takes over, and we start doing incredible action stuff. Itâs the way we are.
âHe almost killed Noodle!â she added.
Well, yeah, thatâs true, too. I looked down at the black ski marks across my jeans and the ice cream smear on my jacket.
But when you love danger as much as Zeek and I do, nearly getting killed is all part of itâpart of being an official Danger Guy.
âZeek-eek-eek! Pilinsky-insky!â he yelled across the lawn. âGold-old medal-edal-edal!â
Thatâs Zeekie. Amazing sports guy.
I scraped myself off the doorstep, picked up my stuff, and limped over to him.
He pulled up his bug-face ski mask. âYaaaah!â he shouted, like a crowd cheering.
I finished what was left of my ice cream bar and folded the foil wrapper into a circle. I gave it to him. âGold medal,â I said. âHappy birthday.â
âThanks, Nood.â He smiled big and popped it into the pocket of his Danger Guy jacket.
âCheck out what my mom and dad got me,â he said. âArenât these skis cool? And this mask?â He pulled the green mask over his face, flexed his arms, and posed like somebody from a comic book. âI look like a superhero, donât I?â
âYeah,â I said, âBug Boy.â I laughed.
Zeek pushed the mask up to his forehead again, looked straight at me, and made a face.
Thatâs another thing about Zeek. His faces crack me up. He can do this tiny smile that no one else can see. He does it in class a lot when our teacher, Mr. Strunk, isnât looking. Itâs like a secret code.
He was doing one of those smiles now.
Then he pointed up over the trees at the big purple-and-white mountain in the distance. âLook, Noodle. Snow. Lots of it. Thatâs where my birthday ski party is going to be. My parents tried to keep it a surprise, but I figured it out.â
âOf course you did,â I said. âYou canât surprise Danger Guys. Weâre ready for anything.â
âYeah,â he said. âWe save the surprises for bad guys!â
Zeek nodded at the skis under my arm. âAre you planning to build something, Noodle?â
I looked down at the chipped, brown boards I was holding. âThese were my dadâs skis when he was a kid,â I explained.
âYour dad is that old? They look like scrap lumber! And those boots have laces ! Wow, are those, like, the first ski boots ever made?â
âSkiing is a very ancient sport,â I said. âRemember what Mr. Vazny used to say?â
Zeek froze. â Mr. Vazny! You mean our old science teacher? Before he sneezed his brain loose and tried to blow up our school?â
I nodded. âHe said that people have been skiing since prehistoric times.â
I shivered, remembering how we found our teacherâs secret laboratory under Mayville School and how he made us call him Dr. Morbius. When he tried to blow up the school, Zeek and I had to fly all over the galaxy in a rocket to stop him.
âThe Sneezemeister!â Zeek whispered. âIâll never forget his face.â
Yeah. Wispy hair. Evil grin. Drippy nose. Mr. Vaznyâs sneezes were like nuclear explosions!
âHe sure did have a sinus problem,â I said. âNow whenever anybody sneezes, I break into a sweat.â
âMe too,â said Zeek. âI even scare myself when I get a runny nose!â
I shivered again. âGood thing the army locked him up.â
âI hope they threw away the key.â
Beep-beep! Zeekâs dad pulled their minivan out of the garage. We ran over and helped to pack up.
Two hours later, we tumbled out of the van in front of a giant log cabin. Zeekâs mom, dad, and sister, Emily, went inside to set up for the party.
I stayed outside with Zeek. There was a plaque on the front of the building. ââMine Mountain Lodge,ââ I read. âCool! It says this mountain used to be the site of an old