Semi-Psychic Life (Glimmer Lake #2) - Elizabeth Hunter Page 0,59

tracks led to the left. The way was still pretty clear, and the road was wide enough for two vehicles to pass.

“Which way?” Sully asked.

Val looked around and saw the top of a large granite rock protruding into the sky. She pointed left. “That way.”

“Got it.”

“Watch for a horse-crossing sign in a couple of minutes,” she yelled over the engine. “You’re going to make a sharp left there and head into the forest. There might be a sign, but there might not be.”

“Okay!”

She kept her face to the left, keeping her eyes peeled for the sign. When she saw it, she tapped his shoulder and pointed.

Sully nodded without speaking and veered into the forest, following a trail that had already been cut through three feet of fresh snow. The ground beneath them was hard with packed snow and ice. It had been an average winter and the base layer was a couple of feet thick, but soft snow piled up a few feet under the trees.

Once they turned off the fire road, there was really only one trail to follow, a narrow, one-lane track that was enough for a couple of snowmobiles or a single vehicle. The forest was utterly quiet except for the churn of the engine beneath her and the wind whipping by.

Val tucked her face into Sully’s shoulder and held him tight around the waist. She felt him tense when the first flakes of snow started to fall.

Dammit.

“We’re almost there!” she said.

“Good.”

The first cabin she saw was a tidy cottage with a bright blue roof, completely boarded up for winter; it was clearly uninhabited. The small settlement was arranged in a loop that circled a stand of giant sequoia trees growing halfway up a rising hill. The oldest cabins were in the bottom of the hollow while newer cabins—and by newer, she meant seventy years old instead of a hundred—climbed up the hill.

“Keep going to the left.” Val pointed. “Look for a two-story with a green roof.”

“I’m just looking for smoke.”

“Good call.” Val looked up and saw three lines of wood smoke curling into the sky. “He’s got neighbors.”

The snowmobile slowed. “I can’t believe people winter over here.”

“I can’t believe your hat actually stayed on.”

He turned and winked at her. “It wouldn’t dare fall off. It knows it’s on duty.”

Val shook her head and tried to fight back a smile. “I don’t know anyone who would stay up here all winter. But a week now and then with the right supplies?” She shrugged. “It’d be all right.”

“Yeah.”

They skimmed over the snow as the trail curved around and Josh’s cabin came into Val’s sight. “There it is.”

Sure enough, a heavy plume of smoke curled from the stone chimney that rose over the green metal roof. The cabin was covered in redwood shingles and granite stone. A narrow porch wrapped around the entire structure and a pump house rose next to it, painted a deep brick red. The second story was narrow. If Val remembered correctly, there was a sleeping loft upstairs, and that was about it.

Heavy ropes ran between the front porch and the pump house, the outhouse and the shed, a precaution against storms and darkness.

When they parked the machine, she heard the heavy thunk of someone chopping wood behind the house.

Sully was looking at the sky. Flakes were falling faster and thicker. “We’re gonna get snowed on.”

“Did we bring a tarp?”

“It’s got a cover.” He still looked grim. “Can’t lie, Val. Was hoping this was going to be a quick trip to pick up your ex and I’d be in my bed by nighttime. This is not looking good.”

“I thought the same thing, but at least we’re not in the middle of nowhere.” She looked around. Clear signs of human activity marked many of the cabins despite the heavy snow. Snowshoes and skis hung outside under porches. Fresh woodpiles were abundant, and snowmobile tracks led to at least a third of the houses. “And we’re not alone up here.”

“Do any of these places have phone lines?”

“Unless something has changed, I don’t think so.”

“What a relic.” Sully unfurled the snowmobile cover, keeping one eye on the sky and the other scanning the area. “Josh Mason!” he yelled. “Owens County Sheriff’s Department!”

The sound of chopping wood stilled. “What’s that?”

Val heard Josh’s voice faintly from behind the house. “Josh, it’s Val and Sully.”

“Val?” The sound of fast footsteps and Josh appeared from behind the redwood-shingled cabin. He looked between Val and Sully with wide eyes, his breath puffing out