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“Hey, you, girl! What are you doing here?”

Danya blinked her eyes open groggily as a bright circle of light bobbed across the room. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and stared into the light, the nightmare still fresh in her head.

The light bobbed closer. As Danya's eyes adjusted, she saw that it illuminated a tall, skinny man wearing a security guard uniform. He stood in the hallway just outside the bedroom.

“Hey!” he said. “You girls aren't supposed to be here.”

A guard! Danya grabbed Pia's arm and shook. Still confused, the guard stepped into the bedroom.

“Mom . . .” Pia mumbled in her sleep. “Daddy . . .”

“Pia, I think it's time for the chase!” Danya whispered. The guard came closer.

It was like Danya flipped a light switch. Pia's eyes shot open, and she leapt to her feet as the guard approached the edge of the bed. The mattress wobbled beneath them.

“Take that!” Pia yelled, kicking a pillow at the guard. The pillow flew at his face, and he dropped his flashlight, which rolled under the bed. Danya looked around for Sancho but didn't see him curled up in bed next to her. Fear crawled up Danya's throat.

“Let's
go
!” Pia shouted.

“We can't leave without Sancho,” Danya said. Just then, the guard lurched toward the bed. The girls stumbled out of the bed and bolted from the room.

Just outside the door was a bathroom, its door ajar. Water dribbled into the hallway from beneath the frame, making the floor all slick and slippery.

“Wait.” Danya clutched at the wall for balance as she slid over the wet floor. She pushed the door open and there was Sancho. He'd nudged the bathtub faucet on with his nose and was eagerly slurping up water with his long, pink tongue. The tub had overflowed and there was water
everywhere
.

“Come on, Sancho!” Danya yelled.

Sancho's ears pricked up, and he bolted forward, his hooves slipping and sliding over the slick tile. The bedroom door flew open, and the guard stumbled out at the exact same moment that Sancho lost his footing and slid, nose first, into the hallway, knocking the guard to the ground.

“Way to go, Sancho!” Pia yelled, pumping a fist into the air. Sancho quickly regained his footing, and they raced around the corner—immediately finding two much larger guards at the end of the hallway. Danya yelped. The guards pointed at her, Pia, and Sancho and started racing down the hallway toward them.

“This way!” Pia led Danya and Sancho down one hallway, then another, the guards at their heels. They were fast, and Danya was pretty sure she wouldn't be able to outrun them. She looked over her shoulder as they sped around another corner, into the hallway filled with golden records. They needed a plan!

“They're gaining on us!” she shouted, and Sancho grunted, whipping his tail back and forth nervously. Pia looked over her shoulder and nodded.

“Okay,” she said. “You run ahead. I'll stall them!”

“Pia, no! I'm not leaving you!” Danya said. They
had
to stay together! If they got split up, how would they ever find each other again?

But Pia just shook her head, waving Danya forward. “Danya, get on Sancho and make a break for it!” she shouted, peeling the golden records off the wall and flinging them at the guards like they were Frisbees.

The first guard took a record right in the face and fell to the ground with a thump, groaning as he rubbed the red mark appearing on his forehead.

But the second dodged the first record Pia sent flying and lurched toward Danya and Sancho. Sancho reared, kicking at the air with his front hooves. Terrified, he circled behind Danya and swept between her legs, forcing her onto his back. Wobbling in her saddle, Danya grabbed for Sancho's reins to steady herself, and he shot down the hallway.

Behind them, Pia pulled down two more records and threw them forward at the same time. They curved around each other midair, clocking the second guard on either temple. The first guard was standing again, though, and heading toward her. . . .

“Pia!” Danya yelled.

“GO!” Pia insisted. “I'll meet you at that big white gate covered in musical notes in five minutes.
Promise.
”

Danya tugged on Sancho's ear, urging him faster. The rest of the hallways were empty, and Danya and Sancho made it to the front door easily. Sancho pushed the door open with his nose and ran across the grounds.

The Graceland grounds were empty. Golden light shone from the horizon—the sun would be rising soon—and it sent strange shadows across the rolling, green lawn. Danya held tight to Sancho as they tore across the grass, afraid to look behind her in case another guard was on her tail. But when she reached the gates to Graceland, Danya pulled on Sancho's reins to get him to stop. The gates were wide open. They'd closed behind Danya and Pia on the way inside, so why would they be open now?

