by StacyPlays
All the other wolves—Everest, Tucker, Basil, Addison, and Noah—quickly circled themselves around Stacy and Wink, growling and baring their teeth. This seemed to confuse the bear. It let out another roar, but this one sounded almost like pleading. It occurred to Stacy that any other wolf pack might have surrounded a polar bear and a cub and distracted the mother bear long enough (nipping at her and biting her) for the other members of the pack to kill her cub and drag it away. The grim thought made Stacy sad. How could she convey to the polar bear that they instead had been interested in helping her cub?
“Back away from the cub,” Stacy said loudly but calmly. “That’s her only concern.” Stacy and the wolves retreated quickly to a safe distance away from the bear and her cub. It was only then that Stacy noticed the bear was very skinny. Stacy grabbed the rest of Noah’s salmon from Tucker’s pack and laid them on the ground. “You can catch more, boy,” she said to Noah. “She needs them for her cub.” Noah understood and gave Stacy a nod. Stacy looked back at the polar bear, who was busy looking her cub over for injuries. It must have been so scary for her to be underwater searching desperately for a meal for her and her cub and then to hear a pack of wolves and a human up at the surface. We must have given her such a fright. Stacy looked over at Everest, who was busy surveying the tundra for signs of any other polar bears. He gave Stacy a nod that seemed to say that they should get going and move farther away from the polar bear and her cub. Stacy couldn’t agree more. It had been a thrill to see a polar bear up close in the wild, but that had been a little too close for Stacy’s liking.
Stacy and the others set off to the north again, walking this time, with Everest leading the way. Stacy thought about the fact that she had left her bow and arrow back at the taiga. There was no way she would ever in a million years have drawn her bow on that mother bear and her cub. She’d rather die than do that. But it did occur to her how vulnerable she would be on the tundra if she was somehow separated from her wolves. Of course, there was no way Everest would ever let that happen—of that Stacy was certain.
They walked leisurely for a few hours, enjoying the tundra’s monochromatic scenery until the sunset turned the sky the most beautiful shades of lavender, light blue, and pastel pink that Stacy had ever seen. While the wolves frolicked in the evening light, Stacy sat down on a boulder and sketched the sunset—lamenting that she only had a blue pen instead of paints or colored pencils.
It was only when the last glimmer of sunlight had disappeared from the horizon and the wind began to blow and howl across the frozen biome that Stacy and the wolves realized they had no shelter, no food, and no plans for getting through the night. . . .
Eight
“I’M SORRY!”
Stacy felt herself panicking. She wasn’t sure how the night had crept up on her, but it was dark now and she hadn’t a clue what she and her pack would do now that the temperature had dropped. Even though her wolves took care of her in almost every regard she could think of, Stacy still felt responsible for them and felt terrible for not making a better plan for this trip. She was about to cry, when Basil came over and lit Stacy a torch so she could see what the wolves were doing around her.
Tucker was walking in a circle around them, his body heat thawing the snow to reveal patches of mossy earth that Wink was pawing at and loosening to create a soft spot for everyone to sleep. Everest and Noah were creating a short ice wall out of snow to shelter them from the wind. And Addison had laid out a small supper for Stacy consisting of pumpkin bread, two hard-boiled eggs, and some dried apple slices. While Stacy ate, Addison wandered about thirty paces past where Everest and Noah were building. She was looking at something on the ground where Wink had set aside some sticks he found while clearing the ground, which he used to start a small, glowing fire.
“You guys are amazing,” Stacy said in a hushed tone as she popped an apple slice into her mouth. “I guess I had nothing to worry about.”
Stacy finished her meal, and she and all the wolves curled up around each other for the night. Stacy hadn’t slept outside under the stars since the night in the mesa last fall. Of course, then it had been warm, while tonight she needed all the wolves around her keeping her from freezing on the tundra.
Wink nosed Stacy awake before the sun was up. Stacy sat up and groggily looked around. She was instantly cold and buttoned her coat up all the way and cinched the hood around her face.
