Migo happily climbed up the mountain, thinking how awesome it was going to be when everyone realized that he had been telling the truth all along.
He turned around a curve and . . . whoosh! A strong wind and a curtain of snow hit him. Blizzards often sprang up out of nowhere in the mountains, and now he was caught right in the middle of one.
He tried to push against the winds, but they only pushed him farther and farther back. He slid across the ice and right into a big, dry cave.
“Home would be nice, but this is good for now,” Migo said. He unstrapped the sleeping bag from his chest. “Don’t worry, little guy. You’re safe here. Nice and war—”
Percy tumbled out of the sleeping bag and landed on the floor of the cave with a loud clink. Migo picked him up. Covered with ice, the Smallfoot was frozen like an ice pop!
Desperately Migo rubbed Percy against his fur to warm him up. He tapped him on the ground, trying to shatter the ice around his body.
Sticks were scattered across the floor of the cave, so he put Percy down and quickly gathered the sticks into a pile. Then he found two rocks and banged them together, creating sparks.
“Don’t worry, Smallfoot. I’m going to save you. Just hang on. Hang on!” Migo urged. He banged the rocks together again, and the sparks landed on the sticks. A fire began to burn.
A few minutes later Percy’s eyes fluttered open. The tranquilizer was wearing off. “Oh, fire. So warm, so nice,” he mumbled.
Then he realized that his whole body was spinning. First he was facing the fire from above, and then he was lying faceup above the fire.. Then he was over the fire again. . . .
“Oh no. . . .”
Migo had created a spit over the fire and was turning Percy on top of it like a barbecue master cooking a piece of meat. Migo just wanted Percy to warm up.
“There you go. Nice and toasty all the way around,” Migo said.
“No, no, nooooooooo!” Percy screamed. He thought the Yeti was cooking him up for dinner!
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Migo asked. “You hungry?”
He leaned down and grabbed an apple from Percy’s backpack. Then he stuffed it into Percy’s mouth.
“I’m being roasted alive!” Percy cried with his mouth full. It sounded like he was saying “I’mp pheing roaphted aliveph!” Not that it made a difference to Migo!
“Still cold? I can see why,” Migo said. “You have, like, no fur.” He picked up a branch and began to sweep away a layer of snow that had blown into the cave. “I’ll clear off a space where you can lie until the storm passes.”
He unrolled Percy’s sleeping bag. “Your cocoon is almost ready,” he said.
Percy struggled to free himself—and had some help from the flames, which burned through one of the ropes binding him to the spit. He jumped off.
He’d have to make a run for it, but it wouldn’t be easy getting past the huge beast. Before he tried, though, there was one thing he needed to do.
While the beast was busy, Percy turned on his phone and aimed the camera at himself, with Migo in the background.
“Percy Patterson here in what might be my last broadcast ever,” he whispered. “I might get eaten. Or roasted. Or frozen solid. Or some horrible combination of the three.”
He paused dramatically. “But . . . know this. I risked my life in pursuit of something extraordinary. Something bigger than us. Literally, so much bigger.”
He focused the camera on Migo. The Yeti turned to look at him.
“Oh, great. You’re moving,” Migo said. “I’ve almost finished your—”
“I think he’s saying he wants to have me for dinner,” Percy guessed.
Migo turned back and continued preparing Percy’s sleeping area. Percy saw his chance, and tiptoed toward the cave entrance without Migo seeing him. After blowing on his fingers to warm them up, he frantically tried to type a text.
Brenda, give me my glory, he wrote. Upload this video—and then send help!
He hit send, and the phone chimed. The words “message sending” scrolled across the screen.
Then another message appeared: “Upload time . . . 38 hours.”
“Noooooooo!” Percy wailed.
A low, rumbling growl answered him. It didn’t sound like the Yeti.
Percy continued to record his adventure. “Something else is here,” he whispered into his phone. “Judging by the echo, I’d estimate distance is approximately two hundred meters.”
He hit the flashlight app on his phone, illuminating a giant bear only six inches from his face!
“Estimations wrong!” Percy yelled, temporarily frozen in terror.
The bear roared again, loudly, her breath blowing through Percy’s hair. His survival instinct kicked in, and he turned and ran—right into Migo! Terrified, Percy dropped to his knees, cowering. There was no escape!
Luckily, Migo knew what the bear was saying, even if Percy did not.
“My husband is back there sound asleep!” she growled.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know this cave was taken,” Migo apologized.
“Do you know what kind of mood he’s going to be in if he wakes up?” the bear asked. “I promise, it will not be pretty! Not to mention our children. It took me weeks to get them to sleep.”
“I don’t even have kids, but I can imagine that is just a really hard thing to do,” Migo replied.
They’re fighting over who gets to eat me! Percy thought.
Then Migo’s big foot moved and hovered over Percy.
He’s going to crush me!
Instead Migo motioned for Percy to look behind him. The bright moon shone outside. The storm had passed.
Seeing his chance, Percy made a run for it while Migo kept the bear busy talking.
“Well, gotta go,” Migo said finally. “Again, very, very sorry.”
Percy made it to the cave entrance, with Migo running at his heels. Percy had gotten a few feet outside the cave when he heard a loud snap behind him, followed by a pitiful roar.
Percy turned. The Yeti was caught in a bear trap! The creature was sitting on the ground, howling in pain. Percy paused.
“Don’t be stupid, Percy,” he scolded himself. “Do not go back to help the ferocious Yeti. Don’t do it!”
“Owwwwwwwww!” Migo wailed.
“Although, he did just save you from a bear,” Percy said. He sighed. “This is the wrong time to grow a conscience.”
He hurried back to Migo, who held up his foot. The big bear trap had caught on his big toe. The Yeti tried to remove the trap, but it made him cry out in pain.
Percy’s heart melted, and he patted the Yeti gently. “It’s okay, big fella. Let’s get this thing off.”
Migo smiled gratefully. He understood that the Smallfoot wanted to help him.
“Does this hurt?” Percy asked. He pried open the trap.
“Ouch!” Migo cried. Then he looked down at his toe, where a teeny drop of blood was forming. His eyes rolled back in his head, and he passed out.
• • •
When his eyes opened again, he saw Percy wrapping his toe in a bandage. He smiled at the Smallfoot, and Percy smiled back.
“The storm has lifted,” Migo said. “What do you say we get up that mountain and prove you exist, huh?”
Percy stared at Migo blankly, and finally Migo realized something.
“You don’t understand a word I’m saying, do you?” he asked.
Percy’s blank stare didn’t change. Migo sighed and strapped the sleeping bag back to his chest and pointed at it. Percy flipped on his phone. “Okay, this is unbelievable, but I think the Yeti is actually trying to communicate with me. I think he wants me to go with him.”
Migo growled and pointed to the sleeping bag again. Percy, an adventurer at heart, jumped inside.
“This is either the bravest thing I’ve ever done, or the stupidest,” he reasoned. “Here’s hoping it’s the former.”
“Oh, I almost forgot,” Migo said.
Migo had grabbed some smoldering rocks from the fire. He dropped them into the sleeping bag.
“These should keep you warm,” Migo said.
Percy flinched at the idea of the hot rocks, but he quickly realized that they were warm and toasty.
“That’s actually quite nice,” he remarked.
Then Migo began to bound up the mountainside.
“Almost there,” Migo promised. “Meechee is gonna be so happy!”