Hot & Cold (8 page)

The ice hotel was like nothing EJ had ever seen before. If you could imagine a large city hotel with fountains and statues and lights, all completely made out of ice, then that was what EJ was looking at. The problem was that EJ couldn't figure out how to get in—all the doors were iced shut.

But EJ didn't really mind—she already had cold feet about having to face Dr Hill, and it wasn't just because she had iced one of them with the Portachill. She had a nagging feeling that she wasn't going to be able to handle Dr Hill—the same kind
of hopeless feeling she had when she was trying to deal with Nema back at school. Perhaps she could just forget this part of the mission—that would be a lot easier.
After all, I've foiled the doctor's evil plan so do I really need to go to the party? Maybe I'll just cool my heels out here for a while,
EJ thought as she leant against an ice pillar.

EJ's phone beeped. It was a text message from Elle.

EJ smiled. Best Friends Forever. Elle knew how to make her feel good. She was a BESTie whether she was called or not. And Elle was right—she could do this. She would stand up to Caterina, if only she could find a way in. Then, as EJ walked forward a little, she felt the ground under her feet give way and once again, she was falling...

...and then landing again. EJ found herself on a lovely soft black rug in the middle of a silvery-white room—a beautiful room in a hard, cold way. The shiny ice-blue walls were draped with ice curtains and ice tables were dotted around, holding ice vases with long, pointy ice flowers. It all looked very fancy but it was not the kind of room you could just flop down and watch some movies in—which was much more EJ's style. In the middle, there was a large, white, egg-like swivel chair, with its back to EJ. And from inside the chair came a voice—a cold, hard, slightly croaky voice that sounded as if its owner needed to cough.

‘Thanks for dropping in, EJ12. I've been expecting you.'

The chair spun around and EJ came face to face with Dr Caterina Hill.

For one really horrible moment, EJ thought she was looking at Nema—or at least an older version of her. But even Nema would have been much less scary than this seriously weird woman. Dr Caterina Hill was wearing black skinny-leg snow pants topped with a padded gold ski jacket, the hood edged with silver-grey fur. On one finger she had a huge diamond—or was it ice?—ring and her nails were long and painted silver, almost like claws. Perched on a stand next to Caterina was a skua, its eyes as black, as piercing and as mean as its mistress's. Both sets of eyes were now staring straight at EJ.

‘I am so glad you're here EJ12, although I must say you took your time. I thought you might be late for my little party.'

‘I don't see any party,' said EJ coolly.

‘Oh, you know what they say, two's a party and three's a crowd,' Dr Hill smirked. ‘And after all, it's a party especially for you. Did you really think I didn't know you were coming? You walked right into my trap.'

EJ looked confused.

‘Don't you worry your unpretty head about it. I have eyes everywhere,' said Dr Hill, stroking the skua. And it was then that EJ recognised the bird—it was the same one that had been following her since she left
Shining Light.
Now she noticed that it had a small camera tied to its leg. Caterina had seen everything that had happened to her.

‘
SHADOW
will pay me double for my water and one of
SHINE'
s top agents,' Dr Hill continued.

‘Except that you don't have any water anymore,' said EJ quietly—so quietly that it was almost impossible to hear her.

‘What? Speak up? Cat got your tongue? Or should that be ‘‘Caterina got your tongue''?' Dr Hill cackled cruelly.

EJ took a deep breath. She was suddenly really tired of mean people saying mean things. ‘I said, ‘‘You don't have any water anymore.'''

‘Don't be ridiculous,' Dr Hill scoffed. ‘My pipeline is pumping millions of litres of pure melted ice water into my tanks as we speak. And soon those tanks will be rolling their way onto
SHADOW
tankers.
SHADOW
will control the world's water market and I will be rolling in millions of dollars!'

‘So you're doing all this just for money? What about the South Pole? What about the Emperor penguins?' EJ pleaded.

‘Bah! Penguin, shmenguin. I couldn't care less. All those smelly penguin chicks can fall in the sea and drown for all I care. Ha-ha-ha!'

‘You're not going to get away with this, Dr Hill!' said EJ defiantly.

‘Oh really, EJ ‘‘zero'', and who is going to stop me? Certainly not
SHINE
—those silly do-gooders back at
SHINE HQ
couldn't stop me if they tried. That silly A1 with her silly mottoes—she had her chance but chose not to pay. And now she really will pay.'

‘No she won't. I'm here and I'll stop you!'

‘Don't make me laugh, EJ ‘‘zero'', you couldn't stop anything.'

That did it for EJ12. She looked straight at Dr Hill and instead of seeing someone scary, she just saw someone with bad nails and a cold heart—someone she could stand up to. She was not going to back down or melt away this time!

‘I already have, Dr Hill. I think you'll find that your pipes have been switched. Cold water is now heading back to re-freeze the polar ice cap and hot water is on its way here. In fact, now that I think about it, your ice flowers are looking a little droopy...'

Caterina sat up with a start. Sure enough, the hot water now being pumped around the ice hotel was slowly melting the ice tables, the ice vases and the pointy ice flowers inside them.

‘How did you do that?' Dr Hill turned back to EJ with a frosty glare. ‘Well, no matter, I will simply switch them back again—after I have dealt with you, EJ12.'

‘Maybe you should just chill out for a while, Caterina...'

‘How dare you, you little nobody. I'll...'

But that was far as Dr Hill got. EJ pulled the Portachill from her backpack and sprayed it full blast towards the ice-queen. Almost instantly, Dr Caterina Hill was snap-chilled into an ice statue. She was finally as cold as she looked.

EJ heaved a big sigh of relief. She gave Caterina another quick spray with the Portachill. With a few top-ups, she would remain snap-chilled for quite some time and she would be fine once she thawed out—in prison.

