by Ben Guterson
Freddy continued to study the words and nodded admiringly. “Four steps.” He looked up. “Okay, I’m impressed.”
* * *
After dinner, Elizabeth and Freddy joined a group of twenty-five other guests as the skiers—beneath a full moon and clear skies—assembled outside, put on their headband lanterns, and prepared to hit the trail.
“I wonder if we’ll find any WonderLogs out there,” Elizabeth said to Freddy as they began to head off with the others in a line of skiers. “We should be careful.”
Freddy laughed, and Elizabeth felt he had completely set aside any lingering hard feelings. They’d even sat together once again at dinner.
“I am almost done perfecting it, you know!” he said.
The night was crisp and cold, with the bright moon casting a pale light on Lake Luna and the mountains and snow-clad hills all around. The trees loomed high over stretches of the trail, and the swish-swishing sound of the skiers ahead of and behind Elizabeth became hypnotic. She glided steadily, pushing along and stretching her legs out, almost like moving across ice on skates. She felt free and easy, glad she had been doing so much skiing while at Winterhouse. In her notebook she had already added “Skiing” to her list of “Activities/Hobbies/Fun Things I Want to Keep Doing from Now On,” and she found it amazing that she was able to have this kind of fun. During all the endless winter days and nights with Aunt Purdy and Uncle Burlap, she had never guessed she would someday be going cross-country skiing anywhere.
After about twenty minutes, the group of skiers had stretched out along the trail—the faster ones moving to the front, the slower ones dropping to the rear—and Elizabeth and Freddy found themselves drifting to the back of the group, occasionally out of sight of the other stragglers and alone on some short stretches of the trail as it twisted around the lake and wound through the trees. Their lanterns provided good enough light, and up ahead they could see the flickering points of illumination from the other skiers, but they were falling behind everyone else.
“Let’s just go at our own pace and not worry about them,” Elizabeth said to Freddy, and they glided along steadily in the quiet night.
After a little while they came to a spot where a frozen creek dropped down from the slope above them and passed under the trail, all of it lit up by the shining moon. A short bridge spanned the gap, and on the other side of it Elizabeth noticed a smooth path of snow leading away from the lake. She glanced further ahead; there, through the trees and bright in the moonlight, stood a cabin. It looked so peaceful, so inviting, she gazed at it for a moment.
Elizabeth stopped and called to Freddy just in front of her. He halted and looked back.
“What is it?” he said. She pointed toward the clearing.
“Look.”
Freddy turned to the cabin and then back at Elizabeth. “We should try to catch up with the group,” he said.
“They said everyone can just go at their own pace,” Elizabeth said. “There’s only one trail, so we can’t get lost.” She pointed with one of her poles at the cabin. “Don’t you want to check it out?”
Freddy glanced at the cabin again and began shaking his head. “I think we should keep skiing.”
“Just for a minute,” she said. “Okay? You can even wait here.” The cabin was bathed in moonlight. There was something so alluring about the cabin as it stood alone in the silence, something so inviting, Elizabeth felt she had to take a look. “I’ll be right back.”
“Elizabeth…” Freddy said in a low voice. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to go up there.”
“It’s just an old cabin,” she said.
Freddy studied it once more. “I guess,” he said.
“I’ll be right back. Really.”
She unclipped her skis, stepped off the trail, and headed for the cabin.
CHAPTER 29
THE DARK CABIN
BARK
BANK
BAND
BOND
BOLD
COLD
As she neared the top of the slope, Elizabeth saw before her, in a clearing rimmed with a stand of aspen, the small cabin. Its roof was laden with snow, but the path up to the doorway was cleared, as though someone had recently visited. The windows were unbroken and the door looked sturdy, but something about the cabin made it appear abandoned. She moved closer and stood examining it for a good long while. With the thin white trees all around and the moon glowing above, everything seemed clear and vivid; but Elizabeth also felt that a very strange quiet had come over the night.
