Shadow Horse Read Free Page A

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, Jas thought grimly as she handed the thing back.
    Mrs. Weisgerber gestured to Jas’s legs. “Which ankle would you like me to put it around?”
    Jas set her left foot on the seat of a chair and pulled up her pant leg. Bending, Mrs. Weisgerber slid down Jas’s sock.
    “It locks on directly above the anklebone.” She hooked the strap around Jas’s leg. “Nothing should come between the transmitter and your skin.” Jas heard a snap and then felt the weight of it around her ankle, like a bell boot on a horse. “Can I get it wet?”
    Mrs. Weisgerber nodded. “You can bathe, shower, even go swimming. The only thing you can’t do is take it off. If you cut the bracelet or damage or lose the transmitter, you will be charged with a crime.”
    Slowly, Jas pulled down her pant leg and set her foot on the floor. Her jeans covered the bracelet, but there was no way she would forget it was there.
    Still talking, Mrs. Weisgerber walked back to her desk. “I will be making a schedule with you and your foster parent.” She held up a piece of paper gridded with lines and labeled with the days of the week. “The schedule allows you to leave the premises at certain times.”
    Like I’ll have someplace to go
, Jas thought. High Meadows had been her home for the last five years. And now she wasn’t even allowed near it. She’d never see Phil or the horses again.
    A lump balled in Jas’s throat. She gulped, forcing it down. There was so much at the farm that she’d miss: Phil and his sunbaked face, the new foals—Darien, Snoopy, and Jessica. And Old Sam, the dog. Would Phil remember to give him a biscuit every night before bedtime?
    “I’ll meet you at Miss Hahn’s in half an hour,” Mrs. Weisgerber said to Ms. Tomlinson.
    Miss Hahn?
Jas wondered. Was that her new foster parent?
    “Here are directions to the house.” Ms. Tomlinson ripped off a piece of paper from a small pad and handed it to Mrs. Weisgerber. “The name of her place is Second Chance Farm. It’s on Springhill Road.”
    When they left Municipal Court, Jas half expected a deputy to escort her from the building. But she walked into the sunlight with only the tug of the bracelet to remind her she wasn’t free.
    Ms. Tomlinson had a beat-up county car, white with faded blue seat covers. Wadded-up tissues littered the floor. Jas slid into the passenger’s seat. For a second, it felt strange not wearing handcuffs. She touched her bare wrists.
    “This will be Miss Hahn’s first experience as a foster parent,” Ms. Tomlinson said as they drove from town. “But I think it’s a perfect placement. She has horses.”
    Jas swung around to look at the social worker. “Horses?”
    “Yes.” Ms. Tomlinson smiled as if she waspleased with herself. “Quite a few. Big ones, small ones, pretty ones.”
    Horses!
A sudden weight pressed against Jas’s heart. She’d grown up with horses. She was like the wild child who’d been raised by wolves, only she’d been raised by horses. She knew their hearts, their minds, their instincts.
    But ever since Whirlwind had died, something in Jas had died, too. Now she didn’t know whether she could even stand being around horses again.
    “What kind of horses does she have?” Jas asked several minutes later.
    “I don’t know. But then I don’t know one horse from another,” Ms. Tomlinson said as she blew her nose.
    “Oh.” Turning toward the window, Jas focused on the scenery. Maybe this Miss Hahn woman fox-hunted or steeplechased. Or maybe she had a breeding farm and raised Warmbloods, Arabians, or Thoroughbreds.
    Jas’s arms began to tingle. Okay, so maybe she was excited to be around horses again. She just hoped that Whirlwind’s memory wouldn’t be too painful.
    “Here it is!” Ms. Tomlinson announced cheerfully.
    Jas looked out the side window, almost missing the sign half-hidden by weeds. The faded black letters read S COND CHANCE ARM .
    She blinked, wondering if they were at the right place. They drove