Polar Distress

by Sheila Grau

  “You left your son?” That made me so sad.

  “Not entirely. I came back to visit a few times. He was doing quite well with his stable of nannies and his doting father.”

  “But now you want to reconcile with him, don’t you?” She didn’t answer, but I could tell it was true. “That’s why you asked me about him in the capital.”

  “I need to reconcile with him, yes,” she said.

  “I could help you,” I said. “Listen, I know you burned down the forest that killed Karya.”

  She turned on me, furious. Fear slammed through me until I told myself that I was going to die anyway. She seemed to realize this, too, because she sighed.

  I remembered all the times Dr. Critchlore had said that he would never send a minion to Upper Worb. He never allowed us to use Upper Worb as a float during the Minion Games. It made sense now. He hated his mother—she’d killed the woman he loved.

  “It wasn’t my fault,” she said. “It was around the time he came back from university that I realized he had the same drive as me. The desire to be the best, to rule whatever enterprise he took over. He was making a huge mistake falling in love with a tree nymph.

  “The tree nymph had had a daughter with another man. I tried to convince my son to do the honorable thing and let them go. Don’t break up a family. Unfortunately, the man in question was a scoundrel, and he tricked me. He’d lost the love of the nymph, and he knew it.”

  “She loved Dr. Critchlore.”

  “Who wouldn’t? He has so much charisma. He gets that from me. At any rate, this nobody of a man promised me that they’d leave, and then he convinced me to destroy the forest so she couldn’t return to my son. I believed him. It was only later that I learned that he’d left Karya behind, to perish.”

  “That’s awful. You know that Dr. Critchlore has raised Karya’s daughter. She’s his ward.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, but she just ran away. She thinks that Dr. Critchlore burned down the forest to make a boulderball field.”

  “He didn’t tell her?”

  “No. He told me that he wants to protect her. That he would rather have her hate him than learn the truth about her father.”

  “That’s remarkably noble of him,” she said with a sour face. “Eww.”

  “He said that no kid should grow up knowing that her parent is a terrible person.” At Irma’s shocked expression I quickly added, “He probably didn’t mean you.”

  She didn’t look so sure.

  “If you want to reconcile with your son, you could tell Karya’s daughter, Syke, the truth—that you burned down the forest. Then she won’t hate Dr. Critchlore anymore.”

  “Derek needs to listen to me,” she said, still gazing out the window. “He has no idea what Dr. Pravus is planning.”

  “Syke is right out there,” I continued, pointing. “With the Pravus team. Don’t tell her about her father. Just tell her that Dr. Critchlore was protecting you. If she forgives him, she’ll come back to Critchlore’s, and he’ll be so happy. He loves her like a daughter, I know he does. He hasn’t been the same since she left.”

  It was possible I was projecting my own feelings there.

  Irma returned to her chair and sat down, her face blank. I couldn’t tell if she was going to laugh in my face or agree with me.

  “Interesting idea.” She pondered. “I didn’t do anything wrong, you know. That tree nymph would have driven him to distraction. He wouldn’t be half the titan of industry that he is if I hadn’t done it. Should I have checked the trees before burning them down? Yes, I should have. I was too trusting. I learned an important lesson. I never wanted her to die, but my motivation was to protect my son. I knew he’d be better off without her.”

  She was trying really, really hard to justify what she had done.

  “It was that scoundrel husband of hers who’s to blame. But he got his, all right. Derek had his harpies swoop down on the man. I’m pretty sure they dropped him in the middle of Skelterdam.”

  She became quiet then, staring off into space.

  “Thank you for telling me about Syke,” she said. “I’m going to do something for you in return. I’m going to give you a chance to live. It won’t be easy, but if it were me, I’d want to fight to the end.”

  “What is it?”

  “It’s probably going to cost me my best snow ox, but bundle up, kiddo. You’re going to have a chilly ride.”

  I waited in the hangar as Irma talked to Syke in her glass-walled office. Syke kept shaking her head. I felt so bad. I hoped I hadn’t just unleashed on her everything that Dr. Critchlore had been trying to protect her from.

