Nine

STACY COULDN’T BELIEVE she’d figured it out. And she’d worked it out without Addison’s help . . . or help from the tundra explorer’s journal. Stacy did it on her own. Maybe I actually am smart for my age. Maybe I really could go to school like Miriam said. . . . Of course, it was just a theory at this point. Stacy wouldn’t know for sure that Pearl needed salt water unless they brought her to the ocean and tested it out. But even that wouldn’t explain why she was sick now. Could Pearl have been born near the ocean? Stacy was pretty sure Pearl was one of the four wolf pups listed on the tundra explorer’s rune. It didn’t make any sense. Unless . . . what if her powers only recently developed? Just like my wolves—this is new for them. One of my wolves could have developed a power that was dependent on a biome too. We’re just lucky that didn’t happen.

Stacy looked over to Everest—his face bore a pensive expression, like he was slowly taking in the surge of Stacy’s thoughts and considering each one of them carefully. The reality was that Stacy and her pack had no other ideas about how to help Pearl. And it seemed like Pearl was running out of time. They could either stay here and watch Pearl continue to suffer, or they could take a leap of faith and test Stacy’s hypothesis.

“Where is the nearest ocean?” Stacy wondered aloud, walking over to Everest. She’d been to the ocean once when she was young—probably eight or nine years old—she’d gone with her pack but could barely remember the trip. And that must have been near the taiga, farther north than where they were now in the mesa. Suddenly, Atlas came to Stacy’s side. Stacy felt a cool breeze move through her hair and took a deep breath of it. Atlas pointed his nose in a direction—southeast.

“Knew I was right to name you Atlas,” Stacy said. She wanted to pat him on the head, but she wasn’t sure Atlas would enjoy that. She still wasn’t sure where she stood with the mesa pack’s leader. “How far?”

Everest confabbed with Atlas and walked over to the firepit. He took three stones and laid them at Stacy’s feet.

“Three days?” Stacy asked. Everest nodded.

Three days. How does Atlas know that? Has he been there before? Has Pearl been there before? Can she survive three more days? What if we bring her all the way there away from her home and that’s not even what she needs?

Stacy’s plan was risky. But one look at Pearl was all Stacy needed to find the resolve to head east to the ocean. Everest, please do your best to explain to Atlas, Ribsy, and Paisley why we should go. I’ll go tell the others.

Stacy walked over to where Basil, Wink, and Noah were standing next to Pearl in the mine cart. Stacy gently placed her hand on Pearl’s head. The wolf barely stirred.

“We’re going to try to make you better,” she said, and then looked toward the others. “Everest and I think taking Pearl to the ocean where she can swim freely is the best chance to get her strength back.” The wolves nodded in understanding. Stacy ran her hand down the back of Pearl’s head and neck; the wolf’s fur was dry and crackly. Hang in there, girl.

Ribsy walked over to them and touched his nose to Pearl’s. The effect was immediate. Stacy could almost see the transfer of energy that took place before her. As Ribsy grew weaker and thinner, new life was breathed into Pearl—her chest expanded, her coat softened, and her beautiful turquoise eyes opened and looked appreciatively at Ribsy, who was now skin and bones again. That settles it. Ribsy is a healer just like Tucker. Although it weakens him so much . . . It’s almost like he’s taking some of his life and giving it to whoever he’s healing.

“Quick,” Stacy said to Wink and Basil. “Help him over to the fire and get him something to eat.”

Basil and Wink helped Ribsy to lie down by the fire. Noah brought him water to drink, and Basil brought him a piece of javelina jerky from the batch she was drying. Ribsy ate and drank eagerly and then fell asleep. Good. He needs to rest up for the journey.

Stacy spent the rest of the morning packing up the mineshaft and playing with Page and Molly (who were sure to become incredibly bored on a three-day journey to the beach). As she carried the last of her belongings to the front of the mineshaft, a thought occurred to her. We should carve runes on the mineshaft walls—just like in the glacier cavern on the tundra! Stacy couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought of it before. What if the tundra explorer came looking for them and found this place? There would be no record of the mesa wolves ever being here. Stacy used her pickaxe to chip her rune message into the stone. She included each member of the mesa pack, assigning gemstone names to them. Topaz for Atlas, Emerald for Paisley, Obsidian for Ribsy, and Aquamarine for Pearl. Stacy carved Pearl’s gemstone name faintly into the stone, to indicate that she was weak. And also showed that they would head east to the beach in search of salt to help her. It took several hours to finish, but when she stepped back to admire her work, she was proud of what she’d done.

In preparation for the new biome they were soon to be in, Stacy used her pocketknife to convert her jeans into cutoff shorts. As for her signature long-sleeved, blue-and-white-striped T-shirt, the elbows of which were patched and still threadbare . . . Stacy cut the bottom and the sleeves off to turn it into a cropped tank top. Springtime was pretty warm in the mesa, and Stacy suspected the beach would be even warmer. I hope the beach is not full of people. I have a hard time making sure my six wolves stay undetected . . . now I’m supposed to hide eight? Stacy pushed the thoughts out of her head. They didn’t matter anyway, because Pearl was dying. Stacy was sure of it. But she was also sure that she would do whatever she had to do to keep Pearl alive. I must think of some way to keep the wolves hidden. We can travel by night . . . and stay away from any villages . . . or . . . hmm, Everest was able to camouflage the other members of our pack when we were in the tundra. I wonder if he could do that to the members of the mesa pack too? Everest barked and Stacy looked up to see him nodding at her. He walked over to Paisley, whose full body immediately turned the same clay color that stained her paws. She blended into the mesa perfectly. Paisley looked down at herself and got spooked. She ran from the red sand onto the stone floor of the mineshaft, her coat turning light gray to match the color of the andesite walls behind her. Paisley looked down at herself in wonder. Everest beamed with pride—his camouflage worked.

Perfect, Stacy thought. This is how we’ll get to the ocean.