Emily Windsnap and the Land of the Midnight Sun (21 page)

A moment later, Aaron was by my side. “Are you OK?” he asked, reaching down to help me up.

I brushed myself down as I got to my feet. “I’m fine,” I gasped, “but the crystal is gone.”

Aaron scanned the deck.

“It’s not there,” I said. “The eagle took it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive. I saw it pick it up in its talons and fly off. Look!” I pointed into the distance where I could still see the eagle circling around the tops of the mountains. It flew around and around, drawing great, sweeping circles in the sky.

My stomach turned in a circle of its own as I realized where the eagle was heading. “Aaron! I’ve seen that eagle before — when we were at the lake, and then when Shona and I left the mountain. It was there both times, circling.”

“You’re sure it’s the same one?”

“I can’t be positive, but what if it is? What if it belongs to Njord?”

Aaron’s face turned white. “And it’s heading straight back to him.”

“With the crystal.”

The eagle disappeared out of sight. It wouldn’t take long for it to get back to the mountain. And as soon as it did, surely this would all be over. Njord would thaw, and then what? Would he come after us? What did he want, anyway? We had no idea — all we knew was that the idea of him returning to power was something so terrifying that it even scared Neptune. Beyond that, I didn’t really want to think about it.

Which was just as well, because I didn’t get the chance.

The water all around the ship suddenly began to bubble and seethe, even within the supposed safety of the harbor. The ship rocked and swayed, heaving up and down on sea that moments earlier had been relatively calm, but was now leaping around like water coming to a boil in a pan.

Surely this was too fast. Had the eagle already gotten back inside the mountain? Had Njord already thawed out?

The ship suddenly lurched to the side, and I fell against Aaron.

“What’s going on?”

And then, from the erupting sea, came something familiar, something I hadn’t expected at all, rising out of the ocean like a bright summer sunrise coming over the horizon.

Neptune.

A
aron and I stared as the top of the trident and then the top of Neptune’s head emerged from the sea.

Neptune shook water from his hair and looked directly up at us on the roof deck. Luckily, we were the only people around; everyone else was still in the dining room.

Neptune raised his hand and pointed to us, then to himself. “Ten minutes,” he mouthed. And then he was gone.

I looked at Aaron. “Did I just imagine that?”

Aaron shook his head. “If you did, I imagined exactly the same thing.”

I really didn’t relish the thought of having to face Neptune now, after we had so spectacularly failed at pretty much everything he’d asked us to do. But Neptune was generally used to getting his way about what he wanted. If he was telling us to be there in ten minutes, that was an order, not a polite request.

On the way down, we bumped into Mr. Beeston and Millie leaving the dining room.

“Where are you two heading in such a hurry?” Mr. Beeston asked as they approached us.

“Neptune is here,” I said. I didn’t feel like keeping secrets anymore. “We’re going to meet him.”

“Neptune? Here? Seriously?” Millie glanced all around and then bustled over to the window and looked out. “Is he alone? Is Archie with him? I tried to call him last night but couldn’t get through. Perhaps he was already on his way.”

“I’ve no idea,” I told her.

“All we know is that we have to go and meet him,” Aaron said.

Mr. Beeston tightened his jacket and flattened down his hair. “I’m coming with you.”

“What about me?” Millie asked. “What can I do?”

“Cover for us,” Aaron said. “Make sure no one sees us disappearing into the sea, and think of a really good story in case anyone notices we’ve gone.”

Millie pursed her lips. “Well, off you go,” she said briskly. “You don’t want to keep Neptune waiting.”

I gave Millie a hug. “Thank you.”

She patted my back. “Oh, go on with you,” she said gently. Then she managed a brief smile. “Good luck.”

“We’d better get going,” said Mr. Beeston. “I don’t need to tell any of you that Neptune is not known for his patience.”

The three of us hurried off the boat and around to the bay where we could sneak into the water without being seen.

Neptune wasn’t difficult to find. All around him, the sea burned in bright colors with flecks of gold among them — his chariot glowing in the center of it all.

“Leave this to me.” Mr. Beeston swam forward and bowed low in front of the chariot. “Your Majesty,” he began. “I know that we have so far failed to —”

Neptune waved his trident impatiently before Mr. Beeston got any further. “Save your explanations,” he boomed. “I am not here to punish or to judge.”

That was a relief, but if he wasn’t here to do either of those things, then what was he here for? Before I had a chance to ask him, someone emerged from behind Neptune: Archie!

“What’s he doing here?” I spluttered.

“He insisted on joining me,” Neptune said. “As I would expect, given that he’s my closest aide.”

