Hi guys!

Well, here is the first chapter of the next story (Old Demons, Uncertain Futures) in the Jessie Stories Saga! I was going to wait a few more days before uploading it but since I managed to get it edited sooner then I had expected, here it is!

This story starts approximately a month after where the last chapter ended so there is a rather large time skip but we'll go back and explore what happened in that month in the next few chapters. *winks* Strap on your seat-belts folks because this story is starting with a splash!

As mentioned before, I'm keeping the 'romantic' interactions between Jack and Lisa toned down for the moment. (They still haven't actually kissed on the lips yet) They're still figuring things out and even without them kissing there are some just as sweet moments to come. I really can't wait to write about their first proper kiss on the cattle drive though, its probably more selfish on my part why they haven't kissed yet then anything else but that kiss was so cute! I don't think you guys will mind though...

I've been thinking about one of the reviews that was left on my story a little while ago about how the reviewer liked the fact that the chapter was focused again on Jessie and Lisa and its got me thinking about the rest of the story... I was planing on having the other charters more involved in the story but would you guys rather just read about Jessie, Lisa and Jack? Thoughts?

Enjoy and don't forget to review! I love reading your thoughts on my updates and I look forward to reading them.

Chapter 1.0

The young girl patted the stallions neck as she slowed him to a trot, checking the crossroads ahead for any traffic before letting him canter on. She glanced over her shoulder at the girl clinging to her waist, the girl's head resting on her back. She was pale, too pale for her liking and she slowed the stallion to a stop on the side of the road. 'Jessie, Jessica, are you alright?'

Jessie moaned as she lifted her head, nodding. 'I'm alright.' She replied, out of breath and in obvious pain that she was trying her best to hide. She had more important things to worry about than herself, she needed to get the other girl to safety before people came looking for them. If they found them- She bit her lip as her side throbbed. 'Don't worry about me Cindy, we have got to keep moving. You know what will happen to us if they catch us. We have to keep going, we don't have any choice. We'll be safe at Heartland.' Her eyes searched the deserted paddocks they were riding past as she paused for a moment. 'Jack and Lisa will take care of us.' She certainly hoped they would, she hadn't heard from them at all since going to the foster home. She tried to smile as Cindy glanced back at her, trying to reassure her. 'Don't worry. We'll be alright.'

'I hope you're right.' She didn't sound convinced as she patted the stallions shoulder. A glance towards the horizon revealed the first rays of the early morning sun as it began to rise. 'We have to find a place to hide till night. Where do we go?'

Jessie gritted her teeth as she sat back, trying to recognize the landscape in the dim light. She wanted to keep going, she knew she needed help but she also knew Cindy was right. They couldn't risk being spotted and taken back to that dreadful place. They had to hide, even though her gut was telling her time was of the essence. She thought for a moment, trying desperately to find a solution. 'A couple miles further, there should be a forest reserve. I remember us driving past it, they took these back roads when they took me to their house. We can hide there. It's out of the way, and I don't think many people go there.'

'Right. Let's go Warrior.' Cindy nudged the stallion with her heels and he jumped forward into a canter. She glanced back over at Jessie as she leaned against her, holding onto her so that she didn't fall off. 'He really hurt you, didn't he?'

'Nothing that I can't handle.' She replied, trying to sound normal but she couldn't keep a tinge of pain out of her voice. She winched as her side ached again, pressing her hand to her ribs. 'I'm just glad that it wasn't you that copped it.'

'Thanks for saving my hide.' Cindy's voice was low as she guided the stallion along the curb of the road, sticking to the gravel edge so the horse's hooves wouldn't leave prints behind that they could track them by. 'I'm sorry that he beat you though. You shouldn't have tried to stop him from hitting me.'

'Cindy, I promised that I would look after you, and part of that is protecting you even if it means getting roughed up now and then. I just hope that he doesn't do anything to the others while we're getting help.' Jessica thought back for a moment to the other foster kids in their care. 'By the time that the athourites finish with them, I can guarantee that they won't be seeing a sunrise for quite some time.'

