Author's Note: (blinks in shock) Wow. I seriously did not expect reviews like that. Thanks a ton! I don't think this chapter lives up to the first ones, which kind of frustrated me, but I think it's still okay. Thanks again!
Snow and Hot Water
Tucker ran out of the elevator with an annoyed Danny and a quiet Sam behind him. Those two were so depressing sometimes. Okay, Sam was always depressing, but them put together it was averaged out to sometimes. He stopped at the end of the hallway to see a large area with couches and three fireplaces, but he went straight for the game room.
"Pool, here I come," he said to himself, running across the room to claim a pool table for the others when they arrived. Finally they got there and Sam looked at Tucker with an impatient expression, which he noticed. "What? It's pool!"
"We're at a ski resort that is more like a freaking castle," she said, "and the first thing you see is pool. There's a sauna, a spa, a hot tub, a lounge, a mini-theater, a buffet, snowboard lesson sign-ups-"
"Buffet?" Tucker.
"Snowboarding?" Danny.
"Yeah," said Sam. "Tucker, stuff your face; Danny, sign up for stuff with me."
He agreed, seeing opportunity,and went to a small table with numerous clipboards on it. Tucker followed his nose to the buffet where they were serving dinner. While Sam read the different classes she could take, Danny stood next to her with his hands in his pockets looking around the lounge. The place felt so comfortable, like magic. He should've been feeling excited, but instead he felt relaxed and, for once, normal. He was here, at this awesome place with no ghosts to be seen, with Sam. And Tucker. Sam and Tucker.
What was UP with him, anyway?
"Danny? Daaanny," said Sam behind him, prodding him with her finger. He finally turned around and saw a piece of paper in front of his face. "You've always wanted to try snowboarding, right?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, definitely," he said, writing his name down. "You going to take it?"
"Not my thing, really. I'm going to join a hiking group," she said, spotting another clipboard. "Check out the scenery. I love the snow, we hardly ever get it."
"You'll try skiing or something outside of class though, right?" he asked, leaning forward inquisitively. "We're all here together, we should so something."
"I guess I will," she said. "Just for fun. And the beginner slopes for me, okay?" Danny smirked. She looked almost scared.
A voice from somewhere behind them called, "No way! Sam?"
Sam turned at to the voice. "Ash?" she cried in surprise.
Danny turned around as a boy decked in black and green came over. He looked at Sam and smiled. "Wow, what a coincidence," he breathed.
"Yeah, coincidence," she repeated. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, I didn't follow you if that's what you think," he said, laughing. "I'm here for a few days, you know, just to get away." He looked to Sam's right and seemed to notice Danny for the first time. "You're one of her friend's aren't you?"
He nodded, not saying anything until Sam elbowed him. "Ow…Hi! I'm Danny."
Ash didn't seem to take in this bit of knowledge. "So I guess I was right when I said I'd see you soon?"
"Yeah, that was weird wasn't it?" Sam said brightly. Danny fish-eyed her at that sound. It was alien to him.
"I'll see you later, too, then," he said. "Later. Oh, bye Danny." He pulled his hood over his hair and walked away quickly.
Danny shuddered, struck by a sudden cold. Sam felt it because he was standing too close to her and looked up. "You okay?"
He nodded and looked down at her, taking a step back when he noticed he'd gotten closer somehow. "Yeah… what about you though?"
"What about me?"
"All day you've been too quiet," he said. "And you were upset earlier and we never finished talking about that."
Sam bit her lip, trying not to show her thoughts on her face. Brilliant, Sam. Well, I can't talk about it now, the courage left me. Could Danny be looking at her any harder? "It's not a big deal, really," she said. "You're blowing it out of proportion."
"Point?"
"Don't say that," she said. "I was just thinking about what your parents said about girls. I'm kind of applying guys to that, too, for me. I was just a little worried about what was going to happen. I'm fine now." Well, it was mostly true, she told herself.
Danny nodded in the direction that Ash had left. "Looks like you already have guy problems," he said with a laugh.
"It's not a problem, Danny," she said darkly, walking toward the buffet. "He likes me, but I never said I liked him back. And I don't." She took a plate from the end of the buffet, Danny following her. "You don't seem to like him at all, though."
"Huh?" he said, dropping a ladle full of some form of soup.
Sam smiled softly. "I saw the look you gave him. If you're worried, don't be. He's not dangerous. He's pretty okay, actually…."
They got their food and found the table Tucker was sitting at. Sam put a forkful of lettuce in her mouth before anyone had to ask her anything. Instead, Tucker looked to Danny and asked, "Wanna hit the hot tub after this?" Danny shrugged and nodded. "Sam?" She nodded as she put another bite in her mouth, looking at the table. Danny sighed and rubbed his forehead.
Upstairs, Danny and Tucker were waiting at the bathroom door as Sam changed into her bathing suit. "Hurry up, Sam," whined Danny.
"The beds have canopies, geniuses," came the reply.
"So why aren't you changing in your bed then?" asked Tucker.
"Because I'm a girl and I don't trust you."
"What's not to trust?" Danny asked. Tucker grinned at him and he punched him.
"You two and testosterone, another thing I'm sure Tucker doesn't know about."
Danny dragged Tucker away before he could start arguing with her through the door. He hopped in his bed and pulled the canopy closed, changing into his blue and black swimming trunks. When he came out, Sam was leaning against the wall with her swimming cape draped around her. "Oh, come on Sam, we'll be inside."
