The polar bear paused on her way out into the blizzard. Kate had never heard her speak before, but now she put her great black muzzle right up to Kate’s ear and said the first and last words that Kate would ever hear her say. Her voice was deep and rumbly.

“If you humans let us die, you will never, ever forgive yourselves.”

24

The Journey Home

KATE AND TOM AND THE PORCUPINE HUDDLED together around the firebox in the cab.

“Right,” Kate said, raising her voice over the clackety-clack of the train. “Where to now?”

Click-bing.

HOME

Oh.

“But what about you?” Tom said. He meant the porcupine.

“Oh, don’t worry about me.” He sounded almost civil for once. “I’ll get where I’m going.”

Click-bing.

LET’S STEP ON IT

WE’RE CUTTING IT CLOSE AS IT IS

When Kate read books about kids who got to go on magical journeys, she never really believed that they ever wanted to go home at the end. But now she realized how badly she was missing her parents and how much she needed to be somewhere safe and familiar and stationary for a while, even if it was a little dull.

As they steamed past glaciers and snowfields and crags, Kate felt proud and happy about everything they’d done. But on top of that feeling, weighing it down like a paperweight, was a heavy, heavy sadness. For the animals she’d never see again. For the baby pangolin who had no safe place to be. For the cat and the heron and the polar bear and all the animals out there who were just trying to survive in a world that had lost its balance.

Tom sat next to her on the other side of the cab. His face was tired and blank, too. Uncle Herbert had been right: The world was more interesting than it looked, but it was so much harder and more complicated, too.

The sky was gray, and a light, thin snow fell and melted into droplets on the windows. The tracks wound through a deep pine forest. It was getting dark, and the snow was going blue in the twilight. Kate had always loved snow—it made her think about sledding, and being cozy indoors, and hot chocolate, and days off from school. She ate dinner in the dining car by herself, reading a book, and went to bed in her lovely fold-down bunk with the window above it. She wondered if it was for the last time.