a little sick from watching behind her while her horse ran, but she continued looking at the trail behind them in search of the mountain lion.
She couldn't see it, so she yelled, "Have you seen it? I think we lost it!"
Alex squinted at her, apparently trying to figure out what she was saying. He must have figured it out, because he turned and looked over his shoulder. Holly had her face buried in Sundance's mane. Leslie turned forward again for a few seconds, then looked back.
"I don't see it, either!" Alex shouted. "Let's slow down."
Leslie nodded and sat deep in the saddle, pulling back on the reins.
"Easy, Lucky! Whoa!" she called, trying to make her voice sound soothing, even though it shook. He responded slowly at first, and then slowed to an easy canter before breaking to a trot. Leslie didn't want to stop too abruptly and cause the horses behind her to crash into Lucky, so she gradually slowed his gait until he broke to a walk. Lucky's sides rose and fell quickly beneath her, and Leslie breathed in ragged gasps.
She looked over her shoulder again, straining to see down the trail behind her. There was no sign of the mountain lion, and her friends slumped over in exhaustion, breathing just as hard as she was. Their horses were soaked in sweat, and when she faced forward and looked down, she saw that Lucky was all wet, too. She stroked his neck out of habit, grimaced, and then wiped her palm on her jeans.
"Should we stop?" Holly asked between breaths.
Leslie looked back at her long enough to answer. "After a run like that, the horses need to walk for a while or their muscles will seize up. When they cool down a little and their breathing slows, we can stop for a rest and maybe try to find some water."
"Where are we?" Alex asked.
Leslie looked all around her, searching for a familiar landmark. When she didn't find one, a new wave of fear washed over her, making her dizzy.
After they walked for about ten minutes, the horses had cooled down somewhat and everyone had caught their breath. Leslie's thoughts swirled around in her head, and she found it difficult to focus on how to solve their predicament. She had finally stopped shaking, but she was exhausted. She put her reins in her right hand and stuck her left hand out and down—a sign that she was stopping—and pulled Lucky to a stop.
She turned him around to face her friends. "What do you think we should do now? I don't know where we are."
"I don't either, and I'm scared!" Holly said, still visibly shaken. Her hair hung in uncharacteristic stringy clumps around her face, which was streaked with dirt and sweat. The sight was a shock to Leslie, who had never seen Holly look anything but perfect.
Alex didn't look much better, although at least his hair was short. "Maybe we should turn around and go back the way we came."
Leslie bit her lip. "I don't know. What if we run into the mountain lion again? He could be down there waiting for us."
They all sat in silence for a minute, looking around them. Leslie tried to think of a solution, but nothing presented itself.
"Holly, don't you have GPS on your phone?" Alex asked. "Maybe it will show us where we are."
Holly slapped her forehead. "Duh! Of course. Why didn't I think of that before?"
She dug around in her pocket and pulled it out. Leslie waited impatiently while Holly poked at the screen on her the cell phone, pushing harder and harder and then shaking it.
"What's wrong?" Leslie asked.
Holly let out a frustrated grunt. "My battery's dead. I forgot to charge it last night."
Leslie sighed and resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She loved Holly, but her friend had a tendency to be a little airheaded sometimes.
"Maybe I'd better just call for help," she said. She reached into the pocket of her jeans where she usually put her own cell phone, but it wasn't there. Her heart felt like it stopped in her chest. She reached into all her pockets to no avail. "It's not here. I don't have my phone!"
"How can you not have your cell phone?" Alex asked, throwing his hands up in exasperation, which caused his horse, Fred, to toss his head. "You always have it."
"I was running late this morning, and I guess I ran out of the house without it. Well, don't you have yours?"
Alex angled his chin in a cocky expression. "I always have my cell phone. I was a Boy Scout, you know. I'm always prepared."
Leslie didn't bother stopping herself; she rolled her eyes so hard it hurt a little. Alex reached into his pocket and froze, the blood draining from his face. Like Leslie had done, he frantically searched through all of his pockets.
"It's not here!" he said, his voice taking on a strangled quality.
Leslie dropped her forehead to her hand. "I can't believe none of us has a working cell phone," she said, then looked up again at Alex. "What happened to you being always prepared?"
Alex held up his hands as though he were protecting himself. "I had it before, I swear! I remember checking the time on it when Holly and I were waiting for you. It must have fallen out while we were running. My mom's gonna kill me for losing another one."
"Well, great," Leslie said angrily, although she didn't know who exactly she was angry at. She could feel the blood rushing in her ears, and her cheeks, which had finally cooled after the run, felt hot again. "We're stuck out here in the middle of nowhere with no phone. We don't know where we are, and somewhere back there is a mountain lion waiting for us to come back so it can eat us. What are we supposed to do now?"
"Well, don't get mad at me. At least I brought my phone; it's not my fault it fell out of my pocket when we were running. You didn't even bring yours at all."
"Yeah? Well, you're the one who took us on this stupid trail ride in the first place!"
Alex pointed at her angrily. "At your suggestion. You wanted to go out on the trail as much as I did."
"Guys, there's no use fighting with each other," Holly broke in. "We got into this together, and we all have to work together to get out of it."
