Migo didn’t know what to do. Lost in thought, he walked along the cliffs, through the ice and snow. Finally he sat down on a rock and watched the snow whirl around him. A gust of wind swirled past his ear and sounded like Miiiigo. Migo gasped and looked to his left, then to his right.
“Who’s there?” he called out.
He heard it again.
Miiiigo.
“Smallfoot, is that you?” he said. “Ugh, maybe I am going crazy. No wonder no one believes me.”
“We believe you.”
Migo whipped around to see Gwangi emerge from the fog, followed by Kolka and Fleem.
“Oh, it’s you guys,” Migo said.
“Miiiigo,” Fleem said. He turned to Gwangi and Kolka. “Is it just me, or does he look disappointed that it’s us?” He leaned toward Migo. “Can’t say I blame you.”
“No, no. Thanks for believing me,” Migo said. “But I’m starting to think that I didn’t see a Smallfoot.”
“You want proof that you saw what you saw?” Kolka asked.
Migo nodded. “Yeah”
“We got proof,” Gwangi said.
“So you believe that I saw a Small—” Migo began, but he was interrupted by Gwangi, Kolka, and Fleem all yelling, “Sssshhhh!”
“They’re listening,” Gwangi said.
“Who?” Migo asked.
“The ears of oppression.”
“Yeah,” Kolka agreed.
“This way,” Gwangi instructed. “Stealth mode.”
Migo sighed. “Could this day get any more bizarre?” he asked to no one in particular. He felt something odd and looked down. Fleem was touching his fur.
“Is this too close?” Fleem asked.
“Uhhh, what?” Migo said, confused.
“You know what you are now?” Fleem asked. “One of us!” Fleem started chanting. “One of us! One of us!”
Migo sighed. He couldn’t go back to the village. And Gwangi, Kolka, and Fleem might be a little strange, but they acted like they had answers for him. And right now all he had were questions.
“I guess you’re all I’ve got, huh?” he said.
“Yeah, I know,” Fleem replied. “Stinks, right?”
They caught up to Gwangi and Kolka and entered a narrow ravine.
“Where are you taking me?” Migo asked.
“Our leader requests a meeting,” Kolka replied mysteriously.
“You have a leader?” Migo asked. “Who?”
Fleem’s eyes gleamed. “You’ll see,” he said.
They reached a wall of rock. Fleem pulled a switch, and a secret entrance opened up.
“Oh boy,” Migo said.
The entrance opened into a large cave. Gwangi stepped in first and clapped twice. Snails lit up the darkness, revealing a stone stairway that curved downward. They followed it down.
“He’s here,” Gwangi announced.
A Yeti stepped out of the shadows, and Migo gasped.
“Meechee?”
“Hi, Migo,” she said. “Welcome to the secret headquarters of the S.E.S.”
“It stands for ‘Smallfoot Exists, Suckas!’ ” Fleem explained.
“Actually, it’s the ‘Smallfoot Evidentiary Society,’ ” Kolka said.
Fleem shrugged. “I mean, my name has more pizzazz.”
“Smallfoot?” Migo repeated. “Wait, you’re like a . . . secret society . . . about Smallfoot? But you’re the Stonekeeper’s daughter!”
“Look, I love my father, but he isn’t exactly what you would call ‘open to new ideas,’ ” Meechee replied.
“Because questions lead to knowledge,” Kolka added.
“And knowledge is power,” Gwangi said.
“Uh-huh,” Migo said, his mind whirring as he tried to take everything in. He knew he wasn’t supposed to ask questions. But he’d had so many of them, for as long as he could remember! And these guys were saying that asking questions was okay.
“So, you don’t just believe in the Smallfoot. . . . You’ve been looking for one!” he realized. That idea felt strange to him.
Meechee motioned for Migo to follow her. She led him to a map of the mountain on the wall, marked with red Xs all over it.
“See all the red Xs?” she asked. “We’ve been searching the entire mountain, dreaming of first contact.”
“Why are you looking for Xs?” Migo asked.
Meechee rolled her eyes. “We’re not looking for Xs. We’re looking for Smallfoot. And you’ve seen one!”
The four Yetis swarmed him and bombarded him with questions.
“Tell us everything,” Meechee said.
“What did it smell like?” Kolka asked.
