The ERUJ foal’s playroom was bustling with activity. Young horses of all shapes and sizes tussled and played ball together, their hooves squeaking against the polished wood floors. But not Lilith.

  She sat on the corner of the bleachers, thick black mane flopping over her eyes, head buried in her sketchpad. She drew almost non-stop, sketching palaces and natural wonders and horses running freely. Her mind was always full of creative ideas. Too bad no one wanted her to execute them anymore. The more she pushed the pencil to the page, the more her copper shoes stung, but it only pressed her to keep going.

  Gabriel was standing by the door like a sentinel, watching the foals at play. He caught Lilith’s eye, and started walking over.

  Here comes twenty questions, she thought to herself in annoyance.

  “Tabitha, what are you doing all by yourself? You should come down and play with the other foals,” he said.

  She didn’t look up from her drawing. “My name is Lilith.”

  “Alright, Lilith, I feel like you’ve spent all day hiding behind that sketchpad. You need to socialize,” he advised.

  Her pencil paused its scratching. “None of the foals here care to talk to me. You can see that for yourself.”

  Gabriel sighed. “You haven’t even given it a chance. And maybe you should drop this new ‘Lilith’ thing. I feel like ‘Tabitha’ is more approachable.”

  She put her drawing down beside her and gave him a dark look. “I don’t give my opinion on the way you live your life, Gabriel, so what makes you think I want yours?”

  “You’re here and you’re a yearling. It’s my job to help you change,” he stated.

  She picked up her drawing again and started sketching away, ignoring him. Why should she care what he thought? There wasn’t a foal in the world who wanted to socialize with a yearling who had shoes on, and she was fine with that. She was her own best company here anyway. If Gabriel was too unobservant to see that, there was no point in talking to him.

  “I think you would feel better if you made a friend. Plenty of fillies here love to draw. Why don’t you say hello?” he suggested.

  She said nothing, and he put his hoof out to her. There was no getting out of this now. She set down her belongings again and took his hoof. They minced down the bleachers together, and he let her go off into the crowd of horses playing ball. When they saw her coming, they stopped and stared at her blankly. She walked through the center of the court, and no one moved an inch until she had passed all the way through. It was so quiet everyone could hear her shoes against the wooden floors.

  She sat down at a table where three fillies were braiding neck ropes together. In perfect synchrony, they got up and walked away, sitting on the floor ten feet from her. She looked back at Gabriel smugly. He was watching her nervously, ears pricked up. She stood up and made her way back, this time walking in front of a group of ponies who were practicing drill routines. The littlest of them ran away crying when she passed by, and she didn’t even bat an eyelash.

  She walked back up to Gabriel, whose jaw was on the floor. “Can I go back to drawing now?”

  The door to the playroom clicked open, and Gabriel’s boss came in. With him distracted, Lilith took the opportunity to exit stage left and pick up her drawing again. She moved down a step on the bleachers, interested to hear what his boss had for him. She had to get back at him for stalking her somehow.

  “I’ve got an excellent opportunity for you as an assistant trainer on a case with Try To Chase Me,” she told Gabriel.

  He broke into a huge smile at her words. “Really? I’ve always wanted to work with Chase. That’s amazing!”

  She nodded, and whispered into his ear.

  “Laci of Lebanon?” he exclaimed.

  The entire playroom went dead silent. Lilith dropped her pencil and planted her weary head on her drawing.

  “Sorry folks! Carry on,” Gabriel said.

  The foals gradually went back to playing, and his boss looked at him with disappointment. “You know, I was trying to keep it on the down low.”

  “Okay, but you can’t just throw a job at me like that. I mean, look around. I’m a glorified babysitter right now. Are you sure I can handle her?” he whispered.

  “You won’t have to. That’s Chase’s job. You just watch and learn,” she said.

  “Well, I can’t say no. This is really big. Thank you,” he replied.

  She smiled warmly. “Go up to say hello when your shift ends. She’s had her morning session, but I think they’ve got errands for her this afternoon.”

  She left the room, and Gabriel exhaled audibly. For good reason, Lilith thought. The last horse she’d expect to end up at this falling down hotel was Laci of Lebanon. Surely whoever sent her here had lost their mind. She knew very little about what came of her since she watched the news for the last time, but it couldn’t have been good. Laci had escaped Norfolk by a hair with the help of an experienced rebel. No way was someone like Gabriel equipped to deal with her.

  She always wondered what was happening on the outside. Her first week here was spent worrying about Daphne and Tony, but she quickly learned not to show it. Being sedated was no fun.

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  She added the final scribbles to her drawing. It was a tall golden mare on a swing that hung from a tree. She was so high up that she was upside down, mane rippling in the summer breeze. Lilith sighed. She hadn’t intended for her to be Daphne, but the more she looked at it, the more she saw her smile on the mare’s face. Her legs soared through the air carefree, just as Daphne’s would. Errant tears started to run down her face and splattered on the page.

  The door to the playroom crashed open again. A massive bay roan draft clamored in, and his chestplate jingled loudly.

  “Tailored Bliss!” he called out across the silent room.

  Lilith gathered up her sketchbook pages, squeezed them to her chest, and came down to see him. What could a proper guard want with her? Had her friends been discovered? She shuddered at the thought.

  “Come this way. Your presence has been requested in the meeting room,” he said, gripping her shoulder firmly and leading her out the door.

  “Who are you?” she demanded.

