Polar Distress

by Sheila Grau

  “I knew it!” Darthin said. “I knew they were hiding something.”

  “Not just something,” I said. “They have the sudithium. They must be hiding it somewhere. But where?”

  “I’ve been all over this town with the sudithium detector,” Darthin said. “I’ve never even gotten a blip.”

  “Anything else?” I asked Meztli.

  “One guy said something like, ‘What if they wake him up? It’s too early.’”

  “Wake who up?”

  “I don’t know,” Mez said.

  “Something that eats a lot of fish,” Darthin said. “I’m guessing.”

  “So they have it,” Frankie said. “What now?”

  They were looking at me, all of them.

  “We have to find it,” I said. “Not the flakes in the crater. We have to find the village’s secret stash of the mineral.”

  Treasure Hiding, Prisoner Watching, Advanced Sabotage, Evil Overlord Flattery, and Blame the Other Guy

  —PARTIAL LIST OF EXTRACURRICULAR SEMINARS OFFERED AT DR. CRITCHLORE’S SCHOOL

  We were silent as we thought about where the villagers could be hiding the sudithium. Meztli finished his drink and put the mug on the edge of the table. After a few seconds, he swatted it with his hand, knocking it to the floor, but I was ready this time and caught it.

  “Guys, what’s the first rule of hiding treasure?” I asked.

  “Use lots of booby traps,” Frankie said.

  “No, that’s the fourth rule,” I said. “The first rule is: Get a monster to protect it.”

  “A monster . . . like that giant bird,” Meztli said.

  “You think they could be hiding the sudithium in its nest?” Darthin asked.

  “It seems like a good hiding spot to me,” I said. “But how could we get it?”

  We thought about that.

  “I know how we could test your theory,” Darthin said. “We could leave a sudithium detector on the bird’s tribute spot. I saw it bring back an orange vest and leave it there. If it doesn’t like something, it returns it, so the villagers will know not to feed it that again. It’s a smart bird.”

  “So we could put the sudithium detector in something we know the bird won’t eat,” I said. “The bird will take the detector to its nest, realize it doesn’t want to eat it, and bring it back.”

  “And if there is sudithium in the nest, the detector will come back with a reading,” Frankie said.

  Darthin nodded. “It’s worth a try.”

  “Let’s do it.”

  We put the sudithium detector in my pillowcase, wrapping it up with a cord. We headed back out to the bay. The locals were done practicing and had already packed up their kites. We were able to walk over to the long building and then hide behind the far end, where the villagers couldn’t see us.

  “Frankie,” I said, “you’re fastest. Go run it out there.”

  He nodded and grabbed the bundle. The ice and heavy clothes slowed him down a little, but still, he was back in a flash.

  “And now we wait.”

  It didn’t take long for the bird to pick up our gift. I grabbed Darthin’s shoulder as she flew back to her nest. “It worked!”

  We waited for her to come back. And waited. We were due back at camp to meet with Professor Murphy after the council meeting. I told everyone to go ahead, I’d catch up with them later. I couldn’t leave the spot unattended. I told them to tell Professor Murphy that I wasn’t feeling well.

  After they left, I kept my binoculars focused on the nest. I could see the giant bird with her chicks. She looked like she was settling in for a while. Rats.

  I scanned the ice. It was so beautiful at this time of day. The iceberg frozen in place in the bay was a brilliant white cutting into the blue sky with its jagged edges. Beyond it, way off in the open water, I saw an icebreaker. I wondered if the ship was one of Professor Murphy’s escape plans for once we found the sudithium.

  I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye and turned to see the bird swoop down from the nest. She dropped the bundle on the tribute spot without landing and swooped right back up.

  I waited a minute and then ran out, snatched the bundle, and sprinted away as fast as I could. Once safe, I opened it up to look at the reading on the sudithium detector.

  It was zero. The needle hadn’t budged.

  I caught up with everyone at camp. I’d been able to hitch a ride with two of the guides that Professor Murphy had hired. The guides joined Professor Murphy inside one of the cabins, and I found my friends in another one. Darthin sat at a table with his journal, while Mez lay bundled in his sleeping bag and Frankie stretched out on a cot.

