Free Third-Time Lucky by Jenny Oldfield

warned. “No showers, no telephones, no other campers using the site tonight—nothing except clean air and peace and quiet.”
    When he saw the palomino horse in the trailer and heard the reason why they were traveling northwest, Bill told Kirstie she could lead Lucky out of the trailer into a small, secluded pasture at the back of his cabin.
    “You hear that?” Kirstie lowered the ramp and went inside the trailer to untie Lucky. She noticed that he’d eaten very little hay from his net and that his breathing was no easier than it had been when they’d set off from Half Moon Ranch. “You think you can make it out to Bill’s meadow?” she cajoled, leading him carefully into the open.
    Dragging his feet, Lucky slipped and slid down the ramp. His legs seemed stiff after the journey; his coat was patchy with sweat, his head hanging low.
    “I got good clean water back here,” the ranger told Kirstie in a concerned voice, leading the way around the side of his small log cabin.
    “C’mon, boy!” she urged, feeling Lucky pull back. “I know you don’t feel too good, and this is a pretty strange place for you to find yourself. Yeah, those are new mountains over there!”
    Lucky had half raised his head and flared his nostrils. His ears came forward slightly as he took in his surroundings.
    “You see that one with the sun on? I checked it out on the map. It’s named Blue Ridge Mountain. The snow’s beautiful, isn’t it? Cold, but you gotta admit, it sure is pretty.” She smiled as Lucky’s head turned in the direction of her pointing finger. “We drive across to Blue Ridge at dawn tomorrow. After that, we go down into Wyoming. You know Wyoming? It’s where your ancestors roamed the prairies—wild mustangs, thousands of them. You’re gonna like Wyoming!”
    The sound of her voice seemed to encourage him. He took a few stiff steps forward.
    “She always talk to her horse?” Bill Englemann quizzed Matt, standing to one side to give Kirstie and Lucky room to pass. He closed the gate to the meadow after them.
    “More than she talks to me!” Matt told him. He went off to cook beans and make coffee while his sister settled Lucky down for the night.
    “No point telling you not to worry?” Matt said quietly as he handed Kirstie her supper.
    Sitting huddled inside a blanket at the opposite side of the fire, she sighed and shook her head.
    The campfire flickered and glowed red. Overhead, the black sky was dotted with silver stars.
    “So, eat!” Matt ordered.
    She moved the beans around her plate with her fork. “I think Lucky got worse,” she confessed. “He hardly ate anything all day. His breathing sounds real rough.”
    “He’s bad,” Matt admitted. “I ain’t gonna pretend otherwise.” With his solemn, handsome face shadowed by the dancing flames, he fell silent for a while. “On the bright side, it’s been a couple of days now, and he’s still hanging on in there.”
    Kirstie nodded miserably. “Matt, you should see how he looks at me. Like, he’s asking me for help because he feels so bad. And he’s wondering what’s wrong—why he can’t run around and act normal. And when he doesn’t get an answer, it’s like I’m letting him down big time!”

    “You’re not letting him down.” Matt gazed at her across the flames. “We’re doing everything we can.”
    “Not enough,” she murmured. In a dark place in her heart that she would never share, she hid a gnawing fear that what they were doing now was too little, too late. Lucky was going to die.
    “Yeah!” Matt contradicted in a louder, firmer voice. “Enough. We’re doing plenty here. You gotta believe that!”
    “What exactly?” She stared back at him, startled into paying more attention.
    Matt frowned. “Zak Stone was your idea, remember.”
    “Yeah, but what exactly are we letting Lucky in for when we get there?” Here, under the vast canopy of stars, with woodsmoke and sparks drifting skyward, she felt at a loss. What had