The Shade Riders and the Dreadful Ghosts

by Bxerk

  It was October. The air above the trees felt chilly, and Nova thought she could see her breath. The wind whipped by and billowed out her clothing and hair. She watched leaves blowing around on the ground and noticed some people had already put out Halloween decorations.

  She’d always thought that riding a flying horse would be exhilarating, like a dream. But Shade’s back was surging in strange ways as she flapped, and it was a long way to the ground. The constant sound of the wings beating gave her a small amount of comfort. The muscles around the wings where she had her legs wrapped around rubbed roughly behind her knees. Nova found she was hanging on to the saddle horn for dear life.

  They flew over buildings, farms, and telephone poles with no problems. Shade seemed to know what she was doing.

  Slowly, Nova got used to the way her horse was moving, and she found that, if she concentrated on Shade’s ears in the moonlight, she was less afraid of falling. It began to feel like fun. She thought of spurring Shade to go faster, but she didn’t think Shade was ready.

  Presently, Nova looked at her watch. She had been up in the sky for two hours. It was time to get off before they crashed to the ground.

  By this time, Nova hated to stop. It was too much fun. But she pressed down on the top of Shade's neck to see if she would go down and land. At first Shade pushed her head and neck up so she wouldn’t have to go down. “I know you love to fly, but we need to go down before you fall.” Nova became persistent and continued to press down. Shade began to glide down. Just before her hooves touched the ground, Nova stopped applying pressure, and she surged back into the sky.

  Finally, Nova held the pressure on her neck until Shade obeyed and landed in a neighbor’s cornfield. Nova breathed a sigh of relief and gave her horse a big hug. Then she began walking her back home. Shade grew smaller as they ambled. When they got back to the barn, Nova took the saddle and bridle off and put them into the tack room. Then she brushed her horse down and gave her grain. She was going to let Shade loose to go to the other horses when something cold poked her in the back. It was a handgun.

  "Give me your horse, man," a lady said.

  The first thing Nova thought was, couldn’t anyone see she was a female? Nova slowly turned around. One of Takeesha’s street friends was holding the small handgun. Takeesha was standing behind her smiling. Nova didn't know what to say, or do, so she looked at her horse and thought about the memories she had with Shade. Then she looked at the gun-carrying street woman. The street lady froze. Simply stopped moving, didn’t even blink. Takeesha ran up to her friend and waved a hand in front of her friend’s open eyes. Takeesha even stomped on her friend’s foot.

  "Dang! What have you done?" Takeesha yelled.

  "I don't know, looks like I froze her." Nova stared as she padded around the street woman.

  "Unfreeze her, now."

  Nova folded her arms in front of her chest. “Why? So the two of you can steal my horse?”

  "We can't just leave her here." Takeesha pleaded, wringing her hands.

  Nova pushed a button on her watch and brought it up to her lips. "Leandra come in; I froze a street lady, who was trying to take Shade by gunpoint."

  "Where are you?"

  "Home. Outside, just beyond the barn."

  "I'll be right there."

  Suddenly there was a bright green light, and Leandra appeared with three other people. She ran over to Nova and looked over the street woman.

  "You did this, Nova?"

  "Yeah. Is she going to be all right?"

  "Oh, yeah, she'll be fine. It's just I underestimated your powers.”

  At that, Leandra motioned for one of the three others to

  come over. As he lumbered out of the shadow of the barn, it was clear he was a Neanderthal. Big, shaggy and hulking, with a sloping brow. But his eyes were oddly gentle. He threw the frozen lady over his shoulder and ambled back to the area where the flash of light happened. The green light flickered again, and they were gone.

  Nova saw circles in her eyes for a brief minute.

  "Leandra, may I talk to you in private?" Nova said, “and Takeesha don't go anywhere. I need to talk to you too."

  Takeesha kicked the ground."I can't leave anyway. You just made my ride disappear. I have to use your phone now to call my ma."

  Nova and Leandra lead Shade down to the catch pen gate.

  “Leandra, I don't know what to do with Takeesha. I thought she could keep a secret, but she obviously can't." Nova opened the gate and let Shade go.

