Free Frozen Enemies by Zac Harrison

did not suspect for a second that Mordant Talliver would be the cause.”
    “What are we going to do now?” The Elvian teacher was still staring up at the sky. She began wringing her hands with worry.
    With a deep sigh, Lorem turned to her. “This is very troublesome,” he said. “But we have no choice. I must go after Mordant. Now he has gone, fragments of at least one possible future have fallen into place. I can see quite clearly that if I do not go after him, he will be in life-threatening danger.”
    “How will you know where to find him? He could be headed anywhere.”
    “I don’t need to look into the future to know he will go straight to planet Plarz, where the Vapourball Championship is being held,” the headmaster replied.
    “But what will we do?” Ms Vartexia twittered.
    The headmaster responded with a stern look. “Why, carry on with the visit of course, Ms Vartexia. The students are in your care. Now, if you will excuse me, the faster I follow, the faster I will find our stray.”
    “Yes, but... oh, I mean to say... but, but...”
    “You will be fine!” Lorem shouted over his shoulder, as he strode away towards the dock. “Just follow the visitor guidelines and stay together. Remember: it is better to be safe than sorry.”
    As the headmaster’s Privateer rose into the sky, the students looked at each other.
    “I can’t believe Mordant just did that,” said John.
    Lishtig shook his head. “He’s been acting weird since yesterday,” he said. “The Vapourball Championship is all he’s talked about. It’s like he’s totally obssessed.”
    “Hijacking a ship during a school trip is crazy, even for him ,” Bareon said, his enormous, black eyes blinking. “I mean, he’s always breaking rules but he’s sly about it. He almost never gets caught doing anything wrong.”
    “Look, we all know that Mordant Talliver can be an idiot,” said Emmie. “If he wants to get himself expelled, I’m not going to lose any sleep over it. The important thing is that he doesn’t ruin the trip for the rest of us.”
    “That’s true,” said Kaal, peering at his ThinScreen. “Forget Mordant. It says here that we’re not far from the Weapons Desert and there’s a Shuttletube that will take us straight there. Sounds good to me.”
    “How about the Goran–Subo battleground,” Emmie suggested.
    Kaal frowned at her. “Why are you so keen to go to the battleground, Emmie?” he asked. “It’s not like you to be interested in war.”
    Emmie shrugged, looking confused for a moment. “I... um... just want to take the photos. Get some extra marks. Besides, it is supposed to be spectacular.”
    At that moment, Queelin Temerate snatched the ThinScreen from Kaal’s hands and riffled through the pages. “Wow, there are wild Feershcats and Flurbs in the jungle over there,” she said, looking up with shining eyes. “Let’s go on safari.”
    “Isn’t there a spaceship exhibit?” John chipped in. “I’d love to see that.”
    Ms Vartexia clapped. “Attention please, class,” she said, sounding nervous.
    The students turned to face her. “Can we go to the spaceship exhibit, please?” John asked quickly.
    “No, the jungle.”
    “I want to see the Floating Pleasure Gardens of Vox Charm.”
    “The Star Dragon skeleton.”
    “We’ve got to go to the Goran–Subo battlefield,” Emmie said urgently.
    “We could split up,” Kaal suggested. “That way everyone gets to see what they want.”
    “Absolutely not,” said the teacher firmly. “The headmaster instructed us to stay together, and that is exactly what we shall do. That means none of you is leaving my sight.”
    “But, Ms Vartexia, why do we have to suffer because Mordant’s been an idiot?”
    Ms Vartexia chose not to hear Queelin Temerate’s question. Opening her own guidebook, she said, “Ahh, here’s just the thing: the Rock Gallery.”
    “Rock music?” asked John hopefully.
    “Rocks and minerals from every corner of the