Save my girls.
I hit the throttle.
The bike launches forward, and the others fall in behind me.
Chapter Thirteen
Mia
The first thing I smell is smoke.
Not woodsmoke from someone’s firepit.
Not the sharp little puff of a candle blown out too close to your face.
Real smoke.
Thick and hot.
I freeze in the middle of the kitchen, one hand still on the cabinet door.
For half a second, my mind refuses to understand it.
Then one of the horses screams.
My blood turns to ice.
“No,” I whisper.
Another scream tears through the air.
I run to the back window.
Orange light flickers against the setting sun.
The main barn is on fire.
For one terrible second, I can’t move. I can only stare while flames crawl up the side wall like they have hands.
Then my body remembers how to work.
I grab my phone from the counter and dial 911 with shaking fingers.
“911, what’s your emergency?”
“My barn is on fire,” I say, already running for the mudroom. “Moore’s Second Chance Sanctuary. I have horses inside. Please hurry.”
I rattle off the address while yanking on my boots.
Livy appears at the bottom of the stairs, hair loose around her shoulders, eyes wide.
“Mama?”
“Stay in the house.”
Her face pales. “What’s happening?”
“Livy, listen to me. Stay inside. You do not come out. You donotopen that door. Do you understand?”
