“Issie! It’s time to get going. I came in and woke you up already, but you must have gone straight back to sleep,” Mrs Brown said. “Come on. Everyone is here waiting for you.”
“What time is it now?” Issie mumbled, rubbing her eyes.
“Seven o’clock.”
“Ohmygod!”
Issie leapt out of bed. She pulled on her dressing gown and ran to the window on the other side of the hallway, the one that looked out to the main street. Aidan’s horse truck was already parked outside. Issie could see Stella, Kate and Natasha waving madly through the truck windows at her. Stella was mouthing something at her but Issie couldn’t hear her. “What?” she called back. Stella looked exasperated and wound down her window. “I said hurry up, sleepyhead!” she laughed. “We’ve been waiting for ages!”
“Yeah, come on!” Kate grinned at her.
Natasha glared at her balefully. “Typical,” she said. “Making the rest of us wait for you.”
“Sorry! I’m coming. Give me five minutes!” Issie called back.
There was barely time for a shower and no time for breakfast. Mrs Brown managed to thrust a piece of Marmite toast in Issie’s hand and give her daughter a kiss goodbye as she raced out of the door.
Outside the horse truck was waiting. A boy stood by the door of the truck cab. He was wearing black jeans and a flannel shirt and his long dark hair fell in a floppy fringe over his face. “I’ve put your bags in the truck. The others are all sitting in the back, but I thought you might like to ride up in the cab with me,” Aidan said.
Aidan! Issie could feel her heart beating fast in her chest and her mouth was so dry there was no way she could choke down the last bite of the Marmite toast. “Uh-huh,” she managed.
Aidan looked pleased and gave her a shy smile, pushing his fringe back so that Issie could see his startling blue eyes. “Let’s go then!”
The first five minutes of the drive were excruciatingly painful. Issie didn’t know what to say so the pair of them sat there in silence looking out the window.
Finally Aidan spoke. “Do you know much about this movie?”
“I’ve read the book, like, a hundred times,” Issie said. “There’s this princess–her name is Galatea, but everyone calls her Gala. She’s the ruler of a kingdom where the women are all princesses and brave warriors–but she’s the strongest of them all and she has superpowers and stuff. Anyway, in Galatea’s realm the horses are all palominos and they have magical powers too. Then there are all these really creepy guys called the Elerians. The Elerians have these black horses, and the really horrible part is that their horses were all once palominos too. They used to belong to Galatea’s stables, but one by one the Elerians have captured them and turned them into the Horses of Darkness. The Elerians are actually vampires–except they bite horses, not people. They use their vampire fangs to suck all the life out of the palominos and turn them into these awful black horses, drained of all their pure strength and overcome by evil…”
Issie suddenly turned to look at Aidan. Why was he smiling at her? “What?” she said defensively. “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing’s funny!” Aidan said, still smiling. “It’s just that I’d forgotten how excited you get about stuff–especially horses. I really like that about you.”
Issie fumbled around in her bag. “Here,” she said, handing Aidan a dog-eared paperback. “I brought my copy with me. You can borrow it if you like.”
Aidan smiled. “I’ve already read it. It’s one of my favourite books too.”
After that, Issie and Aidan talked non-stop and the hour-long drive seemed to take no time at all. The horse truck thundered along the road past the pine forests north of Chevalier Point, through rolling green fields dotted with grazing cows. Finally they pulled off the main road down a gravel driveway and Issie was surprised when they were stopped by a burly security guard at the farm gate.
“There have been loads of paparazzi–tabloid newspaper photographers–trying to get on the set,” Aidan explained to Issie as they drove on again through the paddocks. “Apparently the girl they’ve got playing Princess Galatea is really famous. There’s been loads of rumours. They’re trying to keep everything hush-hush. Even the crew haven’t been told who it is…”
But Issie wasn’t really listening to him. She was too busy looking out the front window of the truck.
“Ohmygod!” she breathed. “Aidan! This is incredible!”
As they came over the hill, there in front of them was a grand golden gate that led to a vast white cobbled courtyard and in the centre was a gold fountain, with life-size statues of rearing horses spouting brilliant turquoise water from their golden mouths. Surrounding the white courtyard were rows of white loose boxes with golden doors.
“The stables of Princess Galatea,” Aidan grinned. He turned the horse truck past the golden gates. “And over there is the black castle of Eleria.”
Issie looked to her left and saw the familiar sight of Chevalier Castle. Only the castle didn’t look like it usually did. The ruins, which sat on top of a hill that looked out over farmland and forest, had been sprayed with black paint. The broad, cobblestone terraces that wound round and round like a corkscrew to the summit had also been painted black. The castle, with spikes on its turrets and a huge iron portcullis, would have been a terrifying vision if it weren’t for the crew members and builders running about the place. Everywhere you looked there were set dressers lugging enormous black-varnished styrofoam boulders towards the castle or painting fake green slime on the drawbridge.
“Production has been under way for weeks now. These are just the finishing touches. They’re nearly ready to start filming,” Aidan said.
He turned the truck around and parked it near the golden gates of the stables, giving a cheery wave to one of the set dressers who was busily pouring more turquoise dye into the golden fountain.
“We brought all the horses here a month ago–Hester has done loads of desensitising work with them. They’ve filmed some of the vampire riders’ scenes already–but the main stunts need palomino riders too and that’s where you come in.” He jumped out of the truck cab, followed by Issie.
“I’ll give you a proper tour later, but first let’s get you all settled in. Your rooms are over there behind the stable block. We’ll grab your bags. It’s easier if we walk through from here.”
As Aidan said this, the door swung open on the side of the truck and Stella, Kate and Natasha emerged.
“Whoa!” Stella said, looking at the golden stables. “Is this where we’ll be staying?” The others laughed.
“The golden stables!” Kate squealed. “They’re just like I always imagined they’d look!”
“I know,” Issie beamed. “Isn’t it cool?”
Natasha was the last to climb out of the truck. She cast a disdainful glance at Aidan.
“Well? Where are our rooms?” she demanded, gesturing at the luggage lying on the ground. “Come on! Bring my bags, will you?”
Stella rounded on Natasha immediately. “Aidan’s not your servant, you know. We all carry our own bags around here.”
“Oh, really?” Natasha glared at her. “Mummy always told me that ladies never carry luggage. I’m not sure what your mother taught you…”
Before Stella could snap back, they were interrupted by the sight of the