Horse Happy Read online

  “When you go to pick up their berries,” Kona whispered to Brisa, “will you check to see how many they’re getting?”

  Brisa sighed as she dumped Kona’s berries into the basket. Then she flew up to Sirocco at the top of the bush.

  “You’re going to need to make a lot of trips to carry these babies!” Sirocco crowed, pointing at the giant berries he’d stashed on a cupped leaf. Then he lowered his voice and asked Brisa, “There’s no way Kona and Sumatra are finding blackberries that are this awesome, right?”

  Brisa sighed some more.

  Then she clawed her way into the middle of the bush to retrieve Sumatra’s berries. When Brisa arrived, Sumatra had a question of her own for her.

  “Don’t you think we should separate my berries from Kona’s and Sirocco’s?” she asked. “They’re so juicy, they’re clearly the best ones for making blackberry jam.”

  Brisa heaved a third sigh.

  “You know what?” she said. “I think it’s time for us to go home.”

  “Oh, is our berry basket full yet?” Sumatra asked.

  “Um, yes,” Brisa answered. “Yes, you guessed it!”

  She didn’t want to tell Sumatra the truth—that all this competition was ruining the berry-picking outing for her.

  Brisa and Sumatra flew down to the ground and called for Kona and Sirocco to join them. The basket was indeed groaning with berries—big ones and juicy ones and plentiful ones. Whoever carried the basket home was going to have quite a heavy load.

  “Well, Kona,” Sirocco suggested lightly, “you love being the leader, right? So I’m sure you’ll want to carry the berry basket home.”

  “Oh, really?” Kona said, narrowing her eyes at Sirocco. “Well, it just so happens that I’m tired. From picking so many berries, you know. I think you should carry the basket!”

  “Have you forgotten?” Sirocco asked. He wiggled his sore front hoof at Kona and looked piteous. “I am jewel-struck.”

  That’s when Sumatra jumped in.

  “Oh, I’ll give you struck!” she said with a cackle. She nipped a juicy berry out of the basket, then punted it at Sirocco.

  Splat!

  CHAPTER 5

  Food Fight

  “Whoooa!” Sirocco neighed in surprise.

  Sumatra’s berry had beamed him right in the face! Sirocco stood there for a moment, stunned, while dark berry juice dripped off his nose.

  Then he dove for the berry basket.

  Quickly snatching up one of his own big blackberries with his teeth, he tossed it into the air, then head-butted it at Sumatra. The berry squelched as it hit her—right on her bruised flank!

  “Eeek!” Brisa cried. She flew high in the air, afraid that flying berry juice might stain her pretty coat.

  Meanwhile, Sumatra whinnied painfully.

  “Ow!” she complained to Sirocco. “You hit my bad side on purpose.”

  “Oh, please,” Sirocco scoffed. “I’m a horse, I’m not a baseball player. Horses can’t aim.”

  “Oh, really? Horses can’t aim, can they?”

  That was Kona, her voice full of challenge.

  Sumatra and Sirocco turned toward her. Kona was clutching two berries between her front hooves. She eyed the filly and the colt carefully, then used her forelegs to give each berry a kick!

  Splat! Splat!

  Sirocco and Sumatra were both hit.

  “Right on target,” Sumatra sputtered through the juice dripping off her forehead. “I’d expect nothing less from a bossy horse!”

  “I am not!” Kona cried.

  She used her tail to bat another berry at Sumatra. Splat!

  Sumatra retaliated with a head-butted berry. But her berry ricocheted off of Kona’s hoof and hit Sirocco in the belly. Splat!

  From up above, Brisa tried to laugh.

  “Food fights are fun, right?” she called down to her friends. “But, um, don’t you want to save the berries for pie and jam?”

  “Oh, Brisa!” Kona, Sirocco, and Sumatra said together. Then they returned to their berry brawl.

  “Take that!” Sirocco yelled, beaning Sumatra with a berry. Splat!

  “And that!” Kona cried, kicking another berry Sumatra’s way. Splat!

  “Don’t forget the blackberry jam and muffins!” Brisa called anxiously.

  The horses ignored her. Splat! Splat! Splat!

  “You guys!” Brisa cried. She flew closer to her three friends, desperate for them to stop splatting each other.

  And that’s when it happened …

  Splat! Splat! Splat!

  Kona’s berry hit Brisa right in the mane, gunking up her braids and jewels. Sirocco’s berry landed on Brisa’s hind leg. And Sumatra’s berry hit her smack-dab on her nose.

