Emily Windsnap and the Land of the Midnight Sun (24 page)

I
watched as the narwhal took away Neptune’s memories. Holding his tusk against Neptune’s forehead, sparks and colors silently flowed around them while Neptune slept — unaware of any of it.

When it was over, I followed the narwhal along the dark tunnels that led to the place where Archie had told us to meet him.

“Is it done?” Archie asked.

I nodded.

“Everyone?”

“Everyone,” I confirmed. “There’s just you, me, and Njord to go.”

“Well done. I’ll take the narwhal to Njord now. I will get him to remove Njord’s memories and then my own. Meet me back here in twenty minutes. Bear in mind, when I see you again, I won’t remember why we’re here. Put your faith in the narwhal. He’ll lead you where you need to go.”

“I’ll be waiting for you,” I said. “Please, be quick.”

Archie nodded, and then he turned and swam away. I watched as he and the narwhal disappeared into the pitch darkness of the tunnel.

Twenty minutes later, they were back.

“Hey, Emily! How did you get here?” Archie said, all smiles.

“You told me to meet you,” I replied. “I’m exactly where I was the last time I saw you!”

Archie looked at me quizzically. “Huh? The last time I saw you was in Brightport!”

Wow! This was really it, then. The narwhal had taken away Archie’s memory. A shiver ran through me. It was all down to me now; I was the only one who knew the truth of all this.

“Oh, yes, ha, ha,” I said. “Just kidding. I’m here on vacation. How about you?”

“Official duties. I’m here with Neptune. Don’t even ask me why — I have no idea! I think he just felt like a trip north.”

Just then, the narwhal swam out from behind Archie.

“Wow, a narwhal!” Archie breathed. “You don’t often see them. They’re extremely rare, you know.”

“Really?” I said in my best well-I-had-no-idea-about-that-at-all voice.

The narwhal swam over and nuzzled against me.

“It likes you.” Archie nudged a thumb in the direction of Neptune’s quarters. “Anyway, nice to see you. I’d better go and check on the boss.”

With that, he was gone, and I was left in the dark tunnel with only the narwhal and the awful knowledge of my task for company — the task that I promised myself I would not do, no matter what happened.

The narwhal and I swam off together. The worst of it was that he seemed to know the way. He knew exactly where he had to go in order to face his own death. Well,
he
might be resigned to his fate, but I still wasn’t. I would think of a way around it — I swore it.

We swam past weird see-through creatures with long feathery legs and filaments sparkling all around their bodies. We swam past rocks covered in pale-yellow shrubs and big green plants that looked like giant cabbages. We swam past a shoal of fish so big it turned the sea black as it came toward us. On and on we swam, until the surroundings began to feel familiar.

We were in the tunnels Shona and I had used when we came out of Njord’s mountain with the narwhal the first time — the ones that led to the deep pool that Njord and his guards didn’t even know about.

The ones that
no one
knew about.

That was it! The perfect solution!

I kicked hard with my tail and caught up with the narwhal. “Stop! I’ve got an idea. We don’t have to do this!”

The narwhal turned and raised his head.

“Take me to the secret pool at the end of these tunnels,” I said. “No one knows about it. I could leave you there.”

The narwhal didn’t move. Did he understand what I was saying? He tilted his head to the side, as if he were trying to communicate with me — but still he didn’t say anything. “Take me to the pool,” I said again. “Please.”

The narwhal didn’t move for a moment. And then he bowed his head, turned, and led the way.

Together, we swam in silence through secret tunnels, through dark crevices and hairline cracks, to the biggest secret at the very heart of Njord’s mountain.

I put my arms around the narwhal’s head and kissed the top of his tusk. “Will you be all right down here, all on your own?”

The narwhal nodded. I guessed he must have been too choked up to speak. I almost was, myself.

“Hide here for a bit: a few days, maybe a week, just to be sure,” I said. “Once Neptune and Njord are friends again and this is all over, they’ll leave here and you can come out again. You’ll be free.”

I looked into his tiny black eyes, stroked his speckly gray head. He looked beautiful — and sad. His eyes seemed to be saying something, but still he wouldn’t speak.

“Stay safe,” I said. He pressed his head against mine. I kissed his forehead. “It’s time. Take all my memories away.” I stumbled on my words as the tears clogged up my throat. “Make sure you remove them all, so there’s no chance that I can ever betray you.”

My tears were flowing freely now. And then I noticed — I wasn’t the only one crying.

I reached out to wipe a tear from the narwhal’s eye. He turned away from me, probably embarrassed that I’d seen him cry. As he turned, I felt something happening in my hand. I looked down.

