Stars Over Alaska

by Jennifer Snow

  By remembering...

  That kid was going to break his neck, but he’d be immortalized as the king of the playground.

  His first day at Wild River Elementary, Levi stood at the border of the playground, watching all the other kids play. He knew this “new kid” routine well, having moved from one military base to another with his father for ten years. He never bothered to make a lot of friends or deep connections with the other kids, knowing he wouldn’t be there long.

  This time was different. Or so his dad had said. This time, he’d be staying in the small ski resort town, living with his grandmother, who owned a bookstore on Main Street. Traveling around the country wasn’t right for a kid, his father had said.

  Levi knew how hard it was on his father to leave him there, so he’d squared his shoulders, put on a brave face and shook his father’s hand as his dad left for another tour overseas.

  Then he was desperate to keep up the brave act, facing yet another new school, another set of kids. Right now, he couldn’t take his eyes off the one balancing on top of the monkey bars—ten feet high, slick with ice so thick it glistened in the Alaskan winter sunshine. The boy looked about his age, but he was smaller than Levi. He’d removed his winter coat and gloves and was making his way across the bars, arms outstretched for balance. Not an amazing stunt during warmer months, but just then the entire metal surface was like a sheet of ice.

  He was almost to the other side when his foot caught the edge of a rung and he lost his footing.

  Instinctively, Levi dove and he didn’t exactly catch the other kid, but his body served as a crash mat beneath him.

  “Hey, man, thanks,” the kid said.

  “Yeah...no problem.” His ribs felt broken and the wind had been knocked from his lungs, but it was an easier way to make friends than having to actually walk up to a group and try to fit in.

  “You’re the new kid, right?” the boy asked, getting to his feet and extending a hand to help Levi up from the ground.

  “Levi,” he said.

  “Nice to meet you, Levi. I’m Dawson,” he said just as a girl, tall and thin with short blond hair sticking out from under a purple hat, came toward them. She was the prettiest thing Levi had ever seen and he felt like his tongue had swollen.

  “I got it,” she said, turning a small portable hand recording device toward Dawson. She eyed Levi and her piercing territorial look had him sweating. “Who are you?”

  “This is Levi... He just saved my life,” Dawson said, glancing at the footage replay.

  The girl scoffed. “You could have made the landing.” She shrugged. “No biggie. I’ll edit him out.”

  Sounded about right. Wasn’t he always being edited out?

  “See ya,” he said to Dawson as he started to retreat to the playground border again. He could take a hint. It was the same everywhere. By grade four, friendships had been formed, groups were established and no one liked to open their circle to the new kid.

  “Wait... Come back,” Dawson called after him.

  “What are you doing?” he heard the girl hiss.

  “We could use him in the movie.”

  They were making a movie?

  “Hey, we’re making a movie about a stunt kid who learns he actually has superpowers and...”

  “Shhh,” the girl had said.

  “Come on, Leslie. He’d be great,” Dawson said to her.

  Her cheeks flushed under Dawson’s gaze and she sighed as she turned to Levi. “Look, the only other part in the movie is the villain. We were going to ask my brother, Eddie...”

  Dawson touched her shoulder. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but Eddie’s not the right person to play the villain... He’s too much of a tattletale. He will run to your mom and rat us out every time we try something even a little bit dangerous. And besides, Levi here is huge.”

  Leslie thought for a moment, eyeing him.

  Levi, who had been a chubby, tall kid for his age and normally slouched to fit in, stood even taller. For once his size might be a good thing. Or at least not something he needed to be embarrassed about.

  “Fine,” Leslie said reluctantly. “You can be in the movie, but Dawson is the star of the show.”

  His buddy always was and Levi had never had a problem letting him have the spotlight.

  Mrs. Powell touched his arm on the table. “Levi, you still with us?”

  He blinked and nodded. “Yeah, sorry... I drifted off there for a second, but I’m back. Full attention. Focused,” he said.

