The Polar Bear Explorers' Club

by Alex Bell

  ‘Girls aren’t allowed in the Explorers’ Clubs,’ the boy spoke again. ‘You’re not supposed to be here.’

  Stella folded her arms over her chest. ‘Well, neither are you. This is the Polar Bear Explorers’ Club, not Ocean Squid.’

  ‘How did you get in? Did you sneak over the gates?’ the boy asked, ignoring her remark.

  ‘Did you slither up through the drains?’ Stella shot back.

  The boy glared at her. ‘I’m here for an expedition. The Ocean Squid Explorers’ Club are going to be the first explorers ever to reach the coldest part of the Icelands.’

  Stella gaped at him. ‘You can’t be. That’s what we’re going to do!’

  ‘Not likely,’ the boy said.

  Stella didn’t like the way he was staring so openly at her hair, which she had tied back into a long ponytail. It wasn’t unusual for people to be curious about her appearance on first meeting her, especially when they’d never seen white hair like hers before, but even so, it was terribly rude to stare like that.

  Stella lifted her head a little higher, calmly smoothed an imaginary wrinkle from the dove-coloured skirts of her travelling dress, and said, ‘I still don’t understand why you’re even here, when you’re not a Polar Bear club member.’

  The boy gave her a superior look. ‘Don’t you know anything? We’re being hosted as guest explorers. Our two expeditions will take the same ship to the Icelands. It’s less expensive that way.’

  ‘So what’s your role, then?’ Stella asked. ‘Are you a squidologist? You look like a squidologist to me.’

  ‘I am not a squidologist!’ The boy drew himself up to his full height. ‘My name is Ethan Edward Rook, and I’m a magician.’

  ‘Do some magic, then.’

  Ethan looked momentarily taken aback, but quickly recovered himself and said, ‘All right, if you want me to. Hold out your hand, girl.’

  ‘Don’t call me “girl”. My name is Stella. Stella Starflake Pearl.’

  Ethan looked down his nose at her. She gave him her fiercest stare right back.

  ‘Only explorers have three names,’ he said.

  ‘That must make me an explorer, then.’

  Ethan shrugged and gestured impatiently for her hand. Stella held it out palm upwards. One side of Ethan’s mouth twisted in a half smile as he held both his hands over hers and said, ‘I hope you’re not afraid of snakes.’

  Stella was a little bit unsure about snakes, but she gritted her teeth and promised herself that she absolutely would not flinch if one magically appeared on her hand. Ethan’s eyes narrowed in concentration and the air between their two hands shimmered, causing Stella’s skin to tingle. But perhaps part of Ethan’s mind was still thinking of the polar beans painted on the ceiling above them, because, when the shimmering air formed into a solid shape, there was no fearsome snake – but five polar beans all jumping up and down on Stella’s palm, giggling and laughing and clapping their tiny hands together.

  Stella gave a snort of laughter, and glanced at Ethan to see that his pale face was flushed with embarrassment. He clenched his hand into a fist and thumped it against the wall hard enough to rattle the framed flag that hung there.

  ‘Drat!’ he exclaimed.

  ‘No need to be a sore loser about it,’ Stella laughed. She leaned down to set the polar beans on the floor where they skipped, cartwheeled and frolicked their way around the hall. ‘Squidologists can’t make beans out of thin air, so I believe you’re a magician now at least – just not a very good one.’

  Ethan fixed her with an icy grey stare. Stella distinctly saw his nostrils flare. ‘I am an excellent magician,’ he said. ‘You’re just a stupid girl who doesn’t know what she’s talking about.’

  Stella was about to offer the nastiest insult she could think of in return when the door opened behind them, and Felix walked in. ‘Ah, there you are,’ he said. ‘I’ve been looking high and low for you.’

  He didn’t raise his voice or sound angry, but Stella could hear the edge of disappointment in his tone, which was somehow worse. Suddenly, she felt no bigger than the polar beans merrily sliding up and down the polished floor of the hall.

  ‘I’m sorry, Felix,’ she said. ‘I just wanted to see the Map Room.’

  Felix raised an eyebrow slightly. ‘This is the Hall of Flags.’

