Mountain Mission

by Kristin Earhart

  TO MS. DENISE AND MS. MELISSA’S CLASS AT SEVEN ARROWS SCHOOL. THANKS FOR A WILD AND INSPIRING TIME! –KJE

  CONTENTS

  TITLE PAGE

  DEDICATION

  CHAPTER 1: THIN AIR, THINNER CHANCES

  CHAPTER 2: UNMAPPED TERRITORY

  CHAPTER 3: PRIOR PLANNING

  CHAPTER 4: AN UNEXPECTED STING

  CHAPTER 5: A SWARM OF WORRIES

  CHAPTER 6: TALLYHO

  CHAPTER 7: IN THE COLD AND OFF THE ROAD

  CHAPTER 8: ONE SHEEP, TWO SHEEP

  CHAPTER 9: HARNESSED FOR HAZARDS

  CHAPTER 10: SURPRISE SILENT STALKER SIGHTING

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  ALSO AVAILABLE

  COPYRIGHT

  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. 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 almost 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 the cold,” Mari chimed in. “It could be from a lack of good air. As we go higher, there is less oxygen.”

  “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. Russell’s 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. It was Russell, Mari, and Dev’s sixth race with Sage. 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.

  This was one 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. It was the final leg of this round of The Wild Life. He and his four teammates were competing in a special all-star race against other winning teams from previous years. 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.”

  Russell smiled to himself. Eliza was the newest member of their crew. She had once been their rival. Back when they were Team Red, Eliza had been on Team Purple. But now the five of them made up Team Ten, and they were working together in the All-Star Extravaganza.

  “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. (One point six-three 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.

  Russell glanced over his shoulder and saw Eliza scanning the rugged trail and gritting her teeth. At the start of the All-Star Extravaganza, the race organizers had forced each team to take on another member. Sage had drawn Eliza’s name from a hat. Russell didn’t want to think what would have happened if Sage had picked the slip with Dallas’s name on it. He told himself not to think about it and focused on the rocky path.

  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 won’t get any easier in the dark,” Mari noted. After all, that was the whole point of The Wild Life. 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 breathing, he heard a low howl echo through the canyon. 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 believe so,” Eliza answered.

  Another howl carried through the cool, crisp air.

  “On second thought, we should keep going,” Sage said.

  “Good thinking,” Dev answered, with a hint of sarcasm. He picked 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.

  CREATURE FEATURE

  HIMALAYAN WOLF

  SCIENTIFIC NAME: Canis himalayensis

  TYPE: mammal

  RANGE: regions of the Himalayan Mountains in Nepal, Tibet, India, and Bhutan

  FOOD: mostly small or medium-sized mammals, such as rodents and rabbits

  Himalayan wolves generally like to work together and hunt in packs, especially in the winter when food is scarce. They prefer to hunt in the open, where it is easier to wear down their prey. In the summer, some wolves might live and hunt on their own.

  Himalayan wolves vary in color, with most being tan or light gray. They often have white or darker shading around the face.

  Scientists believe the Himalayan wolf is an old species, maybe old enough to form the base of all wolf bloodlines. The Canis genus, which includes the gray wolf, coyote, jackal, and today’s domesticated dogs, began over a million years ago.

  The rest stop was a single room with a wood-burning stove on one side and cots on the other. In between was a long wooden table with two benches. It was small but clean. There was a sturdy door that would keep the wolves at bay. That was Russell’s primary concern. Ever since the race had started, he’d had an odd sensation of being watched—or followed—and a howling pack
of wolves only made him more wary.

  Jace, their guide and chaperone, quickly located the supplies for dinner. “It’ll be soup and rice,” he announced, starting a fire. “Everything looks fresh. The organizers must have just been here.”

  “They left a map,” Dev said, lowering his hiking pack onto a bench. The map took up nearly half the tabletop.

  “It’s a relief, seeing a real map again,” Russell said with a sigh. “You know, one on paper. I can never figure anything out on that tiny ancam screen.”

  “Shhh. Don’t call the ancam’s screen tiny,” Dev whispered. “You’ll hurt its feelings.”