“Hey, you there!” someone yelled. Danya spun around in her saddle and saw a police cruiser parked just inside the gates. The security guard had called the cops!

The cruiser door swung open, and a police officer stepped out. He started walking toward them, reminding Danya of a character out of a Ferdinand and Dapple book. Moonlight bounced off his bald head, and his dark eyes had a sinister look to them. Sancho shook his head and took a few worried steps back. Danya's chest clenched. This whole night was surreal. Danya suddenly had a flash of Ferdinand sitting atop Dapple, dressed as a knight about to battle a foe. Ferdinand had been an ace jouster. Back before the fire, Danya and Sancho used to practice in her backyard, using a tennis racket instead of a lance.

Suddenly Danya knew exactly what to do. Holding Sancho's reins tight, she imagined that she was actually a knight about to enter into a jousting tournament. She straightened her leg—she didn't have a weapon, so it would have to do as her lance.

“Hi-yah!” she shouted into the morning. She gave Sancho's reins a mighty shake, and the two of them tore down the sidewalk at a speed that Danya could only assume had not been known by man or beast before. The cop took a step backward.

“Wait! What are you doing?”

She aimed her leg at the cop and kicked the flashlight out of his hands. It arced high in the air, and Danya caught it in one hand. Sancho raced toward the horizon, where a bright orange ball of sun crept over the distant hills.

As they rode past the big white gate covered in musical notes, Danya twisted in her saddle, certain Pia would emerge from the shadows to vault the fence and chase her and Sancho down. But the street behind them was empty.

CHAPTER TEN

Goats, Windmills, and Straying from the Path of Righteousness

D
anya and Sancho
rode away from Graceland at a breakneck speed. Behind them, the cop fumbled with his car keys, which rolled under the back tire of his cruiser. He mumbled something under his breath and dropped to his knees to try and find them. Only when she was sure they'd left him behind did Danya pat Sancho's neck to get him to slow.

“Whoa, buddy!” Sancho slid to a stop, and Danya led him around in a circle, taking in their surroundings. They'd somehow wandered far from Graceland, and Danya wasn't entirely sure where they were. The buildings here were farther apart, separated by long stretches of trees and grass. Danya slid off Sancho's back, and together they tried to retrace their steps to Graceland, but no matter where they turned, they couldn't find the white gates covered with musical instruments again. Instead they wandered aimlessly down crowded sidewalks and past towering buildings.

Even worse, there seemed to be police officers and security guards
everywhere
. Twice Danya saw the flashing blue and red lights of a police cruiser and had to stumble down a narrow alley to hide.

“What are we going to do?” Danya whispered to Sancho after ducking behind a row of dumpsters when a man in a blue suit and hat walked past. He'd turned out to be a mailman, not a police officer, but that didn't stop Danya from feeling like the cops were closing in on them. She crawled out from behind the dumpsters, pulling a soggy piece of lettuce from Sancho's hair. The lettuce was wilted and brown, but it made Danya's stomach rumble just the same. They'd wasted so much time wandering around the city, and now the sun hung high overhead, telling Danya it was well into the afternoon. Sancho grunted and shook out his mane. Danya sighed, patting his neck.

“You're right,” she muttered. “Pia
would
know what to do.”

Thinking about Pia made Danya's heart sink all the way down to the soles of her sneakers, and she had to bite down on her lower lip to keep herself from crying. How could she have let this happen? Pia had been so brave staying behind to fight that security guard, and what had Danya done? She'd left her there alone while she and Sancho ran to safety. What kind of a hero did that? Pia could be lost, or scared, or worse—captured. And it would be all Danya's fault.

“No.” Danya shook her head defiantly. She refused to believe her cousin had been taken by the security guards—Pia was too fast, too smart. She was out here somewhere, and Danya just had to find her. “Come on, Sancho, we can't give up. Pia would never give up on us.”

Tugging Sancho's reins, Danya looked around for a direction that seemed familiar. She thought she recognized a funky-looking fountain at the end of the street, so she steered Sancho toward it, hoping she was finally on the right track. As they got closer, Danya's heart lifted. The old, twisty tree hanging over the sidewalk looked familiar, too. And there was a crooked sign pointing to Hal's Pancake Palace that she
knew
she recognized. . . .

