by Gary Paulsen
Jason had agreed to go up the lifts and make a sweep of the trails while Jeremy had a talk with their grandfather.
Jeremy hurried down the path to the log house. But he stopped dead in his tracks. Parked in the front yard by the mailbox was an ambulance with its lights flashing. Two emergency medical technicians were carrying a stretcher off the porch. Jeremy dropped his skis and started running.
He met his grandmother in the yard. Her eyes were red from crying. “Thank goodness you’re here, Jeremy. You and Jason have got to run things for a while. Your grandpa has had … another accident. We’re taking him to the hospital. I’ll call you as soon as I know anything.” One of the EMTs helped her into the ambulance.
“Wait! What kind of accident? Is he gonna be okay?”
But the ambulance doors closed and the driver sped away, leaving Jeremy staring in the middle of the road.
Jeremy turned back toward the house and saw Lila standing by a window. He raced up onto the porch and flew inside. Lila was pretending to be busy straightening the chairs the EMTs had moved to get the stretcher out.
“What’s wrong with my grandfather, Lila?”
The woman stiffened. “I don’t think it’s my place to say.” She started to walk toward the kitchen.
Jeremy caught her arm. “I want to know.”
Lila’s chin went up. “Very well. If you insist. Your grandfather has attempted suicide.”
Jeremy’s hand fell away from her arm. He collapsed onto the nearest chair. “That can’t be right. Grandpa had everything to live for. He loves this place.…”
“This place is precisely the reason.” Lila pulled her sweater around her. “Your grandmother found him passed out in the bedroom. An empty bottle of medicine was in one hand and an overdrawn bank statement was in the other.”
The front door burst open. “What’s going on?” Jason demanded. “Somebody told me there was an ambulance down here.”
Jeremy quietly explained what Lila had told him. Jason closed his eyes and fell onto the sofa. “I don’t believe it. Is he gonna be all right?”
“Grandma said she’d call when she found out anything.” Jeremy stood up and took a deep breath. “In the meantime, we have a ski lodge to run. Grandma and Grandpa are counting on us.”
CHAPTER 5
Jeremy asked Lila to find him the second his grandmother called. Then he made a list of things that had to be done before the day was over. The first thing on the list was to rehire David Watts as ski instructor. Jason was put in charge of patrolling the slopes, and Jeremy took over the running of the lodge itself.
Jeremy talked to the cafeteria manager and the desk clerk and made arrangements to put the day’s income into the lodge’s safe. Then he went back to the house to sort out the papers his grandfather had left lying all over his bedroom.
He almost stopped and knocked on the bedroom door, forgetting Grandpa wasn’t there. Feeling like an intruder, he pushed the door open.
The room was spotless.
There was no sign that his grandfather had ever been looking at bank statements or account ledgers or anything else. The bed was made up. Not a thing was out of place.
Jeremy turned and almost ran into Lila. Her arms were folded across her chest. “I thought it might be less painful for your grandmother if the room was straightened up when she returned.”
“How do you know she’s returning? Did she call?”
“Just a few moments before you came in. I tried to reach you at the lodge but they said you’d already left.”
“That’s okay. What did she say? How is he?”
“Your grandfather has regained consciousness. He doesn’t seem to be permanently damaged and the doctors think he will be all right with some rest. Mrs. Parsons is coming home to get some clothing and personal items and then she plans to return to the hospital.”
Jeremy sighed with relief, then remembered why he was in the room. “Lila, where did you put all the papers and account books Grandpa had scattered around in here? I want to look at them.”
“You? Do you think that’s wise?”
Jeremy’s eyebrows came together in a sharp frown. “My grandmother left me in charge. If I can do anything to help, I’m going to. So where did you put the books?”
Lila unfolded her arms and moved silently down the hallway. “I’ll get them for you.”
The telephone on the nightstand rang. Jeremy moved around the bed and picked it up. When he did, he realized that someone else had already answered it. He heard a man’s voice speaking in a strange monotone.
