“They’re gaining on the purple team,” Dev pointed out.
“They are,” Sage agreed. She could tell that Eliza was in the purple kayak with one of her teammates. Sage guessed Eliza had rowed the other two purple team members to the beach. She must be worn out by now.
“It feels weird,” Dev said, “just watching them.”
Sage looked toward the pennant, flapping in the breeze on the island.
“I don’t suppose you want to swim?” she asked, her arms and legs already pulsing with energy.
“Is that a joke?” Dev asked.
“You might have noticed I’m not good at jokes,” she answered.
“Then let’s do it,” Dev said. “I kind of did the math. I bet we can swim it faster than Russell can kayak back and forth two more times.”
“I bet you’re right,” Sage said. She moved to the edge of the dock and bent her knees. Dev did the same. “Ready, set, go!” Together, they dove in.
This felt good and right. She was on the move, not so much racing as making progress, side by side with a teammate.
They’d swum several strokes when Sage thought she heard a scream. She immediately pulled up and treaded water, trying to figure it out. She heard the high-pitched sound again, but this time it was more of a delighted squeal. Dev had stopped, too, and they both looked ahead to where Russell and Mari were paddling. Sage focused just in time to see a mighty set of fringed flukes splash the water, only yards from the red kayak.
“That whale isn’t giving them enough clearance,” Dev said. “Bull Gordon could take points away for that.”
Sage smiled. At this point, she didn’t care about clearance or clues or ancams. She did care that Mari had been able to see a whale, perhaps closer than she had even wanted.
She also noticed that the purple kayak had not stopped. It had continued to the beach at a steady rate, plodding toward first place.
Mari pumped both arms, holding her paddle in the air. Sage felt a surge of energy, too, and pushed her way through the water with strong, steady strokes. She felt the burn in her muscles. She found a good rhythm, and Dev stayed by her side.
Soon they were stumbling up the sandy beach together.
“What were you guys thinking?” Russell asked, reaching out to help Dev.
“We just wanted to get here, to finish,” said Dev.
Mari grabbed Sage’s arm as they walked up the beach.
Sage glanced at her friend. “That humpback,” she gasped.
“I know.” Mari’s eyes sparkled. “I know.”
They half staggered, half ran up the path toward the Wild Life pennant. There, they saw Bull Gordon with his thumbs thrust through his belt loops again. Even on the beach, he sported his felt fedora.
They came to a stop before him, all in a line.
“Team Red,” he announced. “You are in second place. Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” Sage answered, her voice in chorus with her teammates.
“You lost your lead,” Bull said. “But you seem okay with that.”
A hundred responses ran through Sage’s head. A hundred excuses. But they didn’t matter. “Yeah,” she said. “I think we are. At least, I am.” She looked to her teammates, not wanting to speak for them.
“We got through a lot on this leg,” Russell said.
“And we got to see a lot,” Mari added. This comment made Sage smile. Mari was a lot like Caroline. She was also very much herself. So were Dev and Russell. They all had their strengths, but their characters went well beyond that.
“Yeah, what they said,” Dev answered, motioning toward Mari, Russell, and Sage. Then they all looked back to Bull Gordon.
“Okay, then,” Bull responded. “You’ll be the second team to start the next course. Hope you know a lot about Arctic animals and their ecosystem. You’ll need all the help you can get there.”
Sage felt her heart skip at the thought of another leg of the race. It was another chance for Team Red to prove itself. As they walked over to the concession table to join the purple team, Sage thought again about what Bull Gordon had said. She was excited about the Arctic and what they could encounter there: polar bears, glaciers, gray wolves. But where The Wild Life went next wasn’t all that important, because Sage knew something Bull Gordon didn’t. No matter where they ended up, she already had all the help she needed. Her friends had already taught her a lot about being a team. Maybe, one day, they’d even teach her how to take a joke.
Want to know what happens when The Wild Life heads to the freezing Alaskan tundra? Read on for a sneak peek at the next race course in
Once they sent in a picture of a grizzly, they would get the next clue. Dev patted the team’s trusty ancam. He had it safely stashed in the inside pocket of his jacket.
“We may see lots of grizzlies,” Mari added. “They know that the salmon are starting to swim upstream this time of year, returning to the place where they were born to spawn.”
“I know what spawning means in a video game,” Russell called back from the bank of the stream. “But I don’t think the salmon are coming back to life after being killed by an acid-breathing dragon.”
“Not exactly,” Mari said without even cracking a smile. “Spawning is when fish lay and fertilize eggs, so new fish can be born. Salmon do it in the exact same place where they hatched years before. Some swim thousands of miles to get there.”
Dev admired Mari. She had all this knowledge, but she was super humble about it.
“So, if Dev is right, the river will be on the other side of that hill,” Sage announced. “We’re climbing up to see if there are any bears.” She, Russell, and Javier quickly disappeared over the grassy bank while Mari and Dev made their way to the edge of the stream.
Dev was starting to feel like his head was back in the race. He thought ahead to what angle might be good for the grizzly photo. The sun was strong. He’d have to be careful that it didn’t mess up the light in the picture. Sometimes there was only enough time for one good shot.
With his mind on the photo, he didn’t notice that the floor of the stream bed was getting mucky as they neared the shore. Mari must not have noticed either. The water was above his knees when he realized he was stuck.
“I can’t move,” Mari announced from behind him.
“I can’t either,” Dev said, his tone even.
“I mean it,” Mari said. Her pitch was rising high above the rush of the brisk water.
“I know, but you have to stay calm,” Dev said. “I think we’re stuck in some kind of quicksand. If you struggle, you could sink deeper.” Dev’s words came out slow and steady, but his mind was in a frenzied whirl—trying to solve the problem like a puzzle, trying to do what he did best.
READ ARCTIC FREEZE 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 © 2015 by Kristin Earhart
Illustrations copyright © 2015 by 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 2015
Cover art by Erwin Madrid
Cover design by Yaffa Jaskoll
e-ISBN 978-0-545-77377-5
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