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

was a relief to stretch their legs, and everyone helped to get settled in for the night. Shay saw to the animals whilst Ethan got the baby volcano hot and molten in the centre, and Beanie and Stella set out the dinner.

‘What about Pepé?’ Beanie asked. ‘Shouldn’t we feed him, too?’

‘Please don’t call the cabbage Pepé,’ Stella groaned. ‘And anyway, it’s not a “he,” it’s an “it”.’

‘You’ve named the goose,’ Beanie said. ‘How is this any different?’

‘It just is, Beanie.’

He didn’t argue with her, but Stella noticed him slipping a couple of pieces of Spam into the hat box when he thought she wasn’t looking.

Dora had only laid two speckled eggs since that morning so they would have to share, but they put out some Spam and mint cake to bulk out the meal. Stella decided they might as well do it properly, so she got out the china plates stamped with the Polar Bear Explorers’ Club crest, set the gramophone going with a scratchy jazz record, and got out the champagne. Ethan knew a spell to turn it into ginger beer (which, miraculously, really did turn it into actual ginger beer rather than swamp slime, or some such) and, finally, they all stood around the fiery heat of the bubbling volcano and raised their glasses in a toast.

‘What shall we drink to, gang?’ Shay asked.

‘The discovery of the cabbage?’ Stella suggested. ‘If an angry cabbage with teeth isn’t a curiosity worthy of taking back home then I don’t know what is.’

‘To the cabbage!’ Ethan said, only half sarcastically, as he raised his glass.

The others did the same and they all took a sip of the ginger beer – which tasted a little too gingery and burned the back of their throats as it went down – but no one said anything so as not to hurt Ethan’s feelings.

‘We should toast Dora, too,’ Beanie said, indicating the goose, who had settled herself close to the warmth of the volcano and was fluffing her feathers contentedly. ‘She’s a good discovery. And she provided the dinner tonight.’

‘To Dora, the goose,’ Stella said, raising her glass.

They drank to the goose and were about to sit down to eat when Ethan said, ‘Hang on. I’ve thought of one more.’

‘We haven’t discovered anything else, have we?’ Stella asked.

‘Just one other thing,’ Ethan said. He raised the glass, hesitated for a moment, then said, ‘Beanie, you mentioned earlier that you only have one friend in the world. Well, I just wanted to tell you that’s not true.’

‘Yes, it is,’ Beanie replied. He glanced at Stella and said, ‘You’re still my friend, aren’t you? I haven’t done anything to spoil it, have I?’

‘Beanie, you could never do anything to spoil it,’ Stella said. ‘We’ll always be friends.’

‘No, no, that’s not what I meant!’ Ethan said. ‘I meant that you don’t just have one friend any more.’ He tapped himself on the chest. ‘You’ve got two.’

‘Make that three,’ Shay added.

Beanie flushed right down to the roots of his hair. ‘Three?’ he finally said. ‘Does that mean … will you come to my birthday party?’

‘Naturally,’ Ethan replied. ‘Magicians always go to their friends’ birthday parties.’

‘Wouldn’t miss it,’ Shay agreed.

‘So that’s the last discovery I think we should toast,’ Ethan said. He raised his glass. ‘To friendship.’

The other explorers raised their glasses, grinning. ‘To friendship,’ they echoed.

They sat down around the volcano and ate until they were full. The top hat from the box served as a useful holder for the bottle of ginger beer, especially after they filled it up with snow.

‘Can you pull a rabbit out of a hat?’ Stella asked Ethan, nudging the hat with her boot.

‘Pulled a mongoose out of a hat, once,’ he replied.

Beanie frowned. ‘What’s a mongoose?’

‘Not something you want to be pulling out of a hat,’ Ethan said. ‘Dratted thing almost took my eye out. After I gave it life and magicked it into existence from nothing. That’s gratitude for you.’

‘I used to know a mongoose whisperer once,’ Shay said. ‘He was a bit odd. Twitchy.’

‘I don’t think I’d care to be a mongoose whisperer,’ Stella said. ‘It must be much nicer being a wolf whisperer.’

‘Speaking of which,’ Shay said, standing up, ‘I think I’ll go and spend some time with them. They’re probably feeling a bit neglected.’

He wandered off to go and chat to the wolves. Beanie pulled his father’s travel journal out of his bag and settled down to re-read it for the hundredth time. Dora made herself comfortable in Stella’s lap, draping her long neck around her arm.

‘She’s taken quite a fancy to you, hasn’t she?’ Ethan said.

He reached over to stroke the goose’s feathers but she immediately pecked his hand and hissed at him.

‘Why am I always getting bitten by things?’ the magician complained, snatching his hand back. Without looking up, Beanie threw him over another plaster (a polar bear one) and Ethan stuck it onto his hand with bad grace. ‘First a frosty, then a cabbage, and now a goose. I suppose I’ll be savaged by a penguin next. It’s practically inevitable.’

‘Oh dear, the penguins!’ Stella exclaimed. In all the excitement of the expedition, and running away from various things, she had forgotten about her Polar Pets. Although Felix had said they didn’t need feeding, she still felt guilty for not at least checking on them, and quickly rummaged around in her bag.

‘You haven’t really got penguins in there, have you?’ Ethan asked, raising an eyebrow.

‘They were a birthday present from Felix,’ Stella said.

Her hand finally closed around the cold little igloo; she drew it out and peered through the door. The family of penguins were all tucked up in tiny beds, wearing nightcaps with little tassels on the end. It looked rather cosy in there, actually. There was even a tiny igloo nightlight on a bedside table next to one of them, which emitted a soft, golden glow.

‘Can I see it?’ Ethan asked.

Stella handed it over to him, and the magician examined it carefully. ‘Fascinating,’ he said.