by Alex Bell
Shay reached up to scratch Margaret behind her ear. “Anyone can be dangerous, given the right circumstances,” he said. “Sometimes ordinary people are the most dangerous of all. Besides, people are always scared of what they don’t understand. Why do you think we had to leave our village in the end? There was trouble with the wild wolves there and—because I could talk to them—some of the villagers thought I must have had something to do with the wolves attacking the village, that perhaps I was encouraging them to do it. I never did, of course—why on earth would I—but sometimes people can get so worked up and afraid that they just won’t listen to reason. Don’t let them get to you, Sparky.” He reached out and pulled Stella into a tight hug, and she felt herself relax as she breathed in his familiar scent of wolves and earth and leather.
She felt grateful to Shay for believing in her more than she’d been able to believe in herself recently. They both jumped when the sound of a brass gong being rung broke through the frozen air. They turned and saw Gideon under an awning, the picnic laid out by his feet. “Dinner is served,” he announced, striking the gong a second time.
They wandered over to join the others. Beneath the canopy roof, several wooden monkeys held fire-pixie lamps that glowed softly and gave off quite a lot of warmth as well. There was a fantastic spread laid out on the green-and-white-checked cloth. The plates and teacups were all stamped with the Jungle Cat Explorers’ Club crest, and Gideon had finally succeeded in folding the napkins into hippos. Just the sight of the food was enough to make Stella’s stomach rumble. There were great piles of crumbly scones, shiny fairy jellies, tiny sandwiches, sausage rolls, Scotch eggs, and most delightfully of all, little cakes perfectly shaped like elephants, right down to their white sugar tusks.
“This looks wonderful!” Stella exclaimed.
“Aren’t you awful people going to change for dinner?” Gideon demanded.
For the first time, Stella noticed that the Jungle Cat explorer had changed into a green velvet waistcoat with a fancy brocade trim and silver buttons stamped with his explorers’ club crest. He seemed very pleased with himself and kept checking his appearance in the glass of one of the nearby lanterns.
“We didn’t bring any fancy clothes,” Beanie said. “They’re not exactly practical for an expedition.”
“Even the jungle fairies have made an effort.” Gideon gestured toward them, and the others saw that they had, indeed, all put on bow ties and even had one rather bent and battered top hat, which they kept swapping between them.
Stella turned to the fairies and said, “You all look lovely.”
“Hermina!” Gideon exclaimed. “Get out of that teacup!”
The jungle fairy was reclining, quite majestically, in one of the teacups, but got out with some grumbling when Gideon shooed her away. The four jungle fairies settled cross-legged in a line at the edge of the picnic blanket instead. They’d obtained little wooden plates from somewhere and held these up to Gideon hopefully.
But the explorer shook his head and said, “You know the rules. You can only join the picnic if you bring an offering.”
The fairies put down their wooden plates with a clatter and fluttered off somewhere as the explorers settled themselves on the cushions. Stella put an elephant cake on her plate but thought it was so marvelous that she could hardly bear to eat it.
“Why do you lot want to go to Witch Mountain anyway?” Gideon asked. “It’s a bit extreme, even for the Polar Bear Explorers’ Club.”
“My father is witch hunting there,” Stella said. “We’re going to help him.”
“Oh dear. I was afraid it was going to be something like that.”
The jungle fairies returned just then, carrying a plate between them. They set this down on the picnic blanket, and Stella saw that it was piled high with what appeared to be piranha cupcakes. They had pointed sugar teeth and dark-chocolate fins.
“Goodness!” she said, peering at them. “How extraordinary.”
“I don’t know where they’re hiding that stash,” Gideon grumbled. “I’ve been all over the ship, and I can’t find it anywhere. All right, sit down,” he said to the fairies, who were holding their plates up expectantly. The Jungle Cat explorer put some food on each of them, and the jungle fairies fell upon it happily.
They ate quietly, everyone busy with their own thoughts. As they were finishing, Mustafah marched right up to Stella and held out a cupcake decorated with a flower.
“Oh, goodness,” Stella exclaimed. “Thank you very much! How lovely!”
