Free Wildefire by Karsten Knight

a statement when I’m good and ready.”
    Ash opened her mouth to argue, but the phone, which was still open in her hand, suddenly chimed to life. Startled at first, she glanced down at the caller ID.
    Darren’s photo popped up on the screen. “Shit,” she mumbled. “Sorry. I have to take this.”
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    She hit the send button, and before she could even get a word out, Darren’s harsh whisper exploded out through the phone. “Where the hell are you, Ash?”
    Ash breathed with relief. At least they hadn’t left without her, and it was comforting to hear a friendly voice. “Long story. Just sort of got held up with a couple of other outlaws from Blackwood, and . . . Wait, why are you whispering?”
    Darren scoffed on the other end of the phone, and she heard Jackie hiss something at him in the background.
    The phone thumped around as it changed hands, and Jackie spoke into the receiver. “ We’re whispering because the sheriff just crashed the party here at the Bent Horseshoe.
    Headmistress Riley must have noticed a few too many empty beds tonight, or empty spaces in the parking garage. All I know is that Darren and I are hiding on the floor in his truck and waiting for you to get that hot little ass of yours over here!”
    “Shit,” Ash cursed. “Listen, Jackie, I’m here with friends. You and Darren get the hell out of there. I’ll find my own way back.”
    “ Okay ,” Jackie said hesitantly. “ But if I check your bed in an hour and you’re not in it, I’m heading back to town with my hunting rifle and getting you .” The phone clicked off.
    “Picnic’s over,” Ash said, and flipped her phone closed. “The headmistress is on to us, and the sheriff and his posse decided to crash our little party.”
    “Last chance,” Rolfe offered Serena. “We can walk you right up to the sheriff and help you give your statement.
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    Hell, the excitement from all this might convince the headmistress not to crack down on us.”
    Serena’s gray eyes gleamed in the dim light of the alley. “Just get me back to campus.”
    “You can ride in my Audi,” Lily told Serena.
    “What about you?” Ash asked Raja. “Is your broom parked nearby?”
    “Hilarious.” Raja was grimly scrolling through a text on her own phone. “Colt was my ride, and he’s inside distracting the sheriff with ranger talk, so looks like I’m squeezing in with you guys too.”
    The six Blackwood escapees scurried down the alleyway, with Ash leading Serena by the hand. The girl seemed to be finding their entire escapade pleasantly amusing despite her attempted abduction just minutes earlier. Though, to be fair, Serena was something of a loner on campus. It was safe for Ashline to say that this was probably the most excitement the girl had experienced in a long while.
    They reached the mouth of the alley, and from their cloak of darkness on the lampless street corner, they studied the scene in front of the Bent Horseshoe. A green Ford Explorer with “Sheriff” stenciled on the side was parked prominently in front of the entrance to the saloon, the red and blues on top flickering to lend it some limp presence of authority. Ash had met the sheriff once when he’d stopped by Blackwood for a school assembly on wilderness survival back in the dead of winter. He didn’t strike 76

    her as the type to kick through the saloon doors and start busting heads, especially at a watering hole where he was regularly entitled to free beer.
    Leaning against the Ford Explorer was a very young and somnolent deputy, who seemed far more concerned with puffing away at his cigarette than paying the bar any mind.
    Lily’s silver convertible was parked at the end of the line of cars in front of the saloon, its top down and glimmering with a fresh coat of dew. Ash stifled a laugh. “An Audi with a soft top in a line of pickups and rental cars?
    Way to blend in with the locals, Lily.”
    Lily shrugged. “Dad always says, ‘If you can’t stand out, then you