Cold As Ice

Author's Note: This chapter… is here! You know how hard it is to write with your grandmother trying to drag you to Kohl's? Well, you already know what this chapter is basically about so I won't bother you much with summaries. Here you go, faithful readers!

First Strike

The visitor computers had dial-up connection, the office area was crowded with businessmen, and Tucker had absolutely no intention of going in there with the technologically inept adults. How lucky was it that he decided to bring his own laptop? Very lucky indeed. For another thing, the resort had forbidden food near their desks. And even though he'd already eaten breakfast, that was thirty minutes ago. He always munched on something while being his techno-geek self, no shame in that. He opened two windows and went on two different websites: Ghost Portal Online, their main source for information on ghost legends, and Google.

GPO was a website that they'd found a year previously while learning about a strange monster-like ghost they'd come across that did a lot of damage to the Danny and Tucker. Okay, so Sam found it, but that was only because she was the only one not in bodily pain.

He ran a Google search on "Avalanche Specter". 22,100 matches, most of the first ones he saw about people with the last name Specter. Slightly annoyed, he retyped the search to include the words "missing people". 6,500 matches. The third one, however, was all he needed to find. He clicked on the link and a local newspaper's website loaded.

Missing Children, Avalanche Spooks Local Citizens

The four day search for 14 year old Christine Chavez continues, now combined with the search for Jaime King, fellow student on a class trip to the mountains where both are expected to be lost.

A small avalanche occurring two miles from the resort where both children were staying has brought the morale in most of the searchers down. All parties are focusing on the mountain the natural disaster happened on, fearing the same fate would befall those who have gone missing from the area in the past.

"It's the Avalanche Specter," said Terrance Pike, an employee at the resort the children were boarding in. "Everyone around here was afraid this would happen before the avalanche, and now that it has, those two kids don't have any hope."

The Avalanche Specter, a ghost in a local urban legend, is known to lure a young woman into the mountains with a boy soon following to look for her. Once the two are together, the ghost starts an avalanche that buries them. Though there most likely isn't a ghost involved in these disappearances and similar ones in the past, authority figures have ordered all parties to scan the disaster site for the children.

"I don't know see how people are still buying the ghost crap," says Lieutenant Tiffany Newhart. "Monsters, ghouls, phantoms, they're all just the usual excuses people make when something frightening is unexplained. We believe that a normal, but nothing short of sick human is responsible for previous missing children that are presumed dead. We're not giving up the search for Chavez and King because of some idiotic story."

Most people aren't convinced that any common kidnapper is responsible. Similar disappearances have happened in the past as local citizens well remember. The most recent missing case of Chastity Shan and Michael Parker ended two months afterward when Parker was found dead, Shan still missing. "I just hope these kids don't end up as ghosts, too," said Pike.

Tucker shook his head. This didn't give them anything valuable to use, except that that legends were truth based. He clicked on the minimized Ghost Portal Online window and went to the search engine in the upper let corner, typing in Avalanche Specter.

One match found.

"You know, I probably should've just done this one first," he murmured to himself, clicking the link.

At the top of the page was an artist's depiction of the legend. A wild eyed ghost flew above a snow-covered mountain, looking down manically at a boy and a girl as a cascade of snow began to flow towards them. The picture was enough to creep him out. The whole boy-girl love theme of the legend had been unsettling before but now… He read the story beneath the picture, and found it to be slightly more helpful.

Though there have been no valid sighting of the Avalanche Specter in the northwest regions of the United States, most of the people in the particular area believe that the Avalanche Specter exists and haunts the mountain regions of the area. The Specter annually kidnaps teenage girls, most reports showing between the ages of 13 and 17. A boy of the same age, usually a close friend of the girl, soon goes missing as well, apparently while searching for the girl. According to legend, the Specter chooses the girl he kidnaps because the boy has romantic feelings for her that are unrequited. These claims are impossible to prove.

The origin of the ghost is unknown, as is the age of him. All the legend tells is of the Specter meeting a heart broken boy near death, and taking on the sorrow of him. This is unusual for the nature of ghosts, as they are known to be held to the earth by an obsession of their own. Whatever kept the Specter to the real world originally is not clarified. This ghost is a danger to all teenagers who visit the area. Seeing as how a resort in the area attracts a lot of tourism, the story is usually not told to outsiders despite the threat to them.

The kidnappings occur in late July and early August. Over the course of twenty years, there have only been three years skipped. For the past two years, residents have been lucky. It is fabled that the Specter passed on, satisfied in his work. Others suspect that he hasn't been able to find another couple that fits the usual description. The fear that the Specter will claim more victims has not dissipated, as recent GPO polls from citizens in the area confirm.