“Come on back!” Freddy called. His voice died away quickly in the stillness.
“Just give me a minute!” Elizabeth yelled. She stood examining the cabin, wondering if it might be the one she’d read about in Marshall Falls’s journal, the one Norbridge’s father had built for Gracella. If it was, it didn’t appear to have aged much at all over the many years it had been standing.
“I think this cabin belonged to Norbridge’s sister,” she said, talking more to herself than to Freddy.
“What did you say?” Freddy called.
“This cabin belonged to Gracella,” Elizabeth yelled. And then, for some reason she didn’t understand, she called out the name twice more: “Gracella! Gracella!”
A tiny creak echoed from within the cabin. Elizabeth stood perfectly still and listened for a long moment but heard nothing more. She moved a step closer and peered through the panes of one of the windows. A small flare of crimson light flickered inside the cabin, as another creak sounded.
“You okay?” Freddy called.
Elizabeth felt a jolt of fear in her stomach, and she backed away from the cabin and began rushing back to Freddy, running down the small hill.
“I’m fine!” she yelled.
“What in the world made you yell out her name like that?” Freddy said as Elizabeth drew nearer.
“Not sure. I just blurted it out.”
“Was everything all right up there?”
“Everything’s fine,” Elizabeth said, a bit too loudly and a bit too quickly.
She reached Freddy and looked back as she clipped her skis on. A crimson light glowed steadily behind the windows of the cabin, as though someone had lit a candle inside.
“Did something happen?” Freddy said. He looked to the cabin. “Hey, what’s that? Was someone in there?”
“I don’t know,” Elizabeth said. Although she’d only come a short distance, she felt out of breath and her heart was pounding. “I think I heard something.”
A loud noise—like a box toppling over and slamming onto the floor—sounded from the cabin.
“Let’s get out of here!” Freddy said.
Elizabeth felt on the verge of panic, but she realized she didn’t want to go any farther away from Winterhouse than she already had. “Let’s go back the way we came!”
She began to ski, and Freddy followed her in silent agreement. A louder, booming noise came from the cabin. When the trail curved one hundred feet ahead, Elizabeth looked back. The entire clearing itself where the cabin stood was now bathed in a reddish light.
“Hurry!” Elizabeth called to Freddy, and the two of them began gliding along the trail as quickly as they could. They raced ahead for five minutes at top speed, and then Elizabeth was panting so hard and her chest was heaving so heavily she had to stop for a moment’s rest.
“That is tiring,” Freddy said with a heavy exhalation.
They stood at a point on the trail right beside the edge of the frozen lake, along a stretch where they could see behind them on the trail for several hundred feet.
“Very tiring,” Elizabeth said, trying to catch her breath. She looked back. There, just where the trail curled into sight from the bend far behind them, at the end of a dark line of trees, was a faint ball of light coming into view.
“What is that?” Freddy said, his voice pinched with alarm.
Elizabeth suddenly felt even more panicked than when she’d been standing in front of the cabin
.
“Maybe one of the other skiers is coming back?” she said without conviction. She thought of the light that had escaped from the Winterhouse library on Christmas Eve, and she thought of what she’d read about Gracella’s cabin. Most of all, she wondered what had compelled her to repeat Gracella’s name three times in the snowy clearing.
“With a red light?” Freddy said. “I don’t remember—”
“Come on!” Elizabeth said, before he could finish, and she began digging into the snow with her poles as she got her skis gliding. Freddy followed instantly, and they were back cruising across the snow as quickly as they could. They moved furiously along the icy trail, their lanterns illuminating the way, the moon hovering high above. Elizabeth’s chest began to ache from the cold air and her exhaustion, but she kept pressing her arms and legs forward, too afraid to look behind or stop.
“Ouch!” Freddy cried out, and Elizabeth skidded to a halt and turned to see that he had taken a tumble. Far behind him, but closer now than the last time they’d stopped, was the crimson light, brighter and moving steadily toward them.
