Chapter 2

It was moday morning and time to get ready for school.
Willow pulled her hair into a neat pony tail and put on some lip-gloss.
She stepped into the muggy air and took a deap breath.
She slumped her bag onto her shoulder and took the drive-way to the bus stop.
The school bus pulled up a few minutes later and she hopped on.
"Hey Willow!" Kendala Livesay called from the back of the bus.
"Hey Ken." Willow moved to sit by her dark skinned friend.
"You wouldn't believe what happened to me last night." WIllow said.
"Did you get attacked by the goober monstar?" Kendala laughed.
"No! I saw a wild mare. She was protecting her still born."
"Are you serious?" Kendala exclaimed.
"Yeah, I tried to get near her, but she was protecting her foal, so I wasnt about to challenge her." Willow explained.
"Did you name her?" Kendala chuckled, Willow was always naming things that werent hers.
"I was thinking Sade. She was a cream mustang."
"Pretty." Kendala agreed.
Just then the cutest guy in highschool-in the world according to Kendala and Willow- walked past.
Their hearts stopped cold.
Brad Miller was a trainer for some of the olympic horses. He had helped so many problem horses with broken pasts. Everyone admired him.
It also helped that he was absolutely gorgeous. He had strawberry blonde hair, light skin, and handsome blue eyes, which had light freckles just underneath them. He was just under 6 foot and muscular.
"Hey Willow." His blue eyes lit up as he smiled.
Willow was blown away. She managed to stutter out,
"Hi, Brad." and squeeze up a smile.
He gestured towards Kendala and smiled, then walked on to his seat.
"Oh my gosh he noticed me!" Kendala whispered.
"I know! He talked to me!" Willow grabbed Kendala's hands and squealed quitely.


The big white stallion felt a wind coming from the south.
He sniffed the ground and got some dirt on the tip of his lips, then stuck his lip into the air to smell the wet dirt.
It had a hint of old wolf smell on it.
He snorted softly and lifted his head.
The other mares and their foals were close by.
Scattered across the green turf were close to thirty mares and a few were accompanied by small newborns, and the rest had two year olds.
Two fillies-a dappled gray and a red roan appaloosa- were trotting around, chasing each other.
The white stallion was watching them as they played wrecklessly.
Then, the dappled gray one went over to her mother and nursed for a little while. She stretched and bent her front knees to lay down. Then she rolled in the late afternoon sun and whinnied softly.
The red roan filly went to her mother to nurse also.
The white stallion was watching his herd, cropping grass and scenting the air meanwhile.


"Hey salt and pepper!" said Aspen Lanes, tall, pale skin, green eyes and red hair, aged 16. She was wearing a jean mini skirt with pink fuzz around the bottom and pink flouncy blouse, topping it off with patent leather pink pumps.
"Aspen, what do you want now?" Willow said arriving at Aspens front.
"I just wondered why you were wearing those ugly boots." Aspen bumped past them.
"Some times I wish I had a dagger handy." Kendala gripped her books.
Willow just sighed.
"Look!" Willow and Kendala were caught by what they saw.
Aspen was flirting with Brad, and he was flirting back.
"I guess I'm not going to be hanging out with him any time soon." Willow looked at her books.
Aspen turned around and started their way.
"Nope, guess you won't!" Aspen chuckled as she walked away.
"It's ok." Kendala said to Willow.


Suddenly the white stallion smelled a familier smell.
The cream mare that had been lost in the accident the previous night was clattering towards them.
She squealed and slid to a stop infront of the herd of horses.
The white stallion snorted softly and walked over to her. They exchanged breaths and she was welcomed.
The mustangs grazed contently along side a stream, glimmering in the noonday sun.
But the stallion still had something bothering him. It wasnt the smell of wolves, but they were nearing some other sort of threat, or so he thought.


Lunch break could see the caboose nearing, and Willow hated that, maybe even more than she hated the tasteless, stale food they served for lunch.
Willow chatted with friends just as the bell rang.
She rose to her feet and waltzed to her locker to grab her books to go to Willows favorite class, math class. Only because Brad Miller sat right infront of her.
She slammed the locker and moved through the crowd to get to class.
Right on time.
Kendala sat adjacent to her. They had decided before that they had picked the best seat in the whole entire school.
"Lets begin! Turn your books to page 43, begin reading at the second paragraph." Mrs. Williamson called from her desk.
She was medium build, blonde hair, about 5'6. Very pretty brown eyes.
Mrs.Williamson perched on the corner of her desk, reading aloud the portion of stale reading material.
Just then, the desk started to move backwards, and right out from underneath the teacher, leaving her to plop to the floor.
Willow kept her smile under-wraps, until Brad turned his head around to Willow and grinned.
Willows face couldnt help but get red and her eyes dart around.
Mrs.Williamson got to her feet and chuckled, but everyone could tell she was quite embarressed.



