Lucky Break (12 page)

She scrambled to her feet, pain shooting through her ankle, only to see Lucky streaking across the ranch, towards the trees. This time there wasn’t anyone to bring him back.

‘Oh no, what have I done?’ Ivy said, starting to cry.

O
livia was leading the group of visitors, while Rebecca pointed out the features of the trail and helped anyone who needed encouragement. Olivia loved riding Honey and the crisp, sunny day was perfect for the tour along the river and through the pine trees.

Rebecca had told her just to follow the green arrows, which was easy enough, and after a good two-hour ride, past a beautiful mini-waterfall, they were back at the ranch. Olivia had had plenty of time to think about Operation Smooch being a total failure so far. She couldn’t believe
Jackson hadn’t kissed her yet! Ivy thought he was waiting for the right moment, but it had better come along soon!
Or I’ll have to kiss Garrick first!
thought Olivia with a shudder.

As she turned Honey towards the stable, she saw Ivy and Brendan waving frantically at her. She urged Honey into a trot and pulled her short when they got close.

Ivy’s face was streaked with tears and Brendan looked more grave than usual.

Olivia dismounted right away. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘Lucky,’ Ivy gasped out. ‘Lucky escaped!’

‘Oh no!’ Olivia whirled around to look in the direction that Ivy was pointing, into the woods.

A domestic horse out in the wild could be really vulnerable, Olivia knew. Especially one as old as Lucky.

‘Aunt Rebecca!’ she called across the yard.

Hank and John were leading the visitors back
to the stables and Rebecca rode over. ‘What’s happened?’ she asked, keeping tight control over Admiral, who was prancing.

‘It was all my fault,’ Brendan put in. ‘I left Lucky’s stable door open. He ran away into the woods over there.’

Olivia glanced at Ivy, and she looked utterly crushed. Olivia wondered if there was more to the story than Brendan was letting on.

‘How long ago?’ Rebecca demanded.

‘About half an hour,’ Ivy said, fresh tears rolling down her face.

Rebecca looked down on Brendan from Admiral’s back, like a general looking down on an army deserter. ‘I think it’s time you went home.’

Olivia felt awful. She knew Brendan wouldn’t have done anything like that on purpose. Ivy started sobbing, and Brendan whispered something to her.

‘I’m really sorry this has happened, Ms Kendall, and I hope you find Lucky soon.’ He hugged Ivy tightly and then rode away on his bike.

‘John and Hank will get the rest of the horses in and I’ll go looking right away,’ Rebecca said. ‘I hope he hasn’t gone far. Olivia, can you help?’

Olivia nodded.

‘What can I do?’ Ivy said. ‘I have to help somehow.’

Rebecca tossed Ivy her cell phone. ‘Call everyone in my phonebook and tell them what’s happened. Anyone who can help, will, I’m sure.’ She gave Ivy a sympathetic look. ‘Ivy, don’t beat yourself up over this. You’re not to blame.’ Then she rode away to the group.

‘Don’t worry,’ Olivia said to Ivy. ‘We’ll find him.’ She turned to mount Honey again but Ivy caught her arm.

‘It wasn’t Brendan,’ Ivy confessed. ‘It was me.’

Olivia sucked in her breath. ‘It doesn’t matter now,’ she replied. ‘He’ll be OK.’

The thought of Lucky alone out there in the woods made Olivia’s heart ache. Ivy nodded and limped to the porch swing, clutching the phone like a lifeline. Olivia swung her leg over Honey and rode over to where Rebecca was briefing Hank and John.

Rebecca called out to the grey-haired, flannel-clad visitors, ‘Thank you all very much for coming. I hope you enjoyed yourselves.’ Then she said more quietly, ‘Let’s go, Olivia.’

They rode hard to the woods, where Ivy had pointed and then slowed down, looking for signs.

‘This way,’ Rebecca said. ‘Where those branches are broken.’

The horses picked their way through the
trees, their hooves crackling the leaves and twigs underfoot.

‘There are some positives,’ said Rebecca, breaking the nervous silence. ‘It’s not winter any more, and Lucky wasn’t fully tacked. It would be much worse if he had reins that could get caught on branches. He’s a smart horse and knows the area very well.’

It wasn’t much to believe in, but it made Olivia feel a tiny bit better.

‘Horses like people and familiar things,’ Rebecca went on. ‘If he smells horses he knows or hears my voice, he might come to us.’

Olivia patted Honey on the neck. ‘I’m glad you’re here, then.’ She’d only ridden her a few times but already she loved the horse. She could only imagine what Rebecca must be feeling for Lucky.

Olivia pushed a branch away from her face.
‘I feel so awful. If we had never come –’

‘Don’t say that,’ Rebecca said. ‘You two are all the family I have left and having you here has been wonderful. But that Brendan boy …’

Olivia was torn. She wouldn’t betray her sister’s trust and tell the truth about how Lucky got out, but she couldn’t let Rebecca think bad of him. ‘Brendan is a really good person,’ Olivia said. ‘He’s perfect for Ivy and treats her so well.’
Not to mention that he’s really brave and loyal for taking the blame
, Olivia thought.

‘Humph.’ Rebecca changed the subject. ‘I think I’ve lost the trail.’

They had emerged on to one of the many paths in the woods. It followed a high fence, and there were too many hoofprints to know which were Lucky’s.

