by Alex Bell
‘Scorpion marshmallows it is,’ the genie said, and set about dropping a selection into each mug.
‘Thank you very much,’ Stella said, trying to salvage the situation. ‘My name’s Stella Starflake Pearl. And you are …?’
‘Ruprekt,’ the genie replied. He turned around to face the group of explorers, seeming to take them in for the first time. ‘Good heavens, you explorers seem to get younger and younger all the time! But, no matter. I’ll tell you the same thing I told Lord Rupert Benedict Arnold, and that is that I am a fort genie only. My role is to look after the place and your comfort. I can grant minor wishes involving particular requests.’ He snapped his fingers and a fat bag of unicorn-shaped marshmallows appeared in his hand. He handed these to Stella without a word, and she couldn’t help wishing that he’d produced these before he’d filled her mug up with scorpion-shaped ones. ‘I’m happy to fulfil requests for particular types of marshmallows, or duck-shaped hot-water bottles, or exotically flavoured breakfast dishes, or extra-fleecy blankets; I can provide knitted nose-warmers, or foot massages, or scorching-hot baths. But I cannot grant any premium wishes. So if somebody gets themselves bitten by a poisonous snake I can’t magic away the venom. I cannot extract a jumping cactus from any part of your body without leaving scratch marks and scars. And I certainly can’t snap my fingers and magic away an infestation of tarantulas from anyone’s underwear.’
‘Great Scott!’ Ethan exclaimed. ‘Being in the Desert Jackal Explorers’ Club sounds like a nasty business!’
‘Furthermore,’ the genie went on, ‘if you get yourselves trapped in a ravine, or buried in a sandstorm, or stuck in a gorge of some kind, then put up the fort for shelter, by all means, but do not expect me to be able to magic the expedition to safety on some sort of magic carpet. Now, here are your breakfast menus.’ The genie produced five cards from the pocket of his robe. ‘Please tick your choices and leave them on the table no later than midnight. If you require anything else from me tonight, kindly ring the genie bell rather than sticking your over-large noses into my private, personal space.’ He waved a hand in the direction of a blue and gold bell set on a table in one corner of the tent, and then – before anyone could say another word – smoked back inside his genie bottle.
Stella would have liked to carry on chatting to the genie but, since he seemed to be in quite a bad mood, they left him to his bubble bath and set about turning in for the night.
Stella noticed that Beanie had brought his father’s journal with him again. It had been found among his things at the deserted expedition camp part of the way across the Black Ice Bridge, and Beanie was always poring over it, hoping for some clue to explain his father’s disappearance.
He was still set on being the first explorer to cross the infamous bridge one day, but Stella wasn’t convinced it was a good idea. The bridge was said to be cursed, and countless expeditions had vanished trying to cross it, never to be seen or heard from again. Perhaps, after all, there were some places in the world that were so cursed and forsaken that no person should venture into them, even if they were an explorer.
Stella left Beanie to his bedtime reading and then fetched a pith helmet that she and Cadi proceeded to fit to Gus’s big head. He’d crashed into things a few times and the girls were concerned that he might hurt himself.
‘I think this helmet makes him look rather dashing,’ Stella said, giving the walrus a pat on the back.
‘You know, I agree with you,’ Cadi said. She glanced at Stella then and said, ‘So, what’s it like being a princess? Is it absolutely marvellous?’
Stella sighed. ‘Not really. Being an explorer is absolutely marvellous, but being an ice princess isn’t that great most of the time.’
‘Gosh, I’d give anything to have magic powers,’ Cadi said. ‘It sounds like glorious fun.’
‘It would be,’ Stella said. ‘But if I use my powers too much then my heart will freeze solid and I’ll turn into a villainous snow queen. It kind of takes the fun out of it. Even if I just use a little bit of tiara magic I can feel myself becoming colder. And crueller.’ She shivered. ‘I stop caring about the people I love. And that’s a terrible, lonely, awful feeling.’
As if sensing she was feeling sad, Gus leaned forward and gave her a big sloppy kiss all the way up the side of her cheek. Stella laughed and scratched the walrus behind his ear. They left him preening at himself in front of the mirror, admiring his helmet from various angles, and settled into their sleeping quarters.
