“It was just a joke, kiddo,” her dad reassured her and looked at her quizzically. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, Dad,” Moxie croaked and glanced at Pickle with a quick shake of her head.
Moxie tried to focus on the rest of the calf roping and bull riding, but she could hardly wait to get home that evening. She needed to come up with a plan between tonight and tomorrow morning. She had to figure out how she and Misty could help Rocky and his herd stay away from the roundup.
She snuck a look up the bleachers at Sam and Jamie Bingham. Sam talked quietly to his daughter, who looked down and nodded. I bet they’re talking about the Sunday roundup with the Jenkins brothers, she thought.
~~~~~
Moxie never got a chance to tell Pickle about her phone message to Mary Lou Hendricks. She’d wanted to brainstorm ideas to save the herd with her best friend, but no such luck. Instead, she sat on her bed by herself, trying to come up with a plan. Nothing. What should she do? Well, a snack always helped.
On her way to the kitchen, she looked at the portrait at the bottom of the front hall steps, and sighed. What should I do, Granny Rose? I’m just one kid. How can I save all of those horses?
All of a sudden, her grandmother’s beautiful black horse in the painting winked at her!
Moxie froze and stared at the horse. Wait a minute, What just happened? she thought. How can a painting wink? I only know one horse who winks, and that’s Misty!
She pulled a chair over and stood on it to get a closer look. For the first time, Moxie noticed that Granny Rose’s horse looked a lot like Misty when she was flying—very black and without any gray, a thick mane and tail, and bright, alert eyes framed by thick lashes.
The girl reached out to touch the shadow of a white sock on the horse’s back left leg and was surprised that the canvas felt warm. She pulled her hand back quickly, then reached out to pat the young horse’s bushy mane.
“Misty, is that really you? Were you…were you Granny Rose’s horse, too?”
The moment Moxie’s finger felt the canvas again, the horse winked once more, and the girl gasped.
“It is you!” Moxie Wyoming beamed her biggest grin.
She quickly left the house, walking to the barn in her PJs and pink cowboy boots. She carried a pillowcase stuffed with her pink riding tights and slicker. Moxie felt sneaky and didn’t like keeping secrets from her parents, but after what had just happened in front of the painting, she was now positive that she had to help the Mustangs. She was also certain that Misty would keep her safe.
When she got to the barn, Moxie exclaimed, “That’s you in the painting with Granny Rose, isn’t it, girl?”
Misty pounded yes with her hoof in reply.
“I knew it!” She kissed Misty on the nose. “You’re even older than I thought when you first came.” She laughed. “More Misty magic!”
Then Moxie got back to work figuring out a plan, pacing between their two stalls, back and forth, back and forth.
“Do you know a special hiding place where we can take Rocky and the herd?”
Misty’s head moved back and forth, watching her.
“I guess we’ll figure out a hiding place once we find Rocky and his herd. Okay?”
Misty pounded the ground twice and snorted quietly, and Moxie thought her little horse looked calm and peaceful.
“Do you know something I don’t know?” she asked her.
But Misty just batted her skimpy eyelashes.
“Whatever.” Moxie unrolled her sleeping bag. “First, we need to get out of here really early, ride up to the Snowies, and warn Rocky and the herd that those cowboys are coming.” She set her alarm clock. “How about 4 a.m.?”
Misty made a low nickering sound and stared hard at Moxie. “Okay, okay.” Moxie reset her alarm clock. “4:45. No later.” She plopped down on the sleeping bag and punched her pillow to get it just right. “Now get some sleep.”
But Misty was already snoring.
“Geez, wake up the whole barn, while you’re at it.” Moxie took the pillow and put it over her head, trying to drown out her horse’s snores.
Chapter Seventeen
Very early the next morning, Moxie quietly led Misty out to the corral, saddled and ready to go. Once they were in the field behind the barn, Moxie climbed onto her horse. They walked in the direction of the Snowies as the pre-dawn light began to illuminate the black sky.
“Oh, Misty. We gotta help Rocky and the herd.” She grabbed Misty’s mane with one hand, and gave her a gentle kick with her pink boots. “Okay, let’s go.”