The jungle fairy bowed once before flying back to join the others, who all blew noisy kisses at Stella.
“Traitors,” Gideon muttered.
Stella ignored him and blew a kiss back to the fairies.
“Jungle punch?” Gideon asked, suddenly brandishing a large jug of fizzy orange liquid. Stella saw that hippo-shaped ice cubes floated on top, as well as one particularly large ice cube in the shape of an expedition boat. There were even little ice explorers standing on its deck, poised with their binoculars.
“Is that the same thing as tiger punch?” Beanie asked, peering at it suspiciously. “Because if it will make you go bonkers, then I’d rather not.”
“It isn’t the same thing,” Gideon snapped. “Nothing in this picnic will make you go any more bonkers than you already are.” He paused, then added, “Except, possibly, Captain Greystoke’s Expedition-Flavor Smoked Caviar.” He pointed at a little bowl of black stuff in the middle of the spread. “If you eat too much of that it can make you go a bit crazy.”
Gideon proceeded to place a paper umbrella decorated with monkeys and bananas into each of their teacups. The jungle fairies had produced thimble-size wooden kegs of their own, and Mustafah held his up to Gideon hopefully.
“No!” Gideon snapped. “There isn’t enough punch for you. You know the rules. Guests come first.”
“I don’t want any of that horrible stuff,” Ethan said, wrinkling his nose at it. “The fairies can have my share.”
“But you must all try the jungle punch,” Gideon whined.
“You drink it if you love it so much,” Ethan replied, narrowing his eyes at the Jungle Cat boy. “Why are you so desperate for us to have it, anyway?”
“I’m not,” Gideon said quickly. “Just trying to be hospitable, that’s all. Although why anyone would bother trying to be hospitable to members of the Polar Bear Explorers’ Club, I have no idea.”
“Don’t call me a member of the Polar Bear Explorers’ Club!” Ethan sniffed. “I’m from the Ocean Squid Explorers’ Club, which is easily the best one of the bunch. In fact, it’s superior to the rest of your clubs in every possible way.”
While the explorers were squabbling about clubs, the jungle fairies had produced a tiny ladder from somewhere and set this against the side of the punch jug. Mustafah had climbed to the top and dunked one of the wooden goblets in, filling it to the brim before passing it back down to Hermina, who greedily knocked it back in one gulp.
Suddenly noticing them, Gideon gave a cry of dismay and threw out a hand to shove Mustafah off the ladder. Unfortunately, he used a bit too much force and ended up knocking the entire jug over. The orange liquid fizzed out over the picnic blanket, soaking Mustafah in the process.
“Now look what you’ve done!” Gideon exclaimed. “You blasted things!”
He raised his arm, and for an awful moment Stella thought he was actually going to hit one of the little fairies. But Shay immediately grabbed his wrist and said, “If it’s a fight you’re looking for, how about picking on someone your own size?”
Gideon glared at Shay, who gazed back at him quite calmly. His shadow wolf, Koa, had appeared beside him, and she clearly didn’t seem to think much of the Jungle Cat explorer either, for she bared her teeth in a way that was pretty menacing, despite the fact that she had no physical substance. Gideon snatched his arm away hastily.
Mustafah picked himself up, dripping wet, and limped to the edge of the picnic blanket l
ooking rather bedraggled and sorry for himself.
“Oh dear, did you hurt yourself when you fell off the ladder?” Stella asked, noticing his limp. “Beanie, come here. I think this fairy is injured.”
Not only was Beanie studying to be a medic, but he also had some healing magic thanks to his elf heritage. He came straight over and explained to Mustafah that he could make his leg feel better if he liked. The fairy stuck it out, and Beanie lifted his hand, holding it inches away. A soft green light glittered out from Beanie’s fingertips, surrounding the fairy for a moment.
“There you go,” Beanie said. “You should feel much better now.”
The fairy carefully tested his leg and then, clearly delighted with the results, went running, stamping, and dancing off to rejoin the others. As the explorers cleared away the remains of the picnic, Beanie noticed that all four of the jungle fairies were practicing their headstands.
