"All right, pull as hard as you can on the count of three!" Uncle Jake shouted over the deafening noise of the Yeti. Big and Ugly was lumbering towards their little group as fast as his treelike legs would carry him, his eyes alight with rage.
He was approaching faster than Uncle Jake had bargained. "Three!" he hollered. Puck followed his lead without missing a beat, pulling on the rope and nearly knocking Sabrina over in the process.
"You forgot one and two!" Sabrina cried, staggering backwards with them after a moment's pause. The men ignored her, and the large, snowy boulder that their rope was attached to rocked forward with painstaking slowness. On Sabrina's side, Daphne had a wand pointed at a cage made of woven vines that hovered in midair about twenty feet away. She was concentrating so hard that a vein was popping out in her temple.
Sabrina looped the rope around her hands and strained, her feet slipping on the packed snow. Finally, the boulder broke free of its icy embrace and began to tumble down the hill. Uncle Jake, Puck, and Sabrina dove aside to avoid getting crushed. Still the Yeti barreled forward, nearing the square of shadow the cage created on the ground.
"Come on, come on, come on," Uncle Jake muttered under his breath, gripping Sabrina's arm. And then, "now, Daphne!"
With a gasp of relief, Daphne dropped her arms and with them fell the cage. The Yeti looked up and howled with rage, tensing his muscles in preparation to jump away. But as he lunged forward again, the boulder they'd been pulling smacked its side. He stopped in his tracks, roared again, and hoisted the boulder onto his meaty shoulders.
"Yes!" Puck punched Uncle Jake in the arm as the cage crashed down around the Yeti, sending clouds of white powder into the air. Uncle Jake whooped in delight and took off down the slippery embankment, Puck sliding behind him.
Sabrina and Daphne shared a wide-eyed look. This was only their second night with the world travelers, and it was hard to get used to the effortless way they worked together.
"We did it!" Daphne cried, recovering quickly from her momentary shock. Jumping up and down, she waved Sabrina on as they watched her uncle circle the cage while Puck staked it down.
Sabrina scowled and grabbed her sister's arm. "Wait until they're finished staking."
Daphne, who was now fourteen but had bundled herself up so much that she resembled a snow baby, waved her hand impatiently. "It's fine! They're as good of a team as we were. C'mon, sis."
"We were solving real mysteries," Sabrina protested, marching toward the cage. "They're just running around trying to get themselves killed."
Daphne followed her. "Maybe. But maybe once they finish this mission, they'll come home for good."
Sabrina's heart rose and then sank. More to herself than her sister, she grumbled, "Don't get your hopes up, Daph."
Daphne shrugged. "Hopes are up!" she confirmed cheerily as they reached the cage.
"Help!" Puck called.
Sabrina ran to where he was crouched, struggling to subdue the cage while the Yeti rocked his prison with the force of a full grown bull. Both of Puck's arms had transformed into thick gorilla limbs, but still the Yeti's strength won out.
Sabrina scanned the ground, understanding what was wrong. "Where's the last stake?" she demanded, grabbing onto the bars as the final corner lifted off the ground.
"In my pocket," he panted, pressing all of his weight onto the bottom of the cage. "He's shaking the cage too hard and I can't let go, I need you to grab it for me."
Sabrina pulled down as the Yeti pushed up. "You couldn't have thought of this beforehand?"
Puck's eyes, the only part of his face that was visible around his ski mask, scrunched up in a scowl.
Sabrina shook her head to clear it. She wasn't twelve anymore. She could get a stake out of Puck's pocket without feeling anything.
Before she could think anything else, Sabrina reached her gloved hand into his pants pocket with some difficulty and withdrew the final stake. It looked flimsy, but even through her layers Sabrina could feel the powerful buzz of magic. Puck morphed his head into a dragon and breathed steam out of his nostrils, softening the ground just enough to allow Sabrina to drive it deep. They stood, and Puck opened his mouth to say something, but the Yeti threw itself against their side of the cage, roaring at them. A fleck of Yeti spit managed to hit the one exposed inch of Sabrina's cheek and she grimaced as she felt it freeze. Daphne yelled back, and the Yeti fell silent and shuffled towards her.
Sabrina peered into the dim cage, unable to distinguish between the boulder and the subdued creature. She heard soft snorts as Daphne and Uncle Jake worked their magic. Turning, she leaned against the bars and kept one hand on the hilt of her sword as she watched the frozen landscape for signs of life. Next to her, Puck struggled to find a way to scratch his armpit through his thick layers of clothing.
With a much more coherent grunt, the Yeti lunged across the cage and roared, his nails scraping her coat. Sabrina jumped like she'd been electrocuted.
"Sorry, Sabrina!" Daphne yelled over the wind. Puck laughed.
Sabrina hastily sheathed her sword, adrenaline pumping through her veins. "Did you get it, Uncle Jake?" she yelled back.
They ran around the cage and found Jake on the ground, emptying a syringe full of Yeti blood into a glass bottle. He held up his in triumph.
"We are one step closer to unearthing the treasure in the cave," he announced.
"Now what?" Daphne asked. She slipped the wand she'd been using up her sleeve.
"We wait until he's asleep and then set him free," Uncle Jake explained, ripping off his ski mask and wrapping the vial in it. "And then we run real fast in the opposite direction. Take this, 'Brina, and don't lose it."
As much as she had wished he would come home, Sabrina could tell that Uncle Jake was in his element. Even in the cold, his smile was stretched wide and his eyes, framed by semi-frozen eyelashes, brimmed with excitement.
They built a campfire uphill from the cage and waited out the afternoon. The Russian tundra stretched around them, vast and barren. Several mountains rose to wicked peaks on the horizon. They were just south of Oymyakon, the coldest inhabited city in the world, and now that they were no longer moving, Sabrina's skin felt stretched and tight in the chill.
Uncle Jake was telling the girls about their last hair-raising adventure, involving pyramids and a cursed mummy.
"I'm going to get a snack," Daphne interrupted, standing up. "Wanna come, 'Brina?"
"Get me something!" Puck said, propping his feet up.
Daphne stuck her tongue out at him as she unzipped the tent flap and stepped inside.
"Ooh, it's so much warmer in here," Daphne sighed, spreading her arms.
Sabrina's lips twitched. "Careful, or you'll melt."
Her sister narrowed her eyes. "Are you saying I look like a snowman?"
Snickering, Sabrina moved around her to their food stash. "Of course not." She handed Daphne a package of peanut butter crackers.
"Sabrina, wait," Daphne said, suddenly serious, as Sabrina grabbed a protein bar and turned to go. The sisters were almost eye to eye now, and Sabrina was quietly worried that Daphne would end up taller than her.
"Puck kept growing," Daphne whispered. "When we last saw them, I thought he'd stopped. What do you think that means?"
It was hard to hide her flush in the warmth of the tent. "It's been six years," she said firmly, hoping Daphne would understand her tone. "It doesn't mean anything."
Daphne eyed the tent entrance in suspicion, as if it would give her a better answer than Sabrina. "Ever wonder if he thinks about you?"
"No," Sabrina snapped, pushing past her. "I don't."