Orion was shaken awake by Miracle early in the morning, just as the sun was starting to rise.

  “Orion! Wake up, it’s an emergency,” she said, pushing on his shoulder.

  He slowly picked up his head, pushing his thick mane out of his face with a hoof. “It better be an emergency. Why are you up this early?” he said, ears flopping listlessly. Orion was most definitely not a morning horse.

  “Marshall’s gone missing. Laci is-well, you’ll just have to see for yourself,” Miracle told him.

  He rose to his feet and went outside, where Laci was pacing in circles incessantly. Her eyes were empty, and her ears were stuck pointed upwards, constantly listening for danger. Her chest pumped with breath, almost panting-like nothing Orion had ever seen.

  “She’s been like this since the minute she noticed Marshall was gone. I had to talk her off a ledge to get her to stay here and not go after him,” Miracle explained.

  “Laci, try to calm down. Everything will be okay,” he said, approaching her slowly.

  “How could he do this? What will they do to him?” she managed to ask, voice high pitched and cracking. She still watched the world around them, haunting, predatory.

  Orion sighed deeply. “He will be fine. Laci, you cannot choose where he goes. If he wants to serve rabbits all his life, then so be it.”

  She could not be quieted. “You said it yourself. They don’t know him anymore.” Her eyes widened with worry. “What if he tells them where we’re going?”

  Orion remembered the night Rune was taken from him. He had been seeing visions the whole night, and nothing Eliza did could comfort him.

  “Rune, just breathe. I’m right here beside you,” she had said.

  He tossed his head wildly, striking with a foreleg uncontrollably. “No! Let her go! Let her go!” he screamed. His voice was breaking, and his body was shaking violently, as if trying to free himself from some unseen force.

  “Easy, love. I’ve got you,” Eliza said. She flicked her tail nervously and ran a hoof down his neck, trying to calm him.

  He began to settle, and started to see reality again. His body collapsed with exhaustion. Orion came closer to be sure he was alright, and Eliza sat by his side, embracing his head in her arms.

  Rune tried to stand, but could not, his unsteady legs failing him. “Orion, you have to stop them. They’re coming, they’re going to-“

  Eliza pressed his head down into her lap. “Rune, you are safe here. It was only a vision,” she whispered. “You’re overtired. You must try to relax.”

  “They’re going to take you from me! I’ve seen them take us all, Knight, Ariel, Marmalade, every single one! We have to stop them before it’s too late,” he begged. He was foaming with sweat and trembling, eyes struck with fear.

  “Not now, Rune. It’s late. What you saw is not real,” Eliza said. She looked up at Orion. “You should give him some rest. He’s never going to sleep like this, and he’ll only get worse.”

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  “No! You have to believe me! Orion, I know what I saw,” Rune shouted.

  Orion put a hoof to Rune’s shivering neck. He tried to get up again, but he was too weak from fighting visions.

  “Rune, I won’t let anything happen to you. I promise,” Orion comforted. He took hold of the Mustang’s unraveling mind, and gently set it to sleep.

  That was the last memory they shared.

  Orion’s expression sharpened. “Move the camp a quarter mile east. That should buy us some time while I go get him. Stay safe and stay hidden.”

  Miracle gasped. “You can’t go! They’ll send the federal officers after you, just like they did to the others!”

  “I should go with you. Miracle’s right, you can’t go alone in broad daylight. I’ll protect you with my powers,” Laci said. She lit the end of her tail and lashed it like a whip.

  “Laci, your power is promising, but it is merely a seed. You don’t know what you’re up against,” he said.

  Laci laid her ears back and gave Orion a nasty look. “Neither do you! You could be captured or even killed! I can’t lose anyone else.”

  Orion put on his cloak, unmoved. “I’m aware, Laci. Save your foul expressions. This isn’t your parent’s house anymore. You listen to me or you’ll end up back where you were, on the floor of a Services cell.”

  Laci did not respond, but shifted her feet and wrung her tail anxiously. Without another word, he took off into the woods toward Norfolk.

  It didn’t take him long to reach the outskirts of the city. With the sunlight streaming through the trees, it was easy to see where the footing was safe. It was a constant reminder to Orion that he would not be hidden either. He picked up his pace, hoping to rush past the search officers he was expecting.

  A gun fired in the distance, and the sound of hoofbeats filled the valley. Orion charged up the hill toward the city wall, zigzagging through the trees between darts. A black rabbit astride a Thoroughbred rode up beside him, aiming for Orion’s neck with a tranquilizer gun. Orion scrambled up a crop of rocks to gain high ground and felt his magic surge within him, beating with energy in his chest to the rhythm of his heart.

  Wisps of dark magic rippled to his opponent, and he dropped his head under the weight of Orion’s power. All he could think about as he sent the rabbit and his horse down the cliff was the fear in Rune’s eyes. Ruthlessly, he fought the other approaching horses and riders with his magic and bare hooves. He commanded the battlefield with his power. Several of his foes fled for the trees when they saw what he could do. He made light work of those who remained, covering the ground with bruised, bloody, and motionless horses. Their riders, who were mostly unharmed, abandoned their horses and disappeared back into the city walls.

  “Cowards,” Orion remarked. He walked through the thicket, shaking the dust from his coat briefly as he arrived at the city gate. He was raked front to back with welts and torn skin, but pushed himself to keep going. With powerful strides, he leapt over the gate, his hooves clattering on the cobblestone streets. The city was plain and colorless even when lit, concrete buildings and fake lawns staring him in the face.

  He didn’t make it two lengths before he was ambushed by a horde of draft horses waiting for him in the park. Orion pulled his magic into his hoof cautiously, scanning the group. These were no typical Services officers. They were riderless and wore heavy leather breastplates, inscribed with foreboding white lettering.

  Federal Feral Horse Services Office.

  His heart thundered, hearing Eliza’s voice in his mind again telling him to run. He let his magic flow without abandon, but felt a hot sting to his shoulder that drained his energy away. One of the officers had struck him with a shiny copper branding iron, leaving an excruciating burn. The metal whispered with an ancient force, crippling his darkness until there was nothing left to give. The pack swiftly surrounded him, inhibiting his power with their irons. Orion reared up and roared with pain, trying to fight back with his magic. Every time he commanded the shadows, the irons held to his neck scalded him. Through his agony, he hadn’t even noticed the needle stabbing into his neck.

  He swung at the offending horse’s face and sent him flying backwards, but faltered as he tried to kick out again. His legs started to become paralyzed, and his balance suffered. The pain from the blows he had received hurt worse than ever. Two draft horses shoved him onto the ground with their irons, and Orion felt the burning sensation rush through his veins like fire. As soon as he was down, the drafts shackled his front legs and covered his face with a blindfold. Orion trembled with fear and anger, remembering what he left behind. Images of Laci’s endless pacing and Miracle’s desperate face filled his mind until he could fight the tranquilizer no longer.