'Do you think they'll believe us?' The girl asked timidly as she cast a worried glance towards the east. The sun was rising quickly, they had to hide as soon as possible. 'I mean, they fooled Clint and everyone else for years. Even if we can get someone to help them, I don't think they'll talk. They're too scared to. We don't have any real proof and it'd be just our word against theirs.'

Jessie looked down at her bloodied hand as she pulled it away from her side, quickly wiping it against her pants where the blood from her scratches were. She winced as she held her side again, trying to stop the bleeding. Goodness only knew what damage falling on the wood in the fight had done to her. 'I've got plenty of proof, all the proof I'll ever need.' She slipped a small flip phone from her pocket with her other hand, the one Lisa had given her. She opened it, sighing inwardly as she saw they were out of signal area still. Too bad they were on a back road without any signal, or she would call them to come get them. She would have called them the first day she had been at that horrible place if she could have, but unluckily for her, there was no mobile reception back at where they had lived. Cindy raised her eyes as she glanced back at her and gasped. 'I've got photos, videos. It's going to be pretty hard for them to talk their way out of it.'

'How, how on earth did you ever manage to hide that all this time? If they had found out that you had a phone, you would have been toast.'

'I hid it, mostly in my boot but I have a couple other places. Still, I am lucky that they didn't find it. If only I had a signal.' She sighed, then coughed loudly. The blond haired girl looked at her, then slowed the horse as she continued coughing. She waved her on, holding her side with one hand and the other wrapped around Cindy's waist. 'Keep going, we can't stop.'

'But you're really hurt.' Her eyes widened as she saw the girls pale face. Jessie was strong, she always tried to cover up when she was hurt but she knew without a doubt something was wrong with her. 'We need to stop. You need to rest.'

'Cindy, this is one time you need to follow what I say without question. We need to make it to the forest so we can hide. Keep going.'

'But-'

'Don't argue with me Cindy!' Jessie said with a harsh tone, then inwardly kicked herself as the girl shrunk away in fear. 'I'm sorry Cindy, I'm sorry.' She coughed again. 'Just please, keep going. It's not much further now.'

'I hope it isn't.' The girl let Warrior have his head and they were off down the moonlit road. 'You're really not going too good.'

'I'll be fine, just as soon as we get to Heartland.' She looked up at the road ahead. 'There, just around the next bend.'

Jessie sighed silently with relief as the forest reserve came into view. They would be safe there to hide till night came again. She glanced around behind her. The road was deserted, quiet and still. They hadn't had a car or truck pass by all night. They had been lucky, but how much longer was their luck going to last? She knew that the foster carers would be on their tail as soon as they knew that they had escaped. Hopefully they had managed to put some distance between those who would come looking for them and themselves. She could only guess they'd had an hours head-start before they would come looking for her and Cindy. She'd left Howard hogtied and locked up in a stall in the barn, hopefully he hadn't woken yet and had someone free him. She was glad that she'd managed to knock him out when she had. He was a strong man, he would have managed to hurt her more then he already had if she hadn't gotten away when she did. She was indebted to Cindy for helping her get the guy moved and tied up, and that was when they had made their escape.

'Here we are.' Cindy pulled the horse off the road and they headed down the path into the forest. 'How far do we go?'

'Far enough to hide.' She looked around at the trees surrounding them. 'Keep Warrior on the path, we don't want tracks they can follow.'

'I know.' Slowing the stallion a little more, she turned him into thicker scrub. 'We'll go down here a ways and I think we'll be able to hide no problem.'

'Yes, this looks like a good spot.' She agreed as Warrior stopped next to a fallen evergreen pine that was still covered in green needles, providing excellent cover they could take shelter beneath. 'We'll hide under here.'

'What about Warrior?'

'No one will think anything of him if they see him. Wild horses are all around here. We'll just take his tack off and hide it.'

'Alright, any other instructions?'

'Just hop off so I can. I need to lie down.'