  “The villagers voted to kick us all out,” Darthin said. “But a representative of Irma Trackno told them they had to give us one more chance.”

  “It’s not a good situation, though,” Frankie said. “Professor Murphy told us we have to work fast, because we could be forced to leave at any time.”

  I handed the sudithium detector to Darthin, who looked at it and said, “Not in the nest?”

  “Nope,” I said.

  “Well, it was a good guess,” Meztli said. “Now what?”

  I sat down by Frankie’s feet. “What’s the second rule of hiding treasure?” I asked.

  Frankie sat up. “Plant a decoy treasure and make a fake map with a giant X on it?”

  “No, that’s the third rule,” I said. “The second rule is: Hide the treasure where people have already looked.”

  “The crater?” Darthin said.

  “We’ve been told that the mining operation found everything in the crater,” I said. “Wouldn’t that make it the perfect spot to hide a pile of sudithium, if you had it?”

  “Maybe,” Darthin said. “It’s not a bad plan.”

  “But it’s a huge crater,” Frankie said. “And our guides won’t let us go inside. You should see them. They get very agitated if we even step near.”

  “Doesn’t that prove my point?” I asked.

  Professor Murphy yelled for a meeting, so we went outside and gathered around him.

  “We can continue our work,” he said. “I’ve told the council that the Pravus team is the one upsetting the local animals, and they have promised to deal with them. This means we may have a few more days to dig—ideally, without distraction. We must dig fast, just in case we are forced to leave. Let’s make it count. Tomorrow I want all teams to report to Rufus’s site, where we’ve had the most luck.”

  “Jud and I can handle it alone,” Rufus said.

  “Nonsense,” Professor Murphy said. “We need all hands working there.”

  “Great!” I said.

  “Runt, you stay put. We don’t want the Pravus team to think we’re focusing on that one spot.”

  Not great.

  Everyone returned to their tents, and I stood up to join the guides going back to town in the van. Before I left, Darthin grabbed my arm.

  “What are you going to do?” he asked.

  I looked at my friends. My mind was made up.

  “Tomorrow,” I said. “I’m breaking a rule.”

  “The swirls of dancing lights in the night sky, which most people call ‘the aurora,’ are called ‘Nature’s Tribute to Irma Trackno’ in Upper Worb.”

  —GUIDEBOOK TO UPPER WORB

  The next morning I sat at the counter eating breakfast. I was having second thoughts about my plan. But then I thought about what would happen if I kept doing what Professor Murphy wanted me to do, and I got mad all over again. While Rufus and the others were on a real archaeological dig, he’d assigned me to search in the equivalent of the playground sandbox.

  I watched Alasie and Big Jim in the kitchen. They probably knew where the sudithium was hidden. If only I could get them to tell me . . .

  There seemed to be quite a lot of tension between them. Alasie was slamming pots and pans and grunting at him. Big Jim grunted back.

  “You have a job to do,” Big Jim said. “There’ll be othe
r races. You’re lucky you weren’t sent back to Okkopiku after you knocked over the building. I put my reputation on the line to keep you here.”

  Alasie screeched.

  Today was the day of the big race, and she was being forced to babysit me. It gave me an idea.

  I finished my breakfast and coughed. They ignored me. I coughed again.

  “Big Jim,” I said, throwing a few more coughs in the air as I spoke. “Hey! Big Jim.”

  At last he walked over. Alasie kept up her slamming routine.

  “Listen, I’m”—cough—“all alone today,” I said. “And I don’t”—cough—“think I’m going to go out to the site. I’m not feeling well. Going back to bed. So we won’t need”—cough—“her today. Thanks.”

  Alasie looked over. The air stilled.

  “I’m sure Professor Murphy will still pay you for your time,” I added.

  Alasie rushed over and grabbed Big Jim’s arm.

  I coughed one more time and then headed back upstairs.

