by Alex Bell
‘I didn’t get anything wrong at sea!’ Ethan replied. But, when it became clear that the others didn’t believe him, he sighed and said, ‘It was sea hedgehogs.’
‘Well, at least you can do magic without running the risk of turning yourself into an evil snow queen,’ Stella said. ‘The only thing worse than having no powers at all is having powers that you can’t actually use.’
They had had to lock the tiara away in the top-hat box with the cabbage in the end, otherwise it kept appearing on Stella’s head. On one occasion it even materialised there during the night and when Beanie woke her up the next morning she accidentally froze him solid. They put him in the sled and he thawed out after a couple of hours, and was perfectly nice about it, but it was pretty embarrassing just the same and – worst of all – for the first few moments after she’d done it, Stella wasn’t sorry, and she hadn’t cared whether Beanie was hurt or not. It was his own fault for waking her up. But then Shay snatched the tiara from her head and that cold feeling melted away, and suddenly she was full of guilt and concern and remorse. She had no doubt at all that what the mirror had told her was true – if she used the tiara too much, it would freeze her heart and she’d become cold and unfeeling, like her real parents had been. And Stella absolutely, definitely did not want that.
They made good time, and soon enough they were back at the ice mountain. By Stella’s calculations, the Bold Adventurer should have arrived the day before, but if the captain still meant to wait one more night and day, as he had promised, then they should just about be in time to catch the ship – so long as they could find some other way to get across the woolly mammoth ravine now that the bridge had gone.
However, they didn’t have time to look for another way across, because the moment they emerged from the mountain, they heard a great and terrible thundering from behind them. The four explorers turned around and stared in horror at the yeti racing down the mountain. Just like the one she’d glimpsed from the ship, this was a gigantic monster, at least sixty foot tall, with feet the size of sleds, and claws as long as a man. Shards of ice glinted in its shaggy white coat and its blue eyes were almost lost amongst all that hair. But it had definitely seen them, and it was coming straight towards them, shaking the ground with every step, its huge hand stretched out greedily.
At the sight of the yeti the unicorn reared up in fright, and Ethan lost his balance and fell off, landing in the snow with a thump. Shay grabbed his cloak and dragged him onto the back of the sled just seconds before the wolves set off running in a blind panic, the unicorn close behind. Just like before, they were heading right for the edge of the cliff – only this time there was no bridge, and nothing to stop them plunging straight to the bottom. The sled would be smashed to pieces and they would all die for sure.
‘The top-hat box!’ Stella yelled at Beanie. ‘Pass me the top-hat box!’
He shoved it over to her and Stella threw open the lid, narrowly missing the jaws of the cabbage as she grabbed hold of her tiara. In another moment it was on her head and she felt a cold tingling in her fingertips as she stood up and threw out her hands, just as they reached the very edge of the cliff.
Instead of thin air, the wolves’ paws landed on solid ice and the space around Stella fizzed with blue sparks as she concentrated on creating the ice bridge as fast as the wolves could run. The magic didn’t just give her a chill this time – it felt like her entire body had been plunged beneath the surface of a frozen lake. From head to toe she was so cold that it was almost impossible to breathe. But if she lost her focus on the bridge for even a moment then the wolves would tumble into nothing and that would be that. They couldn’t die. Not when they were this close to the finish.
Finally the bridge joined with the other side of the ravine, but the sled slid as it landed, going so fast that it turned over, spilling the four explorers – and Dora – out onto the snow. Stella landed on her front, right at the edge of the cliff, with Ethan close beside her.
Dora was the unluckiest one. The goose was hurled the furthest and, seeing that she was about to fall off the edge, and remembering what the frosties had said about these geese being unable to fly, Ethan lunged after her. But what had looked like solid land was in fact just a clump of snow that fell away beneath his feet the moment he snatched up the goose, and the magician would have fallen straight to the ravine floor below if Stella hadn’t grabbed his arm just in time.
