by John August
Once the fire was approved, it was time to eat. Alpine Derby rules required patrols to take a full hour for lunch, so there was no reason to rush their chicken chili. Arlo ate two bowls with extra cheese and crackers. Indra barely finished her first.
Arlo wanted to tell her that everyone makes mistakes. That the patrol was lucky to have her. That they wouldn’t even be here if not for her persistence. Indra stopped him before he could say a word. “It’s okay. I’m just processing the emotion. One day I’m going to use this experience in my memoirs.”
Arlo admitted he wasn’t sure what memoirs were.
“It’s when a famous person writes about their life and describes the bad stuff they went through. It’s important to have enough bad stuff or it just seems like bragging, and no one likes that. So messing up today, that’s really helpful, because it shows that I’m human.”
Arlo wondered if trying to seem human was a sign that someone wasn’t very human. But there wasn’t time to discuss it further. The patrol was packing up, because in five minutes they would be released to run to their final station.
* * *
When they reached Teamwork, they found three other patrols waiting to go in. The challenge evidently took a long time, and the station had built up a backlog over the course of the day.
“We’ve been here half an hour,” said a patrol leader from Canyon City. “And we still have two stations after this. We may just take the penalty and go out of sequence.” She was being practical. It was already after one o’clock, and patrols needed to cross the finish line by five or be disqualified.
“I told you we got a bad draw,” said Jonas. “If we’d had this station at the start, we wouldn’t be waiting around.” This time, Connor didn’t try to talk Jonas out of his sulk.
After another ten minutes, the Canyon City patrol turned their sled around and left. Now there were only two teams ahead of Blue.
To pass the time, Arlo built a snowman. Jonas and Connor paced. Julie and Indra talked with a girl in another patrol. Wu fell asleep against the sled.
A second patrol decided to leave. Now there was only one ahead of Blue.
Arlo started making a snowdog for his snowman. He quickly realized why he had never seen one before—without legs, snowdogs just looked like alligators or ottomans.
The station captain waved in the next patrol, then pointed at Blue. It was their time, too. Arlo gave up on his snowdog. His gloves were wet, so he took them off.
The Teamwork challenge required patience and communication. Patrols were given four special ropes. Each had the ends fused together to form a circle with the diameter of a hula hoop. Using only these ropes, they needed to disassemble, move and reassemble a four-piece totem pole. Each time someone’s hand touched the pole itself, it was a one-point deduction.
“What’s the most points any patrol has lost?” asked Wu.
“Ten,” said the captain. “Had a lot of patrols leave here with zero.”
The trick, they quickly discovered, was to loop the ropes over each section from multiple angles, then pull against one another to lift and move it. “Like a suspension bridge,” Wu said. Arlo thought it was more like a drawstring bag.
The challenge was that everyone had to pull equally hard. Any slack and the piece would fall. But if anyone tugged too hard, the piece would flip or slip, then fall.
It was tough enough to get the first piece lifted, but walking with it was nearly impossible. Arlo was trudging backwards through the snow while keeping his elbows locked tight against his chest. The rope was cutting into his hands. He regretted taking off his gloves.
It took five minutes to move the first piece, but they managed to get it placed squarely on the platform. The second piece went faster. They were starting to get their rhythm, working together as a team. The third piece was trickier, because they needed to lift it into position. At the last moment, the twins’ rope slipped. Jonas instinctively grabbed the piece as it fell.
The station captain whistled. It was a one-point deduction.
After a few frustrating moments, they got the fallen totem section out of the snow and up onto the pole. Arlo’s arms were shaking with fatigue. He looped the rope around his hands, trying to get a better grip for the final piece.
“Slow and steady,” said Connor. “Better it takes ten minutes than it slips.”
As they slowly moved the last piece, Arlo’s palms were sweating. He felt an odd tingle. A cramp? When he looked down, he found the rope wasn’t coiled around his right hand anymore. But he still had a firm grasp, which was the important thing.
With agonizing precision, the patrol managed to place the final piece. Arlo opened his fist to see the red imprint of the knot he had been squeezing.
While they waited for their official score, Indra and Arlo put back the ropes. “Wait, is this yours?” She held up his rope circle, showing him the simple overhand knot tied in it.
Arlo didn’t remember the knot being there. “I guess. Why?”
“It’s a knaught.” She said it like the word was extremely important for some reason, but Arlo couldn’t understand why.
“Yeah. It’s a knot.”
“No! Not knot. A knaught.” That wasn’t making it any more clear. She spelled it out instead. “K-N-A-U-G-H-T. It’s a knot you can’t tie, but you did somehow.”
“I don’t understand.”
Wu came over, drinking from his water bottle. Indra enlisted his help, handing him another rope hoop.
“This rope is a circle, right? There are no free ends. But to tie an overhand knot like this, you need at least one free end.”
“Wait,” said Wu, suddenly excited. “Did he tie a knaught?”
“A slipknaught, I think.” She handed Wu the rope. He handled it carefully, like it was a fragile artifact.
Arlo was starting to get it. A few knots, like the sheepshank, could be tied in the middle of a rope. But most knots required looping a free end through or around something. That wasn’t possible with a circle of rope.
