by Roz Marshall
With her ski in the air, she managed to do what she hadn't when she was falling — spin herself around so that her legs were underneath her. As she sat up, a wave of dizziness forced her to close her eyes again. It took another minute before she felt well enough to do a systems check, and was relieved to discover that everything seemed okay apart from a missing ski and a lump on her head. Possibly bleeding; it was hard to tell since her hat had disappeared somewhere up the hill and her hair was soaking. Need to find my ski. Her brain wouldn't — couldn't — come up with anything more helpful than that. Find the ski. Get down the hill.
Probing for a lost ski in deep snow with eyes that won't focus properly was not Jude's idea of fun, and she was not the most efficient of searchers, needing to sit down and regain her breath every few minutes. But eventually her ski pole hit something hard, and a couple of minutes later she had two skis attached to her feet.
Skiing down, however, would require rather more coordination than she thought she possessed at that time. Perhaps I should just side-slip. But her try at side-slipping only ended up banking the heavy snow under her skis, and she resorted to side-stepping and snowploughing, fighting the wind just to stay upright. Long, long minutes later, a dark building loomed out of the storm. The chairlift hut. Jude almost cried with relief.
With a last wary glance at the weather, Geoff ushered Simon inside the ski patrol hut and closed the door. His colleagues were transferring the boys onto the two beds in the corner, so he turned to Simon. "I'll get a full statement from you and Callum tomorrow, but can you quickly tell me what happened, and then I'll let you get down the road?"
"They went over a jump and crashed."
That was pretty succinct. "Whereabouts were they?"
"Top of Sneachda."
"And were they in your class?"
Simon's head swung slowly from side to side. "Not today. Callum's."
"And they went over a jump and had a fall?"
"Yep. Toby was too close to William and crashed into him after he fell."
Geoff glanced at the two casualties, and then back at the lanky instructor in front of him. "Okay, thanks. I'll get you to fill in an accident report tomorrow, but right now I think you'd better head back to White Cairns. It's getting pretty nasty out there."
Simon craned his neck to look over Geoff's shoulder. "Will— um, will the boys be okay?"
"Aye, they'll be fine. Once we can get an ambulance through we'll send them to hospital for treatment. But they're in good hands here — don't worry."
"Okay." Simon inclined his head, then turned for the door. "Laters, dude."
They said that 'no news is good news', but Mike's instincts told him otherwise, and the adrenaline coursing his body wouldn't allow inaction. By the time this was done, he'd probably have worn a pathway in the stripped-pine boards of the ski school hut. He grimaced. He might have to buy Jude a new floor.
If she makes it.
That stopped him short. For a moment, the idea of a world without Jude filled his imagination, and he collapsed into the nearest chair. Don't think like that. She'd make it. She had to.
But it was no good. Now that the thought was in his head, he couldn't stand to stay inside. I have to find her. It was irrational — stupid, even — but he wanted to be doing something — anything — if it would help to bring her back.
He was out of the door before he'd pulled his jacket properly on, the wind taking his breath away and the snow assaulting him like a prize fighter. Every step across the car park was a struggle, but he ran as fast as he could, aiming for the Highlander — Jude's favourite run — hoping that was where she'd gone.
It seemed to take forever to get there, but finally he spotted the fence denoting the queueing area for the Highlander piste. Beyond that was the dark shape of the hut that housed the chairlift machinery. Mike blinked snow out of his eyes, cursing himself for not grabbing his goggles before he left, but he couldn't see anything out of place.
Leaning into the wind again, he made for the chairlift hut. Let's just check she's not on the run.
Chapter 21
JUST ME LUCK. Kaitlyn trailed the toes of her boots through the snow as she trudged across the car park back to her car. It had taken some rearranging and organising, but she'd finally managed to make a gap in her schedule and find her way back to Scotland, only to arrive up the mountain at the same time as a snowstorm. She grimaced. Her timing was impeccable, as always.
