Chapter 4

Although Maggie hadn’t had much experience with horses before she came to live with Bob and Nora, she’d ridden Leonard a number of times by now. Both Maggie and Leonard enjoyed their outings together, so she was looking forward to riding him to the waterfall. The journey wasn’t long, and it took them only a few minutes to reach the falls.

Leonard nickered when he saw the splashing water and trotted to the pool beneath the falls without any direction from Maggie. The horse was drinking when Maggie slid off his back. A head popped out of the water a moment later, and her friend Lily, the water nymph, waved to her. ‘How are you today?’ called Lily.

‘Great!’ Maggie called back, walking to the edge of the pool. ‘Leonard offered to take me for a ride and wanted to come here.’

The horse raised his head and water dribbled from his lips. ‘The water in your pool is delicious,’ he said. ‘Very clean and fresh.’

‘Have I ever told you that Leonard is a talking horse?’ Maggie asked Lily.

‘How fascinating!’ cried Lily. ‘I didn’t know that such creatures existed.’

‘Huh,’ said Leonard. ‘A lot of people don’t believe that water nymphs exist. I think a talking horse makes a lot more sense than a girl who lives with fish.’

Noticing the annoyed look on Lily’s face, Maggie tried to change the subject. ‘Have you seen the palomino unicorn lately? When we let him go near here, I thought he might stay around.’

‘He did!’ said Lily. ‘I see him every day. He’s become very friendly. Yesterday he came right up to me and let me scratch his neck.’

‘Well, look what we have here!’ someone said from deeper in the forest.

As soon as Lily heard the voice, she sank into the water and peeked out from among the waterlilies.

Maggie knew that voice. It was her stepbrother Peter. When she finally spotted him, he was carrying a long stick and whacking the undergrowth as he walked.

‘Hello, Peter,’ Maggie said.

‘Couldn’t you be a little more enthusiastic?’ asked Peter. ‘After all, I am your brother.’

‘Stepbrother,’ said Maggie. ‘Why do you keep coming here? You’re awfully far from home.’

‘I came to see you, dear sister. Mother wants to know that you’re all right.’

‘That’s hard to believe,’ said Maggie. ‘She’s the one who kicked me out of my own cottage.’

‘You only got what you deserved,’ Peter began. ‘You’re a worthless …’

‘It’s time to go,’ Leonard told Maggie. ‘There’s something about this place that I find really annoying.’

The horse walked to Maggie and bent down, making it easy for her to climb on his back. They were passing Peter when the boy whacked Leonard hard with his stick.

Leonard wheeled around and his back feet shot out, kicking Peter into the pool. The boy landed in the water with a huge splash. He spluttered and stood up, looking furious.

‘I know you don’t know much about horses, Peter, so here’s an important tip,’ said Maggie. ‘Never hit a horse with a stick like that. They don’t like it one bit.’

Leonard nickered with laughter when he saw the expression on Peter’s face. This only seemed to make Peter angrier as he waded out of the water and stomped away.

‘That’s one way to make him leave,’ said Lily.

‘It definitely worked,’ said Maggie. ‘But I really do want to know what he was doing here.’