Copyright

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  DreamWorks Spirit Riding Free © 2019 DreamWorks Animation LLC.

  All Rights Reserved.

  Illustrations by Maine Diaz

  Cover design by Ching Chan. Cover illustration by Maine Diaz.

  Hachette Book Group supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact permissions@hbgusa.com. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  Little, Brown and Company

  Hachette Book Group

  1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10104

  Visit us at LBYR.com

  First Edition: August 2019

  Little, Brown and Company is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc. The Little, Brown name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

  The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

  Library of Congress Control Number 2019937641

  ISBNs: 978-0-316-48745-0 (pbk.), 978-0-316-53684-4 (Scholastic ed.), 978-0-316-48746-7 (ebook)

  E3-20190710-JV-NF-ORI

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Discover More

  About the Author

  About the Illustrator

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  Tap here to learn more.

  Lucky Prescott’s kitchen was a mess. There were bowls and spoons everywhere, and most of the countertops were covered in flour. She was hosting a “Best Friends Baking Day.” Every so often, Lucky, Abigail, and Pru—the PALs—would get together to make all sorts of yummy treats.

  Today was special. Abigail wanted to try out some new recipes that she’d invented. Baking was one of her favorite family traditions. Usually the girls would take over the kitchen at the Stone household. But today there had been one problem: Abigail’s little brother, Snips, was being really annoying. He kept marching through the kitchen, banging pots and pans with a wooden spoon and asking for a taste of something sweet. It was really interrupting the girls’ creative process.

  So Lucky had suggested they move to her house. It would be nice and quiet. Especially since her dad, Jim Prescott, had promised to practice his harmonica at the depot from now on.

  “Abigail! Pass me that pie tin,” said Lucky. She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. A big smear of flour stayed behind. She didn’t care.

  “Here ya go!” Abigail chirped. She had already buttered her favorite pie tin. Now all it needed was the crust… and the fruit filling! Today’s specialty was blueberry. The secret ingredient in Abigail’s new recipe was a handful of cranberries. She said a splash of tart would bring out the sweet flavor of the blueberries. Lucky wasn’t sure about that, but she was excited to taste the new flavor. Cranberries always reminded her of autumn. It was going to be the perfect treat for a crisp day like today.

  Pru carefully rolled out the crust with the rolling pin and laid it in the tin just as Abigail had taught her.

  “Nice work!” Abigail nodded her approval. It was very easy for the crust to tear. “Now pour in the blueberries.”

  “I’m on it!” Lucky smiled as she poured the sugary mixture into the shell. “Should we do a lattice top?” On a previous Best Friends Baking Day, Abigail had shown her friends how to cut strips of dough and weave them together on the top of the pie. It looked really neat.

  The girls decided it might be better to try something new. “How about some fall leaves?” Pru rolled out another piece of crust. She stamped a leaf-shaped cookie cutter into it. “Or a horse!”

  “Ooooh, good idea, Pru.” Lucky nodded. She began to look through her cookie cutters for a horse-shaped one. Even though the pie was just for the three of them to enjoy, it was still fun to make it look like a showstopper.

  After they’d decorated the top with leaves and horses, the girls popped the pie into the oven to bake. Then all there was left to do was wait. Well, that and the cleaning-up part. It was not their favorite, but when Lucky, Abigail, and Pru worked together, cleanup usually went pretty fast.

  But before they could start, Jim Prescott popped his head in. “What’s that smell?” He took a long, deep sniff and smiled. “Is it blueberry?”

  “We’ll save you a slice, Mr. Prescott!” Abigail laughed. “As your payment for letting us ruin your kitchen.”

  “Seems like a pretty sweet deal to me!” Jim gave a thumbs-up. “Well, I’ll leave you girls to it, but I just wanted to give you this first. It’s addressed to ‘The Miradero Herd!’” He held up a crisp white envelope. It had a gold wax seal with a heart symbol on it. Lucky recognized that symbol right away. She darted over and took the letter from her father’s hands.

  “It’s from the Frontier Fillies!” Lucky exclaimed. She and her friends had recently become a part of the Frontier Fillies, an organization for girls and their horses. Each town had their own group, called a “herd.” The Miradero Herd was a little bit newer than some of the others, but they had quickly caught up by earning badges in the Boots and Bows event, the Majestic Mare display, and all sorts of other fun activities at the Frontier Fillies Jamboree that summer.

  Lucky held up the envelope. “It’s from Ms. Hungerford! Should I open it now?”

  “What are you waiting for?” said Pru, then she thought better of it. “Actually, maybe you should wash your hands first.”

  A blueberry covered in sugar syrup ran down Lucky’s wrist. She licked it off. Aunt Cora was always reminding Lucky to wash her hands.

  “Oh yeah. Good point.” Once Lucky had washed up, she carefully lifted the golden seal and read aloud. “Kind salutations to the current holders of the Hungerford Heart—the Miradero Herd!”

  Pru and Abigail smiled with pride.