Then, from somewhere in the distance, drifted the sound of music.

“You think you're slick, but I know your tricks. . . .”

Despite her frustration, a smile unfolded on Danya's face. She recognized that song! It was a country song, a favorite of hers and Pia's. They played it on the radio all the time. Sancho pushed her forward with his nose, so excited he shifted his weight from hoof to hoof to hoof, like he was dancing.

“And I'll get there first 'cause I'm quicker!”

“Come on, buddy,” Danya said, walking toward the music. “Let's see where it's coming from.”

Together they headed down an alley Danya had missed when they'd come this way before. The music grew louder. Heart thumping, Danya and Sancho followed the alley to a wide, open square surrounded by tall buildings. It was like the music was a sign. Danya couldn't explain it, but she just had this feeling they were headed in the right direction. If Pia was around here and she heard that song, Danya knew she'd head for the music, too.

A crowd filled the square around them, all watching something Danya was too short to see. She stood on tiptoe but had her view blocked by a man's hairy arm. Blowing a frizzy curl out of her eyes, Danya tried hopping up and down—and almost got hit in the face with a woman's handbag.

Sancho grunted and nudged her arm. Danya turned to tell him to quiet down—she was trying to
think
, after all—but he dropped to his front knees, motioning for her to climb onto his back.

“Good thinking!” Danya said. Carefully, she crawled on and rose to her feet, wedging the toes of her sneakers beneath the saddle. She tightened her grip on Sancho's reins, swaying back and forth as he stood. Together they were nearly seven feet tall and towered over everyone around them. Nervous for a moment, Danya glanced around for the Graceland guards or police officers. They were nowhere to be seen. Sighing in relief, she started searching the crowd for Pia.

Speakers lined the square, blasting Athena music as a group of people in black leotards leapt and twirled in the middle of the crowd. Danya's heart thumped faster. A flash mob! She'd seen videos of flash mobs on YouTube before—normal people would randomly burst into a choreographed dance routine in a public place, just for the fun of it. For the briefest moment Danya was so enchanted by the dancers she stopped searching for Pia. They were so graceful, with their arms and legs swaying and turning as one.

All except for the dancer on the end. She leapt through the air when the dancers around her interlocked arms, spinning together in a circle. And when the other dancers came together to form a human pyramid, the dancer at the end tried to break dance.

Danya narrowed her eyes to watch the strange dancer better. She wore a pair of oversize novelty sunglasses and a fake nose, and her clothes weren't even black. And there was something about her long, gangly limbs and crazy curls that seemed familiar. . . .

“Pia!” Danya shouted. Sancho was so excited to see Pia again that he shot forward, his hooves beating against the pavement. The crowd parted to get out of his way, and Danya locked her knees and tightened her grip on the reins, somehow managing to stay upright even as they tore through the thick mob of people. She and Sancho raced past the black-leotard dancers (now performing pirouettes in perfect unison) and would have collided with Pia if Sancho hadn't screeched to a halt inches from her sneakers. Danya lost her balance and fell forward, tumbling onto Sancho's neck.

“We thought we'd lost you!” Danya gasped. There was hair covering her forehead and all inside her mouth. Regaining her balance, Danya scrambled down and threw her arms around Pia, nearly knocking her to the ground.

“Once I heard the Athena song, I came straight here,” Pia explained. “I figured you'd know to come. Then there was that flash mob and, well, I guess I kind of got carried away.”

Danya grabbed her cousin's hand and led them away from the crowd. Sancho followed.

“We gotta keep a low profile,” Pia said. “I think we should try to find a ride a little outside the city. . . .”

• • •

After hours of walking south down a small highway, the farmhouses became fewer and farther between. Danya began to lose hope they'd ever hitch a ride. Sancho yanked on his reins, practically pulling Danya down the narrow driveway of the nearest house. “Buddy, what's going on?” she asked, tugging back on the reins.

Apparently he was hungry; a basket of peaches sat in the bed of a pickup truck parked in the driveway.

“We gotta keep moving,” she said. “We're still so far.” With her free hand she pulled the map out, as if to show Sancho, but just at that moment the wind snatched it from Danya's hands. For a moment it hovered in the air just in front of her, but when Danya reached out to grab it, the map danced forward, disappearing behind the truck.