Misty and Moxie Wyoming took flight and soon sailed over the foothills of the Snowies. Before long, they spotted a group of riders. “Look, there’s the Jenkins gang! They got up before we did. Ugh! Maybe even three o’clock in the morning.”
In the darkness below, Moxie could just make out five cowboys on horseback heading up a trail to higher ground.
“Misty, the sky is getting brighter. I think we need to be invisible so they don’t see us up here.” Before Moxie could even finish the sentence, she felt a quiver as the little mare snorted once and twitched her ears.
“We’ve just got to find the herd before they do,” Moxie said as they flew over the riders.
Once the girl and her horse had passed the gang, Misty snorted and twitched her ears back and forth. “Does that mean we aren’t invisible anymore?”
Misty snorted twice for yes, and Moxie giggled.
They flew beyond the foothills, higher into the mountains. Not far up a canyon, Moxie and Misty spotted the wild horses getting a drink from a mountain lake. As the early morning sun peeked over the horizon, Misty threw out her four legs in order to twirl and helicopter down for a soft landing in the middle of the herd.
Rocky and Mamma Mia loped over to them. Before Moxie could say a word, Misty pounded the ground with both legs and snorted, looking straight at Rocky. The stallion looked back into Misty’s eyes and responded with nervous snorts of his own.
“Come on, Rocky!” she hollered. “Come on, Mama Mia! Follow us!” She and Misty rode across the meadow toward a different trail from the one the cowboys were using. Mama Mia neighed and followed, and the other horses fell in behind. Rocky neighed even louder, rearing and pounding the ground with his front hooves. Then he took off and brought up the back of the herd.
The Jenkins gang rode into Moxie’s view, and they quickly spotted her on Misty, leading the horses. Strangely—maybe it was more of Misty’s magic—but Moxie Wyoming could hear every word the two men said, even though they were far off. “Hey, Frank!” Jeb took off his hat and slapped his leg with it as they rode on. “I don’t believe it. Is that who I think it is?”
“Yep. I’m pretty sure it’s that same kid, still on her scrawny, old horse. What’s she doin’ up here?” Frank hollered, riding alongside his brother. “Whatever. This time, no more Mr. Nice Guy.”
“Right! She and that poor excuse for a horse are a real pain,” Jeb yelled back. The riders galloped toward the same trail that Misty, Moxie, and the Mustangs planned to use.
The cowboys were rapidly gaining on them. Moxie was scared they might cut off the escape path. She pulled out the gold whistle and blew it as hard as she could.
Misty and the other galloping horses didn’t seem to notice the sound of the whistle blowing, so Moxie blew it again, and then a third time. She wasn’t sure it would help, but she figured it was worth a try to find out if the grizzly bear was nearby.
Moxie and Misty let Mama Mia, the herd, and Rocky race onto the path first, and they followed. The Jenkins gang had missed cutting them off, but they were still in hard pursuit, closing up the distance between the two groups.
“Hey, girl, where do you think you’re headin’ with those Mustangs?” Frank yelled. “Those are our horses! We’ll teach you a lesson—”
Suddenly, the huge grizzly bear with the notched ear lumbered out from behind a thicket of trees and stepped right onto the path. The monstrous bear put him
self between Moxie and the Jenkins gang.
Jeb and Frank, along with the others, skidded to a stop, gawking at the ferocious bear. Moxie looked over her shoulder just in time to see the animal stand up and roar fiercely.
The riders immediately turned their horses around and took off, the grizzly now running right after them. Moxie Wyoming fist-pumped the air.
As she and Misty continued leading the Mustangs, Moxie realized something was different about this ride. This time, her horse rode like the wind down on the ground, not above it, guiding the herd away from danger.
As they galloped, Moxie also noticed that all the horses seemed to ride at the same super-fast speed as she and Misty. Had her little mare cast a magic spell on the entire herd? The forests, meadows, mountains, scrubby canyons, and stretches of desert-like terrain streaked by. Moxie felt as if they were all in a magical, high-speed tunnel of wind.
Moxie guessed they’d been riding several hours because it seemed they’d traveled quite a distance. But the sun was still low in the sky, just creeping above the horizon. That’s weird, she thought.