Well, that explained a bit more than the newspaper article had. Below the information supplied by GPO was a list of links. One went to a list of the Specter's victims, their ages, and links to any newspaper articles about their disappearances. Another went to the resort's homepage. Below these links were the usual editorials and forums where frequent visitors to the website discussed ghosts and such. Maybe Tucker could find out if anyone on the message boards could help them. He checked his watch and saw that he had forty minutes until they were supposed to meet Danny on the slopes.

He logged in as ProudTechLover, his username for the boards. Danny's and Sam's usernames were PhantomHunter and MetalMistress, respectively. Tucker was more well-known than those two, though. The forums were full of crazy whack-jobs who believed in ghosts like people believed in Area 51, but some were worthy to be called ghost specialists.

Don't think about Danny and Sam, Tucker. Those two were crazy, and he was stuck in the middle, as usual. He ignored any and all thoughts about the two and posted about the Avalanche Specter, waiting for any of the intelligent freaks to post.

Sam was having no luck in finding anybody that was willing to tell her anything about the Avalanche Specter. After asking the fourth person who made an excuse to go away or said they didn't know what she was talking about, her patience was wearing thin.

"Uh, excuse me," said Sam, smiling and trying to seem like a friendly, inquiring young girl. The woman in front of her obviously didn't notice how hard she was trying. "You work here, don't you? I was wondering if I could ask you something."

The woman looked from side to side, as if looking for something to pull her away from the teenager in front of her. Finding no means of escape, she sighed and leaned to one side. "Yes, I work here. I'd be glad to answer any question you have."

Sam smiled sweetly, working the employee while she could. "Well, I heard a janitor or someone the other day talking about this legend about the Avalanche Specter, or some guy like that," she said. Stay casual, act clueless, and the adults won't consider you much of a threat despite the heavy eyeliner. "I thought it was a really cool story, but… Well, I was wondering if it was true. Do people really just disappear around here, and if they do, then how come it wasn't in any of the brochures I got?"

The look of "I'm great at customer service" faltered on the woman's – Diane, from the ID on her shirt – face. "That silly legend?" she asked, an amused smile spreading across her face. "Oh, come on; don't tell me you believe that. It's a story some of the workers here like to tell the little kids. It makes it feel like they're really camping or something." She waited for Sam to say something, or maybe leave, but she just continued to stare at Diana with a look of polite interest. "There have been a few missing cases around here, but it's just because these kids decide that they can explore around these mountains without a tour guide. As for the avalanches, it's August. The snow is somewhere between melting and freezing, so it's common around here. The slopes where people are allowed to go on happen to be the most stable mountains; otherwise there'd be the danger of them happening around here. I'm sorry, but I'm on duty, and I have things to do. Go find a boy to flirt with." With that, the obviously PMS-ing woman left Sam there, hands on her hips and glowering after here.

"Hopefully I'm the only boy you've been flirting with," said a voice from behind her as arms wrapped around her middle.

Sam tensed up from surprise, but smiled and laughed. "You can never be too sure, can you?"

Ash turned her around so that she was facing him, their noses mere inches away from each other. "Don't break my heart like that, Sam."

It almost scared her how much Ash seemed to like her… but in a good way. She was about to say something back when Tucker ran down the hallway towards them. "Sam! I found…" He paused when he noticed Ash. "I found that thing I was looking for. What about you?"

"Sort of," she replied, stepping away from Ash and blushing.

"What were you looking for?" asked Ash.

"Nothing," said the two friends in unison.

Ash nodded slowly. "Oookay, then."

Tucker tugged at Sam's arm. "Sorry, Ash, but we have to meet Danny outside now." He looked meaningfully at her. "Remember, Sam?"

"Huh?" she said, looking away from Ash. "Oh. Yeah. Let's go." She waved and turned toward the doors with Tucker, who was trying with all of his might to not make a comment about how bad Sam had it.

Danny had released some of his stress during his lesson, the last one he'd signed up for. He'd put all of his energy into that lesson and felt much better, and felt like he could face his friends in the eye, including Sam.

Yeah. Okay.

He put the snowboard he used for his classes back in the storage closet just as Tucker and Sam walked over to him. Closing the door and looking around, making sure no one was in listening distance, he whispered, "Did you find anything?"

"Well, Tuck here says he found something on GPO, but he wouldn't tell me until we got here."