On the other side of the drop, the yeti gingerly placed one of its gigantic feet on the ice bridge, but it wasn’t strong enough to support the creature’s monstrous size and a great slab broke off, shattering the bridge into pieces. The yeti gave a loud, angry cry that echoed all around them, and pummelled its fists against the mountain in frustration.
‘That was a close one,’ Shay said.
Stella looked around and saw that he and Beanie were both getting to their feet and dusting themselves off.
‘A little help?’ Ethan said below her. ‘Your goose is pecking my head.’
Stella looked down to where the magician was clinging onto her arm with one hand, his boots scrabbling against the cliff edge. He had Dora clamped in his other arm, and the goose was, indeed, doing her best to peck him.
Stella found it hard to care. Her shoulder felt as if it were about to pop right out of its socket. When he’d flown past her she had grabbed him instinctively, but now she found herself wondering why she had bothered. She looked down at the magician and suddenly remembered every annoying thing he had ever said to her. A strong feeling of dislike surged through her and she said in a cold voice, ‘You threatened to turn me into a blind mole-rat once.’
Ethan looked up at her, startled. ‘That … yes, I did say that, but—’
Stella loosened her grip slightly and the magician slipped, his boots knocking loose big clumps of snow from the side of the cliff as he tried to find a foothold.
‘Stella!’ he gasped. ‘Please—’
‘You’re hurting my arm,’ she said. ‘Let go.’
‘That’s the ice magic talking, Sparky,’ Shay said behind her. ‘It’s not you.’
Stella turned her head to glare at him and Beanie. Who did he think he was to speak to her like that? Didn’t he realise she was a princess? Didn’t he know she was royalty?
‘Don’t come another step closer or I swear I’ll drop him!’ she said.
Shay held up both hands and Beanie did the same.
‘Just … remember who you are, Stella,’ Beanie said.
But Stella did remember now – that was the point. She was an ice princess, and her place was in her castle, with her trolls and her magic mirrors and her dungeons and her iron slippers. Why had she ever let these people talk her into leaving?
She stared down at Ethan – who was still struggling to keep hold of Dora in spite of her continuous attempts to peck him – and she didn’t know how she could ever have felt anything like friendship towards him. She hated him. She hated all of them …
Ethan saw something in Stella’s eyes then that made him feel truly afraid. He knew that she was going to let him go. He was going to fall to his death, all because he’d tried to save a goose that didn’t even like him. First Julian was killed by a squid, and now Ethan was about to be polished off by an ice princess and her deranged goose.
‘Tell my father—’ he began.
But before he could continue, Beanie said, ‘What will Felix say?’
Stella froze at the sound of that name. ‘Felix?’ she repeated.
Then she heard Felix’s voice inside her head – the words he had spoken to her back at the Polar Bear Explorers’ Club: What does it cost us to be kind?
‘What will he say when he finds out that you let another explorer die when you could have saved him?’ Beanie went on.
Stella felt something twist in the pit of her stomach. When she thought of Felix – and his laugh, and his smile, and the way he looked at her when he was pleased with her – she suddenly felt warm instead of cold.
I don’t want that, Stella thought to herself. I don’t want any of this. This isn’t me!
With her spare hand she reached up for the tiara, pulled it from her head and flung it into the snow. Shay and Beanie rushed forwards to help, and the three of them hauled Ethan up over the side, along with the goose, who instantly flapped off, honking loudly and irritably, obviously quite cross about the whole affair.
‘Ethan, I am so sorry,’ Stella said.
‘It’s fine,’ Ethan said, holding up his hand. ‘It’s fine. I like dangling off the edge of a cliff whilst a goose pecks at my face. Really.’
Wordlessly, Beanie handed him another penguin plaster, and Ethan stuck it over the new cut on his cheek.
‘I’ll find some way to make it up to you,’ Stella said, feeling terrible.
‘I’ve only myself to blame,’ Ethan replied. ‘I should never have threatened to turn you into a blind mole-rat. That was terribly rude of me.’
He gave her another one of his rare smiles and Stella couldn’t help hugging him, despite his complaints.