"I know," she said. "This is to go downstairs in."
Tucker came out in his trunks and a white T-shirt on. "Let's go."
The sauna/spa/hot tub area was filled with people, but luckily there were four hot tubs. The three of them found an empty one and started to head for it when Danny spotted something to the side. Someone with a ID from the resort pinned to his chest was surrounded by a circle of little kids and teenagers. It looked almost like a campfire, and for some reason, Danny was drawn to it. "Hey guys, come here a second." They followed him to the circle until they were within hearing distance.
"Before this resort was here, a boy had gotten lost on the mountain, separated from his group," said the employee. He looked like a well-dressed janitor. "He had wandered off after he saw a girl his age that he cared deeply for kiss another boy. He was heartbroken, and so he cried out in the snow in his sorrow. The sound was so loud, deep, and filled with emotion that is caused a furociousavalanche that covered the whole area. Hardly anyone survived, including the girl he loved."
Sam stepped closer, becoming very interested in the story being told. She took a seat, with the others following suit.
"The boy was ridden with guilt knowing that he caused his love to die," continued the employee. "He wandered on, letting his heartbreak consume him. He was cold and hungry and didn't care.From above him, a very powerful ghost that inhabited the mountains saw him and came down to him. The ghost took pity on the boy when he heard the story, and felt his heartbreak as if it were his own. When the boy passedaway from hypothermia."
Should kids really be listening to this, thought Tucker, but he didn't interrupt the story..
"When the boy died, the ghost felt grief. He hadn't had anyone to speak to in very long and had been lonely even before hearing the boy's story. He found the girl's body soon after and in sadness he caused an even greater avalanche than the first. Before the avalanche reached the boy, he placed the body of the girl next to him, and they were buried together in many feet of snow.
"Every year now, on the anniversary of that day, the ghost known as the Avalanche Specter searches for a girl that reminds him of the girl who had died, and reenacts that sad day. He takes the girl as his love and a boy goes after her. He then takes the life of them both and buries them both in snow by causing another avalanche, and the two are buried next to each other as both a symbol of the death of the boy and girl, but of the new children's affection as well. The anniversary is coming in a few days, and every year two people go missing from the resort or a town nearby. He has been gone, however, for the past two years, somehow trapped by the last boy he lured into the mountains. Who's to know if he comes back to claim another couple?And that is the legend of the Avalanche Specter."
The crowd surrounding the employee cleared out quickly, going back to their leisure activities. The trio sat there for a moment before Tucker said, "Well that was creepy."
"Do you think the legend is true?" asked Sam.
Tucker laughed. "With everything we've seen, I wouldn't be surprised if the Avalanche Specter was real and he had a pet dragon. Sadly, we have seen real dragons."
Well, this was good news for Danny. "I don't want to talk about ghosts again, especially if that ends up true. Right now, I want to be in a hot tub."
The three of them moved to the hot tub they had spotted before, only to see it occupied by one person.
"Hi, Ash," Sam said. He turned around andlooked at them in surprise. "You mind?"
He broke into a small smile before saying, "No, come in." He was always smiling when he saw Sam. It freaked Danny out a bit. And he really didn't want to be in the hot tub with Ash. Sam took off her cape, revealing her bikini that she'd picked out in hopes that it wouldn't reveal too much. Danny noticed Ash examine her, and felt blood boil.
"So, what are you three doing tomorrow?" Ash asked. "Can I join? I'm kinda alone here."
"Actually," said Sam, "we don't really know yet." She looked to the other boys. "What do you say?"
"I think I've got my first lesson tomorrow by what the schedule said," said Danny quickly. "Really sorry I can't make it, though," he added in convincing sarcasm.
Ash shrugged. "Nah, it's cool. So do I. My morning is free, though. Sam, would you fancy a walk?"
Sam hesitated, looking Ash up and down before responding, "Yes." Maybe Ash was better than okay.
Tucker looked between Ash and Sam, who were still looking at each other. This couldn't be good. "Danny and I can go too, right?"
"Oh, yeah, sure," Ash said. "If you two want to protect her from my wrath," he joked, reaching an arm out to Sam. She shrugged it off and stopped smiling.
Took the words right out of my mouth, thought Danny. He grasped Tucker's hand and said,"Tucker can I talk to you for a second?"The two of them got out of the water, Sam looking after them with wide eyes. Did they know they were leaving her with Ash?
A few feet away, behind a plant that covered them from sight, Tucker smirked wisely at Danny. "What's up?"
Danny glanced in Sam and Ash's direction and said, "I really don't trust that guy. I'm getting a major bad vibe from him."
Tucked laughed and patted Danny's shoulder. "You're just jealous, man," he chuckled. "Ash is closing in on Sam and you're mad because you wish it was you."
Danny choked for a moment and stared at Tucker. "No, that's not it! I'm just worried about her because she's my friend and this guy is creeping me out. Come on, don't you feel it?"
"He's just flirting with her," he said exasperatedly. "I mean it's not like you can tell he's bad like you can tell if there's a ghost near-"
Danny exhaled and an icy blue vapor leaked from his mouth, as if on cue. He groaned and walked toward the nearest bathroom. "Look, make an excuse for me, okay?" He disappeared soon after, leaving Tucker to explain to Ash where he'd gone.