to make breakfast and it was not pretty Hey Lug piped up my sister maybe you should go Windy was two years older than me and never missed an opportunity to boss me around I can’t I muttered I have to work on a big cave painting for Echo’s birthday You know what I think said Windy I think you’re afraid of going with Crag No I’m not My dad beamed at me full of pride Don’t be silly Windy he said ruffling my hair Your brother here defeated a pride of saber-tooths And Lug’s very busy my mother Lugga chimed in You have to remember that he’s now our clan’s Minister of Art and Culture Whatever muttered my sister rolling her eyes He created that title for himself She was right I had come up with that position last month after the Clan Council had asked me what I wanted I figured that particular title would pretty much let me cave paint all day Crag narrowed his eyes at me Are you coming up the mountain or not 4
Suddenly I felt something small and furry land on my shoulder I jumped up and shrieked like a baby Hey hey It’s just Lumpkin chuckled my dad What’s the matter Nothing nothing I said trying to shake off our pet cave cat Just a little surprised But the embarrassing truth was that ever since my nightmares had begun I had secretly been avoiding animals Even little Lumpkin freaked me out Hey Stony I called out in relief as my sleepy friend lumbered into the cave How’s uh the new practice field coming along Stony sat down by the fire pit and beamed a big bucktoothed smile at me He had never spoken a word in his life but an arch of his bushy unibrow could say a lot It now twitched like a black cat’s tail as he sniffed the sizzling meat I glanced nervously at Froggy the pet frog sitting on his shoulder but said nothing After Stony had helped Echo and me defeat the saber-toothed tigers he had also chosen a position 5
for himself Stony became the coach of our clan’s headstone team and had recently finished clearing a new practice field with two underground dugout caves to keep the players warm Very useful when your previously grassy field is now permanently covered in snow Here you go Stony said my dad handing him a stick with a tiny slice of sizzling llama meat on it The changes in our climate had completely transformed our way of life Our jungle llamas were dying out and nobody had seen a dodo bird in months Before we had lived in a jungle of plenty but now we were barely scraping by With the onset of the permanent cold it seemed like we were always just one step ahead of going the way of the dodo When Bonehead and Bugeyes stole a jungle llama it was a huge deal Every little thing counted Stony scarfed down the morsel of charred meat and grinned My father smiled Hey Crag said my dad if you want to see a useful new discovery you should try my new cooked meat It’s a big hit 6
Crag shook his head and exited the cave shooting me one last exasperated look Starving now I decided I’d better grab a stick and dig in before my dad and Stony licked all the stones clean I was just about to spear a sizzling morsel when I heard a familiar voice behind me Who wants to try some delicious new vegetables Here we go again said Windy rolling her eyes We all turned back toward the cave entrance Echo had come in holding a bunch of weird-looking tuberous plants with pale scraggly roots sticking out of them Her curly red hair was dusted with snow and her big green eyes shone with what could only be called desperate enthusiasm Oh come on now she pleaded offering the plants None of you have even tried these Everyone except me was trying to avoid eye contact with her I exchanged a sidelong glance with Stony knowing what was coming next Look I’m the Chief Enforcer for Ethical Eating she said For both clans No one said a word She was technically right of course The Joint Council of Macrauchenia 7
