“This here’s the south,” said the pilot.
Dev trusted the pilot, and he also trusted the GPS. He took a picture and sent it to Bull Gordon. In less than a minute, the ancam buzzed, but the message gave Dev little relief. Even though the photo had been accepted, they still needed two more shots to earn the next clue.
Now they were flying directly over the mountain. Just looking at the layers of ice and snow gave Dev shivers. He wasn’t a big fan of cold weather, or heights.
“Maybe we should wake Sage and Mari, so they can see this,” Russell wondered out loud, but they decided against it. They didn’t know how late they’d have to be up that night, and rest was the key to endurance. Dev guessed they still had a long way to go on this leg of the race. The Arctic was a big place, and they weren’t even technically there yet.
* * *
When the girls woke up, the plane was leaving the mountains behind. The ground was leveling out into a gently rolling grassland.
“Did we get the shot of the summit?” Sage asked, all business, even though she was still rubbing her eyes.
“Yeah,” Dev answered. “I took some other shots, too, just so you guys could see.” He handed the ancam to Mari, who was sitting behind him.
“These are amazing,” Mari said as she scrolled through. “I can’t believe we slept so long, and that it’s still so light out.”
“It’s good that it’s light,” Sage said. “Now that we’re flying over the tundra, we should be able to finish the clue.”
In the tundra, the intensely cold winter meant that much of the ground beneath the surface stayed frozen the whole year. In some places, only a foot of topsoil would thaw enough to support summer plant life. Small shrubs, wildflowers, and plants like moss had adapted to grow in these tricky conditions.
Dev and Russell took their turn to rest. When they awoke, the terrain looked much the same. The pilot was flying lower, so they could spy wildlife below.
“We’ve seen lots of birds,” Mari told them. “They migrate here because of all the summer food.”
“What food?” Russell asked, peering out the window.
“Bugs, for one,” Mari said. “Something has to eat all those mosquitos.”
Dev absentmindedly scratched a bite on his neck.
“We also spotted an Arctic fox,” Mari said. “It was hard to see. Its summer coat really blends in.”
Dev thought it was amazing how many of the animals changed from season to season. Thick, fluffy, and pure white in the winter, the Arctic fox’s coat was the warmest of any animal. Every spring, the fox shed the long fur and its coat turned brown or gray for camouflage.
“But we haven’t seen wolves or caribou—or reindeer,” added Sage. “Whatever we’re looking for.”
“Reindeer and caribou are the same kind of deer,” Mari clarified.
“Well, we haven’t seen any,” Sage insisted.
“Uh, what’s that?” Russell asked, his binoculars pointed straight ahead.
Dev focused his own binoculars. It looked as if the land were moving in a giant brown wave.
“Nice work, Russell,” Sage said, but it wasn’t as if they could have missed it. As the plane flew closer, they could see that the herd of caribou before them was hundreds, maybe thousands, strong. They moved together, in one fluid motion.
“Caribou sometimes migrate over fifty miles a day,” said Mari as she watched the herd run.
“That’s nothing compared to Santa’s reindeer,” Russell said.
Dev thought it was pretty funny, but neither of the girls laughed. Both of their binoculars were focused on a nearby crest.
“Wolves,” Sage whispered. “Gray wolves.”
Instead of sounding excited to have closed in on the two answers to their clue, Sage’s voice was filled with dread.
Mari looked out the other window and lowered her binoculars. “They’re on the other side, too. They’re looking for stragglers, for the young or weak. They’ll target one and separate it from the pack. Caribou are faster than wolves, but they can’t outrun a pack. Wolves are just too clever.”
Feeling stunned, Dev took a picture of the caribou as quickly as possible. “Would you please turn toward that ridge?” he called over the cockpit partition.
“Sure thing,” replied the pilot.
Dev was able to focus in for a closeup of one of the wolves. With its ears pricked forward, it appeared to be good-natured, even frisky, but Dev knew that expression could change quickly.