  The three of them had worked very hard to win the coveted prize at the Jamboree. Snips had almost messed up their chances when he’d tried to sabotage the other herds’ turns during the events. But it had all worked out in the end. The other herds had voted for Miradero to win because they had displayed the four qualities that represented the award: honor, compassion, valor, and honesty.

  Lucky continued reading: “I am pleased to inform you that we have decided to hold the first-ever Frontier Fillies Winter Jamboree! There will be winter trail rides, log cabins, and of course… the chance to earn more badges.” Lucky felt her heartbeat quicken. She loved earning badges and sewing them onto her sash.

  “Wow!” Abigail clapped her hands. “That sounds so fun! I bet Boomerang would love a winter trip. Just imagine it—trotting through the snowy woods.…Oooh! We could make a snow-horse!”

  Pru nodded. “We obviously have to go.”

  “Obviously!” Abigail echoed.

  But there was more. Lucky kept reading. “To get the first event off the ground, each herd will have to plan a fund-raiser. The herd with the most contributions to the Winter Jamboree will win a special prize—the Golden Horseshoe Trophy!”

  “Ooooooh…” the girls said in unison. A trophy? They were definitely intrigued.

  “I wonder how many karats are in the Golden Horseshoe Trophy,” Abigail joked. “Get it? Because horses love carrots!” The girls giggled, each imagining placing the trophy on a special shelf in the barn. It would look so wonderful! Of course, they had to actually win it first. It would be amazing to be the holders of the Hungerford Heart and to be the first-ever winners of the Golden Horseshoe. It would prove how great the PALs were at being Frontier Fillies and at being a team! Now all they had to do was clean the kitchen, and come up with an award-winning fund-raiser! Lucky just hoped it would be a piece of cake… or pie!

  Lucky shivered as she and the girls opened the barn door. The seasons were definitely changing. Good thing Spirit had wanted to visit Chica Linda and Boomerang in the barn, where it was a little warmer. It would also be easier to tell the horses the good news about the Winter Jamboree, since they were all together. Maybe they already knew! Lucky often wondered if the horses talked about the girls in horse-speak when they were gone. Probably not, but it was a funny thought.

  Abigail skipped forward to Boomerang’s stall and opened the door. “You look so dapper in your new blanket, Boomerang. Is it warm?” The brown-and-white American Paint Horse whinnied. That meant he liked his new blanket very much.

  Next to him was Pru’s Palomino horse, Chica Linda. She poked out her head from her stall. Chica Linda leaned down and nuzzled Pru, then sniffed her pockets for treats. Luckily, each girl had remembered to bring a handful of Abigail’s special oat biscuits with them. “Hungry today, huh, girl?” Pru asked as Chica Linda ate three of them in one bite. She took that as a yes.

  “We were, too.” Abigail patt ed her stomach. Each girl had eaten a big slice of the cran-blueberry pie. Abigail had been right—the cranberries had been the perfect touch! They’d saved the rest of the pie for Mr. and Mrs. Prescott. The girls hadn’t wanted to get tummyaches.

  “How does a trail ride sound to you guys?” Lucky asked, petting Spirit’s soft light-brown hide. “I want to see all the leaves changing color.”

  “My dad calls that ‘leaf-peeping,’” said Abigail. She unhooked Boomerang’s saddle and bridle from the wall. “Sounds pretty silly, doesn’t it? Peep! Peep!”

  Lucky and Pru agreed, but it didn’t stop them from wanting to go.

  After Chica Linda and Boomerang were tacked and ready, the girls mounted their horses. Lucky never rode Spirit with a saddle, because he was actually a wild and free horse. The two of them had their own special way of doing things. Lucky liked it that way. Spirit leaned down so she could lift herself up onto his sturdy back. Lucky grabbed on to his mane.

  “To the leaf-peeping!” Abigail laughed and pointed ahead. Then they took off toward their favorite trail at a slow trot.

  It was only a few minutes before Lucky’s thoughts drifted back to the Winter Jamboree fund-raiser. She really wanted to win the Golden Horseshoe to add to her herd’s trophy collection. With how well the three of them worked together, they had to win, right? All they needed was the perfect idea to clinch the competition. Riding on the open trail always gave her lots to think about. Something about the fresh air and the wind in her face made her feel invigorated. It was the perfect time to be brilliant. “We should try to brainstorm some ideas for the fund-raiser while we ride!”

  “Hmmm…” Pru squinted, which was her “thinking face.” “Why don’t we put on a show? We can sell tons of tickets. That ought to give us a good shot at raising the most funds.”

  “What kind of show?” Abigail asked. The girls steered their horses through the trees and along the stream. Boomerang bent down and took a drink. “Like a puppet show? I think Maricela has an old wooden puppet theater. Maybe she’d lend it to us.”

  “No, I was thinking more like a horse showcase, kinda like we did at the last Jamboree,” Pru replied. She trotted ahead and jumped Chica Linda over a log. The mare soared through the air and landed gracefully, her hooves thudding on the soft earth. “Stuff like that!” Pru looked proud. Though they had always been good at jumping, she and Chica Linda were constantly getting better and jumping even higher. It took a lot of practice.