  "The only thing for you to do is talk to her.” Leandra patted Shade on her rump to encourage her to go into the catch pen. “Maybe the problem is something you can work out.”

  "Are you sure I shouldn't freeze her too?” Nova said and laughed.

  "I suspect she will look up to you now and want to be a better friend."

  "Don't you mean you think she will fear me now?" Nova watched Shade roll in the dirt, get up and shake. She neighed, and ran to the other horses. “It’s not friendship if they are afraid.”

  "No, she'll still be your friend." Leandra put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

  “Ralf, your father, is going to try to get rid of the controlling ghost in his body using some calcium tablets Captain Palherd- he’s helping me, too- secretly gave him.”

  “I hope they work. Are we going to rescue him?”

  “Not yet. You’re not ready with the cart.”

  “The cart?”

  “Ask Benny.”

  “Um… all right. But as soon as we are, I say we go.”

  They strolled back up to where Takeesha was waiting.

  "Hello, Takeesha,” Nova said. “Long time no see.”

  Takeesha didn't say anything at first. She just watched her feet kick the driveway gravel. "Can I call my ma now?"

  "Okay, but first I want to talk to you about hanging around those gun-carrying street kids."

  "I'll leave you two to hash things out." With that Leandra strolled over to where the green light flashed, and she and the light were gone.

  "I guess if you blink you miss her," Nova said.

  "Yeah," Takeesha said, lighting up a bit.

  "Takeesha, look, you're either part of this group or you're not. I’m going to give you another chance to be my friend."

  "O…kay. Okay. What do you want me to do?" Takeesha was not able to meet Nova’s eyes.

  “The Shade Riders need your skills.” Nova put a hand on Takeesha’s left shoulder.

  “For starters, we need a person to sew the letters TSR on a T-shirt and sweatshirt for our group. Are you ready to become one of us now?”

  “I don’t know. The Hooligans- that’s what they call themselves- won’t let me leave their gang. They’ve threatened to kill me if I do, you know. I only wanted to be a part of a gang that would go after the gang that killed my father in Milwaukee, but they don’t want to tick them off. They said he was killed accidently. Now, I don’t want to be a part of that gang.”

  “Don’t worry, I’m sure we can think of something.” Nova put her arm around her shoulder, and they strode into the house to discuss it.

  Late the following afternoon, Benny and Max Kim came over, bringing a red, two-wheel horse cart that they recently purchased from an estate auction. Benny’s mom and her van with her four-wheeled trailer drove up the driveway and away.

  The two boys stayed behind and sawed off the left seat of the cart so that Benny’s wheelchair could be clamped on. Benny’s wheelchair wheels would be used for landing on that side, giving the cart a total of five wheels. Once landed, Benny could disengage his wheelchair from the cart and roam away to wherever the adventure was.

  Nova and Takeesha came out of the house and examined the blueprints-- they were designing it without the help of an engineer and wanted to make sure they hadn’t missed anything. The cart would have to go through many tests to see if it could withstand a beating, and it must not come apart.

  “How’s it going?” Nova said.

&n
bsp; “If this doesn’t work, its eight hundred bucks down the drain.” Benny threw a monkey wrench into the tool box making a clanging sound. Max Kim stopped sawing to wipe sweat from his brow and grinned up at the girls.

  Nova and Takeesha skip into the milk house with the yipping puppies for a bucket of some sweet, delicious feed. Then they strolled out the gate to the catch pen and shook the bucket for the horses to hear. Meanwhile, Nova whistled to get Shade to come. None of the horses appeared. Nova couldn’t understand that- they almost always come to the bucket.

  With Belle bounding along beside them, they skip back into the far pasture, keeping in the woody area next to the tractor trail. Nova glanced up the big grassy hill to her right. No horses in sight. Next, they came to some pastures on the left, but Belle didn’t show an interest.

  They kept shaking the bucket and once and a while whistling. Belle’s ears rotated around listening to every sound. Finally, the dog led them to the other side of the creek. As they hopped across the stepping stones, they heard the eager filly neigh and mumble as she trotted closer and munched on the handout. Takeesha and Nova laughed. “This is too easy,” Takeesha said. The young women grabbed Shade’s red halter and took her back to the house.

