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Zaph stares at me. “Good luck with that.” He turns, moving toward the door. “I’m sorry for all of the trouble. Goodbye, Lucy.” He’s outside in seconds, leaving me confused, furious, and alone.
I follow him out, finding the parking lot empty of people. “Zaph?” I call across the snow. There’s nothing but cars in the brisk dawn light. “Seriously?”
Bob follows me out, looking high in the sky before peeing on the brick wall. “Dude, not on the building.” He huffs before returning inside.
I take a shower, but without any clean clothes to change into, it’s pointless. Bob and I head over to the ski resort to pick up a shift. Normally, I’d be off today because of being trapped on the mountain. But since I’m here, I need the money.
“Lucy? What are you doing here? I figured you’d be stuck on the mountain for at least a few days,” Michael, my boss for the past three years, announces as I walk in the front door.
“Yeah, I managed to get down before it got too bad.” I don’t explain. “Can I pick up a shift today?”
Michael smiles. “Actually, your timing is perfect. I’ve had two lift operators call in.”
“Perfect.” I return the smile. “Let me put my stuff in my locker.”
Bob follows me and barks at my boss. “Is that your dog?” he asks.
“Yeah, I couldn’t leave him up there. He can stay outside with me if that’s okay.”
For a brief moment, Michael looks annoyed, then his expression changes. “You know what? I don’t care. Just keep him out of the way of the chairs.”
“Bob will sleep all day. He’s lazy that way.”
“I feel you, Bob,” Michael announces.
The next few hours fly by. Because of the fresh snow, today proves to be one of the busiest of the year. I’ve lost count of how many people have gone up the mountain, and just as I expected, Bob has stayed by my side, either sleeping or receiving pets from strangers.
Hours pass before the line actually begins to shrink. Most of the tourists smile or greet me as they attempt to get in the chair, none different from the others. A man toward the end of the line who is at least a foot taller than the tallest person in line catches my attention. His hair is white blonde and shoulder length. Normally, I wouldn’t notice, but the fact that he’s wearing a short-sleeved shirt with no coat or hat makes him stand out.
The people near him seem to sense something about him. An abnormally large space surrounds him instead of the normally squished-together line. Every time I look up, his eyes are locked on me. As he moves closer, chill bumps rise on my skin, and anxiety fills me. Something’s off about the man. He doesn’t feel…human.
Bob picks up on my anxiety and leans against my leg. Every nerve in my body is on fire the closer he moves.
“Are you alright, miss?” an older woman asks as she attempts to climb into the chairlift. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
I make eye contact with the woman. “I’m good, thank you,” I instruct her how to load the chair as the man moves closer. But she’s right. I feel like I’m seeing a ghost. Turning, I look for Michael, hoping to let him know I’m taking a break. Bob and I are the only employees anywhere around. In fact, I haven’t seen anyone other than me for the past five hours.
“Shit,” I whisper as the man steps up to the next on-deck square. He’s wearing jeans and dress boots with no ski equipment anywhere around. Clearly, skiing isn’t his priority.
I focus my breathing, hoping not to show how anxious I am as he steps toward me. Bob, who has been minding his own business all day, growls. It’s something I’ve only heard him do one other time in his life.
The hair on the back of his neck is standing at attention, and his ears are pulled back. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear the dog who has never attacked anything in his life, was about to jump on this man.
“Easy there, puppy,” he says, moving closer. He steps on the mark for the chair and turns toward me. The moment he raises a hand and snaps, everything stops. The ski lift, the noise of the crowd, the snow that’s been relentlessly falling all day, everything. At my feet, Bob is frozen in time.
“Hello, Lucinda Williams.”
I stare at the stranger. “No one calls me Lucinda except for my grandmother and the IRS. You don’t look like my grandmother.”
He smiles, creeping me out. “Who I am isn’t important.” He raises his hand toward me, attempting to shake my hand or murder me. I’m not sure which. I move quickly, dodging his move. “I believe we have a mutual friend.”
“Ha. The joke’s on you. I don’t have any friends.”
“Tell Zaphriel I expect to hear from him soon.”
“Zaphriel?” I try to keep my face even. “Who’s that?”
“Don’t play dumb, my dear. It’s unflattering.” He looks me up and down, making goosebumps rise on my skin.