Stella felt bad about how they had disturbed Ruprekt during his bath, though. So, a few minutes later, she tiptoed back out to the living area, where the fire still crackled cheerfully away to itself. She wanted to do something to make it up to the genie, so she took her scarf from her pocket and wound it carefully around the genie bottle. Felix had given her the scarf a few years ago, and it was a beautiful thing made from white yeti wool and stitched with pale blue polar bears and unicorns. Ruprekt had mentioned being cold, after all, so perhaps wrapping up the genie bottle would help keep him warm in there.
Stella still felt like this wasn’t quite enough, though. She recalled the snow unicorn and the snow yeti she had somehow managed to create, and the magic that had fizzed through her fingers. She thought for a moment, and then walked over to the genie bell on the other side of the room. She lifted her hand and concentrated hard on what she wanted to do.
Sure enough, sparkly strands of blue magic fizzed from her fingertips and, moments later, an entire troll family – no larger than the jungle fairies – stood on the table before her, all made from snow. They had big feet and tufts of hair that stuck out in all directions, and they each held a sign that read: Genie sleeping: do not disturb.
‘There,’ Stella said, pleased. ‘That ought to do it. Don’t let anyone ring the bell,’ she said to the trolls, who were all gazing up at her expectantly. ‘Poor Ruprekt deserves to get a good night’s sleep just the same as the rest of us.’
The trolls nodded at her and then began marching up and down, clutching their signs. It proved to be a good precaution because, just as Stella was making her way back to bed, Ethan came out and headed straight for the bell. He’d decided he wanted a duck-shaped hot-water bottle but, when he tried to reach for the bell, one of the trolls bit him, rather hard, on the finger, before waving his sign at him energetically. The magician probably could have done something to the trolls if he’d really wanted to – turned them all into wonky squish-squish frogs, for example – but he could see Stella watching him from the bedroom doorway so he shrugged bad-temperedly and stomped back over to her.
‘You’re not wearing your tiara,’ he remarked. ‘So how did you manage to make those trolls?’
‘I don’t know,’ Stella replied. ‘It seems like I don’t need to be wearing the tiara to do snow magic.’
‘What does that mean?’ Ethan asked.
Stella shook her head. ‘I have no idea.’
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
When the junior explorers woke the next morning, they each found a rubber duck at the end of their beds. They were all bright yellow, and each wearing a different hat. Stella’s duck had a tiara, Cadi’s had a wide-brimmed cowboy-style hat, Beanie’s had a knitted pom-pom hat, Ethan’s had a pointed magician’s hat and Shay’s had a cap with a wolf’s head printed on it.
‘I wonder what these are supposed to be for?’ Cadi said, picking up her rubber duck. The second her fingers touched it, a curtain sprang up around her bed, which disappeared to be replaced by a claw-footed bathtub filled with steaming-hot water.
‘Gosh, this is what I call service!’ she exclaimed. ‘It even has my favourite bubble bath in it! Raspberry-scented!’
The others lost no time picking up their own ducks and all found themselves with baths of their own. Stella was particularly delighted with hers because the bubbles smelled like marzipan, the soap was in the shape of a polar bear, and there were even little toy penguins floating about in the water, as well as little iceber
gs.
Once the explorers were all washed and dressed, they made their way to the table, which Ruprekt had already set out with their breakfast choices. Stella had requested pancakes and, on approaching, she was delighted to see that the genie had produced unicorn-shaped ones for her.
‘Good morning, Miss Stella,’ Ruprekt said, materialising beside her. ‘Allow me to pull out your chair. I hope the breakfast will be to your satisfaction.’
‘Thank you very much,’ Stella said, beaming at him.
The genie was wearing a robe stitched in an elaborate pattern of gold and blue, with emerald green braid trim. He was also wearing Stella’s scarf in a jaunty fashion around his neck.
‘No one has ever given me a gift before,’ the genie said.
Stella had meant for the scarf to be more of a loan than a gift, but faced with the genie’s obvious delight there was no way she could ask for it back. And she knew Felix would understand why she had given it away.
