Slush Puppy Love

by Christina Soontornvat

  For Polly Rose Hill and

  Roberta Joy Hill

  Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Chapter One: Beware of Brainstorms

  Chapter Two: Magically Miffed

  Chapter Three: Secrets in the Snow

  Chapter Four: All in the Family

  Chapter Five: The Problem with Presents

  Chapter Six: Like Snowbody’s Business

  Chapter Seven: Best in Snow

  Chapter Eight: Puppy Playdate

  Chapter Nine: Puppy Training

  Chapter Ten: All that Glitters is Cold

  Chapter Eleven: The Truth Comes Out

  Chapter Twelve: Lo and be Cold

  Chapter Thirteen: Creature Sighting

  Chapter Fourteen: Puppy-Size Problems

  Chapter Fifteen: A Simple Solution

  Chapter Sixteen: Pulley-ing for You

  Chapter Seventeen: The Look

  Chapter Eighteen: A Birthday to Remember

  Activities

  Sneak Peek

  About the Author

  Copyright

  Dear Diary,

  Today in Ms. Collier’s class I learned a new word: brainstorming. Nope, it doesn’t mean creating a storm with mind power. It means coming up with a bunch of ideas. Aren’t Groundlings (also known as humans) so funny?

  Our class was learning all about simple machines. Ms. Collier gave us a challenge: We had to use simple machines to move a jumbo marshmallow from one side of the classroom to the other without touching it at all.

  If it were up to me, I would just create a blast of wintry wind to blow the marshmallow across the room—but of course I couldn’t do that. My winter magic powers are a complete secret when I’m at school with Groundlings. The only person who knows about my powers is my best friend, Claudia. Luckily that’s exactly who I was partnered up with.

  Our “brainstorms”:

  We decided the pulley idea was the most fun. While we were sketching out our plan, I tried to ask Claudia some sneaky questions.

  “So …” I began. “Our family is having game night tonight. Don’t you just love board games?”

  Claudia shrugged. “Yeah, they’re fun.”

  “Right,” I said. “But not as fun as making crafts. Don’t you just love craft supplies?”

  She looked at me funny. “Yeah, craft supplies are good …”

  “Don’t you wish you had a kit full of new craft supplies? Or beads? Don’t you just love beads?”

  Claudia put her hands on her hips. “Lina, what is all this about?”

  “Your birthday is coming up, and I don’t know what to get you!” I blurted.

  Claudia laughed. “Is that all? You know you don’t have to get me anything special.”

  Yes, of course I know I don’t have to. But I want to, Diary. Claudia is my best friend, and she’s the only person on Earth (literally) who knows that I’m actually an ice princess who lives in a castle in the clouds. Plus, Claudia always gets me perfect presents. This year she got me gloves knitted with conductive thread so I can still play video games even if I’m in the middle of a blizzard!

  “Well, what are your parents getting you?” I asked.

  “They promised me that this year I could finally get a puppy …”

  Perfect! I’d get Claudia a collar for her new dog!

  “… but then last week we learned my dad is allergic.” She sighed sadly. “The best I can hope for is a gecko.”

  Diary, I feel so bad for Claudia. She has always wanted a dog. Whatever present I come up with for her needs to be so good that she’ll forget all about wanting a puppy.

  Today after school I brainstormed a list of all the things I could get Claudia for her birthday.

  This should be so easy! I thought about what cool dog-inspired gifts I would like.

  But Claudia already has so many dog-themed things. None of those gifts seemed like something she would really want.

  Then I heard Mom calling my name from downstairs. “Lina! I need you to come here right now, young lady!”

  Anytime Mom calls me young lady, I know it can’t be good.

  Downstairs, Mom stood in the dining room with her arms crossed. “Lina, did you leave the pitcher of lemonade out again?”

  Uh-oh. I’m not supposed to leave any food or drinks out because Gusty will jump up and get into them. Sure enough, I looked down and saw him sitting in the middle of a sticky puddle with a guilty look on his face.

  “Please get a towel and clean this up,” said Mom. “And then give Gusty a bath.”