  ‘I got lost,’ Stella admitted.

  Ethan gave a snort beside her.

  ‘Well, I’m glad to see you’re making friends, at least,’ Felix said, walking over to them. He held his hand out to Ethan and said, ‘Felix Evelyn Pearl. Delighted to meet you.’

  Ethan looked at Felix’s outstretched hand with an expression of distaste, and Stella decided – right then and there – that if Ethan didn’t shake Felix’s hand within the next five seconds, she was going to bop him on the nose. Really, really hard. Fortunately for Ethan, he eventually took Felix’s hand and said, ‘Ethan Edward Rook.’

  ‘How do you do?’ Felix said. ‘I just met your father in the corridor.’

  Ethan instantly looked a little shifty, and Stella wondered whether he had wandered off against instructions too.

  Felix turned to her and said, ‘You’ll be pleased to hear that the president has agreed you can come on the expedition with us. You’ll need to take the explorers’ pledge, and then we’ll be off.’ He turned back to Ethan and said, ‘We’ll see you on the ship, Master Rook.’

  Stella felt a sense of smug satisfaction at the stunned expression on Ethan’s face, and couldn’t resist poking her tongue out at him as she followed Felix from the room. She really was going on the expedition! The president hadn’t forbidden it after all. And there was nothing Ethan Edward Rook, or anyone else, could do to stop her.

  CHAPTER SIX

  ‘I really am sorry,’ Stella said to Felix as they walked down the corridor.

  ‘What are you sorry for, Stella?’ he asked.

  ‘Well, for not staying outside like you asked me to. And for … for disappointing you.’

  Felix stopped and turned towards her. ‘Listen,’ he said, ‘this is your first expedition so everything is going to seem new and strange and exciting to you. But, Stella, you absolutely must do as I say from now on. It wasn’t easy getting the president to agree to you coming along. And if anything goes wrong with the expedition as a result, then I will certainly lose my membership of the Polar Bear Explorers’ Club. Do you understand?’

  Stella nodded. The last thing she wanted was for Felix to regret bringing her, and she would hate herself forever if she somehow got him thrown out of the club that he loved so much. ‘Yes, Felix. I promise I’ll be good, and do as you say and not let you down.’

  ‘Excellent. And in fact, whilst we’re on the subject, there’s one particular thing you can agree to do for me right now.’

  ‘Anything,’ Stella said. ‘I’ll do anything you want.’

  ‘I want you to be nice to Ethan Edward Rook during our voyage to the Icelands.’

  Stella couldn’t help herself – she immediately pulled a face. ‘He doesn’t seem like a very nice person to me,’ she said.

  ‘Well,’ Felix replied, ‘you hardly know him. And we don’t always show people our true selves on first meeting them, do we?’

  ‘He’s got a cold way of talking, and a sneering sort of face, and this nasty way of looking at you like he thinks you’re less than him,’ Stella said.

  ‘Give him a chance,’ Felix insisted. ‘It doesn’t do to judge others too hastily. And sometimes people are fighting battles we know nothing about. What does it cost us to be kind?’

  ‘Nothing,’ Stella dutifully supplied, although it seemed to her that it did cost something to be kind sometimes. Patience, for a start, and pride, and willpower. ‘But what did you mean about fighting battles? What battle is Ethan fighting?’

  ‘How should I know?’ Felix asked. ‘I only just met the boy.’

  ‘You do know something about it,’ Stella said, narrowing her eyes at him. ‘I can tell.�
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  ‘Really, Stella, don’t be such a nosy-boots,’ Felix replied mildly. ‘All you have to worry about is being kind to Ethan. It’s not at all necessary for you to know his life story in order to do that.’

  ‘All right,’ Stella said, trying not to sigh. ‘Next time I see him I’ll try to be nice.’

  ‘Good girl.’ Felix squeezed her shoulder and then carried on walking down the corridor.

  When they reached the president’s office, Felix knocked firmly on the door and a voice called for them to enter. They walked into a large room dominated by a gigantic wooden desk at one end. Stella saw that it was intricately carved, with figures of snarling yetis serving as legs and holding up the large table top. Bookcases ran around the walls, filled with atlases and almanacs and travel journals, and a fire crackled and spat in a grand fireplace. Above it hung a huge painting of a polar bear, sat on its haunches, with its head thrown back, roaring into the frozen air and snow that swirled all around it.