“Did you try to communicate?” Meechee wanted to know.
“How tall was it?” Gwangi asked.
“Was it shorter than me?” Fleem asked.
“Did it only have hair on top of its head?” Kolka asked.
“Did it hypnotize you?” Gwangi asked.
“It’s gotta be shorter than me, right?” Fleem repeated.
Migo backed away from them. “I don’t know! It all happened so fast. I can’t prove I actually saw one.”
Meechee grinned. “That’s where we come in. Gwangi? Show him the evidence.”
Gwangi moved to a display case and whipped off the cover. Fleem put a snail on top of Gwangi’s head to add some light. Gwangi took something out of the case—a tiny, puffy winter jacket.
“First item: Smallfoot pelt,” Gwangi said. “We believe it sheds its skin.”
Kolka removed the next item—a small, broken ski pole. She held it up to the center of her forehead so that it resembled a unicorn horn.
“Second item: a single, magical horn. Might have power in it,” she said. Then her eyes got wide. “Wait a second. I’m seeing something. Walking stick? Down a hill, with wooden planks on the feet?”
She took the ski pole away from her head. “Whoa. That was crazy.”
“And then there’s this,” Meechee said. She held up a roll of toilet paper. “The scroll of invisible wisdom.”
Kolka bowed to the scroll as Meechee unrolled it in front of Migo.
“Just imagine the amazing stuff they put on here,” Meechee said.
Migo looked at the items and shook his head. “Yeah, um, sorry, but this stuff doesn’t look familiar. I don’t remember the horn, and the Smallfoot I saw didn’t have a pelt this color. So, yep, didn’t see it.”
“Wait! There’s one more artifact,” Meechee said. “The first thing I ever found, the thing that started all of this.”
She picked up a bundle of folded cloth and unwrapped it to reveal a very small boot. Migo’s eyes widened. He had seen one just like it on the Smallfoot he had encountered.
“That was a trigger! He’s triggered!” Kolka said.
Meechee smiled. “I knew it! You did see one!”
Migo couldn’t deny it.
“Where did it go? Think, Migo! Think!” Meechee urged.
“Tell us!” Gwangi demanded.
“I don’t know,” Migo answered.
“No, channel the energy!” Kolka suggested.
Migo closed his eyes, remembering. “It all happened so fast. . . .” He remembered seeing the creature’s tiny foot, and then whoosh!
“It got whisked away in the wind,” Migo explained. “Over the clouds.”
“Which way?” Meechee pressed. “Up the mountain? Over to the village? To the sky? WHERE?”
In Migo’s mind he could see the Smallfoot falling into the clouds.
“Down,” he said.
“Did you just say ‘down’?” Kolka asked.
Migo’s eyes snapped open. “ ‘Down’? No. Did I?”
Excited, Meechee hurried over to the map on the wall. She pointed to the area below the clouds.
“You did! Down! Of course!” she cried. “You know, I have always thought it was weird that a mountain floats, when there is obviously some invisible force pulling us all downward. I call it the law . . . of gravity!”
Fleem shook his head. “You really stink at naming stuff.”
Meechee tapped the map. “But this explains why we haven’t found a Smallfoot up here. Because it’s down there. Below the clouds.” She turned to Migo. “And if we want to find that Smallfoot and change the world, that’s where we need to go.”
Migo’s eyes widened in terror. “What?! In the Great Nothing?”
Meechee nodded slowly. Gwangi, Kolka, and Fleem nodded along with her.
“Very funny,” Migo said. “You’re crazy.”
Gwangi’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t call me crazy,” he growled. “Never call anyone crazy.”
“Do you know why it’s called ‘the Great Nothing’?” Migo argued. “BECAUSE THERE’S NOTHING DOWN THERE!”
“And why do you believe that?” Meechee challenged him.
“Because it’s written on the stones!” Migo replied.
“It’s also written on a stone that there’s no Smallfoot, and yet you saw one,” Kolka pointed out.
“Yeah. Why is there a stone that says something doesn’t exist?” Meechee asked. “Doesn’t that suggest that it actually does? And if one stone is wrong, then others could be as well.”
Migo held up his hands. “Whoa, wait. Other stones? How many do you think are wrong?”
“The whole robe,” Gwangi replied.
Migo shook his head. “You know what? This whole thing’s insane. I’m out.”