“What’s going on?” she asked Wink. “Is everything okay?” Stacy looked around to see the wolves had cleaned up all traces of their camp and were ready to leave. She slowly got to her feet. Basil came over and knelt beside her, a signal for Stacy to climb on her back. Stacy wasn’t sure why the wolves were so anxious to leave. As far as she knew, they had no plans or destination in mind. There were no animals she knew of that needed rescuing. But she was happy to oblige and sleep on Basil’s back as they traveled.
As they began to cross the tundra, Stacy noticed that Addison was in the lead now and that she kept looking toward the sky. Every few minutes Addison would look to the sky and then slightly alter her direction, with the rest of the wolves following behind her. Stacy tilted her head up, looking for a bird or a bat . . . something that Addison was following. But she only saw the stars, barely visible now against the pale blue-gray light of the morning. Suddenly it dawned on Stacy—Addison was using the stars to navigate! But where is she leading us? Is Addison taking us somewhere?
Dawn came, and it was spectacular. Yellow light spilled over the icy horizon like a tipped-over can of paint. Stacy noticed patches of the ground far in the distance that were glinting more than others in the sun. Water! The tundra broke off into miles and miles of ice floes that extended to the north and the east.
“Up ahead,” Stacy yelled. “Noah can fish!” The pack rerouted toward the ice floes and reached them after a few minutes. Addison, Everest, Tucker, Basil, and Wink stopped to drink while Noah happily dove into the arctic waters. He tossed a large fish up onto one of the floes and dove back under the water. The fish flapped around wildly for a few seconds on the ice before lying still. Stacy knew that Noah would catch exactly thirteen fish: two for each of the wolves and one more that he would filet for her and cook over one of Basil’s fires.
“Noah’s going to be awhile,” Stacy said, turning to the others. “Basil, why don’t you and Tucker go scout ahead and see which direction we should take next?” The wolves nodded in agreement and set off to the west. Wink had hopped between ice floes over to where Noah was fishing and was already eating his two fish. Typical Wink, Stacy thought. Are you hungry, Everest? Stacy turned to see Everest lying on the ground, asleep. Stacy realized he must have stayed awake most of the night, keeping guard. He was exhausted, but something about his face looked content too—happy to be in the tundra with Stacy and his wolf family. Stacy decided they should let him sleep as long as he wanted.
“Addi, maybe we should . . . ,” Stacy started, but then suddenly realized that Addison was not next to her. She looked around. “Addison?”
Stacy saw the wolf way in the distance. It helped that Addison’s coat was not solid white like the others’ but had light brown in it. Addison was studying a part of the ice a few hundred feet away from where Stacy was standing. Did she find a small animal that needs help? Stacy walked over to her, but as she got closer, she saw that there was no animal. Instead, Addison was staring at a series of grooves in the ice in front of her. A peculiar feeling washed over Stacy. The grooves were strange—they weren’t random marks in the ice that could have been done by erosion. They were linear and distinctly shaped. Is it a word?
“Addi, can you read this?” Stacy asked, looking at the studious wolf. Addison nodded slowly, almost as if Addison herself could not believe that she knew how to read it. Stacy was incredulous. What language is it? How does Addison know it? Does this have something to do with Addison using the stars to navigate? Stacy took out her journal and her pen from her satchel and sketched the symbols. She wanted t
o remember them.
Stacy was just finishing sketching the last symbol, sort of a V shape, when Wink let out an ear-piercing howl back at the ice floes.
“Wink!” Stacy yelled, packing up her journal and racing back toward him with Addison. Everest was awake and standing at the edge of the ice, barking at . . . something. Stacy could not reconcile what she was seeing. Surrounding Wink were what looked to be at least a dozen long spikes, each ten or twelve feet in length. And they were moving. Wink had obviously been poked by one of the sharp-looking spikes. Stacy pumped her arms, running as fast as she could toward the commotion. As she approached the spot where Everest was standing, she realized the spikes were attached to animals bobbing up and down in the water. Narwhals! Stacy had read about them in Moby Dick by Herman Melville, a classic she and Addison had slogged through over the winter. Melville had called the narwhal a Tusked Whale, or a Unicorn Whale, with a large “ice-piercer” protruding from its jaw. When Stacy had read about them, she was certain that she would never see one in real life. She was overwhelmed at the sight of an entire pod of narwhals making their way through the ice floes. Some had leopard-like spots, just as Melville had described, while others were more solid gray. And Stacy noticed some that didn’t have tusks at all.
