Bad Yeti Read Online Free Page B

giggles, because I wanted to live long enough to prove that the yeti was real, that I’d discovered it, and that if it hadn’t been for my superior tent-building skills, it would probably be dead. After that, I’d own up to placing the trap.
    Amethyst and Calamity started brushing each other off, muttering angrily. At least their shared fury gave them something to bond over. Although that would be of little consolation when they combined their powers to beat me into a pulp.
    I tried to clean the egg off my tunic and only succeeded in smearing it around. “Here,” Europa said, producing a package of baby wipes from her bag. “Let me help.”
    “Are you planning to change diapers sometime this weekend?” I asked, holding my arms out and letting her tackle the yolky parts.
    She laughed, her curls bouncing. “No. I keep them in my med kit just in case of emergencies.”
    “You’re awesome,” I blurt out.
    Color rose to her cheeks. “So are you,” she said. Then she paused before continuing. “How did you know? About the trap, I mean?” She finished cleaning off my tunic and offered me the package. I took out a wipe and started cleaning out my ear.
    “I … uh … saw the tripwire. I think. It moved the leaves, you know?”
    She didn’t seem to notice that I was stammering.
    “Well, thank you for trying, anyway.” She stood up on her tiptoes—she was even shorter than me—and pressed her lips against my cheek. I would have confessed right then and there, but suddenly Amethyst let out a yelp.
    “Nobody move!” she exclaimed, crouching to look at the ground. “I think I’ve got something.”
    “Define ‘something,’ ” Calamity said.
    I half expected her to say, “It’s Jonah’s footprint. He must have set the trap, and now I’m going to kill him.” Very few things honestly scare me, but right then I was terrified.
    Amethyst looked up at me. “I think it might be a yeti print,” she said, the shock clear on her face.

CHAPTER 5
    We crouched on the ground amid drifts of white feathers to get a better look at the print. It was big, like order-your-shoes-off-the-Internet big, but I don’t think this guy was going to be squeezing those tootsies into a pair of Skechers anytime soon. His toe prints were long, widespread, and tipped with deep gouges where his claws would be.
    “That,” I said solemnly, “is one of the most awesome things I’ve ever seen.”
    “It’s probably just a costume, Jonah,” said Calamity, snorting. “Don’t get all worked up over it.”
    “So what if it is?” I shrugged. “We’re still on an honest-to-goodness yeti hunt. Doesn’t that strike you as even a little bit cool?”
    “I guess,” she replied cautiously.
    “Then I’m going to enjoy the experience. You probably wouldn’t have so many latent anger issues if you did the same thing.”
    I turned to Amethyst and changed the subject before we ruined the whole experience by starting an argument and losing any chance we might have of tracking this thing down. “Can you follow it?” I asked.
    Amethyst nodded slowly, glancing from Calamity’s red face to mine. “Yeah. I think. The ground’s wet enough to hold a print. Although she’s got a point. Yeti are supposed to be, like, found in the Himalayas, right? They’re not exactly indigenous to Ohio.”
    “So maybe it’s an albino Bigfoot. Or maybe it’s a guy in a suit. I don’t care,” I said. “Don’t you get it? This may be my only chance in my entire life to hunt a yeti-type-thing, and you are all ruining it!” My voice got a little screechy at the end there, but I’d just about had it. Didn’t they understand that sometimes for people like us, imagination was the only thing we had left? Maybe I would go back to school on Monday and one of the jocks would give me a wedgie in the locker room, but today I was a hunter of cryptids that would make those weenies squeal infear. It was a tradeoff I was more than willing to make, but I was