A sleigh had been sent for them from the Polar Bear Explorers’ Club, ornate and beautiful, adorned with dozens of silver bells, and the explorers’ crest painted on the side. And stamping their pearly hooves, and snorting their misted breath into the frosty morning air, were six magnificent zebra unicorns.
Stella and Felix boarded the sleigh and set off into Coldgate, the many tiny bells creating a constant backdrop of silver music. The entire city was made from ice, and dozens of ice towers sparkled as the sleigh rattled along the frozen cobbles. Stella was quite sure it must be one of the most beautiful places in the world. Everything was bright white in the morning sunshine, with ice sculptures and frozen fountains marking every corner.
In no time at all, they’d reached the gates of the Polar Bear Explorers’ Club, topped with gold-tipped spikes. There were also glorious polar bear statues, crafted from white marble, reclining on the pillars at either end. The gates swung open for them, and the sleigh passed down a central path flanked on each side by a vast snow garden. There were ice sculptures designed to look like an entire forest of trees, and Stella glimpsed ice polar bears between the tree trunks.
But even the lovely ice garden couldn’t compare with the magnificent building that housed the club itself. It was, officially, the largest igloo in the known world, but rather than being constructed from ice it was made entirely of white marble, shot through with silver veins that sparkled in the sun. And instead of the usual smooth, round roof, this igloo had dozens of white brick chimneys, all of which were busily puffing out wood smoke from the many great fires the club kept burning day and night.
The sleigh pulled right up to the front entrance and liveried staff seemed to appear out of nowhere. A man with very white gloves held out a silver tray with steaming cups of hot chocolate on it, and Felix passed one to Stella before taking one for himself. The hot chocolate butler was clearly expecting Felix to go into the club alone, because he suddenly looked quite alarmed when Felix helped her down from the sleigh and said, ‘Right then. We’d better go and announce ourselves.’
‘Um, sir?’
‘Yes, Parsons?’
‘It’s just that, er … your companion is, er …’ He glanced nervously at Stella.
‘Yes?’
‘It’s just that she’s a girl, sir.’
Felix gazed at Stella for a moment, as if only just seeing her for the first time. Then he gave a shrug and said, ‘So she is. Well, there you have it. Not much we can do about that now, I daresay.’
‘But, sir, girls aren’t permitted in the Polar Bear Explorers’ Club,’ the hapless footman said.
‘Aren’t they?’ Felix said, as if this was the first he’d heard of it.
‘It’s forbidden, sir.’
‘That’s all right, Parsons, I’ll take the responsibility,’ Felix said in a polite but firm voice. He held his hand out to Stella, who normally considered herself too grown up for hand-holding, but she was starting to feel a little bit intimidated by the club and its disapproving footman, so she took Felix’s hand and was glad when he gave her fingers a reassuring squeeze.
Together, they went through the huge double doors and into the club’s front entrance. It was a thoroughly grand affair, with the most gigantic fireplace Stella had ever seen dominating the far wall. The air smelled of pine needles, and the walls were made of the same white marble bricks as the exterior. All around the room hung huge portraits of the Polar Bear Explorers’ Club’s most famous and esteemed members, who peered out at them with extremely serious expressions on their faces. They were all men, of course, and they all seemed to have a penchant for monocles and morose moustaches.
The floor was also white marble, and it was scattered about with thick, warm rugs, intricately stitched in silver and blue. But one of them wasn’t manmade, and Stella and Felix both winced at the sight of a huge polar bear rug spread out in the centre of the room. It still had its entire head, and the mouth had been fixed open to display its teeth, its sightless glass eyes staring blindly ahead. Stella thought of Gruff, and his love of hugs and fish biscuits and rolling in the snow, and turned her head away from the sad, skinned bear on the floor.
Her eyes instantly fell on a gigantic pair of snow moose antlers displayed over the fireplace – another trophy brought back from some past expedition. The animal skins and rugs and antlers made Stella feel very sad, and she thought she might have preferred the entrance hall of the Jungle Cat Explorers’ Club, which was said to be adorned with hundreds and hundreds of piranha teeth.
The footman took their cloaks and said, ‘If you’d care to follow me, I’ll announce you to the president.’
Stella and Felix followed him down a corridor, their footsteps muffled by the many thick rugs although, thankfully, there were no more polar bear ones. Finally, they stopped in front of a large red door that led to the club president’s study. There was a brass name plate on the door that read: Algernon Augustus Fogg, Club President.
Felix indicated some ornate, uncomfortable-looking chairs and said, ‘Best wait out here, Stella. The old boy is a bit of a stick-in-the-mud and it would be better if I could warm him up to the idea of you slowly.’
Stella sighed but sat down on one of the chairs. The footman duly announced Felix, who smiled at her before disappearing into the room on the other side of the door. With a final worried look in Stella’s direction, the footman left as well, leaving her alone in the corridor.
She