Cindy slid off the stallion, then gave her hand to the girl and helped her off after her. She caught the wince the girl made, and looked down at her side the girl was covering with her hand. 'Your really not well, are you?'

'I'll live.' Jessie brushed her concern off not wanting to alarm the girl. 'Just help me get down under the tree.' She winced again as she knelt down beside the pine, crawling underneath and finally flopped onto the bed of pine needles. She grunted in pain, still holding her hand over her side. 'Grab the stuff off Warri and come under. We both need to rest up.'

'Already on it.' She had the cinch undone and was pulling the saddle off as she spoke. Placing it down under the tree, she grabbed the bridle and halter off then crawled in after the older girl. Grabbing the saddlebag and the sack of things they'd taken, food and their belongings she laid down beside her. 'Do you want something to eat? Fiona swiped us plenty. There's some sandwiches and cookies and-'

'I'm not hungry.' She interrupted, her already aching head feeling worse from the girls high pitched chatter. Her head was throbbing dreadfully, concerning her. She'd taken a hard hit to the head, concussion was a strong possibility. 'Cindy, can you please lower your voice a bit? Just whisper. We don't want anyone hearing us.'

'Oh, sorry.' She lowered her voice as she dug into a sandwich, then handed her the water bottle. 'At least have a drink.'

'Alright.' Taking the water from her, she took a quick drink then placed it aside as she watched Cindy eating. For a ten year old, Cindy was quite small, not in height but in weight. All the foster kids were skinny, and no wonder with the meager food rations they had been given. It was just lucky that Fiona had managed to get them the food that the other girl was eating now. She had known they were going to try and get away and had snatched it right from under Ruth's nose earlier that night. Oh, their own three boys and themselves had plenty to eat but they didn't care much for what the foster kids ate. 'Fiona was very kind.'

'Yeah, I hope she won't be in too much trouble if they find out she helped us escape.' Her face turned serious as she frowned, concerned for the rest of the children. 'What do you think they'll do with the others? Fiona said that when that other girl escaped before, they were locked in that shed we had to sleep in for two weeks as a lesson to them.'

'Well, if I have anything to do with it, they won't be there much longer.' She pulled her phone from her pocket. 'I need you to look after this. Hide it in the bottom of the saddlebags in the plastic that sandwich was in. I think there is a storm brewing and I don't want it getting ruined.'

'Storm?' Cindy asked in the middle of a mouthful, her eyes wide with fright. 'There's a storm coming?'

'Don't worry, I'll be right here with you. Hopefully we'll be warm and dry at Heartland before it hits.'

'You know Heartland will be the first place they look for us, since you came from there.' Cindy finished her sandwich and wrapped the phone up, placing it in the saddlebag securely where it wouldn't get wet. 'Maybe it's not safe for us to go there. They'll just make us go back to that awful home.'

'No.' Jessie shook her head. 'Jack and Lisa would never betray us. Once I tell them what happened, they'll make sure that those people never have another foster kid ever again. Besides, if Howard and Ruth go there, they'd have to say we ran away and I don't think they would want anyone to know that. Especially not with what they've been doing and knowing that we can get them put in prison.'

'Can we?'

'Why do you think they would be so worried about finding us? They know that we can get them in trouble.'

'They'd better be in trouble. I had enough of sleeping with rats to last me a lifetime.' She laid down beside the older girl, curling up against her. 'I don't think I can keep my eyes open much longer.'

'Sleep then Cindy, I'm right beside you. You're safe.'

'Thanks Jessie.'

As the sun rose and the wildlife began to wake, the only sound that really mattered to Jessica was the steady sound of Cindy sleeping peacefully beside her, nuzzled up into her arms. She watched her chest rise and fall, somehow hearing her breathing calmed her. She remembered listening to Lisa sleep beside her that night she'd woken from her nightmare, finally lulled to sleep by her heartbeat. Why hadn't she contacted her? Why hadn't she rung? In over the month she had been at that glamorized dump there had been nothing. No messages, no calls, no letters from the outside world. She had been confined to the ranch, not even allowed to go into town when Howard, Ruth and the three boys would go in. All the kids were terrified of them, they did as they were told out of fear and none of them were even game enough to squeal to Clint or runaway.

