My updates are the slowest and worst...I know...I'm sorry. Stupid college! I hope you guys are still following and if so I hope you enjoy and like it!

I was flying. The desert floor a blur beneath me as I soared. His hooves hardly seemed to touch the ground as we glided, horse and girl moving as one, his gait so smooth and effortless. We sped past the river, faces blurring as they looked up from their fishing to try their best to catch a glimpse of the phantom that passed by them as if nothing more than a whispering wind. Soon we were at the river at home. But there were no familiar faces, in fact there were no faces at all. The shutters banged against the windows and the screen door creaked in the window.

"Gram?" My voiced echoed in my ears. There was no one around to hear my call. The Phantom and I walked hesitantly towards the shadows of the barn. Something isn't right... I could feel a darkness seeping into me with each approaching step, yet the Phantom didn't balk or hesitate beneath me. At the door to the barn he halted, lowering himself down for me to get off. I could see nothing but darkness inside the barn but I took a step forward, I glanced back only to find the great stallion gone once more. "Dad-," a hand grasped my mouth...

And I shot awake flailing in the darkness of my tent. "Quit squirming," Jake hissed, shaking me by my shoulder and dodging my last punch. He removed his hand and backed away far enough so he wasn't within my reach.

"What on earth are you doing!" I nearly shouted, but the darkness that surrounded us gave me enough sense to be quiet. My heart slammed against my chest as if it were ready to jump out and attack Jake itself.

"It's time to go." He threw my old tattered dress at me and stood, well as much as he could, and left. I took that as my cue to get dressed and hurried the best I could. Trying my best to stifle a yawn I pushed back the flap to my tent and found Jake outside. The sun had just begun to rise to the point of where it was still dark but the light was touching the horizon. It was a beautiful sunrise...one it seemed to me that I was going to have to enjoy with the company of Jake. Despite last night, I still did not have a lot of hope when it came to Jake. Even this morning, as he quickly led me away from the camp, he was quiet and rigid.

When we reached the outside of the camp Jake whistled softly to a herd of horses grazing freely in the surrounding field. A big black mare raised her head, pinned her ears, and plodded her way over to us.

"Must not be a morning person," I started to laugh at my own joke, but quickly stopped when I saw Jake didn't see the amusement. Well, maybe they both weren't morning people.

The mare pinned her ears even more at me, which I didn't think was possible, and I took a step back. The horse and owner were quite alike when it came to making people feel welcomed.

"This is Witch," Jake introduced the mare to me, who seemed to not be interested in anything, especially me.

"Witch?" No wonder she had a bad attitude with a name like that. "Who will I be riding?" I looked at the possibilities in the herd beyond Witch and Jake but his stare caught mine.

"We ride together." The prospect of this did not seem to thrill any of us but begrudgingly I shrugged and carefully approached Witch once more. She snapped her teeth at me and without much of a thought I snapped back.

"I can bite too you know." I warned her as Jake lifted me up as if I weighed nothing and carefully got on behind me. He scooted as if he could create distance, but it was pointless, we were bound to this awkward ride together on the most bitter horse in existence.

Jake sighed. "You white people are so strange."

I couldn't bring myself to be offended because I swear he sounded amused.

x-x-x-x-x

In my youth, I rode in pairs plenty of times with other girls, who were much smaller and less naked than Jake. At least one of us would also be blessed with a saddle but I was blessed with Witch's withers digging into my crotch and no where to move. I was trying really hard not to think about Jake's arms wrapped around me or the fact that his bare chest was touching my back or that there was hardly an inch of space between any part of us. No. I wouldn't think of that.

So of course I thought about it our entire ride. Which seemed to be taking a better part of the morning even though I knew we had not been riding that long. The silence and the touching was nearly unbearable but as I scraped for conversation I always came up empty handed.

"We aren't far off now." Jake was the one to break the silence and I felt some of the tension leave me at the prospect of conversation.

"Already?" I hoped I didn't sound as disappointed as I thought I had. But truly, I was surprised. When I had taken Ace out I thought I had been riding for hours, where Jake and I probably haven't even been at it for an hour.

"If you knew anything you would have noticed I took a very different path."

Condescending, pompous ass. "Oh...I see." In fact, we were surrounded by canyon walls on both sides. I hadn't even seen canyons. Just Jake's forearms...get a hold of yourself Samantha. "So will it be up to you to bring me back and forth? It might take me days to find you again..."

