“What’s wrong?” Snow asked.

  Dash sighed and snorted. “I’ve discovered that I hate the feeling of the ice,” she said. “It’s too cold and too slippery. I was excited to go ice-sliding this afternoon. But now I’ll have to just watch. And I hate just watching while everyone else has fun.”

  Mist, Aqua, Flip, Star, Rosie, Stitch, and Snow frowned.

  “Maybe you’ll get used to the feeling of the ice if you practice sliding a few more times,” Aqua said hopefully. “Sometimes I don’t like the way water feels when I first start swimming. But after a few minutes, it doesn’t bother me at all.”

  Dash shook her head. “Thank you for your suggestion, but I don’t think so. I hated the feeling of the ice so much I don’t ever want to touch it again.”

  “Maybe the ice on the ice slide will be less cold and slippery,” Snow said.

  “Maybe,” Dash said. “But probably not. I have a bad feeling all ice feels about the same.”

  Snow nodded. “You’re right,” she said. “All the ice I’ve ever felt—and I’ve felt a lot of ice—has been cold and slippery.” She sighed and smiled apologetically at Dash. “I hate to leave while you’re feeling upset, but it’s about time for Clara and me to go to the Sky Tundra to greet the snow leopard princesses and decorate the ice slide with balloons.”

  “While Snow and I are flying to the Sky Tundra, I’ll start trying to think of a creative way you can still participate,” Clara said to Dash.

  “Really?” Dash asked.

  “Really,” Clara said with a wink.

  Snow kneeled so Clara could climb onto her back. But right then, Lucinda flew right up to Clara’s face. She touched her pink cat nose to the tip of Clara’s nose. “Before you leave for the Sky Tundra,” she purred. “Can we please, please, please play one guessing game?”

  Clara giggled and looked at Snow. “Is there time to play one guessing game before we go?” she asked.

  Snow smiled. “There’s time for one game as long as Lucinda only gets three guesses. Yesterday, I gave Lucinda fifty tries to guess my favorite month, and our guessing game lasted thirty minutes.”

  “Aren’t there only twelve months to choose from?” Clara asked.

  “I guessed a lot of imaginary months. Like Octarchuary. And Novembrilune. And Septgustuly. But I forgot January,” Lucinda sniffed. She twitched her tail, flew in a circle around Clara’s head, and landed on Clara’s shoulder. “How about if I guess what the shirt under your snowsuit looks like in three guesses?” she asked. “That should be easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy.”

  “Okay,” Clara said. She tried to remember what shirt she was wearing. She couldn’t even recall getting dressed that morning. That meant she was probably still wearing her pajamas.

  “I know!” Lucinda said. “Does your shirt have a picture of a winged silver cat on it?”

  “I wish it did,” Clara said, thinking she would love to own that shirt. “But that’s not it.”

  “Rats!” Lucinda said. She leaped up into the air, turned upside down, and said, “I’ll get it this time. Does it have a picture of my cat sofa on it?”

  Clara shook her head. “I’m afraid not,” she said. She had to admit that she didn’t particularly want a shirt with a picture of piece of furniture on the front.

  “Double rats!” Lucinda said. She swooped down and landed right on Clara’s snow boots. “Does it have a picture of my silver cat dish on it?” she guessed.

  Clara shook her head again. “It turns out I’m wearing a pajama top covered in purple penguins,” she said. She unzipped her snowsuit a few inches to show Lucinda.

  “Triple rats!” Lucinda said. In a huff, she marched toward her cat sofa, waving her tail in the air. That’s when Clara noticed that the tip of Lucinda’s tail was covered in something black.

  “What’s on your tail?” Clara asked.

  “Just black ink from addressing the ice-sliding invitation to the snow leopard princesses,” Lucinda said, jumping onto her sofa. “I painted the words with my tail.”

  “I bet you’ll win our next guessing game,” Clara said in a kind voice as Lucinda began to lick the fur on her leg.

  Clara zipped back up her snowsuit as Snow kneeled again in front of her.

  Clara swung her leg over Snow’s back and sat between her wings. Snow turned to her sisters. “I’ll see all of you at the Ice Slide in about an hour.”