  Angelica smiled at him and damn if he didn’t wish that made him feel any type of way.

  CHAPTER THREE

  SIX HOURS AT the cabin and Leslie was losing her mind. Strategy was eluding her and she needed advice on what to do next. She’d never exactly been in a situation like this one. She pulled on her boots and a heavy coat from the closet.

  “Where are you going?” Selena asked, coming out of the bathroom, where she’d taken the longest shower in history, despite Leslie’s warning that the water tank heated only so much at a time.

  “Just outside for some air. I’ll be back in a few minutes,” she said, slipping out and closing the door behind her. She walked to the other end of the wraparound deck and took her cell phone out of her pocket. She hesitated, staring off at the heavy snow clouds in the darkening sky. Normally, she found the quiet stillness helped to bring clarity, but that evening it only made her that much more aware that she was completely alone in this.

  Her next moves still unclear, she dialed the number before she could overthink it. She needed to tell someone that they were okay at least.

  Her co-worker and...casual hookup answered on the first ring. “Oh my God—I’ve been going out of my mind. Where are you?”

  Eoghan’s worry made her even more uncertain. She’d missed sixteen calls from him already and a dozen from the agency. Everyone was trying to reach her, but she wasn’t sure who to trust. “Can’t say.”

  “Selena’s with you? You’re both safe?” he asked. His thick Australian accent usually made her smile but right now she only heard the seriousness of the predicament she was in.

  “Yes. We’re out of LA.” That’s all she’d say for now. “I didn’t know what else to do. Her bedroom...” Leslie had seen some pretty messed-up shit working first as an officer of the law and now working high-end security, but the vulgar, disgusting message left for Selena a few days before had unsettled her like nothing else. Thank God Selena hadn’t seen it. Although maybe if she had, she’d realize the danger she was in.

  “I know,” Eoghan said, his tone softening. “That was some heavy shit. You okay?”

  “Yeah...of course.” If anyone could sense she was lying, it would be Eoghan. Working together for the last year and sleeping together almost as long, they were friends, co-workers, casual daters... But she refused to let him too close. After the tragic death of her fellow state trooper fiancé in a high-speed crash, Leslie was far from ready for another relationship.

  She’d grieved. She’d moved on, but she wasn’t prepared to open herself up again.

  Luckily, Eoghan knew her well enough not to coddle her. “Have you checked in with the agency?”

  She caught the note of warning in his tone. “No. I wasn’t sure if I should just yet.” She wouldn’t admit her suspicions that there might be someone there she couldn’t trust. He’d think she was being paranoid.

  Or not. “Good,” he said. “I’ll let them know you’re safe and will keep updating through me,” he said.

  “Thank you.” It was a small relief to at least have someone with her on this.

  “Of course. So what’s your plan?” he asked.

  “I’ll let you know as soon as I have one.” Looking at the time on her phone, she disconnected the call. A minute or less would be the limit on her contact with the outside world until Selena’
s stalker was caught.

  Leaning against the rail, she stared at the dark mountains in the distance. This place had always grounded her. The silence had helped block out the noise and she was desperate for some of its healing powers now. A cold evening breeze blew her hair across her face as her phone buzzed with a text from Eoghan.

  Stay safe. We will figure this out.

  After heading back inside, she closed and locked the door. At least they were safe here for now. That’s what mattered.

  “What astrology sign are you?” Selena asked, flipping through the pages of a magazine left behind by Katherine. Trashy celebrity magazines were Katherine’s guilty pleasure. Obviously these were left behind by mistake. Or her sister thought no one else would be there to find them.

  “I don’t know.” It wasn’t the complete truth. She knew she was a Cancer sign, but she’d never put any stock into horoscopes and she didn’t think astrology predictions were going to help her figure out this mess.

  “Well, when’s your birthday?” Selena asked.

