by Tracey West
“Whoop!” agreed the snakes, and they curled up on top of the sand.
Mr. Burnish eyed their spotted scales. “Hmm, they would make a lovely belt.”
Dr. Zara gasped. “Mr. Burnish, they are one of a kind!”
“A one-of-a-kind whooping belt,” Mr. Burnish said with a laugh. “A belt that goes whoop! Do I want that? I don’t know.”
The doctor waved her hand, and the tech wheeled away the snakes. As they were leaving, one of the lab techs looked worriedly into the aquarium and said quietly to the other tech, “Wait, how many snakes were there supposed to be?”
“Why?” the second tech whispered back. A snake was missing!
“We promised the public a yeti, and nothing else will do! Nothing!” Mr. Burnish insisted, banging his fist on the table. “I don’t care if the yeti is dead or alive, I just need him!”
Dr. Zara’s face went white with horror.
“Your gerbil is freaking me out,” Mr. Burnish said.
“Jerboa!” she corrected him. “Duchess is an albino jerboa and she, too, is one of a kind. Sir, as a zoologist, it is my mission in life to make sure that all animals are protected, especially the rare and exotic ones. That is the only reason I agreed to find your yeti.”
“And you did!” Mr. Burnish replied. “For a few short days we had one. . . . But I cannot go to the unveiling empty-handed. I will not be made a laughing stock again. Not, not, not, not, NOT!”
The security captain returned.
“Uh, there’s news, Mr. Burnish,” he said.
“News about you leaving?” Mr. Burnish asked.
“A dock worker saw a creature and some kids boarding a cargo barge last night.”
Mr. Burnish’s eyes lit up. He pushed past the captain and faced Dr. Zara.
“You are the best in your field. Please help me get him back,” he pleaded.
Dr. Zara considered this, frowning. “Under one condition,” she said finally. “We bring the yeti back alive. You have to promise me he won’t be harmed.”
“Fine, fine, fine, fine, fine,” Mr. Burnish said dismissively, and Dr. Zara rolled her eyes. She would take him at his word—for now.
Yi, Peng, Jin, and Everest spent the night on the deck of the barge and managed to remain unseen by the crew as they slept amid cargo boxes. They woke up at sunrise as the barge made its way through the small islands scattered across Qiandao Lake in Zhejiang Province.
Jin stood by the rear railing, talking on his cell phone. “Yeah, Ma. Beijing is . . . great. And the dorms . . . the dorms are clean. Peng? Peng is, uh . . .”
He glanced over at his cousin, whose entire head was stuck in Everest’s mouth.
“Look at all of those teeth,” Peng marveled. Jin’s eyes were wide with horror, but he held it together.
“Uh . . . Peng’s fine,” Jin told his mother.
Yi motioned to Jin.
“Oh, and Yi came too,” Jin said, repeating the story they had worked out. “She’s checking out the university.”
Peng noticed a wood crate labeled SODA. “Soda? Oh yeah! Mom never lets me have any!”
He opened the crate and—JACKPOT!—it was filled with soda cans. Peng opened up a can and guzzled it down. Everest stared at him, intrigued.
Peng tossed him a can. “Catch!”
Everest bit into it. Foam sprayed into his nostrils, then his eyes lit up as the sugary liquid hit his tongue.
Yi walked over to a pile of coal and picked up a piece. “Hey Everest, come on over here,” she said. Everest obeyed, and she crouched down and began to draw on the deck of the barge using the coal.
Jin finished his call and strode over to Yi. “I cannot believe you made me lie to my mother!”
Yi ignored him, concentrating on her drawing. “Okay, Everest, look. First you go over the Yellow Mountain.”
She pointed to a mountain she had drawn, and then drew wavy lines next to it.
“Then to the Yangtze River,” she said, pointing to the lines. “And that river will take you most of the way to the Himalayas. And finally . . .”
She drew a mountain much larger than the others. “To Mount Everest. This is how you’re going to get home.”
“Whoa, wait,” Jin said. “Mount Everest? That has to be hundreds of miles away.”
Peng whizzed by, fueled by soda. “Actually, it’s thousands. Whoooo! I love soda!”
