A New Beginning

by Olivia Tuffin

  “You idiots! You stupid, stupid idiots!”

  Sasha limped across the yard as fast as she could, holding on to both Secret and Archie. Handing over the ropes to Alice, Sasha looked as though she might pick Finn up and shake him, but instead she wrapped her arms round him, hugging him tightly, before drawing back in horror as she noticed his eye.

  “Oh my goodness! I’ll call an ambulance!”

  “I’m OK,” Finn mumbled, wiping the blood from his face.

  Alice was relieved to see his left eye was now open, and that the cut above it didn’t look too big.

  Finn steadied himself. “I’ll go and check on the other horses; they must have heard the noise.” And before anyone could stop him he lurched off towards the paddocks.

  With Alice clutching both ponies and Sasha unable to run, the two girls stood in the middle of the old yard, watching the flames grow higher, the orange glow reflected in the ponies’ eyes.

  Sasha turned to Alice, her eyes flashing. “Both of you, I’ve never known anything so stupid! What were you thinking?” she cried. Then she stopped and shook her head. “Finn would have gone in anyway,” she said, putting a hand on Alice’s arm. “He wouldn’t have let anything happen to the ponies. Or you, Alice. Especially you.”

  There was a clatter of hooves as Finn cantered back, riding Horatio.

  “Hope and Robin are gone!” he cried, coming to a halt.

  “Gone?” Sasha said in horror. “What do you mean ‘gone’? Have they escaped?”

  Finn shook his head, wheeling his pony round. He had bare feet and blood was dripping down his face. “No,” he said grimly. “I think I know exactly what’s happened.”

  Before anyone could stop him, he was cantering down the long drive towards the road, where Alice could hear the distant wail of sirens.

  “Come on!” Sasha cried, limping behind him as fast as she could with her injured ankle, grabbing a startled Archie from Alice. There was no way Secret was going to be left behind so Alice had no choice but to follow as he pulled her along. Reaching the end of the drive, it took a minute to process the scene in front of them.

  Finn and Horatio were in the lane, blocking a white horsebox. Alice gasped as she saw Marcus was the driver, and there in the passenger seat was the blond man who had visited the yard. Marcus was crouched over the wheel, glaring at Finn. The sirens were getting closer, and a fire engine was storming up the lane. It was followed by two police cars, so Marcus’s horsebox was totally blocked in.

  Alice felt like she was watching a movie, and she stepped aside with Secret as the police officers got out of their cars.

  “They’re mine – look at the passports!” Marcus was protesting loudly as he stepped out of the cab. “See, look!” he repeated. “That’s my name!”

  Sasha lunged at Marcus, her rage unmistakable. “Liar! I paid for them; you know I did!”

  “I don’t know about that,” Marcus said smugly. “You can’t argue with a legal document.”

  “It was you, wasn’t it?” Finn said slowly, climbing down from Horatio. “You took the passports while Sash was in hospital. I didn’t think even you would go that low, Marcus!”

  “As if you can prove that,” Marcus scoffed. “I was a business partner. I was allowed to take the passports!”

  “You were never a business partner, and I fired you!”

  Suddenly Alice remembered something. “You went to see Fergus’s brother and asked him to transfer the paperwork into your name,” she blurted out breathlessly. “Sasha didn’t know about that, did she?”

  At the mention of this potential fraud the police looked very interested, and stepped towards Marcus, who scowled.

  “Why didn’t you just listen to me, Sasha?” he hissed. “You put everything into that stupid team, living on nothing when you are sitting on a fortune! Why bother with something so pointless as the Flying Fillies?”

  “Finn was right, wasn’t he?” Sasha said slowly. “You haven’t been booking us any shows. Did any of the shows cancel, or was that your doing as well?”

  “It didn’t take much,” Marcus said angrily. “A few phone calls. And you still refused to give up your pathetic dream, your rotten old yard and your weirdo brother,” he added, glaring at Finn.

  “So you set fire to the yard,” Sasha said faintly, clamping a hand over her mouth.