‘What do we do now?’ Olivia wanted to know.

‘We should keep riding for a little while, and
then go back to see what group efforts we can coordinate.’

Olivia nodded.

She would do whatever it took to find Lucky – for Rebecca and for her bio-mom, but most importantly, for her sister.

‘It will have to do for now.’ Ivy closed her laptop sadly.

She’d been trawling the internet for advice on lost horses, and she’d found some great websites.

One woman had managed to convince the local police academy to run training exercises in the woods when she’d lost her horse and someone else had got the recreational pilot’s club in the area to do a rota of flyovers. Ivy was willing to do anything to help find Lucky and she planned to start making phone calls first thing in the morning.

‘You’re doing everything you can,’ Olivia offered.

Olivia looked dishevelled after five hours of searching. Ivy had spent her time phoning everyone that Aunt Rebecca knew and organising a search party of thirty people for first light tomorrow.

‘I have never felt so wretched.’ Her ankle throbbed and it felt like her legs were made of lead as she stood up to change into her bat-patterned pyjamas.

‘It wasn’t your fault,’ Olivia replied with a pained expression. ‘Don’t blame yourself.’

‘There is no one else to blame,’ Ivy said. ‘Brendan shouldn’t have said he’d done it. I’m so lucky to have him – even if Aunt Rebecca doesn’t think so.’

Olivia nodded. ‘She just needs to get to know him.’

‘Except now she’ll never let him set foot on her property again,’ Ivy replied.

I’ve messed everything up
, Ivy thought.
I’m definitely not my mother’s daughter.

She thought about her mother’s journal, lying wrapped up on top of the dresser. It was almost like she didn’t deserve to read it any more.

As she laid down on the floor, wishing she was at home in her coffin, Ivy drifted off, to dream of a white horse running in the moonlight.

Back in Franklin Grove five days later, the twins were upset to hear that Lucky was still missing.

They had phoned Aunt Rebecca every day for updates, but there were no new leads. Now Olivia had to put him out of her mind. In less than an hour, it would be the grand opening of
Romezog and Julietron.
The entire cast was
assembled backstage in all their metallic glory for a last-minute pep talk.

Aliens were perched on parts of the holodeck set, robots were scattered among the bizarre blue trees that Sophia had designed for the outdoor scenes. They were big spheres of Styrofoam stacked on top of each other. Everything was on wheels, ready to be whisked in and out by the stage crew at Ivy’s command.

Camilla hopped up on to an alien sculpture from the party scene to address the group. ‘You all look amazing and you’ve worked so hard. Our play is going to be in a galaxy of its own.’ She looked very professional, dressed in a black suit with a moon rock necklace. ‘Special praise goes to Sophia Hewitt for the incredible costumes and to Garrick for all the extra time he put in memorising his lines.’

Olivia had butterflies in her stomach that had
mutated into alien creatures that threatened to burst out of her and do a little dance on the table. Opening night meant no more air-kissing. This was it.

‘And remember: yorg zup fandiot.’ Camilla saluted and strode away.

‘What on earth does that mean?’ Olivia asked Jackson, who looked like a real cyborg in his metal and wires.

Jackson shrugged. ‘Probably Martian for “Break a leg”.’

Olivia giggled. ‘I hope not! Can you imagine how funny Garrick would look writhing around even more than he already does!’

She glanced at her Romezog, who was sitting in the corner on a silver four-poster bed from Juliteron’s bedroom scenes with his head in his hands – all ten of them.

That doesn’t look good
, Olivia thought.

‘Thirty minutes until curtain,’ Ivy called, in stage-manager mode. There were dark shadows under her eyes from worrying about Lucky. ‘Doors are now open and the audience are taking their seats.’

Charlotte stomped past with Sophia chasing after her. ‘I will
not
wear another pillow!’

Garrick didn’t even look up.

‘Just give me a minute,’ Olivia said to Jackson and headed over to Garrick. She stood in front of him and said, ‘I hope I don’t regret asking, but what’s wrong?’

‘I can’t find my itching powder,’ he said, still staring at the floor. ‘Without it, I can’t do this.’

‘What do you mean by “this”?’ Olivia asked, worry creeping in.

‘This!’ He threw his many arms out wide, indicating the whole production. ‘Be Romezog.’

Olivia’s heart dropped into her knee-high gold
boots. If Garrick wouldn’t take the stage, then there was no show!

‘Don’t say that,’ Olivia said. ‘The show must go on!’

‘I can’t,’ he whined at her. ‘The only reason I got the part was because of the itching. Now I won’t get my kiss.’ Garrick looked like a wreck. ‘And I had all this extra stuff planned at the end, too.’

Olivia didn’t know what to make of the extra stuff, but she knew she didn’t want him to call off the performance.
You can’t do
Romeo and Juliet
without Romeo … or Romezog
, she thought.

‘You don’t need the powder,’ Olivia said. ‘Just act it. Remember what it felt like and pretend.’

Garrick looked confused. ‘Pretend to itch?’

Olivia suppresed the urge to beat him with his
goggly eyes. ‘Yes, pretend. You are supposed to be acting, after all.’

‘Maybe …’ Garrick stood up.

Jackson came over. ‘Break a leg,’ he said to Garrick, flashing a grin at Olivia.

‘Enough with the jealousy, man,’ Garrick said.