“How did you do it?” asked Wu.
“I don’t know. It was an accident.”
“Knaughts aren’t even in the Field Book anymore,” said Wu. “They took them out because they were too dangerous.”
Indra shook her head. “They took them out because no one could tie them anymore. It’s not even a requirement for Bear.”
Wu looked to Indra. “We should open it.”
“If anyone should, he should. He made it.”
Wu handed Arlo the rope. “See if you can open it. Slowly.”
Arlo carefully wiggled his fingers into the folds of rope. He could feel energy pulsing inside it. He looked up to find Wu and Indra had taken a step back.
“It’s not going to blow up, is it?”
“No,” said Indra with the slightest bit of a question mark. “But from everything I’ve heard, slipknaughts aren’t stable, so…”
“It’s going to be fine,” said Wu. “Just maybe don’t rush it.”
“But don’t dawdle, either. It could collapse at any point.”
Arlo gently tugged at the edges of the knaught. As he did, he saw lines of light rippling through the fibers. His thumb slipped inside the loop—
—and disappeared.
It was very unsettling.
He could feel his thumb was still there. He could wiggle it, but he couldn’t see it. It was invisible.
He pulled his thumb back and it reappeared, unharmed.
“Did you see that?” he asked.
“See what?” asked Wu.
The rope suddenly dropped open, the knaught untying itself. Whatever magic had formed it had dissipated.
“Guys!” shouted Connor. “Let’s go!” He had returned to the sled with their completed route card. Arlo reluctantly dropped the rope circle and hurried back with Indra and Wu.
“We officially got nine points,” said Connor. “The captain says only one team got ten.”
Jonas perked up. “We could still be
at Red. There’s a chance.”
As Arlo put his gloves back on, he rubbed the red spot on his palm where the knaught had dug in. It was still tingling.
“You okay?” asked Wu.
“I’m fine,” said Arlo. “Let’s beat Red.”
26
134 DEGREES
AS THEY MERGED ONTO A BIGGER ROAD, Indra stopped the sled to check the map against her compass reading. “One hundred and thirty-four degrees. It’s a straight shot. The finish line is less than a mile away.”
Jonas pointed to the tracks in the snow. “Only two or three sleds have been through here. We’re going to be one of the first. That’s extra points.”
“Let’s get there before we worry about scores,” said Connor.
Wu dropped the rope. “I’ll be right back.” He hurried off into the trees.
“Where are you going?” shouted Indra.
“I have to pee! I’m not going to make it a mile. You go ahead!”
“We never split the patrol,” said Connor. “Just be quick.”
Wu disappeared behind a suitable tree.
Julie dug her water bottle out of the sled. “Could we really beat Red Patrol?” she asked. “They were ahead of us.”
“They beat us in the sprint, but we don’t know what they got for sled-judging,” said Indra. “That’s ten points, too. The judges might have looked at their sled and decided they didn’t really build it, whereas Mr. Henhao is clearly homemade.”
Indra was the only kid Arlo had ever met who said “whereas.” She sounded like a lawyer or a politician on TV. He could envision her standing at a podium, speaking in a half yell while gesturing with her hands for emphasis. If she was running for office, Arlo would vote for her. She was stubborn and intimidating, but also dedicated in a way most people weren’t.
Arlo stopped paying attention as the others debated the theoretical point totals for the various patrols. He knew he had nothing to add to the conversation. He let his attention drift to the tops of the swaying pine trees, where the filtered sunlight split into rainbow colors.
“Nobody move,” whispered Connor.
Arlo moved. He turned to look in the direction Connor was facing.
A giant bear lumbered into the road ahead of them. With each step, its massive body shifted and rolled. Its head turned, looking over at them. Its ears cocked forward, curious, but it stayed low to the ground.
Arlo froze. His heart pounded.
The Field Book spent several pages outlining the various species of bear, but suddenly Arlo couldn’t remember any of it. This bear’s fur was dark, but was it a brown bear? Black bear? Grizzly? He felt certain it wasn’t a polar bear. Unless this was a very dirty polar bear—
“It’s a grizzly,” whispered Connor. “We need to back away quietly. Nobody run.”
“Thunderclap!” whispered Jonas. “Scare it off.”
“No! That will antagonize it,” hissed Indra. “Just let it keep walking.”
The bear turned to face them, sitting back on its haunches. It didn’t seem interested in walking away.
Connor took charge. “Don’t look it in the eye. Everyone grab the rope. We’ll pull the sled the other way. Once we’re out of sight, we’ll figure out what to do.”
Everyone nodded, slowly kneeling down to pick up the tow rope. Together, they carefully spun the sled to face the opposite direction. The bear seemed interested but unconcerned. Then—
“Guys!” shouted Wu, zipping his fly. “Finish line’s that way!”
He pointed directly at the bear. Off his friends’ panicked gaze, Wu followed his finger to see the massive bear rising up on its back legs. It roared.
“Run!” shouted Jonas.
Arlo was pretty sure that was contrary to the directions in the Field Book, which advised standing one’s ground when faced with an aggressive grizzly. But his feet weren’t thinking. He was running as fast as he could, the rope looped in the crook of his elbow.
