by Skylar Finn
The demon’s skin cracked and fractured like hot magma ready to erupt. Beneath the blackened surface, red and orange flames seeped out to consume Richard. I kicked him away from me and Riley, and he went up in flames right before we hit the ground. I pulled Riley close and squeezed my eyes shut, readying myself for the pain of impact.
We hit the snow like a cannonball. The flat of my back smacked against the hardened ice and knocked the wind out of me, but my bones remained intact. Something had stopped us from hitting the ground as hard as we should have. We sank several feet, and snow filled in on top of us, but we were both alive. I swept a hand through the powder until my fingers felt the frigid air above us. I shoved Riley upward, and she took a deep breath of the freezing night. With both hands, she yanked me out of the snow.
“You’re alive!” she exclaimed, giggling with glee.
“You’re alive!” I said back, hugging her around the waist. “I for sure thought we were a demon snack.”
Riley kissed the top of my head. “Nope. You won. I knew you could.”
I gazed up at the fatal distance between the ski lift and the ground. “It doesn’t explain how we survived that fall.”
Riley looked over my head. “I think I know who saved us.”
I turned around to see what she was looking at. Two figures hovered nearby, the same pearly white as the glistening snow: Stella and Odette.
“It’s you,” Riley said to Odette. “You’re the one who used to visit me.”
Odette smiled and nodded. “You made me hot chocolate even though I couldn’t drink it.”
“You seemed to like it,” Riley said. “So you’re my aunt, huh? Kinda weird.”
Odette gestured to her adolescent body. “We get trapped in the body that we died in. I would’ve liked to have grown up to know you, Riley. We would’ve really gotten along.”
“I would’ve liked that,” Riley said. She turned her attention to Stella. “I’m sorry for the way Richard treated you. It must have been difficult for you. Still, you’re my grandmother, and I love you.”
For the first time since I’d met her, Stella dropped her lofty superiority. Her bottom lip trembled as she clasped Odette to her side. “You’re a wonderful young woman, Riley. I hope you lead a beautiful life.”
A snowmobile ripped up the hill, the roar of the engine ending the conversation. Nick steered the machine, aiming it at Riley as if he intended to run her right over, but Stella and Odette stepped in front of him. Nick’s eyes widened at the sight of his dead mother and sister, and he veered off-course to avoid hitting them.
“Oliver William Watson,” Stella scolded. “You will not harm those girls. Do you understand me?”
“M-Mom?” Nick said. “What are you doing here? I’ve never seen you before.”
Stella moved toward him. “You’ve lost your way, Oliver. Come back to us.”
“No!” He scrambled off the snowmobile in his haste to get away from her. “Stay back!”
But Stella continued to advance, a peaceful smile on her face. Odette held her mother’s hand.
“It’s time, big brother,” Odette said. “Come with us.”
Nick screamed as they closed in on him. He ran from them but stumbled and fell in the deep snow. Stella and Odette’s pearly figures surrounded him, boxing him into a wall of white. I felt his energy drain from his body as his family took what he had stolen from them. When Stella and Odette disappeared, I knew they were gone for good, finally able to cross over to whatever world came after death. Nick Porter lay vacant-eyed in the snow, only a shell of the man he used to be.
“Did they kill him?” Riley whispered.
“No,” I said. “He’s breathing.”
Red lights flashed as White Oak’s mountain rescue team crested the hill on their own snowmobiles. Four of them surrounded me and Riley. The first rescuer, a stocky woman who wore a Leader’s patch on the sleeve of her red jacket, dismounted and took off her helmet.
“Are you all right?” she hollered over the roaring wind as she unfurled a warming blanket and wrapped it around Riley’s shoulders.
“Cold,” I called back. “How did you know we were here?”
“Some reporter called it in,” she replied as another rescuer provided me with a blanket. “Calvo, or something like that. Let’s get you inside to warm up. Is that Mr. Porter?”
“Yeah. He’s going to need to go to the hospital.”
The woman signaled the members of her team. “Let’s move it, boys.”
As the other rescuers tended to Nick, Riley and I climbed on the back of the leader’s snowmobile. I locked my arms around Riley.
“Ready?” the rescuer asked, turning the key.
“Ready,” Riley and I replied.
And we plunged through the snow toward the safety and warmth of White Oak.
Epilogue
The grand opening of the Crimson Basin Wildlife Refuge and Recreational Park was the day after Riley’s eighteenth birthday. A fancy car, complete with heated seats and a chauffeur that held a sign with my name on it at baggage claim, picked me up from the airport and drove me up the mountain. I hadn’t returned to Vermont in five years. Ever since Madame Lucia’s Parlour for the Dead and Departed got picked up as a narrative cable show—starring me as Madame Lucia of course—I’d been enjoying my new life in Los Angeles. The sunny climate was more my speed, but I couldn’t help but feel a certain twinge of nostalgia as the car wound its way through the snowy hills.
An enormous crowd gathered in the front loop of Crimson Basin’s new building. Apparently, news of my arrival had spread. As the chauffeur parked and opened my door for me, the throng pushed forward, clamoring for my autograph before I’d even stepped out of the car.
“Out of the way, out of the way!” ordered a sharp voice. Lourdes pushed through the throng of excited fans, holding a clipboard in one hand and a disgruntled bell boy in the other. Jazmin, wearing an excited smile, followed closely behind her.
