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"Wait, you're coming with me?"
"Yeah, and I don't want to hear no argument about it." My uncle turned his back on me and hurried off to get the saddle. By the time Jules returned with the man named Flynn, Uncle Curtis and I had saddled three horses. Flynn was a big guy, bigger than me and Xavier and heavier set. He reached for the reins of the dark horse without hesitation. I swore I saw a strange look pass between him and Jules, but I didn't dwell on it. Uncle Curtis was holding the reins of Whiskey Jack, one of the ranch’s foundation stallions.
We led the horses outside and began to mount up when Jules hurried behind us and said, "What about me?"
I loved Jules, but all I cared about at the moment was finding Xavier. I was about to tell Jules that we didn't have time to get him a horse when Flynn reached down and grabbed Jules by the waist. He pulled my friend up behind him on his horse like he was lifting a piece of paper off the ground. Jules let out a little shriek as he landed on the horse’s back and his arms automatically went around Flynn's waist. The memory of once holding on to Xavier that way went through me, and my heart ached painfully in my chest.
"This way," Flynn said roughly as he turned his horse, ignoring the way Jules was hanging on to him.
The horses fell into line as we followed Flynn. He had a flashlight that he was using to examine the ground. We had to make several stops and starts on the different trailheads that led away from the ranch before Flynn seemed to settle on the trail that I'd taken when I’d gotten lost during the storm.
"How do you know he went this way?" I asked.
"We don't use this trail for anything," Flynn said. Jules was swaying back and forth on the horse and looked like he was going to slip off to one side when Flynn casually reached behind him and grabbed Jules by the waist again. Without missing a beat, Flynn transferred Jules to the front of the saddle so that he was basically sitting on Flynn's lap. If I hadn't been so worried about Xavier, I would've laughed. Especially considering that Jules, under normal circumstances, would have been in seventh heaven. There was enough light from the flashlights Flynn and Curtis were holding to see that my friend looked uncomfortable at best, and he was doing his utmost not to settle his weight on Flynn's lap.
"There's only one set of tracks heading up this trail. They’re shod, so it's not one of the herd. We only put shoes on the working horses."
"Xavier came after me a few weeks ago on Grover. What if those are just his tracks from back then?"
Flynn shook his head. "These are fresh. It's rained many times in the last few weeks. The water would've washed away all of those previous tracks. Trust me, he came this way. I don't see a set of return tracks."
I fell silent after that and tried to focus on listening to the sounds of the forest around me. I couldn't see anything, so I was hoping I'd hear something that hinted at where Xavier was.
"He was moving fast," Flynn murmured. "You can tell by the distance between the hoofprints. He must've had Grover at a gallop."
"Damn fool," Uncle Curtis muttered. "This trail is way too narrow for that."
The thought that Xavier had put both himself and his horse in danger by running the animal along the trail in the pitch dark made my stomach sink. There was only one reason he would've disregarded the safety of his horse.
I didn't voice my opinion that Xavier was probably upset. But the guilt weighed heavily on me. I should've thought to make sure I’d talked to Xavier before I’d left. But it hadn't occurred to me that he wouldn't have his phone or that he’d believe even for a second that I’d leave him for good without saying goodbye.
"Looks like he stopped here," Flynn murmured as he looked around. His silence as he examined the ground had me on edge. "Went off trail," Flynn said.
I wanted to yell at the man to just find Xavier but managed to hold my tongue. I thought about how Xavier didn't like the dark because it reminded him of his jail cell.
We dismounted, leaving Jules sitting alone on the horse. The man wandered around for several beats and disappeared into the darkness of the woods. He muttered an order for us to stay where we were and then the darkness swallowed him up. We occasionally saw the bouncing of his flashlight, but nothing more. It seemed like hours had passed before Flynn returned. "The trail stops about a hundred yards in. The woods will only get denser the farther in we go," he said as he motioned to the tree line. "It's not safe for us to be wandering around the woods at this time of night. At least not all of us. You guys head back and I'll keep looking."
