Page 2 of Thalia De Luca

"Let's ride one of the horses, Alexander!" I say before running towards the stables.

Alexander follows me, running almost as fast as me. I laugh as we race to see who can get to the stables first.

"Beat ya!" Alexander yells once he touches the stables that hold a horse.

I rest my hands on my knees, trying to catch my breath. "Not . . . fair." Alexander breathes in and out as he smiles at me. By the time we are done catching our breaths, we both start walking down to the barn to look at the horses. I see a pretty black one which makes me smile again and walk closer to it. "Look at this one, Alexander. He is so pretty." I look at Alexander and see him looking at me with a smile on his face.

I smile back at him and look up at the horse. I reach out to touch his head that is hanging out of the stable but instead I touch his nose, a hand grabs mine and turns me around to make me face a man with a dark skin tone and white hair on his face.

"Don't be touching things that will hurt you, little bit," he says and I feel my heart race as I try to get my hand out of his grip.

"Hey, let go of her," Alexander says as he grabs my hand and takes my wrist out of the man's hold.

The man stands straight, and he looks like a giant as he towers over us.

The man was about to say something but then I hear daddy yell my name making me turn my head and see him at the entrance of the stables.

"Daddy!" I yell as I run towards him. "He tried to take me away. Say ‘saluta da parte mia satana’ to him and make him light up!"

Daddy starts laughing and shakes his head as he kneels, so he is the same height as me. "Baby, he isn't trying to hurt you. He is just making sure you won't get hurt with the horses. They can be dangerousla mia principessa," daddy says as he moves the hair out of my face. He then looks up at the man behind us. "Did something happen?"

"Thalia tried to touch Nyx. He is the new horse I told you about. The one that has issues."

My dad nods his head and looks back at me. "The horse you were about to touch is dangerous. It's good you didn't touch him."

"But I want to ride one."

"Okay. You can ride one. Just one that fits your size, Thalia," daddy stands up and grabs my hand and Alexander's, who is next to me. "Let's go find a good horse for you guys to ride and then you can explore the rest of the land, okay?"

Alexander ended up getting a white horse and I asked daddy if I could get a black one so he gave me a black one.

I wanted to ride the bigger black ones, but daddy said it was too dangerous.

As Alexander and I ride the horse, mommy holds my hand while taking pictures. Daddy and Alexander's dad, Leo, are walking behind us while Emma and mommy are next to us. I wanted mommy to ride with me, but daddy said she couldn't because she was holding my baby brother in her stomach.

Alexander wants to go faster on the horse but the guy from the stables, whose name is Luca, told him to not go fast since this was his first time riding the horse.

After Alexander and I are done riding the horses, mommy and daddy tell us to go look around the farm some more.

When Alexander and I walk past the chicken pen, I start walking a little faster than him because I hate chickens. He laughs but doesn’t tease me. Instead, he makes us go the opposite way so I won’t be scared.

That's one of the things I love most about him, he always looks out for me and makes sure I am okay.

Now, Alexander and I are sitting on the grass where there are small flowers around us.

"What do you want to do when you are bigger? Like as an adult like our moms and dads?" I ask Alexander and he looks at me as he picks the grass.

He shrugs his shoulders, "I don't know. I kind of like what they do."

"How they make people turn red?" Alexander laughs and nods his head. "It's so weird that we are getting older. You're already six!"

"I'm happy we share a birthday," Alexander says and I see him pick a flower from the grass. He turns his head to look at me and he extends his hand to mine and offers me the flower. "Happy birthday Thalia. I love you."

I smile and my face feels like it's on fire. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," I take the flower from him and wrap my arms around his head to hug him. "I love you too, Alexander."

Alexander and I hug for what feels like forever but then I hear daddy calling my name making me release Alexander and stand up. I see daddy who is waving at me from down the small hill that Alexander and I are sitting on.

I look at Alexander. "I have to go. Are you coming?"

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