Holly's words made sense, and Leslie immediately melted. All the feelings of anger slipped away, replaced by guilt. "I'm sorry, Alex. I know it's not your fault we're stuck out here."
Alex hung his head a little. "Yeah. Sorry, Les."
"Now, we need to put our heads together and figure out what we're going to do about this," Holly continued. "We can't call for help, so we will just have to figure it out ourselves."
"Holly's right," Alex said, and by the way he raised his eyebrows appraisingly at Holly, Leslie could tell he was impressed as she was that their dingy friend was being the sensible one for once. "If we can't go back the way we came, maybe there's another way to get home."
"We also have to find water," Leslie said. "The horses are probably thirsty. I know I am."
"What we need is a plan," Holly said, and Leslie and Alex nodded in agreement.
"Maybe we should just pick a direction and go straight until we get somewhere or see signs of water," Alex said.
"That's a pretty good idea," Leslie said thoughtfully. She looked as far as she could in every direction, but she couldn't see anything to indicate the best direction to go. She had no idea where Green Meadow was.
"Should we just go that way?" Holly asked, pointing off to her right.
Leslie turned and looked, then shook her head. "I don't think so. I'm pretty sure we definitely curved kind of to the left as we ran, and that means we need to go that way. I think," she said, pointing in the opposite direction.
"I don't know, Leslie. That just doesn't look right to me," Holly said.
"Well, you're way doesn't look right to me!" Leslie replied, putting the hand that wasn't holding her reins in her hip. She started feeling frustrated again.
"I thought we agreed not to fight?" Alex broke in. Leslie felt sheepish again, and she smiled apologetically at Holly. Alex continued, "We have to think about this logically."
They all fell silent for a while, and then Leslie remembered something. "Dad once said something about how the woods are to the east of Green Meadow. That mean
s we have to go west, right?"
Alex snapped his fingers. "Of course! How could I not think of that?" He looked around them, then up at the sky. "Let's see. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Anyone know what time it is?"
No one had a watch on, and without cell phones they had no way to tell the time. "Well, we met at the barn at ten o'clock this morning," Leslie said. "Has it been more than two hours since then?"
Alex and Holly looked thoughtful for a few seconds, and then Holly said, "I'm pretty sure it hasn't been more than an hour or so."
Alex looked up at the sky, and Leslie followed his gaze. The sun was near the highest point in the sky, but wasn't quite there. "If Holly's right, that means the sun is still to the east, which means that way is west," Alex said, pointing back and to his right. It was almost the same direction that Holly wanted to go, but at a slight angle.
Leslie frowned. "That just doesn't seem right, but you're the Boy Scout. Lead the way."
Holly smirked, which Leslie ignored, and Alex turned Fred's head to get him moving in the direction he thought led to Green Meadow. Holly fell in line after him with Sundance, and Leslie brought up the rear on Lucky, still annoyed that the others didn't agree with her on which direction they should go. However, she was outnumbered, and she had to admit to herself she was a little disoriented. She hoped Alex's Boy Scout instincts didn't steer them in the wrong direction.
They traveled in silence for a while, and Leslie strained her eyes in all directions, looking for some sign that would tell them they were moving in the right direction. They did not follow a path but walked straight through the woods, so they had to go slowly to let the horses find their footing. Leslie hoped they would find water and a path before the forest became impassable with thick undergrowth or trees.
She was beginning to get really worried when Alex signaled for a halt.
"What is it?" Leslie asked.
Alex waved his hand in a "quiet down" motion, so Leslie strained her ears to listen. She didn't know what she was listening for, but she waited to find out.
"Do you hear running water?" Alex asked.
Leslie cocked her head and listened harder. She thought she could detect the faintest sound of water flowing, but she couldn't be sure.
"I think I might hear something, but I'm not sure," Leslie said.
Ahead of her, Holly shrugged.
"I think it's coming from our left," Alex said, and pushed Fred into a walk. Leslie and Holly followed, and after a minute Leslie could definitely hear water. She sighed in relief. They picked up speed, heading straight for the sound.
They crested a small hill, and at the bottom of a little slope on the other side, Leslie was relieved to see a peaceful stream trickling along. The horses walked forward eagerly and splashed into the shallow water. Leslie hopped off and let Lucky drink while she cupped water in her hands for herself. Alex and Holly did the same, and for a few moments the only sound was of splashing water and slurping.
While she savored the crisp cool water, Leslie was thankful they had been out on enough trail rides that the horses were comfortable drinking from a stream—unlike some horses so used to being in a barn or paddock that they would only drink from a proper water trough.
While the horses drank, Leslie looked around. "I bet this is the stream we usually water them at, although of course we've come quite a bit upstream."
Holly nodded and said smugly, "I bet it is, which means we went in the right direction. All we have to do is follow this downstream until we reach our regular watering place, then get back on the trail and we're home free."
Leslie bit her lip, annoyed that her friend was rubbing it in, but said nothing. She just wanted to get home, and if that meant she had been wrong about where they were, so be it.
"Sounds like a good plan to me," Alex said.
When horses and humans had had their fill, they looked around until Leslie found a