The Icy Quest

Chapter 23

"Land ho!" someone yelled from the deck. Pagoniá sat up and rubbed her eyes, still mentally foggy from her nap. Tilepátheia and Pozhar had noticed the shout and were already gathering their stuff together.

"We're here!" Tilepátheia cried happily. "No more sitting around in a box doing nothing! I wish it wasn't so cold though. I am extremely glad that I found that bag of arctic gear in here with us. Otherwise I would be freezing."

"I think the temperature feels great. However, now that we've arrived at our destination, we have a problem," Pagoniá asserted. "How are we going to get off the ship?"

"Why don't you make some kind of ice thingie that we could sit on, and have it float to shore," Tilepátheia suggested. "I could hide it fairly easily with my invisibility powers."

"You mean like a floating ice platform?" Pagoniá clarified. "I haven't done anything that big before, but I could try."

"Yes. What else would I be referring to?" Tilepátheia quipped. "And of course you can do it. Being in Antarctica greatly strengthens the powers of ice people."

"Okay, but how are we going to get down to it from the deck of the ship?" Pagoniá asked, wrinkling her brow. "We're quite a ways above the water."

"I know!" exclaimed Pozhar. "There's tons of rope in this shipping container. We could use it to lower ourselves and our bags down to the ice platform. I know the perfect knots for the job."

"Okay. I'll get started on the ice platform. Pozhar, work on the ropes. Tilepátheia, now would be a good time to make us invisible. Once we are on land, you also need to monitor the mission team's thoughts. We haven't done this before, so we should take some cues from the people who know what they are doing," Pagoniá directed, taking charge of the situation. Everyone quickly began working on their assigned tasks.

After leaving the shipping container with Tilepátheia in tow, Pagoniá closed her eyes and focused on an area of water in the ocean right below them. She discovered that she could think and focus her powers much more clearly here than she had ever been able to in the desert. Concentrating, she easily made an ice platform big enough to hold all three of them and their stuff. For good measure, she added a sidewall to protect them from waves and to keep anyone from falling off the platform. It took much less effort than creating ice had in the past.

As if on cue, Pozhar exited the shipping container with the necessary "Land ho!" someone yelled from the deck. Pagoniá sat up and rubbed her eyes, still mentally foggy from her nap. Tilepátheia and Pozhar had noticed the shout and were already gathering their stuff together.

"We're here!" Tilepátheia cried happily. "No more sitting around in a box doing nothing! I wish it wasn't so cold though. I am extremely glad that I found that bag of arctic gear in here with us. Otherwise I would be freezing."

"I think the temperature feels great. However, now that we've arrived at our destination, we have a problem," Pagoniá asserted. "How are we going to get off the ship?"

"Why don't you make some kind of ice thingie that we could sit on, and have it float to shore," Tilepátheia suggested. "I could hide it fairly easily with my invisibility powers."

"You mean like a floating ice platform?" Pagoniá clarified. "I haven't done anything that big before, but I could try."

"Yes. What else would I be referring to?" Tilepátheia quipped. "And of course you can do it. Being in Antarctica greatly strengthens the powers of ice people."

"Okay, but how are we going to get down to it from the deck of the ship?" Pagoniá asked, wrinkling her brow. "We're quite a ways above the water."

ropes and all their bags right as Pagoniá finished her creation. They silently lowered themselves and their gear down to the platform. Once they had safely positioned themselves on the platform, Pagoniá used her powers to propel them toward land, navigating around the large icebergs that were quite common this close to the South Pole.

Finally, they reached the shore. Their arrival in Antarctica produced a feeling in Pagoniá that she couldn't put into words. Even though she had never been to Antarctica before, she felt like she was coming home. She felt energized and calm all at the same time, and she felt as if she belonged there, something that she had never felt in the desert. The experience was so overwhelming that it left her mentally and physically a little off balance. Without warning, she lost her footing and found herself face down in the snow.

"Wow," Tilepátheia whispered in awe. "I expected a reaction of some kind from you, but not one that big. The stuff going through your head right now is crazy."

"How did you... Oh right, you're psychic," Pagoniá acknowledged, getting to her feet and brushing the snow off her clothing. "Of course you know what's going on in my head."

"Just FYI, calling a mind-reader psychic is a grievous insult. It's a good way to get into a fight," Tilepátheia informed her, planting her hands firmly on her hips.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Pagoniá apologized, mortified. "I didn't know."

"Ha! You should have seen the look on your face!" Tilepátheia exclaimed, doubling over, laughing. "I just made that up!"

"I'm not surprised that you felt something," Pozhar commented, completely ignoring Tilepátheia's joke. "It is a common belief that the ice people were originally native to the North and South Poles."

"Let's drag our stuff further inland," Pagoniá suggested, pulling herself together. "Then I can make an ice shelter where we can hunker down and monitor the activity of the mission team from a distance." The group readily complied, dragging their overstuffed bags quite a ways inland until they reached an enormous pile of snow where Pagoniá directed them to halt. She easily made a small shelter that they could sit under while Tilepátheia monitored the thoughts of the adults and made sure that their group remained unnoticed.

They watched as the mission team unloaded the ship. Bit by bit, they loaded supplies and equipment into rowboats and rowed it to shore. This process was long and boring, but it was exceedingly entertaining to watch one adult after another unexpectedly lose their footing and wind up in a heap in the snow just as they set foot on land. Being in Antarctica apparently affected the individuals who were a part of the mission team as much as it affected Pagoniá.

Tilepátheia suddenly shot to her feet.

"We need to get moving now," she said urgently, throwing her hands in the air. "According to some thoughts I just read, there is a blizzard coming. The adults are going to wait for it to pass. This is our chance to get ahead of them so that we can find the weapon first!"

"Risking a blizzard would be a very unorthodox decision," Pagoniá commented skeptically, raising her eyebrows.

"Are you kidding me! That's a terrible idea!" Pozhar practically shouted. "Did you stop to think that there might be a reason why the adults are going to wait the blizzard out?"

"Yes, of course I did!" Tilepátheia retorted. "They have way too much stuff to get moving quickly enough to beat it, so they don't have any other choice but to hunker down and wait it out. You see, it's coming from the west, and we are going south. If we hurry, we can be out of it's path before it gets here. We have a lot less gear and can get moving faster. Come on! Let's go!" Tilepátheia dragged Pozhar to his feet as Pagoniá got herself moving. They set out into the vast tundra of Antarctica, moving as quickly as they could.

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They have arrived! However, Tilepátheia will continue pranking them unless you vote and comment!