Moxie Wyoming didn’t have a clue where they were going, but she wasn’t scared. Misty was in charge, and she trusted her mare and felt safe riding her in this odd tunnel.
Finally, Misty slowed to a gentle lope, and the herd did the same. The scenery stopped streaking by, and Moxie guessed they were out of the strange tunnel that had allowed them to ride so fast.
They slowed down even more, now walking on a beat-up dirt road. Moxie noticed the road didn’t look as if it was used much anymore since it was overgrown with tall grasses.
She saw a gate up ahead with a sign, and as they got closer she read it aloud. “Darwin Ranch, Private Property.” Moxie sat up straight in the saddle with surprise. “This is where you used to live, Misty, isn’t it?”
Moxie pulled on the reins to tell Misty to stop. “Did we ride all the way from the Snowies to the Gros Ventre Mountains?”
Misty snorted, pounding the ground twice.
“But that’s clear across the state, almost four hundred miles! How’d we get here so fast?” Moxie asked. “Must be that strange tube of air we were in.”
Moxie started to dismount. “Misty, do you want me to open the gate so that we can visit? Are you trying to tell me you’re homesick?”
But Misty took a hard right turn from the road and Moxie Wyoming almost tipped off the saddle as they moved into the aspen grove nearby. She continued to let Misty lead the way with the Mustang herd right behind them.
A wispy cloud settled over the group, like it was protecting them. Sunbeams cut through the cloud and made their ride feel even more mysterious and enchanted.
As the sun’s rays hit the ground around them, the early morning dew sparkled on the underbrush like diamonds. Moxie felt certain she was riding someplace special. Up ahead, over the tops of the aspens, she could see a rock cliff.
When she and Misty and the Mustangs emerged from the trees, they faced the huge cliff. They looked up, and it seemed to touch the sky. Moxie saw no way to continue forward. The cliff also seemed to stretch for miles in both directions. “Now what do we do?”
Misty turned left and walked along the rocky wall. She halted at a spot covered by scrubby branches. The horse snorted and neighed, and the herd neighed back.
Misty pounded the ground three times with her right hoof and once with her left.
“What’s going on?” Moxie wondered aloud. Then Misty neighed while circling once in place.
The scraggly branches curled back, revealing a crack in the cliff. At the same time, a glow in the crack began pulsing like a flashing warning light as the opening grew wider. Moxie nervously squirmed in her saddle, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the shimmering light.
Then Misty carried Moxie Wyoming through the glowing crack into a stone tunnel, and the rest of the horses followed behind.
Chapter Eighteen
Moxie, Misty, and the Mustangs rode single file down the narrow passageway. “Where are you taking us?” Moxie whispered. She didn’t like this cramped place at all.
Misty whinnied softly, as if to say, It’s okay.
Then Moxie saw light up ahead. “Are we there?”
They rode toward an opening and burst into bright sunlight. The group stopped and took in the vast panorama. Directly in front of them stood a tall, wooden arch with a sign.
Dizzy Humphrey’s Animal Shelter
Somebody had painted the letters with glitter on the top of the arch, and the name sparkled in the sun.
Moxie’s eyes swept past the arch and across the most beautiful meadow she had ever seen. She saw fields of lush green grasses filled with flowers: red Indian paintbrush, pink wild roses, bluish-purple silvery lupine, yellow black-eyed Susans, and many more.
From a nearby grove of aspen trees, the heart-shaped leaves trembled in the breeze and made a lovely rustling sound. Birds flitted and sang among the branches.
The entire basin was surrounded by red rock cliffs, creating a craggy, rocky fence around the valley. Above the cliffs were more of the same fluffy clouds that Moxie had seen during the ride. Three brilliant rainbows swept across the sky. They began in the same sparkling pond but shot out in different directions.
Misty led the Mustangs to the pond for a drink, and all the horses reached down to slurp the cool water. Moxie stretched up in the saddle, making herself as tall as possible. Who was this Dizzy Humphrey, she wondered, and where was the building for the animal shelter?
“Where are we?” She scanned the landscape in every direction and began to notice many different creatures scattered across the valley.