Jake sighed, but with it he finally relaxed and I didn't feel like I was sitting against a stonewall anymore. "Yes, grandmother thought this task would be best suited for me." He sounded defeated...and possibly disappointed.

"Not Quinn?" I asked, not even sure myself if I would have preferred the forever joking Quinn over the forever brooding Jake.

Jake tensed slightly before relaxing again. "No. Not Quinn."

Was that disappointment? Or annoyance? I couldn't tell and I was not able to turn to see his face...not that it would have really helped me any. Would I have preferred Quinn?

For some reason, I did not. Even though Quinn was much kinder and easier to be around, I knew he was probably neither quiet or serious enough to be committed to sneaking into the territory of my people every other night. I squinted against the slowly rising sun and saw the glint of the river that ran in front of my house. We were close.

And I was terrified.

"I...what am I going to tell them?" Panic rose within me as I realized I couldn't even recall the amount of days I've been gone. How was anyone to believe I survived the wild Nevada desert alone when wild animals and the Native's both inhabited it? I couldn't even think of a rational story. Did I eat bugs and drink from the morning dew? No...that was too extreme. No one would believe that.

Jake brought Witch to a halt and dismounted before helping me down. He quickly removed his touch as soon as my feet touched the ground, leaving me to stumble away from Witch's eternal glare.

Jake scowled and scruffed the dirt with his toes, trying his best not to meet my gaze. He could only avoid me so long and finally sighed matching my stare. But he did more than that, he studied me, the way he did just last night and it sent a flush throughout my entire body.

"You're too clean," he bent and grabbed a handful of dirt.

"What are you-," with the slightest bit of a smirk Jake released it over my head. He bent down again and began rubbing dirt into my dress. I snatched the skirts away. "Cut that out!"

He stood, meeting my stare again, his smirk gone and lifted his hands to my face. For a brief and terrifying moment I thought he might try and give me a kiss. But that terror was soon smothered as he rubbed the remaining dirt on his palm onto my face. Stepping back, he admired his work.

"Is that quite enough or would you like me to find a bush to tussle with?" Perhaps with the dirt he just rubbed on my face he could not see my cheeks flame up in embarrassment and rage. You thought he was going to try and kiss you...are you a moron?

"You should get a little muddy at the bank of your river before you stumble to your home." He was joking. I could tell by that stupid hint of a smirk that I've been cursed with recently. In a flash he was serious once again. "Do not worry what you will say, they will believe you're mind was troubled from the heat and exhaustion." We stood there, silently facing each other and uncertainty of what to do next strong on both sides. He began to reach up a hand but quickly put it down and mounted Witch with grace that I envied.

"Do not forget you are to return. I will be here to bring you back," he scratched the back of his neck searching for words. "Try not to get lost."

I smiled, even though it was a stab at me, I was happy that at least there was a bit of concern to his jest. "I'll try my best."

He nodded. "I'll be seeing you soon then." With that he spun Witch and loped away lazily.

For some reason I cannot yet explain...I was looking forward to it.

x-x-x-x-x

For good measure, I did stop by the river to muss my appearance up a bit more. I mean, I was supposed to be lost in the unforgiving desert. Quietly, I made my way up the porch steps. My heart was fluttering with fear and excitement. How I missed father and Gram...but oh how I know I made them worry too. Taking a deep breath I opened the screen door and entered the kitchen that was already lit.

Gram spun and gave out a cry. She rushed towards me and I met her embrace, glad to feel the comfort of my family once more. She fretted over me, muttering incoherently as she pushed away matted hair (thanks to river mud) from my face and checked me over for any sign of injury.

"Oh my sweet, sweet, Samantha! Oh dear...," she repeatedly gasped between her tears. I hugged her tight, hoping to calm her down.

"Where's father?" I asked, expecting him to already have been down here given the commotion.

"Sam...," as if on cue he shuffled into the kitchen bleary eyed and sleepy. It only took him three long strides to reach me and sweep me off my feet into a hug. Unlike Gram, he was silent, but he held me tight like I could disappear from him again at any moment.

"I'm okay...I'm okay. I promise," I reassured them both.

"I'm so sorry," for what yet...I did not know.