‘Gosh, never?’ she asked. It seemed to her that it must be a very sad thing to have never ever received a gift from anyone. ‘But that’s terrible!’
‘Genies are servants, miss,’ Ruprekt said quietly. ‘That’s how they see us in the Desert Jackal Explorers’ Club, at least. And nobody gives gifts to servants.’
‘Well, you’re not a servant to us,’ Stella hurried to reassure him. An awful thought occurred to her and she said, ‘You’re not a prisoner here, are you?’
‘Oh no,’ Ruprekt replied. ‘Genies are paid well enough for their services, and I was freed from my lamp long ago. You don’t get many captive genies these days.’ He gave a haughty sniff. ‘But that doesn’t mean you necessarily get treated well either.’
‘Well, we don’t expect you to be at our beck and call all the time,’ Stella said. She gestured over towards the snow trolls beside the genie lamp, who all seemed to have grouped together in one big ball of troll and gone to sleep in a tangle of hairy feet and big nostrils. ‘Just ask the trolls to pick up their signs any time you don’t want to be disturbed.’
‘You’re most kind,’ the genie replied, giving her a bow. ‘A true lady.’
‘Stella’s a princess, in fact,’ Beanie said. ‘An ice princess.’
‘How glorious!’ Ruprekt said. ‘I’m delighted to serve you, Your Majesty.’
‘Oh, there’s really no need to call me that,’ Stella replied. ‘Please, just call me Stella.’
‘As you wish,’ the genie replied.
He snapped his fingers and a bubbling cauldron of hot chocolate appeared beside each of the explorer’s plates. A little toy witch perched on the side of each cauldron, stirring the hot brew with a sugar broomstick.
They took their seats and ate their breakfast quickly. Stella was keen to head off as soon as possible. They had to catch up with Felix. The toy witches stirring their drinks made Stella feel even more desperate to be away, especially when one of them hopped onto her broomstick and started flying around the room on it.
Noticing Stella’s expression, Cadi said, ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Just the witch,’ Stella said, gesturing towards it and trying not to shudder. ‘They’re such horrid, evil things.’
Cadi looked a little surprised, and even Stella was taken aback by the force with which she’d spoken. But a witch had killed her parents and now threatened Felix too, so she really felt that she had every reason to hate them.
Without any further ado, they packed up their stuff, collapsed the magic fort back down to a blanket, said goodbye to the ice dragons smoking away in their fumaroles, and set off, heading further up Witch Mountain. The air felt bitingly cold after the snug warmth of the fort, and they were all glad of their snow boots and thick cloaks.
Stella noticed that she wasn’t as cold as she should have been, however. On the last expedition she’d worn layers and layers of jumpers, and thermal trousers, just like everyone else, and she’d still been cold most of the time. It was no less icy on Witch Mountain and yet Stella wasn’t wearing explorer’s garb like before, only her grey dress beneath her cloak. As it was a travelling dress it was made from wool, and Stella had thick, sparkly snowflake tights on underneath, but this shouldn’t have been enough to keep her warm in the Icelands. The others shivered, rubbed their hands and stamped their feet far more than Stella did. She hadn’t even so much as needed to put on her gloves. And that worried her. It had to be something to do with the fact that she was an ice princess, and – if her new magic powers were anything to go by – becoming more and more of one all the time.
‘Just up ahead is the Forest of Enchanted Broomsticks,’ Cadi said, glancing round at the others. ‘That’s where I need to find the witch I captured earlier and take one of her hairs.’
‘And after the forest?’ Shay asked. ‘What comes next?’
Cadi shrugged. ‘Your guess is as good as mine,’ she said. ‘I’ve never ventured further than that before.’
‘Is the forest safe?’ Beanie asked.
‘Not particularly,’ Cadi replied. ‘It’s an enchanted broomstick forest in Witch Mountain, after all. It’s full of all kinds of dangerous things.’
‘Oh good,’ Ethan said. ‘That sounds like fun.’
‘I don’t think it sounds like fun at all,’ Beanie said, looking concerned.
‘It is fun, actually,’ Cadi said with a grin. ‘It wouldn’t be so interesting if it was safe in there.’ She clambered up onto the saddle on Gus’s back.
