Chapter 28
28
My one and only idea right now is to go find Julie—if there’s anyone who knows where Tyler might’ve gone, it’s her.
I call Chloe while I walk over to the main lodge.
“Hi again,” I say, keeping my voice as low as possible. There’s a small group of resort guests lingering just outside my building, no doubt hoping to get a glimpse of the True North guys—especially Jett Beckett.
When I’m sure I’m out of earshot, I fill Chloe in on Tyler and his note.
“So, what, shit gets real and he leaves?” she says, protective instincts kicking in hard.
Heat fills my cheeks. “I’d like to think he wouldn’t. Or, that he couldn’t—we’ve gotten so much snow, it has to be impossible to get in or out of the resort right now.”
The storm has lightened up considerably, but still, 30 percent of the Yeti is still comparable to a regular snow day in New York.
“You have to go find him,” Chloe declares.
“Yeah, that’s what I’m trying to do now. But I just don’t understand how he could’ve left our building without being spotted—can you look and see if there are any new photos?”
“I was made for this,” she says, and it’s true: if anyone knows how to find up-to-the-moment celebrity gossip, it’s Chloe.
I hear her tapping on her laptop keyboard.
“Hmm,” she says a moment later. “I’m seeing approximately two zillion reposts of Lauren’s photo. There’s also one of River and Sebastian leaving the building—that one’s starting to blow up, too.” She pauses, and I hear more tapping. “No new ones of Tyler yet, from what I can tell.”
It’s both unnerving and a relief that no one saw him leave the building. But where is he?
“Okay, I’m almost to the main lodge,” I say. “Text me immediately if you see anything else pop up, okay?”
“On it,” Chloe says. “Anything else I can do to help from here?”
“Unfortunately, I think that might be a full-time job as it is.”
“You’ve got this, Alix. Keep me posted, and I’ll do the same.”
The main lodge is cozy as ever, a beacon of warmth amid the thick snowbanks, aglow with lamplight and crackling flames in oversized fireplaces. I keep my head down, trying not to call attention to myself, and make a beeline for the concierge desk.
Someone I don’t recognize stands behind it, a thin man with a smile bigger than his whole face.
“Can I help you?” he greets me.
“I’m looking for Julie Wu. Any idea where I can find her?”
A look of relief floods his face. “Can I just tell you how refreshing it is to talk to someone who’s not asking about when the hot water will return? One guy demanded I turn the snowstorm off.” He makes a face. “Sorry, though, I haven’t seen Julie since first thing this morning. I think she’s hiding from the guests.”
“Ah, thanks anyway. And just to be clear, you can’t turn off the snowstorm?”
He laughs. “I’ll keep trying and let you know.”
I head back to the grand lobby. I think I remember how to find Julie’s place—I retrace my steps to the centermost elevator bank and take one all the way up to the top. As soon as I step out, I know I’m in the right spot—immediately confirmed by how I collide with Julie herself, her eyes glued to her phone.
“Aghh, I’m so sorry!” I say, and she looks up.
Her eyes brighten when she realizes it’s me. “Oh, hey, sorry about that—Riv told me about the tense moment you all had with Sebastian, and I was just texting him back. I tried calling Tyler, but he hasn’t picked up.”
That’s not a promising sign.
“He’s not answering his door, either. And, uh, he left me this note.”
I hand it over, watch as she reads, the concern on her face quickly shifting into a deep scowl.
“Yeah,” I say when she looks up, speechless. “I was coming to see if you know where he might have gone—he somehow got out of our building without anyone spotting him. I have no clue where to even start.”
Deep down, I think I was hoping he might be hiding out at Julie’s. Clearly, though, she’s just as much in the dark as I am.
She bites her lip, thinking. “It isn’t common knowledge,” she says, “but we’ve got an underground tunnel system connecting a few points of the resort for electricians and other maintenance workers to use—all the main buildings are on it, and so are the lifts. We used to get in trouble for playing down there as kids.”
“And there’s an access point from our building?”
Julie nods. “If you take the stairs all the way to the basement, there’s a way to get in from there.”
“I didn’t even know there was a basement,” I reply.
“None of it is marked,” she says, grinning. “As for where he went , though…”
“Think there’s any chance he’s just hiding out in the tunnel system?”
“Probably not? It’s not impossible—it’s just not the most comfortable place to hide out for a long time. I can check our security feeds, though, and I can also send some guards to do a sweep.”
Something pulls at my memory. “You said the ski lifts are also connected to the tunnel?”
This is where I go when I need to clear my head , I can hear Tyler saying the night he took me up to look at the stars. It’s too similar to what he wrote in his note to be a coincidence.
Julie’s eyes light up like she knows exactly what I’m getting at: that Tyler might have gone up to the mountaintop lookout.
“Can the gondolas even run in this weather?” I ask.
“They’re pretty tolerant of snow—it’s the wind that makes them dangerous.” She taps on her phone and pulls up her weather app. “We’re well under the wind threshold now that the worst of the storm has passed. They’d be fine.”
“Do they have power?”
“They’re connected to a dedicated generator that kicks in automatically,” Julie says. “If you want to go up and check, I can get someone to operate the lift for you.”
We exchange numbers so she can reach out—or so I can—if I’m wrong. As we wait for the elevator, she dashes off a text to whoever will be helping me.
The elevator chimes, and we step inside. It’s a long, slow ride to the bottom, both of us anxious and trying not to show it. When the elevator doors open again, we’re met with a riot of noise: every stir-crazy guest at this lodge has apparently made their way down to the lobby, and they’re all swarming the front door. There are so many smartphones obscuring my view that I can’t make out what—or who —they’re filming.
My stomach drops.
Is this it?
Is this the moment Tyler resurfaces, like it or not?
The sea of people parts and—sigh of relief—I see a flash of Sebastian Green and his tacky, tacky pants. Only Sebastian Green.
For all the years they were forced to share the spotlight, at least one of them still wants to bask in its warmth.
This will buy me some time, at least. It’s the perfect diversion: if this many resort guests are here in the lobby, hopefully that means there won’t be as many… wherever Tyler is.
Julie tells me to stay put, that the gondola lift guy should be here shortly. A few minutes later, I see a man in a Black Maple Lodge uniform approaching, a maintenance badge dangling from a tool belt at his hip.
He glances down at his phone. “Alix?”
“That’d be me,” I say.
He nods, then motions for me to follow him.
We make our way through the main lobby and push through the crowd of Sebastian fans (Sebastian himself is taking a selfie with one).
We’ve just left the building, trading the cozy warmth of the gigantic fireplaces for the frigid, snowcapped wonderland, when a text from Julie dips down from the top of my screen.
Checked the security vids—saw footage of T using the tunnel system, and he def took the branch that leads to the lifts. The lift operator found you?
Oh, excellent, thanks for the update! I write back. And yes, with him right now.
Though am I really “with” him if he’s three feet ahead of me and almost entirely silent?
It’s a miserably cold walk to the gondola station.
“All right,” he announces once we’re finally there and I’m clear to use the lift. He scribbles something on a hot-pink sticky note and hands it to me. “Here’s my number for when you’re ready to come back down again.”
I thank him and slip inside. The gondola doors close behind me, muting out the lingering sense of noise and chaos down at the resort.
He gives me a thumbs-up, and then I’m off.