Suddenly, Noah popped up from underwater in the middle of the narwhal pod, looking utterly perplexed. He swam to a nearby sheet of ice and deposited what looked to be the last of the fish he needed to catch in a heaping pile next to Wink, who was sheepishly nursing his narwhal poke.
“It’s okay, guys,” Stacy shouted to Everest, Noah, and Wink. “They aren’t aggressive at all. And Wink, aren’t you supposed to be indestructible anyway?” Stacy couldn’t help but tease the youngest wolf in the pack. She wished more than anything that she still had the camera she’d borrowed from Miriam’s friend last year so that she could take a picture of the majestic creatures. Stacy sat near the edge of the ice floes and watched the narwhals until they had all made their way through the small passages farther inland.
Stacy stood up and turned to see Everest, Addison, Tucker, and Wink all napping in a big dog pile. Basil and Tucker were still out scouting. Just then, she noticed a small, spotted narwhal that was lingering nearby in the floes.
“Your friends all went that way,” she called, walking over to see how close she could get to the narwhal. Stacy wondered why he hadn’t kept up with his pod. Suddenly she realized the gravity of the narwhal’s situation. His tusk was stuck in the ice. He was trapped.
“Help!” she called to the others. “Animal rescue!”
Nine
STACY WAS FIRST to reach the young narwhal. She reached down over the edge of the ice and touched his spotted back, which was just under the surface of the water. Stacy assumed he was a young whale because his tusk, which was actually just a very large, overgrown tooth, was only about four feet long. And it was currently jammed into a thick slab of ice. The whale must have been swimming too fast in this section of the ice floes and rammed into the ice—or maybe he had been trying to break up some of the ice to make more room for his pod members and misjudged how thick this part of the ice was—and now he couldn’t wriggle himself free.
He was fully submerged underwater, his blowhole just inches from the air, which meant he was holding his breath. Stacy reckoned narwhals could hold their breath for a long time (much longer than a polar bear), but she also knew that this was a mammal and it needed oxygen to live. She guessed he could stay underwater for twenty to twenty-five minutes at most. And she had no idea when he had become stuck . . . which meant that time was running out for this narwhal. Stacy shuddered to think what could happen if they didn’t help free it in time. She peered down into the water and saw the panic in the narwhal’s eyes.
“Everest!” Stacy called to her strongest wolf. “Come help me try to push him free.” Everest was by Stacy’s side in an instant. Stacy clasped her hands around the base of the narwhal’s tusk, half of which was in the ice. Everest carefully took the section of tusk closest to the ice in his mouth, and they began trying to push the narwhal backward. It was no use. Noah jumped in the water and tried to push the narwhal away from the ice from underneath. Addison paced back and forth near Stacy and Everest—studying the situation to work out the best angles for Stacy and the others to direct their efforts. Meanwhile, Wink began chipping away at the ice with his jaw.
“Careful, Wink!” Stacy cautioned. “You’ll chip a tooth or someth . . .” Stacy’s voice trailed off, remembering that this particular wolf of hers actually seemed incapable of breaking a bone or, in this instance, a tooth.
Stacy and the wolves worked hard for the next few minutes, to no avail. Stacy could tell the narwhal, who she had already nicknamed Norman, was losing hope. He had been attempting to swim backward, away from the ice, but now he was exhausted and seemed almost resigned to his fate. If only we could melt the ice, just a little, Stacy thought. No sooner had the thought entered her mind than Everest relinquished his grip on Norman’s tusk, turned to the west, and let out a loud, bellowing howl. Of course! Tucker! Tucker could melt the ice! But he could be miles away, what if he doesn’t make it in time?
It was Basil that Stacy saw first. She was running toward them at full speed. She reached them seconds after Stacy saw her in the distance. Everest briefed Basil on the situation and what they needed Tucker to do, and then Basil ran back the way she came to relay the information to Tucker, so there would be no time wasted explaining the narwhal’s predicament when he reached them.
