Snowy Wishes (3 page)

“I would like that!” Storm’s little white muzzle wrinkled in a smile, and he licked her chin with his pink tongue.

“I can’t wait to go and find Mom and Dad and tell them about you.” Robyn smiled down at him.

“No!” Storm’s face was suddenly serious. “You can never tell anyone my secret. Promise me,” he woofed gently.

Robyn felt disappointed that she couldn’t share the news about her wonderful new friend with her parents—she was sure they would love him, too. But if it would help to keep the tiny puppy safe, Robyn decided to keep this secret to herself.

“Okay. I won’t say anything. Cross my heart.”

“What’s this promise you’re making?” said Mr.
Parsons, coming into the cabin.

“Dad!” Robyn whirled around in shock to see her mom and dad standing there. She’d been so busy talking to Storm that she hadn’t heard the cabin door open. “I was just promising…um…myself,” she said, thinking quickly. “That I was…um…going to have the best time ever, now that I
feel better. Because I’ve got lots of time to make up, haven’t I?”

“You certainly have,” her dad said, looking surprised but delighted. “Well, I must say that you seem to have made a miracle recovery. And there your mom was, wondering whether we ought to take you home!”

Robyn still couldn’t quite believe that her mom and dad hadn’t noticed Storm in her arms. But when neither of them said anything about the tiny puppy, she felt herself starting to relax.

“No one’s going home. So there!” Robyn exclaimed, her eyes shining.

She spun around and pretended to straighten her quilt, giving Storm the chance to jump onto her bunk.

When Robyn turned back to her
parents, her mom was beaming at her. “I can hardly believe it. You’re like a totally different girl than the one I was talking to just a few minutes ago. It’s just like magic!”

If only Mom knew how right she was
, Robyn thought, smiling inwardly.

“Well, you look ready to leave the cabin at last. I expect you’d like a look around to see what you’ve been missing. Where do you feel like going?” her dad asked.

Robyn’s tummy rumbled, and she realized that she was starving.

“Lunch it is, then!” said her mom.

As Robyn followed her parents to an upper deck, Storm trotted invisibly at her heel. Robyn had a warm glow inside. After a false start, her vacation
was just beginning, and she now had a wonderful new friend to share it with, too.

“Doesn’t everywhere look great?” Robyn said to Storm. “It makes me feel all Christmassy.”

They were walking across a part of the ship with a domed ceiling and large picture windows, swathed with evergreen garlands. Lanterns and traditional decorations made of wood and tin were strung around the walls
and Christmas trees gleamed with hundreds of twinkly lights.

Robyn peered through one of the large windows. The Norwegian sky was filled with a strange dark-gray light and the heavy, rolling sea looked like a sheet of ridged silver.

“It’s really weird to think that it never gets completely light during the day in winter. I don’t know if I’d like to live here all year round,” she whispered to Storm. “But it looks amazing, doesn’t it? Like something out of a fairy tale. You can just imagine scaly monsters in the sea and
fierce trolls and frost giants living in the mountains.”

“Trolls and frost giants?” Storm flattened his ears and his silky white tail drooped.

Robyn grinned. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I read about Viking legends and stuff when I knew we were coming here on vacation.”

Storm still seemed unsure about being aboard a ship. He reared up on to his back legs beside her and pressed his little nose to the window. His big midnight-blue eyes widened, and he gave a worried little whine.

“Are you okay?” Robyn asked, wishing she hadn’t mentioned giants and trolls now. She hadn’t realized that Storm would take her seriously.

“I think we are lost,” Storm woofed. “There is so much gray water and sky, but I cannot see any land.”

“That’s because we’re looking out on to open sea on this side,” Robyn explained. “We can go up on deck, if you like, and then you’ll be able to see land and mountains.”

Storm nodded, still not looking entirely happy as he jumped back down.

Robyn didn’t expect that any of the magical wolves from the Moon-claw pack had ever been on a cruise ship; or on any other kind of ship for that matter. In his home world, Storm never left land. No wonder he was ill at ease.

“Come on, let’s catch up with Mom and Dad,” she said to Storm, changing the subject. “I could eat a horse!”