“I just hope he can make it all that way,” Yi said. She glanced at the yeti, whose tongue was stuck in the plastic six-pack rings from the soda. He jumped up and down, trying to get loose from it, erasing Yi’s map in the process.
“He, um . . . he seems capable,” Jin said.
As the sun rose higher in the sky, the barge reached the Qiandao docks, where hundreds of workers waited to unload its cargo.
Peng climbed to the top of the coal pile. “Look at all those people,” he remarked. He raised his voice. “Hello!”
“Get down!” Jin snapped, pulling him out of sight.
Yi glanced up at Everest. “Yeah, we should hide.”
“How?” Peng asked. “Once we dock, we’ll be seen.”
She glanced at the huge soda crate. “I think I have an idea. . . .”
They climbed in the crate and secured the top. They waited until they felt a crane lifting the crate, carrying them through the air. Then they felt the crate being set down.
“We’ll wait until everyone’s gone from the dock, and then we’ll climb out,” Yi instructed. “Everest can go on his way, and we’ll hop on the next boat back home.”
Suddenly, they felt the crate moving again—not up this time, but forward.
“Wait, why are we still moving?” Jin asked.
Yi peered through the slats. “Uh, cause we’re not on the dock anymore.”
“Wait, what?” Jin asked. He looked outside too, and saw the dock moving farther and farther away from them. They were on a truck, heading into the countryside!
“Noooooooooo!” Jin wailed.
It wasn’t the plan, but they couldn’t jump from the moving truck. So they waited to see where it would end up. Peng and Everest gulped down more sodas. Yi watched the scenery pass by, miles and miles of rolling hills and tree-lined meadows.
“You know, I have never been out of the city. Wow, I can’t believe how beautiful it is out here,” she remarked.
“I can’t believe I haven’t eaten in twenty-four hours,” Jin said, crankily. “I’m starving.” Then he took a selfie as he frowned sadly.
Peng put down his soda can and made a strange face. “Uh oh. Guys, I gotta go.”
“Just hold it,” Jin told him.
But then Everest whined and made the same face.
“Oh no. He’s got to go!” Yi said.
Jin pushed on one side of the crate. “Get me out of here!”
Yi knew they had to take a risk. Nobody wanted to find out what a crate full of yeti pee smelled like.
Yi pushed against the side of the crate with Jin. “Push! Push!”
The crate rocked back and forth. The truck slowed down to take a curve, and the crate tumbled off the truck bed and down into an embankment. It burst open, scattering its passengers—and soda cans—everywhere.
Peng and Everest jumped up and ran into a nearby thicket to relieve themselves.
“Gotta go, gotta go!” Peng wailed.
Yi rubbed her head, and Jin held up his cell phone, searching for a signal.
“Okay, come on, come on,” he said. He checked the screen. “One bar? Good enough.”
“Good enough for what?” Yi asked.
Jin walked into the thicket, typing on his screen. “Okay, look, the next boat leaves around five, so let’s hope that’s enough time to find our way back to the dock.”
He lowered his phone. “Peng, come on, we’re leaving. Peng?”
Jin and Yi entered a clearing and found Peng lying on his back, daydreaming.
“Yes, waiter. I’m ready to order. I’ll have some of NaiNai’s pork buns . . . w
ith extra pork . . . and a side of pork!”
“All right, get up, Peng,” Jin said. “We gotta go!”
Everest’s stomach growled. And then he began to hum.
“Why is he making that noise? Is he . . . humming?” Jin asked incredulously.
But Yi recognized the hum—it was the same sound Everest had made when she played her violin. “Shhh, Jin.”
Everest’s fur began to glow with blue light. Peng sat up. “What’s going on? Whoa!”
“What is happening?” Jin asked.
Suddenly . . . pop! A blueberry appeared on one of the bushes in the thicket.
Jin’s eyes widened. “Is that a . . .”
Yi got a closer look. “A blueberry!”
Everest continued to hum, and hundreds of blueberries popped up on the bushes all around them. Yi, Jin, and Peng stared in silence.
Everest stopped humming and ran over to a cluster of the berries and began to gorge on them.
