The Mystery of the Icy Paw Prints

by Harper Paris

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Chapter 1: Flightseeing!

  Chapter 2: Homesick

  Chapter 3 Lost in the Wilderness

  Chapter 4: The Fish Thief

  Chapter 5: A New Mystery

  Chapter 6: A Trail of Clues

  Chapter 7: The Old Sketchbook

  Chapter 8: The Fish Trap

  Chapter 9: Closing In

  Chapter 10: Home Again

  "The Mystery of the Secret Society" Excerpt

  Flightseeing!

  “We’re going to crash into the mountain!” Ethan Briar cried out.

  “That’s not a mountain, silly. That’s a cloud,” his twin sister, Ella, said with a laugh.

  Their pilot, Zane, steered their small plane through a thick cloud. For a moment the whole world was white.

  Then they reached the other side, and the snowy face of Mount McKinley rose into the sky. Even from a distance, it looked massive!

  “Now, that’s a mountain,” their father, Andrew, said. “Isn’t that incredible, kids? It’s the tallest one in North America!”

  Their mother, Josephine, held her camera up to the window and clicked. “This is quite the view. My readers are going to love these photos!”

  Mrs. Briar worked as a travel writer for their hometown newspaper, the Brookeston Times. The Briars were traveling around the world so she could write articles about different places.

  Alaska was the eighth place they had visited so far. It was very different from their last stop, which was Australia. In Australia, the twins had gone snorkeling in the warm waters of the Coral Sea. Here in Alaska, it was winter, and there was snow everywhere.

  Zane circled Mount McKinley several times before nosing the plane down to a nearby lake. He coasted just above the frozen surface. “There’s a moose on the shore!” he said, pointing.

  The twins craned their necks. An enormous moose gnawed on the bark of a tree.

  After Mount McKinley, they headed south. They flew over volcanoes, icefalls, and glaciers. This was the twins’ first flightseeing experience, which was sightseeing from the air. It was pretty amazing!

  They soon reached Prince William Sound. A dozen seals sunned themselves on a large sheet of floating ice. Ella gazed out the window. “I can’t believe we’re in the same country as Brookeston,” she said in awe.

  Ethan gasped. “Good idea, Ella!”

  “What’s a good idea?” Ella asked, confused.

  Ethan leaned forward in his seat. “Mom, Dad, can we go home for a few days? This is the first time we’ve been back in the United States in so long!”

  “Oh! And we could see Grandpa Harry and all our friends!” Ella gushed.

  “I’m really sorry, guys. Just because we’re in the United States again doesn’t mean we’re close to home,” Mrs. Briar replied.

  “Brookeston is about four thousand miles from here,” Mr. Briar added.

  Four thousand miles?

  The twins turned to each other with heavy sighs. They had been traveling for what seemed like forever. They really missed home.

  Alaska wasn’t a foreign country—but it sure felt like it was!

  Homesick

  That night, the Briars returned to their hotel in the city of Anchorage. Ethan and Ella found two e-mails waiting for them.

  The first one was from Theo, who was Ethan’s best friend. Ethan missed Theo. He missed building top-secret forts and doing crazy science experiments with things they found.

  Hey, Ethan!

  Guess what? We have a new pet in our class! He’s a gerbil, and his name is Speedy. His favorite treats are popcorn and cheese! Thanks for the postcard from Australia. The picture of the coral reef looked supercool. What country are you in now? Will you be home by soccer season?

  Goal!

  Theo

  Ethan frowned. He had no idea if they would be home by soccer season. Probably not. He thought about Mrs. Applebaum’s classroom at Brookeston Elementary School. He tried to imagine where Speedy’s cage would go and who would get to take him home for the weekends.

  The next e-mail was from Hannah, who was Ella’s best friend.

  Dear Ella,

  Thank you for the scarf you sent me from Peru. The colors are so pretty! I have a present I’ve been saving for you. I made it myself! Will you be home soon? I can give it to you then. It’s snowing here. Is it snowing wherever you are?