  As I rebundled to go outside, one of the giant hangar doors lifted up, and a cold wind swept ice and snow inside before a giant beast came through, blocking the opening. The snow ox was a strange looking creature. It had a huge head that hung lower than its body, with curvy horns and thick white fur.

  Apparently Alasie had had the same idea as Irma, because she, Meztli, and Frankie had snuck out to steal Irma’s snow ox for me. Eight seal-men had their weapons pointed at my friends as they followed the snow ox inside.

  “Aww, that’s so sweet of you guys,” I told them.

  Irma came out when she noticed her royal steed in the hangar.

  I pointed to my friends. “They were just anticipating your orders,” I said. “They go free, right?”

  She scowled but then nodded. The seal-men lowered their weapons.

  An attendant brought a ladder for me to climb onto the beast’s back. A flat riding saddle rested just behind his hump-like shoulders. It could seat a few people, it was so large.

  “I’ll go with you,” Alasie said. “I know the way to the next town. You could get lost in this storm.”

  “Thank you, Alasie.”

  Professor Murphy strode over. “Good luck, Runt,” he said. “Listen, just in case . . . I want you to know why I’ve been extra hard on you—”

  “It’s okay, Professor Murphy,” I said. “I’ll see you back at school.”

  Alasie climbed up the ladder perched next to the beast’s side and took her place at the front, reins in hand. I climbed up behind her. A guard guided the ox forward. The beast smelled really bad, I have to say. I almost welcomed the blast of wind that met us at the door.

  We walked out slowly, the ox moving reluctantly. The guard ran back inside as soon as we were completely out. As Alasie urged the beast to the right, heading for the road, I felt something grab me from behind. I turned around and saw someone in red clinging to my leg as she tried to pull herself up next to me.

  “Syke?” I said. I could just make out her eyes through her goggles. The rest of her was covered under thick layers.

  “Yeah!” she answered. “Couldn’t let you get away.”

  “Syke, you’re crazy,” I said. “Get back to the hangar, where it’s warm!”

  “I’m coming with you,” she said. “I don’t want to go to jail with the rest of my team. Can’t this thing go any faster?”

  The snow ox was strong and solid in the wind but not very fast. Alasie yelled something at it while snapping the reins, and it picked up speed. Sort of.

  The going was slow, and we were too cold to talk. I felt strength seep out of me bit by bit until I could barely hang on any longer. Syke held me in place from behind. Alasie kept the beast on track, and somehow we made it past the crater and through the mountains. I had to take little shallow breaths while trying not to panic because panicking made me need a whole lot more air.

  I felt so weak.

  I drifted in and out of consciousness. I vaguely heard Syke yelling at Alasie to go faster. I think I fell off once, because I felt a sharp pain on my side. Then I felt a rope tied around my waist. Screams zipped past my ear. The wind whipped around us like a tornado. I’m not sure, but I think we were shot at by locals in the next town.

  I heard ravens screeching. Or maybe that was my imagination and it was just the wind.

 
“Have to keep going!” I heard someone yell. Alasie and Syke switched places, with me in the middle. I noticed Alasie had her bow and arrow out. Syke’s arm was red with blood. I passed out.

  I woke up inside a compartment, lying across a bench seat with my jacket under my head. We were moving.

  “Train?” I asked. I still could barely breathe.

  Syke leaned over the back of the seat in front of me. “Van,” she said. “Alasie traded Irma’s ox for it so we could go faster on the roads here, but she doesn’t know how to drive.”

  As if to prove her point, Alasie swerved violently to the right, before overcorrecting to the left.

  “We’re heading south . . . mostly. Hang in there.”

  Syke was still pale, her eyes bloodshot, her hair tangled. She looked as tired as I felt.

  Judging by her expression, I must have looked worse.

  “You left . . . the hatch . . . open for me, didn’t you?” I asked, unsure if I had just been hoping it was true. “On the dragon?”

  She nodded. “I was worried you wouldn’t take the hint.”

  “Did Irma tell you everything?”

