Taylor woke up the next morning still filled with thoughts of magic and unicorns. She woke up happy. But her smile quickly disappeared when she didn’t see Jack. Panicking, she looked back at the edge of the jungle. She started to run towards the thick jungle, but out of the corner of her eye she saw Jack, safe and sound. He was standing at the water’s edge, staring out into the ocean. He was holding the First Snowflake.
Taylor walked over to him. “Hi, brother,” she said with a grin.
Jack turned to look at her. He was upset. “Why do we have to do this, Taylor? Why do we have to return the snowflake? It’s all so hard! So far, we’ve almost crashed in a race car, yelled at by pirates, rowed oars day and night, been Jed upside down, and nearly eaten by tigers! And who knows where we go from here?!”
Taylor listened to her brother. She put her hand on his shoulder, took a slow breath, and smiled at him. “It’s hard. But we can do this. We got this.” She gently took the snowflake from his hands and turned to talk to the vines, which were still curled up and still glowing blue with magic. “Vines? ... Oh I don’t know. Do you know how to get us to the iciest iceberg in the whole Arctic Circle?”
Immediately, each vine uncurled and snaked their way away from Taylor and into the jungle.
“Great!” said Jack with frustration. “Now even our magical horse vines have left us! What now?”
Taylor, not knowing what to say or do, sadly walked to her backpack and packed everything away. Then she walked to stand silently next to her brother.
After a couple of minutes, one by one the vines came slithering back, each with a tree branch or a log or a twig wrapped in its tail. They made their way close to where Jack and Taylor stood. Again, the vines began to twist and tangle together – this time tying the wood scraps in among them. They were making a rah! The last several vines wove themselves together so tight, it would work for a sail cloth.
Jack’s mood quickly changed from frustrated to amazed. “Yes! Taylor, we’re going to sail the ocean!”
Taylor was amazed too. Then she said, “I hope we don’t sail by those mean pirates.”
“I do,” said Jack. Punching and kicking the air, he said, “I’ll give ‘em this! And some of this! They don’t want to mess with Jack Hurricane! Wha-POW!”
The kids laughed and then used a vine to tie the sail to the mast. They pushed the rah out to water and hopped on. “Now what?” asked Jack. They weren’t moving at all because there was no wind.
“We need some wind, I guess.” Taylor shrugged. Then she began to feel an ice-cold breeze on her shoulder. It got stronger and stronger, until the rah moved forward at a good pace. Occasionally they saw a snowflake or two on the wind.
“Jack!” said an excited Taylor. “The First Snowflake is helping us! It wants to get home really bad.”
“Home,” said Jack, looking out into the ocean. He was thinking of his home. His bed full of books and toys. His pets. He even thought about his parents, even though he would never admit it.
As the kids sailed across the ocean, the air began to get colder and colder. And it wasn’t just the magical wind; they were getting further north. They were getting closer to the Arctic. She wasn’t really sure, but Taylor thought the blue in the magical vines was getting less and less bright every day.
On their fourth day of sailing, they started to see icebergs, some small and some large. The rah steered itself, sailing around and between the floating ice. It seemed to know exactly where it was going.
On the fifth day, during the starlit night, the rah came to a gentle stop at the largest iceberg the kids had ever seen. It was so big it could’ve been a whole island with buildings and towns! But it was empty. And it was completely covered with slippery ice.
“I think this is it,” Jack said as he stepped off the rah. “This must be the iciest iceberg in the whole Arctic Circle. Taylor, we’ve made it!”
Taylor wasn’t listening though. She was saying goodbye to the vines, which only had a hint of blue left. “Thanks for all your help, vines! You were wonderful.”
Jack and Taylor spent the next several hours walking and slip-sliding around the iceberg looking for ... well they didn’t really know. What would the home of a magical crystal snowflake look like? But look they did. And they found nothing.
Reaching the limit to his frustration, Jack kicked a chunk of ice, slipped, and landed hard on his butt. “Grrr!” growled Jack. He got back up. “That’s it! I’ve had it! We’ve come all this way and there’s nothing here.” He walked over to Taylor and took out the First Snowflake. He held it up and yelled at it. “Where do you live? Huh? Tell us. Get your magical, time-stopping cat to come show us your home. Where’s your home? You want your home? Well I do to. I just want to be HOME!” When Jack yelled the last word ‘home’ he threw the crystal snowflake as hard as he could. Taylor gasped. What if it shattered and that was the end of all snowy days?
The snowflake didn’t break. In fact, it landed on one of its six points and cut deep into the ice – SHUNK! – the opposite point facing straight into the air. Immediately after it landed, the kids saw huge blocks of ice begin to form underneath the giant snowflake. The blocks were stacking next to each other, forming a large circle. Then ice blocks started to stack up. Eventually there was a tall dome of ice blocks, and at the top the First Snowflake pointed straight up to the stars. It had made an igloo tall enough for the kids to fit into.
Jack and Taylor, used to this strange magic by now, walked inside. They expected the inside of the igloo to be a small, cozy, dome-covered cave of ice. But when they walked in they couldn’t believe their eyes.
The first thing they noticed was how large it was inside. In fact, it wasn’t even a single domed room. It was a whole house. It was exactly like the house they lived in! Everything was made of ice, but their rooms were there. The living room and couch were there. Even their toys lay scattered on the ice floor, right where they had left them.
Then, suddenly, the front door opened and in walked Magic the cat. It was hard to recognize him under all his jackets and scarves, but there he was. And he was holding the First Snowflake.
“Meow,” purred Magic. “Jack and Taylor, you guys did it! You brought the First Snowflake back where it belongs. Look out the window – it’s snowing again.”
Jack and Taylor ran to the window and watched fresh and brilliant snow gently fall to the ground.
“I knew we could do it!” said jack as he struck a hero pose, fist in the air. “I never doubted us for a second.” Taylor sat on the couch and rolled her eyes.
“Magic?” asked Taylor. “We did it, and that’s amazing. It’s been a wonderful and magical adventure. But ... how do we get home now?”
“Aha,” said Magic with a twinkle in his eye. “Well, now that the snowflake is back where it belongs, it has all its power back now.” Magic held the snowflake out, waved it around a few times, made a few silly faces just for fun, then tapped the snowflake on the ground. Where the snowflake had tapped, a big sled appeared, made out of ice. “This sled can take you home as quick as you please. Hop on and hold on tight!”
Taylor and Jack each jumped with excitement and climbed on the sled. The sled started sliding all on its own. Going faster the whole way, it slid out the door, over the iceberg, and went straight towards the icy ocean. Right at the last second, the sled swooped up into the night sky and flew the kids all the way back to their home.
The end