  Brisa gasped. Her chest began to heave. Her lips began to tremble.

  And then …

  “Wahhhhhh!” she wailed.

  Tears streamed from Brisa’s eyes, making not-so-pretty trails through the blackberry juice on her face. But for once, she didn’t care how she looked. She was miserable.

  Brisa boo-hooed for a good minute before she realized something.

  The splats had ceased.

  Kona, Sumatra, and Sirocco had stopped yelling at each other.

  And all three Wind Dancers were staring at her.

  “You’re crying!” Kona said.

  “Brisa,” Sirocco added, “I thought you said we were too happy to cry!” He looked squirmy and uncomfortable.

  “No,” Brisa corrected him. “I said we were too happy to fight. But guess what? We are fighting! Just like Leanna and her sister.”

  “It took you this long to realize that?” Sumatra said in wonder. “Oh, Brisa!”

  “Yeah,” Sirocco said. “What have you been doing all day while we were fighting?”

  “Singing and being her usual happy self,” Kona answered for her crying friend. “While the rest of us have been acting horribly.”

  “Well … well…” Embarrassed, Sumatra searched for an explanation. “Sirocco started it! This morning in the kitchen! He kicked a jewel at my flank!”

  “That’s because Brisa’s jewel hurt my hoof!” Sirocco said. Hot, angry tears were gathering in his eyes.

  “Well, you didn’t have to take it out on me,” Sumatra cried. She began to sob.

  “But then you took it out on me,” Kona said to Sumatra. Kona was teary now, too. “You stomped on my flowers. I think you should apologize.”

  “Well, I think Sirocco should apologize first,” Sumatra said with a whimper.

  “Fine!” Sirocco snapped. “I’m sorry … that I stepped on Brisa’s jewel!”

  “That doesn’t sound like sorry to me,” Sumatra sniffled.

  “And, I’m still waiting for my apology,” Kona said to Sumatra.

  Brisa was shocked. She’d had no idea that this awful day had all begun with her stray jewel! So she jumped into the fray.

  “If I started this,” she said to her friends, “I should be the first one to say I’m sorry. Sirocco,” she said, turning to the colt, “I wish I’d been more careful. If I hadn’t dropped that jewel, you never would have stepped on it.”

  “And then, I guess I wouldn’t have kicked it at Sumatra,” Sirocco replied, giving Sumatra an apologetic look.

  “And then I would have watched out for Kona’s flowers,” Sumatra said, shooting Kona a shy smile.

  “And then,” Kona added, “I wouldn’t have been so bossy during our flight here.”

  “And none of you,” Brisa said finally, “would have been so competitive about your blackberries! I’m sorry again, you guys!”

  “I’m sorry, too,” Sumatra echoed.

  “So am I,” Kona added.

  “Me, too!” Sirocco responded.

  “We’re all sorry!” Brisa said jubilantly. “This is great! Group nose nuzzle, everyone!”

  The four tiny Wind Dancers scrunched together for one big, forgiving hug. When they pulled away, they were all grinning big, blackberry juice
-drenched grins.

  Then Sumatra buzzed back over to the blackberry bush, plucked a few berries, and carried them over to the basket. Her happy ribbon halo buzzed, too.

  “That’s a good idea, Sumatra,” Kona said generously, her flower halo perking up. “We lost a bunch of berries to the food fight. I’ll help you refill the basket.”

  “And when we’re done with the picking,” Sirocco announced, “I’ll carry the basket home.” His butterfly halo danced happily around him.

  “No, I will,” Brisa offered.

  “No, I should,” Kona said.

  “No, me!” Sumatra insisted.

  “Wait!” Brisa cried out. “Let’s not be so nice to each other that we get into another fight!”

  Which made all four Wind Dancers burst out laughing.

  Now Brisa looked forward to the long flight home.

  She felt very certain that Kona, Sumatra, and Sirocco would navigate the trip together.

  Nobody would try to take control.

  Nobody would get them lost.

  And all of them, taking turns with the berry-filled basket, would make it home in time for blackberry pie and jam.

  And they did.

  A Sweet Good-Night

  The Wind Dancers hovered together outside Leanna’s bedroom window. They’d had a giant dinner of blackberry pancakes, topped with blackberry jam, followed by blackberry pie. They were very full and very sleepy.

  But they were also very excited.

  “Look!” Brisa whispered. “There she is!”