An afternoon's shopping for me, I think. Or maybe she could take advantage of the hotel's internet access, and spend the afternoon gaming on her laptop. It was supposed to be a holiday, after all, and she'd missed a couple of days because of being so busy at home. She looked back at the ski school. Plenty time to ski the rest of the week, I s'pose. Then her head jerked up. Wait — was that…? She turned and hurried back through the snow. "Simon?"
The bedraggled-looking figure turned round, and raised his eyebrows. "Kaitlyn."
He remembers me! "Hi." His eyes were brown, definitely brown. Yeah.
He swallowed. "Have you been skiing?" He nodded at the skis on her shoulder.
"N—no, not yet. I just got here and got everything hired, like, and the lifts got shut. I'll try again tomorrow."
He propped his snowboard on the wall of the hut. "Dude, you should get back to the village. Patrol are sending people down. It's getting nasty."
"Right." She waited a second, but he didn't move. "Are you heading back to the village?"
"Yep. Just need to organise a lift." He turned towards the hut.
"Erm — I could give you a lift if you want?" The words were out before she'd thought through the implications.
He looked back at her. "Thanks," he said, picked up his board and disappeared into the hut.
For a full minute, she stood in the snow, staring at the closed door. What just happened? Shaking her head, she turned and headed over to her car. Men!
It took three attempts for Jude to get her left ski off, and two for her right. Where did my coordination go? And it had made her feel dizzy, so she put her hands on her knees for a moment, waiting for the world to stop spinning.
The sound of a voice made her look up. Was she dreaming? Someone tall, dark and handsome was hurrying towards her, and the look of concern on his face made her head feel light again.
"Jude!" he said, and put his arms around her just as her legs started to give way. "What happened?"
"I…" What had happened? She couldn't exactly remember. "I'm n—not sure."
"Well, you're safe now," he murmured. He took her chin and turned her face upwards. "Let me check your vision."
Scrutinising her eyes — first the right and then the left — the intensity of his gaze caused that funny feeling in her insides again. She weakened at the knees, and it seemed like the most natural thing in the world to reach up and put a hand round the back of his neck.
The catch in his breath which followed her touch evoked another flutter in her chest, and her pulse quickened. Her gaze fell to his lips — parted slightly and in that wide half-smile that she knew so well. She couldn't help herself. She tilted her chin and kissed him.
His lips tasted of peppermint and cold; hesitant at first, then he pulled her closer and kissed her back, moulding her body into his and making her head spin with the intensity of the feelings he aroused in her.
Mike's heart was ready to burst with happiness. She kissed me. She's kissing me. It felt wonderful. She felt wonderful. Petite, yet lithe and strong, but somehow soft and tender. Could she really have feelings for him? He didn't dare to hope that after all these months things might have changed between them. Perhaps she was just relieved to be safe. Just enjoy this moment for what it is; don't be a drongo and mess it up.
Pulling her closer, he deepened their kiss, one hand sliding down her back while the other went around her shoulders and tangled in her hair. Her fingers caressed the skin on the back of his neck and caused rivulets of sensation to course up and down his spine.
>
For a minute, his mind turned to white noise, his body reduced to feelings and instinctive reactions. But then her body softened in his arms, and she broke the kiss, her eyes glazing. His throat constricted, and reality rushed back with a howl of wind and a blatting of snow against his body. She slumped lifeless in his arms, and reflexively, he grabbed at her to stop her falling to the ground.
Chapter 22
ZIPPING UP HIS jacket, Spock tucked his snowboard boots under the bench, picked up his daysack and stepped outside. Kaitlyn was nowhere to be seen. Did I imagine her? He'd daydreamed about her a few times since the talent show, but today she'd seemed quite real, not a hallucination. Where had she got to?
The snow was falling heavily now, obscuring his view, when out of the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of her green ski suit, and started to run. "Kaitlyn," he shouted, and she turned. Man. Her smile is lovely.
"Sorry," she said when he caught up with her. "Didn't know where you'd got to."