‘That walrus looks even more absurd wearing a pith helmet,’ Ethan remarked, shaking his head. ‘It’s no wonder you were turned away from the Ocean Squid Explorers’ Club if you arrived with that thing in tow.’
Cadi stuck her tongue out at the magician. ‘At least Gus doesn’t spit at people,’ she said.
Nigel immediately spat at a nearby jack-o’-lantern, whose expression clearly offended him.
They hadn’t been travelling long before they reached the Forest of Enchanted Broomsticks. There was no missing it. The trees loomed large on the mountain before them, looking rather like an ordinary forest at first glance. But when they got closer, they saw that the long brown trunks weren’t trees at all, but giant broomsticks. And instead of leaves or branches, they had bristly brushes that stuck up into the sky like dead twigs, creating a thick canopy against the sky that made the forest itself dark and full of shadows, in spite of the sunlight. There was a strange, still feeling about the place – an absence of the rustling and scurrying and chirping that you might normally expect to find in a normal forest. They were all aware of it. Koa stood close to Shay’s side with her ears back, which was always a bad sign. Stella couldn’t help thinking that this was definitely not the type of wood where teddy bears went to have their picnics.
Cadi didn’t seem to mind, however, and looked back over her shoulder to give the others a wide grin. ‘Here we go, folks,’ she said with a wink. ‘Best keep your wits about you.’
At that moment, an explosion in the sky alerted them to another confetti vulture marking Felix’s position on the mountain ahead of them. It was on the other side of the Forest of Enchanted Broomsticks, confirming that they were going in the right direction.
The explorers, the witch hunter, the camel, the shadow wolf and the walrus entered the forest quietly and cautiously. Even Gus seemed to understand that he mustn’t make any noise, and refrained from his usual bellows. There were four members of the expedition, however, who failed to appreciate the need for stealth. The jungle fairies’ chant of doom started up within seconds …
‘Huh-yah-yah-yah, huh-yah-yah-yah, huh-yah-yah-yah!’
‘Oh dear.’ Cadi looked round to stare at the fairies who were chanting in the dip between Nigel’s humps. ‘I wouldn’t let them carry on like that, you know. There’s all kinds of things in this forest that are better off not knowing we’re here.’
Ethan reached up and snatched the drums from Mustafah, who shook his fist at him in an agitated manner. The magician shook his fist right back. ‘You stu
pid fairies are going to get us all turned into toadstools!’ he hissed.
‘Here, let’s give them the flags,’ Stella said before the fairies started catapulting them all with stink-berries.
Cadi dug the tiny explorer flags from her pocket and handed them over. Mustafah threw the Ocean Squid Explorers’ Club flag away rather pointedly, but they kept hold of the other four flags and waved them about a bit, although it was more of a sullen movement than an excited one this time.
They carried on deeper into the forest. The broomsticks around them were extremely tall and thin, reaching up three hundred feet or more into the sky. The canopy of bristles was so thick that it kept out the snow as well as the light, and they found their boots crunching on crisp bristles that had come loose and fallen down. The place smelled of damp wood and stale air and, unfortunately, camel breath – all those jumping cactuses seemed to have given Nigel a bad case of indigestion.
It was so dark in the forest that Stella had to retrieve the fire-pixie lamp from her bag and poke the pixie awake to light their path. They couldn’t see all the way up to the bristles clearly but, every now and then, they heard the rustle of something moving.
‘What’s up there?’ Shay whispered to Cadi, peering into the gloom.
‘Bats probably,’ the hunter replied. ‘Maybe some owls. There’s lots of bats and owls on Witch Mountain. Don’t worry, they won’t hurt you.’
‘What about rabbits?’ Stella asked. ‘We were told that Jezzybella has been bringing poisonous rabbits onto the mountain.’
‘Really? I’ve never seen a rabbit here,’ Cadi replied.
‘Magic forests are never good news for explorers, even when they’re not on Witch Mountain,’ Beanie said. ‘I expect there are all kinds of terribly dangerous things to be found in here, from rock monsters to gobble-grogs to—’
‘My witch should be just through here,’ Cadi said, guiding Gus through the bristles.