“Hi, best friend!” Jazmin said. She hugged me tightly then held me at arm’s length to get a good look at me. “Wow, you look amazing. Is that tan real or fake?”
“You’ll never know,” I replied.
“You’re late,” Lourdes said, checking her clipboard. “We expected you a half hour ago. You can’t go throwing off the program like this all the time, Lucia.”
“The flight was delayed, Calvo.” I accepted a permanent marker from one of the fans and began scribbling autographs as quickly as possible. “Blame the snow and the rain. How’s the grand opening ceremony coming along?”
“It’s a disaster,” Lourdes said, ushering me inside. The fans booed her. “Oh, shut up! You’ll have plenty of time with her later.”
“Tell me why you made her head of PR again?” I muttered to Jazmin.
“Because she’s annoyingly good at it,” Jazmin replied. “And Riley isn’t easy to control. Did you see what she said on the news yesterday?”
“About the new environmental law?” I said. “Yeah, I caught it. So what? You don’t agree?”
“It’s not about whether she agrees or not,” Lourdes said over her shoulder as she led us toward the sliding doors of the renovated building. “Riley shouldn’t involve herself in politics. It’ll alienate half of Crimson Basin’s potential customers. We want people to come ski here, not debate the owner’s view on environmentalism.”
“Crimson Basin is a wildlife refuge now,” I reminded them. “Riley’s goal was to turn this resort into a place where people could ski and appreciate how unchanged nature is here. It would be worse for business if she didn’t defend environmentalism.”
“Well, she doesn’t have to be so blasé about it!” Lourdes argued. “I’ve got enough press to handle with the opening. I don’t have time for Riley’s political agenda.”
We entered the newly renovated lobby of the resort. The place looked completely different. After Oliver’s death and the declaration that Nick was no longer mentally able to care for his business
, Riley inherited everything the Watson half-brothers owned. Over the last five years, with a personally selected board of trustees at her disposal, Riley made it her personal goal to repair the damaged reputation of her family’s name. Riley Watson became everything her predecessors failed to be: a kind but stalwart philanthropist with a heart of gold and a take-no-shit attitude. Riley made the mountain her own. What was left of King and Queens had been demolished. The land on that side of the mountain was now a reservation for the local wildlife. Riley had even built a rehabilitation center for injured animals. White Oak became the Crimson Basin Recreational Resort. According to Riley, it wasn’t sustainable to rip down the existing building just for the comfort of building a new one, so she’d gutted White Oak and renovated the interior. The cold, colorless lobby was no more, replaced with warm earth tones and a golden glow from the incoming sun.
“I don’t have a political agenda,” Riley announced, emerging from her office. It still surprised me to see her so grown up. She was tall and slender, her hair loose and wavy around her shoulders. Unlike other business owners, she didn’t adhere to a stiff dress code. Instead of a pencil skirt or a collared shirt and dress shoes, she wore heavy snow boots, moisture-wicking cargo pants, and a forest-green fleece sweatshirt with the Crimson Basin Recreational Park logo embroidered on the chest. She beamed, her cheeks pink and healthy, as she hugged me. These days, she was taller than I was. “Hi, Lucia. You look amazing. How’s L.A.?”
“Flawless,” I said. “The Parlour got nominated for another Emmy.”
“Congratulations! How’s your mom?”
“Thanks! She’s great. She’s about to finish her Masters in psychology. But today isn’t about me or my mother.” I steered her to the glass lookout and pointed at the crowd waiting for the resort to open. “It’s about you, Riley. Look at what you’ve built. I’m so proud of you.”
Riley smiled at the crowd, waving when the people below caught sight of her. “I couldn’t have done it without you, Lucia.”
Lourdes pointedly cleared her throat.
“Or without you, Lourdes,” Riley said, grinning. “Or Jazmin. Are you all ready for the grand opening ceremony?”
“I’m so ready,” I said.
“Great,” Riley said. “Because I want you to cut the ribbon. Lourdes?”
Lourdes scurried over to the front desk and revealed a massive pair of scissors. She handed them to me, then glanced over my outfit. “Is that what you’re wearing?”
“I just got off a plane, Calvo,” I said. “Cut me some slack.”
She ushered me toward the elevator. “You’ll have to change. Your suite is all ready for you. I got you a Crimson Basin fleece to match Riley’s. People love that kind of crap—”
“Hold on,” Riley called. “There’s something else.”
“What now?” Lourdes asked, exasperated.
Riley and Jazmin exchanged a loaded look.
“Oh, boy,” I said. “What are the two of you up to?”
Jazmin brushed her hair over one shoulder. “Well, we don’t just need you to cut the ribbon for the ceremony, Lucia. You see, Riley has a new friend.”
“A dead one,” Riley added.
I rolled my eyes. “Here we go again.”
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my story!
Writing has always been a passion of mine and it’s incredibly gratifying and rewarding whenever you give me an opportunity to let you escape from your everyday surroundings and entertain the world that is your imagination.
As an indie author, Amazon reviews can have a huge impact on my livelihood. So if you enjoyed the story please leave a review letting me and the rest of the digital world know. And if there was anything you found troubling, please email me. Your feedback helps improve my work, and allows me to continue writing stories that will promise to thrill and excite in the future. But be sure to exclude any spoilers.
I would love if you could take a second to leave a review: Click here to leave a review on Amazon!
Again, thank you so much for letting me into your world. I hope you enjoyed reading this story as much as I did writing it!