  “I’ll come early to help you get ready,” Stitch said.

  “See you soon!” Mist, Aqua, and Flip called out.

  Star and Rosie swished their tails excitedly.

  Dash smiled, but her eyes looked sad and anxious.

  With Clara on her back, Snow jumped over the frozen puddle and galloped straight for the palace’s double doors. The doors magically swung open, and Snow leaped out into the sky. For a few seconds, Clara turned around and admired Feather Palace. The silver, wing-shaped castle sparkled in the sun as it hovered above an ocean of green treetops.

  Snow soared higher and higher into the clear blue sky. “I absolutely cannot wait to show you the Sky Tundra and the ice slide,” she said. “And I’m thrilled to introduce you to the snow leopard princesses. This is going to be the best afternoon ever.”

  “I can’t wait, either,” Clara said.

  “Lucinda really wanted to make and send the invitation to the snow leopard princesses,” Snow said. “She only recently learned to paint letters with her tail. And sometimes she still gets letters mixed up. But I let her make the invitation anyway.”

  Clara smiled as she imagined Lucinda painting letters with her tail.

  Snow was silent for a few seconds. And then she said, “I feel so bad for Dash. She’s been just as excited as me to go ice-sliding.”

  “Me too,” Clara said. “I can definitely understand how disappointed she feels.”

  “I have to admit that I don’t understand what bothers her so much about the ice,” Snow said. “To me the ice feels exciting and refreshing. How could she not like it?”

  “Everyone feels things differently,” Clara said. “The way the ice feels to you or me might be completely different than how it feels to her.”

  “Huh,” Snow said. “I hadn’t really thought about it that way.”

  “I’m hoping we can think of a way for Dash to go ice-sliding without having to feel the ice,” Clara said.

  “What would you call ice-sliding without feeling the ice? Not-ice-sliding?” Snow asked playfully.

  Clara giggled. “How about nice-sliding,” she suggested.

  “Nice-sliding,” Snow repeated. “I like that name!” She nodded toward a glittery white cloud in the distance. “That’s the entrance to the Sky Tundra.”

  Snow beat her wings faster, soared in a circle above the cloud, and landed on it. As soon as her hooves touched the cloud’s surface, she slid forward. The cloud was covered in a layer of smooth, flat ice! A wall made of ice bricks lined the edges of the cloud. Built into the wall was an archway made of giant silver snowflakes.

  Snow spun and twirled on her shiny white hooves. She kneeled and Clara climbed off her back. Clara slowly slid one of her boots forward and then the other. She had expected to feel like she might lose her balance and fall over. But instead she felt as though she were ice skating. “Try spinning,” Snow said, doing another turn on her hooves. Clara sucked in her breath and spun around in her boots. “Whee!” Clara said. She and Snow glided in circles together around the cloud, twirling, jumping, and spinning in the air.

  After a few minutes, Snow winked at Clara and said, “Follow me.” Snow slid on her hooves toward the snowflake archway. As soon as she glided under it, she disappeared.

  Clara took a deep breath and slid on her boots over to the archway. She bent her knees and did a spinning jump through it. A second later, Clara landed in a vast, snow-covered field next to Snow. A few feet in front of them was another snowflake archway just like the one on the cloud. Clara noticed other archways dotting the field in the distance.

  “Welcome to the Sky Tundra,” Snow said with a grin. “I was just thinking we have time for a little bit of fun before we need to blow up balloons and greet the snow leopard princesses,” she said. “Is there any chance you’d like to visit the Penguin Artist Colony on our way to the Ice Slide?”

  Clara’s eyes widened. “That sounds amazing,” she said. She wasn’t entirely sure what a Penguin Artist Colony was, but she knew she liked art and she knew she liked penguins.

  “Fantastic,” Snow said. “These magic archways are all over the Sky Tundra. I installed them because even though the penguins have wings, they can’t fly. They needed a way to get around the Sky Tundra that’s quicker than waddling. I’ll show you how they work. Come stand with me under this one.”

  Clara and Snow stepped forward under the archway. In a flash of glittery light, two red sleds appeared side by side. “Climb on,” Snow said with a smile. She stepped onto one of the sleds. Clara stepped onto the other. They both sat down. “Please take us to the Penguin Artist Colony,” Snow said.