“Food!” Peng cheered. He joined Everest, popping blueberries into his mouth. Even as he picked them, more kept growing!
“Guys, these are delicious,” Peng reported.
Jin leaned over to examine a blueberry that was growing to the size of a basketball.
“This doesn’t make any sense,” he said.
Pop! The blueberry exploded, splashing juice all over Jin’s face and clothes. Yi, Peng, and Everest laughed.
“It’s not funny!” Jin cried. He pointed to his sweater. “This is cashmere!”
“Uh, Jin . . .” Yi pointed behind him. He turned to see more berries growing to the size of beach balls. They looked like they were reaching a breaking point.
“Oh,” Jin said.
“Everest, do something!” Yi pleaded.
Everest turned and ran as fast as he could, hollering at the top of his lungs.
“Ruuuuuuuuun!” Yi yelled.
They all bolted as the blueberries launched at them from all sides.
“Incoming!” she cried.
One of the blueberries exploded on Peng. Blueberry juice splattered on everyone.
“I’m hit!” he cried, and he fell to the ground. He laughed. “Tell NaiNai’s pork buns I love them,” he joked.
Everest scooped Peng off the ground and ran away from the thicket, with Yi and Jin behind him. They made it out of the woods just as . . . boom!
A blue mushroom cloud shot into the sky.
Chapter Six
Just a Kid
Covered in blueberry juice, Yi, Jin, Peng, and Everest spent the rest of the day moving in the direction of Mount Everest. They stayed off the main road and forged a path through the woods, where the yeti wouldn’t be seen.
“Hey Jin, did you get enough to eat?” Peng teased as they walked.
Jin turned toward his cousin, and a giant blueberry slid off his face. “Let’s just say I’ve got blueberries in places where blueberries should never be.”
Peng laughed and ran toward the yeti. “Come on, Everest!”
Everest stopped and formed his arms into a hoop, as Peng had taught him to do along the walk. Peng held up a basketball-size blueberry.
“Okay, watch and learn. Bank shot!” He lobbed the blueberry at Everest. It smacked into the yeti’s head, ricocheted off, then exploded in Peng’s face. Everest burst into laughter.
They had reached a clearing on a grassy knoll, next to a bubbling brook. Yi set down her backpack.
“I’m exhausted,” she said.
“What? Why are you stopping?” Jin asked.
“Because in about five minutes we won’t be able to see our hands in front of our faces,” she told him. “We need to make camp.”
“No, that is exactly why we need to keep moving,” Jin countered. “Come on, we need to get back to that dock.”
Jin turned back to the trail—and saw a dozen pairs of yellow eyes in the distance peering at him from the darkness. A lone wolf howl echoed through the trees. Jin quickly turned around and returned to the others.
“. . . first thing in the morning,” he said.
“Yes!” Peng cheered.
They washed off in the brook and settled in for the night. Jin made a bed out of leaves and carefully lay down on it. A mosquito landed on his neck and he swatted it away.
Yi fluffed up her backpack to use as a pillow. She stretched out on the green grass, rested her head, and stared up at the sky.
“There are so many,” she said.
“Bugs?” Jin asked.
“Stars,” Yi replied.
Jin slapped at another mosquito. “How come they’re only swarming me?” he wondered.
“Maybe they’re ladybugs,” Yi teased.
Jin scowled. “Not funny.”
Peng followed Yi’s gaze. “My mom told me that the stars are our ancestors who always watch over us.”
Yi smiled. “My mom says that too.”
Suddenly, Peng ran up and snatched the backpack from under Yi’s head.
“Peng!” Yi shouted.
Peng put the backpack on his head. The placement of the buttons looked a bit like Everest’s eyes.
“Roooooar!” Peng stomped around the clearing, pretending to be a yeti.
Jin shook his cell phone. “No, no, no, no, no! Great! No reception. I’m entirely cut off from my social life.”
Yi rolled her eyes. “How traumatic.”
“Yeah, Yi, it is!” Jin shot back. “Because unlike you, I like having friends. I’m not some kind of a . . .”
“Loner?” Yi finished for him. “Is that what you were going to say? Well, for your info I’m a self-proclaimed loner. There’s a difference, okay?”