  As they meandered, Shade kept forcing the bucket of grain to the ground. Nova had a hard time keeping it up. Takeesha laughed at the silly horse.

  “How are you feeling, Takeesha?”

  “I’m pretty nervous. How are you doing?”

  “I’m not sure.” Nova gave a small grin. When they finally came to the barn, Shade had finished the grain. Nova put the bucket away.

  The girls kicked up gravel struggling with an eager Shade as they left the driveway and headed toward Barnacle Road. Nova played the scene with the gangsters in her head as they walked and hoped she wasn’t wrong with the plan. Soon they were at Leandra’s house. It was dark. They found the path and walk down it to make Shade fill out into a mare. Shade danced around and pulled and pushed with her head, stepped on Nova’s foot and pranced some more.

  “I think Shade can feel how nervous we are,” Nova said.

  Takeesha swallowed and nodded.

  The girls climbed on the prancing horse.

  “Are you ready to do this, Takeesha?”

  “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

  “Let’s do it, then.” Nova kicked Shade. “Woo hoo!”

  The horse galloped, sprouted her wings and flew into the cool air. Nova and Takeesha steered her toward the bad section of town. Nova pushed on Shade’s neck so she would go down a bit and hovered about a yard off the ground in shadows near some trees.

  Takeesha swung her leg over Shade’s behind and slid off.

  She snuck around a tree and a street light. Nova remembered Takeesha talking about their usual hiding place--hanging around under an overpass. Takeesha moved in that direction. Nova wanted to get a better view of what was happening, so she slipped her too short belt under Shade’s neck and pulled up to get her higher in the sky.

  She soon spotted Takeesha. The gang members came out to

  meet her and were clearly happy to see her back. The gang leader put his arm over her shoulders and told her something. Takeesha plodded over to the pile of sticks that were already gathered. She pulled out of her hip pack a green flammable drug so that they all could stand around and get high from breathing the fumes. This time though, it would be a drug that they didn’t expect. It was a drug that, as a shaman, Takeesha had built up immunity to - she used it to speak to the spirit world. It still affected her a little, but she needed a higher dose to go into a trance. The gang, who was not used to it, would be stoned almost instantly.

  The motley group of teenagers gathered around and sat crossed-legged in front of the fire. They leaned forward and breathed in the smoke from the drug. It took only a short time. Some of the gang stared into space, and some nodded off and fall asleep and sprawled out on the pavement under the overpass. Takeesha nodded to Nova.

  Nova pushed down on Shade’s neck, and the horse flapped just above the gang of kids. The flame danced and swirled. Takeesha waved her hand coaxing Nova down. The gang members shifted their bodies around and groaned. Nova worried they might jump her and Shade when she landed. Takeesha’s waves became frantic.

  “Hurry, girlfriend. We have to do this now.”

  “Dear Vulcan, they might have heard that.”

  There wasn’t much time. Takeesha had only brought a little

  bit of drug to burn. The smoke was not going to last much longer. Nova had Shade land, then she jumped off and approached the group. She checked pockets and socks and boots and belts, and even their hair and jewelry, stripping them of their weapons.

  She had to hold her nose - the kids stunk horribly. Nova didn’t know if the body odor was from the funky smelling smoke or the kids just didn’t bathe. The girls put all the guns, knives, and ninja stars into a bag Nova had brought along. Then Nova hopped back onto Shade and took off and waited in the sky behind a tree. Slowly, the gang woke up. They complained their heads throbbed. They sat up and rubbed their faces.

  “That was some nasty stuff,” a girl said.

  “Yeah.” Another one rubbed his eyes. “I can’t think straight. We could have been targets.”

  “Takeesha, what did you put on that fire?” A gang boy said holding his head.

  “It’s not important. I want to quit the group.”

  “So you’re trying to poison us? You are so dead.”

  The leader reached for his gun but couldn’t find it. He felt his boots. “Damn, man, can’t find my piece. You have yours?”