  Indeed, Leanna was walking into her bedroom just then. She yawned a big yawn as she snuggled under her covers. She, too, was pleasantly worn out.

  She thought about everything she’d done that day. She’d visited with the horses at the farm nearby (the little gray filly was her favorite). And she’d climbed to the top of her favorite tree. And …

  Oh, yeah, Leanna remembered. And Sara and I had that fight out by the apple tree this morning. It’s funny now how that seems like so long ago.

  “Leanna?”

  Leanna glanced at her bedroom door. Sara was standing there, holding her favorite book.

  “Want to read the story together?” Leanna offered her little sister.

  Sara nodded eagerly and ran across the room. She dove under Leanna’s covers and cuddled up against her.

  Leanna read the first page and Sara the second, and so on.

  As they neared the end of the story, their eyes grew heavy, and the book fell to the floor.

  Just before falling asleep, Leanna thought of her little friends, the tiny, sparkly flying horses: the Wind Dancers.

  I wonder what they did today? Then she thought, Maybe tomorrow I’ll finally see them again!

  Outside the bedroom window, Brisa reached into the berry basket, which she was carrying around her neck, and gently used her teeth to pull out a warm bundle. Inside were two tiny blackberry pies.

  “Mmm!” Sirocco said, giving the pies a blissful sniff. “Are you sure I can’t have just a tiny little bite?”

  “Sirocco!” Kona scolded. “Those pies are a present. And besides, didn’t you eat enough berries today?”

  “I sure did,” Sumatra said, clutching her full belly.

  “Yeah,” Brisa agreed, nudging the pies onto Leanna’s windowsill. “In fact, I think if I eat one more blackberry, I’m going to turn into a blackberry!”

  “Maybe,” Kona said with a laugh, “we should have apples for breakfast tomorrow.”

  “Not to mention another adventure!” Brisa replied.

  Here’s a sneak preview of Wind Dancers Book 3:

  The Horse Must Go On!

  CHAPTER 1

  All That Jazz

  “And a-ONE, a-TWO, a-ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR!” Sumatra tapped out a dancing beat, kicking her front legs and shouting at the top of her lungs.

  Kona, Sirocco, and Brisa, who were flying alongside their fellow filly, stopped to hover in the air and stare.

  Not only was Sumatra marking her moves, she was dancing. In mid-air! As she spun around and around, the shimmery ribbons in her halo spun, too.

  “Um, Sumatra?” Kona asked. “What are you doing?”

  “Huh?” Sumatra asked absent-mindedly. Then she kicked her hind legs up, did another spin, and murmured, “And two, two, three, four.”

  “Hello!” Sirocco said. He flew over to Sumatra and grabbed the end of her pretty pale-green tail with his teeth, stopping her in mid-spin. “We’re supposed to be looking for a new adventure this morning. Not spinning around like a dizzy bird!”

  Sumatra blinked at her friends.

  “Oh, right,” she said. “Sorry, guys. I guess I just got caught up in it.”

  “In what?” Brisa asked, looking confused.

  Sumatra’s eyes gleamed as she pointed toward the ground with her nose.

  “In that!”

  About the Author and Illustrator

  Sibley Miller, author of the Wind Dancers series, is the pseudonym for an author of novels for teens. You can sign up for email updates here.

  Tara Larsen Chang is the illustrator of The Fairy Chronicles. Jo Gershman is the illustrator of The Nutcracker Ballet and The Night Before Christmas. You can sign up for email updates here.

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  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Copyright Notice

  Dedication

  Meet the Wind Dancers

  CHAPTER 1: Home, Apple-Sweet Home

  CHAPTER 2: A Sisterly Spat

  CHAPTER 3: Lost Cause

  CHAPTER 4: Berry Bickering

  CHAPTER 5: Food Fight

  A Sweet Good-Night

  Teaser

  About the Author and Illustrator

  Copyright

  A FEIWEL AND FRIENDS BOOK

  An Imprint of Macmillan

  WIND DANCERS: HORSE HAPPY. Copyright © 2008 by Reeves International, Inc. All rights reserved. BREYER, WIND DANCERS, and BREYER logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Reeves International, Inc.

  For information, address Feiwel and Friends, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

  Our e-books may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at (800) 221-7945, extension 5442, or by e-mail at [email protected].

  Feiwel and Friends logo designed by Filomena Tuosto

  First Edition: 2008

  mackids.com

  eISBN 9781250120274

  First eBook edition: March 2016