  “As if you can prove that.” Marcus had lowered his voice, glancing at the police. “If you’d just broken away, Sasha, none of this would have happened!”

  “Never,” Sasha retorted, holding her head high. “The Flying Fillies was my parents’ dream, and now it’s mine. You’re completely crazy if you thought you would have been able to stop us.”

  Putting an arm round Finn, Sasha turned her back on Marcus. “Come on, Finn,” she said, her voice clear and strong. “Let’s go home.”

  The police let Sasha and Finn escort the horses to the yard where the firefighters had almost finished putting out the flames. The hay had been reduced to a pile of blackened smouldering bales and everything in the tack room had been destroyed. Somehow the building had escaped major damage, apart from the internal wooden rafters. Alice shuddered at the sight of the huge beam lying in the walkway entrance. It must have weighed tonnes, and could have killed them instantly.

  “It’s those thick stone walls,” one of the firefighters said, surveying the scene. “If they’d been wooden, the whole lot would have gone. The rafters will need some work, but the walls are intact.”

  “Yes,” said Sasha, and promptly burst into tears, causing the fireman to shuffle awkwardly.

  Finn put his arm round his sister. “Come on, Sash.”

  Alice thought about all the beautiful things in the tack room, lost forever. She knew they couldn’t afford to replace their missing gear. This surely meant the end for the Flying Fillies.

  “Come on,” Finn repeated, turning Sasha round, guiding her in the direction of the paddocks. She followed meekly, like a zombie. “Let’s get the horses turned out.”

  Still clutching Secret’s lead rope, Alice watched as Finn and Sasha put Hope and Robin back in their field. Sasha gave Robin a hug, burying her face in his mane, before they all turned back to the yard.

  They were interrupted by Josephine’s horsebox roaring up the drive, her face horrified as she took in the scene before her. She jumped out of the cab, and ran straight over to Alice. Secret whickered when he saw Alice’s mum, and Alice realised how pleased she was to see her. It was only just beginning to sink in how close they had been to disaster.

  “Mum…” she began, before the lights from the fire engine began swimming with the lights in front of her eyes. Dropping Secret’s lead rope, she collapsed in a heap at his pale feet.

  Alice was aware of her mum’s arms round her, and of Secret standing quietly by her side. Her mum gently pushed Alice’s sooty hair back from her face. “What happened?” she asked, her eyes full of concern.

  “Secret, Archie… We had to save them,” Alice muttered, and Josephine drew her in for a hug.

  “They are precious,” her mum agreed. “But, Alice, you are more precious than anything else in the world.” She pressed her cheek against Alice’s forehead. The only other time Alice had seen her mum like this was after her accident with Honey when she had stayed by her bed for three days straight. “I couldn’t have coped, if anything had happened to you.”

  Sasha was sitting on an upturned bucket, her head in her hands.

  “You’re going to have to ring Dad now…” Finn sat on the ground as the paramedics cleaned up the cut above his eye. “You’ve got no choice.”

  “You’re right,” Sasha said wearily. “I’ll ring him in the morning.” She looked at the smoke-blackened building and started to cry again. “I’m sorry, Finn,” she mumbled. “I tried my best.”

  Suddenly Sasha looked very young. Alice stood silently with the ponies as Finn tried to comfort his sister.

  Chapter 18

  Alice woke early the next m
orning after a restless night’s sleep, playing over the previous evening’s events in her mind. Before loading up their ponies, they had made sure Sasha was OK and that the team horses were safe in their field. Finn had been taken into hospital to check for concussion.

  Secret and Archie were back home, and the emergency vet had been to check them both over. Josephine had cancelled her plans for the next few days and had called Samantha to let her know about Archie. Samantha had immediately rushed over with bags of carrots for the ponies. Finding Finn’s number in the kitchen Alice had plucked up the courage to text him.

  How are you, Sasha and the ponies? It’s Alice, by the way.

  She deliberated for a long moment whether to add a kiss on the end, and decided not to. He replied a few minutes later.