While Caterina was now frozen, her ice hotel was slowly melting around her.
Hot and cold, cold and hot, everything seems to be one thing or the other at the moment,
thought EJ.
It would be nice to be somewhere in the middle for a while.
Then a little squeaking and rustling sound in the lining of her jacket broke into her thoughts—she had nearly forgotten about the little penguin chick!

Gently she lifted it out. ‘Time for some more food, is it?' The little chick looked up with its mouth wide open, waiting. ‘I'll take that as a yes,' laughed EJ as she took out the charm bottle and dropped some more food into the little penguin's beak. ‘But now we need to get you back to your family and make sure your mum has been able to get back to the breeding ground.'

As she was putting the penguin chick back into her jacket, something fell out of her backpack and onto the ground. It was the little silver whistle that came with Caterina's ‘party' invitation. She had forgotten all about it but was curious as to what it did. She picked up the whistle and blew. It made a long high-pitched sound.

EJ blew it again. She had no idea what it could have been for.

Then EJ heard a noise approaching from a distance. The noise got louder as it got closer.
Dogs barking? Here?
EJ turned towards to see a sled racing towards the melting ice hotel. It was pulled by six excited husky dogs, barking madly and wagging their tails. A sign on the side of the sled said ‘Ice Hotel Express'.

‘Well,' said EJ to no one in particular. ‘Dr Hill can't be all bad if she likes dogs, but who's going to look after them now?' And then she heard a different kind of bark—a little yap—and to her delight, a little snow-white puppy jumped off the sled and half-scampered and half-tumbled up to EJ.

‘Aren't you beautiful!' exclaimed EJ, holding out her arms. The little pup jumped all over her, rewarding her with wet puppy licks.
Yucky, but kind of nice too.

‘Okay, let's get going then,' EJ told the dogs. She climbed on to the sled with the puppy next to her, gave the reins a slight pull and the huskies began a slow trot. Using the reins to steer, EJ turned the sled back along the path of the pipeline crevasse, which was now slowly but surely disappearing as the ice re-froze.

The dogs were strong and fast and together they sprinted across the ice as one. They seemed to know exactly where to go, how to avoid crevasses and bumps, and where to find the smoothest, fastest path. They ran up a ridge and as they came over the top, EJ could see that her pipe plan had worked. The crevasse that had split the nesting ground in two had covered over and there were penguins everywhere. As she zoomed in with her binoculars, she could see that the birds were all waddling around in threes—two adult birds and a chick in each group. The penguin families were back together again and, by the look of those chubby and not so little chicks, they were all well fed.

She guided the sled down the hill and onto the plain but was careful to keep her distance from the penguins. As the dogs paced along, EJ continued to scan the breeding ground, and then she found what she was looking for—two adult penguins, waddling around as if they too were searching for something.
EJ guided the sled as close as she dared and then stopped. She took the little penguin chick out of her jacket and placed it gently on the ice. It began to squeak and squawk loudly and the two older penguins quickly waddled towards it.

‘Slowly now,' whispered EJ to the huskies. ‘We don't want to spoil a family reunion!' And as the sled slid away, EJ looked back to see the little chick climbing onto the larger penguin's feet, its mouth wide open. Its mother was more than happy to oblige with food.

Mission accomplished!
thought EJ with a smile.
All of them!
It was time for
SHINE
Home Delivery. EJ turned to look at the huskies.
I hope there's enough room for all of us.
She took out her phone and pressed 4-6-6-3 on the keypad. A woman's voice answered immediately.

‘SHINE
Home Delivery Service—straight to your door, any time, anywhere.'

‘Agent EJ12 here, requesting home delivery for ... um ... eight!'

SHINE
Home Delivery Service was used to EJ picking up extra passengers on her missions, but eight was a new record.

‘Well, only one human,' EJ explained. ‘The rest are dogs—and one of them is very small,' she added, hoping that might help.

The woman at the other end laughed. ‘No problem, EJ12. We have your co-ordinates. A chopper will be despatched from
Shining Light.
It will be a tight squeeze but you should all fit. Stay on the line, EJ12. I need to connect you to HQ.'

There was a beep and then a familiar voice.

‘Well done, EJ12. Another successful mission,' said A1.

‘Polar ice cap temperatures restored to normal, Emperor penguin colony reunited, ice-water factory shut down, ice hotel melted and Dr Caterina Hill is ... er ... out of action,' reported EJ.

‘Out of action?' pondered A1.

‘Let's just say she's pretty chilled,' said EJ, smiling to herself. ‘And she won't be going anywhere in a hurry.'

‘Our clean-up team will take care of her and the
rest of her factory,' said A1. ‘Soon no one will ever know that she—or you—were there. Good job, EJ. That was a tough mission but you did it, just as we knew you would. And it wouldn't be an EJ12 mission without a few extra passengers to pick up, I hear. We can take the older dogs—we have a training camp in the mountains that they will love. But the puppy will need a home immediately. Do you think you could look after it, at least for a while until she is ready to start training?'

‘You bet!' yelled EJ12, completely overlooking the small fact that she hadn't asked her mum if she could have a dog yet.

‘I think we will call you Pip,' she said as she scratched behind the little pup's ears. ‘P-I-P, just like the whistle sound that brought you to me. What do you think, Pip?' EJ took the sloppy lick on her face as a yes.

‘Okay then,' said A1, laughing. ‘That's sorted. And I hope you had everything you needed for your mission.'

‘Absolutely A1, although I think there was one charm I didn't use.' EJ shook her bracelet and reached for the little silver heart charm. She twisted it and an inscription appeared: ‘Brave voices melt cold deeds.' Perhaps she had used it after all.