CHAPTER 43

Okay, that last clue was just loopy.

A hundred and sixty endangered species wiped out in a single night? Where could that happen? It made absolutely no sense at all to me.

“We never really thought the Enlightened Ones had hidden their treasure trove here,” confided Mom when we huddled for a family meeting the next morning.

That’s what I’ve been saying!

“Then shouldn’t we be helping Dad find it?” Tommy asked.

“There are important things we can do while we’re up here,” said Mom. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to help save the true treasures of the earth. Everybody, grab your cameras. Interview the scientists. Shoot lots of footage. We need to document the truth of what’s happening in the Arctic Circle and share it with the world!”

“Um,” I said, “can we eat breakfast first?”

“Please?” said Beck. “They have real food here. And none of it is from the blubber food group.”

“Fine,” said Mom. “We eat. Then we go shoot more video!”

We left our tent (happy to see that Viktor Zolin’s two frozen goons in fake camo were no longer spying on us) and hit the busy mess hall. The food wasn’t fantastic, but, like Beck said, it sure tasted better than blubber berries on dry Inuit toast. I grabbed a few slices of cold cuts, sausage, and bacon and stuffed them in my pockets to snack on later.

“Maybe we should split up,” said Tommy after breakfast. “We can grab more footage that way. We can have three teams—Beck and Bick, Storm and Mom, me and Nagojut.”

“Nagojut went home, Tommy,” said Storm.

“Fine. Then it’ll just be me and my memories.” He sighed and looked heartbroken until a very attractive Norwegian scientist strolled past our table, carrying a tray. “Unless, of course, she’s available for some fieldwork. Excuse me, guys. Catch you later.”

Tommy chased after the Norse goddess.

The rest of us bundled up and headed outdoors.

“Storm and I will go east,” said Mom. “You guys go west. But, and this is super-important, don’t go too far!”

“Mom?” said Beck. “We know how to take care of ourselves.”

“It’s true,” I added. “Because you guys taught us how to do it!”

We split up. Beck and I hiked west and shot some pretty awesome stuff for our Kidd family film.

We saw polar bears (and tried to warn them about the plasticky-tasting fish). We also photographed walruses, musk oxen, caribou (also known as reindeer), and an arctic fox!