  Yeah, she wasn’t revealing that. Her clients were on a need-to-know basis, and Selena really didn’t need that info, but the star was relentless in her annoyingness. She sighed. “I’m a Cancer.”

  “I could have guessed that.”

  Leslie didn’t care what that meant so she didn’t ask.

  “It says... ‘This month brings changes for you. You will have to decide whether to follow your heart or your head. Let your passion guide your decision.’”

  Wow. So insightful.

  “Of course this was from a million years ago.” Selena tossed the rag aside and reached for another one. “Hey, let’s take this quiz. Which Friends character are you?”

  Leslie rubbed her temples. “I’m not interested. Can you just let me think?”

  Selena shrugged, grabbing a pen to take the quiz.

  Leslie paced. She knew she’d done the right thing removing Selena from immediate danger, but she may have played right into the stalker’s game. Unlike serial killers who hunted and killed, stalkers liked the chase—they liked to toy with their victims as long as possible. Make them feel afraid. It was part of the high for them to watch their target get more and more paranoid, protective... Taking Selena away might not deter the stalker, it might just give him more of a challenge.

  “You got Chandler,” Selena said.

  “What?”

  “You’re Chandler from Friends. See?” Selena held up the magazine.

  Leslie swiped it away. “I didn’t even answer any questions.” She refused to take the silly quizzes in the magazines. She had slightly more pressing issues at the moment.

  But Chandler? Really? Not even one of the fun, flirty female characters? Selena obviously didn’t answer the questions properly on her behalf.

  “I answered them for you and you got Chandler. It says, ‘You are outspoken and sarcastic. You focus on the future and avoid your past and family life. You make decisions based on logic and have low emotional stability and are often immature when it comes to developing new relationships. You turn to humor to avoid dealing with real emotions.’”

  Couldn’t argue with almost all of that. “I’m going to go take a shower.”

  Selena shrugged, but Leslie caught her quick glance toward Leslie’s cell phone. Leslie grabbed it from the table. Just in case.

  Man, it really did feel like she had abducted the woman, but she couldn’t trust her not to put her life in even more danger. When Selena had discovered that Leslie had purposely left her own cell phone and purse back at her house, she’d thrown one of the worst tantrums Leslie had ever seen. Being unable to post selfies every hour on the hour was going to be like a prison sentence for the movie star, but Leslie couldn’t take the chance that the phone or credit cards could be tracked or that Selena might not follow her rules.

  Inside the bathroom, she locked the door and sighed, resting against the sink.

  Outside the bathroom window, she could see the dark lake in the distance through the trees. Memories of summers spent here with her family had her seriously rethinking this. Making the decisions of what to do next would be hard enough without her past haunting her. Why hadn’t she taken Selena to Tijuana or something?

  Looking at the lake, she saw all the best days of her life flash like a bad eighties movie montage in her mind. Jumping off the dock into the freezing water in late June, throwing the football around and taking the Sea-Doo out. Fires on the shore late at night, roasting marshmallows, long passionate make-out sessions with Dawson, listening to the water lap onto the rocks, under the stars when everyone else was in bed. Dawson waking her up before everyone else and dragging her out onto the lake in the canoe to watch the sunrise, her cuddled between his knees, a blanket draped over them as they watched the sun crest over the mountains in the distance. He’d told her he loved her for the first time out there on the lake...

  She undressed quickly and got into the shower. Exhaustion hit her like the hot water cascading down her back. It took all of her energy to lather her body with a bar of soap that had been sitting there for who knew how long.

  For two and a half days, she’d been on high alert and hadn’t slept more than a few hours at a time. This was what her body was trained for, but she was unavoidably crashing now that they were safe. Safer, at least.

  But what the hell had she done? Coming here could have been a huge mistake.

  No. She had to stay confident in her decision. She’d gone through the proper procedures for weeks. She’d provided the company with a detailed stalker behavioral report and surveillance monitoring that proved Selena was in danger. No one had listened.

