“Faster, Jake, faster!” Lucy screeched.

“Hold on Lucy come look at this” Jake replied.

Lucy and Jake live in Greenland with their mother and father. They had just moved in because their father was a writer and he was writing a novel taking place in Greenland. He had decided to move so he could get the full experience for the book. They lived in a cute little cabin in the middle of the forest. Everyday after Lucy and Jake were home schooled by their mother and did their chores they would go for a walk in the forest. They loved to explore. But today they decided to go a little father from the familiar land and into the unknown.

Lucy skidded to a stop. Then she whipped around and stumbled through the snowy path back to Jake. “Come on Jake I want to keep racing!” she complained. Jake pointed to an imprint in the snow. “What is it Jake?” she asked curiously

“Lucy it’s an animal track. I think it’s a bear. But if it is a bear it must be really big!” Jake said.

“Oooo” Lucy screeched in delight, “Lets follow it. Maybe it will lead us to a cave! I have never seen a real bear before. This could be so much fun!”

“I don’t know Lu. It could be dangerous. Also we promised ma that we would be back by supper. Plus what if we get lost and can’t find our way back?” Jake said.

“Well if we don’t find anything after a while we can always turn back. Also if we get lost we can just follow our footprints in the snow.” Lucy reasoned.

“Okay but we can not be gone for long.” Jake said defeated. They followed the trail for about two hours before the came to a small clearing. Their backs were to the trees and there was a ledge only ten feet in front of them. Lucy tiptoed up to the edge and peered over. There was a twenty foot drop at a pretty step angle. But at the bottom there was a massive field covered in snow. And in the corner was a pond sheeted over in ice.

“Wow, Jake look it is beautiful!” Lucy exclaimed excitedly.

“Lu don’t get to close to the edge or you might fall,” Jake warned. Lucy gazed out across the field. She had never seen anything like it. She loved the way the snowdrifts pilled against the rocks and how the pond’s ice was as blue as the sky on a beautiful sunny day. In amaze Lucy took another step forward not watching what she was doing. Suddenly the ice under her foot broke and she tumbled of the ledge. As she hit the hard ground she screamed in pain.

“Lu, are you okay?” Jake cried in trepidation. She didn’t answer. Jake scrambled off the ledge and down the rock. He did it carefully so he would not have his sister’s fate. He got to the bottom and shook his sister. She opened her eyes and you could see the pain bubbling in them.

“Jake my leg hurts really badly. I want to go home.” she complained. Jake looked around for a place to bring his sister. Home was too far. Suddenly he saw smoke coming out of a tiny cabin beyond the pond. He helped his sister up and walked her through the cold snow. The wind howled and Lucy’s long brown hair whipped at her young eight year old face. Her cold hands shook from frost bite. Tears pored out of her eyes becoming more and more solid as they went on. Jake tried to pull his sister closer for warmth but it was no use.

As they got to the near edge of the pond Jake said, “Lucy I am going to go in front just encase the ice is not sturdy. Try to follow in my exact prints. Also if it gets to hard to limp and you get tired tell me so we can rest.”

Jake took the lead stepping out carefully across the snowy ice. They were about to the middle when they heard a loud ear piercing crack. “Lu?” Jake cried. He took another step forward and he fell through a jagged circle in the ice.

Water rushed around him filling his lungs. The fringed water bit at his skin. He tried screaming in pain but all that did was put more dirty water through his system. He struggled to get more air but could not find the hole in the ice. He was trapped. Then everything went black.
* * *


Jake woke up in a small white room. He was on a cot with bars around the edges. The room smelt like latex gloves that the doctors use. He automatically new he was in a hospital. Then Lucy hopped through the door on crutches.

“Jake!” she exclaimed in delight.

“Hey, Lu” he replied. “What happened?”

“You would not believe it Jake! After you fell under I screamed. Then a man came out from the little cabin. He called the police and they were over there in a minute with a helicopter. Then a man jumped in the pond. He was attached to a rope and fished you out. Oh Jake you would not believe it.”

“What Lu?”

“Well while this was happening a bear came out from the clearing!

He was enormous. He had slick black fur and giant claws. Then he got up on two feet and roared. He was so scary but yet beautiful. I just wanted to go up and pet him. But the police put me up in a helicopter when I started to wander away. Then when I looked out the window the bear all the sudden disappeared. He was gone in a flash.” Lucy kept going on and on about the bear while Jake drifted asleep. His last thoughts were about the bear and where it had gone.