“Did you get the shots?” Sage asked. “Let’s wait for the approval and then move on.”
Dev was used to Sage prompting him, but she sounded particularly urgent. “Okay,” Dev answered. When he looked out the window again, he saw a young deer lagging behind the herd, by just a few steps at first. But he felt like he knew what would happen next. He was relieved to be distracted by the ancam’s familiar buzz.
CREATURE FEATURE
CARIBOU
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Rangifer tarandus
TYPE: mammal
RANGE: spread across northern sections of North America, from Idaho and Washington into Canada and Alaska; northern Europe, in Norway and Finland; Russia
FOOD: mosses; lichens; grasses; ferns; leaves of certain shrubs and trees, especially willow
Every year, the caribou herds of North America undertake one of the longest migrations of any land-dwelling animal. In the summer, they find ample food, few predators, and relief from pesky insects near the coast of the Arctic Ocean. In the winter, the herd waits out the coldest part of the season farther inland in the forest. But most of the caribou’s year is spent trekking back and forth across the tundra.
Caribou’s bodies are made for enduring the cold. Their hooves have four toes that spread out wide and act like snowshoes so they don’t sink into the snow and soft ice. They also have two layers of fur. The one on the outside is made of guard hairs that trap heat underneath. Their strong sense of smell is a bonus, too. They can sniff out lichen and other plants hidden in up to five feet of snow.
The members of Team Red were glad to be done with the three-part clue, but they were absolutely thrilled to get off the pontoon plane.
“My knees are stuck,” Russell said, shaking out his legs.
“Don’t worry. You don’t have far to walk,” Javier said as he stepped onto the floating dock. “You just need to get to that boat.” The team looked to where their chaperone had pointed. “And you may want to hurry. Dev, you’ll find a replacement backpack in your cabin.”
Dev still wore his quicksand-caked shirt, and by now, the hardened mud was like a crunchy second skin. It’d feel good to clean up.
The boat looked like a mini cruise ship. As he marched up the gangplank, Dev realized that there were at least two other teams already on board. He had expected that one team would be ahead of them, but now they had dropped to third place—or worse.
“Slipped a spot, didn’t you?” Dev heard the de facto leader of Team Purple say to Sage as they shuffled past.
“The race isn’t over, Eliza,” Sage replied in a flat tone. The other girl was wearing a cozy lavender fleece that didn’t match her frosty stare.
“Hi, Eliza,” Mari offered cheerily, but no one else spoke.
“Dude, you made it!” called a kid in a lime-green jacket. He was talking to Russell, who had known all of Team Green before the race.
“Yeah, we’re not out yet,” Russell replied with a shrug. He was so good-natured. Dev watched as Russell fist-bumped the two guys on deck without losing step with the rest of Team Red.
Dev had always thought it was odd that Russell had ended up on the red team, when his friends from home were together on Team Green. There was more to that story, Dev was sure. But ever since the first day, Russell had seemed committed to Team Red. Dev was happy to have Russell with them. He was “good stock,” as his grandmother would say.
Three other teams climbed aboard the boat before it departed. Later that night, at dinner, one of th
e organizers announced that the teams would set off the next morning in the same order that they had arrived on the ship.
“So we’re stuck in third place,” Sage said.
“We’re in the top half,” Russell suggested optimistically. “We’ll catch up.”
The six teams sat at separate tables. All conversations were hushed. After checking the GPS, Dev was certain they were heading north. At the speed they were traveling, they would be near the Arctic Circle by morning and there would still be two teams ahead of them.
Dev was quiet. He had been revisiting all of his decisions from earlier in the day. Could he have foreseen the quicksand and plotted a different path across the river? Should they have trailblazed down the mountain, despite the threat of rockslides? Had there been a quicker route over Denali and across the tundra?
“What are you thinking about?” Mari asked.
