Emily Windsnap and the Land of the Midnight Sun (26 page)

T
wo figures swam into view, surrounded by a misty glow.

I waited and watched as the mist cleared and the image came to life.

“It’s Njord and Archie,” Aaron whispered.

“What are they doing?” Shona whispered back.

They were huddled together in a small cave, talking quietly. I leaned in closer to hear what they were saying.

“Are you sure it is done?” Njord asked.

“I’m positive. Neptune is finished. His memories have been taken — along with everyone else’s. There is just the child left now, and she will do as I tell her. By the time she comes back, we will be the only ones who know anything. You have put the spell on the narwhal?”

A horrible, cold feeling spread through me. What were they talking about?

Njord nodded. “It will only last the rest of today — but that’s long enough. The creature will not be able to communicate with the child. So there’s no danger that it will tell her of our plans.”

Archie smiled an evil smile like I’d never seen before. The only smiles I’d ever seen from him were the sappy ones he saved for Millie. “Good,” Archie said. “In any case, the thing will be dead within the hour.”

Njord grinned back at Archie. “You have done good work,” he said as he slapped him on the back. “You will be rewarded.”

“And my reward — it will be the one that has been promised to my family for generations?”

“Of course! Your family members have been my most loyal spies for as long as I can remember. You are my right-hand man — and the best warrior I have ever had. As soon as we have killed my brother and flooded all the lands, the world will be divided up along new lines. All the new territories will be ours for the taking. And you, my friend, will rule over one of the largest.”

“Thank you, my lord,” Archie said. “Now, I’d better get back. I don’t want to make Emily suspicious.”

“You know how to act?”

“Of course. From now on, both of us must act as if we remember nothing.”

“Correct. But not for long. Tomorrow, we put our plan into action.”

Archie bowed his head to Njord. When he raised it, he was smiling again. “My lord,” he said. “I cannot wait.”

The image faded away.

No one said anything for a long while. What on earth
could
we say? The three of us just stared into the space where the image had played out.

Aaron recovered first. “That did just happen, didn’t it?” he said. “I didn’t imagine it?”

“It happened,” I said woodenly.

“And we’re sure that it’s a real memory?”

“Pretty sure. All the others we’ve seen have been real.”

Shona shook her head. “I can’t believe it.” She sounded close to tears. “Archie! He’s been the closest adviser to the king for years.”

“That whole story he gave us yesterday was a pack of lies,” I said, the memories flooding back now. “Archie’s not to be trusted at all!”

I could feel anger beginning to bubble away inside me, clearing the fog of confusion and shock. “We need to get back to Neptune,” I said. “We have to warn him — and quick. They’re planning to do this today.”

“But how will we convince him of what we’ve seen?” Shona asked.

“We’ll find a way,” Aaron said.

“We have to,” I added.

Without another word, we turned and swam up through the darkness, back through the lake, through the tunnel inside the mountain, and out across the open sea, with just one aim: to find a way to convince Neptune of something that we wished with all our hearts weren’t true.

“I’m telling you, whatever you have to say to me, you can say in front of my brother!”

“But Your Majesty,” I insisted, “it’s something we really just want to share with you.”

Neptune frowned and shook his trident at me. “Do not contradict me!” he bellowed. “Njord is the only family I have. He is my nearest and my dearest. I will
not
have any secrets from him. How dare you even suggest that I might! And Njord feels exactly the same way.”

Njord grinned inanely and slung an arm around Neptune’s shoulders. “You and me — we’re a team forever, bro,” he said.

I thought I might be sick.

Aaron swam forward and tried a different tack. “Your Majesty,” he began. “Like you, we’re obviously
delighted
to have your brother back in our lives. We look forward to the two of you ruling over us together.” He smiled a broad, convincing smile at Neptune. “In fact, we are so excited about the reunion that we want to help you plan a special surprise for Njord — a
secret
surprise!”

Neptune lowered his trident. “Hmm, ah, well, when you put it like that . . .” He looked at his brother for approval.

Njord casually waved a hand. “Go, go, do it,” he said cheerfully. “I love surprises!”

Finally, we managed to drag Neptune away from his brother. As soon as we were out of Njord’s earshot, we lowered our voices and talked quickly.

“Njord can’t be trusted,” Aaron said bluntly.

Neptune stared at him for a moment — and then burst out laughing. “Oh, that’s funny,” he said, slapping Aaron on the back so hard he nearly choked. “That’s a good one. My long-lost, dearest twin brother, the one I’ve just been reunited with after who knows how long apart. The one I have spent the morning catching up with, making plans for how we will work together to rule the seas in harmony . . .”

Neptune’s smile disappeared. He flicked his large tail and came closer to us, so close I could see bits of his breakfast on his beard and smell it on his breath. “Don’t you dare tell lies about my brother,” he growled. “I will not have it. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” I replied quickly. “Of course we understand. We’re very sorry. We were only —”

“We were only telling the truth,” Aaron said firmly.

