The Polar Bear Explorers' Club by Alex Bell (books for 8th graders TXT) 📕

had to force herself not to look down as she climbed, one hand over the other, and prayed she wouldn’t slip on a frozen rung and break her neck.

After what seemed like forever, Shay reached the top of the ship and scrambled up over the side. She heard a thud as his snow boots hit the deck, and then his hand was reaching over to help her on board. Stella didn’t think she’d ever felt so glad to feel solid ground beneath her feet. Together, she and Shay helped Ethan up over the side.

‘Well, that was a long—’ he began, but that was as far as he got before the rope suddenly went taught as Beanie slipped off the ladder behind him. His weight dragged the magician back into the railings with a thump, and then flipped him backwards right over the edge. The force of their combined weight dragged Shay and Stella across the deck, and they both slammed hard into the railings. Stella braced her boots against them and gritted her teeth against the strain in her arms as she grabbed hold of a rail. Shay did the same and they just about managed to avoid being pulled over the side with the others. Stella could hear Ethan and Beanie both kicking up a tremendous fuss as they swung to and fro at the end of the rope, dangling helplessly above the vast drop spread beneath them.

‘Lord Rupert Randolph Rutledge,’ Beanie gasped, ‘plunged to his death after his teammate cut the rope in order to—’

‘I’ll cut the rope on you if you don’t shut up!’ Ethan snapped, before yelling to the others, ‘For goodness sake, pull us up!’

‘Give us a chance!’ Shay shouted back.

Together, he and Stella carefully got to their feet, gripped the rope and pulled it until Ethan reached the top once again. Shay grabbed his cloak and hauled him over the side before doing the same for Beanie. The four of them gasped for breath as the wooden deck creaked beneath their boots.

Ethan rounded on Beanie at once. ‘What’s the matter with you?’ he snarled. ‘What kind of explorer can’t even climb a ladder?’

‘I’m sorry,’ Beanie said. He had the wooden narwhal clutched tightly in his hand. ‘Aubrey started to slip out of my pocket, so I had to let go of the ladder to—’

‘You’re joking.’ Ethan fixed him with a cold, grey stare. ‘You must be. You’re not seriously telling me that you endangered your life, and mine, over a wooden toy?’

‘He’s not just a toy,’ Beanie protested. ‘He’s—’

But he never got to finish his sentence, because Ethan snatched the narwhal from his hand, and before anyone could stop him, tossed it over the side of the ship. One moment it was there, and the next it had gone, swallowed up by the vast drop below.

There was a moment of total silence. Beanie stared numbly in the direction of the vanished narwhal – then he untied the rope around his waist, turned without a word to anyone, and walked off to the covered bridge, closing the door quietly behind him.

The next moment, Stella flew at Ethan. She simply couldn’t help herself. Using her hands and her feet, she kicked and punched at him mercilessly. The magician tried to fend her off but the rope tying them together made it impossible to get away from her. Finally, Shay grabbed her around the waist and dragged her bodily away.

‘Stella, calm down!’ he said.

‘You’re crazy!’ Ethan gasped. ‘You know that, right? You’re absolutely crazy!’

‘You’re the most horrible person I’ve ever met!’ she yelled.

‘I almost just fell to my death because of your idiot friend and his stupid toy!’ Ethan replied, looking outraged.

‘Beanie’s father made him that narwhal!’ Stella said.

Ethan shrugged. ‘So he can make him another one. Big deal.’

‘His father has been missing for eight years!’ Stella said. ‘He went on an expedition across the Black Ice Bridge and never came back! That narwhal was Beanie’s most precious possession!’

Ethan looked taken aback for a moment. Then he scowled and said, ‘Well, only a complete lunatic would attempt to cross the Black Ice Bridge. Everyone knows that no one ever returns from there. And only a total halfwit would bring their most precious possession with them on an expedition. How was I supposed to know? I’m not—’

‘You’re the worst teammate ever!’ Stella cut him off. ‘You’re selfish and cruel. I bet that’s why your brother didn’t come on this expedition! I bet even he can’t stand to be around you!’

All the colour drained from Ethan’s already pale face, and for a moment Stella thought he wasn’t going to speak at all. But finally he said in a low voice, ‘My brother isn’t here, because he died in the Poison Tentacle Sea.’

Stella couldn’t have felt any worse in that moment than if he had slapped her. Guilt raged all the way through her body, hot and awful. Felix had known about Ethan’s brother, she realised. That was why he’d asked her to be nice to him; that was why he’d talked of battles she knew nothing about. He’d be so ashamed of her if he’d heard what she’d just said. Stella hated herself and wished she could take the words back.

‘Ethan, I didn’t mean—’ she began.

But the magician turned away from her, clutching at his head. ‘Gods, I really do have the most insane headache thanks to you lot!’

‘Are you all right?’ Shay asked quietly.

‘“All right”?’ Ethan repeated in an incredulous voice. He dropped his hands and Stella distinctly saw his nostrils flare. ‘How can I possibly be all right, you utter moron? Didn’t you just hear me say that my brother is dead? Would you be all right if you were in my place? Nothing will ever be all right for me or my family ever again.’

‘I’m sorry—’ Shay began. He reached out a hand as if to grip Ethan’s shoulder but the magician pushed him away.

‘Don’t you dare feel sorry for me!’ His eyes flashed in the