“Okay, Viviane, let’s get something straight,” she said. “First, I’m a good rider. In fact, my favorite is bareback. But I know a sidesaddle when I see it, and there’s not a chance in hell I know how to handle a horse that big sidesaddle.”
The Lady laughed again, then dipped her fingers into the lake and tossed drops of it onto Isabel’s face, then did the same to the horse’s, who took it much better than Isabel did.
“And now you know, Izzy, how to ride sidesaddle. And you and Samara will be fast friends. Now ride to Camelot. You are needed. And I grow impatient for my Merlin.”
“How come you get to call me Izzy, and I’m not allowed to call you Viv?”
The Lady stood. “Who is the goddess here, Izzy?”
“Okay, good point.”
CHAPTER FOUR
IZZY? Only her best friends and her father ever called her Izzy. But she supposed arguing with a goddess who’d just saved her life wasn’t necessarily in her best interests. As Isabel and Samara picked their way through the forest that would bring them to Camelot, Isabel pondered on just how deep a dream this was.
After all, as Viviane had predicted, she and Samara became fast friends, and Isabel rode sidesaddle as if she’d been doing it all of her life. How could that be?
Or was this truly an afterworld that no one still alive could even imagine? Was this how the universe worked? It dropped you off into a different place and time? Already she’d had to stop Samara twice to take care of business in the middle of woods, wondering if baring her butt was illegal in Camelot.
Strangely enough, every time she needed to stop, she’d find something akin to toilet paper waiting for her. She kept whispering, “Thank you, Viviane.” And she could swear that the trees whispered back, “No problem.”