‘Thank you for saving Dora,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry she pecked you.’
Stella felt she never wanted to see the tiara again, and was all for burying it in the snow and forgetting about it, but the others persuaded her to take it home. At the very least, an ice princess’s magic tiara would make a fine addition to the collection of curiosities on display at the Polar Bear Explorers’ Club. So the tiara was put back in the top-hat box with the cabbage, and then they all piled into the sled and carried on to the ship.
To their enormous relief, the Bold Adventurer was still there, bobbing gently in the icy sea. A few sailors were loading the last of the supplies on board when they approached, so they left them with instructions not to open the top-hat box unless they wanted a very nasty surprise, said goodbye to the animals, and then hurried on board. There were lots of explorers from both the Ocean Squid and the Polar Bear expeditions milling around on deck, who immediately rushed over to greet the junior explorers when they appeared. They were the last to arrive, and everyone was pleased and relieved to see them all in one piece.
‘Captain!’ Stella called, spotting Captain Fitzroy on the other side of the deck.
He turned at the sound of her voice and gave Stella a low bow as the junior explorers made their way over. ‘Miss Pearl,’ he said. ‘I am delighted to see you. And the rest of you too, of course. We were starting to fear the worst.’
‘Do you know where my dad is?’ Shay asked.
‘Captain Kipling is in the luggage room, and so is your uncle, I believe,’ Captain Fitzroy said, looking at Beanie.
The two boys said goodbye for now to the others and hurried off in the direction of the luggage room.
‘What about Felix?’ Stella asked. It seemed strange that he wasn’t there, watching out for her, and she was suddenly afraid that he might have been hurt, or worse – lost – during the expedition.
‘Mister Pearl is currently involved in an altercation with some other explorers,’ Captain Fitzroy replied, tilting his head. ‘It sounds like a most energetic argument. But then explorers do specialise in those, I understand.’
Stella realised he was right. She could clearly hear the sounds of an argument somewhere close by.
‘It sounds like it’s coming from the wolf pen,’ Ethan said.
The two of them quickly made their way over to the other side of the bridge. Stella could hear Felix’s voice, and he definitely sounded very angry, which wasn’t like him at all. Stella wondered what on earth they could be arguing about. Ethan pulled back the canvas flap and the two of them peered inside to see a dozen or so explorers crowded into the wolf pen.
‘You can’t take the wolves,’ one of them was saying. ‘They’re the property of the Polar Bear Explorers’ Club.’
‘And they will be returned to the club in due course,’ Felix replied impatiently. Stella saw him then, right at the back of the pen. There was stubble on his jaw, and he looked rather more dishevelled than usual but, other than that, he was exactly the same as ever. ‘I will pay for the use of the wolves when I return to the club.’
‘But you won’t return to the club, you madman!’ the explorer replied. ‘You’ll be a skeleton in an igloo!’
‘If I am to be a skeleton in an igloo,’ Felix replied, ‘then that’s surely no one’s affair but my own. I cannot prevent this ship from leaving, but I can take these wolves to go and search for Stella and the others by myself.’
‘You won’t be by yourself,’ another explorer said. It was Ethan’s father, Zachary Vincent Rook. He stepped forward to stand beside Felix. ‘This man may talk a lot of silly nonsense about fairy rights and such forth, but he is quite right about this matter – we cannot leave our children behind in this forsaken frozen wasteland. They will certainly perish. And I will not abandon my son. We must remain behind to search for them. These wolves are coming with us, and anyone who attempts to prevent us from leaving will be turned into a singing cucumber without any further warning.’
Stella heard Ethan gasp beside her. He raised his voice and said, ‘That won’t be necessary, Father,’ but his words were drowned out beneath a chorus of furious responses from the other explorers.
‘No one threatens to turn me into a cucumber!’ one of them cried. ‘No one!’
‘It’s an outrage!’
‘An affront to the clubs!’
‘You shall both be reported.’