  “Okay, I will,” I said.

  As soon as Mom walked out of the room, Gusty started whining.

  “Don’t give me that look,” I said. “This is all your fault. Lucky for you, I can get this cleaned up in a jiffy.”

  I pushed up my sleeves and held out my hands. I blew a cold breath over my fingers and pointed them at the puddle of lemonade. The sticky liquid froze into icy crystals that rose up off the floor and swirled into a frosty cloud. A lemonade cloud!

  I waved my hands to send the lemonade cloud flying out the dining room door to the courtyard.

  “Easy, freezy,” I said with a smile. “Now Gusty, let’s get you into the bath.”

  A few minutes later, Gusty was enjoying his soapy bath upstairs when I heard Mom yelling again.

  “LINA WINDTAMER RUDDER WINTERHEART, GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW, YOUNG LADY!”

  Ooh, when Mom calls me a young lady and uses my full name, I know I’m in gigantic trouble.

  I grabbed a soaking-wet Gusty and ran down to Mom’s office. The lemonade cloud hovered over her desk and rained sticky drops all over her papers! I must have sent the cloud out the wrong door!

  “Lina, I told you to clean up that mess!”

  “I did! I cleaned it up with magic,” I said.

  “Lina, not every problem should be solved with magic. Your powers are getting stronger, and you need to think before you use them. You will clean this up. With a towel this time.”

  Diary, do you know what miffed means? It means mad, but not super mad. Like halfway between annoyed and mad.

  As I sopped up the lemonade with the towel, I was miffed at Mom. For months my family has been pushing me to get better at using my magic powers. Well, I got better! And now she wants me to stop?

  Good thing tomorrow is Saturday. On Saturdays I go to Granddad’s castle.

  “Granddad will understand,” I grumbled.

  Talk about words I never thought I’d say!

  Mom flies me to Granddad’s castle every Saturday for Winterheart lessons. Every member of our royal family has magic powers. Mom and Granddad are both Windtamers, which means they can control the wind and weather. I’m a Winterheart, and Granddad has been helping me improve my powers over ice and snow.

  “LINA, TODAY WE WILL PRACTICE SNOW SCULPTING,” Granddad boomed. (Granddad yells when he talks. I guess when you’re the North Wind, you get to do that.)

  Snow sculpting is one of my favorite things to work on. I can make almost anything out of snow and ice. My favorite things to make are animals.

  “EXCELLENT, LINA. YOUR POWERS ARE IMPROVING STEADILY. I WANT YOU TO KEEP USING YOUR MAGIC A LITTLE BIT EVERY DAY.”

  “Tell that to Mom,” I grumbled.

  Granddad raised one bushy eyebrow. “WHAT’S GOING ON BETWEEN YOU TWO?”

  I told him all about how Mom got mad at me for cleaning up lemonade with magic. “Isn’t that just so unfair?”

  “YOUR MOM HAS A POINT. MAGIC CAN SOLVE PROBLEMS, BUT IT CAN ALSO CAUSE TROUBLE.”

  I huffed. “Not if you know what you’re doing.”

  “YOUR GREAT-AUNT SUNDER KNEW WHAT SHE WAS DOING, AND LOOK WHAT HAPPENED TO HE
R.”

  “What do you mean? What happened to her?”

  Granddad started to answer, but then changed the subject. “WOW, I AM FEELING THE NEED FOR A SNACK. HOW ABOUT YOU? I’LL MAKE US SOME ANTS IN A FOG!”

  Diary, Granddad volunteering to spread peanut butter and raisins on marshmallows is a sure sign that he’s trying to avoid me.

  No one in our family likes to talk about Granddad’s sister, Great-Aunt Sunder. I always thought she was just grumpy or something. But the funny way Granddad was acting meant there had to be more to the story.

  And I was determined to figure out what it was.

  After Winterheart practice, Granddad usually takes a nap in the afternoon. (Diary, when the North Wind snores, it can shake the whole room!)

