Explorers on Witch Mountain

by Alex Bell

  Gideon showed them where the hammocks and blankets were, and the four explorers strung theirs up under the awning, alongside Gideon’s. It was not an ideal arrangement, and Stella found herself suddenly longing for her bed at home. The frosted deck of the dirigible was not a hospitable place, and it was impossible to feel excited about the upcoming expedition when she had so much worry building up about Felix. Besides which, they weren’t on an expedition this time, but a rescue mission, straight to a place they knew to be dangerous. It did not feel exciting like it had before. It just felt scary in a hundred different ways.

  To distract herself, Stella beckoned the jungle fairies over and helped them tie their hammocks alongside hers. There was a brief squabble between Hermina and Buster when the T-Rex tried to pinch her hammock, so Stella had to fashion the dinosaur a little hammock of his own from one of her handkerchiefs. Finally, everyone was quiet and settled and ready to sleep.

  The fleecy blankets were actually fairly warm, and the hammock was extremely comfortable. Stella liked the slight rocking motion it made – and the soft creak of the ropes, combined with the rumbling snores from the jungle fairies, made a soothing background noise as the dirigible sailed on through the still, cold night.

  She glanced over at Gideon, who had changed into a very fancy dressing gown and night cap ensemble, and was all tucked up in his hammock with his back to the rest of them. It was extremely bad luck that the Jungle Cat boy had happened to be on board. His presence made her uneasy. He clearly was not on their side, and she worried that he might sabotage them the first chance he got.

  ‘Sparky,’ Shay whispered from the hammock next to her. Stella turned to look at him, and the wolf whisperer raised an eyebrow. ‘I’m just thinking that maybe we should take it in turns staying awake to keep an eye on old Jungle Cat over there.’ He nodded towards Gideon. ‘He’s likely to nobble us the first chance he gets, I think.’

  Stella sighed. ‘I was just thinking the same thing,’ she whispered back. ‘We could do with some kind of guard to keep an eye on him …’

  As she spoke, a crackle of blue sparks leapt from her fingertips, just like they had back home when the snow unicorn had appeared. The sparks showered down to the carpet of frost beneath their hammocks, and Shay and Stella both looked down.

  Before their eyes, a shape started to fashion itself out of snow. First it was just a lump, then it developed chunky legs, and arms, and, finally, a head. The snow ruffled itself into the shaggy outline of fur that covered the thing from head to toe. Sharp canines extended over the creature’s lips, and claws formed on its hands. It was, unmistakably, a yeti. A miniature yeti made entirely from snow. Whereas real yetis reached the towering height of sixty feet or more, this one would have come up to Stella’s waist, had she stood beside it.

  ‘Did you just do that?’ Shay asked, staring.

  ‘I … I’m not sure,’ she replied.

  The yeti blinked up at her, then slowly bent forwards at the waist in what was very definitely a bow. It straightened up and began walking up and down at the end of the hammocks, its big feet crunching on the frost.

  ‘He’s going to keep watch for us, I think,’ Stella said.

  ‘Stella, how did you do that?’ Shay asked. ‘I thought you could only do ice magic if you had your tiara on?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ she replied. ‘Something like this happened at home. I was just thinking that it would be cool if there was a snow unicorn there and, all of a sudden, one appeared.’

  ‘Did you get that cold feeling?’ Shay asked. ‘Like when you use the tiara?’

  ‘No.’ Stella shook her head. ‘Actually, I didn’t. Maybe it’s because snow magic is softer than ice magic? It certainly feels that way if … if that’s what this is.’

  ‘Perhaps.’ Shay looked towards the little yeti sentry. ‘I guess there’s a lot about snow queens and ice princesses we still don’t really understand.’

  They left the yeti to his guarding and settled down in their hammocks. They’d need all their wits about them once they reached Witch Mountain, and a good night’s sleep would definitely help.

  ‘I’m coming, Felix,’ Stella whispered under her breath. ‘I’m coming to help, whether you like it or not.’

  *

  Stella hadn’t been asleep for very long when she was woken by the sounds of roaring. She jerked upright and saw that her yeti was responsible for the noise, stood at the end of her hammock and bellowing into the frozen night. The next moment, Ethan scrambled from his hammock and charged over to the big navigational wheel where Gideon was standing. Ethan shouted something, and the two of them fell on each other. Stella scrambled from her hammock and ran across the cold boards towards them. Shay arrived at the same time and pulled Ethan away from the Jungle Cat explorer.