  Immediately, the sleds bolted forward in the snow. “Whee!” Clara said, laughing as they picked up speed. The sleds raced across the snowy field, down a hill, through an icy tunnel, across another snowy meadow, and then stopped under another archway. A few feet in front of them was a tall wall made of ice bricks with a penguin-shaped purple door. Above the door was a sign made of grape-colored gemstones that read, “Penguin Artist Colony.”

  Snow and Clara stood up and stepped off of the sleds and into the snow. It came up to Clara’s knees! In a flash of light, the sleds disappeared. Snow led the way to the penguin-shaped door and used her nose to push a beak-shaped lavender doorbell. There was a high-pitched chiming noise. After a few seconds, the door swung open. Three plum-colored penguins with long beaks, thin wings, and bright violet eyes waddled out. One penguin wore a beret, another wore a scarf, and another wore a smock spattered with paint.

  “Princess Snow!” all three said excitedly.

  “Hello!” Snow said. “Priscilla, Penelope, and Petra, this is my dear human friend, Clara. Clara, this is Priscilla,” Snow said, nodding to the penguin wearing a beret. “This is Petra.” Snow nodded at the one wearing a scarf. “And this is Penelope,” she finished, nodding at the one wearing a smock.

  “Welcome to our artist colony,” Priscilla said.

  “Sorry I’m a little messy,” Penelope said, looking down at her smock. “I was just painting one of our sculptures.”

  “Come on in,” Petra said. “We’d be thrilled to give you a tour.”

  Clara and Snow followed the penguins through the door. Immediately in front of them was a row of three lavender-and-white tents.

  “Princess Stitch made these tents for us because we were getting too cold at night,” Petra said. “Want to see inside them?”

  “Absolutely,” Snow said.

  “I’d love to,” Clara said.

  Priscilla, Penelope, and Petra waddled forward to the middle tent. “Let’s go in this one,” Petra said. “This morning we accidentally ripped a giant hole in the one to our left,” she continued.

  “Now we have a rule,” Penelope said. “If we jump in the tents, we have to point our beaks downward.”

  Petra, Priscilla, and Penelope all looked down so their beaks were tucked against their chests. And then they started jumping. “Like this,” Priscilla explained.

  “Yes,” Petra said. “Just like this. I even wrote a poem to help us remember the rule: ‘If you jump around, put your beak down!’ ”

  Clara giggled. “That’s a great poem,” she said. She glanced to her left. Sure enough, the tent on the end had a giant rip across its ceiling.

  The penguins stopped jumping and untucked their beaks. “We’re hoping that if we give Princess Stitch a sculpture, she’ll be generous enough to make us a new tent,” Petra said.

  “I have a feeling she’ll be happy to help you,” Snow said with a wink. “Stitch loves sewing projects. Maybe she can even find some beak-proof fabric.”

  “The other two tents still work perfectly,” Petra said, using her beak to unzip a flap in the middle tent. “They’re made of a special magic material Stitch found in the Fabric Forest. It holds in heat. Come right this way.”

  Clara and Snow followed the three penguins through the open tent flap. Then Penelope used her beak to zip the tent closed again.

  Inside was a circle of penguin-sized nests made of lavender fuzz. In the middle of the nests was a small bonfire with rainbow flames. The tent was so much warmer inside that Clara immediately unzipped her snowsuit. She was also glad the ice packs inside her suit were still frozen.

  “We love to sleep in here,” Petra said.

  “I don’t mind making art in icy conditions,” Penelope said.

  “But after a long day sculpting and painting in the cold, it’s amazing to have a warm place to go,” Priscilla said.

  “Your tent is incredible,” Clara said. “But I have to admit, I’m getting a little too hot.”

  “That’s probably because of your ...​ what was it called?” Snow said. “A slowsnoot?”

  Clara laughed. “A snowsuit,” she said.

  “Oh right,” Snow said. “Come to think of it, it sounds like a costume to look like me!” Snow turned to the penguins. “Would you be up for letting us look at the ice sculptures now?”