Shona grabbed my arm. “Look!” she hissed in my ear.

I glanced over to where she was pointing. Archie had approached Njord. They seemed to be talking seriously. Archie nudged a thumb over at us, and Njord frowned as he looked across.

Had they figured out what we were up to? Had someone followed us to the lake of memories earlier? Did they know we were putting on an act as much as they were?

They were making their way toward us.

“You
have
to believe us!” I said urgently to Neptune. “Please! We would
never
lie to you.”

“And nor would my brother! How could you be so cruel? How
dare
you try to twist my mind with evil lies on such a joyful day?”

“It
won’t
be a joyful day if you don’t listen to us,” Aaron urged.

But it was too late. Njord and Archie had joined us.

“Everything OK over here?” Njord asked, all smiles.

I gritted my teeth. I wanted to swim right at him and tear that stupid, lying smile off his face. I couldn’t believe he had Neptune at his mercy like this. I couldn’t believe he was going to win.

“Everything’s
fine
!” I said, forcing my mouth into a smile as big as his. Two could play his game. “We were just telling Neptune how pleased we are at the way things have turned out.”

“It’s so exciting!” Shona said, smiling so hard I was surprised her eyes didn’t pop out.

“Couldn’t be more happy for you both,” Aaron added, again smiling so brightly that the three of us could have been auditioning for a toothpaste ad.

Njord frowned as he looked around at us. Archie stared right at me. I held my breath and held my smile and prayed that they believed us.

Then Njord broke out into his horrible grin. “The children are right,” he announced. “It is
wonderfully
exciting!”

Phew! We’d pulled it off. Now we just had to figure out how to force Neptune to listen to us before Njord and Archie put whatever they were planning into effect.

“In fact, it is so exciting that I would like to bring the party forward.” Njord went on. “Why wait a moment longer?”

“Why wait, indeed!” Neptune agreed.

“Wonderful!” Njord said. “Let’s get the celebrations started straightaway.”

“Straightaway?” I gasped. What was he up to?

Neptune threw a dirty look my way. “Sounds good to me,” he said, turning back to Njord.

“Give me half an hour,” said Njord. “I would like to prepare a surprise for my brother.”

I bet you would.

“Ooh, I love surprises,” Neptune said.

“I’m pretty sure you’re not going to like this one,” I whispered under my breath.

“What was that?” Archie asked.

“What? Nothing. Just saying that I love surprises, too,” I said stiffly. “Can’t wait.”

“Well, then, that’s just
swishy,
” Njord said, with a smirk. “Now, go fetch your other friends — Beeston, and that Millie person — and we shall meet back here in half an hour.” He looked around at us one last time, and with another evil sneer that I couldn’t believe Neptune still hadn’t noticed, he said, “Let the celebrations begin.”

We were back at the meeting place at the top end of the fjord, just in front of the mountain range.

“This is exciting, isn’t it?” Millie said from her boat.

Archie was in the water beside her. “It certainly is, my darling,” he simpered.

“Now, then,” Njord said, as we swam closer to the mountain range. “There is a special and very beautiful place in a cave nearby. I believe it is the perfect place to begin our celebrations. Come!” He spread an arm out, showing us where to go. “After you,” he said to Neptune, patting his shoulder with brotherly affection.

We started to swim down the fjord toward the cave.

Don’t do it.

The voice was so soft I only just heard it. “What was that?” I asked, spinning around to whisper to Shona and Aaron.

“What was what?” Aaron asked.

It’s a trap.

Again, I only just heard it. It sounded as though it were coming from a long way away, or from inside a tunnel or something. “That! The voice! Didn’t you hear it?”

Shona shook her head. “I didn’t hear anything,” she said.

If they hadn’t heard it, that only meant one thing. It was the narwhal! I swam harder and caught up with Neptune just as he was on the very edge of the cave. “Please, Your Majesty,” I said, grabbing his arm. “Don’t do it — I’m begging you!”

Neptune looked down at his arm and shook my hand off. “Don’t do what?”

“Don’t go in there. It’s a trap!”

Njord swam over just in time to hear what I said. At my words, he burst out laughing. Neptune glanced at him, and immediately did the same. Then he looked more serious.

“I don’t know why you are intent on spoiling this special day,” he said, “but I will not have it! Do you hear me?”

I gritted my teeth. “I’m not trying to spoil anything,” I hissed. “I’m trying to
save
you.” I nudged my head at Njord. “
He
is the one trying to spoil things for you. I promise you. He’s not what he seems.”

“I’m telling you, child,” Neptune said, his face growing red and his voice rising. “I will not have it. You will not —”

She’s telling you the truth.

The narwhal. Clearer this time. It sounded as if he were coming closer.

Neptune spun around. “Who said that?”

No one answered. I fought down the hammering heartbeat that was jumping up into my throat, and in a squeak, said, “The narwhal.”