  ‘What the heck are you two scrapping about?’ he asked. ‘Can’t a chap get any sleep around here?’

  ‘He’s turned the dirigible around!’ Ethan said, pointing a finger at Gideon. ‘I knew he was up to something, I just knew it! If that snow creature over there hadn’t woken me up, he probably would have got away with it.’ Ethan gestured back towards where the snow yeti had been, but it had melted away.

  ‘I made him,’ Stella said. ‘To be on guard.’

  Gideon turned visibly pale at this. ‘Snow magic,’ he groaned. ‘Father was right.’

  ‘Quiet!’ Ethan snapped. He turned to the others and said, ‘That fairy who drank the jungle punch is out for the count, and do you know why? The punch was drugged, I’ll bet my life on it! That’s why he was so keen for us all to drink it.’

  ‘So what if it was?’ Gideon gasped. ‘I can’t go to Witch Mountain! It’s crawling with witches! I’ll be turned into a toadstool and boiled in some kind of awful soup, for sure!’

  Beanie clattered up to them, wearing his favourite pom-pom hat and looking confused. ‘What’s that about soup? What’s going on? Why is everyone shouting?’

  ‘He’s turned the dirigible around,’ Ethan said. ‘We’re sailing in the opposite direction to Witch Mountain.’ He shook off Shay’s restraining hand and marched over to the wheel, spinning it so hard that the dirigible lurched sharply to the left and everyone staggered to stay upright. Down below, Stella distinctly heard a cascade of smashing teacups.

  ‘You villains!’ Gideon panted. ‘You’ll pay for this, I promise you! My father will—’

  Ethan threw out his hand, there was a flash of light and, the next second, Gideon had vanished. In his place there appeared a small spotted purple frog with bulging hazel eyes. Beanie immediately sneezed. He was, unfortunately, extremely allergic to frogs.

  ‘Good heavens!’ Stella gasped. ‘Did you mean to do that?’

  Ethan drew himself up to his full height. ‘Certainly.’

  ‘You probably shouldn’t have, you know,’ Shay said, scratching the back of his neck. ‘He’s only going to be even more peeved with us all now.’

  ‘I don’t care how peeved he is!’ Ethan exclaimed. ‘I’m feeling pretty peeved myself!’

  The frog blinked once, and then began hopping around the deck, croaking loudly in a panic-stricken sort of way.

  ‘Oh, settle down!’ Ethan said. ‘There are far worse things I could have turned you into, believe me.’

  He reached down, scooped up the frog and tried to shove him into his cloak pocket. It was a bit of a challenge given that the frog seemed to be all legs that thrashed about most determinedly, but Ethan finally succeeded in wrestling him into the pocket, then firmly zipped it up.

  ‘Oh dear,’ Stella said, staring at the wriggling frog-shaped lump. ‘Is he going to be all right in there?’

  ‘He’ll be fine,’ Ethan snapped. ‘At least this way we can all get some sleep without worrying that we’ll wake up to find ourselves parked outside the Jungle Cat Explorers’ Club tomorrow morning.’

  He turned and strode off across the deck. Shay shook his head. ‘He really does need to work on controlling his temper,’ he said. ‘I’v
e honestly never met such an uppity prawn in all my life.’

  Beanie shrugged. ‘At least that was a wonky squish-squish frog he turned him into – they can smoosh up really small without being hurt, so he should be okay spending the night in Ethan’s pocket.’

  Shay shuddered. ‘What a proposition,’ he said. ‘But it does kind of serve him right, I suppose.’

  The explorers returned to their hammocks and Stella saw that Ethan had been quite right about the jungle fairy. Buster had turfed Hermina out of her hammock and onto the floor, and the fairy hadn’t so much as woken up. Stella carefully picked her up, placed her in Buster’s hammock, and tucked her in with a handkerchief, before climbing into her own hammock and going back to sleep.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Stella was woken several hours later by the jungle fairies doing their chant of doom, which isn’t really the most reassuring way to be woken up, especially on the very first day of a new expedition.

  ‘Huh-yah-yah-yah, huh-yah-yah-yah, huh-yah-huh-yah, huh-yah-yah-yah—’

  ‘Gods, isn’t there an off switch for those things!’ Ethan groaned from his hammock.

