Free Lucky Charm by Annie Bryant

“Nothing.”
    Charlotte choked back a sob. She couldn’t cry now. They had work to do.
    Maeve looked pensive. “Mr. Ramsey…Perhaps we could drive by the park first. Maybe Marty returned to the last place he saw us,” she suggested.
    Charlotte doubted that this was possible, but she was touched by Maeve’s concern.
    “Good idea, Maeve. Let’s get going,” Charlotte said, heading toward the door.
    Charlotte was happy that both her father and Maeve were there to help her look for Marty, but it was Monday afternoon. Marty had already been missing for forty-eight hours. Charlotte was beginning to lose hope.
    Maeve must have read the worry on Charlotte’s face. “Don’t worry, Char,” she said, squeezing her friend’s hand. “We’ll never stop looking for Marty!”
    Hip, Hippo-ray!
    Katani sat next to Kelley in the middle seat of Big Blue, her grandmother’s old boat-size blue car, and stared out the window. Normally, Katani loved to go for a ride in Big Blue. Usually it meant a trip to the mall or a day trip to Cape Cod.Ruby Fields loved to take her granddaughters on little adventures. She said it was “good for the soul.”
    Today was different, however. They were going out to Weston to the High Hopes Therapeutic Riding Stable. Weston was a half-hour away from their home in Brookline. That meant in addition to the riding lessons, Katani had to spend an hour in the car with her sister instead of hanging out with her friends, or more importantly, looking for Marty.
    Katani was really worried about Charlotte. Char was so angry with Avery and her role in Marty’s disappearance that Katani was afraid it might impact their friendship. It was so unlike the normally sensitive Charlotte to get that mad, or even be mad at all. Perhaps , wondered Katani as she stared out the window, it was easier to be angry than feel sad that Marty might be lost forever .
    As they got closer to the stables, they entered a semi-wooded suburban area of Boston that Katani had never been to before. It was lovely, but she wouldn’t let herself admire the beautiful trees or the graceful colonial homes. She didn’t want to go horseback riding—and that was that.
    Meanwhile, Mrs. Fields was explaining in a calm voice to Kelley what lay ahead. “You girls are so lucky. I’ve never ridden a horse,” her grandmother said. “But I always wanted to. When I was your age, I had friends who rode. Oh, the stories they told. Riding on trails through the woods and going to horse shows.”
    Kelley clapped her hands, “Ha! I will ride a horse today.”
    Mrs. Fields looked fondly at both of her granddaughters.
    Katani refused to respond and instead turned to stare outthe window. She wasn’t ready to admit how the lush green trees and stone walls appealed to her finely tuned sense of style.
    When they got closer, Grandma Ruby passed the directions to Katani. Grandma Ruby was famous for getting lost, and Katani didn’t feel like driving around for an extra hour or two.
    Katani was relieved when she saw a small sign that read High Hopes . She shouted, “There it is, Grandma! Turn here.”
    Grandma Ruby rolled onto a country road that was surrounded by big maple trees. On the corner was a big old shingle-style house that looked like it was once a hotel. Just past the house was a small riding stable. As they pulled in, Kelley began to bounce up and down. There were horses in the paddock. Curious, they stuck their heads over the fence to stare at Big Blue. Katani put her fingers to her mouth to keep from smiling. She figured the horses had never seen anything like Big Blue before.
    Katani had imagined a huge pasture, white fences, and lots of thoroughbred horses running around. What she saw instead was a small brown weathered barn that looked like it might blow over in the next strong wind. There was a fence, but it was brown, not white. And there wasn’t an endless pasture area, just a ring with a clump of grass in the middle. The recent rain had left