  Sore, but no concussion. The police have been round all morning. Can I come and see Archie later? I want to see if he’s OK. X

  Feeling a tiny flutter in her stomach as she noted the kiss at the end, Alice quickly replied.

  Of course, he’d love to see you. X

  And so would I, she thought, but she decided not to write that.

  The atmosphere in the yard was sombre as Alice relayed the previous night’s events to Samantha. Although the vet had given both Archie and Secret a clean bill of health he had advised that they should rest for a couple of days, particularly Archie, who was still quiet.

  Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Finn and Sasha. Finn was obviously relieved to see Archie, and the black pony whickered in greeting. Finn’s eye was already a vibrant shade of purple, but the wound had been neatly stitched.

  “What’s the latest?” Josephine asked, her voice kind. Sasha was still pale, her eyes bloodshot from crying, as Samantha put her arms round both siblings.

  “Marcus has been arrested for theft, arson, fraud, you name it,” Finn said grimly. “He stole the passports and transferred ownership of Robin and Hope over to his name. The police found texts he’d sent to that guy, Nick, arranging to meet at the yard that night and set fire to the hay so they could take the ponies. I don’t think he meant to hurt any of the animals – but he did deliberately start the fire.”

  “What an awful thing to do,” Alice said, shaking her head. “But it explains where the passports went!” she realised, remembering Finn had been unable to find them.

  Finn nodded. “Yes,” he said grimly. “It gets worse though. When poor Sasha was in hospital Marcus actually rang all the shows and cancelled our displays!”

  “Why?” Josephine sounded bewildered, as if unable to comprehend that someone could act that way.

  “Because he was greedy,” Sasha whispered. “He never loved me; all he loved was what I owned. When I wouldn’t give up the Flying Fillies, he tried to ruin it all. The fire was a last-ditch attempt to break us, and I guess it did. Marcus wanted to set fire to the stables so we’d be nowhere near the fields when they took the ponies, and the hay was an easy target. He knew our horses were out … but he didn’t know Secret and Archie were staying.” She shuddered.

  She gave Finn a sad smile. “Finn saw through Marcus, way before I did,” she said regretfully. “I’m so sorry.”

  Finn shook his head. “It’s OK,” he said. “I just had a feeling from the start that he was up to no good.”

  “What will happen now?” Alice asked quietly.

  “I guess that’s it,” Finn said, putting his head in his hands, as Sasha put her hand on his shoulder. “There’s no way we can afford to keep the horses. How can we continue?” There was a long pause, and Alice noticed Finn’s eyes were misty.

  “We’ll have to sell them, I suppose,” Sasha said eventually, her voice breaking. “I did call Dad, but he didn’t answer. I’ve left messages, but I’m not sure what else we can do.”

  A few days later Alice was grooming Secret in the stable yard. Secret turned his head to nibble her shirtsleeve gently and she smiled at him. There had been a change in their relationship since the fire. Secret had trusted her when she had really needed him to, and she’d trusted him.

  Just then Samantha’s four-by-four pulled up and she leapt out, a huge grin on her face. “Hi, Alice!” she called happily, before greeting each pony in their stable.

  Samantha was accompanied by two identical girls. They were even dressed the same, in jods and T-shirts covered in sparkly horseshoes. Alice waved at them, and the girls grinned back shyly.

  “Alice, these are my girls, Claudia and Phoebe!” Samantha said excitedly. “They’ll ride the ponies one day.”

  Alice smiled at the twins. “You’re very lucky. Your mum has chosen some lovely ponies. Finn’s been riding them really well.”

  “That’s who we want to see!” Samantha cried. “Is he here?”

  Alice shook her head, checking her watch. “Sasha’s bringing him over in a bit,” she said, and Samantha clapped her hands together.

  “I’ve got something to ask him. I’ve been thinking about it for ages!” she said happily. And then, without pausing for breath, she told Alice she was planning a huge party for the twin’s eighth birthday in a few weeks’ time. “And we want the Flying Fillies to be the stars of the show!” she said, smiling.

