Part 11 (2/2)

No one answered. A tiny figure skied by below and disappeared down the slope. Stacey peered up ahead. She couldn't see anyone in the lift booth. It was barely visible in the swirling snow.

”h.e.l.lo!” she shouted. ”h.e.l.lo?”

Still no answer.

This is silly, thought Stacey. She waited. And waited.

And felt colder and colder.

”h.e.l.lo!” she called. And then, beginning to panic, ”Help! Help!”

She was stuck on the ski lift.

It was the sudden blast of snow that sidetracked me, sending me spinning almost out of control. The snow wasn't anywhere near up to blizzard speed yet, I'd decided. In fact, it was falling nice and evenly. No visibility problems.

Excellent powder.

After those beginner slopes I'd tried an intermediate. I checked my watch and decided that if the line wasn't too long, I had time for one more intermediate run. I found a new one, off to one side, where almost no one was skiing, probably because it was a long clomp in your skis to the bottom of the lift.

I was halfway down the slope when the snow turned into a blinding blizzard, a blast that hit me in the face so hard I lost my balance. I swerved. I brought the tips of my skis together in a snowplow to slow myself down.

Then I heard a roar. An avalanche! I thought confusedly, although of course, this wasn't possible on the slope where I was skiing.

I tried to see where I was going. For a moment, I thought I saw something looming up ahead of me. Then I hit a mogul, shot up into the air, and landed hard on my back. I felt my skis turn with a sickening wrench under me.

”Are you having fun yet?” Abby asked cheerfully, catching up to Claudia and jumping into the lift chair with her on the way up to the expert slopes.

”Do you always follow people around?” answered Claudia. ”Or did you just come to give me a ski lesson of my own?”

That got through to Abby. She turned to face Claudia. ”What are you talking about?”

”I'm surprised you didn't drag Stacey up here. I mean, since you're such a great skier and all. Couldn't you turn her into an expert in one easy lesson?”

”Whoa,” said Abby, genuinely surprised.

Claudia looked a little ashamed of herself. But she just shrugged.

They jumped off the ski lift. Claudia took off without waiting for Abby, or even looking at her.

Abby stood back. For some reason, Claudia was making it even colder out on the mountain than it already was. Then Abby squinted against the glare of the snow. Claudia was veering off to the left.

Something clicked in Abby's brain. She whipped the trails map out of her pocket. Sure enough, there was a trail a short way down the mountain. A double black diamond trail.

Was Claudia actually going to try a double diamond run?

”Claudia!” Abby shouted.

Then she looked at the map again and her heart began to pound fast and furiously. The trail Claudia was heading for was marked DANGER: CLOSED FOR SEASON in big red letters.

”I don't know what happened,” the woman said. ”Somehow, this got down into the works and completely jammed everything up,” She held up the greasy, mangled remnant of what looked like a ski hat, a pink one with a white pom pom on top.

Stacey was s.h.i.+vering. ”But - but - ” she stammered.

”Someone is usually working up here, but it was between s.h.i.+fts. In fact, I was just coming on s.h.i.+ft when you went up.”

”How long was I up there?” Stacey asked.

The woman looked Stacey over. ”Long enough, I'd say. . . . Joe, give Stacey a ride down to the lodge in the snowmobile, and all the hot chocolate she wants - on the house.”

Zipping past skiers in the snowmobile would have cheered Stacey up, normally, especially since Joe, like most of the other staff members at Shadow Lake Lodge, was very cute. But she was too cold and numb to do more than watch mutely as the lodge came closer and closer. She staggered into the lodge, requested sugarless hot chocolate, and collapsed in a big, overstuffed chair practically in the fireplace, which is where I found her when I returned.

Stacey looked up from the cup of hot chocolate she was cradling in her hands.

”Kristy!” she cried. ”What happened to you?”

At the same moment, I said, ”Stacey? Are you okay?” I s.h.i.+vered suddenly. Snow had worked its way underneath my skiing gear. I was wet and cold.

”Hot chocolate,” said Stacey. ”Get some and pull a chair up to the fire.”

I obeyed. A little while later I was warming my hands around my mug and my feet at the fire and listening to Stacey say, ”They think it was one of those freak accidents. But I was scared. I kept thinking, What if this lift chair just breaks off and I fall?” She s.h.i.+vered, this time not from cold.

”That's what they said about what happened to me, too,” I said. ”A s...o...b..ower came on when I was halfway down the trail. It was lucky I was the only one on that section of trail right then.” I remembered the whiteness that had suddenly engulfed me, and speeding blindly toward what looked like a tree before hitting the mogul and getting buried in the snow. ”The worst thing was, I heard something snap when I fell. I was sure it was my ankle.”

”Oh, Kristy,” said Stacey.

”Well, it wasn't, but I'd flattened this little tree. They don't know how the s...o...b..ower got turned on. Some of the ski staff came and helped me down the mountain.” I made a face. ”Everybody was staring at me. I felt like one of those stupid jerks who goes up on a hard slope and then has to be helped down.”

I looked at my watch. ”It's been nearly two hours,” I said. ”Abby and Claudia should be here.”

Stacey met my eyes. ”They weren't getting along so well, were they? You don't think one of them pushed the other down the mountain, do you?”

”Admit it, Abigail Stevenson,” a familiar voice said, ”the Ring Ding gave us the energy to get down the mountain.”

”Yeah, well, I don't think it would have broken your fall,” answered Abby dryly.

We looked up. Claudia and Abby were crossing the lodge toward us, their arms around each other like old friends, or as if each was helping the other to walk.

As it turned out, it was a little of both.

Stacey and I were stunned when we heard what had happened to Claudia.

”A closed black diamond trail!” I gasped. ”Claudia, you could have been killed!”

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