Horse people come to experience the island’s equestrian culture and abundance of horse breeds and nature lovers seek it out to admire Jorvik’s natural beauty However it’s also sought out by companies that want to ruthlessly exploit its precious natural resources A small number of these visitors hold Jorvik’s fate in their hands but most do not Many who have been to Jorvik before seem to have forgotten that the island exists the same way a dream fades into nothing when you wake up in the morning If you hear about Jorvik the name will soon escape you again It’s as though the island is a myth That island again Somewhere in Scandinavia right Iceland Dark days await beautiful Jorvik Evil is poised to be unleashed Should that come to pass everything will be lost Yet while the raging sea seethes and hisses hope lives for it is taking root in the secret order of druids who are dedicated to standing against this doomsday scenario The foremost champions of these druids are called the Soul Riders The Soul Riders are chosen girls who share a special bond with their horses Through that bond they acquire special powers to help them in their fight against evil It has been many years since the Soul Riders defended Jorvik but there are rumors that the time has come for a new sisterhood to form
1 Are we there yet Lisa was fifteen years old but she felt like a squirmy impatient five-year-old as she asked the same question for the tenth time since they’d gotten in the van How long had they been waiting ten minutes Her dad just smiled and lightly drummed his fingers against the steering wheel They should be letting us off the ferry any minute now Isa he replied They already started unloading It feels like we’ve been sitting here for hours Lisa muttered She couldn’t help but flinch at the sound of her old nickname It made her think of a determined little girl with disheveled red hair Plump cheeks and a T-shirt with a horse motif Always horses Always on her way somewhere following her mom or dad or the mild-mannered family cat who used to sleep curled up in a ball by her feet Isa is the photo album version of Lisa Peterson she thought to herself The past History She doesn’t have much in common with the here-and-now Lisa who was sitting in the passenger seat of an old van waiting for her new life to start Again
She noticed that a whiny tone had crept into her voice No wonder considering the fact that she’d spent all night twisting and turning in the uncomfortable bunk bed pressed against the wall of their small cabin Her dad Carl had insisted that they splurge on the cabin for their overnight journey on the ferry He had fallen asleep instantly She had lain awake feeling the waves billowing beneath her trying to block out the sound of her dad’s snoring She barely slept a wink She could feel it in her head which was heavy and foggy Everything was blurred somewhere between wakefulness and sleeping as though all she’d have to do to touch the previous night’s hazy dreams was reach out her hand Clattering hooves A canter that turned into a frenzied gallop A terrified scream hers And then sheer silence Darkness She blinked hard trying to push the nightmarish images away Her dad smiled and reached over to stroke her hair Just wait until we get off this ferry I know I’ve shown you pic tures of the island but you’ll get a better idea of what it’s like when you see it for yourself It’s unlike any place you’ve ever seen Lisa reluctantly returned his smile and wondered how her dad could be so excited about anything at six o’clock in the morning She had of course seen pictures of Jorvik High mountains gently rolling hills and a rich shade of green that almost looked photoshopped The vast blue sea around the island seemed endless It brought to mind the colorful fairy tales she’d read when she was little The only thing missing was the rainbow She tried to imagine herself in a place like that one of those fantastical lands Regular old Lisa in her worn-out jeans and an old hoodie with her headphones around her neck or resting snugly over her tousled bright-red hair But the image wouldn’t come They were in a rented van full of moving boxes waiting for the man on the PA system having just cheerfully welcomed them to Jorvik to tell them it was okay to start their engines Lisa pulled
her headphones over her ears and disappeared into one of her favorite songs That usually helped but not this morning After a second she gave up pulling her headphones off again and staring straight ahead at the caravan of cars and trucks that were slowly starting to move down the ramp They’d been traveling for the better part of two days first by van and then by ferry And now they’d finally arrived in Jorvik Their new home Lisa’s dad had accepted a job on one of the island’s largest oil platforms and Lisa was due to start school on Monday She didn’t quite know what to expect What did this island this Jorvik which her dad hadn’t been able to stop talking about really have to offer aside from a massive oil platform picturesque surroundings and lots of horses There was a time when Lisa lived for horses when the thought of living on an island like Jorvik a place where horses seemed cen tral to everything would have been a dream come true However when Lisa was twelve her mother was suddenly killed in a riding accident Grief clawed at her like a ravenous wolf whenever she let herself think about it so she tried her best not to In the three years since the accident she hadn’t so much as looked at a horse All the posters books clothes and films anything that reminded her of that day were put into boxes taped up and taken away Her riding gear had been donated to charity Lisa was never going to ride again The mere thought of it was too painful We have a girl here She’s in shock but conscious no visible injuries Her dad turned on the radio and an upbeat Madonna song from the 1980s filled the van They both started singing along but then looked at each other and exchanged bittersweet smiles that A woman dead at the scene time Anywhere The darkness the pitch-black despair could open up any