  ‘Ah, Mister Pearl,’ boomed a deep voice from the end of the room. ‘You found the girl, I see.’

  The president of the Polar Bear Explorers’ Club stood and walked around from behind his desk. Algernon Augustus Fogg was a large man with the most impressive moustache Stella had ever seen. It was twirled, curled and waxed at the ends, and instantly made Stella think of walruses.

  ‘Child, this is most irregular,’ the president barked. He even sounded a little bit like a walrus. ‘We have never had any lady explorers at the Polar Bear Explorers’ Club, let alone girl ones. Goodness knows what the other clubs will make of us. Think us all a bunch of deranged mavericks, I don’t doubt. Most irregular. Quite unheard of.’ He sighed, reached into his waistcoat pocket and withdrew a circular tin of moustache wax, with which he proceeded to wax the ends of his impressive facial hair. Giving a final, twisting flourish to its already pointy tips, he said, ‘But your, ah …’ He hesitated and glanced at Felix, apparently unsure how to refer to him. ‘Your guardian—’

  ‘Father,’ Felix said at once, slipping his hands into his pockets and developing a sudden interest in the polar bear painting above the fireplace.

  ‘Yes, your father,’ President Fogg amended. ‘Your father has been most persuasive. Most persuasive.’ He scowled. ‘And since he is providing the lion’s share of the funding for this expedition, I have decided to allow his request as a special favour – on this one occasion. You shall be admitted as a junior member of the Polar Bear Explorers’ Club on a temporary basis. After that, we’ll see.’ He beckoned Stella forwards. ‘I know you have a ship to catch so let’s not waste any more time.’

  Stella walked up to the desk and stared at a huge, glittering yeti paperweight cut entirely out of one massive piece of crystal, and which was holding down a pile of travel documents. She thought she had never seen such a magnificent paperweight in her life, and wondered whether she might be able to persuade Felix to get her one for her next birthday.

  The president picked up a large, leather-bound atlas, held it out towards Stella and said, ‘Place your right hand over the atlas and repeat after me.’

  She dutifully did as he said, and proceeded to recite the explorers’ pledge, which went like this:

  ‘I, Stella Starflake Pearl, do solemnly swear that I will explore faraway lands, strange seas, exotic jungles and forbidden deserts. That I will bravely face fierce monsters, bloodthirsty pirates, savage beasts and ferocious weather. I will seek to extend the limits of human understanding, discover new wonders, and commit astonishing acts of derring-do. All my discoveries, scientific or otherwise, shall be made in the name of queen, country and the esteemed honour of the Polar Bear Explorers’ Club. In wind, hail, sleet or snow I shall keep a stiff upper lip, keep calm and carry on regardless. I shall conduct myself in a gentlemanly manner at all times, ensuring that my collar is cleanly pressed and my moustache is well maintained, even when experiencing those narrow escapes and close shaves that are the unavoidable experience of intrepid gentlemen explorers across the globe.’

  Stella thought he might have left out that last sentence on account of her being a girl, but went along with it anyway, whilst silently promising herself that one day, there would be a lady’s pledge as well as a gentleman’s one, and that it wouldn’t once mention something as vain and useless as a well-groomed moustache.

  Instead, the lady’s pledge would vow to fashion petticoats into sails for rafts, or bravely brandish parasols as weapons, or learn how to throw a fan so that it could knock a bandit down from fifty feet away. There was plenty of stuff, Stella was sure, that she could think of for the lady’s pledge, which would be far more useful than collar-pressing and moustache-grooming.

  ‘Here is your explorer’s cloak,’ President Fogg said, handing Stella a smaller version of Felix’s pale blue one, complete with a tiny polar bear stitched onto the front. ‘And your explorer’s bag.’ He handed her a blue satchel, also emblazoned with the club’s polar bear motif. Then they shook hands and Felix said they must go or they would miss the ship.