  The smaller incidents made everyone more cautious, but not enough.

  That creep getting into Selena’s house...into her bedroom.

  Leslie shivered, chilled despite the heat from the water.

  Whoever was stalking Selena was clearly disturbed. They were motivated by obsession and wanting to “own” the star. Leslie knew their intent wasn’t to kill, but to capture and torment, forcing Selena to be a possession. Worse than death.

  Moving to LA for the position, she’d assumed she’d get some hard-to-handle clients, having chosen to specialize in Celebrity Protection, but this assignment had pushed her to the limit of her abilities.

  Adapt or Quit was the motto she’d repeated to herself ad nauseam over the past three months.

  Now the choice might not be hers to make. She might get fired.

  But she had to stay the course. She’d made her decision—for right or wrong. Right now, Selena was alive and safe and that was all that mattered...

  The wailing of the smoke detector made her jump.

  Except now the cabin was on fire?

  Leslie blinked, suddenly wide awake again as she jumped out of the shower, grabbed a towel and rushed into the living room.

  She had to have fallen asleep in the shower. This had to be a nightmare. The flames engulfing the living room couldn’t be real.

  Selena’s scream destroyed any notion that she was dreaming.

  Flames bordered the entire room, having caught the curtains at the window and the nearby armchair. The smell of thick black smoke circling the room had her instantly coughing and squinting to see through the haze.

  Selena stood frozen in the center of it all. “The fire was going out. I tried to add more paper,” she said.

  Leslie saw the torn pages from the magazine, several with perfume samples attached. “Those pages contain highly flammable substances,” she said, looking around for a way to extinguish the flames.

  “How the hell was I supposed to know that?” Selena said, backing up toward the door.

  Grabbing the fire extinguisher, Leslie attempted to spray the wild flames but the thing wouldn’t work. Damn it! Who knew the last time it had been checked?

  They had to
get out. She tossed it aside, grabbed her car keys and wallet from the table and hurried toward Selena. Flames caught the edge of her towel and she quickly patted them, the heat burning into her flesh. “Ow! Jesus!”

  She shoved her feet into a pair of oversized rubber boots near the door and opened it, ushering Selena outside and through the deep snow to the car, away from the cabin, as quickly as possible. The windows could blow or the place could collapse any second.

  She jumped into the driver’s side and threw the car in Reverse, as the windows shattered and the wooden support beams began to fall. She stared into the mirror as the entire cabin was engulfed in flames. Her heart raced and her chest tightened. Thank God they’d made it out in time.

  “What now?” Selena asked, her voice quivering. In the passenger seat, she shook with cold or fright, Leslie wasn’t sure which.

  Leslie wanted to reassure her or say something clearheaded, but the truth was, she had no idea.

  Her one and only plan went up in flames along with her family’s cabin.

  * * *

  EVERYONE THOUGHT THAT jumping out of a plane into the middle of a burning forest was the toughest part of being a smoke jumper, but for Levi, inspecting the parachutes—having his crew’s safety in his hands—was where the real pressure came from.

  Standing in the parachute loft, he took his time inspecting the gear. The chutes needing repairs would be brought into the station before being repacked for use. Luckily, most appeared to be in good shape. A few tears in the canopies and netting, but nothing major.

  His cell phone rang, creating a loud echo throughout the loft. He glanced at the caller ID and, seeing the station number, shook his head as he answered. “What’s the matter? Couldn’t walk the ten feet to come get me?”

  “There’s a fire reported in Mason County area...a log cabin,” Chad said.

  Levi’s smirk disappeared and he was instantly on high alert. “That’s the Sanders family cabin,” he said, as he sprinted out of the loft. It was the only cabin in that area. The Sanders family had owned that land for generations. With a lake on one side and forest on the other, the family had cleared enough of a trail to get their vehicles in and out during the milder months of the year, but had preserved as much of the area wildlife as possible.