“Fine, because in the morning, Peng and I are heading back to the city,” Jin said. He looked at her questioningly. Would she go with them?
“I can’t leave him,” Yi said. “You’ve seen what he can do. He’s amazing. He’s . . . magical.”
“Oh, so now he’s a magical yeti?” Jin asked. “Do you realize how crazy you sound?”
“Look what happened with the blueberries,” Yi pointed out.
“That wasn’t him,” Jin argued. “That was a natural phenomenon . . . just one that I can’t explain yet.”
Peng and Everest were playing a new game. Peng pressed his thumb against Everest’s massive one.
“One, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war,” Peng chanted. “Go!”
Peng didn’t stand a chance. Everest pinned down his tiny thumb with one swift move, laughing.
“Hey, you cheated!” Peng protested.
He lightly punched Everest on the arm. Everest punched back. Peng punched harder. Everest punched harder—and Peng went flying.
“Aaaaahhhhhhhh!”
Peng jumped back to his feet and charged Everest, tackling him. The two of them rolled around on the ground.
“Take that!” Peng cried.
“Will you two please just give it a rest?” Jin called out, and then he shook his head. “Oh my gosh, I’m starting to sound like my parents!”
Yi sat up. “That’s it! That’s why they get along so well. Everest is just a kid. He’s probably, like, the same age as Peng. Like, nine years old in yeti years!”
As they talked, Peng was using Everest’s own paw to slap his face. “Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself!” Peng chanted.
“There’s no way that giant thing is a kid,” Jin argued.
“Wait, I’ll prove it to you,” Yi said. She picked up some rocks from the ground. “Everest, come over here!”
The yeti let go of Peng and came over to Yi. She held up a small rock next to Everest’s chest and pointed to him.
“This is you,” she said, and then she put the rock down on the ground. Then she placed two bigger rocks right behind the little rock while the yeti watched intently. “These are your parents.”
“Aw, you have your mother’s eyes,” Peng told Everest.
The yeti picked up the two big rocks and held them against his chest. Yi saw tears begin to form in his
eyes. Yi touched his arm.
“Don’t worry. I will make sure you get home,” she promised him.
“What are you going to do?” Jin asked. “Take him all the way back to Mount Everest?”
“Maybe I am, Jin,” Yi replied. “He needs to get back to his family.”
“What about your family?” Jin countered. “Don’t they need you too? Always busy, never home. What’s that all about, Yi?”
Yi’s cheeks turned red with anger. “Don’t talk to me about family. You have no idea. NO idea. Your life is sooooo easy, Jin! Do you even want to be a doctor, or do you just think you’ll look good in a white lab coat?”
Loud snores interrupted their argument. They looked to see Peng leaning against Everest’s furry body. Both of them were fast asleep.
“I don’t care if you think I’m crazy,” Yi said. She lay back down on the grass, with her back to Jin this time. Jin lay down on his pile of leaves and turned his back to her, too.
Clutching her violin, Yi tried her best to fall asleep.
She—and Everest—had a long journey ahead, with or without Jin’s help.
Chapter Seven
Over the Yellow Mountain
Exhausted, Yi fell into a deep sleep. The morning sun woke her up. Everest was already awake, but Jin and Peng were both snoring peacefully, so she picked up her violin, and she and Everest walked away from the camp. She sat on a rock near the brook and played a melody to Everest and the rising sun.
Eyes closed, lost in the music, she played until she heard a twig snap nearby. Her eyes flew open to see Peng and Jin watching her.
“Wait, don’t stop,” Peng said. “It’s really good.”
Yi quickly put the violin back in its case.
Peng pressed her. “Your NaiNai said you stopped playing since your dad died.”
“Peng!” Jin interrupted him.
“It’s okay, Jin, really,” Yi replied. Peng was just a kid. She knew he wasn’t trying to make her feel bad.
“Was this your dad’s violin?” Peng asked, touching the case.
Yi nodded. “Mm-hmm.”
“You know, I really liked your dad,” the boy said sincerely.
“Thanks, Peng,” Yi said with an awkward smile.
Jin stepped between them and held up his phone. “Well, we’d better head out if we’re going to make it to the Yangtze River.”