“No!” Danya raced after the map, following as it ducked beneath the old red pickup truck, blew past the little house, and disappeared into the backyard.

Danya flew around the corner—then skidded to a stop, her mouth dropping open. The yard behind the little house was absolutely filled with goats. They covered every single blade of grass, turning all that Danya could see white, black, brown, and
furry
. Tall fences surrounded the goats, and thick trees lined the yard. Though Danya heard the rumble of cars driving past, she couldn't see the street at all. A windmill stood at the far corner of the lawn, its blades whirring in the wind.

The goats bleated, and one clomped forward to chew on the sleeve of Danya's sweater. Danya swatted him away, searching the sea of white and black fur for her map. But every time she thought she saw a flutter of paper it turned out to be a tuft of fur or the sun glinting off a wet, black nose.

“Whoa,” Pia said, coming up beside her. Sancho grunted and nudged her arm. Even he sounded distressed.

“How am I supposed to find the map now?” Danya said, nudging aside another goat—this one was trying to eat her shoelaces. Sancho snorted, then pushed the goat away with his nose. He didn't like sharing Danya.

“I've got an idea,” Pia said. She grabbed Sancho's reins and pulled herself onto his back.

“Wait, what are you—” Danya started, but before she could say a word, Pia yelled, “Heeyaw!” She tugged on Sancho's reins, and the two of them charged forward.

For a split second Danya felt a stab of jealousy (she didn't like sharing Sancho, either). But then the goats scattered, spooked by the crazy girl on the horse racing around them in circles, shouting at the top of her lungs. They darted to the sides of the yard, bleating and snorting. Danya searched the now-empty yard until she saw it—the map!

Grinning in relief, Danya raced forward as the wind blew the map over the grass and into the windmill. It caught the bottommost propeller, hovering for a moment just out of Danya's reach. Then the wind blew harder and the propellers started to turn.

Danya stood at the base of the windmill, dumbfounded. She watched the map cling to the propeller as it spun around and around. She couldn't just walk away—she
needed
that map! How else was she going to find her way to her grandmother?

But it was so high up! And the propellers were spinning faster and faster . . . Danya swallowed, trying to think of a plan. Pia would crawl right up the side of the windmill without a second thought and get the map herself—but she was busy. Danya could still hear her racing across the yard and yelling at the goats to move as she tried to gather them together. Taking a deep breath, Danya wrapped her arms around the base of the windmill and began to climb.

Bricks stuck out at strange angles, creating hand- and footholds that made it easy to climb up. But once Danya reached the propellers, she hesitated, nervous. The map was all the way at the very tip of one of the propellers—which meant Danya would have to crawl out after it.

“Pia could do this,” Danya told herself. It made her feel braver. She waited for the wind to slow, then took a deep breath and grabbed onto the propeller.

Whoosh!
The propeller whipped away so quickly that the world around Danya blurred. She clutched onto it for dear life as it spun and spun and spun, gathering speed every time it whipped around. It took Danya a full three spins before she found the courage to open her eyes.

The map was still clinging to the very edge of the propeller, glued down by the force of the wind. Danya scooted forward, but the propeller was spinning so quickly. She could feel her grip growing slack. She wouldn't be able to hold on much longer. And the map was still so far out of reach.

“Help . . . !” she yelled. But the wind snatched away her voice before anyone could hear her.

The windmill whipped Danya around and around, so fast the world blurred together. She clenched her eyes shut, holding to the propeller for dear life.

“Danya!”

Danya's eyes flew open, and she craned her neck around, barely able to make out Pia and Sancho racing across the yard.

“Pia!” Danya yelled. “Pia, help!”

Pia reached the windmill quickly, slid from Sancho's back, and climbed up the base until she was just a few feet from the propellers. Danya whipped past her once. Then twice.

“Pia, I can't get down,” she said. Pia nodded, then scurried back down. She searched the ground, finally grabbing a bit of fence that looked like one of the goats had been gnawing on it. She aimed . . . and threw. . . .

The fence post whizzed through the air like a spear, wedging itself between two of the giant propellers. The one Danya clung to jerked, then came to a stop.

Danya let out a sigh of relief. Carefully, she slid to the edge of the propeller, grabbed the map, and crawled back down.

“What on earth were you doing?” Pia asked.