The narwhal’s tear had hardened and turned into a crystal! It sparkled and glowed in my palm. I quickly closed my fingers around it and shoved it into my pocket. Once the narwhal had taken my memories away, I wouldn’t know what it was — but even if it would no longer remind me of him, at least I’d get to keep something beautiful from having known him.

I gave him one final hug. “Bye,” I whispered. Then I curled my tail around, lowered my head, closed my eyes, and waited for him to touch me with his tusk.

A moment later, I felt a tiny scratch and a dull pressure on my forehead.

“I’ll never forget you,” I said — even though I knew I was wrong. As soon as the magic took effect and I was out of here, I
would
forget him. That was the whole point.

The midnight sun shone down on me as I swam back to the ship. I was so tired. Imagine choosing to come out in the middle of the night for a swim! I laughed to myself, flipped my tail, and dived underwater.

Shaking my tail dry, I sat on the pebbly beach near the harbor, waiting for my legs to come back. Then I headed back to the ship and made my way to my cabin.

Millie was in bed already, asleep and snoring as usual. As I undressed for bed, something fell from my jacket. I bent down to pick it up. What was this? It looked like some sort of crystal. As I held it in my hand, it sparkled and shone, sprinkling light around the cabin. Where on earth had this come from?

I shoved it in my drawer. I was too tired to do anything about it now. All I wanted to do was get some sleep.

I’d think about the crystal in the morning.

“Emily, wake up!”

I pried an eye open. Millie was leaning over me, shaking me by the arm.

“Oh, good, you’re awake,” she said, smiling brightly. “Come on, let’s go.”

“Go where?”

“Breakfast. First sitting. And then we’re off with Archie. He’s sending a boat for us. Says he’s got a treat for us before the ship moves on.”

“Swishy!” I jumped out of bed, got dressed, and followed Millie down to breakfast.

“So, kids. What do you feel like doing today?” Mr. Beeston asked as he spread a thick layer of marmalade on his toast. “Captain says we’ll be moving off this afternoon, now that the storms finally seem to have passed.”

“Millie says Archie’s got a treat for us,” I said.

“Sounds good to me.” Mr. Beeston wiped his mouth. He had a bit of marmalade on his chin, but I didn’t point it out. “Everyone enjoying the trip?”

“Totally!” Aaron said.

“Absolutely!” I added.

“Couldn’t be better,” Millie said as she sipped her tea.

I wolfed down my breakfast as quickly as I could. I couldn’t wait to find out what kind of surprise Archie had in store for us.

Half an hour later, we were in a small bay, around the headland and out of sight of the ship. Millie sat in a little boat, leaning over the side to kiss and cuddle with Archie. He grinned up at her. Honestly, those two — could they ever give it a rest?

Aaron and I were in the water with Mr. Beeston. Shona had joined us, too. She’d gone on vacation here as well, so she could be near us.

It wasn’t long before we saw something coming toward us. Something very familiar. Neptune! What was
he
doing here?

He was in his chariot — and there was someone else with him. Wait — was I seeing double? The other person was the image of Neptune!

They rode toward us, both grinning broadly and talking animatedly.

Neptune slipped from the chariot and held out a hand toward his mirror image. “I would like to introduce you to someone very special,” he said. “This is my twin brother.”

His
what
?

“My long-lost, beloved brother, Njord.” He turned to his brother. “We haven’t seen each other in . . . how long is it, now?”

“I can’t remember,” the mirror image — Njord — replied.

Neptune burst out laughing. “Neither can I! And what’s more, I don’t care, either! What I care about is that you’re here now. And that deserves a celebration.”

Njord got out of the chariot and put an arm around Neptune. “My dear brother,” he said, smiling. “I couldn’t agree more. Let’s have a party!”

Neptune thrust his trident in the air. “A party — that’s
exactly
what we’ll have! I order it! Midday, everyone back here. We will celebrate in style.”

And with that, the two brothers got back in the chariot and rode off, talking, laughing, and slapping each other on the back all the way.

“Wow, Archie certainly knows how to plan a treat,” Aaron said.

“Doesn’t he just. I can’t wait for the party,” I agreed.

“Nice thing to do before we carry on with the trip,” Mr. Beeston added.

“Come on,” Aaron said, flicking water at me with his tail as he turned and began to swim away. “Race you back to the ship.”

We swam along together, laughing and splashing each other. This vacation really
was
turning out to be the trip of a lifetime.

Once we got back to the ship, I went to my cabin to get ready for the party. I caught sight of myself in the mirror — my hair was in a terrible state! I opened my drawer, looking for my brush.