A Hundred Horses by Sarah Lean

remembered the tin girl again. I shook the suitcase, burrowed in the corners, felt behind the lining. She wasn’t there. And I looked again because I didn’t want to believe that she wasn’t. Because what was bothering me, what was making me put my hands on my head and close my eyes, was thinking that my dad had taken her. And that meant I’d never get her back.

Twenty-Six
    “I must be going mad,” said Aunt Liv. “The cart was behind the greenhouse after all.”
    We all made Easter cookies with yellow marshmallows stuck on top to make them look like fried eggs. Me, Alfie, and Gem were going to take them and trays of duck eggs in the cart up to the village to sell, but I was hoping we could hurry up and sell everything so I could go back to Rita’s, back to the carousel. We raced down the path, and I could hear Aunt Liv calling me, saying Mom was on the phone. I yelled to tell her I’d phone her later.
    We parked the cart on the village green. Gem still had sticky hands, but passersby bought the cookies from her and Alfie anyway. I stayed behind the cart and gave out change.
    Mrs. Barker was one of our customers.
    “It was you,” she said as I gave her some change. “You’re the one who told me you saw my goat up by the oaks.”
    I had forgotten all about the goat! I had lied to Mrs. Barker because Angel had said that if I helped her, she would give me my suitcase. And then she hadn’t let me take the goat back afterward.
    I nodded to Mrs. Barker and took my hand away quickly.
    “I thought so. Dorothy wasn’t up by the oaks; she was in my garden this morning, tied up where I left her. Did you find her and bring her back?”
    I didn’t want her to find out I’d lied, and that made me say too much.
    “Maybe she found her own way home,” I said. “Animals do that, don’t they? I mean, she’s not the only animal I’ve seen running around on the loose.”
    Mrs. Barker’s head twitched. I knew she could see right through me. A goat wouldn’t be able to tie herself back up again! Which made me talk even more.
    “She probably just got fed up and wanted to go home. I know what that’s like because I’m away from home. And sometimes I just want to go back and sometimes I don’t. It depends.”
    And then I figured it out. Of course! Angel must have taken the goat back. And I was thinking I could just be quiet now, but Mrs. Barker said, “Other animals on the loose? What other animals?”
    What had I said? I was also talking about Belle. I suddenly remembered that Mrs. Barker was looking for Belle to take her back to Old Chambers’s farm. And Angel didn’t want Mrs. Barker to know she was here!
    “Was it a horse?” Mrs. Barker said, which made me knock the jar of coins over. They were spilling on the grass.
    “Where’s the horse now?” she said, even though I hadn’t said yes.
    “Nell?” said Alfie. “What about that girl on the horse the other day? The one down our lane.”
    “A girl?” Mrs. Barker said.
    I sucked in a sharp breath and bent down to pick up the coins to try to think, but then my elbow nudged a tray of eggs, and they were about to fall. Gem caught them. I saw Alfie blush when I stood up again.
    “That’s what Nell said,” said Alfie, looking at the ground.
    He thought he was helping me! They were all looking at me now. Gem clutched my hand. I tried to tell Alfie and Gem with my eyes not to say anything more.
    “Which girl?” Mrs. Barker said.
    When nobody answered, Mrs. Barker nodded, saying, “It’s her, isn’t it? Angel Weston. She’s back.”
    “Mrs. Barker,” Gem said, pushing in front of me so Mrs. Barker had to step back. All our eyes switched to Gem. “You know the other day when your chickens got out and you lost your goat? Well, it might not be Angel doing it.”
    “Pardon?” Mrs. Barker said, taken aback.
    “Because you know that old fairy’s tail about the hundredth horse? Well, it might be here, and it might be setting the animals free