Dev glanced up, caught off guard. “Uh, I just remembered this funny dream I had,” Dev said. “At first it seems like it is all about The Wild Life, but then my dad shows up out of nowhere.” He was surprised when his teammates seemed interested. He went on to give them some of the details, including the plaid Bermuda shorts. “It seemed so real.”
Sage and Russell muffled laughs, but Mari looked thoughtful. “Maybe it means something,” she suggested, picking at the crust of her vegetable potpie with a fork. “My mom always tries to interpret her dreams.”
Mari’s words were with Dev as he fell asleep in his cabin that night, and they were the first thing he remembered in the morning—because he’d had the exact same dream again.
But his mind was soon clear of all other thoughts. A new clue had arrived via the ancam. Dev grabbed Russell and they rushed to the girls’ cabin.
Fatty warmth
Hollow hairs
Paddle paws
Black skin
Soaking in sun.
Power predator
Stalking sea ice
And everything
Underneath.
“It’s a polar bear!” Mari exclaimed. She took a deep breath and her eyes sparkled like she had just received a present. “The fatty warmth is the thick layer of fat that insulates them from the cold water. But on land, they rely on their heavy coat, which has hollow hairs, like caribou and Arctic foxes, to hold their body heat. Their paws are wide like paddles for swimming, and their black skin is an adaptation for warmth. Black absorbs more heat from the sun.” Mari let out a sigh. Dev thought she was done, but then she took another quick breath. “Obviously they are powerful predators, especially on the sea ice. They wait at a hole for a seal or a whale to come up to breathe. All it takes is a swipe of their mighty paw, and it’s the end of the prey and the start of dinner.”
Mari’s three teammates hesitated, wondering if she had more to say.
“Polar bears are one of my favorites,” she admitted, blushing.
“Well then, let’s go find one,” said Russell.
CREATURE FEATURE
POLAR BEAR
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Ursus maritimus
TYPE: mammal
RANGE: Arctic regions
FOOD: seals, seal pups, walruses, beached whales, grass, seaweed
Scientists believe that polar bears descended from brown bears, but the polar bear has adapted to life in the Arctic. While other northern bears hibernate, most polar bears are active in the winter. In fact, it is a prime time for hunting.
With furry paws to keep them from slipping, they prowl the ice, smelling out seal dens and waiting by breathing holes. But when most of the sea ice melts in summer, the polar bear no longer has an advantage. Despite being good swimmers, they cannot catch seals or walruses in open water. Instead, late summer often finds polar bears on the mainland, waiting for a big freeze.
Pregnant mothers are an exception. They do hibernate, digging an ice den where they have their cubs in the winter months. By early spring, plump from mom’s milk, the cubs will be ready to brave the chilly Arctic world.
From the deck of the boat, the red team could see the coast on one side and the vast expanse of the Arctic Ocean on the other. There was a rustic port on the shore, but Dev stared out at the ocean. Dev had never seen anything like it. Nearby, a single slab of sea ice floated, but the rest of the view was a rich, watery blue.
“Good to see you guys are up and at ’em.” Dev flinched when Javier spoke. He hadn’t expected their chaperone to join them just yet. “Cool, huh?”
“It’s definitely cool,” Dev replied, “but the question is, is it cold?”
“What do you mean?” Russell asked with a shiver. “It’s the Arctic. It’s freezing! And it’s summer!”
Dev hesitated. Maybe he shouldn’t get into it, but his teammates seemed to be waiting to hear what he had to say. “I read this article about how the oceans are getting warmer. So, even though the Arctic is still cold, not as much sea ice is forming in the winter, and it isn’t lasting as long into the summer months.”
“But sea ice gives seals, polar bears, and walruses a safe place to rest,” Mari said with concern.
“That’s not all it does,” Dev said. He paused again, feeling unsure. “It takes physics to explain it.” Then he launched into the full explanation. “Because the ice is white, it reflects sunlight back toward space. But the dark blue ocean absorbs sunlight. And the light’s energy warms up the ocean. It becomes a whole cycle: The less white sea ice there is, the more light energy the dark water absorbs. The more light energy it absorbs, the warmer it gets, and the more it melts the sea ice! So, the sea ice works like a kind of air conditioner … for the whole planet.”