  Stella felt a great blazing glow of happiness as she slipped the warm explorer’s cloak around her shoulders and followed Felix out to the waiting sleigh. Once settled inside, with the door closed and the brisk clip-clop of the unicorns’ hooves filling the air, Stella lost no time in exploring the contents of her explorer’s bag.

  She was a little disappointed to find that it mostly contained moustache wax and beard oil, along with various other ointments, salves and unguents, and a folding pocket moustache comb that was quite a handsome object, but regardless, not much good to Stella.

  ‘Don’t worry about that stuff,’ Felix said when Stella complained about it. ‘It’s all quite useless. We’ll sort you out with proper supplies once we’re back on the ship.’

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  The next couple of days on the Bold Adventurer seemed to race by in a flash. As soon as the ship set sail, Felix was crippled with sea sickness once again, leaving Stella more or less to her own devices. She spent a fair amount of her time with Shay, helping him to look after the wolves, yaks and unicorns, or watching him practise with his boomerang – a fantastic object that Stella coveted most ardently. Shay would stand on deck, Koa at his heels, and throw it out to sea and, somehow, it always came back to his waiting hand. Stella asked if she could try but Shay told her, apologetically, that it took a lot of practice to get it right and, if she were to throw it away from the ship, the odds were that it would fall into the waves and never be seen again.

  On the morning of the third day, Felix was finally well enough to get out of bed without being in immediate danger of needing a bucket.

  ‘What have you been up to the last couple of days?’ he quizzed Stella, whilst standing in front of the mirror to carefully straighten his bow tie. ‘I’ve hardly seen you.’

  ‘Well, you could hardly expect me to sit around listening to you groaning all day,’ she replied. ‘It would be enough to drive anyone round the twist.’

  ‘Be that as it may,’ Felix replied. ‘You might have checked in with me from time to time.’

  ‘I did check in, but every time I came back you were asleep. Or in the bathroom. Or lying with your head under the pillow making that moaning sound.’

  Felix bent down to rummage under the bunk for his missing shoe, and Stella distinctly heard him mutter something about travelling by dirigible next time.

  ‘I’ve always wanted to travel by dirigible,’ Stella said.

  ‘Here it is.’ Felix straightened up with the missing shoe. ‘Come on. Let’s go and have some breakfast.’

  Stella didn’t see her friend, Beanie, until a few days into the voyage, when his uncle finally forced him to take a break from reading and made him go up on deck for some fresh air. Beanie was studying to be a medic, and was so intensely interested in the subject that he could easily sit and read one of his textbooks for hours and hours. His uncle, Professor Benedict Boscombe Smith, wasn’t too keen on reading, however, and felt tha
t the best way to learn was by doing (even if you weren’t completely sure what you were actually supposed to be doing). He was a booming, boisterous man, who, unfortunately, seemed to expect everyone else to be as booming and boisterous as he was. Stella had once heard him complaining about his nephew on a visit to Felix.

  ‘He’s just not like other children,’ he’d said. ‘He won’t let anyone hug him, not even his mother. No doubt it’s the elf blood in him, giving him all these strange ideas and fancies and whimsies. You saw the way he fussed over those carrots at the dinner table, lining them up in size-order before he ate them. It’s not normal.’

  ‘My dear Benedict, I’m sure I have no idea what “normal” even means. And does it really matter how the boy chooses to eat his carrots in the grand scheme of things?’ Felix asked.

  ‘It’s how he got that ridiculous nickname, you know,’ Professor Smith went on, as if Felix hadn’t spoken. ‘He loves jellybeans – goes nuts over them – so his mother puts a packet in his lunchbox every day. But, rather than just eating them, he separates the beans into colour groups first. It’s the most ridiculous thing you ever saw, and now they all call him Beanie.’

  ‘Well, there are worse things they could call him. Besides, I think you’re really placing too much importance on—’

  ‘Plus he has this crackbrained idea that he’s going to be the first explorer to reach the other side of the Black Ice Bridge,’ Professor Smith said. ‘Even though everyone knows it can’t be done. Every explorer who’s ever attempted it, including the boy’s own father, has vanished without a trace. It’s his mother’s fault – elves will have these strange ideas – but she’s convinced Benjamin that he can do anything a normal child can do.’