Free Spirit

Chapter Eighteen

Today was the day.

It had been almost a week since Jacob had left for Walker's Ranch. Of course, I had been upset when he left, but I knew it was to get our plan in motion. I'd been messaging and calling him every night for updates on Spirit and it turns out that Georgia had been trying (but morbidly failing) to ride Spirit. I could only imagine how that had turned out. 

With other people, Spirit seemed dangerous and unpredictable, but with me... he wasn't that wild mustang. It was like we were two wild spirits, but we were living and breathing in harmony, as one. 

And that was what I was desperate to get back.

-

It was 8:30pm. 

The sun had only just set and I could still hear Uncle John downstairs- probably watching some cruddy TV show in black-and-white or something.

I slipped my feet into my boots and unlatched my window. I knotted my curtains and some old clothes, which I'd brought from the city, together and threw them out the window, letting them dangle down the side wall of the house. I looked back at my room before shimmying down the makeshift rope, thankful when I finally hit the dirt ground. 

At least that part is over. I thought.

I turned away from the house, not bothering to bundle the 'rope' back into my room- Uncle John will know I'm gone sooner or later anyway. 

I started to run down the driveway. The escape was done, and now, the plan was really in motion.

-

I'd been gone for a while now. I vaguely knew where the Walker's ranch was, because Jacob had texted directions.  

Finally, I turned down a stretching gravel driveway lined with flowers potted in neat wooden boxes. I approached a pair of imposing gates, WR twisted into the wrought iron. I pushed them, hoping for them to open. They were locked. 

Suddenly, I heard the crunch of gravel beside me. 

"Jacob?" I hissed into the night.

"Amy!" Jacob emerged from the shadow of some tall trees. 

I immediately rushed up and threw my arms around my friend. "I missed you," I whispered. Jacob chuckled. "Me too," Reluctantly, I pulled away, and then noticed Jacob wasn't wearing his usual checked shirt and jeans. Instead, he wore black breeches, long black boots and navy polo, the same WR logo as on the gate emblazoned on the front.

 "C'mon," Jacob beckoned for me to follow him. He led me beneath the cover of the trees, taking me further down the fence line of the Walker's property. Finally, we came to a stop. Jacob bent down on his hands and knees and crawled through a tight space in the fence, which he could only just fit through, where two railings had been wrenched apart.

He waited on the other side for me as I squeezed through. 

"Wow," I breathed as I surveyed my new surroundings. Walker's Ranch was practically two worlds away from Maple Ridge- there were three, no four  white-painted barns lining either side of a swept concrete pavement, which ran around the property.

"I know, right? It's crazy," Jacob laughed, but then his face grew more serious. "Follow me." 

It was time to concentrate.