Free Flame and the Rebel Riders by Stacy Gregg

at pony club?”
    “I’m here for work,” Issie found herself hesitating. “I’m…I’m riding for Ginty McLintoch.”
    “Riding for Ginty? You’re kidding!”
    “Why?” Issie asked defensively. “I don’t see why everyone has to react like that. She’s not so bad once you know her!” She picked up her water bucket to leave, and Jock, Angus and Wombat, who had been sitting waiting patiently, all sprang up in unison ready to walk by her side.
    “Whoa, don’t storm off!” Aidan teased. “You’ll spill your water and then you’ll have to queue all over again.”
    “I’m not being a drama queen,” Issie insisted, “but I really have to go. I need to wash Tottie’s tail before Ginty gets back.”
    “Oh, come on!” Aidan said. “There’s still loads of time before the first class. Come back to the truck with me. Just for a minute.”
    “I can’t,” Issie resisted, “I’ve got the dogs with me…”
    But Aidan was insistent. “The dogs can come too. Araminta and Morgan would love to say hi. And you have to come and see Fortune. It’ll only take a minute.”
    “OK,” Issie said. “But just for a minute, and then I have to get back to wash Tottie’s tail.”
    “Great!” Aidan grinned. “You can explain to Araminta how come you’re now working for The Enemy!” He said this last part with a spooky horror-movie voice and then grinned again. It was that same grin he always used to give Issie when he was teasing her and at that moment she could feel her heart beating like crazy. It was so strange to see Aidan again. He hadn’t changed at all. Well, actually, maybe he was a bit more handsome. Ohmygod! Why did he have to be here? She needed to concentrate on her riding today. Ginty and Cassandra Steele would both be watching her. She couldn’t afford to lose focus because her boyfriend…no, she corrected herself, her
ex-boyfriend…
had turned up.
    Among the other plain, boring horse trucks, Araminta’s truck was ultra-glamorous, like a giant jewel box, painted in crisp white with her initials written on the side in gigantic curlicued Tiffany-blue type. The back ramp of the truck had been left open and there was a girl, about Issie’s age, with long dark hair just like Issie’s, sitting with her legs dangling off the side of the ramp, busily polishing a Mylar bit.
    “Issie!” Morgan Chatswood-Smith dropped the bridle and jumped up and raced over to them, giving Issie a hug. “Mum!” she called out. “Come and see who’s here!”
    Araminta emerged a few moments later. She looked stunning as always in her usual uniform of sleek jodhpurs and a crisp navy blouse. An orange Hermès scarf tied back her raven hair and she wore a pair of enormous black sunglasses.
    “Isadora,” Araminta smiled at her. “How nice to see you! Is Tom here with you?”
    Aidan pulled a face. “Issie’s not here with Tom. She’s riding for Ginty!”
    “Really?” Araminta looked surprised. “How on earth did that happen?”
    “It’s a long story,” Issie groaned.
    “Come on,” Aidan said, saving her from the conversation by grabbing her hand and dragging her off. “You have to come and see Fortune.”
    On the other side of Araminta’s sparkling white horse truck the ponies were tied up, each one with their own hay net. They were standing quietly, nibbling away on their hay. All except the piebald pony at the end. He had already finished his whole hay net and was lying down in the shade of the truck, sound asleep.
    “Fortune!” Issie giggled at the sight of him. “You haven’t changed one bit.”
    “He likes to catnap between events,” Araminta said, shaking her head in disbelief. “He is the craziest pony I’ve ever owned, but by heavens he can jump! He’s been doing one metre thirty at home in the arena—”
    “Issie?” Natasha suddenly emerged from round the corner of the horse truck. “Ohmygod, I have been looking everywhere for you! Come on! You’re supposed to be sorting out