  My chest really did feel tight, and my nose was constantly running in the cold up here, but I had no intention of staying in my room. I waited about thirty minutes and then left, walking down the road toward camp. Brightly colored kites zipped across the ice in front of town. And then, as I neared camp, Pravus’s dragon swooped overhead, heading for the cliffs.

  I wondered if the Pravus team had come to the same conclusion as me. Did they think the village was hiding sudithium in the nest?

  I pulled out my binoculars to watch. The rider, clearly a Pravus kid, was trying to keep the dragon above the gyrfalcon, but the gyrfalcon guarded the cliffs like a boulderball goalie.

  The gyrfalcon was faster, but the dragon had a better weapon—fire. One blast after another shot out at the bird, who flapped the flames away with her powerful wings. The dragon edged higher, now just above the cliffs. As the gyrfalcon rose for another attack, the Pravus rider fell off.

  I gasped.

  The dragon and gyrfalcon were still battling when a parachute opened. I focused on the rider and gasped again when I saw a flash of green in the rider’s hair. It was Syke.

  Syke had never ridden a dragon in her life. Critchlore wouldn’t let her. And I knew for sure she’d never parachuted before. That was an elective for sixth-years.

  She was heading right for the cliffs.

  “Turn!” I shouted, as if she could hear me. “TURN!”

  She landed on a small ridge above the gyrfalcon’s nest, her parachute tangling in the rocks above her. How was she going to get down? Just as I was wondering if I should tell Coach Reythor about her, I saw the sun glint off her own binoculars. She was up there scanning the village below.

  She’d landed there on purpose. From that spot, she could see the entire area, from the dragon hangar to the village. From the crater to the iceberg. It was the perfect lookout spot, if you didn’t mind freezing to death.

  I made it to our base camp, ready to march into the crater and finally search for real, but the rest of the Critchlore team was still there. Apparently, they’d called another council meeting. Professor Murphy had told everyone to sit tight, it wouldn’t take long.

  “Where are Rufus and Jud?” I asked.

  “They said they didn’t need protection and went to dig,” Frankie said. “Two Pravus teams followed them. We were just trying to decide if we should go out or wait for Professor Murphy.”

  A loud bang ripped through the air. I pulled out my binoculars. I could see a line of Pravus trolls standing on a hill, firing bear bangers over Rufus’s head.

  If it were anyone else, I’d rally the troops to go out and help him, but this was Rufus. He was trying to steal all the glory for himself while the rest of us were stuck here, obeying Professor Murphy’s order to wait.

  A van sped toward camp, stopping just outside the electric fence. Professor Murphy and some villagers stepped out.

  “What’s going on?” Professor Murphy asked.

  “Rufus and Jud went out to dig,” Frankie said. “Pravus trolls are harassing them.”

  Professor Murphy frowned. “While I admire their dedication to the task, they disobeyed my command.” He turned to the two guides, nodding at them to head out there. “The Pravus team won’t risk attacking us when we have guides. Rufus and Jud should have waited.

  “The rest of you get out there as well,” he said. “We’ve been given an allowance to continue digging, but one more incident with the wildlife and that’s it.”

  A white-furred body came out of the van—Alasie. She saw me and frowned.

  “Everyone to their digging spots!” Professor Murphy called.

  I shrugged my shoulders and headed out. Alasie followed, her usual scowl in place. This was an unfortunate development for me. I was sure Alasie wouldn’t let me go into the crater.

  “I thought if I pretended to be sick, you could go to your race,” I said. “I’m sorry you missed it. They made you come out here anyway, huh?”

  She didn’t look at me or answer. She just hiked up to her spot on the little hill and sat down to watch me dig.

  I wasn’t going to dig anymore. I was trying to think up a way to distract Alasie when Meztli and Frankie approached on their snowmobile. They were the last team to leave camp, and before they reached me, I noticed two Pravus kids, Victus and a rather ugly troll, following them. Meztli turned and shot a bear banger at them. They returned fire.