He looked down at his blue jacket. "Had to change. And grab my stuff."
Her dimples appeared again. "Me car's just over 'ere."
With a swirl of snow, the door of the ski patrol hut burst open and Mike from Winters' ski school tumbled in, a body hanging in his arms. Geoff was half-way across the room before Mike had taken his second step. "What the...?" And then he recognised the limp form Mike was carrying. Jude.
"Over here." Geoff swept some papers off the table in the middle of the room, and grabbed a folded blanket from a shelf. "The beds are already occupied." He jerked his head at the cots in the corner. Mike laid her carefully on the table and Geoff slipped the blanket under her head. "What happened?"
"Dunno. I just found her at the bottom of the Highlander."
Leaning over Jude's face, Geoff could detect breathing. Faint, but there. He picked up a wrist to take her pulse. "Was she like this?"
"No, she was conscious — confused, maybe — but on her feet. And then she collapsed."
"Pulse seems okay." He put her hand down carefully. "Maybe she's injured. Did you notice anything?"
Mike's cheeks pinked. "No."
Geoff gave him a wry smile. "Don't worry, we do this every day. First Aid training can blow out the window when you're hit with something like this."
Mike nodded embarrassedly, and his eyes flicked back to Jude.
"I'll give her a quick check." Geoff went by the book, and started at the head, feeling carefully around her skull for anything unusual. Almost immediately, he felt a large, wet bump. "Aha." Pulling his hand out, the pads of the fingers were smeared with tell-tale blood. "That might explain why she's unconscious." He glanced at Mike. "I'll just check in case there's anything else." But the rest of Jude's body seemed normal — cold and damp, but no sign of broken bones or other injuries.
Straightening up, he found another blanket to lay over her and turned to the Kiwi. "Mike, I'll not lie to you. We're in a bit of a bind. The guys are out rescuing the motorists who got stuck on the hill road, and we've a bunch of other people — staff and some clients — who didn't make it away in time and are camping out in the café. When the guys get back it's going to get busy in here. So it's not really the place to nurse someone with concussion. And," he waved a hand at the corner, "our beds are already occupied." He looked down at Jude and shook his head. "But if she doesn't come to soon, she really ought to be in hospital. Which of course isn't an option in this weather."
"Could I look after her at the ski school?" Mike looked over his shoulder and out the window. "We've got the gas heater and I could make a bed for her out of the chairs — or the table." He gestured at the table Jude was lying on.
Mike's idea made some sense, but Geoff wondered if a makeshift hospital ward in the ski patrol hut might be a better idea. While he thought about it, he stared outside at the driving snow, then came to a decision. "Let's keep her here till she wakes up— Oh!"
As he spoke, the room was plunged into darkness, as if they'd been dropped into an underground cavern or transported into a coal mine. "That's all we need!" He fumbled in his pocket for his mobile phone and pressed its switch. By the eerie light of its screen, he found his way across the room to a cupboard at the back, and dug out a couple of storm lanterns. He handed one to Mike. "It's going to be a long afternoon," he said with a sigh.
Kaitlyn peered through the windscreen as the car's heater struggled to keep the glass clear. The falling snow was mesmerising in the beam of her headlights, and the trance-inducing effect was made worse by the frenzied windscreen-wipers flick-flacking across her vision like a hypnotist's pocket-watch. "Talk to me, Simon," she said. "Help me concentrate."
"Um, what about?"
"Anything. Tell me about yourself. How d'you become an instructor? What d'you do in your spare time? Where are you from? Anything, really."
"Anything?" He hesitated. "From Essex. Work in London in the summer. Programming. Contracts."
"Right. So, let me get this straight, you ski in winter and work in summer?"
"Yep. Might be finishing early this winter, though." He shrugged. "Out of money."
"Don't they pay you properly?"
"Not bad. But my new camera lens got broken. And I want to go to a convention next weekend."
Next weekend? "What convention is that?"