“Get up!” Elizabeth yelled. “We need to get out of here!”
Freddy scrambled to his feet, took one look behind him, and gave out a yelp before beginning to ski once again. Elizabeth began to glide, too, scanning ahead of her for the lights of Winterhouse. All she could hear was the throbbing of her own breath and the swishing of her skis. She looked behind her and saw the crimson light had grown bigger—whoever was following them had cut the distance to a couple of hundred feet and was gaining steadily. Elizabeth dug in even harder, pressed her skis into the snow, and kicked away again and again, hoping Freddy was able to keep up.
“There it is!” she called when they rounded a cluster of trees and saw the brightly lit yellow walls of Winterhouse in the distance. “Let’s go!”
She stopped and looked back. The crimson light was, at most, one hundred feet behind them.
“You … go … on,” Freddy huffed, leaning over. “I … have to … rest.”
“We can’t, Freddy!” Elizabeth yelled. “We can’t! It’s coming! Come on—now!”
He looked back, and then stood up and began to pump forward once more.
They continued, and more quickly than Elizabeth would have thought, Winterhouse came fully into view, its lights blazing in the night sky. The two children glided out of the last cluster of trees and into the enormous open space at the fringe of Winterhouse, then passed over a bridge—the very one she’d seen Marcus and Selena Hiems inspecting the day before—and glided up into the shadow of the great hotel itself. They stopped and looked back. The crimson light was at the other side of the bridge and had halted, as if unable to pursue them any farther.
“Elizabeth?” someone called, and she looked to Winterhouse. Norbridge was running out to them.
“Here, Norbridge!” she called. “We’re here!”
“Is everything all right?” he said as he came up to them. “Where is everyone else?”
“We’re all right,” Elizabeth said, panting heavily. “Something was chasing us.” She pointed to the bridge, but the light had disappeared.
“It was right behind us,” Freddy said through heavy breaths. “Something was coming after us! A red light!”
Norbridge peered into the darkness in the direction the two children were looking. He stood in silence, scanning the moonlit scene before him.
“I’ll send some of the crew out to make sure the others come back safely,” Norbridge said. “Our ski-patrol team sometimes goes out at night. That’s probably what you saw. You two get inside and wait for me.”
Elizabeth nodded. “Come on,” she said to Freddy, and they headed for the rear entrance. Before they came to it, though, Elizabeth felt a strange sensation come over her. She looked up, and on the second floor, illuminated by one of the tall outside lampposts, Marcus and Selena Hiems were at a window, peering into the darkness beyond the small bridge across the creek.
“What is it?” Freddy said.
Elizabeth pointed up, and Freddy looked to the window. Marcus and Selena noticed the children staring at them. Selena glared at Elizabeth, and then the curtain snapped closed.
Freddy’s mouth fell open as he turned to Elizabeth.
She continued to stare upward. “I think somehow I woke up Gracella Winters.”
CHAPTER 30
A DIRE DISAPPEARANCE
DIVE
LIVE
LOVE
LOSE
LOST
One hour later, after the other skiers were back at Winterhouse and Norbridge’s men had found nothing unusual outside, Elizabeth and Freddy were, once again, sitting with Norbridge and Leona in Norbridge’s apartment.
“And that’s exactly what happened,” Elizabeth said, after recounting the events of the evening while Norbridge listened intently. The only thing she hadn’t detailed was that strange moment outside the cabin when she’d felt moved to repeat Gracella’s name three times. Freddy, too, had let that pass as they explained why they’d come racing back from the ski trip.
“And you say there was no light or any sound or anything in the cabin until you came up to it?” Norbridge said.
“Nothing,” Elizabeth said. She looked from Leona to Norbridge and back. “What’s going on? Something was chasing us.” She had decided not to bring up Gracella’s name yet nor any of the suspicions she had.