  “Yeah, she did,” Syke said. She rested her chin on the seat and gazed out the window behind me. “I can’t believe she’s Critchlore’s mother.”

  “I know,” I said, smiling at her. “It’s crazy.”

  “She gave me the sudithium,” Syke said. “She told me she knows it doesn’t make up for what she did, and that she was just trying to do the right thing. It was my father who . . .”

  “I’m sorry, Syke,” I said. “Everyone was trying to protect you from knowing about your father. And now I’ve ruined everything.”

  “You didn’t,” she said. “I already knew.”

  “What? How?”

  “Sylveria, a hamadryad in the forest by the Great Library, told me. Those hamadryads know everything. They’ve got this network of roots and fungus that stretches across the continent and . . . Well, it doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is that I found out the truth after you visited that one time. I felt so bad about everything I’d done at Critchlore’s, and I wanted to make it right. I decided to go undercover at the Pravus Academy and steal that book back.”

  “You’re a spy . . . ,” I said. “I should have known—you were so mad when I told you I thought Janet was a spy, because you thought being a spy was cool, and you hate her.”

  “That’s true. I have new respect for her, though. Being a spy isn’t easy. I had to pass all these ridiculous tests, and then I had to pretend to like Victus . . . ew. And, Runt, you really are in danger. Pravus suspects that you turned his girl explorers against him. He’s remembering stuff. That’s why I tried to hide you during our hoopsmash game.”

  “You should have told me,” I said.

  “C’mon, Runt. You and I both know you can’t keep a secret.”

  “But you took my sudithium—”

  “They would’ve taken it from you as soon as we landed, and I needed you to look hurt and defeated. Then they’d know I was on their side. They trust me now.”

  “But why did you send the Pravus team after me and Alasie?”

  “I didn’t trust her.” She turned forward. “Sorry, Alasie.”

  “It’s okay,” Alasie said, waving the apology away. The car swerved, but she corrected before we hit a tree.

  “I thought Alasie was going to let that squid monster kill you,” Syke said. “I knew she wouldn’t dare if there were witnesses.”

  “You told Victus I thought I was a werewolf.”

  “I had to, Runt. I had to convince Pravus that you were a nobody. Think about it. The only person who could turn the girl explorers against him was someone from the royal family of Andirat. If Pravus put that together, he’d know you’re the missing prince. So I told him you were the campus joke.”

  “But what about—”

  “Just rest now,” she said. “We’ll get you home. Everything’s going to be okay.”

  The van lurched again, but not as violently as before. “Sorry!” Alasie shouted.

  “I’m sorry you had to learn the truth about your father,” I said as I closed my eyes.

  “So my dad was a dirtbag. So what?”

  “Exactly,” I agreed. “Lots of people have sucky parents.”

  “Look, I know who I am,” she said. “I don’t believe we inherit goodness or rottenness from our parents, like hair color . . . or musical talent or . . . a hatred of cilantro. I just don’t. I get to decide who I want to be.”

  “Exactly,” I agreed again. “I’ll never know my parents, because they’re dead, but they could have been terrible.”

  “If you’re Prince Auberon, you came from good people—you know that,” she said.

  I knew she didn’t think that the prince in the picture I’d shown her was me. “If?”

  “I’m not convinced,” she said. “But if you are, then you’re part of a family that includes some of the most admired people in history.”

  It was true, and ever since I’d found out who I was, I’d felt proud. But if Syke shouldn’t feel shame about her evil dad, then why should I feel pride about my famous family? I didn’t have anything to do with what had made them great.

  “Don’t worry, Syke,” I said, closing my eyes. “I won’t make you kneel in my presence. A simple curtsy will do.” I think she slugged me before I passed out again.

  A whiteout blizzard, a journey through the treacherous cliffs of Iqapaki, an attack by locals who mistook them for Irma Trackno, and Runt falling off the snow ox . . . twice.

  —THINGS THAT HAPPENED WHILE RUNT WAS UNCONSCIOUS

  I woke up to Syke and Alasie running around, screaming at people. “Get him to the missile train!” “Someone get a witch!”