Someone else emerged from the shadows: Shona!

“What’s
she
doing here?” Neptune boomed.

“I . . . she . . .” I began. And then stopped. I couldn’t think of a single way to explain Shona’s presence.

Shona swam straight up to Neptune and looked him in the eye. “I knew Emily was in trouble,” she said firmly. “She is my best friend, so I came.”

“But how . . .” Neptune’s voice trailed off. Then he shook his head. “It doesn’t matter,” he said. “Not anymore. All that matters is the truth. That is why I’m here. I can no longer hide from my own story.”

“What about your dreams?” I asked. “I thought they warned you it was too dangerous for you to come.”

“I have continued to dream since you left,” Neptune replied. “And my most recent dreams told me that if I didn’t come, the danger would be even greater.” He looked around at us all. “So I am here — and yet, I am no closer to my history.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I mean that it is still a black hole to me. I had thought perhaps it would come back once I was here, but whenever I try to recall my own story, I’m left with nothing but a void.”

At this point, Archie swam forward. “Your Majesty, if I may say something . . .” he began. I glanced at Aaron, who rolled his eyes.

“Of course you may,” Neptune replied. “You are my most trusted adviser. I will listen to anything you have to say.”

“We are here now,” Archie began. “In the place where you believe you lost your memories. Surely, if there were ever a time for them to return, it would be now. If they haven’t returned, perhaps it is because . . .” He paused.

“Because what?” Neptune asked impatiently.

“Forgive me, Your Majesty,” Archie went on. “I hesitate to say this. I do not want to contradict you. But perhaps it is because the dreams were simply dreams — not memories at all.”

We fell silent as we waited for Neptune to respond. There was so much I wanted to say, but I didn’t know where to start. Archie was totally wrong, but he had no way of knowing that — or did he?

It turned out I didn’t have long to think about it. A smooth swishing noise came from behind Shona. Something was approaching.

The narwhal!

I’m back.

It swam straight over to the chariot and dipped its head. A second later, Archie darted in between the narwhal and Neptune. He pulled a long sword from the side of his tail.

His voice shook as he turned to Neptune and asked, “Shall I kill it?”

“NO!” I swam forward — leaping in front of Archie and his sword. I turned to the narwhal. “Are you OK?”

Don’t worry about me.

Archie stared at me. His face had drained of color. He looked scared! Was he scared of the narwhal?

“He won’t hurt you,” I said, swimming to the narwhal’s side. “He’s our friend. He’s on our side.” I looked up at Neptune. “Please, don’t let Archie hurt him,” I added.

Neptune had turned as white as his beard. “The . . . the . . . my . . .”

With a lightning-swift flick of his head, the narwhal knocked Archie’s sword from his hand and swam to Neptune.

“My narwhal,” Neptune said. Then he began to laugh. “I remember you, my friend.” Closing his hands over the top of the narwhal’s head, Neptune kissed the top of his tusk. “Bring them back!” he ordered. “Bring my memories back!”

The narwhal tipped his head forward, lowering his tusk. Neptune bowed his head to allow the narwhal’s tusk to touch his forehead. As he did so, the energy around them began to crackle. Sparks flew all around; lights glinted on the water beside them, dancing and leaping on the crests of the waves and wrapping them both in a spiral of color and light.

Finally, the lights swirled upward, whooshed into a point above Neptune’s head, and in a final
puff!
disappeared altogether.

One hand resting gently on the narwhal’s head, Neptune looked around at us all. His face had changed. He looked as if a hundred years of stress had been taken away from him.

“I remember,” he said.

“You remember what?” Archie asked nervously.

Neptune smiled. And then, in a quiet, calm voice, he said, “Everything.”

“Many, many hundreds of years ago, the oceans were ruled very differently,” Neptune began. “Those early days of my childhood were the days when I learned everything. My parents ruled the seas back then.
Our
parents.”

He paused and looked to the sky, as if he might find a vision of his early family life there. “But those days came to an abrupt end when our mother and father died,” he went on. “My brother, Njord, and I wept together over our aged parents as they lay, side by side, dying. But my father did not want to see his sons crying, and he would not allow our tears to fall into the oceans and sadden the kingdom. In his dying moments, he created an island like no other. An island formed of mountains: giant, jagged peaks that reached higher into the sky than anything anyone had seen before.”

We listened, enthralled, as Neptune went on.

“He sent our tears away to the tops of these mountains, and then he turned them to ice. He told us we must be strong rulers for our subjects and he made us promise we would honor this final, dying wish.”