Secrets Read Online Free PDF Page A

tidy. Leather headcollars hung outside each stable, leadropes clipped on and neatly coiled. Brooms and shovels were stacked against walls. Rugs were folded. Flower baskets hung from metal hooks, the bright summer blooms pruned and watered.
    Lexi was pacing around in her stall, looking agitated. Catching sight of Ellie, she snorted.
    “Shh. It’s OK,” Ellie said soothingly as she let herself into the stable. Lexi came to her and pushed her head against her.
    Ellie breathed in and out, focusing on the mare. She felt the connection open between them, like a door swinging back and she saw the same memory she’d seen before—the mare taking a cross-country jump, catching her front legs, somersaulting over, crashing down, the rider thrown clear. She felt a stabbing pain around her ears, the mare’s pain becoming her own just as it had done earlier.
    I tried to tell them how much it hurt , Lexi’s thoughts came to her. Ellie saw images of her shaking her head and felt the longing for understanding, the desire for someone to listen. She saw the bridle being put on, yanked down when Lexi threw her head up. Help me.
    Of course , Ellie promised her. Now you’re here you’ll be OK. We’ll make you better and when you’re ready to be ridden again, I’ll make sure you’re ridden gently.
    She felt Lexi’s gratitude and touched the mare’s forehead. She concentrated on letting healing energy flow through her fingers. She knew she wouldn’t be able to cure the physical pain completely, but she would try to ease it and get her uncle to call the vet the next day. Lexi’s eyelids fluttered. Ellie worked her way around Lexi’s body, touching the mare at different points, feeling the energy vibrating under her fingers, smoothing it, waiting to feel the energy flowing normally before moving on to the next spot. Finally, she reached Lexi’s head again. The horse sighed deeply and Ellie felt a new sense of peace in her. The pain was still there, but it had lessened and, more importantly, Lexi now felt that someone understood.
    Thank you for letting me help you , Ellie told the horse.
    Stepping back, she felt the connection between them close and she let herself out of the stable. She felt tired and energized at the same time. Talking to horses, healing them, took a lot of effort and concentration but left her feeling elated and she loved it. As she passed the other horses in their stalls, she stopped to pat each one. Those she had worked with before came to their doors eagerly. She stroked them, then finally left the barn and headed up to the fields.
    Ten minutes later, Ellie was standing beside Spirit. The sun had set and the night was closing in. The woods that edged on to his field were dark with shadows. Wrapping her arms around his solid neck, Ellie felt a rush of emotions, happiness and sadness combined. Sadness that he would never be on the yard, like a normal horse again, a horse she could just open a stable door and see. Happiness that he was there and she could still talk to him and touch him. If she went to his grave to talk to him in the day, he would stay invisible although she could sense his presence and hear his voice, but when it was dark and no one could see them from the yard, he would appear to her, solid and warm, looking just as he had when he was alive only healthier and stronger. Things haven’t really changed , she told herself. I just have to come out here to see him in the evenings. He’s still mine and we can still be together. The more she told herself that, the more she believed it.
    Shutting her eyes, she now rested her forehead against his neck.
    You’re tired . She heard Spirit’s concerned voice in her mind.
    She nodded. It’s been a long day.
    Let’s go into the woods. I want to hear about it.
    Ellie vaulted on to his back. Wrapping her hands in his mane, she felt her tiredness drain away and a new energy fill her.
    The stone wall was ahead of them. Spirit broke into a trot and then a