Free Chilled by Death by Dale Mayer Page B

hidden gem of perception. A head…mostly a profile, hidden in the crags above her. Her heart pounded with the excitement of discovery. She studied it for a long moment, trying to mark the spots that defined the nose and eyebrow, the chin so she could find them again from the other side of her viewfinder. The longer she looked, the more intense the spark grew. This was truly special.
    She removed her backpack and dove in, searching for her camera. Her hand closed around it and she sighed with relief. She’d been sure it was in here but in the joy of the moment, there was that fear that she’d somehow forgotten it or worse – lost it. She pulled it out, pulled off the cap, and lifted it all in one movement. The sun was changing. She needed to grab as many shots as she could.
    She peered at the ice wall. Where was it? She studied the area looking for the markers she’d set in her mind. Where? She took several shots anyway, knowing that just because her mind might not have seen it right now didn’t mean she wouldn’t be able to find the image markers later when she had prints of the pictures.
    There.
    She caught sight of the tip of the nose. From that point, she looked back to find the eyebrows and the jaw. Beautiful. Like seriously beautiful. She started clicking, trying to catch it in its entire splendor. As the light changed, she saw several long waving columns of frozen ice rolling down the cliff like locks of curly hair. Mesmerized, she quickly became lost in her panic to get her shots before the light changed again.
    Click.
    Click, click.
    There. She shifted. Click. Click. Click. She could hardly breathe for fear of missing something. As the sun shifted, the rays brought yet another image into focus. Oh God. Stunning.
    “So beautiful,” she murmured. The icy beauty locked into the mountain was something she’d never seen before. Ice maiden, she’d instinctively called her. Frozen in time. So appropriate given her friends’ snowy graves here. Maybe she’d do this series as a memorial. What a wonderful way to say goodbye.
    Potential titles for the series just rolled off her lips as the camera never stopped. She walked closer and then stepped to the right. More shots from the left. At one, she swore the sun had picked up a tear on the woman’s frozen features. A big fat dewdrop-shaped ice ball hung delicately on her cheek. “So gorgeous.”
    “What is?” Royce asked quietly behind her.
    She gasped in shock. Lost in her world, she hadn’t heard anyone else approach.
    He reached out an arm to steady her, for the first time making her aware of her body, now cold and tired. She was swaying on her feet.
    “I think it’s time you came back to the cabin,” he said in a harsh voice.
    She frowned and then glanced up at the frozen waterfall to see the clouds had moved in. Her frozen lady was barely visible. Now there was a gloomy sinister look to her.
    And just as powerful. She lifted her camera, lost once again.
    “That’s enough, Stacy.” He reached out and grabbed her elbow, forcing her to turn around. Dragging her gaze to his face, she looked back at the waterfall and realized her frozen lady was asleep once again.
    She turned to look down at her pack. Only it wasn’t there. Her pack was somehow hundreds of yards away from where he found her. Surprised at the distance, she turned to study the path she’d taken in her need to capture her frozen lady and realized she’d indeed walked that far away on her own. The path was churned up from the effects of the warming sun and her movements, the twisting, crouching, positions she’d used to take her shots.
    Bizarre.
    As she put her camera away, a sense of having touched something special filtered through her. If she’d caught what she’d hoped to catch, this could be her best series ever. They were simple yet stunning. At least she hoped they were. The sky darkened even more. She stood up and motioned to the cloud cover. “I thought the weather was supposed