay-Lynn and Tasha both gasped.
Sam shook her head. "Later, later. That is good news, Brynna."
It was really the best option any of them could think of- Sam and Brynna both had too strong a sense of justice to not tell the BLM about the Phantom's origins, but it also made sense that the BLM didn't believe them. The Phantom looked nothing like the pictures of two-year-old Blackie, he was unbranded, and he had no helpful identifying markings, so the only thing that could count as "proof" was his connection with Sam. It was unlikely that would hold up in court.
"We can basically just proceed like a normal adoption," said Brynna. She slapped the stack of paperwork on the desk. "Get ready to sign your name a million times."
Sam did as she was told while Brynna read the terms and conditions out loud. Tasha and Kay-Lynn just looked on curiously.
"Congratulations on your new friend," said Brynna, when Sam had signed everything including the check.
Sam managed a "yay".
Brynna checked her watch. "I'd better get some actual work done. Sam, your grandma will pick you up around lunchtime. Stay out of trouble until then, alright?"
"When have I ever gotten into trouble?" Sam protested, and Brynna didn't even dignify that with an answer.
"You're about to be in trouble with me," said Kay-Lynn once Brynna's door shut. "What do you mean, the Phantom is your childhood horse?"
"That," Sam said sternly. "Is a secret."
Tasha pointed an accusing finger at her. "I told you the DILF thing! You can absolutely tell us about this."
"First of all, I asked you not to tell me that," Sam reminded her, but eventually, she realized she had a better chance of keeping them quiet if they understood the gravity of the situation. She told them the whole story, starting with knock-kneed baby Blackie and ending with the scar on the back of her head.
"Wow," said Tasha, as Sam flipped her hair back to its normal part. "That's wild. Someone could write, like, twenty-five books about that."
"Twenty-four," Kay-Lynn corrected.
"You guys are weird," said Sam. "This kind of stuff happens to people all the time."
Her friends didn't look like they believed her. Tasha reached over and patted her hand gently. "We'll let you off because of the head injury."
"Thanks?" Sam tried. But she had to admit, they had made her feel better.
By the time Gram (with Cody in tow) arrived to pick her up, Sam had gotten pretty damn antsy. Being at work on a day she wasn't supposed to be was weird and also boring. Despite the major kerfuffle the day before, there was basically nothing to do. After talking about said kerfuffle for like an hour, Tasha went back to her working on her selfie PowerPoint and Kay-Lynn started alphabetizing things.
Needless to say, Sam basically threw herself into Gram's ancient and impractical Buick at the earliest opportunity. Gram somehow managed to look alarmed without looking surprised. "Did everything go alright, Sam?"
Sam nodded. "Yeah, it was fine. I think. He didn't break anything while I was gone, did he?"
"The horse, you mean?"
"Who else would I mean?"
"Well, Cody did break a tooth."
"WHAT?" Sam turned around and looked at her baby brother in his car seat. "Cody, smile!"
Cody was not exactly what one might call "an obedient child", but he did love his big sister, so he flashed her a grin. Sam saw what Gram was talking about. "Aww, that's just a chip. What'd he do, eat rocks or something?"
Cody clapped his hands at her implication, as if he thought that was a very good idea indeed. Gram shook her head. "He ran into the car before we came to get you."
"Oh." Sam flinched. She had once been a clumsy toddler too, and she knew from experience those old cars weren't very forgiving. "Ouch."
"The horse has been fine, though. Moody as a snake at a square dance, but fine." Gram's face tensed as she guided the car through a particularly-steep section of the mountain pass. Sam wondered for at least the hundredth time why they had put wild horse holding pens in such a terrible spot. She would rather kiss a coyote straight on the lips than try to maneuver a horse trailer up there. "Your little one, though. He's made quite a fuss."
Sam groaned. "That sounds like Windy."
Despite being all of thirteen hands, Windy possessed an attitude typically only found in hot-blooded Thoroughbred stallions or chestnut pony mares. Sam was grateful the program she'd signed up for didn't include any saddle training.
"You should check on him when we get home. And maybe see about halter breaking him, too."
"He's only been here a few days, Gram! I don't want to rush him!"
"Land sakes, Samantha- which one of us knows more about horses, me or you?"
Sam winced. Sometimes she forgot that, despite being more interested in the domestic arts these days, her grandmother had basically grown up on horseback.
"That horse is scared and all alone right now," Gram continued. "And it's not going to get better until he makes a friend here. By my count, he still has twenty-four days of quarantine left, so it's going to have to be you, isn't it?"
"That sounds right," Sam agreed cautiously. All the words made sense, but she did not like the tone her grandmother was taking with her. "I'll go out to the barn as soon as we get home, I promise!"
Gram nodded affirmatively. "Yes you will. And you will get a halter rope on that horse!"
That, Sam was not willing to promise. She liked to think she was pretty good with horses, but Windy had every reason to be terrified of humans. It was going to take more than a day's work to get him over that.
She went straight to his paddock when they got home. Not surprisingly, Windy shied away from her approach, but then he tossed his head and trotted back in her direction. It was more likely an attempt to challenge the Phantom than a gesture of friendship, but Sam was still pleased. "I'll be right back," she promised as she headed into the barn. "I think you might like me better with a bucket of grain, anyway."
She never made it to the feed room. She stopped in her tracks as soon as she opened the barn door, staring at the black horse tied in the alley and more importantly, the person heaving a saddle onto her back. Sam reminded herself to breathe.
"Jake."