  ‘We’ve arrived at Witch Mountain,’ Shay said from the railings. ‘If there was ever a time for the chant of doom, I guess it’s now.’

  Stella jerked upright in her hammock so fast that she almost fell out of it. She scrambled off and hurried over to join Shay at the railings. The others were close behind her and, for a moment, the four of them stood and stared in a kind of horrified silence. Hundreds of evil faces stared back at them. They had arrived just before dawn and the mountain was covered in jack-o’-lanterns that were lit up orange against the dark sky, the candlelight flickering and shifting ominously. Some were grinning, some were snarling, others had their carved mouths open wide in a gaping, ghoulish scream. It didn’t exactly present itself as an ideal spot for an expedition.

  The sky turned pink as the sun began to rise, and the glow of candlelight disappeared as daylight broke. Brooding and foreboding, Witch Mountain was enormous. Covered in snow and frosted pumpkins, the jagged peaks looked like teeth piercing the sky. Ominous dark clouds swirled at the top, and jagged forks of lightning flashed through them at regular intervals. It was not a welcoming sight at all. Everything about the mountain shouted at them to go away and leave it alone – including the giant sign hanging from a floating black hot-air balloon tethered about halfway up that actually read: Be gone! Witches only!

  Now that it was daylight they could also see that Witch Mountain was, in fact, an island, surrounded on all sides by a dark, cold sea. A single galleon was anchored just offshore, bobbing on the choppy surface.

  ‘Oh dear, I hope that isn’t a pirate ship,’ Beanie said, peering down at it. ‘If it is then they’ll probably start firing cannons at us any minute now and we’ll be shot down for sure.’

  Stella took her telescope from her bag and trained it on the ship below. ‘It’s not pirates,’ she said, causing everyone to breathe a sigh of relief. ‘They’re flying the hunters’ flag. That’s a hunter’s ship.’

  ‘Well, good. We know we’re definitely in the right place then,’ Shay said.

  ‘I suppose now all we have to do is crash-land the dirigible.’ Stella glanced at Ethan and said, ‘Where’s Gideon?’

  ‘In my pocket still,’ the magician replied.

  ‘You should take him out,’ Stella said. ‘Make sure he’s okay.’

  ‘He’s fine,’ Ethan replied. ‘I can feel him squirming around.’

  Nonetheless, he unzipped his pocket and held the wriggling frog up for inspection. ‘See?’ he said.

  The frog rapidly blinked its enormous eyes at them. Stella didn’t think she’d ever seen a more miserable-looking creature in her whole life.

  ‘Okay, you’ve made your point,’ Shay said. ‘Now turn him back.’

  ‘But I prefer him this way,’ Ethan said.

  ‘Turn him back, Prawn,’ Shay repeated between clenched teeth.

  Ethan sighed but flicked his spare hand towards the frog. A burst of magic shot from his fingertip but Gideon remained, very definitely, a frog. Everyone stared at him expectantly, hoping for some kind of delayed reaction.

  ‘Ribbit!’ Gideon croaked.

  ‘Oh.’ Ethan frowned. ‘That’s strange. That should have worked.’

  ‘Don’t tell us you’ve forgotten the spell!’ Stella exclaimed.

  Ethan scratched his head. ‘Perhaps I wasn’t concentrating enough.’

  He tried several more times but nothing whatsoever happened. The others all started to berate him.

  ‘Oh, settle down!’ Ethan snapped. ‘You know, I’ve probably done him a favour anyway.’

  ‘Stop squeezing him so hard,’ Stella said. The way the frog’s eyes were bulging was starting to make her rather anxious. ‘You’re going to hurt him.’

  Ethan gave her a withering look. ‘Of course I’m not going to hurt him,’ he said. ‘Haven’t you ever heard of a wonky squish-squish frog before? They’re super-squishy. Why do you think I chose this particular type? You can stretch and smoosh them as much as you like and they’ll be absolutely fine.’ To Stella’s horror, he proceeded to squish Gideon into a little frog-shaped lump. ‘In fact, they’re like rubber,’ Ethan went on. ‘You can even bounce him like a ball, look.’

