big enough rock in a good place to use as a mounting block. They took turns getting back onto their horses, and then Alex led the way down a little path on the edge of the stream. Leslie relaxed, knowing they would be home in the matter of an hour or so and the whole ordeal would be over. She allowed herself to enjoy the passing scenery since she no longer had to worry about being lost.
The narrowness of the trail did not allow them to ride close enough together to talk, so they rode in silence. That suited Leslie just fine, since she was still feeling out of sorts over all of the disagreements. She tried to focus on the positive aspects, like not getting eaten by a mountain lion, but it didn't do the trick.
It seemed like a long time had passed, and Leslie still hadn't seen any familiar landmarks.
We ran further than I realized, she thought with a frown.
Ahead of them, the path rose slightly and Leslie couldn't see anything on the other side of the rise. When Alex reached it, he pulled his horse up short.
"Uh oh," he said, just barely loud enough for Leslie to hear.
Holly pulled up next to him and repeated his reaction to what she saw. Leslie's stomach twisted, and she braced herself for whatever was on the other side. She hoped it wasn't the mountain lion. A moment later, she saw it for herself: it was a pond, with no stream running out of it. All there was around it was meadow, surrounded by trees.
"I don't understand," she said.
"We're at the end of the stream," Holly said in a dull voice. "We somehow passed the turnoff to get back on the path toward home."
"Either that, or it's not the stream we think it is," Alex added.
Leslie dropped her face to her hand and took a couple of deep breaths. "So we're still lost. We have no idea where we are or how to get home."
"Sorry, Leslie," Alex said, his voice low and hoarse. "I thought for sure I knew where we were going."
"So what do we do now?" Leslie said, lifting her face to look around them again.
"Well, I still think this is our stream, and we need to just ride back upstream until we find the turn-off and try not to miss it this time," Holly said.
"I don't think so," Alex broke in. "There's no way we could have passed the place where we always stop to water the horses. One of us would have recognized it."
"Then maybe we went the wrong way. Maybe we should have followed it upstream," she argued.
"No way. That would have taken us even farther from home. Our stream runs toward Green Meadow, not away from it." Alex shook his head emphatically while he spoke.
Leslie studied the meadow and the surrounding trees. She looked up at the sun in the sky. "I think we should go that way," she said, pointing to their right. "I think that's where Green Meadow is. It must be later than we thought, because look at where the sun is. We can go across the meadow and into the trees and just go until we find a path, and I think we'll be going west again."
"I don't know, Les," Alex said, fear lacing his voice. "What if that's still the wrong direction?"
Leslie waved her free hand in the air, the one that wasn't holding her reins. "Well, we're not going to get home sitting here staring at a pond and a meadow, are we?"
"When I was little, Mom taught me that if I got lost, I should stay where I am and wait for someone to find me," said Holly.
"That would be a good idea if someone knew we were out here, but no one does, remember?" Leslie snapped. "Our parents think we're riding in the arena. No one was around when we left. We have no working cell phones. No one is going to come looking for us."
Holly burst into tears, and Leslie immediately regretted her harsh words.
"Well, I don't know what to do, then!" Holly said between sobs, her words barely intelligible. "We're going to be stuck out here forever, and you're mad at me, and this just sucks!"
Leslie's heart melted. She dropped her eyes to the reins in her hands, wishing she hadn't been so hard on her best friend. "I'm sorry, Hol. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. We're all in this mess together, and it's nobody's fault we're lost."
She squeezed Lucky's sides with her calves and rode over to Holly, sidling him up as close to Sundance as she could get. She set her reins down and held out her arms to give her friend a hug, and Holly gratefully hugged her back. They could only hug for a few seconds before the horses shifted and they had to let go.
"Thanks, Leslie. I'm sorry I'm such a mess, and I'm sorry we're lost, and I bet you were right about what direction we should have gone in the first place, and we should have listened to you all along, and why did that stupid mountain lion have to chase us?"
Leslie couldn't help but giggle at the way her friend ran all her sentences together, even when she was sobbing. "It's OK, Holly, calm down! We'll figure this out and get home. Maybe we'll even get there before anyone really even knows we're gone."
"If that's going to happen, we'd better get moving," Alex said. "We need to decide what direction we're going to go in, and just go."
Holly wiped her eyes. "Well, we were wrong when it was our turn to pick the direction. I think we should follow Leslie this time."
Leslie bit her lip and looked first at Holly's face, then at Alex's. They gazed expectantly back at her, waiting for her to make a decision. She took a deep breath. "OK. These woods aren't that big, right? Surely we can find our way back home soon. Let's go through the meadow and turn right through those trees there, like I said before. I have a really good feeling about it."
Alex and Holly both nodded and waited for her to take the lead, so she turned Lucky around and struck out across the meadow with the other two behind her. She trembled inside, but she forced herself to take deep breaths and stay calm so Lucky and the others wouldn't know how scared she was. The hot sun beat down on her from above, and sweat trickled down her forehead. She thought about how cold and refreshing the water in the stream had been and wished she'd gotten all wet and cool when she'd had the chance.