  Hugs,

  Hannah

  It’s definitely snowing, Ella thought, peering out the window. At least a foot of new snow covered the city, and more continued to fall. For some reason, it made her sad. If she were in Brookeston, she and Hannah would be ice-skating on Goose Pond or sledding down Hickory Hill.

  “Hannah wants to know when we’re coming home,” Ella said to Ethan.

  Ethan shrugged. “Probably never.”

  “I like our family trip. But I miss home,” Ella said.

  “Me too,” agreed Ethan.

  Just then, another e-mail popped up on the screen. It was from Grandpa Harry!

  The twins sat up and began reading together.

  TO: ethanella@eemail.com

  FROM: gpaharry@eemail.com

  SUBJECT: POLAR BEARS AND MORE!

  Hello, my dears. Welcome to Alaska!

  A little bird told me that you’ve been feeling homesick. When I was an archaeologist, I traveled all over the world to dig up ancient artifacts. I got homesick often.

  Still, my trips were filled with so many adventures! I had some great ones when I was in Alaska. We dug up tools that were ten thousand years old—and mammoth tusks, too!

  After the dig was over, I kayaked in Glacier Bay and I saw the northern lights in the night sky.

  I also ran across a family of polar bears! The mother was feeding her two cubs.

  Love,

  Grandpa Harry

  “How did Grandpa Harry know we were homesick?” Ella asked Ethan.

  “He said a ‘little bird’ told him. What little bird?” said Ethan.

  Ella shrugged and peered out the window again. The snow had stopped, and hundreds of stars twinkled in the sky. “The northern lights sound cool,” she murmured.

  “Glacier Bay must have lots of glaciers in it!” said Ethan.

  “Do you think we’ll see any polar bears?” Ella asked.

  “Maybe we’ll find a really old mammoth tusk!” Ethan said excitedly.

  Ethan came over and joined his sister. Suddenly, the twins didn’t feel quite so homesick anymore.

  Lost in the Wilderness

  On Monday morning, the Briars flew from Anchorage to a city called Nome. Nome was on the coast of the Bering Sea. The sky was eerily dark during their flight. In this part of the world, the sun didn’t rise until almost noon during the winter.

  At the Nome Airport, they picked up their rental car. “Northward ho!” Mr. Briar said as he drove out of the parking lot.

  “What does that mean, Dad?” Ethan asked.

  “It means we’re heading north,” Mr. Briar replied. “If you want our exact itinerary, your mother has that. Don’t you, Jo?”

  “Yes, I do!” Mrs. Briar reached into her purse and pulled out a small notepad. She flipped to the first page. “For the next few days, we’ll be traveling around the Seward Peninsula area—”

  “ ‘Peninsula’ comes from the Latin words for ‘almost island,’ ” Mr. Briar cut in. “Hey, there’s an idea! Maybe we should add Latin to our home-schooling lessons.”

  “No!” the twins said at the same time. They were busy enough with math, science, and all their other subjects.

  “Anyway, we’ll drive around the almost island and make some stops along the way.” Mrs. Briar went on.
“We’ll visit an Alaska Native village. We’ll check out a ghost town. We’ll pan for gold at the beach.”

  “Awesome!” said Ethan.

  They continued driving. Outside of Nome, the scenery was beautiful and wild. A herd of reindeer ran across a snow-covered field. Mountains loomed in the distance.

  After a while, the road narrowed and led to a dense forest. Icicles dripped from tree branches. Snow began to fall—at first lightly, then more heavily.

  Mr. Briar stopped the car and pulled out a map. “This doesn’t look right. Did I miss my turn back there?”

  “It’s hard to see the road with all this snow,” Mrs. Briar said anxiously.

  Mr. Briar pointed. “I think it’s this way.” He turned the key in the ignition. The car sputtered and coughed. He tried again. The car sputtered and coughed again.