When Dev looked back at his teammates, he was certain they were seeing him in a different way. Great. He’d really done it now. His whole goal for the summer—his goal for the race—was to be normal, to be someone other than the nerdy science kid.
Dev looked at the lonely slab of sea ice and wished he could be on it.
“I see one!” Mari yelled out suddenly. “A polar bear!” She pointed frantically toward the coastline. Dev, knowing it was his responsibility, rushed over and took a shot before any of the other teams could react. Then he remembered it didn’t matter. The teams were leaving the boat in the same order they had arrived.
The polar bear was gigantic. It wasn’t hard to believe that it was the largest species of bear in the world. Mari leaned over the boat’s railing.
“You’re not at the zoo,” Sage reminded her.
“Well,” Mari said, “until the ice forms again, he’s stuck here with people watching him all the time.”
At that moment, a host of organizers rushed onto the deck, ushering Team Purple down the gangplank.
As soon as they were gone, Javier pulled his team aside. “The green team will leave in ten minutes, and then you. Go downstairs and put on your warmest gear. Be back here in fifteen minutes.”
Dev thought it was funny how the chaperones had to be secretive. Javier obviously knew what they were doing, but he wouldn’t tell them. So, a few minutes later, when the team followed the organizers down the gangplank and into a hidden cove, they were amazed by what happened next.
“The helicopter will take you to a glacier, where you will drive dogsleds to the final checkpoint.” All four team members stared at Javier. “Come on, let’s go!”
Javier helped them in, one by one, and then climbed in next to them. He swung the door shut, and the helicopter lifted into the sky.
“We’re going to a glacier?” Sage asked.
“Yes. And you’re going to dogsled,” Javier answered, barely containing his own excitement. “You will each get a team of dogs and a sled. I get to follow behind.”
“Dev, it’s just like in your dream!” Mari declared.
Dev had thought about that. It was eerily similar.
The helicopter ride was short. As they approached an imposing mountain, Dev could see two rocky cliffs with a smooth, sloping, snow-covered surface making a wide pathway in between. “That’s the g
lacier,” Javier said. “It’s perfect terrain for dogsledding.”
The landing skids had barely set down on the ice when Javier whipped open the door. “The dog teams are over there,” he said. “Go pick yourselves some winners.”
“We need to get some big, strong dogs,” Russell announced as they set off for where the dogs were tied in groups of four. “We’ve got catching up to do.”
“These guys look good,” Sage said, looking at some sweet-eyed malamutes with broad shoulders and thick coats. “Maybe we should go with them.”
Mari nodded. Dev was about to agree when he saw another group of dogs on the far end. “Wait,” he directed, walking down the line. He realized that each row had four sets of four dogs each, so he assumed they picked one row and each team member would get one of the sets.
When he came to the last row, he knelt down. One dog stepped toward him. She was a caramel-frosted husky with wise eyes. The dog looked familiar. That’s when Dev realized it was the lead dog from his dream. He placed his hand on her head, and she returned his unblinking stare. “You guys,” he called. “What about this row?”
Mari immediately strode toward him, but the others hung back for a moment.
“They look good to me,” Mari said.
“Aren’t they kind of small?” Russell pointed out.
“No,” Dev replied with a shrug. “There’s four pulling each sled. And those are the sleds over there. They’re not that big. It’s not like we packed a lot of baggage.” Dev was trying to sound rational, but he couldn’t really explain it. He just had to have that dog on his team. It was some kind of sign. He knew it. He didn’t need a scientific theorem to tell him that it was meant to be.
He knelt down again and buried his hands in the thick fur around the dog’s neck. His fingers touched something. A collar. He quickly searched and found what he was looking for. It was smooth and round. It was a name tag, and it read TUCKER. A chill jolted through every nerve in Dev’s body. It was the name from his dream!
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