  Before anyone could stop him, Ethan bounced the hapless frog on the wooden boards of the deck. Unfortunately, he somewhat underestimated just how bouncy a wonky squish-squish frog could be. The little round frog ball flew straight up in the air and went zooming towards the railings at startling speed. Stella had the terrible image of the little frog sailing right out of their sight and into the clouds, never to be seen or heard from again but, fortunately, Shay shot out his hand and the frog flew straight into his palm with a smack.

  ‘That’s quite enough,’ the wolf whisperer said. He pointed at Ethan with his free hand. ‘Stop showing off. There’ll be no more bouncing the president of the Jungle Cat Explorers’ Club’s son up and down on the deck. It’s impolite. And undignified. Plus, we all know that the only reason you chose this particular type of frog is most likely because it’s the only one you know how to do, not because of some clever strategy.’

  Stella took the frog from Shay and began carefully unsquishing him back into a frog shape as best she could.

  ‘He ought to be thanking me,’ Ethan insisted stubbornly. ‘My spell has probably saved his life. When we crash-land this dirigible and all go up in flames, he’s likely to be the only one crawling from the wreckage and hopping away to freedom. Wonky squish-squish frogs are nigh on indestructible.’

  ‘And you’re nigh on talking absolute balderdash,’ Shay replied.

  Ethan pointed a righteous finger at Gideon. ‘You could set that frog on fire,’ he said. ‘And it would be perfectly fine.

  Shay clutched his head with both hands. ‘Do not set the frog on fire!’ he said. ‘We will have a very big falling out if you do.’ He dropped his hands. ‘And stop saying things like that out loud. You’re giving the jungle fairies ideas.’

  Stella looked down and saw that Mustafah had produced a match from somewhere and was holding it up to her. Perhaps he was still miffed about getting knocked from his ladder the day before. He looked up at her hopefully.

  ‘No, Mustafah,’ Stella said, tightening her grip on the squirming frog. ‘No one is setting anyone else on fire. Even if they are mean and horrible.’

  Shay took Gideon from her hand and zipped him up in his own cloak pocket. ‘I’ll take care of him for now,’ he said. ‘We could go on arguing about this for hours and, meanwhile, Felix could be with the witch already. We need to work out how we’re going to crash this dirigible.’

  ‘We could puncture the gas balloon,’ Ethan suggested. ‘It’ll sink fast enough then.’

  ‘I’ve got a better idea,’ Beanie said. ‘One that doesn’t involve crashing.’

  *

  A short while later, the four junior explorers had dug out ever
y single picnic blanket they could find on board the dirigible, and had finally succeeded in tying them all together in one coil.

  ‘Do you think it’ll be long enough?’ Stella asked, gazing down at the blankets winding their way all over the deck. ‘And hold our weight?’

  ‘There’s one way to find out,’ Shay said and, with that, he gathered up the blankets in a big pile and threw them over the side of the dirigible. The explorers peered over. So far as they could tell, the blanket rope went almost all the way down.

  ‘Close enough,’ Shay said. ‘It’s worth a try, at least. If we crash-land, then we’ll have no way of making our escape once we have Felix.’

  The jungle fairies had collected up all the napkins and tied these together in imitation of the junior explorers. Stella had tried explaining to them that they really didn’t need to bother since, having wings, they could flutter down easily enough under their own steam, but they seemed keen to join in so they decided to leave them to it. When the fairies threw their own rope over the side, it barely reached a fraction of the length, but they were very excited to climb it anyway.

  Stella stuffed Buster into the inside pocket of her cloak. She didn’t trust him not to squirm his way out of it so she zipped him in up to the neck, leaving only his indignant face peering over the top.

  ‘It’s for your own good,’ she said, tapping him on the snout. ‘T-Rexes don’t bounce either.’

  The four junior explorers hoisted their bags onto their backs, and then Ethan insisted on taking charge of Aubrey, Beanie’s wooden narwhal. His father had carved it for him before he went missing on his final expedition across the Black Ice Bridge and Beanie was extremely attached to it. Unfortunately, the last time they had climbed something high, he’d nearly dropped Aubrey, and had dragged Ethan right off the ladder in his attempts to save him.

  Beanie handed the narwhal over reluctantly, and then the four of them began the treacherous descent. Climbing down a rope was not as easy as it looked, and the muscles in Stella’s arms burned with the effort. It seemed to go on and on forever, not helped by the fact that the rope blew about in the wind, and, every time it moved, they feared one of the knots would give out and the whole thing would unravel.