  “Uh-oh. Bad news, gang. I think there’s something wrong with our engine,” Mr. Briar announced.

  “But we’re in the middle of nowhere!” Ella exclaimed.

  Mrs. Briar frowned at her phone. “And there’s no reception out here.”

  The snow was coming down faster now. The trees looked like blurry shadows.

  “Maybe we should start walking,” Ethan suggested. “We could make snowshoes out of sticks and rope!”

  “We can’t leave the car. We have no idea where we are. Also, there could be wild animals out there,” Mr. Briar pointed out.

  “W-wild animals?” Ella stammered.

  “Cool! I want to see a reindeer up close,” said Ethan.

  Just then, Ella noticed something moving swiftly through the forest. It was coming closer and closer to their car. What was it?

  Ella jabbed Ethan with her elbow. “Do you see that?” she whispered.

  Ethan pressed his face against the cold glass. “Yeah. And I don’t think it’s a reindeer.”

  Suddenly, the thing was right next to their car. The twins gasped in surprise.

  It was a dogsled . . . pulled by six huskies!

  The dogs skidded to a stop, kicking up a powdery cloud of snow. A woman and a young girl stepped off the sled. They wore parkas with furry hoods and thick mittens.

  “Help has arrived!” Mr. Briar cheered.

  He and Mrs. Briar got out of the car. The twins got out, too.

  “Hello there!” Mr. Briar called out to the woman and the girl. “We’ve had some engine trouble. Do you know if there’s an auto-repair shop nearby?”

  “I’m afraid the nearest one is about fifty miles away,” the woman replied.

  Mrs. Briar raised her eyebrows. “Fifty miles away?”

  The girl tugged on her mother’s sleeve and whispered something in her ear.

  “My daughter has a good idea,” the woman said. “Why don’t you come back to our village with us? We own a little inn. You could stay there until your car is fixed. A mechanic should be able to get here in two or three days.”

  Mr. Briar glanced at Mrs. Briar. She nodded.

  “That’s very kind. Thank you,” Mrs. Briar said to the woman. “Wait—did you say two or three days?”

  “It’s the only auto-repair shop in this part of the state,” the woman explained. “Also, it’s not a quick trip. Most folks travel by sled or snow machine. But we’ll take care of you until your car is fixed,” she reassured the Briars.

  The twins tried to hide their disappointment. Waiting around for a mechanic didn’t sound nearly as fun as visiting a ghost town or panning for gold!

  The Fish Thief

  The woman, Anna, and her daughter, Malina, took the Briars to their village by sled. It took two trips to get everyone there because the sled could fit only four people.

  The village was tiny, with a few dozen houses, a general store, and a small school. Smoke curled out of chimneys. Snow gleamed in the fading light.

  It was almost dark by the time everyone was settled in the living room of the Bear River Inn. A roaring fire crackled in the stone fireplace.

  Anna showed the Briars to their rooms. Mr. and Mrs. Briar had a large room with a view of the half-frozen Bear River and the woods. The twins had connecting rooms with animal themes. Ethan’s had a hawk theme. Ella’s had a walrus theme.

  “My room and Malina’s room are down the hall, if you need anything. Oh, and our neighbors, George and Nolee Gardner, have invited us for dinner. Would you like to join us?” Anna asked.

  “We’d love to!” Mrs. Briar answered for her family.

  A short while later, the Briars followed Anna and Malina to the Gardners’ house, which was right next door to the inn. It had stopped snowing, and the night sky glittered with stars. The icy ground crunched under their feet.

  Ella pointed to a cluster of stars. “Are those the northern lights?” she asked Malina, curiously.

  Malina shook her head. “No. That’s a constellation called Ursa Minor. That’s Latin for ‘Little Bear.’ The northern lights are big, colorful lights that flash across the sky. You can see them from here sometimes.”

  The group reached the Gardners’ front porch. They heard loud voices from out back.

  “They’re gone!” someone cried out.

