After the dessert had been cleared away, Stella glanced at Ethan on the other side of the table and signalled to him that she was leaving. The magician nodded, and Stella quietly snuck out of the room. The others followed her, one by one, and made their way straight to the Hall of Flags. They were all keen to see their expedition flag, which had been given a special spot on display as the flag from the first joint expedition in history.
Beanie had written their Flag Report during the return voyage back to Coldgate, carefully leaving out any mention of the outlaw hideout at the Yak and Yeti, as per Captain Ajax’s request. They had even changed the name of the Snow Queen to the Snow Goose, just in case. They owed Captain Ajax, after all, and none of them wanted to be responsible for forcing him back into the perilous life of returning stolen treasure maps to ungrateful pirates in the Seventeen Seas.
‘I thought exploring with you lot would be a total nightmare,’ Ethan said as they all gazed up at their flag. ‘But there were parts of it that weren’t terrible.’
‘What was your favourite part?’ Stella asked. ‘Getting bitten by the frosty?’
‘Getting proved right about the frosties,’ Ethan corrected her. ‘I never tire of being proved right about things.’
‘The president has been in contact with Captain Filibuster,’ Beanie said. ‘When the new edition of his Guide to Expeditions and Exploration comes out, they’re going to include a section about treating frostbite with moustache wax.’
‘Dad thinks this new knowledge will save a lot of lives,’ Shay said.
‘And fingers and toes,’ Beanie replied.
‘The Icelands was fun. Where would you most like to explore next?’ Stella asked.
‘Don’t you want to just enjoy being home for a little while?’ Beanie asked.
‘I have enjoyed it for a little while,’ Stella replied. ‘I enjoyed the hot chocolate when I arrived. I enjoyed the buttered crumpets in my guest room. I enjoyed having a bath. I suppose I’d like to go home and say hello to Gruff and the dinosaurs and my unicorn. But then I’d like to start planning another expedition. Felix says that the president is so pleased with the moustache spoon that he’s bound to grant me permanent membership of the Polar Bear Explorers’ Club. So where would you go next if you could choose? Volcano Island? Cactus Valley? The Scorpion Desert?’
‘Isn’t the Scorpion Desert bandit country?’ Beanie asked.
‘I’ve always wanted to see the Floating Island of Diamond Waterfalls,’ Ethan put in. ‘I don’t think they have bandits there.’
‘We should plan another expedition together,’ Stella said tentatively. She suddenly felt shy. What if the others didn’t want to go on another expedition with her? They’d been thrown together by force the first time but organising it by choice might be a whole other matter. ‘We do all want to go on another expedition together. Don’t we?’
‘Count me in,’ Shay said at once.
‘Me too,’ Beanie said.
‘Ethan?’ Stella prompted. ‘What about you?’
There was a pause. Then the magician gave a sudden grin. ‘I wouldn’t miss it,’ he said. ‘Besides, you lot would be completely lost without me. Dead within hours, probably.’
‘We will need someone who can create polar beans out of thin air, Prawn,’ Shay agreed.
Ethan snapped his fingers obligingly – only, instead of polar beans, a tiny scorpion materialised and scuttled off into the corner of the room, clicking its pincers together in a most threatening manner.
‘Don’t blame me!’ Ethan said, as the four explorers fled from the room. ‘You shouldn’t have mentioned the Desert Scorpion!’
EPILOGUE
Felix had always said that the first night spent in your own bed after a period of time away travelling was one of the greatest pleasures life had to offer. When they arrived home after their long journey, Stella found that Felix was, indeed, quite right about this.
They had hot chocolate and cheesy toast together by the stove in the kitchen, with Gruff snoozing happily in front of the flickering flames. The polar bear had almost flattened Stella in excitement when she walked through the door, and Felix had had to drag her back up by the hood of her cloak to set her on her feet again. Stella didn’t mind, though. She was absolutely delighted to see her polar bear again too, and to feel his warm tongue on her face – even if he did get slobber all over her explorer’s cloak.
‘It’ll come out in the wash,’ Felix said breezily. ‘Most things do.’
When Stella went upstairs to bed, Gruff came with her, and Felix agreed that she could take Buster too, as a special treat. She sat down on her bed and took her Polar Pets from her bag, peering into the igloo to see what the penguins were up to. A pot of hot chocolate warmed on a little stove, whilst the penguins divided up a bag of blue marshmallows between them, honking happily at one another all the while. The marshmallows were fish-shaped and, in fact, the penguins gobbled most of them down before the hot chocolate was even ready.
Stella placed the igloo on her bedside table, changed into her favourite unicorn pyjamas and fell straight between the sheets, delighting in how comfortable and familiar and warm it all felt, right down to the sparkling mobile revolving slowly above her bed.
Gruff stretched himself out on the rug by the fireplace in her room, snoring happily, Buster nestled into the crook of Stella’s arm, his little claws curled tight around her thumb, and Stella soon fell sound asleep, happy to be back home, surrounded by her
