Mountain Secrets by Elizabeth Goddard (good books to read for teens txt) 📕

The car motor grew louder, more menacing. The headlights flashed by them and then the motor settled into an idle. Voices were raised, commands shouted. A car door slammed and then the car eased down the road. One man must have gotten out to search on foot while the other moved past them.

Out of breath, Jason kept pushing uphill. He craned his neck, catching just a flash of light through the thick trees.

Isabel caught up to him. She spoke between deep breaths. They both kept climbing. “They must have seen us on the road.”

Jason glanced around, not able to discern much of anything. They needed a hiding place, time to catch their breath. How were they going to find the clubhouse if they couldn’t navigate by the road?

The car rolled by again on the road. This time headed in the direction of the house.

Jason sprinted faster, though his legs were screaming from the effort of moving uphill. The man on foot with the flashlight was still at the bottom of the hill, looking up in their direction.

Jason ran up to a large evergreen, gesturing toward Isabel and speaking in a whisper. “Scoot down toward the trunk. The boughs will hide us.”

She complied with his order. He crawled in beside her. Both of them were out of breath. The tree sheltered them from the wind and snow.

“We need to get back down to the road,” she leaned close and whispered. Her breath warmed his ear.

He nodded.

Branches creaked around them in the wind. Down below, the car continued to go back and forth on the road. He could not see the headlights anymore but heard the engine grow louder and then dim.

A distinctly human grunt emanated below them. A tree branch cracked, probably the searcher stepping on deadfall. Footsteps seemed to surround them. Isabel pressed closer to him. He could see nothing through the darkness and thick foliage.

The footsteps seemed to fade and then grow louder. He couldn’t hear the car engine any longer. Had the driver decided to search farther down the road?

His breathing slowed. They huddled in the darkness...waiting. He heard noises that were most likely human.

Isabel had pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. Her head was tilted. After several minutes of silence in the forest, she spoke up. “Do you think he’s gone?”

Five, maybe ten, minutes had passed since he’d heard any sound that might have come from their pursuers.

“Stay put.” He crawled on all fours to get out from under the tree, then remained crouching, listening and watching. Though it was still snowing, the wind had died down.

He signaled for Isabel to come out. When she was close, he whispered, “We’ll walk parallel to the road but use the trees for cover. Until we can find a safe spot to emerge.”

She nodded as he rose and walked in a serpentine pattern through the trees. Always, his ears tuned for any out-of-place sound. Isabel stayed close to him.

The trees thinned, and he could see the road below. The thieves must have a pretty heavy-duty vehicle to be driving on the unplowed roads. At least five or six inches must have fallen since the start of the storm. Enough moonlight shone through to give the snow the appearance of being garnished with diamonds.

The quiet was deceptive. He knew he needed to stay on his guard. The two thieves were close, even if he couldn’t hear or see them. Every step they took brought them closer to danger.

SIX

Isabel tried to ignore the tight knot in her stomach by focusing on the back of Jason’s head. In the darkness, she could just make out the band of white on his knit hat. She took in an intense breath and looked side to side. They could be walking right into the thieves’ path.

She heard a noise to the side of her. Jason kept walking. She reached for the hem of his coat. Then she saw the glint of light up the hill. He wrapped his arms around her and guided her behind one of the larger trees.

Her heart thudded in her ears. As they faced each other, she tilted her head and looked up at Jason, whose posture indicated he was still on high alert. He turned and angled around the tree, then looked back at her and lifted his chin, indicating they should keep moving.

He worked his way down toward more level ground and spurred himself into a jog. It would be hard to find the clubhouse, a place she’d never been to. What if they overshot it altogether? They could be wandering for hours. The cold was as much an enemy as the two thieves.

The trees thinned and the ground became more level.

Jason slowed so she could catch up. “We must be getting close.”

The evergreens were so far apart they didn’t provide any cover. They made their way toward the road. Tracks indicated that the thieves’ car had come this far.

She stopped to scan the trees behind her, seeing nothing.

Jason picked up the pace. She sprinted beside him as a sense of urgency pressed in on her from all sides. Now they were out in the open, exposed. They needed to hurry. The tracks left by the car ended where the thief had turned around. A good sign that the men weren’t waiting to ambush them at the clubhouse.

Up ahead she spotted a cluster of trees and the faint outline of what might be a building. Jason veered in that direction. She sprinted to keep up with him, scanning their surroundings.

Gradually two buildings came into view. Picnic tables outside were covered in snow. The clubhouse was about fifty yards from the road.

Isabel quickened her pace as she prayed they’d be able to access the snowmobiles. She ran ahead of Jason but slowed as she got close to the garage. There was a padlock on the door. She shook the doorknob out of frustration as her hope vaporized.

“Now what are