“HHHHRRUNH!” I grunted as I tried to pull Robert out of the water. The block of ice probably weighed a thousand pounds. And I had to be careful not to slip, or else I’d end up Popsicled too.

It was no use. And Fran was getting closer.

“Where’s Doratea?” Robert shouted at her. “What did you do to her?”

“Not as much as I would have liked,” said Fran with a creepy smile. “She had a surprising number of items in that little purple backpack of hers.

“But no matter,” continued Fran as she motored closer. “I left your friend floating in the ocean. She cannot help you now.”

I stopped pulling. There was no way I was getting Robert out of the water. And even if I did, it wasn’t like I could carry him in that huge block of ice.

But there was no way I was leaving him. Not after waiting my whole life to find him.

There was only one thing to do. Just as Fran’s raft hit the shore, I leaped at the water . . . and landed on Robert’s block of ice! Bracing myself with my big feet, I didn’t slide off. Instead, my momentum pushed us out to sea.

Right toward the plane!

“Good show!” exclaimed Robert.

Fran growled and raced after us in her boat.

I stuck my big feet in the water and kicked.

We had a lead, but she was gaining.

“When we get to the plane, you won’t be able to get me inside like this,” Robert said matter-of-factly. I guess to an explorer being ridden like a boat while being chased by the crazy daughter of Dr. Frankenstein wasn’t anything to get too worked up about. “You’ll have to tie me to one of the pontoons.”

Fran was just yards behind us when we reached the plane. I flung open the cockpit door and climbed in, my feet instantly turning to Popsicles as soon as I took them out of the water. I quickly found a rope. But as I tied Robert’s block to the pontoon, I suddenly realized: “Wait! Who’s going to fly the plane!?!”

“You are!” he said cheerily.

“Me?” I cried. “I don’t know how! There’s no way I can fly a plane!”

“It’s the duty of explorers to go where people think they cannot,” said Robert. “Even if the people who think that are themselves!”

Fran was right there, reaching with a knife to cut Robert loose. I didn’t know which button to push. So I pushed them all. The windshield wipers wiped. The wing flaps flapped. The lights lit up.

And then, I just barely heard Fran curse me as the engine roared to life and drowned her out.

A couple days later, I got an email from Robert.

I had a big smile on my face as I taped Robert’s email to a blank page in my journal.

It was still a little cold and soggy from the Antarctic waters, but all the pages I had from Dr. Frankenstein’s journal were still inside.

And somewhere out there, Fran was looking for the rest of my cousins. But I knew nothing bad would happen to them . . .