The beloved second book in the middle grade Phantom Stallion series about a girl, her horse, and the beauty of the American West returns with a brand-new, stunning cover and bonus material! Perfect for fans of Canterwood Crest and classic horse stories like Black Beauty and My Friend Flicka . Sam has befriended the mysterious, powerful mustang known as the Phantom, and she’s determined to defend his freedom on the open range. But when tame mares start going missing from local ranches, the Phantom becomes the number one suspect—and there’s one rancher who would use any excuse to capture the wild white stallion. When a reward is offered to anyone who can bring the Phantom in, Sam is no longer just fighting for his freedom—she’s fighting for his life. Terri Farley has always loved horses and is overjoyed that she outgrew her childhood allergy to them. She taught middle school and high school language arts and journalism in inner-city Los Angeles before moving to the cowgirl state of Nevada. Now she rides the range researching the books that have made her an award-winning author and an advocate for the West’s wild places and wildlife—especially wild horses. Through school and library visits, Terri continues to work with young people learning to make their voices heard. She lives in a one-hundred-year-old house with her family, which includes her dog, Willow. In true collie fashion, Willow rescued the youngest member of the Farley family, an orphaned kitten named Tamarack. Chapter 1 Chapter 1 A CRESCENT MOON, THIN AND silver as the edge of a dime, shone on the lone stallion. With nervous steps, he crossed the river, then picked his way up the bank to the dark and silent River Bend Ranch. It was midnight. No dogs barked. No coyotes howled, and no night birds called an alarm. The high Nevada desert had lost its daytime heat, and every creature slept. Except Samantha Forster. For weeks Sam had waited through the night, hoping the silver mustang who’d once been hers would return. Tonight, after she’d fallen asleep, questioning nickers from the saddle horses had wakened her. Sam had run on tiptoe downstairs to the kitchen. She didn’t dare turn on a light or fling open the door to the ranch yard. Wild as any deer or wolf, the Phantom had good reasons to flee from humans. Just weeks ago, he’d been roped and confined in a corral. Since the night she’d helped to free him, the Phantom hadn’t been back. Standing at the kitchen window, Sam could only watch. What she saw confused her. The stallion stalking toward the ranch wasn’t silver. He wasn’t galloping with liquid grace. He wasn’t the Phantom, and he wasn’t supposed to be here. Fighting to see through the darkness, Sam opened her eyes so wide they burned. She pressed so close, her nose touched the windowpane. Her breath fogged the glass as she whispered, “Who are you?” As if he’d heard, the horse stopped. His tail switched over thick haunches. He shook his shaggy mane before lifting a head that seemed too big for his sturdy neck. He studied the empty round pen in front of him and then glanced at the white house with green shutters on his right. His ears aimed down the gravel road, toward the barn and small pen, but he didn’t seem to notice the white-faced Hereford calf staring back. The stallion turned toward the big pasture and paraded along the fence. A dozen tame horses edged closer, heads bobbing as they watched. Sam couldn’t hear their snorts and nickers, but she knew the horses were talking. Frustrated, Sam brushed overgrown bangs back from her eyes. No, the stallion didn’t look like the Phantom, but what were the chances another wild horse would just trot across the river and down the Forsters’ driveway? Zero, that’s what. The Phantom had been born on River Bend Ranch. Sam had hand-raised him from a wobbly legged foal to a swift two-year-old. Only a terrible accident had parted them. But the Phantom had remembered her, and he’d come back. This horse didn’t move like the Phantom, but Sam needed a closer look. She turned the knob, opened the door a few inches, sucked in her stomach, and almost slipped through. When her nightgown snagged on the wooden doorframe, Sam gave it a tug. It came loose with a soft rip. The heavy-headed stallion wheeled just long enough to see who’d launched this ambush. He wasn’t white, but a sifting of pale hair flickered in the weak moonlight as the stallion headed toward the river. River Bend’s tame horses neighed in excitement as the wild one galloped along the fence. When the horse abandoned his noiseless moves, Sam blinked. It wasn’t his suddenly thunderous running that surprised her. It was his sudden stop. The stallion glared over his shoulder directly at Sam. Then he struck the fence with a deliberate kick. Amazed, Sam wondered how the collision of hooves on wood could sound just like a dare. “?‘Catch me if you can.’ That’s what he seemed to say.” Sam waited for her friend Jake El