She hadn't bowed to their superiority though. She hadn't let the boys do what they wanted to her, she wasn't going to let them break her like they would a horse. She had fought and fought and fought. It might have added a few more scars to her body, but she wasn't going to be a scared, submissive, broken little girl like the other foster children. She hadn't been through what she had to have more people break her will. She remembered the yelling, the beating she would receive when she didn't do as they wanted but that didn't matter now. Cindy and herself had gotten away and she were going to make them pay for what they had done to her and the other kids.

Cindy stirred, crying in her sleep and she stroked her hair like Lisa had for her. The girl didn't wake from her dream, quietly lulled back to sleep by her touch. The first day they had met the two of them had connected. She had protected her from the kids of the foster parents, and she had protected her from Howard too when he had tried to beat her for something his own kids had done the night before. Cindy was like a little sister to her. She would do anything for her.

She thought of the other kids still in their care. In total, there were eight kids, her and Cindy included. Goodness only knew how much money they were getting for the kids, since they made out that the kids were worse than they really were to get more money. The greedy things. They certainly didn't need the money, with the mansion that they lived in and the horses they bred. The horses had slept and ate better than the foster kids. She'd even caught little five year old Bobby eating biscuits from the dogs food bowl. After that, she'd put aside some of her meager rations to give the smaller children more food to eat.

She couldn't help but think of them as the sun rose higher. Little Bobby was the youngest, a cheeky blue eyed blonde boy. He was timid, so much so that whenever Howard or Ruth went around him he would run into hiding. She'd gotten to know him though, and when they weren't near he could be found mucking around with her playing a game of chase. She smiled, thinking of him. At least she'd given him a little joy. It was the least she could do.

Jenny and James were the next oldest kids, both seven year old twins. They were lucky enough to not have been separated, they had each other for support. They were quiet, quick to do as they were told and always eager to do things for Howard and Ruth. They didn't do it out of love though, it was all utter fear. Everyone feared them, but the twins were the ones who were the favorites, if they could be called such. They just got hit less than the others since they allowed themselves to be fully controlled by their narcissistic foster carers.

Rachel came next, being nine years old. She hadn't seen much of her as she had kept to herself. In the month she had been there, she hadn't heard her speak once. She had tried to talk to her, tried to make friends with her but she was just too scared to be seen with her since it was well known amongst the kids that they had labelled her as a trouble maker. It was only because she didn't like the way she and the rest of them got treated. By both the foster parents and their kids.

Cindy was the only ten year old and had only been there a couple weeks before she had arrived. She was supposed to be returned to her grandmother who was her guardian once her grandmother had recovered from her broken hip but she had secretly learned that they were planning on keeping her, lying about her grandmother so that they could keep the girl. They only wanted her for the extra money. Well, that was not going to happen, she was going to make sure of that.

The other two kids were both older than her, Tilly and Fiona. They were both sisters, and had been there the longest. Fiona was the eldest, at seventeen and Tilly was fourteen. The two of them stuck together like glue, trying to help the younger kids get by the best they could. She had tried to get Fiona to come with them, to come escape but she had refused. She had said that she wouldn't leave her sister, and that it was her duty to look after the younger children. She'd gotten them food and water though, and promised to hold Howard and Ruth off their trail as long as she could. She'd said that them getting away was the only way to help the others.

Fiona told her what had happened to the other girl who had escaped from them, and it hadn't ended nicely for her. They had killed her to keep the way they treated the kids a secret and told the authorities she'd run away. The authorities had believed them too, the girl was apparently still declared as missing but Fiona knew the truth and had shared it with her when she'd mentioned of her intention to run away. She knew the risks they were taking, running away but there was no other choice. She was the only child brave enough to risk everything and there had been no way she was leaving Cindy behind when they had fled. Howard was seriously twisted, he'd gone so far as to murder a child because she'd taken off and Ruth was no better. There was no way either of them could be trusted, they were capable of anything. She knew that if they caught her and Cindy, they could possibly be murdered too but she wasn't going to let that happen. They were going to make it to Heartland, and they were going to make sure that the other kids were taken off them. They had come too far to give up now.

