1 There was a special spot in Lisa’s heart with room for just one thing the horse Starshine brave beautiful Starshine with his soft muzzle and perfect near-floating gallop Fearful young Lisa had had such a rough life so far and Starshine had gotten her back into the saddle again Now that she thought about it this spot had been filled for a long time so much longer than she would have suspected Ever since her childish preschool drawings of a gorgeous gorgeous white horse with an unusual blue-tinted mane this spot this place in her heart had tempted her beckoned to her with whispers of moonlit rides dizzying adventure and the kind of pure uncomplicated love that you can only feel for an animal This was the whisper that had brought her to Jorvik to Starshine Of course you can love people too Lisa knew that But somehow somehow loving people was always harder With people there were always always other considerations so many other complex considerations Conflicts arguments demands everyday life People wore on each other They were either misunderstood said the wrong thing or said something they might not be able to take back Loving a horse on the other hand was simple that was really just unconditional love And Lisa had learned that a person could grow and gain courage from this kind of love
But Starshine wasn’t here now He was gone kidnapped and it was up to her and her friends to find him She had cried so many tears of sorrow and fear panic and dread She didn’t have any tears left anymore All she had left was simply the knowledge that they needed to find him Which was how she came to find herself standing there outside of the Dark Core complex It towered over her like some sinister giant In the gentle wind a wilted yellowish brown piece of grass tumbled forlornly past A dry red leaf blew off a tree and landed on the cover of a well Otherwise it was completely and utterly quiet Almost too quiet But at the same time it felt as if a hundred pairs of eyes were staring at the back of her head as she snuck through the fence into the seemingly deserted industrial area Maybe it was more than a feeling She had not been here very long but she had seen enough to know that people could turn up from any direction at any time They might come off the frothy black ocean Or from any of the winding staircases and hallways Or from the copper piping that reminded her of large glistening snakes And then a few hours ago from the sky had come an enormous helicopter with him in it Mr Sands Just his name just the thought of him made her skin crawl When he stepped out of the helicopter he had stood there for a while beneath its swirling air currents with his inscrutable inscrutable black eyes focused on something above the helicopter pad Lisa knew that there was no way not from that far away but from her hiding spot on the water tower it felt like he was looking straight at her through her He must still be in there She hadn’t seen him come out again hadn’t seen anything at all since she came down from the water tower and onto the grounds But she knew that she had to be on her guard
She clenched the bolt cutters she had just used to pop open the fence They weren’t much of a weapon not if the big workers in the green outfits she had seen go in the front door earlier turned up and grabbed her Or if he did Lisa shuddered But the bolt cutters were something solid to hold onto and that helped her hands stop trembling for now She hurried across the grounds not really sure where she was going The big building that was actually several buildings that flowed together was like multiple islands in an archipelago It reminded her of some evil knight’s fortress only made of steel and sheet metal instead of stone There were thick pipes that led down into the ground here and there as if they were sucking something out of the earth It was easy to imagine the pipes branching out below the surface into a vast snaking underground universe Who knew where it all ended Lisa looked around and spotted several strange little buildings various sheds for storage some kind of a pavilion with paint flaking and a ramshackle cupola on top Deserted They appeared that way but she could be wrong She had to remind herself that she had been wrong before For example she had believed she would get to ride Starshine during the fall break adventure and that her father would be waiting waiting at home The idea took root in her again the one that had not left her since her father had left to work the night shift and had not come home again What did they do to him Where is my father Her eyes burned as tears began to well up But she couldn’t fall apart now she couldn’t let herself think too much about her father She had to have faith that she would find him of course she would But first she had to find Starshine She needed him in order to accomplish the rest his warmth his strength At the same time there could be other possible leads here she thought Important pieces to the puzzle that could maybe her heart fluttered in her chest lead her to her father
She tried to shake off the grief growing inside of her and returned returned to scanning the large industrial area The complex stretched along the coast like a dark lava field of asphalt and concrete Smoke rose from the tall smokestacks sticking sticking up out of the ground here and there There was a string of doors lined up in front of her when she reached the first wing of the building but only one of the doors was ajar Finally an easy decision She pushed open the heavy metallic-green door It slid open with a creak like long fingernails on a chalkboard She winced at the sound and then she crept in Darkness She fumbled around feeling for a light switch running running her hand over cobwebs and wires She wondered to herself Didn’t anyone ever clean this place Apparently not She had expected a big industrial facility would be more orderly She took in the stuffy dusty air searching her scent memories hay dung warm horsey bodies Could she smell anything familiar any kind of trace of Starshine But what did she have to go on really Doubt welled up in her as she stood there in the darkness At best coming here was a long shot At worst No She didn’t want to think about that option Lisa sneezed and kept fumbling around until she found a light switch One bare bulb hanging from the ceiling crackled and then came on In the sickly greenish light she saw that she was in a storage room There were cardboard boxes order lists and big moving dollies with several boxes stacked on top of each other She crept through yet another door this time she avoided any creaking creaking noises and found herself in a long corridor It was quiet aside from the distant muffled sound of machines humming Mostly she wanted to just break into a run She wanted to keep moving investigate every nook and cranny of this enormous building
