Mira was halfway up the warm metal walkway by Lantern Dock Three, checking the rail for frost flowers that had grown in the night. Her peach scarf brushed her tiny tool satchels as she leaned over the edge to count the mooring rings below. She liked being first to notice a loose bolt or a crooked latch. It made the whole harbor seem to wink at her.
Then the dock under her feet gave a soft, wrong tug.
Mira looked up just in time to see the floating dock platform beyond the hatch doors sliding free. The broken moorings trailed in the water like snapped ribbons. The platform drifted, slow at first, but steady, carrying crates, coils of rope, and a small work crew who were still reaching for their tools. Farther ahead, the shipping lane cut through the harbor like a busy silver road, and a lantern barge was already coming through it.
Mira's whiskers twitched. This was not just a loose platform. It was headed for trouble, with people on it.
A bell rang somewhere in the ice wall, and the whole dock gave a little shiver. Mira knew she had to do something fast, but her eyes darted three ways at once: to the drifting platform, to the signal post for help, and to the open walk that might let her reach the edge before the current did. She took one small breath and had to choose.
What happens next?
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