  Usually that’s the most boring part of my visit, but today I couldn’t wait for him to fall asleep. As soon as I heard the walls rumbling, I crept down the hallway to the library.

  Granddad’s library is amazing. He has hundreds of ancient books about all kinds of magic. I walked up and down the bookshelves looking for something—anything—about my great-aunt Sunder. Finally, I found a dusty, old book that looked promising.

  A chill crept up my spine. I had no idea that Great-Aunt Sunder is a Winterheart just like me. According to the book, she used to live with her brothers and sisters in the skies. Her powers grew and grew until she had become the most powerful of all the Four Winds.

  Wow, Diary, does that mean she was even more powerful than Granddad?

  The book said that Sunder began to use magic in ways no one ever had before. She created ice mountains and winter cyclones. She even made snow beasts. She sculpted animals from snow and blew magic over them to bring them to life.

  Her brothers and sisters were scared of her powers. She had to move away from them, all the way to the South Pole.

  Does that mean Great-Aunt Sunder got cast out of our family? Just because she made some animals out of snow? That doesn’t seem fair!

  I wanted to read more, but I heard Granddad start to wake up. I quickly shut the book and put it back on the shelf.

  “Did you have a good nap, Granddad?” I asked as he came into the library.

  “I WAS JUST RESTING MY EYES! GOOD WORK TODAY, LINA. I THINK YOU LEARNED SOME THINGS.”

  Wow, Diary, he had no idea.

  As interesting as it was to learn about my family secrets, I sort of forgot about it. I mean, I had really important things on my mind.

  To get my thoughts in order, I decided to make a list.

  Most important of all: What in the world am I going to get Claudia for her birthday? Her party is in one week, and I have zero ideas!

  I tried brainstorming another list. I tried searching through my toys for inspiration. I even tried stomping as hard as I could down the castle stairs.

  (Stomping didn’t really help me come up with any ideas. It just felt good.)

  Nothing I came up with seemed good enough for my best friend. Finally I had no choice but to go into the living room and flop down onto the floor at my parents’ feet.

  “It’s no good!” I moaned. “I have no idea what to get Claudia for her birthday.”

  “You’re so creative,” said Dad. “You should make her something.”

  “Oh, that’s a great suggestion,” added Mom. “You could make her a card. Ooh! Or how about a puppet?”

  “Mom, Claudia doesn’t want a card or a puppet!”

  “What does she want, then?” Mom asked.

  I sighed. “What she really wants is a puppy, and it’s not like I can make a—”

  Oh, Diary.

  My brain stormed so hard that it started a hurricane inside my skull.

  I raced up the stairs. “Mom, Dad, I’m going up to my room now!”

  “Everything okay, honey?”

  “Yup, just fine! I’m going to go and … make a puppet!”

  On my way up the stairs, I scooped Gusty into my arms. He barked excitedly.

  “Shh, buddy. I’m going to need you to be super cooperative right now, okay?”

  I set him down in my room and closed the door behind us.

  “Okay, Gusty, you’re going to be my model. So strike a pose.”

  I kept my eyes on Gusty as I held out my arms and wiggled my fingers. I waved my hands over the falling snowflakes, sculpting them into shape. When I was done, I was pretty proud of myself. My snow puppy looked great!

  Next came the hard part: breathing life into the snow sculpture. The book in Granddad’s library said that Great-Aunt Sunder blew a “magical breath” onto her snow beasts. I had no idea what that was like, but I shut my eyes and tried my best to copy the pose in the illustration.

  I put my lips together like a whistle and blew a cool puff of air onto the snow puppy. Nothing happened. I blew again, harder this time. And then I did some extra blowing for good measure. I waved my fingers over the puppy. I shut my eyes really hard. I wiggled my bottom (because hey, why not, right?).

  When I heard Gusty yipping, I opened my eyes.

  At first, the snow puppy didn’t look any different. But then the snow sparkled. And then … it moved. I leaned in closer to the snow puppy.

  It licked my face!

  And then it hopped onto my lap!

  Oh. My. Blizzards.

  Diary, I made a snow beastie!