“… like lambs to the slaughter. For everything there is a season. The timetable remains the same.”
There was no response, only the click of a telephone being hung up. But the other person didn’t hang up. Jeremy could hear breathing on the line. As quietly as he could, he put the receiver back in the cradle and moved to the edge of the bed.
In a few minutes Lila appeared with a cardboard box. She placed it on the bed, watching him the whole time. “Here are the things you asked for.” Her black eyes darted to the phone beside the bed and then back to him.
Jeremy felt an edge in the room, a change in the air. “Thank you, Lila. I’ll just take these to my room and have a look.” He picked up the box and moved past her.
“Would you like me to help you, Jeremy? I could explain how bank ledgers work and so forth.”
“No thanks. My brother and I have a paper route and a lawn service back home. We keep all our own records. I’m sure I’ll catch on.”
Jeremy felt Lila’s eyes on his back all the way down the hall. But when he looked around, she was gone. He whispered to himself, “Man, you’ve got to get a grip.”
An hour later, Jeremy and Justin’s room looked worse than their grandfather’s had. Jeremy had pored over every single item in the box. His grandfather had been right about one thing. The initial receipts did not match those the bank had sent back. All the statements were short.
“Boy, what a morning.” Jason shuffled through the door, tossed his jacket at a hook on the wall, and crashed on the bottom bunk. “The Thompson brothers started a snowball fight in the beginners’ class. A man who never skied before in his life got off the lift at the top of the hardest slope and had to be carried back down by the ski patrol. And then, to top it all off, some stupid kids changed all the trail markers. It’s been total chaos all morning. I’m ready for lunch.”
“When are you not ready for lunch?” Jeremy teased.
Jason threw a pillow at him, knocking one of the piles of paper over. “What’s all this stuff?”
Jeremy explained what he was doing and how nothing added up. He also told his brother about the strange phone call. “What do you make of it?”
“I’ve always thought there was something weird about Lila—the way she just appears and disappears. It’s not normal.”
“Your lunch is on the table.” Lila was standing in the doorway with her arms folded.
Jeremy wondered how much of their conversation she’d heard. He searched her face but could find no expression there.
Jason bolted for the door. “Food, at last.”
Lila moved to let him pass. She looked back at Jeremy. “Are you coming?”
He stood up. “I’ll be there in a minute. Oh, and Lila?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t bother cleaning up in here. I’m still working. I’ll straighten up when I’m done.”
Jeremy eased past her and headed for the kitchen. He shot a look over his shoulder. This time he caught Lila staring at him with an almost angry glare, but the look changed so suddenly he wasn’t positive he’d even seen it.
Lila was smiling. “Is there something you want, Jeremy?”
“I … no. Nothing.”
“Then I suggest you hurry or your lunch will get cold.”
CHAPTER 6
“You can’t quit, David,” Jeremy pleaded with the instructor. “We need you. A lot of people come here expecting to learn to sk
i.”
David Watts stood on the Parsonses’ front porch staring at the floor. “I know the timing is bad, kid. But when your grandfather fired me yesterday I put out a few feelers. I was kind of surprised myself about how quickly I landed the job. The pay is real good and the hours aren’t as long. I’d be a fool not to take it.”
“I guess I understand.” Jeremy leaned on the porch swing. “When are you leaving?”
“They want me to come as soon as I can. But I told them the situation here. The manager said I could have until the end of the week.”
Jeremy extended his hand. “There’s no hard feelings, David. I’ll have my grandmother sign a check for you when she comes back.”
The instructor took Jeremy’s hand and shook it earnestly. “You’re all right, kid. I hope things work out for you.”
“Me too.” Jeremy watched David disappear up the trail.
Jeremy’s shoulders were drooping as he walked back into the house. Lila was dusting the furniture in the living room. “More bad news?”