“Hey, Misty, look at all those animals. I’ve never seen a giraffe in Wyoming! Or a lion!” She tugged on the reins to pull Misty’s head up from the water to look. “So weird, they all seem to like each other. Like the lion hanging out next to the baby giraffe over there. Shouldn’t they be fighting or something?”
A voice startled her from behind. “Here at the shelter, all the animals live in harmony.”
She turned. A girl with red pigtails and freckles across her nose stood on a tree stump. “You shouldn’t sneak up on people,” Moxie instructed. She thought they were the same age. “Who are you?”
“I’m Dizzy Humphrey.” The girl nodded toward the mare. “I know Misty. She’s come here lots of times. Who are you?”
“I’m Moxie Wyoming.” Moxie looked curiously at her horse. “She has? I mean, she’s come here a lot?”
“Yeah, with other animals,” Dizzy said.
“Oh!” Moxie thought about that for just a moment, then jumped down from the saddle and gestured to the herd. “Misty and I are trying to save these Mustangs and keep them safe from some mean cowboys.”
“Well,” Dizzy said, “you’ve come to the right place. No one will find them here.”
“I saw the sign over there…” Moxie pointed in the direction of the tall wooden arch. “…Dizzy Humphrey’s Animal Shelter. At home, my mom took me to an animal shelter where we got our dog, Bunker, and it’s in a building in Laramie. Where’s your building?”
“We have buildings for the animals when they need them, mostly sheds and barns. They’re all over the valley, just not right here. You see, this whole valley…” Dizzy spun around on the stump, her arm sweeping the air around her. “…and everything inside this cliff wall are part of the refuge.”
“So how come your name’s on the sign?” Moxie asked. “I mean, you’re just a kid like me.”
“Well, I love animals, and I’ve been rescuing them for a long, long, long time,” Dizzy answered with a twinkle in her eye. “So I decided to create a special place—”
“That’s cool,” Moxie interrupted. “But why is that lion being so nice to the little giraffe? And don’t they both usually live in Africa, not here in the Rocky Mountains?”
“A man brought them from Africa to California for his own private amusement park. But he didn’t have enough money to take care
of them. We got the word, and rescued them.”
“So, why isn’t the lion attacking the giraffe?” Moxie paused, as something else caught her eye. “And over there!”
Moxie and Dizzy watched a rabbit hop on the back of a red fox. “What’s up with that? I thought foxes chased rabbits. They do where I come from.”
“Well, Moxie Wyoming,” Dizzy said. “This is a very unusual place, there’s nowhere else like it.”
“Why?” Moxie stepped up on a stump next to Dizzy, and the two stood eye to eye. “What’s the deal here?”
“It’s special. Animals who are in danger in other places can live here peacefully and always be safe.”
“But I still don’t get it,” Moxie said, bewildered.
“See those sunbeams shooting through the big clouds near the cliffs?” Dizzy asked, and Moxie nodded. “Those are Harmony Sunbeams.”
An owl landed on Dizzy’s outstretched arm, while a group of Monarch butterflies settled on her shoulder. “All the animals come through the Harmony Sunbeams as they travel to the refuge. You rode through them on your way here.”
“What happens when the sunbeams touch you? Is it like when the doctor takes an X-ray to make sure you didn’t break a bone?”
“No.” Dizzy giggled. “The Harmony Sunbeams make all creatures, big and small, act friendly toward each other.” She shook her shoulder, and the butterflies moved to the owl’s head, covering it like a funny hat.
“So we’ve been blasted by Harmony Sunbeams! Neat!” Moxie grinned from ear to ear. “But why aren’t more people trying to come here?”
“Because we’re invisible to people outside.”
“Cool!” Moxie cooed. She loved that those cowboys wouldn’t ever be able to find her Mustangs. But Moxie did wonder why she could see it. Was it because she was with Misty?
Dizzy took Moxie’s hand. “I know you have questions. Come on.” They hopped down from their stumps. “I’ll give you a tour!”
Chapter Nineteen
A Wild Ride: The Adventures of Misty & Moxie Wyoming (Girl Detective & Her Horse Mystery Story Ages 6-8 & 9-12) Page 8