‘I say that allowances ought to be made for Rook,’ a large explorer with a ginger moustache said. ‘After all, he’s recently lost one son, and who can blame him for not wanting to lose the other?’ He pointed at Felix. ‘But your behaviour, sir, is inexcusable. Inexcusable! Why, that strange, white girl isn’t even your real daughter! In fact, many of us feel you should never have brought her back from the Icelands at all.’
‘You would prefer that I’d left an infant to freeze to death alone in the snow?’ Felix enquired, his face turning an interesting shade of pink. ‘Surely no human being with a shred of decency would contemplate such a thing for even a moment? Stella is the most precious person in the world to me; I would give my life for hers a hundred times over.’
‘Who knows where she came from or what she is?’ the ginger-moustache man insisted. Then he shuddered and said, ‘That girl gives me the creeps with her white hair and those icy blue eyes. They stare right through you, like there’s no soul in there at all. If you ask me, she ought to be—’
He didn’t get any further, however, because Felix hit him, with a clean, straight punch directly to the chin. Not expecting it, the explorer toppled over onto the floor with a heavy thud.
Stella clapped both hands over her mouth in shock. She remembered how Felix had occasionally mentioned being a boxing champion back in his youth, but she had always thought he was joking.
‘Stella has ten times the soul you have, you ignorant, bigoted fool!’ Felix ran a hand through his dishevelled hair, took a deep breath and said, ‘I have never once hit another man outside of the boxing ring in my whole life, but if you speak about my daughter like that in front of me again, I—’
‘Felix!’ Stella cried and, this time, everyone heard her, and the explorers all turned to stare as one.
‘Good heavens! Stella!’ Felix exclaimed, staring at her.
Taking advantage of the momentary distraction, the explorer on the floor scrambled to his feet and lunged towards Felix. Before he could reach him, however, Zachary Vincent Rook threw up his hand and the explorer instantly turned into a singing cucumber that rolled along the wooden boards, before coming to a stop beside Felix’s boot.
‘Bad form attacking a man when his back is turned,’ the magician said, shaking his head in disapproval. ‘Extremely bad form.’
Felix nodded his thanks to Zachary befo
re carefully stepping over the cucumber – which was singing a sea shanty with great gusto – and running towards Stella as she hurried towards him. They met in the middle of the wolf pen where Felix caught Stella up and lifted her so high that her feet came right off the floor. Stella buried her face in the curve of his neck, breathing in his familiar scent of soap and peppermint.
‘My dearest girl,’ he said, finally setting her down, ‘Believe me when I say that I have never been more pleased to see you in my whole entire life.’
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
TWO WEEKS LATER
A warm welcome awaited them back at the Polar Bear Explorers’ Club, and a feast was held in honour of the returning explorers. After the collapse of the first ice bridge the adult explorers had been unable to reach the coldest part of the Icelands, but they had still managed to make a number of interesting discoveries during their expedition – including a yeti pool, a fairy polar bear habitat, and a boisterous dancing penguin colony. They’d even brought one of the dancing penguins back with them – his name was Monty, and he delighted the diners all evening with his enthusiastic show of jigs, slip-jigs, barn dances and can-cans.
It was the junior explorers who were enjoying the limelight, though. The president of the Polar Bear Explorers’ Club was thrilled to have another first for the club – even if it was a joint first with the Ocean Squid explorers. They had made it to the coldest part of the Icelands and that was something worth celebrating. Both clubs would take it in turns displaying the expedition’s discoveries, starting with the Polar Bear Explorers’ Club – which lost no time putting the carnivorous cabbage, starflakes and ice princess tiara on display.
The president even asked whether they might consider handing Dora over to be stuffed and placed in the front lobby along with the other captured beasts from the Icelands. Stella turned this request down flat and Felix had backed her up, as she’d known he would. This line of enquiry clearly made him nervous about Monty the dancing penguin’s safety, however, for Stella noticed Felix sneaking him into his bag when he thought no one was looking. Pinching a penguin – and a magic one at that – was a clear breach of club rules but Stella knew that Felix was wont to turn a blind eye to the rule book on occasion.