"Um, it's for a game. You wouldn't have—"
"Legends of Battle?" Her voice sounded an octave higher than normal.
His head jerked backwards. "Dude. How—?"
"I play Legends as well." She risked a sideways glance at him. It was the first time she'd seen him properly smiling.
"Cool! What level you at?"
"Sixty-one. You?"
"Same." His jaw dropped open. "Wait… You're… you're not…?"
"EvenStar." She glanced at him again, her eyes widening. "Lancelot?"
"Whoa. What's the chances?"
"Not what you'd think." She ran the numbers. "About six-hundred thousand to one, probably. We both play the same game, and we're both on the UK server, so that narrows the pool, like."
He frowned "Dude. How come you do numbers? At the talent show you—"
"Pretended," she interrupted. "Acting the dumb blonde for Ethan. A geek-girl like me is too much for most men."
"Ethan?"
"Me boyfriend. Ex boyfriend. Sacked him off after that weekend. I preferred being single and a geek." She gave him a cheeky look. "Plus I had me online boyfriend Lance for company."
"Um, yeah." At her comment about Lance, that big smile appeared on his face again. "So, um..." He swallowed. "Dinner?"
"That—" Red brake lights blazed out of the gloom ahead — too close! She stomped on the brakes, but they had no effect except to send the car sliding inexorably towards the bank of snow at the side of the road. Spinning the steering wheel did nothing, and her heart was in her mouth as, with a loud thunk, they crunched into the snowdrift. Loose snow dumped onto the roof with a rattle, and the engine roared as the car wheels spun uselessly on the slippery surface.
Before she'd had time to recover, headlights glared in her rear-view mirror and another vehicle came careening towards them.
"Watch out!" Simon threw his arms protectively around her and they braced for the inevitable impact.
Chapter 23
VOICES. MEN'S VOICES. They sounded like they were underwater — distorted, muddy. What are they saying? She couldn't discern the words. Was she going deaf? But she couldn't see, either! She screwed up her eyes, and blinked them open. Light! She wasn't blind, then. Relief swept over her, and blurry faces swam into view.
"Jude!" one of the faces said, still sounding like he was underwater.
The inside of her mouth felt like she'd been eating rhubarb for a week. She swallowed. "Mmm," was all she could manage.
"How are you feeling?"
"Grrrroggy." She tried to sit up. "W—where am I? What happ—"
"Just lie still." A strong arm went around her shoulders and guided her back down to the — s
he felt with the palm of her hand — hard surface she was lying on.
"Where am I?" she repeated.
"At ski patrol." The voice sounded familiar but the owner's name just wouldn't come to mind.
Scrunching her eyes again, she tried to remember. How had she got here? "Wh—"
"You had a fall. You've been unconscious. Now just lie quietly till we check you over."
A bright light shone into her right eye, and she blinked involuntarily. Then the torch shifted to the left. "Pupils reacting normally," said the voice again. Geoff! That's who it was. Fiona's husband.
"Is Fiona here?"
"No, she's gone down the hill."
So they were up the mountain. She crept a hand towards her leg. Ski trousers. Damp ski trousers. Had she been skiing? She must've fallen when she was skiing. "Did I fall skiing?"
"Yes." There was a pause. "Do you know what day it is?"
Did she? No. Guess? One in seven chance of it being right. "Saturday?"
"It's Tuesday. Do you know the date?"
Skiing. So winter. What was the date? Why couldn't she remember? What was the last thing she remembered? Valentine's day! Mike had kissed her on Valentine's day. She felt her cheeks turning pink. No! It was the next day, at the race. And then Lucy had heard her father speaking to some woman on the phone. "Lucy! Where's Lucy?"
There was some rustling and a muttered conversation, then the voice she recognised again. "Lucy will be fine. We'll get her looked after."
"By Allan?"
"Yes."
What was it about Allan? Something was nagging at her brain. He'd done something. He'd won some money? No — he'd been offered some money. For the ski school. The same land that Forbes had tried to buy. "Is Forbes here?"