Minutes passed. Precious time. Stacy was beside herself imagining how hopeless Norman must be feeling now that they’d paused their rescue efforts to wait for Tucker.
“It’s going to be okay,” she said, trying to soothe the narwhal. But she wasn’t even sure he could hear her underwater, let alone understand.
Stacy looked up to see Tucker and Basil charging toward them. Tucker had a determined look on his face and . . . almost looked like he was . . . glowing. Stacy realized he was raising his body temperature quickly so he would be very hot once he got to them. Everyone assumed their positions around Norman in anticipation of Tucker’s arrival. Tucker reached them and lay down on the ice where Norman’s tusk was trapped several feet below. The ice began melting.
“Okay, everyone!” Stacy shouted. “PUSH!” Everest and Stacy pushed on the tusk while Noah pushed on Norman’s body from underneath the ice shelf. Addison came over and adjusted Stacy’s arm, showing her which angle to push in, which Stacy did with everything she had. Beads of sweat began to accumulate on Stacy’s forehead from how hard she was pushing and from standing next to a burning-hot Tucker.
Suddenly, Norman was free! He glided about five feet back in the water, away from the ice, but remained motionless. Come on, Norman, Stacy thought, as Noah swam up beside him and nuzzled the whale. Norman began to stir and then quickly surfaced above the water, taking in oxygen through his blowhole. Stacy and the others breathed huge sighs of relief. Stacy threw her arms around Tucker. Addison, Everest, Wink, and Basil piled on top of them, overcome with happiness that they’d been able to save the narwhal. Everyone stood and watched Noah and Norman playing in the water. Stacy wondered how—
K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-R-R-R-R-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-C-C-C-K-K-K-K-K
A huge crack appeared in the ice where the narwhal had been stuck. The tundra began splitting in two. Sheets of ice crashed down into the icy waters, splashing violently.
And the crack was headed straight toward where Stacy and the pack were standing.
Ten
“RRRRUUUUNNNN!!!” STACY SHOUTED as loud as she could so her voice would be heard over the deafening noise of the ice shelf breaking off and crashing into the water. Stacy turned away from Noah, who was treading water next to Norman. Stacy and the rest of the pack began to race across the tundra away from the growing crevice. All the other wolves were ahead of Stacy. Basil was the farthest away, followed by Everest, Addison, Tucker, and Wink. Stacy looked back to see that the cra
ck was catching up to her—dozens of little splinters in the ice were visible beneath her feet. Behind her, the splinters were turning to fissures and then to large, craggy fractures that broke off and fell at least twenty feet into the arctic waters.
Oh no. Stacy realized she was not going to be able to outrun the crack. If I fall into the water, maybe Noah will be able to help me to the surface. And then maybe Tucker will be able to get my body temperature back above freezing. That is . . . if I survive the fall. Stacy knew she couldn’t think like that. She pumped her arms and tried to run faster. But it was no use. The ground underneath her began to tremble, causing Stacy to stumble slightly as she tried in vain to accelerate.
This is it for me, Stacy thought. I wish I could say good-bye to Page, Molly, and Milquetoast.
Suddenly Everest let out a loud series of barks. Basil, hearing and understanding the meaning, immediately reversed course, running back to save Stacy. Stacy leapt onto Basil’s back just as a large piece of ice broke from under her. Basil nimbly propelled them up onto the tundra again and quickly raced past Wink and the others back to the front of the pack. Stacy gripped Basil’s fur tightly and turned back to look at the others. Everest was close behind. Addison and Tucker were in the middle, and Wink was bringing up the rear. Stacy knew Wink could survive falling into the water unscathed, but she also knew that he could not hold his breath indefinitely like Noah. She closed her eyes. Please let my wolves run as swiftly as they can. Please let my wolves be safe.
Stacy felt Basil veer to the left. The others followed in hopes of clearing the destruction of the ice shelf breaking off behind them. It worked—the wolves put good distance between themselves and the ice rubble, which was still breaking off and settling—creating large, frothy swells in the water.