Gideon showed them where the hammocks and blankets were, and the four explorers strung theirs up under the awning, alongside Gideon’s. It was not an ideal arrangement, and Stella found herself suddenly longing for her bed at home. The frosted deck of the dirigible was not a hospitable place, and it was impossible to feel excited about the upcoming expedition when she had so much worry building up about Felix. Besides which, they weren’t on an expedition this time, but a rescue mission, straight to a place they knew to be dangerous. It did not feel exciting like it had before. It just felt scary in a hundred different ways.
To distract herself, Stella beckoned the jungle fairies over and helped them tie their hammocks alongside hers. There was a brief squabble between Hermina and Buster when the T. rex tried to steal her hammock, so Stella had to fashion the dinosaur a little hammock of his own from one of her handkerchiefs. Finally, everyone was quiet and settled and ready to sleep.
The fleecy blankets were actually fairly warm, and the hammock was extremely comfortable. Stella liked the slight rocking motion it made—and the soft creak of the ropes, combined with the rumbling snores from the jungle fairies, made a soothing background noise as the dirigible sailed on through the still, cold night.
She glanced over at Gideon, who had changed into a very fancy dressing gown and nightcap ensemble and was all tucked up in his hammock with his back to the rest of them. It was extremely bad luck that the Jungle Cat boy had happened to be on board. His presence made her uneasy. He clearly was not on their side, and she worried that he might sabotage them the first chance he got.
“Sparky,” Shay whispered from the hammock next to her. Stella turned to look at him, and the wolf whisperer raised an eyebrow. “I’m just thinking that maybe we should take it in turns staying awake to keep an eye on old Jungle Cat over there.” He nodded toward Gideon. “He’s likely to sabotage us the first chance he gets, I think.”
Stella sighed. “I was just thinking the same thing,” she whispered back. “We could do with some kind of guard to keep an eye on him. …”
As she spoke, a crackle of blue sparks leapt from her fingertips, just like they had back home when the snow unicorn had appeared. The sparks showered down to the carpet of frost beneath their hammocks, and Shay and Stella both looked down.
Before their eyes, a shape started to fashion itself out of snow. First it was just a lump. Then it developed chunky legs, arms, and finally, a head. The snow ruffled itself into the shaggy outline of fur that covered the thing from head to toe. Sharp canines extended over the creature’s lips, and claws formed on its hands. It was, unmistakably, a yeti. A miniature yeti made entirely from snow. Whereas real yetis reached the towering height of sixty feet or more, this one would have come up to Stella’s waist had she stood beside it.
“Did you just do that?” Shay asked, staring.
“I … I’m not sure,” she replied.
The yeti blinked up at her, then slowly bent forward at the waist in what was very definitely a bow. It straightened and began walking up and down at the end of the hammocks, its big feet crunching on the frost.
“He’s going to keep watch for us, I think,” Stella said.
“Stella, how did you do that?” Shay asked. “I thought you could only do ice magic if you had your tiara on.”
“I don’t know,” she replied. “Something like this happened at home. I was just thinking that it would be cool if there was a snow unicorn there and all of a sudden one appeared.”
“Did you get that cold feeling?” Shay asked. “Like when you use the tiara?”
“No.” Stella shook her head. “Actually, I didn’t. Maybe it’s because snow magic is softer than ice magic? It certainly feels that way if … if that’s what this is.”
“Perhaps.” Shay looked toward the little yeti sentry. “I guess there’s a lot about snow queens and ice princesses we still don’t really understand.”
They left the yeti to his guarding and settled down in their hammocks. They’d need all their wits about them once they reached Witch Mountain, and a good night’s sleep would definitely help.
“I’m coming, Felix,” Stella whispered under her breath. “I’m coming to help, whether you like it or not.”
* * *
Stella hadn’t been asleep for very long when she was woken by the sounds of roaring. She jerked upright and saw that her yeti was responsible for the noise, standing at the end of her hammock and bellowing into the frozen night. The next moment Ethan scrambled from his hammock and charged over to the big navigational wheel where Gideon was standing. Ethan shouted something, and the two of them fell on each other. Stella jumped from her hammock and ran across the cold boards toward them. Shay arrived at the same time and pulled Ethan away from the Jungle Cat explorer.
