December 20

"Red! Wake up!"

Rudolph opened his eyes to see Slyly standing there.

"Get up!" he urged. "We gotta get a move on!"

Rudolph groggily sat up and put away his blanket. Within seconds they were continuing their quest.

They must've walked for miles when they began to walk past a very large lake. The water wasn't frozen but it was still cold. They couldn't see the end of the lake.

Rudolph felt this shake come out from underneath them. That meant only one thing.

"Uh, guys..."

Then the place they were standing broke from the ground and they began to float away.

"No! NO!" Slyly cried.

But it was to late. They were too far from shore.

...

December 21

They had been floating around for a day. There was no sign of land anywhere around them.

Slyly was keeping track of everything:

"Slyly's Log: #11. We've been floating on this ice for over 24 hours. No land in sight. The only thing I can see is water, fish, and-"

At that moment, Leonard began to stutter. "Or-or-or-orc-"

Rudolph and Slyly looked at him. He had a terrified look in his eyes was pointing in front of them.

"Leonard, what is it?" Rudolph asked. Then he saw it.

Something black and white had surfaced from the dark waters. It squirted water out of its blowhole. They could see the hook-shaped dorsal fin. The thing had white eyepatches. And it was coming closer.

"ORCA!" Slyly shouted.

"What's an orca?" Rudolph asked.

Slyly was running his mouth quickly. "Killer whales. They're the top predator of the water, kid. They feed on other mammals for survival."

As soon as Slyly said that, terror filled every part of Rudolph's body.

They stood close together as the orca began to swim around the ice.

"It was nice to know ya." Slyly murmured.

"Why are you all cowering like that?" said a voice.

The three turned around to see the orca looking at them curiously. It was a female. She looked pretty young compared to how she looked when she surfaced, about six or eight years old.

"Hey!" Slyly said, walking up to her, "shouldn't you be eating us by now?"

The young orca rolled her eyes. "In the name of Poseidon, what is it with the stereotypes? Look, you're thinking of Transient orcas. I'm a Resident orca, which means I eat fish."

Rudolph walked up to her. "I'm Rudolph. That's Slyly and that's Leonard."

"Pleased to meet you. I'm Ophira, and I'm nine." Then she began to study him. "You look familiar."

"Maybe this will remind you." He made his nose glow.

Ophira's jaw dropped. "Oh, my gosh. You're Rudolph! Anything I can do for you?"

"Uh, yes actually. Can you take us back to shore?"

Ophira paused, then nodded. "Sure can. Us orcas can swim up to 30 miles per hour."

Then she placed her rostrum on the front of the ice and within seconds they were speeding.

Two minutes later, they reached shore.

The trio hopped on land.

"Thanks, Ophira." Rudolph gave her a warm smile. "We owe you one."

"Always happy to help." Ophira said. Then she turned. "I have to go. My mom's calling me. She caught enough supper."

She turned and then she went underwater. The three watched as she surfaced once and then went underwater again and disappeared.