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

They ran up the empty ski hill.

A gunshot sounded behind them, spurring them to run faster. Another gunshot, even closer. The ski hill was frozen and slick. Nick was gaining on them.

They neared the chairlift. Jason flipped the switch to turn it on. The lift eased to life as he and Isabel got on.

Jason looked over his shoulder. Nick had gotten on four or five chairs behind them. Far enough away that it would not be an easy shot to make with a pistol.

Jason wiggled in his chair, then lifted and dropped his legs like he was on a swing.

“What are you doing?”

“A moving target is harder to hit.”

Several more shots were fired. One pinged off the metal of the chair.

“We’re going to have to jump before we get to the exit platform.” He stared down. The lift had elevated them a good thirty feet above the ground. He could wait until the distance was closer to ten or fifteen feet. The snow down at the base of the hill had been hard packed and icy. Maybe they could hope for some powder and a softer landing toward the top of the mountain.

“Now?” said Isabel.

She pointed at the landing platform up ahead.

Jason glanced over his shoulder. He could make out the outline of Nick’s body four seats behind them. “Let’s do this.”

He flipped around, slipped off the chair and hung on to it before letting go. He sailed through the air. His knees buckled from his collision with the ground, and he rolled a few feet. Isabel still hung from the chair. She let go and fell to the ground below. Hearing her moan as she landed, he prayed nothing had been broken.

The concert hall was just a set of distant glowing lights barely discernible through the trees clustered on the mountain. Nick had dropped from the lift, as well.

Jason sprinted over to Isabel and grabbed her hand to help her to her feet. “You all right?”

“Just a little shaky.”

Nick was setting an intense pace as he ran toward them.

This was a remote black-diamond part of the ski hill.

Jason led Isabel toward the shelter of the trees. The canopy blocked much of the snowfall from gathering on the forest floor, allowing them to move faster and not leave many tracks.

They ran until they were both out of breath. The forest thinned, and they were out in the open again. A light winked on and off as if moving over hills, appearing and disappearing.

“Snowmobile,” said Jason. “Maybe ski patrol.”

“Or Nick called in reinforcements. He was able to arrange for that car to be dropped off.” Isabel came up beside him.

She might be right. The snowmobile rounded another hill. He heard the hum of a motor as it drew closer. Maybe they should hide until they were sure the snowmobiler was one of the good guys.

He couldn’t see Nick anywhere.

As Isabel pointed toward a sign that showed a map of the trails on the mountains, the headlight of the snowmobile pointed directly at them.

They hurried over to the sign and crouched behind it. The snowmobile worked its way up and down the mountain. Jason peered around the sign. It was too dark to see anything but the outline of the snowmobile and its rider.

The snowmobile was set to idle. A shadowy figure emerged from the tree on the other side of the black-diamond run. The figure walked toward the idling snowmobiler, shouted above the hum of the engine and then got on the back behind the driver. The voice had been loud enough so they could tell that it was Nick. He had called in reinforcements.

The snowmobile worked its way back up the mountain.

Now was their chance to run. Without a word, they both took off.

The snowmobiler stopped at the top of the trail run on a ledge. A moment later, a powerful searchlight illuminated sections of the mountain piece by piece.

Jason led Isabel toward an overhang of snow that was used for jumps. They hid underneath it, the shadows covering them as the searchlight swept past.

After the last time they were forced to brave the cold for survival, he’d prayed it wouldn’t happen again. But here they were, Isabel pressed close to him, shivering. Though she was dressed for winter, they had been out in the elements for at least half an hour.

He wrapped an arm around her and whispered in her ear. “It won’t be long now. They’ll give up.”

They’d be warmer if they could stay on the move. The hum of the snowmobile still pressed on his ears. They couldn’t run...not yet.

He drew Isabel even closer.

Ten minutes passed before the snowmobile noise faded.

“Let’s get back over to the chairlift.”

“What if they are waiting there for us?”

They could both get hypothermia by the time they made it down the mountain on foot.

The wind blew, chilling his skin. Isabel wrapped her arms around her body. He’d skied these hills all through high school. “There are warming huts around here. At least there used to be.” That would give them time to come up with a plan.

He ran down the hill back toward the map. Isabel stood beside him as he leaned close to the map to see better. “There used to be a warming hut by the Crystal run. If memory serves.”

“I’ll take your word for it. I never skied.”

He started walking in the general direction he thought the hut might be. “Really? I thought everyone in Silver Strike skied. I lived fifty miles up the road and made it almost every weekend.”

She hurried to keep up with him as they cut across the ski run. “Mom said it was a rich person’s sport.” A note of sadness filled her voice.

There were all sorts of programs for kids who couldn’t afford to ski to get help. His father had signed him up for everything he could. Isabel’s mother just hadn’t wanted to make the effort. “Maybe I’ll have to take you sometime.”

“Once it’s okay for