Norbridge stood and looked warily at Leona. “I don’t know,” he said. “It’s probably nothing. Perhaps…” He looked at Elizabeth. “Perhaps your imagination got the better of you. Of both of you. Late night in the darkness, out skiing, a lot of excitement lately.”
“But we both saw it,” Freddy said. “I’m positive.”
“It must have been one of the patrol skiers,” Leona said.
“Coming out of the cabin?” Elizabeth said. “And then it stopped at the bridge. Like the Headless Horseman or something!” She remembered Marcus and Selena Hiems examining that very bridge, and she felt certain there was some connection. “Remember how we saw the Hiemses there through your telescope, Norbridge?”
The four of them sat in silence for a long moment, and then Freddy said to Elizabeth, “Maybe we should tell them what happened on Christmas Eve.”
Elizabeth flared her eyes at him, but she knew it was too late to take back his words; she had, actually, been thinking of mentioning the same thing herself.
“Christmas Eve?” Norbridge said. “What are you talking about?”
Elizabeth sighed. “We went to the library, and for kind of a joke, I said Gracella’s name three times right at midnight. Freddy told me a story about it.”
Norbridge and Leona said nothing. They looked at her with disbelief.
“You told her that old story about my sister?” Norbridge said to Freddy.
“I heard it here last year,” Freddy said. “One of the workers told me.”
Norbridge shook his head as though Freddy had just informed him he wanted to go swimming in frozen Lake Luna. “I’m flabbergasted,” Norbridge said. “I’m dumbfounded. I’m thunderstruck. I don’t know what to say.”
“Did something happen there?” Leona said. “In the library that night?”
“We heard some noises after Elizabeth said her name,” Freddy said. “From up on the third floor.”
“And we saw a light from up there,” Elizabeth said. “The same color as the light that was following us tonight. It looked like it went through the window or something and flew away.”
“I see,” Leona said. She shifted her eyes to Norbridge. The two of them looked guilty, as though they were hiding something.
“I meant to tell you I said her name again three times tonight,” Elizabeth said. “Outside of her cabin. I don’t even know why I did it, but I did.”
Norbridge shook his head in disbelief. “What else do I need to know from you two?”
Elizabeth thought of The Book. It was the one thing she’d decided she absolut
ely wouldn’t mention. “I just think something peculiar is going on. Especially after I read all those things about Gracella in Marshall’s journal. About how she got into magic and ran away. I think Gracella’s trying to come back. I think that’s what the red light is all about.”
“This is all just a case of excitement,” Norbridge said. “And I think the two of you are getting carried away. I’d suggest just sticking here inside Winterhouse and relaxing over the next week. Don’t go looking for trouble.” He frowned, looking to Leona and then back to the children. “In fact, just to be on the safe side, I don’t want you to go out of the hotel at all over the next few days. No sledding, no skating, nothing. Stay inside.”
“Norbridge!” Freddy said.
He put a hand up. “That’s my final word on it!” he said with a scowl. “You’re to stay inside.”
“We’re sorry,” Elizabeth said, staring at the floor. “I didn’t mean to cause problems.” She looked up. “It’s just that I read about The Book and how people were always looking for it and how there’s some puzzle to it. And then there’s Marcus Hiems and his wife. I think they’re looking for The Book, and they’re helping Gracella somehow. It’s all connected! Even the bridge. I bet they were trying to figure out some way to make sure she could get over the bridge when I saw them yesterday.”
“Elizabeth!” Norbridge said sternly. “Enough of this!”
“But something’s going on, Norbridge, and I think you know it. I think I brought Gracella’s spirit back to life in the library! And I think tonight I woke it up for sure in her cabin. Maybe because she used to go out to that cabin all the time, her spirit went out there to wait, and now she’s trying to get into Winterhouse!”
“I know it’s all upsetting to you, dear,” Leona said. “But we will look into everything. I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about.”
“But how did you know to come out and look for us tonight, Norbridge?” Elizabeth said. “You must have thought something was wrong! It’s why you want me to keep checking in with you, too.”