Gypsy Gold Read Free Page A

couldn’t see any tracks. “I was following them, but Ace and Silly must have veered off the trail.”
    â€œI didn’t notice,” Jen said. She sounded embarrassedas she fanned the totally-un-Jen-like beige shirt she’d worn so that she wouldn’t shock the turkey vultures with her usual brightly colored wardrobe. “I hate to admit it, but you know who we could use right now, don’t you?”
    â€œNo,” Sam said, walking faster.
    â€œSam,” Jen said, stopping to roll the stiffness from her shoulders. “You know what my dad said about Jake?”
    â€œI can’t hear you,” Sam called back, but Jen’s rapid downhill footsteps caught up with her.
    â€œâ€˜That boy could track a bee through a blizzard,’” Jen drawled, imitating her dad.
    Sam shook her head, clearing her ears of the remark. She didn’t want to think about Jake right now. She wanted to find her horse, shuck off her boots, and take a nap. “But why would they do it?”
    Jen knew Sam was still talking about the horses, and quit teasing her.
    â€œSomething spooked them, of course,” Jen said. “Much as I love horses, I sometimes wish their primitive little brains didn’t scream ‘Run!’ at the first sign of trouble. I understand that they developed in a world where there weren’t any barbed-wire fences, cars—”
    â€œOr canned biscuits,” Sam muttered.
    â€œYeah,” Jen said, sounding gloomy again.
    As they crab-stepped down a side hill, Sam tried not to tense up. Even when her boot soles slipped onrocks tiny as gravel, she kept her knees from locking. All she needed was to slide down this slope on the seat of her jeans.
    Â 
    Sundown came and the girls were still walking, not riding.
    â€œWe should be coming to another road pretty soon,” Sam said. “I’m really—”
    â€œQuit apologizing,” Jen ordered.
    Sam pressed her lips together, but she couldn’t stop feeling guilty. She’d insisted they sit for an hour, then two, by the last dirt road they’d crossed.
    â€œIt made sense,” Jen assured her. “And it was a good place for a lunch break.”
    â€œReally, this summer when I drove up that road with Ryan—” Sam started.
    â€œSam, quit it.”
    â€œâ€”we saw Karl Mannix driving on it with the Hummer and then I drove back up there with Sheriff Ballard. That’s three trucks traveling on that road in one day. I don’t know why, today, we didn’t see a single, solitary car, truck, or minivan….” Sam’s voice cracked.
    Jen gave Sam a quick, one-armed hug before grabbing her by both shoulders and turning her so they faced each other.
    â€œSamantha, honey,” Jen said with forced sweetness. “You need to shut up now. No one’s expecting us back until tomorrow morning, we know whatwe’re doing, and horses have been taking care of themselves for the last million years or so.”
    Eyes locked, the girls had a staredown.
    Sam lost.
    â€œYour glasses are really dirty,” she said.
    â€œI’ll scratch the lenses if I polish them with my shirt,” Jen replied.
    At last, Sam sighed. “I guess you’re right. And if the horses don’t go home, I’m not in trouble.”
    She tried to sound like that would be a good thing, but she didn’t want Ace and Silly running loose in tack that could endanger them in the wild.
    â€œWe can go without water for at least another twenty-four hours, and by then we will have encountered some sort of civilization.”
    Sure, Sam thought, if one of us doesn’t twist an ankle, or get bitten by a rattlesnake.
    â€œAnd we’re not lost,” Jen said adamantly.
    â€œDid I say we were?”
    â€œJust don’t go veering off this path,” Jen said.
    â€œWhy would I do that?”
    â€œWell, if you saw the Phantom—”
    â€œHe’s too smart to