  Diary, it is a miracle that I made it all the way down to Claudia’s house in my dad’s airplane without him finding out I had a dog in my backpack!

  Dad is a Groundling, so he can’t fly through the sky on a gust of wind like Mom can. Thank goodness the motor on his plane is super noisy. It drowned out the sounds of the puppy’s sniffing and panting.

  “What did you end up making Claudia for her present?” Dad called from the front seat.

  “A puppy … I mean a puppet! A puppy puppet!” I had hidden the backpack on the floor beside my seat. The snow puppy kept trying to get out of it, and I had to keep feeding her ice cubes to keep her still. She had so much energy I worried she would jump right out of my backpack!

  Dad dropped me off in front of Claudia’s house. I rang the doorbell, and she answered it. “Oh hi, Lina! What are you doing here?”

  The backpack on my shoulders wiggled and wriggled. “Um, I’m here to give you your birthday present early. As in, immediately!”

  My backpack whimpered.

  “Let’s go to your room!” I grabbed Claudia’s hand and pulled her up the stairs.

  In her room, I opened the backpack, and a ball of white fur tumbled out.

  Claudia gasped. “Lina! Is that my present?”

  “Happy birthday?”

  “But what about my dad? His allergies …”

  “I don’t think it will be a problem because she’s not a real dog. She’s a snow dog. As in, made of snow.”

  Right then the snow puppy hopped up and licked Claudia’s face.

  I laughed. “She’s super energetic. I think it’s because I breathed a lot of life into her.”

  “What are you talking about?” asked Claudia.

  “I’ll explain everything later. But first, you should give her a name.”

  The puppy licked Claudia’s face again, and she giggled. “She’s like a fluffy, flurry puff of snow! Oh!” Claudia looked up at me. “That’s what I should name her—Flurry!”

  When the puppy heard her new name, she leaped up and gave a happy yip.

  “So what do you think?” I asked. “Do you like her?”

  “Are you kidding?” Claudia threw her arms around my neck. “Lina, this is the best birthday present ever!”

  At first, Claudia’s parents were not exactly thrilled that I gave her a dog as an early birthday gift. But when they saw how excited she was—and when they learned that Flurry would not make her dad sneeze—they gave in.

  Claudia and I decided not to tell our parents where Flurry actually came from. There is a saying that goes: “Ignorance is bliss.” It means that you can’t worry about something if you don’t know ab
out it.

  Besides, what is there to worry about? Claudia loves her new puppy, and that’s all that matters!

  Today after school, she brought Flurry up to our castle for a puppy playdate with Gusty. The two pups chased each other through the clouds in front of our castle. Flurry is so fluffy and white that she looked like one of the clouds!

  “Aw, Gusty is so happy to have a little friend,” I said.

  “I’m just glad Flurry has someone else to play with,” said Claudia. “You said she was a bundle of energy, and you were right. She’s wearing me out!”

  “Well, this is perfect, then. Our dogs can have a playdate, and we can have one too!”

  While Gusty and Flurry chased each other, Claudia and I played hide-and-seek in the clouds. After a few rounds, we went to check on our puppies. We found Gusty resting on a cloud tuft, but Flurry was nowhere to be seen.

  “She must have run into the castle,” I said. “Let’s go find her!”

  “Flurry!” called Claudia. “She does this at my house too. Yesterday she went missing, and I found her in the yard chewing up our garden hose!”

  We searched all over the castle: down in the kitchen, up in the throne room, my dad’s hangar where he keeps his airplanes. I was starting to get a little worried, Diary, because a castle in the clouds isn’t exactly the safest place for a puppy to go wandering. If she ran too far, she might run right off our magical clouds, and …

  Oh gosh, I didn’t want to think about it!

  Ruff, ruff, ruff!

  “That’s her!” said Claudia.

  We followed the barking sounds to my parents’ room and into their closet.

  Diary, it was a complete mess! Flurry had gotten into my mom’s trunk and pulled out her nicest ball gowns. Beaded dresses and satin ribbons were strewn all over the place!