PLEIADES RISING

iUniverse, Inc.

Chapter One

"Margaret—he's eaten all my romaine! I mean it this time—he's got to go!" When she calls like that, I know there's trouble.

"Margaret!" she yells again. I run across the hot sand, up the deck, through the house, and outside into the front yard where she keeps a garden. I see the problem right away. Matches, my pet deer, is standing in the middle of it, between rows of cucumber and lettuce.

"Take him back to the woods where he belongs," Mom says. "I just spoke to Amanda. You can borrow her horse trailer. Get Sammy to help you."

I coax Matches away from the garden. He follows me down to a small corral. While I feed him, Mom continues her rant. "We've had him over six months now. He's well and it's not fair to him."

I can tell she's feeling guilty but won't let up this time. Last fall was particularly dry and we had a big fire that started in Malibu Canyon. Before long it swept across chasms and burned hills covered with stands of eucalyptus and pine—igniting houses, oak trees and everything else in its path. Animals got caught in it. Deer and horses stampeded toward the water. That's where I found Matches, knee-deep in the waves. Burned and helpless.

* * *

My name is Maggie Marland and I live with my parents, which explains everything. I am medium height and have brown hair and green eyes. Sometimes I use peroxide which gives me some nice blonde highlights. I am seventeen years old and a very responsible person, although no one else seems to think so. My family is fairly normal. My mom stays at home and my dad works for an insurance company—which can be bad for me, especially when he sees the personal injury claims at work. Every time I take some initiative he treats me like an accident waiting to happen and puts the kibosh on my plans.

We live in Malibu—actually, in the Colony—which is something like living in a fishbowl. Sometimes tourists walk by on the beach and stare as if they expect us to do something weird like break out into a song and dance. But we don't. We just wish they'd go away. I have a younger brother, Sammy, who's fourteen. He gets in my hair—but only when the waves are too flat for him to go surfing.

It's already seven in the evening by the time I'm ready. I guide Matches carefully into the horse trailer which is hooked up to my Jeep. He follows because he trusts me. And now I'm letting him down, sending him back into the wilds after he's become so tame. I drive deep into Corral Canyon then along a dirt road, past a couple of large boulders, looking for the right place. There is a stream ahead and a nice group of shade trees. He ought to like that. Not watching, I drive right smack into a ditch and get stuck. I check out the situation. isn't good. I push soil and leaves in front of the wheels for traction and gun the engine but the tires just spin.

"Do you need any help?" a voice calls out.

Turning around, I look toward an incline. A boy astride a beautiful chestnut horse is watching. Leading his horse down the path, he pulls up beside me.

"Hi," I sputter, embarrassed to be caught in such a predicament. "I sure could use some."

His name is Will, as I learn later on. Tall and blond, he wears jeans and a T-shirt that outlines broad shoulders. I wonder why I haven't seen him down at the beach before. He looks around then picks up a branch to place in front of the half-buried wheels. I climb back into the front seat. Turning on the ignition, I coax the Jeep forward but it barely moves. The engine is straining. I put on the brakes. Will adds another branch and a pile of twigs. The sunken wheels gain traction but it's still not enough. He fills the ditch in front of the Jeep and around the tires with more debris. This time the wheels lurch forward.

"Thanks for helping me out of that hole," I say, hoping my father doesn't hear about this.

He walks to the back of the trailer. "Strange looking horse you've got back here."

"I call him Matches. He wandered down last fall when we had that fire. He was hurt. We nursed him back to health." I look around. "I wonder if he'll like it here."

"Why wouldn't he? Beautiful skies, hills—there's even a stream over there." He points in the direction of the shade trees.

"Who owns this property?" I ask. There's a food stain on the front of my sweatshirt that I hope he doesn't notice.

"My parents."

"Would you look in on him from time to time?"

"Sure, but he's not going to stay put, you know."

I know that, I think to myself, but maybe I'll run into this guy again if I have a reason to be up here.

"If I want to visit him, I know he'll find me."

Unlocking the back of the trailer, I back Matches out and unbuckle his lead. He remains close, uncertain in his new surroundings. "He's gotten attached to me."

"I can see why."

I blush. Will is one of the cutest guys I've ever met. My whole body is on high alert.

"Isn't that the head of Janus?" he asks, looking at my necklace. Moving closer, he takes the coin gently between his fingers. I hold my breath. He's so near I can see the ocean blue of his eyes and the faint stubble on his chin.

"I got it last summer when we were in Italy. How'd you know?" I back up and walk over to pet his horse.

"I collect coins," he answers. I notice he has really nice teeth.

"I'm Maggie Marland."

"Will Brighton. You live around here?"

"Down in the Colony," I answer, slapping at a mosquito.

The sun has set and it's getting dark. I glance up at the sky and point to a formation of stars. "Look! There are the Pleiades! I've never seen them out this early before."

"When do you usually see them?" Will looks up.

"Since it's June, about three or four in the morning."

"You'd get up that early for a constellation?" he asks, as if he can't imagine anyone getting up in the middle of the night to see a bunch of stars.

"They're not just any constellation. The Pleiades are known as the Seven Sisters. Sailors used them to navigate. They were the seven daughters of Atlas."

"I can see six of them." Will squints as he studies the dark sky.

"The Pleiades have over a thousand stars in their cluster. They're four hundred light years away."

"How do you know all this?" he asks.

"I was president of the astronomy club in high school. I gave a talk on them at the science fair," I say proudly.

"You're still in high school?"

Hoping that minor detail won't be a deal breaker, I quickly add, "I just graduated."

"So you're eighteen," he exclaims.

"I'll be eighteen in November."

"You're only seventeen?" he raises his voice. I feel like I've just been scolded.

"I'm starting UCLA in the fall." I could tell him how hard I worked my senior year to get in and how I studied at the campus library to get the feel of the place, but I don't.

"That's where I'm going," he says, as if happy we have something in common.

"How old are you?" I ask.

"Nineteen. I'll be twenty in August."

"You're a Leo."

"How about you?"

...