Lisa sighed as she stood at the sink, washing the dishes from her afternoon tea with Jack. The girl had been on her mind a lot lately since she had gotten back from France and something just didn't feel right to her. She chafed at her it really annoyed her but her uncanny sixth sense had never been wrong. Something wasn't right, she could just feel it Apparently Jessie was in good health and enjoying her new home and her new life with Howard and Ruth but something still didn't feel right about the whole situation. She knew them from the horse breeding circle, they were well respected as being of moral character and people praised them for the work they did taking in orphan children and giving them a home. She had seen a couple of the foster children who once when she'd crossed paths with them at a horse show and the kids had been well mannered and polite but still there was a nagging worry that wouldn't leave the back of her mind. It further worried her that it was getting stronger, like her instincts were telling her the girl could be in danger. Was it just her mind playing tricks because she hadn't liked the idea of the girl going into foster care in the first place or was it more than that? Was she right? What if she was right and the girl was in danger?

She didn't know the couple personally and that didn't help ease her concerns at all. She only had heard of them and the brief time she'd been introduced to them before she had met them when they'd picked Jessica up. They seemed like decent people to her, and they'd welcomed the foster kids into their home. They had to be good people, didn't they?

'Lisa, Lisa are you okay?'

'Yeah sure.' She turned at Jack's voice, interrupted from her thoughts. 'Why do you ask?'

'You've been washing that same plate for the last five minutes. Are you trying to take the glaze off it as well as the crumbs?'

'Oh.' She chuckled, placing the plate on the drying rack. 'I've been a bit distracted lately. Sorry I'm not better company.'

'I can tell that it's not because I'm distracting you, you've hardly said a word all afternoon.' He patted the seat beside him. 'Come sit Lis, tell me what's bothering you. We can clean up the dishes later.'

'I won't say no to that.' She teased as she returned to the table. 'I swear that you could read me like a book.'

'No, not really. I just know when something is bothering you. What's on your mind?'

'Jessica.'

'I see.' He leant back against his chair. 'What's got you worried about her?'

'I've been thinking of her a lot today. Something just doesn't feel right.' She sighed. 'I've rung Ruth and Howard at least twice a week since she's been in their care and I've never been able to actually talk to her. I've sent messages to her cell phone, and rang her too but she hasn't replied. It just seems really odd. Every time I ring, they say she's busy. Out riding, or cooking, or playing with the children. They just seem to be making excuses why she can't come to the phone. She's just always busy, apparently.'

'Well maybe she is. It sounds like she's having fun there and you know cell phone service out that way is sketchy at the best of times.'

'I don't know Jack.' She sighed, looking at the table. 'I hope you're right. Even if she was busy, you would think that she'd ring back using their phone.'

'I bet she's having so much fun that she's forgotten all about us.' He chuckled, lifting her chin so she'd look at him. 'I'm sure that she's alright Lisa.'

'I just wish I knew for certain.' Lisa turned back to the table, fiddling with the table cloth as the feeling got stronger. 'Maybe we should just drop by and see her. I'm not busy tomorrow, so we could drive over and visit her. Have you got plans tomorrow?'

'No, I think a drive might be nice if it would put your mind at ease. I'm sure she's alright Lisa.'

'Yeah, it's probably nothing.' She smiled, trying to shrug her feelings off. She'd just only gotten back from France a couple of days previous and hadn't been able to spend much time with Jack till now. 'So, enough worrying. Let's go and have that ride before dinner.' She playfully tapped him on the nose as he kissed her on the cheek. 'And before Mallory turns up and starts saying things.'

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I don't know exactly when I'll update next but I will try and upload soon! Adios!