Free It's All Downhill from Here by P.J. Night

don’t know,” Maggie grumbled. “I have a—”
    â€œI know, a bad feeling about this. Just sit down for a few minutes. Staring out the window isn’t going to make him appear.”
    Maggie fell into a chair and picked up the magazineshe had been reading. About ten seconds passed before she dropped the magazine onto the table, got up, and looked out the window again.
    Still no sign of Simon.
    Returning to her chair, Maggie had barely sat down and picked up the magazine when she popped back up. This time when she looked out the window, she saw that the snow had taken on a blue tinge as the last rays of sunlight vanished behind the mountain.
    â€œSomething’s wrong,” she said. “I know it.”
    â€œWhat should we do?” Sophie asked.
    â€œI don’t know. My parents are due back any moment, and if Simon isn’t here when they get home, he’s going to be in big trouble. We have to go find him, Soph.”
    Maggie slid on her snow boots and slipped into her down jacket.
    â€œWell, I’m not going to let you go out there alone,” Sophie said as she began to bundle herself up.
    Maggie grabbed two flashlights and threw them into a backpack. The two stepped out into the cold indigo twilight and trudged off in the direction they had seen Simon go earlier. They soon reached the base of the mountain and began the arduous climb to the top.
    Snow crept in over the tops of Maggie’s boots, and she felt her toes get cold and wet. The climb grew more difficult with each step. The air got colder and the light faded.
    â€œSimon!” Maggie shouted in a strained voice. Her breath was visible in the frosty air.
    â€œSimon!” Sophie joined in, yelling at the top of her lungs.
    The only answer they received was the hollow echo of their own voices bouncing off the mountain.
    â€œSimon!” Maggie shouted again. This time she got an answer, but not the one she was hoping for.
    A-OOOOOOOO! came a fierce howling that sliced through the still, late-afternoon air.
    â€œWhat is that? What is that?” Maggie cried, panic flooding her entire being.
    â€œCoyotes,” Sophie replied in a surprisingly calm voice.
    â€œCoyotes!” Maggie screamed. “What are they doing here?”
    â€œThey live here.”
    â€œHow do you know what a coyote sounds like? You’ve lived in the suburbs your whole life, just like me.”
    â€œMy uncle has a cabin in the woods a couple hours north of here, remember?” Sophie explained.
    â€œOh yeah. I forgot about that,” Maggie replied.
    A-OOOOOOOO! The howling came again, louder this time.
    â€œAnd we spent a week up there last summer. The main entertainment was sitting on the front porch at night, listening to the coyotes howl,” Sophie said.
    A-OOOOOOOO!
    â€œSimon! Where are you?” Maggie shrieked, doing her best to continue forcing one foot in front of the other as she made her way up the mountain.
    The light was almost gone. Maggie and Sophie were having trouble seeing where they were going.
    â€œTurn on the flashlights,” Maggie said.
    Snow started falling.
    â€œGreat,” Sophie groaned as her light blazed on. Thick snowflakes shimmered in the beam, picking up in intensity with each strenuous step they took.
    â€œIt’s really dark,” Sophie said, whipping her flashlight back and forth. It sliced through the falling snow, illuminating only the fact that being able to see was growing more difficult by the second.
    â€œAre we lost?” Sophie asked, sounding scared for the first time. “What if we get lost in the dark and freeze todeath in the snow? What if we fall and break our legs and the coyotes come and—”
    â€œSoph! Stop! Look. We’re just about at the top of the mountain. Come on!”
    Tapping into some unknown reserve of energy, Maggie picked up her pace, pushing on. A few minutes later, she paused near the top of the