Storm’s face showed surprise. “A horse? I have seen one of those. It was very large!”

“I know. I wouldn’t really want to eat one. It’s just something that people say when they’re really hungry!”

Storm’s little white muzzle twitched in a grin. Robyn was pleased to see that his anxious look had completely disappeared.

“I am very hungry, too!” he yapped, falling into step with Robyn as she set off again.

A buzz of conversation and a riot of delicious smells greeted them as they entered the restaurant. Robyn could see her mom and dad beginning to help themselves from the buffet area. She picked up a tray and joined them.

“Wow! Look at all this!” she whispered to Storm, her mouth watering. “I hardly know what to choose.”

There was an enormous display of food with hot and cold dishes of all kinds, salads, sandwiches, desserts, cakes,
and baskets of fruit and chocolates. In the center there was an entire miniature village made of iced gingerbread and an amazing ice sculpture of a polar bear.

Robyn heaped her plate with food for her and Storm, and then followed her mom and dad to an empty table. As soon as she sat down, Storm jumped up on to her lap and curled up.

After almost two days of just drinking water, Robyn ate hungrily. She slipped bits of meat and fish under the table to Storm without her mom and dad noticing.

“Human food tastes very good,” Storm woofed, licking his chops when he’d finished. “Thank you, Robyn.”

Robyn’s mom and dad were wondering what to do next. “We could
go swimming or watch a movie or even have a sauna,” her mom said. “There’s a game room, shops, an Internet café, and lots of organized events, too.”

“Could we go up on deck and look at the view?” Robyn asked. If Storm could see that they weren’t far from land, he might feel less nervous about being on
Sea Princess.

“Fine by me,” her mom said. “I think we should be steaming through a fjord by now. It should be quite spectacular.”

Up on deck a cold wind was blowing, and Robyn wrapped her coat around Storm to keep him warm. The tiny puppy was peeping out from the front opening and Robyn could feel him snuggled against her chest, like a fluffy hot-water bottle.

Sea Princess
was moving up a wide channel that had been created thousands of years ago by melting glaciers. The fjord stretched deep into the surrounding mountains. Painted wooden houses were clustered on the slopes and the towering, snowcapped tops were hidden by clouds.

Some people sat on deck in chairs, bundled up in warm blankets as they enjoyed the dramatic scenery. Others were lining the ship’s rail, pointing out details to each other and taking photographs.

Robyn found a place to stand at the rail and looked down at the gray-green water, far below. “I wonder how deep it is here,” she commented to Storm.

“Some of these fjords are almost four
thousand feet deep,” her dad said, coming to stand beside her. “That’s as deep as the mountains you can see.”

Robyn realized that she must have spoken more loudly than she’d intended to, and her dad had thought she was speaking to him. She would have to be more careful about keeping Storm’s secret.

“That’s scarily deep,” she said to her dad.

Some way further on, the ship slowly rounded a bend and Robyn saw a waterfall gushing from a gorge in a high cliff. Jagged icicles, like spears, hung down from the rock and the foaming curtain of water fell straight down between them.

“Warm enough, honey?” her dad asked cheerfully. “This icy air’s really bringing the color back to your cheeks.”

“I feel fine. I don’t mind the cold that much,” Robyn said, giving her dad a hug. Storm gave a little warning squeak as he got a bit squashed between the two of them. “Sorry!” Robyn whispered to him, when her dad broke away.

“Well, I’ve had enough of it for now,” her
mom said with a shiver. “I think I might have a sauna to warm me up.”

“That’s a good idea. I’ll come with you. What about you, Robyn?” her dad asked.

Robyn shook her head. “No, thanks.” She didn’t like all that hot steam, and she didn’t want to leave Storm by himself. “I think I’ll stay out here for a while. I’ll come and meet you at the fitness center.”

“All right, honey,” her mom said. “By the way, the ship’s docking at a fairly big town this afternoon. I thought we could all go ashore and do some shopping.”

“Sounds great. Enjoy your sauna. See you later,” Robyn called as her parents walked away. Now that she felt
well enough to spend some time with her mom and dad, she definitely didn’t mind wandering around by herself with Storm.

Her dad looked over his shoulder and winked at her. “Watch out for trolls.”