“So what’s next?” Dev said, double-checking the ancam screen for updates. “What do we do?”
“Maybe we should hike to Uluru,” Mari said, “after we rest. We could look for the battle scene of the spirit snakes.” Mari stared at the silhouette of the great rock. A dingo howl carried over the flat land. Another came as a reply.
“I don’t like it,” Eliza admitted, but she wasn’t talking about the hike to Uluru, or the dingos, or even the snakes. “The next leg of the race could start at any time. And here we are, roasting s’mores? We should be preparing.”
“For now, all we can do is wait,” said Jace.
Sage smiled to herself. She and Eliza had a lot in common. Sage was anxious to get started again, too. The race wasn’t over. They had only come to a stopping point. When would the next stage start? Where would they go? Which other teams were still in the competition?
Sage shook her head. She was learning that she wasn’t good at waiting for answers. Luckily, she was excellent at making s’mores.
Want to know what happens when The Wild Life heads to the Himalayan mountains? Read on for a glimpse of the next race course in
The tingling seemed to start in Russell’s nose, but it also stretched to his toes and fingers. He clenched his hands into fists and buried them in the pockets of his jacket.
“I’m not that cold,” Dev announced, looking at the rugged peaks above. The mountains rose in jagged steps, each taller than the next. The highest ones were crusted with layers of pure white ice and snow. “I shouldn’t be cold, right? It’s spring. So why are my hands numb?”
“The higher we go, the colder it gets,” Eliza reminded them. “The Himalayas are the highest mountains in the world, you know.”
“But that tingling probably isn’t from cold,” Maya chimed in. “It could be from a lack of good air. The higher we go, the less oxygen there is.”
“Well, yeah,” Eliza added between shallow puffs. “Obviously.”
Mari was talking about altitude sickness. Russell knew it was no joke. Not getting enough oxygen could make you very sick. His mom had told him about it after watching a movie. She had said that it started with a tingling, itchy feeling in the hands and feet, and it could cause dizziness and nausea. Russell knew that if he didn’t feel better soon, it could sideline him. It could knock any of them out of the race.
“We’ve been climbing for a while,” Sage said to the team. “Maybe we should take a break.” Sage was the group’s de facto leader. For Russell, Mari, and Dev, it was their sixth race with Sage, and they all had come to rely on her. She looked out for them, and not necessarily just for their chances to win. But they all knew the truth: Sage did not like to come in second.
But this time, Russell did not agree with their leader. He preferred to keep moving. As long as he was taking steps, searching for safe footing, his mind wouldn’t wander to other things. After all, there were a lot of other things to think about. Some of the teams had already been eliminated. No one knew which teams were still in it, but Russell was willing to bet that his old friend Dallas and the rest of Team Nine had made the cut. Russell just had a feeling, and not necessarily a good one.
“Can you check the ancam again, Dev?” Eliza asked. “It’s hard to believe we’ve hiked all this way, and the race organizers haven’t given us a single clue. It seems like a waste of time and energy.”
“I just checked the ancam, like, two minutes ago,” Dev assured them, patting the trusty communication unit. Dev kept it strapped to his chest in a handcrafted harness, so he could grab it in two seconds flat (1.63 seconds to be precise). Dev took his job of operating the gadget, which was their only connection to the race organizers, very seriously.
“Can you check again?” Eliza prompted.
After a moment, Dev answered Eliza. “The ancam still doesn’t show anything except the X on the map. I think we should keep going. We aren’t far.” Dev glanced at the flame-colored sun as it dropped lower in the sky. “We might not be really cold now, but that’ll change as soon as the sun goes behind one of the mountains.”
“And spotting animals in the dark won’t get any easier,” Mari noted. That was the whole point of The Wild Life after all. The race was an around-the-world competition—in some of the planet’s most remote places—to seek out animals and animal facts. Russell knew Mari was right. She usually was when it came to the animals. Nightfall would make tracking any wildlife more difficult … and more dangerous.
Russell took as deep a breath as his lungs would allow. “I agree. Let’s keep moving,” he panted. He was exhausted and needed to rest, but he wanted to get to their designated stopping point before he collapsed.
Over his heavy breath, he heard a howl ring out. Seconds later, another howl joined it. This one was long and high, like a siren.
“Is that what I think it was?” Russell wondered out loud.
“I think so,” Eliza answered.
Another howl carried through the cool, crisp air.
“On second thought, we should keep going,” Sage said.
“Good thinking,” Dev answered, picking up the pace.
“It’s probably the wolves in a pack calling to one another, trying to meet back up,” Mari said, sounding unconcerned.
“Or maybe they are warning another pack to stay out of their way,” Eliza added in a matter-of-fact tone.
“Does it matter why they’re howling?” Russell asked. “There are wolves close by. Too close for comfort.”
“Don’t be so sure,” Mari replied. “Wolf howls can carry over six miles.”
Six miles was far, but Russell was sure those calls were from much closer.
“I can see a light up ahead!” Dev called. “I’ll bet it’s our rest stop.”
Russell searched the path in front of them until he saw the glimmer of a lantern. Then he looked back, past Eliza and their chaperone, Jace. He thought he could see the silhouette of a wolf on a cliff in the distance. Moments later, a mournful howl sounded, and Russell knew the wolves weren’t far behind.
READ MOUNTAIN MISSION TO FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!
KRISTIN EARHART grew up riding horses, pestering her cat, and reading books about amazing animals. These days, she lives with her husband and son in Brooklyn, New York, and writes books of her own. She still loves animals. But now, when she pesters her cat, the surly cat pesters back.
Text copyright © 2016 by Kristin Earhart.
Illustrations copyright © 2016 by Scholastic Inc.
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
First printing 2016
Cover art by Erwin Madrid
Cover design by Yaffa Jaskoll
e-ISBN 978-0-545-94196-9
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