  His main man patted himself down and shook his head.

  “Search yourselves, homeys. Find a weapon. Any weapon.

  Ah, I can’t think straight.” Then the leader’s mouth dropped open as he stared at an empty spot a little ways in front of him. “What’s that- a ghost?”

  Another kid pointed at Takeesha, her hand trembling.“What the hell was that? You some kind of witch?”

  “I told you I’m a shaman.” Takeesha smiled and folded her arms over her chest.

  The leader and his gang started backing away. “You stay away from us! You hear?” They turned and ran away from the

  street lights and deeper under the overpass and beyond into the darkness.

  “All clear, girl,” Takeesha said, “come on down.”

  Nova landed and reached her arm down for Takeesha to grab and pull herself up onto Shade’s back. Nova clicked her tongue and Shade flew down the street. She flapped over buildings and trees. Nova steered her toward Takeesha’s home. The young women should have been giggling and whooping it up about what happened. But they knew how dangerous gang members could be, and this might not be over for Takeesha. Nova landed Shade behind Takeesha’s house in the shadows of the trees. The girls hugged.

  “You‘re so clash, Nova! You know what I mean?” Takeesha patted Shade on her neck and produced a carrot for her from her back pocket. Shade gobbled it up and looked for more. Takeesha showed her empty hands.

  “Thanks, but you did the hard work. I’ve got to get Shade home before she shrinks up again. I’ll see you later.” Takeesha grinned, waved and trudged inside.

  Nova ran Shade down the road, and the horse flapped her wings and glided into the sky. Nova patted Shade in the moonlight. “You were so good back there. I’ll have to give you a big treat when we make it home. If we make it home.”

  They flew higher than thirty feet to stay above the telephone poles. They were almost home she could see the silo and barn light in the distance. Good thing it wasn’t foggy. On the ride over a corn field, Shade suddenly lurched, and they began to lose altitude fast.

  “Dear Vulcan.”

  Sweat poured off of her, and she felt chilly. Nova didn’t know if she should put her feet up so she wouldn’t break a leg or what. Shade’s body was shrinking fast. Nova watched the cut- down corn stalks and black earth approach. Shade’s filly feet thumped hard and then she collapsed o
nto her side.

  Nova lay on her right hip with the small horse’s weight on her leg. She wiped sweat from her brow. Good thing Shade didn’t weigh too much. Nova slid her leg out from under Shade, then knelt and to see if the horse was okay. She seemed stunned. Nova tested out her own legs; they seemed normal. She tugged on Shade’s bridle, trying to get her upright, but Shade spit it out. It was now way too big. Just as Nova was figuring out how to get help, Shade jerked her front legs out in front of herself and stood up.

  Shade gave one huge shake of her body, and the saddle slid under her and hung there. Nova pulled it back on top of the horse, cinched it up, and they slowly ambled home. Nova had to wrap the reins around her neck to control her head. Knowing Nova didn’t have good control, Shade stopped to nibble on the grass near the side of the road. “Come on, girl. You shouldn’t eat to make you feel better, you’ll get fat.” Nova found the thought funny and laughed.

  Half an hour later they were at the farm. She took the gear off of Shade and put her in the catch pen. Nova strolled into the house, brushed her teeth, put on her pajamas, and crawled into bed. She hoped she would get some sleep and that Wilha would not kick her out again.

  With all the adrenalin from the gang and the fall, Nova couldn’t sleep at first. She tossed and turned as her mind chewed on her problems. Nova thought of the gang members and what trouble Takeesha was in. She thought about the fact she fell from the sky and Leandra didn’t say anything.

  Maybe she should call her.

  She chewed a fingernail and watched the clock. It said eleven forty-four. Too late to call Leandra. Then she remembered in about nine hours they were going to officially test the cart with an old beat up wheelchair they had bought. The Shade Riders had come up with some realistic tests, like going over some big bumps or trying to pull the chair off the cart using Shade in the adult form to pull against it. Nova hoped Benny and Max Kim had some other ideas for testing the wheelchair, but for now she had to get to sleep.