Danny turned to Tucker with an eager look on his face. "Well?"

"Alright," Tucker said, pulling out his PDA that he'd saved all of the noted the intelligent freaks had sent him. "So, did either of you realize that we have no idea how the Avalanche Specter came to exist?"

Danny and Sam exchanged looks. "Yeah," they said.

Tucker paused. "Oh. I hadn't." He shook his head and continued. "Well, most of the ghosts we've come across has some obsession, or some particular thing that gives them power. The Specter is different in that he existed before he found his obsession from somebody else."

"So in other words," said Sam, "there's a big gaping whole in the story that's probably very important."

"Then we're assuming that he exists?" asked Danny. This warranted looks from the others. "Okay, just checking."

The three of them began to walk toward the resort, headed for a wooden deck with tables they could sit at. "Also, there's the chance that we're stressing out about this for no reason," said Tucker. "There haven't been any disappearances for two years now, after twenty years of haunting this place. Maybe the ghost finally found peace."

"It took him twenty years to find peace?" Danny shook his head disbelieving. "I don't know where he went, but I don't think one particular kidnapping would be much difference."

"It's still possible," said Sam. "I wouldn't let your guard down yet, though, Danny. I'm sorry you're not getting much rest," she added, throwing her arm over his shoulders in a half hug. "Must suck."

"Yeah, Sam," he replied dryly. "It kind of does." He sat down at a table, Tucker and Sam in front of him. "But it doesn't matter. So, Sam, what did you figure out?" It was a deliberate change of subject, because he didn't like thinking about just how low he'd been feeling.

Sam shook her head slowly. "Nothing, really. Just that the employees are in serious denial. They're either scared or don't want to mar the resort's reputation."

"So then we should definitely be on alert, at least," said Danny, resting his cheek in his hand. "I'll sense a ghost if it comes near. Other than that…"

Sam looked through the glass doors at the buffet that they were now setting up for lunch. "You didn't have much breakfast, Danny," she said. "You want some lunch? Then maybe we can all do something together, since we haven't really ever since we got here." She was right. Tucker and Danny had spent their time together, but Sam… well, it didn't need to be said.

Danny smiled at the table. "Sure, that'd be good."

Late the next morning (about eleven), the three of them were getting their things together to go on one of Sam's hikes up the mountain. As Danny was tying his snow boots, the emergency intercom crackled in the corner.

"All visitors and employees are required to report in the lobby at this time. Repeat; all visitors and employees report to the lobby at this time. Please end your activities and lessons immediately."

The three looked at each other, confused, before walking out of their room and into the hallway. They made their way to the main lobby, where people were filling the spaces quickly. Danny had never seen all of the visitors together in one space like this, and was surprised to see so many. They were stuck near the back of the group, so he jumped up to try to see what was going on. He found an empty chair and quickly stepped up on it, looking near the middle where a group of employees and police officers were gathered. Most of the officers were trying to calm the group, which was slowly starting to panic, stretching out from the center. Others seemed to be asking the workers questions and amidst the group of red and blue uniforms were two adults. A woman was crying into a man's shoulder.

He jumped down from his seat and cut between the people, Sam and Tucker following close behind. Reaching the center, he spotted a female officer who didn't seem to be doing anything and asked her, "What the heck is going on?"

She looked at Danny with a mix of superiority and, deep within her, fear. "A child went missing early this morning. That is all you need to know."

"Was it a girl?" he asked desperately before she turned away. "A teenage girl?"

The officer looked back at him, seemingly surprised. Her face hardened then and she said, "Do you know something about this that you should be telling me?"

He shook his head. "No, ma'am. Can you just tell me her name?"

"Rachel Kline," she said after a hesitation. "She's thirteen. Do you know her?" He shook his head again. "Then don't bother me. You'll receive more instruction soon, but stay inside. Do not start a panic. If you're so interested, we'll be organizing search parties." She turned her back on him and walked away.

Sam and Tucker looked on as Danny stared ahead. Sam bit her lip and asked quietly, "We're too late aren't we?"

Danny turned stared hard into the two of them before finally whispering, "No. We're not."

Author's Note: This is the longest chapter I've written so far, exactly 5 pages. Wow. I enjoy reading all of your reviews. Thank you for the 28 reviews, the 10 people who have this story on their favorite's list, the 6 people who have it on story alert, the two who have me on author alert, and whoever the heck put me on the Danny and Sam Forever C2. If someone can tell me what C2 stands for…? Anyway, chapter seven will be out ASAP!

XKismetX