It didn't take long to get across the meadow, and she gratefully passed into the shady woods. She didn't see a path, so she guided Lucky carefully between the trees. She had to continually duck to avoid the pine boughs above her, and Lucky picked his way carefully over the slick pine needles and fallen branches. Leslie looked up, but she could no longer see the sun in the sky for all the treetops.
After a few minutes of picking their way through the trees, a path appeared in front of them. Leslie pulled Lucky to a stop, and Holly and Alex pulled up next to her.
"Which way do you think we should go?" she asked.
"I think we should go left," said Alex. "The way the path is angled, if we go left it's not that far off from the direction we're going."
Leslie nodded. "That's what I was thinking. If we go right, it looks like it's going to take us back the way we just came from. I don't think that would do us any good."
"I agree," Holly said. "That seems like the best choice."
Leslie nudged Lucky forward, and the other two fell in line behind her. Having a path to follow bolstered her confidence, and Lucky moved out a little more smartly than before. Leslie let herself relax a little; she felt good about the direction they were going and that they would soon be home.
When they reached a fork in the trail some time later, Leslie stopped again to assess the situation. "What do you think?" she asked the others. "I'm not sure which way we should go."
"If we go sort of to the left, that will continue in pretty much the same direction we've been going," Holly said.
"That's what I think we should do," Alex said. "I don't think we should zigzag all over the place. We should just keep going in the same direction and hope it takes us home. Besides, I think it's starting to get late. It's hard to see the sun through the trees, but it definitely looks like it's moved a lot."
Leslie looked up and saw that the sun's rays drifted through the trees at more of an angle than before. The sun was definitely not right overhead anymore. "Looks like you're right about that. Let's get moving and get home before ou
r parents notice we're missing and start worrying about us."
She nudged Lucky forward down the left fork of the path, but he tossed his head and tried to turn to the right.
"Lucky, what are you doing?" she asked. "We're going this way!"
She pulled on the left rein and nudged harder with her legs. Lucky reluctantly complied, but he kept looking off to the right, down the path he had wanted to take.
That was odd, Leslie thought. He's never done that before.
They moved down the trail. Leslie shifted in her saddle uncomfortably; her legs and hips were stiff, and her butt ached. She stood up in her stirrups trying to alleviate the discomfort, but that did little to help. She realized she was thirsty, again, too—she couldn't tell how long it had been since they had stopped at the stream to drink, but she knew it had been long enough that she really needed another one. Her empty stomach rumbled, and she realized she hadn't eaten anything all day. Even Lucky seemed out of sorts; his ears were back and he swished his tail agitatedly.
Leslie felt a sharp sting on her arm, and she slapped the spot. A dead mosquito fell to the ground. She knew that meant it was getting late in the afternoon, indeed. If they didn't find their way home soon, they would be in very big trouble, and not just from their parents. If they were stuck in the woods after dark, they would have even more trouble finding their way home. There might be nighttime animals to worry about. The mountain lion might even find them. Leslie shuddered, even though the temperature was still warm.
After what seemed like hours, Leslie could see rooftops through the trees ahead of her.
"I think I see Green Meadow!" she called over her shoulder excitedly. "We're approaching from a weird angle, because I've never seen this view of it, but I can see buildings!"
Behind her, Alex and Holly let out whoops of joy. The horses picked up speed, picking up on their riders' excitement. The trail curved a bit, and when Leslie got through the curve, she stopped. Tears welled up in her eyes at the sight of a housing tract at the end of the trail.
"It's not Green Meadow at all," she said quietly to Alex and Holly, who pulled up next to her. "We're more lost than ever. I don't recognize those houses at all."
"Don't cry, Les," Alex said softly, and Leslie could hear the weariness in his tone. "We'll find our way home. Let's go back to that fork in the path where Lucky wanted to turn right instead of left. Maybe he knows better than we do and that will take us home."
Holly remained silent, and a quick glance at her face showed Leslie she was trying not to cry.
"I'm so tired," Leslie said. "I just want to get home and get into a hot bath. I don't know how we're ever going to get there."
"It's OK," Alex said, reaching out to lay his hand reassuringly on her arm. "Come on. I'll lead this time. Like I said before, these woods aren't that big. There's just only so much further we can go; we have to run into Green Meadow eventually."
Leslie just shrugged and waited for him to take the lead. He turned Fred around and started walking, and Leslie turned Lucky to follow. The horses moved more slowly again, heads hanging lower than usual. Leslie couldn't see Holly behind her, but she could hear her sniffling.
When they finally made it back to the fork in the path, Alex turned down the other path. Lucky followed him willingly, and Leslie thought his ears pricked up a bit. She didn't dare to hope that they'd found the right path at last. She resolved to wait and see before she got too excited. The light had gotten even lower, so they were running out of time.
As they rode, Leslie's aches and pains became so intense that she wanted to cry, but she silently told herself to hold it together. She didn't want to upset Holly further, and she didn't want Alex to think she was a wimpy girl. She bit her lip and bore it, and eventually all the various aches