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her to keep them from getting trampled.

Chapter 11
    Easy, girl,” Twig said soothingly. “Nice and easy.”
    The hooves lowered. The horse glared at her and pawed at the wood shavings. Its ears cupped forward, toward Twig.
    â€œThat’s a good girl. Are you a girl? Are you a good girl?”
    It was a stupid thing to say, but it was all Twig could come up with.
    â€œThat’s it.” The creature backed up a step. “That’s a girl. Get the door, Casey, nice and slow.”
    Casey eased it shut. She slid the latch in place with a swift click.
    â€œKeep talking to her, Twig,” Janessa said. “I’ll go get Mrs. Murley.”
    Twig didn’t want to keep talking. She wanted to run out of that stable. But the solid wood of the stall door seemed to be enough to hold the animal back. The other girls whispered to each other behind her while she kept whispering nonsense. As she calmed the horse, Twig felt herself calming too. The other girls were transfixed, but not scared. If she could settle this thing like an ordinary horse, then maybe it was just an ordinary horse, not a ghost at all. Though the word ordinary hardly fit such an animal.
    Aside from some mud spatters, its coat was dazzling white. It was smaller than Feather, but bigger than the ponies. Its build was strong but slender, all sleek and well-defined muscles—except for an oddly pronounced roundness to its belly.
    Soft, pink skin showed through the white fuzz on its muzzle. Its mane was long and silky, almost shimmery. The ponies’ manes were coarse as straw in comparison. Its forelock lay in a graceful curl above strange, gray eyes—flowing quicksilver eyes that regarded Twig, not with Rain Cloud’s disdain, but with swirls of wild understanding and wilder fear.
    Twig could’ve stared into those eyes forever, but Mrs. Murley’s pounding feet just outside the stable, then her voice saying, “Janessa, you saw this horse?” brought her back to reality.
    â€œYes, Mrs. M, I saw it! It’s not just one of Casey’s stories. It’s wild! It reared at us and—”
    â€œComing through, girls.”
    The girls parted, and Mrs. Murley’s eyes moved from Twig, at the stall door, to the horse’s magnificent head. “Oh my. How…”
    Twig stepped aside, grateful to relinquish her horse-calming duty, to stand back and stare at the creature instead. She might be wild. She might even be dangerous. Twig wasn’t sure exactly what she was, but she was certain she was no pony eater. She wasn’t evil; she was magnificent.
    â€œHello, pretty lady,” Mrs. Murley said in a quiet, awed voice. “How did you get here, girl?”
    â€œMaybe she’s a surprise from Mr. Murley,” Regina said.
    â€œIs it your birthday?” Janessa said.
    Mrs. Murley shook her head and laughed anxiously. She held a hand out to the horse, and the horse sniffed it. “Stand back, girls, and be still. I’m going to have a closer look.”
    She undid the door and slipped into the stall with the mysterious horse.
    â€œWell, Twig, she’s good and calm now, isn’t she? It seems you’re getting to know your way around horses quicker than anyone expected.”
    Casey smiled at Twig proudly, and Twig shrugged her shell up over her mouth.
    â€œShe’s a true white. That’s very rare. And she’s unshod. Oh!” She gasped. “But that’s not possible!”
    â€œWhat?” Mandy pushed past Taylor.
    Casey peeked through the crack of the unlatched stall door. “Her hooves are weird.”
    Twig nudged the door open a bit more with her boot, though she kept her distance while she bent down. It was true. They looked more like a deer’s than a horse’s.
    â€œCloven hooves!” Mrs. Murley said.
    Mrs. Murley composed herself and proceeded with her examination, but Twig could tell the hooves were bothering her—really