  Anna, Malina, and the Briars rushed toward the back of the house. A man and a woman stood over a cooler. It was empty, and a faint fishy smell wafted up from it.

  “George, Nolee, what’s wrong?” Anna asked quickly.

  Nolee threw up her hands. “The fish thief has taken our dinner!”

  A New Mystery

  “The fish thief?” Ethan repeated.

  “Yes, someone’s been stealing fish from the folks in our village,” Anna explained.

  “It’s quite the mystery,” Nolee added.

  Mystery! Ethan and Ella loved a good mystery. They’d cracked cases in a bunch of places around the world. They’d even solved one in their own hometown!

  “When was the last time you saw your fish?” Ella asked.

  “Maybe an hour or two ago,” replied George. “I just got back from an ice-fishing trip, and I stored my catch in this cooler.”

  “Last week the thief stole fish from Hank Soto’s cooler. And the week before, the thief stole fish from the Egans,” Anna added.

  “Luckily, I made other dishes. Why don’t you all come in from the cold and we can eat,” said Nolee.

  Inside, everyone sat down at a long table while Nolee set out platters of food. She served roast potatoes and bread . . . and a strange-looking salad.

  “The bread is called bannock. It’s baked with blueberries and blackberries. The salad has fish eggs and seaweed in it,” Nolee told the Briars.

  Mr. Briar beamed. “Fish eggs and seaweed? That sounds delicious!”

  Ella tried a small bite of the salad to be polite. It actually wasn’t so bad. As she ate, she wondered about all the missing fish. Unless they swam out of the coolers on their own, someone must have taken them.

  The question was who? And why?

  Ethan nudged her. “I think you and I should try to catch this fish thief,” he whispered through a mouthful of bread.

  Ella grinned. “I was just thinking the same thing!”

  They shook hands under the table.

  * * *

  The next day the twins asked their parents if they could go outside and build a snowman. But they didn’t actually want to build a snowman. They wanted to search for clues in George and Nolee’s yard, near where the cooler had been.

  “Make sure you bundle up. It’s cold out there!” Mrs. Briar called.

  “My travel thermometer said it’s minus-seven degrees Celsius. That’s the same as nineteen degrees Fahrenheit!” Mr. Briar added.

  Ella and Ethan put on their winter gear and hurried out the back door. They waved to the sled dogs, who lived in little wooden houses on stilts.

  The twins walked to the edge of the yard that bordered the Gardners’ property. There was no car in their garage, and the windows of the house were dark. They quickly crossed into the Gardners’ yard. It was easy, since there was no fence.


  The cooler sat in the same spot as yesterday. Ella bent down and opened it. It was still empty and fishy-smelling.

  Ethan knelt down next to Ella. He checked out the ground next to the cooler.

  “Hey! Look!” he exclaimed, pointing.

  Ella glanced over. There was a faint paw print in the snow!

  A Trail of Clues

  The twins studied the icy paw print. It had five round toes like grapes.

  Then Ethan noticed another paw print . . . and another. Some were identical to the first one. Others were almost identical.

  “There’s a whole bunch of them!” Ethan remarked.

  “You’re right!” said Ella.

  “Check out the pattern. I bet it’s a four-legged animal.”

  “Yes! These must be the front paws, and the other ones must be the back paws.”

  They followed the trail of paw prints across the Gardners’ yard. The prints disappeared at the edge of the woods.

  “They could be dog paw prints. Do you think one of Anna’s sled dogs stole the fish?” Ethan asked.

  “Maybe,” Ella replied.

  She reached into her parka for the special purple notebook that Grandpa Harry had given her. She pulled off one glove and flipped to a clean page.

  Ethan peered over her shoulder. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m going to draw our clues,” Ella replied.

  Ella found a pen in her pocket and quickly sketched a pair of paw prints, front and back.

  “Okay. What’s our next move?” asked Ethan.

  “We should go visit the sled dogs and compare paw prints,” Ella suggested.