Page 34 of Emerge

"Hold on, Riley!" one of the instructors yelled, and I squeezed my legs tight.

I braced myself for Buttercup to turn again, but instead, she leapt, clearing the fence in a smooth movement that jolted me in the saddle. I shrieked and tried to stop her again by pulling on the reins, but she was already headed through a patch of trees.

I braved a glance backwards but couldn't see anything as the horse darted down a row of trees. We were headed far out into the avocado trees and would eventually come to another fence that was taller, I hoped.

I could jump from the horse, but we were going really fast, and I'd hit a tree. I wasn't sure how my body would react to injury now that it had transitioned into shifting into a siren. The last thing I wanted was to be injured like Morgan had been. Would the triton doctors even treat me since I was a siren? They'd probably kill me on sight.

Buttercup was frothing at the mouth as we neared the edge of the property. I didn't know much about horses, but any type of frothing from an animal's mouth was never a good sign. I saw a rise ahead to what looked like a levee.

The horse slowed and ran up the side where a truck with a horse trailer sat idling. Buttercup wasted no time heading straight for it, and I had hardly enough time to flatten myself against her so I wouldn't hit my head.

My heart, that had been beating erratically, felt like it stopped. The ramp was immediately shut, leaving us in the dim light of the trailer.

I got off the horse, which was probably not a wise idea, but staying on her in a moving vehicle was even worse. She was content and stuck her face in a cubbyhole that had water in it.

"Hello!" I banged on the door and pushed on it, hoping it would open. "Help!"

I felt the walls closing in on me. My clothes stuck to my skin as the heat from Buttercup and the closed trailer melded together. The windows of the trailer were shut, but on the top were two vents, like those on school buses that were open to let in light and air.

I stumbled as the truck began moving and wondered if I would die being squashed by the horse. I put a hand against the side of the trailer as I made my way to the front and held on to a bar that was there. Buttercup eyed me with one of her big black eyes. She looked sad, and I patted her side.

I knew exactly what was happening. I had already come to terms with it before this had even happened; I was going to have to face Dylan whether I was ready to or not.

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