  “We can’t,” Finn frowned as Samantha told him about her idea later that afternoon. “I mean, we’d love to, but the team doesn’t exist any more. The fire destroyed all our equipment and props.”

  “I know,” Samantha said. “But let me help! I’ll sort out new costumes and tack. I know it won’t be the same, but I’ll do my best! The girls are so excited; they’ve been talking about you ever since I showed them your videos.” She paused for breath, her smile widening. “And I would make sure you are paid very well. I’ve been telling everyone about you at all the things I go to – charity lunches, parties, that sort of thing. They’d all love to see you!”

  Alice noticed the tiniest glimmer of hope creeping into Finn’s eyes. “Really?” he said, sounding apprehensive, and Samantha nodded.

  “Absolutely!” she cried. “I know once they see you, you’ll be booked up for months. Just tell me what you need, and I’ll get it.” She winked at Alice. “Any excuse for shopping!”

  Finn opened his mouth, and then closed it again, before his face fell, the hope fading.

  “But we can’t,” he replied miserably. “Even though he was awful, Marcus was good at the riding bit. And Molly’s got another job. It’s just me and Sasha.”

  “What about me?” Fergus appeared from the side of the stable, grinning. “I can’t do what Marcus did, but I was in the gymkhana team as a kid. I’d just need a big enough horse!”

  The glimmer of hope reappeared very gradually in Finn’s eyes. “So could you still vault and pick things up from the floor?” he asked slowly.

  Fergus chuckled. “Maybe,” he said. “With some practice.” Then he smiled. “But really, it’s you and your sister who are the stars. You do the fancy bits. I’ll just be in the background.”

  “OK,” Finn said, a grin spreading across his face. “What about you, Alice?”

  “Me?” Alice gaped at him and Finn laughed.

  “Why not?” he said.

  “You bet!” Alice practically jumped for joy. Then her heart sank. “No, wait … my mum,” she mumbled. She knew her mum would never let her take part.

  “Let me talk to her!” Samantha winked, and she sounded so confident Alice felt a tiny seed of hope building. If her mum did say yes, this would be the highlight of her summer!

  “Great!” Finn smiled. “Who else?”

  “What about me?” Shelley appeared from round the corner with a grin, and Finn clapped his hands.

  “Perfect!”

  Suddenly he was full of enthusiasm. They had two weeks until the twin’s birthday party, and with the showing season drawing to a close they had plenty of time to practise.

  To everyone’s surprise Alice’s mum agreed that Alice could ride!

  Her mum gave a small smile. “Sure. Why not? Finn’s been a great
asset to the business; I’m sure we can help him out in return. But you must wear your skullcap, and you must stay in the saddle at all times!” She looked pointedly at Finn as she spoke.

  Hardly daring to believe it, Alice nodded and fell silent. She’d agree to anything, if it meant she could ride with the Flying Fillies!

  Chapter 19

  The very next day an ecstatic Samantha and Sasha went shopping for fabric. A dressmaker Samantha knew was going to create new costumes. Josephine had managed to borrow a beautiful side-saddle from one of her old show instructors. To top it all off, the ponies had new bridles ordered, bedecked with silver.

  “Amazing!” Sasha grinned as she unloaded the bags full of rainbow-coloured fabric from Samantha’s car. “We’re going to look a million times better than before!”

  Sasha was starting to look like her old self again. Marcus had been released from questioning but a date for a court trial had been set as the forensics officially determined whether the fire had been started deliberately by a lit cigarette. There’s no way he can charm his way out of that one, Alice thought, pleased justice was being done.

  “That’s it … easy … now extend!” Finn called from the side of the paddock at Rookham Manor, as Fergus, Alice and Shelley practised the show. Finn had put together a new display based on fairy tales. He and Sasha were carrying out the complicated stunts but Fergus, Alice and Shelley were still having to learn a complex routine made up of dressage moves. Alice and Shelley were riding the two matching Dales ponies, Jack and Jill.