Jeremy nodded and walked down the hall to his room. He gathered up all the paperwork, put it in the cardboard box, and carried it to the living room. “I’ll be in my grandfather’s office at the lodge if anyone needs me, Lila.”
“You’re taking on a lot of responsibility, Jeremy. Perhaps you should wait until your grandmother—”
Jeremy let the screen door slam behind him. “Let me know if the hospital calls,” he told Lila as he left.
The snow in front of the lodge had packed down and was icy and slick. Jeremy wondered why the staff hadn’t put salt on it. His head hurt. He wondered about a lot of things lately. There was a lot more to running Thunder Valley than he had imagined.
Jeremy had barely sat down in his grandfather’s big leather office chair when someone knocked frantically on the door.
“What now?” Jeremy pulled the door open. It was Hans, the stocky, middle-aged desk clerk.
“Your brother called on the red-line telephone from the ski lift on Sawtooth. The lift has jammed and there are people still in the chairs.”
Jeremy grabbed his jacket. “Find Simms and send him up there. Alert the ski patrol and tell my brother I’m on my way.” He took the keys to one of the lodge’s snowmobiles and ran outside.
The Sawtooth lift was only minutes away. Jeremy could see a line of people impatiently waiting to get on the lift, which was swinging high above the ground with several pairs of ski boots dangling below the chairs.
Jeremy pulled up to the lift operation station. “What’s going on?”
Chuck, the lift operator, shook his head. “It doesn’t make sense. The darn thing just stopped. I can’t seem to find anything wrong with it.”
Jason put his hands in the air. “Don’t look at me. All I know is the skiers are getting restless and we better get it going again real soon.”
Jeremy could hear the people on the lift starting to yell and curse. He stepped away from the controls, shielded his eyes from the sun, and followed the cable route.
There it was. About ten feet down the cable something yellow was stuck in one of the pulleys.
“I see it, Chuck.” Jeremy pointed at the problem.
“Oh, man.” The operator wiped his greasy hands on his pants. “How did that get there?”
Jason stared up at the pulley. “A better question is, how are we gonna get it out of there?”
Jeremy moved to the end of the cable. “It’s only about a ten- or fifteen-foot drop. I’m going to go after it.”
Before anyone could stop him, Jeremy had jumped up and grabbed the end of the cable. He worked his way across hand over hand. When he reached the pulley, he paused to rest. Then he let go with his left hand and tried to pull the yellow object free.
It wouldn’t budge.
Jeremy’s arms were getting tired. “Start the engine,” he yelled at Chuck. “But keep it real slow.”
Chuck ran to the controls. As the engine roared to life, Jeremy began tugging with all his might. Bit by bit, a long yellow scarf came untangled from the pulley.
With a jerk the lift started to move, and the people on the lift, as well as the crowd below, began clapping and cheering. Jeremy rode the cable to the end of the lift and lightly dropped to the ground with the scarf in his hand.
He held it up to Jason. “Recognize this?”
Jason looked confused. “It’s my scarf. But how—”
“You didn’t play another one of your practical jokes, did you?” Jeremy demanded.
“I’ve done a lot of dumb things, but I wouldn’t put people in danger like this.” Jason glanced from Chuck to Jeremy. “You believe me, don’t you?”
Jeremy looked at the torn scarf. “I believe you. But we need to talk. If you’ve got a couple of minutes I want you to come down to the office with me. In my opinion, there have been a few too many accidents around here lately.”
CHAPTER 7
The desk clerk, Hans, met them at the front door of the lodge, obviously upset. “I’ve looked everywhere for the maintenance man but he just isn’t to be found.”
“Why doesn’t this surprise me?” Jeremy sighed. “Keep trying to find him, Hans. When he does turn up, send him to my grandfather’s office. I want to talk to him.”
Jason cocked his head. “Hey, you sound like a natural-born administrator. Grandpa would be proud.”
“Not if he heard about David Watts quitting.”
Jason followed his brother into the comfortable office and closed the door. “I thought David wanted to work here.”