“What the heck are you two scrapping about?” he asked. “Can’t a chap get any sleep around here?”
“He’s turned the dirigible around!” Ethan said, pointing a finger at Gideon. “I knew he was up to something. I just knew it! If that snow creature over there hadn’t woken me up, he probably would have gotten away with it.” Ethan gestured back toward where the snow yeti had been, but it had melted away.
“I made him,” Stella said. “To be on guard.”
Gideon turned visibly pale at this. “Snow magic.” He groaned. “Father was right.”
“Quiet!” Ethan snapped. He turned to the others and said, “That fairy who drank the jungle punch is out for the count, and do you know why? The punch was drugged. I’ll bet my life on it! That’s why he was so eager for us all to drink it.”
“So what if it was?” Gideon gasped. “I can’t go to Witch Mountain! It’s crawling with witches! I’ll be turned into a toadstool and boiled in some kind of awful soup for sure!”
Beanie clattered up to them, wearing his favorite pom-pom hat and looking confused. “What’s that about soup? What’s going on? Why is everyone shouting?”
“He’s turned the dirigible around,” Ethan said again. “We’re sailing in the opposite direction to Witch Mountain.” He shook off Shay’s restraining hand and marched over to the wheel, spinning it so hard that the dirigible lurched sharply to the left and everyone staggered to stay upright. Stella distinctly heard a cascade of smashing teacups down below.
“You villains!” Gideon panted. “You’ll pay for this, I promise you! My father will—”
Ethan threw out his hand, there was a flash of light, and the next second Gideon had vanished. In his place appeared a small spotted purple frog with bulging hazel eyes. Beanie immediately sneezed. He was, unfortunately, extremely allergic to frogs.
“Good heavens!” Stella gasped. “Did you mean to do that?”
Ethan drew himself up to his full height. “Certainly.”
“You probably shouldn’t have, you know,” Shay said, scratching the back of his neck. “He’s only going to be even more peeved with us all now.”
“I don’t care how peeved he is!” Ethan exclaimed. “I’m feeling pretty peeved myself!”
The frog blinked once and then began hopping around the deck
, croaking loudly in a panic-stricken sort of way.
“Oh, settle down!” Ethan said. “There are far worse things I could have turned you into, believe me.”
He reached down, scooped up the frog, and tried to shove him into his cloak pocket. It was a bit of a challenge, given that the frog seemed to be all legs that thrashed about most determinedly, but Ethan finally succeeded in wrestling him into the pocket, then firmly zipped it up.
“Oh dear,” Stella said, staring at the wriggling frog-shaped lump. “Is he going to be all right in there?”
“He’ll be fine,” Ethan snapped. “At least this way we can all get some sleep without worrying that we’ll wake up to find ourselves parked outside the Jungle Cat Explorers’ Club tomorrow morning.”
He turned and strode off across the deck. Shay shook his head. “He really does need to work on controlling his temper,” he said. “I’ve honestly never met such an uppity prawn in all my life.”
Beanie shrugged. “At least that was a wonky squish-squish frog he turned him into—they can smoosh up really small without being hurt, so he should be okay spending the night in Ethan’s pocket.”
Shay shuddered. “What a proposition,” he said. “But it does kind of serve him right, I suppose.”
The explorers returned to their hammocks, and Stella saw that Ethan had been quite right about the jungle fairy. Buster had knocked Hermina out of her hammock and onto the floor, and the fairy hadn’t so much as woken up. Stella carefully picked her up, placed her in Buster’s hammock, and tucked her in with a handkerchief before climbing into her own hammock and going back to sleep.
CHAPTER TEN
STELLA WAS WOKEN SEVERAL hours later by the jungle fairies doing their chant of doom, which isn’t really the most reassuring way to be woken up, especially on the very first day of a new expedition.
“Fee-fi-fo-fo, fee-fi-fo-fo, fee-fi-fo-fo, fee-fi-fo-fo—”
“Gods, isn’t there an off switch for those things!” Ethan groaned from his hammock.