  The room fell silent, until Mari finally spoke. “Dev, even I don’t think the ancam has feelings,” Mari insisted, sitting down next to Russell so the map was straight in front of them.

  “Maybe not,” Dev said. “But it’s our only link to civilization when we’re on those mountain paths.” His tone had only a touch of humor. Russell didn’t consider himself superstitious, and he didn’t think Dev would be, either. Dev was a tech geek who went to science camps. He probably preferred to stick to facts. But there was something about being high up in the mountains, surrounded by frosty peaks and frigid air, that made Russell feel vulnerable. Maybe it made Dev feel that way, too.

  “Why’d we get a real map?” Eliza wondered out loud. “There has to be a reason.”

  “There is,” Jace mumbled without looking up from the steaming pot he was stirring.

  The five teammates gathered around the map, their heads so close they blocked out the flickering lantern light. “No hints from the ancam,” Dev commented.

  “It’s all on the map,” Jace added between sips from a wooden spoon.

  “Well, this is where we are,” Russell pointed out. Even though the faded green printing made the map look ancient, there was a small bright blue star drawn near the middle. Next to it were the words YOU ARE HERE. The star was in a narrow part of the drawing. It looked like a thin gulley between countless towering peaks, which were all white. “And these orange dots look like rest stops.”

  “So this must be where we’re going,” Sage said, pointing to a large red star.

  “If there are all those rest stops, it’ll take us over a day,” Eliza surmised with a shiver. She rubbed her thin arms.

  “It doesn’t look that far,” Mari said hopefully. “A day and a half, maybe.”

  “Except there are a few mountains in between here and there,” Dev commented.

  “And more than one way to go,” Russell added. “If we go this direction, there’s a pass through these peaks, but if we head down that path, we’d go through one of these passes.”

  “Not again,” Eliza harrumphed. “What’s with multiple routes?”

  “It doesn’t seem like a fair race if the teams have different starting points,” Sage agreed. “And on top of that, we can all choose different paths?” She hadn’t liked it when the organizers had pulled that trick in the Outback on the last leg of their race, and Russell knew she wasn’t going to like it now. “All we know is that there are three other teams still in the competition. We have no idea which teams they are or where they started. It seems impossible for all the routes to be equal in distance and difficulty. How can they do that?”

  Jace had started carrying large bowls and spoons shaped like small ladles to the table.

  “Why can’t the race go back to the way it was before?” Sage continued her rant.

  “That’s not the only change,” Jace announced, placing the last bowl in front of Dev. All eyes turned to him as he sat down. “Since it’s the All-Star Extravaganza, the organizers wanted to mix things up. The winning team won’t just be the one who crosses the finish line first,” he explained, stirring the soup with his ladle. “Now there’s a point system. For this last leg, you’ll get points for answering clues, and points if you actually get a picture of one of the animals. The team with the highest point total will win.”

  Russell watched Sage’s eyebrows crinkle together as she scowled. After a moment, Mari took a deep breath and looked around the table. “This could be good, you guys,” she said. “It’s not easy tracking a lot of these animals. Both Himalayan predators and prey can be aloof and secretive. I mean, I want to see as much wildlife as I can, but maybe the point system will help us figure out what to go after.”

  An uncomfortable silence followed. “But it makes everything less clear. How do we know the best way to win?” Sage asked.

  “We don’t,” Dev answered, his hand resting on the ancam.

  Sage rubbed her forehead, her fingertips disappearing in her thick blonde hair. Eliza said what Russell was certain Sage was thinking. “I don’t like it.”

  “Whether you like it or not, the race is on, first thing in the morning. What you’ve got to do now is eat.” Jace had never been so straightforward with them. On the last leg, he had barely completed a sentence. He had let the team call the shots. Something had changed. Russell wondered what it could be.

  Fifty million years ago, India was an island. It drifted north, striking Asia. The land buckled, forming the Himalayan Mountains, the largest mountain range on the planet. The Himalayas extend roughly 1,500 miles (2,400 km) and stretch from Afghanistan to Tibet, covering parts of many countries along the way, including India, Nepal, and Bhutan.