  “Mistress Moira, what are you doing here?”

  Clearly, I must have been hallucinating that last one.

  The next thing I knew, I was lying across another bench seat, this one in a private compartment on the missile train, which had just entered Stull and was heading for the capital, Stull City.

  “I can breathe again,” I said. I inhaled deeply and opened my eyes.

  I rolled over onto a very bruised hip, and quickly rolled back. “Ouch,” I said. “What happened to me?”

  Syke, lying on the seat across from me, laughed. “You rode a snow ox through a blizzard and nearly died. Runt, you idiot—how does someone not change their shirt for a week! You could have found the tether and gotten out of there days ago. You—”

  I zoned out with a smile on my face. I was okay. And Syke was coming home.

  ‡‡‡

  Cook had sent my foster brother, Pierre, to pick us up at the station. I’d lost my backpack somewhere during the journey, so I didn’t have any luggage. I sat next to Pierre in the front while I replenished my strength with the food Cook had sent along with him.

  Thank you, Cook!

  “We might get back in time for the float parade,” he said.

  “I should warn you, Syke.” I turned in my seat to talk to her. “A few things have changed around school. It’s a lot more dangerous than it used to be. The monsters have definitely gotten scarier.”

  “No, it’s back to normal,” Pierre said. “Critchlore got rid of Vodum’s recruits and fired him. Again.” He laughed. “I saw it happen! Critchlore told Vodum he was an incompetent fool who couldn’t tell the difference between random monstrosities and trainable minions. It was hilarious. Oh, and the rest of the teams are back.”

  “Not Professor Murphy?” I asked.

  “Yeah, him too. Apparently the dragons got out shortly after you did, and they beat you to the trains, too.”

  “Figures,” I said.

  We reached the gate, and I shook Syke, who’d collapsed from exhaustion. “Look, we have one of Pravus’s giant gorillas.” I pointed at Kumi.

  “Of course you do. I sent him here.” She grabbed her backpack and jumped out of the van. When Kumi saw her, he pounded his chest and who
oped.

  Wait . . . he’d been looking for Syke?

  Pierre turned to me. “Come on, Runt,” he said. “It’s float time.”

  “Go ahead,” I said. “Syke and I will catch up.”

  I walked over to Kumi just as he lifted Syke up in his giant hand.

  “How did you send a giant gorilla here?” I shouted.

  “I figured out what Pravus was planning to do. That he was going to . . .” She shook her head. “I wasn’t able to save the others, but I got Kumi away from the enclosure before the whole thing went down. I told him to come here and wait for me.”

  “Wait for you here? When were you planning to come back?”

  “As soon as I could steal back The Top Secret Book of Minions,” she said. “I need to return it to Critchlore, to make up for my sabotage. Kumi, put me down, please.” Back on the ground she turned serious. “Runt, what I’ve discovered is crazy. Pravus is planning something huge. I don’t know the details just yet, but I was able to sneak into his office and grab this.” She opened her backpack and took out a map of the Porvian Continent. “Give it to Critchlore—he’ll know what it means.”

  “Why don’t you give it to him?”

  “I’m going back to Pravus’s,” she said.

  “Syke, you can’t!”

  “I have to,” she said. “I have to get that book back. I’ve heard his scientists talking about other secrets it contains. Even if Pravus already knows how to make a UM, we have to keep him from learning anything else. Don’t worry—they’ll trust me even more now because they know I was going to let you die. And I’ll tell them I had to follow you, in case you were up to something.”

  “Syke. It’s too dangerous there.”

  “I’m taking Kumi with me. I’ll tell them that you guys stole him, and I stole him back. They won’t hurt him now. It would look too suspicious.”

  “Syke, please stay here. Critchlore can get his book back.”

  “I’m the best person for the job, Runt. Pravus loves me. Just don’t tell anyone.” She grabbed me and looked me in the eye with a hard glare. “You can tell Critchlore when you give him the map, but nobody else. And I promise that I’ll send another raven if I need help.”