  “But do you really think we’d sell enough tickets to win the Golden Horseshoe?” Lucky wondered. Performance was in their blood, especially after the time they’d all run away to join the circus, El Circo Dos Grillos. But that had been a while ago. They might all be a bit rusty. Plus, Miradero was a pretty small town. “We might need to do the show a few times to sell enough. Do you think people would come to the show more than once?”

  “I’m not sure.…” Pru shrugged. “Maybe if we practice some new, impressive tricks? We can try different things at each show!”

  “Let’s see what we can do!” Abigail replied. She had been itching to learn some new stuff with Boomerang.

  For the next hour, Lucky, Abigail, and Pru took turns trotting ahead on the trail and surprising one another with random tricks. Pru and Chica Linda did an elegant dressage dance, weaving through a row of trees while the other girls sang a song and clapped a beat.

  Abigail and Boomerang did a silly comedy routine where they pretended to tightrope walk. Abigail got Boomerang to rear back on his hind legs, and then he carefully walked across a bridge in a perfectly straight line, one hoof in front of the other. It took quite a long time for them to get to the other side, because Abigail kept bursting into fits of giggles.

  And last but not least, Lucky tried to impress her friends by jumping onto Spirit’s back from a tree branch.

  “Ta-da!” Lucky laughed as she landed perfectly on Spirit’s back. A shower of crunchy, orange leaves fell on them from the shaking branch above her. A few stuck in her hair, but Lucky didn’t mind. She was doing her favorite activity in the world—riding horses with her best friends. Pru and Abigail clapped and whistled in appreciation. Lucky stayed standing on Spirit’s back and made a little bow to her adoring fans.

  By the time they’d finished doing tricks, the PALs had completely forgotten why they’d started in the first place. Lucky looked up and noticed that the landscape around them had changed. The trees were much thicker than on their normal route. The colors of the leaves were brilliant hues of red, orange, and yellow. It was almost as if they were on fire. It was excellent leaf-peeping, but the girls were a little surprised that they’d gotten so distracted. They’d only meant to go for a short ride.

  “I think we must have taken the Crested Ridge trail instead of our normal route!” Pru bit her lip. “Chica Linda, what do you think?” The horse replied with a snort. That meant yes.

  Lucky laid out the options. “We can keep going for a little bit until we get to the spot where the trails meet again… or we can turn back around.”

  After a short discussion, the girls all agreed that it would actually be fun to go a little farther today. They loved learning about every trail around Miradero. They had just started off again when Lucky stopped Spirit and called out to the gang. “Look! I think I see something up ahead!”

  It was a beautiful apple orchard. The trees were all planted in perfect rows and were bursting with juicy apples. Lucky didn’t even have time to discuss what to do before Spirit took off in the direction of the grove. All Lucky could do was hold on tight and hope her friends followed.

  Once Spirit reached the edge of the orchard, he found a little pile of fallen fruits and helped himself to it. The horse immediately scarfed down six Honeycrisp apples and even rolled a few over to Chica Linda and Boomerang. The three horses crunched and neighed happily.

  Lucky, Pru, and Abigail couldn’t help laughing at their goofy horses. It was fun to watch them playing around, but they knew they should probably stay for only a few minutes. They still had a long ride home, and Lucky was starting to get quite thirsty and hungry. But as Spirit crunched down on another apple, Lucky decided she couldn’t wait to go home for food.

  “Let’s go inside the orchard,” whispered Lucky. Her tummy rumbled. That slice of pie seemed like an awfully long time ago. “Maybe we can buy a few apples for a snack.” She pointed to the apple cores the horses had spit out. “And pay for those.”

  “If we can even find someone to pay!” Pru replied. She hopped off Chica Linda’s saddle and walked over to look down the row of trees. “There’s no one here, Lucky. Do you think we could take just a few apples?”

  “Lucky’s got the right idea. We shouldn’t steal any apples.” Abigail was very serious about living by the values of the Hungerford Heart.

  “Ugh, I know you’re right, but I’m hungry,” Pru admitted. She held her stomach. “We should have packed a few pickle sandwiches for the road.”

  “Yuck!” Abigail made a face. Pru had really weird taste in food sometimes.

  “Don’t worry; I’m sure we can take a few apples and find a place to leave our money with a note,” Lucky assured her friends. She skipped over to a tree and plucked the most perfect-looking apple from its branch. As Lucky bit into it, her eyes grew wide with amazement. It tasted perfect, too. “Wow, this is the best apple I’ve ever tasted!”

  “¡Gracias!” said an unfamiliar voice. “We grew them ourselves.”

  The girls spun around. They’d been caught in the act! A girl who looked just a little older than them stood nearby. She had short, curly dark hair and bright-green eyes. Her red sweater made them look even greener. Luckily, she didn’t seem mad that the PALs and their horses were there. In fact, she greeted them warmly. “Me llamo Vida! And this is my family’s huerto de manzanas.”

  “That means ‘apple orchard,’” said Pru. “I remember it from our Spanish lesson.”

  “¡Muy bien! Very good!” Vida nodded. She motioned to the apple in Lucky’s hand. “Por favor, help yourselves. We have plenty to share.”

 

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