  He carried on down the hall, undeterred by her bluntness. “Naturally Priceless. You can call me Nathan.”

  “Then you should call me Lilith. Don’t bother with my old show name again,” she said boldly.

  “Fair enough. If all goes well, you shouldn’t have to see any more of me. They want to talk to you about a missing filly,” Nathan explained.

  “What would I know about that? I’ve been here for a month,” she said.

  He ignored her, and pulled her into a dimly lit room. The heavy door slammed loudly behind them. There was a chair in the middle, with bolts on the armrests for restraining horses. She sat hesitantly, but Nathan did not touch the straps. Two other horses were crammed into the room-a buckskin with a massive rear end, and a horse in a white coat rearranging medicine vials. They had tape recorders and notepads, and she spotted a pile of Polaroids scattered across the table.

  The buckskin wasted no time getting to the point. “What do you know about Daphnia Laurel?”

  He slid a picture of her across the table. It was Daphne alright. She looked so much younger than Lilith remembered. Her mane was still frizzly and short enough to stand on end. She picked up the photo and felt down its rough edges, wishing to have Daphne beside her at that very moment.

  “I’ve never seen this horse in my life,” she lied, but her voice betrayed her.

  The buckskin smirked and leaned against the table. “Perhaps you don’t know who’s asking. My name is Chase, and when I ask you a question, I expect you to answer honestly. Tell me that again and look me in the eye.”

  She slapped the photo back onto the table right under his nose. “I know who you are, Chase. I don’t know her. Leave me alone.”

  Chase turned and whispered something to Nathan, which made his ears prick nervously. “We can’t do that. It’ll tick off the board,” he whispered.

  “You know what’ll tick off the board? Valuable information I don’t have because this filly is keeping it from me,” Chase hissed back.

  He picked up a syringe from the tray behind him and flicked the cap off. “Have it your way, Tabitha.”

  She slammed her hooves on the table and stood up. “I already told you I don’t know. That’s not going to help you.”

  “Your mother seemed to have other ideas,” Nathan piped up.

  Her ears shot back, and she tossed her head up defiantly. “My mother hasn’t seen me in a month, and she was just as attentive to me when I lived with her. She doesn’t know what I do.”

  “She saw you walk that filly home. What do you know?” he barked.

  Chase squeezed the muscle in her neck for the needle, and she slapped his hoof away. “Alright, I’ll tell you, but put that away first. For Epona’s sake.”

  The buckskin withdrew. “I thought that might help you talk.”

  “We were in a study group. Sometimes I walked her home. That’s it,” she said.

  “That’s it? Why was she sobbing on your shoulder during the incident that got you here?” Chase questioned.

  She felt like she was choking, but forced out more words. “That’s not true.”

  He passed her a screen capture from a school security camera. “Just because you don’t think anyone saw it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen, Tabitha.”

  The door to the interrogation room cracked open, and a blue Belgian stuck his head in. “Chase, are you busy right now?”

  “What does it look like?” he snapped.

  The Belgian rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s a Laci problem.”

  “Is it that hard to get her down here in one piece?” Chase complained.

  The door creaked open the rest of the way, and Laci stood there, blue eyes nearly popping out of her skull, blood flying from her lips.

  Chase sighed. “She always looks like that.”

  “I know. It’s Gabriel who doesn’t look so good,” the Belgian replied.

  At his words, Chase stood up and switched his tail violently. He slammed over to the Belgian and gave him a foul look. “What in the hell was he doing around Laci?”

  “He was assigned to her as an assistant,” he replied.

  Chase was so irate his nostrils were flaring. “That’s news. Why don’t they just put anyone on Laci’s case? It’s not like she’s a murderer!” he roared.

  Laci reared up on her hind legs and squealed fearfully. Lilith got up and moved to the back of the room, and no one bothered to stop her. Chase continued to shout obscenities and walk out into the hall, and the other horses followed, leaving her alone. Curious, she rummaged through the papers they’d left on the desk.

  MISSING FOAL-Last seen in Norfolk town center. Daphnia Laurel. Whereabouts unconfirmed, suspected to be at the illegal residence of the main rebellion group in Norfolk Wood section 34T. Horses involved have been identified as: Wilcox’s Elizabethan, Folke’s Sea of Ash, Knight Of Griffiths, Orange Marmalade, Aasiya al-Delphinia, “Orion”, Laci of Lebanon (DETAINED). Related cases: Officers Houston and Rocky of Granbury MIA, Glacial Divinity MIA, Dr. Gregory Pontier treason, H Project failure (6 escapes, 21 casualties, 35 injured).

  Lilith’s hooves shook as she held the paper until she couldn’t read it anymore. She put it down and kept shuffling through, heart thundering in her chest. There were pictures on the table of dead horses and horrifying evidence she couldn’t bear to look at. She made her way to the back of the room, where the doctor’s supplies were waiting. There was a locked metal medkit on the desk, but he had left his key ring behind. She had seen one of those kits before. Her heart skipped a beat when she remembered what was inside. Frantically, she tried every key.

  A loud crash sounded outside, and Laci howled so loud it shook the foundation. Lilith could hardly breathe as she tried the next key, and thank her lucky stars, it finally turned. She rapidly unlatched the box and dug through its contents.

  Chase’s berating tore through the walls. “Get up! Quit that!”

  She never thought a pair of shoe pullers would bring tears to her eyes, but there they were, in the sole of her hoof like a magic wand.