  Victus nearly hit Alasie. He might not have seen her, because she was all white fur sitting on a white hill. This clearly was the last straw for her, because she picked up a boulder, screeched, and chucked it as far as she could. Her aim wasn’t great, but I was impressed with her strength. The boulder flew over my head and landed in the crater, hitting another rock with a loud crack that seemed to reverberate across the land.

  She froze, her eyes suddenly wide with fear.

  We all turned to look at where it had landed, wondering why she was so frightened.

  And then the rock moved. The ground shook, and then seemed to moan. A low rumbling sound surrounded us.

  “Do you hear that?” I asked Frankie and Mez.

  And then I heard a softer moan behind me. Alasie, hands to her mouth, was shaking her head. She turned and ran for the village. Victus and his friend zoomed off on their snowmobile, heading for the other teams.

  The ground shook again. The moan grew louder. It sounded like the kind of moan my foster brother Pierre makes when he’s woken up in the morning, only ten times louder. I scanned the crater floor, but nothing had changed. There was nothing anywhere in the stupid crater except for a few kids near the edge here, and in the far distance, Rufus and Jud.

  Then a bigger earthquake knocked us off our feet, and a giant crack split open the white floor of the crater.

  The icy ground seemed to rise, slowly. Only it wasn’t the crater floor, it was a giant creature who had been sleeping at the bottom of the crater. Its torso rose up out of the snow . . . and rose . . . and rose. The big rock that Alasie had hit was actually its toe, now wiggling. I didn’t know what it was, but it was focused on Victus’s noisy snowmobile racing away.

  The monster stood up and shook its body. Snow flew off in all directions. It was huge and hairy, like a moving three-story building with limbs and fur. It roared and took two giant strides to get ahead of the snowmobile, then turned to look down on it with a long, angry face that was cut with scars. Its mouth had an underbite full of huge, sharp teeth. Four horns sprung out the top of its head, with two more curving down in front. Its fur was thick, like a woolly mammoth.

  Someone in Rufus’s area shot at it with something, and the beast turned on them. I pulled out my binoculars and focused on Rufus. He and Jud both morphed and ran for their lives. The Pravus kids were shooting bear bangers at the monster, and the beast roared again. It started toward them, each step shaking the earth so hard it would have broken Stevie’s seismograph, I was sure.

  Huge polar hares hopped up and fled in all directions. Enorm
ous polar foxes ran after them. It was pandemonium.

  “We have to warn the village,” I said.

  “I think they probably know,” Frankie said, looking up at the incredible height of the monster.

  Everyone seemed to be fleeing in our direction now, with the beast following.

  “Let’s get out of here!”

  “Woolly Gigantoths are thought to be the ancestors of the modern giant, but many giants refuse to believe that they could have evolved from something so ugly.”

  —PROFESSOR VIDLEY’S MONSTER HISTORY CLASS

  The mountain of a monster roared. The Pravus team kept shooting at it, with arrows now, but it was like shooting a person with toothpicks. It only made him mad.

  I ran for a snowmobile, with Mez right behind me. Frankie joined us, and we took off for town. “We have to find Darthin!” Frankie yelled over the rush of noise.

  We headed for the village. Once there, we could see that the whole area was in complete mayhem. Many villagers were racing for the giant fish-containing building.

  “I guess we know what they were saving all that fish for,” Meztli said.

  “But the fish is on the other side of town,” Frankie said. “That monster is going to flatten every building before he gets there.”

  “Look!” I said, pointing to the metal building. “They’re trying to load the fish onto sleds. Maybe we can help.”

  We drove over to the crowd, chased by the roar of the monster. It stomped on their community building. I really hoped it was empty of people, because now it was flat.

  Every snowmobile and every sled in the village had been driven or hauled to the fish-storage building. Darthin stood in the group, helping. Men and women raced into the building and came out holding armfuls of fish. Once a sled was loaded, the snowmobile took off for the beast.

  He stood on top of the smashed building, swinging his arms in the air, as if he were battling imaginary attackers. Below, the first sled filled with fish had reached him. The villager unlatched the sled and left it in front of the monster. Then he got back on his snowmobile and sped away.