  The name Himalaya means “House of Snow” in Sanskrit. Many peaks in the range are always covered in snow and ice. After the Arctic and Antarctic, the Himalayas are the region with the third largest amount of snow in the world. When the snow on the lower parts of the mountains melts, it drains into several rivers, including the Indus, the Ganges, and the Brahmaputra. These three river systems provide a water source for much of Asia.

  Mount Everest is the highest peak in the Himalayas as well as on our planet. The range also boasts many peaks that would dwarf other mountains, including the treacherous K2 and Annapurna I. The mountains’ high altitudes mean the air is thinner. There is less than half the oxygen as at sea level.

  As they ate and talked, it was clear everyone had different ideas about which route they should take the next morning. Which one was safest? Which was fastest? Which gave them the best chance of seeing animals and getting bonus points? Even though they all had lots of questions, no one had any answers—or energy.

  Team Ten eventually decided on a route that headed due east. It was as straight a path to the red star as possible. Dev pointed out that there would still be twists and turns through the mountain passes, but they all believed they would reach the finish line by the afternoon on the second day.

  After examining the map’s every dot, line, and star, Russell’s eyes ached. He was too tired to speak. He didn’t even remember lying down. The next morning, when Sage shook him awake, he was on a cot in his sleeping bag, still in yesterday’s hiking gear.

  “You like waking people up, don’t you?” he mumbled with disbelief.

  “Maybe,” Sage replied, absentmindedly picking at her nail as she stood staring down at him. The room was still dark, with a dull hint of light straining through the curtains. “But I took it easy on you. I woke Dev up by telling him that the ancam was missing.”

  “It’s true,” Dev confirmed. He sat on the edge of his cot as he pulled on a red zippered fleece. “But I sleep with the ancam under my pillow, so I knew it was safe.” Dev looked pretty proud of himself. “Anyway, Sage thinks you’re soft.”

  “That’s not what I said,” Sage insisted.

  “But it’s what you meant,” Eliza chimed in.

  Now, that woke Russell up. He couldn’t remember Eliza attempting to be funny before, but now she was doing it at the crack of dawn, at his expense. He didn’t mind. It was part of being on a team, knowing everyone well enough to give them a hard time. He and his friends from home always used to trash talk on the football field.

  “Come on, Russell,” Mari said, as if she hadn’t heard a word the other three had uttered. “Let’s go check out the supplies.”

&nb
sp; There was a pile of gear and snacks under a tarp by the front door. Soon they were all stocking up, stuffing energy bars and dried nuts into every spare pocket they had.

  “I assume you saw that there won’t be food at all of the rest stops,” Eliza announced. “This might have to get us through the race.” Hearing that, Russell shoved more jerky into his pack.

  “Prior planning prevents poor performance,” Jace said under his breath.

  “What?” Russell asked. He glanced over to where their guide was reorganizing his own bag.

  Jace repeated himself, then added, “It was one of my dad’s favorite sayings.”

  “What does that mean?” Sage asked as she moved a pile of snowshoes so she could reach a box of hiking socks.

  “It means if you do a good job planning, you aren’t as likely to make mistakes.”

  Sage dropped the snowshoes and stared at their chaperone. “I know what it means in general, but how does that apply to us?”

  “You should be prepared?” Jace said with a shrug. Technically, the guides were not allowed to advise the contestants. Javier, their former chaperone, had always followed that rule, too.

  “I’ll tell you what it means,” Dev announced. “We need to take climbing equipment. Ropes, carabiners, the whole mess. There’s still snow and ice out there. Where the path isn’t frozen it could be slushy, muddy, slippery. We need backup clothes, layers.” He kept talking to himself as he began sorting through the equipment and supplies closer to the door. Russell joined him, making distinct piles.

  “Fine. Figure out what else we need,” Sage said, “but do it quick. The race starts again in fifteen minutes.”

  Sage headed to the bathroom. When she returned, she promptly put her hands on her hips. “How are we going to carry all that?”

  “I think we need it,” Dev stated.

  “We probably do,” Mari said, joining the group, “but we should remember that we can’t leave anything behind. Everything has to be like we found it.”