They could all see Moonlight clearly now – but he was not the Moonlight they had known. No earthly horse could have moved at such a speed; his hooves seemed to fly, barely touching the ground as he galloped towards them. And as he drew nearer, the colour of his coat was changing from white to blue.
Alec was still on his hands and knees, staring in sheer disbelief. Tamzin and Joel clung to each other. They couldn’t speak; couldn’t explain to him. They could only watch with a thrill of excitement as the racing vision reached the car park and rushed on towards the slope. As he reached the edge a howl erupted from the sky; Moonlight tossed his head and answered with a shrill scream. Then he took off in an astounding leap that carried him over the boulders to the sand. Blue light blazing around him, he streaked past the three and away towards the sea. The tide rushed to meet him; as he plunged into the breakers his mane and tail mingled with the spray. Then he became one with the crashing breakers and was gone. Tamzin heard herself cry out – and as she did so, a new wave began to rise. It towered high, sapphire blue against the threatening cloud. Then it surged away from the shore to the deep sea.
The grey head of the cloud curled and twisted and seemed to rear up in fury. The blue wave was heading for Lion Rock – and suddenly a part of the cloud began to whirl. It formed into a cone, and the cone started to spin downwards, stretching towards the wave, reaching for it as though to stab it like a huge dagger.
The wave rose to meet it. They touched, and in an explosion of grey and blue the two became a swaying, whirling column, joining the sky with the sea.
‘It’s a waterspout!’ Alec yelled above the noise of the elements.
Still clasping each other, Tamzin and Joel watched the incredible turmoil as the two huge forces clashed. The spinning column was moving closer and closer to Lion Rock, and despite the wind blowing in her face Tamzin felt as if there was no air left in the world to breathe. This was no mere waterspout – it was a battle between two ancient enemies. And if the Grey Horse should triumph, the future was too terrible to think of.
But it seemed that the Grey Horse would triumph. To her horror, she saw that the stuff of the cloud was spiralling faster, forcing down the spinning tower of water. The column was almost completely grey now, and the Blue Horse was falling back, its power weakening. She had to do something! But what could she do? She was helpless –
YOU ARE NOT HELPLESS! The words rose in her mind and filled her head, so unexpectedly that she gasped and staggered backwards. THE SPELL, TAMZIN! THE TALISMAN, AND THE SPELL – SAY IT AGAIN! SAY IT NOW!
Almost without her willing it, Tamzin’s arm stretched upwards, the glass charm glittering on her wrist. ‘Blue Horse!’ Her voice was shrill above the roar of sea and wind. ‘Horse of Summer! I call you from sea and sand and stone!’
As the words of the ancient summoning rang out, the base of the waterspout shuddered violently. The colour of the column began to change – and as Tamzin screamed, ‘Blue Horse, awake!’ the battling forces struck Lion Rock. The sea seemed to erupt as new energy flowed upwards. The entire waterspout turned brilliant blue, and with a noise like echoing thunder it surged up into the cloud. The grey shape in the sky was torn apart, and as it collapsed, a wave began to rise –
‘Move!’ Alec yelled at the top of his voice. ‘Get to the car park!’
All three of them fled, leaping over the boulders and up the slope as the wave rushed shorewards. They heard the crash as it broke, but there was no time to look back until they gained high ground and slid to a breathless stop.
The wave came piling and foaming up the beach and over the sand where they had been standing less than a minute ago. Spray burst over the rocks and blotted out the view, but the power of the torrent was spent. The spray cleared; the water began to fall back.
And the great grey cloud was gone. Tamzin, Joel and Alec stood staring at a calm sea, blue as sapphires under the bright spring sun.
For a minute or more no one moved, and no one spoke. Then, in a low, unsteady voice, Joel said,
‘Look at the rock…’
The familiar shape of Lion Rock had changed. Where before there had been a single crag, now there were two; as though a tremendous force had sheared through the Rock and split it.
A tremendous force… Tamzin started to shiver and could not make herself stop. The Blue Horse had won the battle. But what had become of Moonlight? Tears started to her eyes; she raised a hand to wipe them away, not wanting Joel and Alec to see. Then she stopped as, through blurred vision, she saw something glinting among the rocks below her.
With a lurch of intuition she scrambled down the rocks to where the glinting thing lay. The great wave must have washed it in; she bent down to pick it up…
A third fragment of glass shimmered between her fingers. It was blue like the others, but there was a hint of green in it, like the green of the winter sea. Slowly, holding her breath, Tamzin touched it to the talisman on her bracelet. Blue-green light flared as the old and new glass fragments glowed brilliantly… then the glow faded, and the new piece had fused with the others.
And just for a moment, in the depths of the glass, she saw a tiny image reflected. The image of a galloping white pony.
Tamzin understood. She turned to Joel, the tears streaming now, and whispered, ‘He’s gone.’
Joel held her hands. Behind him, Alec was rubbing at his own eyes, as if he was waking up from a dream – or thought he was.
‘Come on, Tam,’ said Joel. ‘Let’s go home.’
Tamzin stood at her bedroom window, watching Alec’s car drive away. Joel was in the passenger seat; he would phone later, but for now Tamzin was glad to be alone.
Alec had hardly said a word since they returned to Chapel Cottage. Tamzin wondered what he was thinking now. Perhaps he would never really believe what had happened, but would remember it as a kind of hallucination, like a waking dream. And perhaps that was just as well.
She held her glass talisman up to the window, watching the light reflect from it in tiny, winking pinpoints, and she thought of Moonlight. She would never see him again; not in any ordinary way. But in that moment on the beach, she had known the truth about him. He had never been a mortal pony at all. He was the Blue Horse; and through these past months he had been gaining in strength, helped – she believed – by her own efforts to combat the dark power of his ancient enemy. That growing strength had been enough for him to spirit himself away from the barn on the night of the rainstorm: he had known what the Grey Horse was planning, and he had needed to be near her, to try to show her what she must do. And she had done it. For the spell with which she had summoned him had enabled him to become his real self at last.
She turned to where Nan’s painting of the galloping horse hung in its place on the wall, and reached out to stroke the painted face. It felt warm, almost real, and she said sadly, ‘Oh, Moonlight… I’m going to miss you so much.’
Yet as she spoke the words, she knew deep down that this was not the end of it. The Grey Horse had been defeated once more, but its dark spirit was still free. It was out there somewhere. Plotting. Waiting.
‘I know this isn’t over yet, Moonlight,’ Tamzin said to the picture. ‘But whatever the Grey Horse tries to do, you’ll be with me. I know you will. And I’m not afraid.’
Nothing wonderful happened. The sea in the painting did not begin to move, and the galloping horse did not come to life. But Tamzin believed that the Blue Horse had heard her.