“He did until he suddenly got a better job offer. And that’s not all. Grandpa was right about the bank statements. Something’s screwy.”
“What do you think it is?”
“I don’t know. But you and I better figure some things out before this whole place goes under.”
There was a loud knock on the door. Jeremy yelled, “Come in,” and an enormous, unshaven man with greasy brown hair sauntered into the room.
The man put his large hands on his hips and sneered at them. “You little boys shouldn’t be playing around in your granddaddy’s office. You might break something.”
Jeremy ignored the comment. “Where have you been, Simms? I’ve had people looking for you. We had a problem on one of the lifts.”
“Working. Where else would I be?”
Jeremy gritted his teeth. He was about to tell Simms off when he noticed something familiar on one of his hands. It was a tattoo of the same symbol that was on Corky’s medallion.
Jason didn’t wait. “My brother and I are in charge around here until our grandparents get back. So if you want to keep your job, I suggest you give us a straight answer.”
Simms leaned over the desk and stared threateningly at the boys. “I don’t work for no kids. If the old man has a problem with me, tell him to let me know in person.” The big man turned and lumbered out of the office, slamming the door behind him.
“Are we just gonna take that?” Jason demanded.
Jeremy tapped the desk, deep in thought. “Jason, do you get the feeling that we’re missing something? I don’t know, maybe we’re in over our heads.”
“What are you talking about? That guy’s not a problem. As soon as we get a chance to talk to Grandma, he’s history.”
Jeremy explained about the symbol he’d noticed. “The chances of two guys as different as Corky and Simms wearing that same emblem are probably about a million to one.”
“You think those two are behind the problems the lodge has been having?”
“Who knows? One thing’s for sure, we better stay on our toes. If there is a connection, we may be in for a lot more trouble.”
Jason sat down on the other side of the desk and propped his feet up on it. “I sure will be glad when Grandma gets back. It was a lot more fun to just cruise around and enjoy myself on the slopes than it is running this place.”
Jeremy frowned. “The thing is, we can’t worry Grandma with any of this right no
w. She’s got enough on her mind.”
“Then what are we gonna do?”
“For now, just keep your eyes open. Everybody at the lodge is under suspicion. This thing could be bigger than we know.”
CHAPTER 8
“Would you mind paying attention, Mr. Parsons?”
Jeremy blinked. He was sitting at the dining room table and Mr. Stern, their tutor, was standing in front of him with a sour look on his face. “This era of ancient history is especially fascinating given our current archaeological data. In fact, I’ve been thinking of having you and your brother write a lengthy report discussing the implications of the latest findings.”
Jason groaned and kicked his brother under the table.
Jeremy sat up straighter in his chair and tried to collect his thoughts. “Sorry, Mr. Stern. I was thinking about something else.”
“So I see.” The tutor walked around the table and picked up the piece of notebook paper Jeremy had been doodling on during the lecture. “Mr. Parsons, you surprise me. Where exactly have you seen this sign before?” He held up the picture of the symbol Jeremy had drawn.
“Why?” Jeremy asked cautiously. “Do you know what it is?”
“My dear boy, as I’ve said before, my specialty is ancient history. Of course I know what it is. It’s the symbol of a primitive pagan religion called the Broken Tree, which disappeared thousands of years ago. They were tree worshipers, very similar to the Druids, but with a twist. They only allowed the criminal element to join their ranks. Not just any criminals, mind you, only those with very special talents.”
Jeremy was excited but tried not to show it. “Could there still be members of this Broken Tree thing around today?”
“That would be highly unlikely. Not in the truest sense, anyway.”
“Mr. Stern.” Lila was standing in the doorway. “I don’t believe you should be filling the boys’ heads with this sort of nonsense. Mrs. Parsons would be very upset if she knew.”
“Quite right.” The tutor cleared his throat. “Now, where were we … Oh, yes, page ninety-five.”