  “Our pleasure!” Petra said. She waddled to a flap on the tent wall opposite where they had entered. She unzipped it, and Clara and Snow followed the penguins out into a snowy field full of purple penguins working on ice sculptures. Four penguins used their beaks to chisel spirals onto the horn of a unicorn sculpture. Another penguin used her wings to shape the mane on a griffin sculpture. Two penguins held paintbrushes in their mouths as they painted a phoenix sculpture bright red. Five penguins pecked tufts of fur onto the ears of a sculpture of a mother lynx with her babies. Clara also noticed sculptures of trees, fairies, mushrooms, foxes, sunflowers, and giant acorns.

  “I love your sculptures,” Clara said.

  “Thank you,” Petra said.

  “How do you decide what to make?” Clara asked.

  “It just comes to us all of a sudden,” Priscilla explained.

  And then Petra’s eyes widened. The edges of her beak curled upward in an excited smile. “I feel an idea coming on,” she said.

  Priscilla looked at Petra. Her eyes widened. “Oooh. I do too!” she said.

  “Yes!” Penelope said. “The idea is almost here.”

  The three penguins stared at each other. Then, all at once, they raised up their wings, pointed their beaks toward the sky, and exclaimed in unison, “I feel inspired!”

  Glittery white light flashed and swirled. And then a large block of ice, just a little taller than Clara, appeared in front of the penguins. They immediately began using their beaks to chisel and chip off chunks of ice. With their wings, they sliced, shaped, and smoothed the ice. After a minute, Clara could see that the penguins were sculpting a girl—a smiling girl with wavy hair wearing a puffy snowsuit and clunky snow boots. It was Clara! When they finished, the penguins stepped back and admired their work. “What do you think?” Petra asked.

  “Do you like it?” Penelope asked.

  Priscilla looked at her expectantly.

  “I love it,” Clara said. “No one has ever made a sculpture of me before. Thank you so much!”

  Petra smiled proudly.

  “When artistic inspiration hits, you have to follow it,” Priscilla said.

  Penelope nodded.

  “I have another idea!” Petra said. She waddled to the phoenix sculpture and picked up a set of paints and paintbrush with her wings. She waddled back to Clara and handed them to her. “Want to paint your sculpture?” she asked.

  Clara jumped up and down with excitement. “Yes!” she exclaimed. She looked at the sculpture and then at the rainbow of paint colors. She decided it was much too boring to paint the sculpture the same colors she was. She dipped the brush in the green paint. And then she painted the skin on her hands and face bright green. She wiped the brush off in the snow and painted her hair pink. Next she painted her eyes yellow, her lips orange, her snowsuit red, and her boots purple.

  She stepped back and looked at the colorful version of herself. “What do you think?” she asked.

  “I love it,” Priscilla said.

  “Perfect color choices,” Petra said.

  “I love your vision,” Penelope said.

  “Thank you,” Clara said.

  “I am sorry to end this artistic fun,” Snow said, “but I think Clara and I had better head to the ice slide. The snow leopard princesses will be there soon, and we need to welcome them. We also need to blow up some balloons.”

  “Thank you so much for visiting us,” Petra said.

  “Please come back any time,” Penelope said.

  “And thank you for being our special guest artist,” Priscilla said.

  “It was wonderful to meet you,” Clara said. “Thank you so much for showing me your tents and sculptures.”

  Snow and Clara walked back through the sculptures and around the row of tents. They walked out the penguin door and up to the snowflake archway. Two red sleds appeared, and Snow and Clara climbed into them. “Please take us to the ice slide,” Snow said.

  The sleds slid across the snowy field. They glided around a hill, through two more tunnels made of ice, down a steep mountain, and around a sharp right turn. They pulled up to another snowflake archway. Just beyond it was a box of purple balloons and a massive puddle of water. Lounging in the puddle were four glowing, bright red leopards.

  Snow and Clara climbed out of their sleds. For several seconds, Snow stared at the puddle and the red leopards with her mouth open and her eyes wide. Finally, she whispered, “Oh no.”

  “What’s wrong?” Clara asked. “Where is the ice slide?” She was suddenly too warm again, and she unzipped the front of her snowsuit.

 

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