Wu caught up to the sled, grabbing hold of it to steer.
Up ahead, the road split. “Left or right?” Arlo shouted. Half the patrol answered each choice. Not helpful.
Meanwhile, the bear was charging. There was no way they could outrun it.
Suddenly, a woman was standing in the middle of the road. She wore a Warden’s uniform, but looked too young to be a parent of a Ranger. She held both hands out to her sides, concentrating.
As she brought her arms to the sky, the snow on both sides of the road suddenly swirled up into a blizzard. Howling winds formed a complete whiteout except for a tiny passage around the sled. Here the air was calm. They were in the eye of the storm.
Wu uttered a combination of bad words that expressed his surprise. Whatever special Warden skill this was, they all wanted to learn it immediately.
Somewhere in the swirling snow, the bear roared in response.
The woman beckoned them to follow her. Quickly.
“Go!” Connor shouted.
She led the patrol off the road, winding through the trees. The Warden was remarkably fast, running more like a deer than a person. Arlo had a hard time keeping her in sight. She was always at the next bend, pointing exactly which way they should go.
Arlo looked back. He couldn’t see the blizzard or the bear anymore. The woman seemed to be taking them well out of its territory. Better safe than sorry.
This part of the forest was different than the rest. It felt bigger. Older. They weaved between massive lichen-covered boulders, and crossed streams that had frozen solid. Even the bird songs were different.
A few minutes later, Arlo lost sight of the woman entirely. But he felt certain she must have headed towards the sunlit clearing ahead.
The sled slowed, then stopped. Arlo looked down and realized why. There was no snow under his boots, just wet dirt and pine needles.
One by one, the patrol gathered in a line at the front of the sled, staring in confused wonder. Wu pulled off his hat and gloves. He didn’t need them anymore.
They were standing at the mouth of a shallow river valley. The white-capped mountains in the distance were taller than anything Arlo had ever seen. Ever imagined. They filled half the sky. The wind pulled curls of ice off the jagged peaks.
But here it was warm.
At the center of the clearing, a massive pine tree was burning. A coil of gray smoke rose from it, gradually dispersing in the purple sky. Flakes of ash drifted in the wind.
Through the flames, Arlo could see the skeleton of the tree, its glowing branches swaying in the heat of the fire. He could hear the flames crackling, whooshing.
But as fast as the tree was burning, it was also regrowing. New branches slowly reached out from the trunk, eventually igniting as other limbs collapsed into orange-white cinders.
It was a perfect equilibrium. A perpetual bonfire.
The burning tree was putting out so much heat that all the snow in the valley had melted.
Wu turned to the patrol. “Guys. Where are we?”
27
THE VALLEY OF FIRE
INDRA HELD OUT HER COMPASS. The patrol gathered around her to watch as the needle spun in a slow clockwise circle. North was everywhere, and nowhere.
They had crossed into the Long Woods.
“It was that woman, the Warden,” said Wu. “She brought us here on purpose.”
Indra snapped the compass shut. “She didn’t talk. Did you guys notice that?”
“She didn’t want to startle the bear,” said Julie. Of the six of them, she seemed the least alarmed, like her brain hadn’t quite caught up to how bad their situation was.
Connor unzipped his parka. “I’m not sure there ever was a bear. It could have all been an illusion.”
“You think she’s a witch?” asked Indra.
“Or something like it.”
“Wait, there are witches?” asked Julie.
“Yes, but not vampires,” said Arlo. “Which seems weird to me.”
Jonas added his coat to the growing p
ile on the sled. “So let’s say she’s a witch—or like a witch. Why would she bring us here? To eat us?”
Connor, Wu and Indra looked over at Arlo. They didn’t want to say it, so Arlo did: “She wanted me.”
“Why?” asked Julie. “What’s so special about you?”
There wasn’t time to explain about the wisps and Connor’s cousin and the Night Mare, so Indra just left it as, “We’re not sure. But things keep trying to kill him.”
“And this witch is probably the one who’s been sending them,” added Wu.
For weeks, Arlo had been feeling guilty about getting Connor, Indra and Wu involved. They were loyal friends who never complained, but this clearly wasn’t their battle to fight. He suspected that just being near him put them in danger.
He felt even worse about Julie and Jonas, because they had been kept in the dark for months. They were part of the patrol, but not part of the inner circle. That felt disloyal and dishonest. And now the twins were lost in the Long Woods for reasons they couldn’t understand.
Jonas pointed into the forest. “Look, we can just retrace our steps. Five minutes ago, we were in our world. We can go back.”
“We can’t,” said Connor. “Directions don’t work the same in the Long Woods.”
“We don’t need the compass!” said Julie. “The sled left a track. We’ll just follow it until we’re back.”
Arlo shook his head. “It won’t work. The tracks will disappear, or go in a circle.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Yes, but so is that burning tree,” said Indra. “So are those mountains. We’re in an impossible place. It doesn’t work the same as our world.”
Jonas started walking back the way they came. “We can at least try. Seriously, what do we have to lose?”
“The minute you’re out of sight, we’ll never see you again,” said Connor. “Trust me, I’ve been here before.”
