Luna Brava backed away from the door, her muscles tense, nostrils fring. She was ready to run—but Cami held her ground.

  Outside, the galloping hooves grew louder. The earth beneath her trembled. Cami swallowed hard, gripping the poncho in her hands.

  "Tomás, where are you?"

  Then, through the broken doorway, she saw it.

  A horse, bck as midnight, streaked with dirt and sweat. Its eyes gleamed eerily in the ntern’s glow, and its mouth foamed, its breath heavy and ragged.

  But there was no rider.

  The saddle on its back was empty, its reins whipping in the wind.

  Cami’s breath caught. The riderless horse. The one the legend warned about.

  For a moment, the animal just stood there, heaving, staring at her. Then, it took a single step forward.

  Luna Brava reared, screaming, her hooves slicing the air. The movement yanked Cami from her trance. Instinct took over. She lunged for Luna’s reins and swung onto the mare’s back in one fluid motion.

  “Vamos, Luna!”

  Luna spun and bolted into the night, her powerful legs sending clumps of damp earth flying behind them. The ghost horse followed, hooves pounding the ground like thunder.

  The mare raced through the grassnds, her strong body surging forward with effortless speed, but the shadowy horse was gaining. It was fast—too fast.

  Cami risked a gnce over her shoulder, and that’s when she saw it.

  For a fraction of a second, in the glow of her ntern, she saw a figure flicker into existence on the ghost horse’s back—a man, draped in a poncho, head hanging forward as if exhausted.

  "Tomás!"

  The vision vanished, and the bck stallion let out a shrill, bone-chilling scream.

  Cami’s hands clenched Luna’s reins. If she wanted to save her brother, she had to be brave.

  She had to stop running.

  She pulled hard on the reins, forcing Luna into a sharp, skidding stop. The mare whipped around, ears pinned back, ready to fight. The ghostly stallion was almost upon them, its eyes burning with an unnatural fire.

  Cami didn’t flinch.

  Instead, she did the only thing she could think of—she lifted Tomás’s poncho high above her head and shouted:

  “Tomás, if you’re here—COME BACK!”

  For a heartbeat, everything went silent.

  Then the wind roared, circling around her in a violent gust. The bck stallion reared, a high-pitched wail escaping its throat—

  And then, with a burst of light, Tomás’s poncho ripped free from her grasp and flew into the storm.

  Cami gasped. The shadowy figure reappeared, fully formed this time—Tomás, slumped over the ghost horse’s saddle, eyes half-closed.

  "Cami…" His voice was faint, barely there.

  With a final, deafening thundercp, the stallion vanished into the night—leaving only a single set of hoofprints in the damp earth.

  Luna Brava stood panting beneath her, ears pricked toward the horizon. Cami’s heart pounded in her chest.

  Had she just seen a spirit? Had she… just freed her brother?

  A sound in the distance made her turn.

  There, stumbling out of the shadows, was Tomás. His clothes were torn, his face pale, but he was alive.

  “Cami…” His voice was hoarse. “What… what happened?”

  Cami leapt from Luna’s back and ran to him, throwing her arms around him.

  “I don’t know,” she whispered. “But you’re here. That’s all that matters.”

  Tomás let out a weak chuckle. “That… and I think we just proved the old legends are real.”

  Cami shivered, looking back toward the darkened Pampas. Somewhere out there, the riderless horse still roamed.

  But tonight, she didn’t care. Tonight, she had gotten her brother back.

  And Luna Brava, who never ran from danger, had saved them both.