                                                                                   ***
Willow was waiting for the bus to arrive when none other than Brad Miller came casually walking towards Willow.
The hair on the back of her neck went stiff and she suddenly felt nervous.
"Hey Willow." He said easily.
Why do you always have to be so...so comfortable! Her mouth wanted to say.
"Hi Brad." She offered instead. Willow thought covered her nervousness pretty well considering.
"Whats up?" He asked leaning up against the other side of the phone pole Willow was leaning on.
"Just waiting here for the bus." Willow felt her throat tighten.
"I like to watch clouds." Brad said gazing to the blue sky, generously planted with white fluffs of clouds.
Willow smiled, but he didnt see.
"I felt bad for laughing when Mrs.Williamson fell earlier today, but I had to admit, it was kinda funny." Brad squeezed up a melencholy smile.
"Yeah." Willow let a pleasant smile swipe her face.
Just then the bus pulled up and Willow got on. Brad stayed. He usually went on the bus, but she had heard that his pickup was in for servicing, and his friend was going to drive him to the shop to pick it up.
"Bye Willow."
"See ya." Willow gave a wanly smile and disapeared into the bus.
The yellow school bus pulled away from the curb after six more kids after her got on.
Brad waved goodbye.
Just as the bus cleared the corner, he went back inside to hangout with some of his friends.



The white stallion was collecting his herd, getting them closer together. It looked like another storm was on the horizon.
He lifted his muzzle into the air and took a deep breath of the thick air.
A scent of another herd came breifly across his nose, then was whisked away.
He nickered and began to lead his herd away from the scent.
He saw over the hill was a big black stallion and his herd. He moved gorgeously. Swift, sweeping across the grassy valley. He circled his herd, with a few mares that were all either in foal or had been recently.
His muscles were moving in sync with the entire scenery. His head held perfectly high, picking his feet up graciously, turning on a dime to keep a yearling minding his own business.
A buckskin mare chased after her foal, which stumbled into the path of the black stallion.
He pinned his ears and squealed angrily.
The foal backed off promptly and cantered away at a fierce speed.
The white stallion returned to his herd and moved them away from the black mustang at the bottom of the hill.

Willow arrived home at the end of their lane and stepped off the bus.
She saw a spec of colors over a hill to the right.
A white stallion was bossing his herd. He spotted her and chased them off at an easy trot.
Willow dropped her eyes to the ground, slapping on her backpack and moving slowly down their drive.
Then she saw him again. The stallion across the way, stood fast at the top of the hill. Looking down at her. Almost peering into her soul.
A shiver snaked down her spine. Their eyes met. They locked together. Then the stallion reared into the air and almost froze their for a minute. Then he sped off to his herd.
Willow reached her home and climbed to her room. She slipped on a pair of mud boots and an old T-shirt and stepped outside.
Willow stood still. Gazing at the old remains of a barn that was now dead. It used to be full of life and whinnies.
Now all it had were old, dead haunting nightmares.
Willow turned to the feild behind her and recalled riding a big grey mare over the grassy turf.
That had been 3 years now since the barn fire that took the lives of all the horses. And of much more than just the horses.
Willow walked slowly, splashing through the puddles of standing water.
Suddenly she saw the stallion again. She was only about a quarter of a mile again, so she started moving toward him.
She reached the top of the hill and saw about 15 mares and their foals, some yearling stallions and a few others.
"Wow!" Willow whispered.
The stallion was closer than ever. Their eyes connected. Willows heart jumped out her throat when she saw a mare that looked exactly like Gracie, her old mare.
"Hi there 'ole boy." Willow whispered as she got a few yards away.
The stallion nickered and shifted his weight backwards.
Willow looked at the ground and bent down, so she could look less harmfull.
"Shhh, its alright, I'm not here to hurt you. I just wanna look at those wounds of yours. Must of been some fight, eh?" He snorted warily and Willow could see each muscle in his body tense, without wavering or flicking.
The stallion lifted his nose into the air and sniffed. Something caught him by suprise because he whirled around and whinnied.
Willow stood up and looked around frantically. The early evening air felt different, and goose bumps were apearing on her arms. Willow caught a shudder as she saw a figure move from bush to bush.
"W-whos there?" Willow stuttered out.
The white stallion grunted and caught Willows attention.
Just then, a grey, yellow eyed wolf appeared from the bushed.
Willow gasped, and started moving slowly backwards.
The stallion pawed the ground and then reared up, letting out a warning sound.
The wolves backed off for a minute, then came close to Willow. They started circling her. She followed their eyes.
They grunted and growled, sending Willow into a fear sent shock.
The stallion leapt in front of Willow just as one of the wolves snapped the air.
Willow scream just as the stallion reared and pawed the air coming down just infront of them, actually clipping the feet of one. It was obvious the wolves were frightened as they ran off in the opposite direction.
Willow turned to the stallion and whispered, "Thank you."
She turned around to see the other horses galloping in the other direction. She was about to turn around to the stallion when he came beside her and reared into the air, let out a big squeal and galloped off at a tremendous speed.
"Wow! Your perfectly gorgeous! You move like...like a ghost!" Willow stood amazed for a moment, then said, "Thats your new name, Ghost."