by Liz Kessler
Follow me.
I spun around. Where had that voice come from?
I looked back at my outstretched palm. I knew I was probably going crazy for even thinking it, but the voice seemed to have come from the crystal! “Was that you?” I whispered, feeling a tiny bit stupid and glad that there was no one around to hear me talking to my hand!
Follow me. It sounded like an echo.
I closed my cabin door behind me, and, clutching the crystal tightly inside my pocket, I went to find Aaron and Shona.
I found Aaron in the lounge, playing cards with Mr. Beeston and Millie.
“Come with me,” I whispered in his ear.
Mr. Beeston waved his hands. “It’s fine. You kids go and play,” he said with a smile.
“What is it?” Aaron asked as he followed me down the corridor and off the boat.
“Just come,” I said.
We sneaked back into the sea and swam around to the little bay where Shona was staying.
Once we were all together and definitely out of sight of the ship, I showed them the crystal. It glowed and sparkled in my hand, exploding with light like a firework. The lights seemed to form an arrow, pointing out toward the open sea.
“Wow!” Aaron said. “It looks like it’s drawing a path in the sea.”
“I know. Let’s follow it and see where it takes us!” I suggested.
“Swishy!” Shona said, grinning. “An adventure!”
We set off together, me in front, holding the crystal out in my hand and letting it draw its bright lines in the water. We followed as it glowed and shone, leading us through the blue, blue fjord, across the open sea, and toward a beautiful range of snowcapped mountains.
This was going to be a fun day!
The crystal brought us closer to the mountains and took us down dark tunnels that twisted and snaked, deeper and deeper with every swish of our tails. It felt as if we were swimming right through the middle of a mountain!
“This is spooky,” Shona said.
“Yeah, but fun,” Aaron added.
We kept on swimming through the darkness, the only light coming from the crystal — leading us on. Finally, we came back out into the light.
“Wow! How beautiful is this?” Shona gasped.
Our tunnel had become a river, winding into a shimmering, sparkling lake surrounded by a circle of mountains. Everything was totally still. The sun’s rays filtered down through the surface of the lake, spreading out like a fan under the water.
“What are they?” Shona asked, pointing ahead of us.
“They look like bubbles,” Aaron said.
Bubbles? Bubbles inside a lake? There was something familiar about this, but I couldn’t think what. I couldn’t have been here before or I would’ve remembered. Maybe I’d dreamed about it.
“Let’s check them out,” Aaron suggested.
He and I approached one of the bubbles. Instinctively, Aaron reached out for my hand, and I took it. With my other hand, I reached out to touch the bubble. It felt weird.
“It’s like jelly!” I said.
Aaron reached out and touched the bubble. As he did, it melted away and disappeared; in its place was an image. It was Aaron and Archie! They were talking. I felt as if I were watching them on an old movie screen. I leaned in closer to hear what they were saying.
“Go on, I dare you. You know you want to,” Archie was saying.
“Stop it,” Aaron replied. “Leave me alone.”
Archie grinned and nudged Aaron in the ribs. “I bet you ten bucks you’re too chicken.”
“I’m not chicken at all.”
“Then do it. Kiss her tonight! Ten dollars says you won’t do it.”
Aaron’s face was bright red as he met Archie’s eyes. With anger or embarrassment? I couldn’t tell. “I was planning to kiss her, anyway,” he said. “And it’s not because of you or your bet. It’s because I want to. You can keep your money. I don’t want it. All I want is for Emily to be my girlfriend.”
The image faded.
I looked at Aaron. I suddenly remembered a huge argument. How could I have forgotten?
He was looking back at me with shock in his eyes. “Emily, I-I’d completely forgotten about this,” he said. “How could I have forgotten? We fought about it, didn’t we? But, Em, I didn’t kiss you for a bet, I promise. I —”
“Shh,” I said. “It’s OK, I believe you. I know you would never have done something like that for a bet. And anyway, the argument was partly my fault, too.”
“How do you figure that?”
“I was only angry because of how much I care about you,” I told him. “I just couldn’t bear it if you didn’t feel the same way.”
Aaron smiled and squeezed my hand a little tighter. “Of course I feel the same way,” he said. “I would never kiss you for a bet. I would only ever do it because I wanted to.” He swam closer still. “In fact, I’ve thought quite a lot about whether I might get the chance to do it again.”
He leaned toward me. His face was so close we were almost touching. I closed my eyes. This was it. At last, he was going to kiss me again. The moment I’d been looking forward to for days was finally —
“Emily! Aaron!”
I broke away from our near-kiss and turned to see what was going on. Shona was hovering in front of a bubble and beckoning us over. We swam across to join her.
“I saw something inside the bubble!” she said. “It was really hazy, but it looked like me! I’m sure it was! It disappeared as soon as I’d seen it. Now it’s just a misty, mushy bubble.”
“Take my hand,” Aaron said. We joined hands and the three of us surrounded the bubble. Shona placed her palms against it. Gradually, the mist vanished and an image came to life in front of us. Shona was right — it was her! She was talking to someone, a merman. I didn’t recognize him. He looked a bit older than us, quite tall, very thin, with deep-blue eyes, white-blond hair, and a shiny green tail.
“Follow the tunnel,” the merman was saying to her. “It’ll lead you out.”
“What about you? Will you be OK?” Shona asked.
The merman smiled. “I’ll be fine.” He touched her arm and Shona blushed and flicked back her hair.
She started to swim away, stopping for a second to look back at him. He was still watching her. They smiled at each other again before Shona turned and swam away.
The image faded, just as the one of Aaron and Archie had done.
Shona’s cheeks were pink.
“Who was that?” I asked.
“I have no idea! Surely he wasn’t real? I can’t believe I would’ve forgotten him!”
She looked around at all the bubbles. “What is this place?” she whispered.
I still didn’t know for sure, but I was beginning to remember. We’d been here before.
I reached for the crystal and watched as the colors flowed around it. The shimmering light was whiter than before — and stronger, fiercer. I could almost feel it humming in my hand.
Follow me.
“Come on,” I said. “It’s telling us to keep going.”
Holding the crystal out in front of me, I led the way. We swam down toward the very bottom of the lake, brushing the sand with our tails as we followed the crystal, lower and lower, deeper and deeper. It felt as if we were swimming toward a secret place, way below anywhere that anyone had ever been before.
As we swam, we passed more bubbles in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Then, suddenly, the crystal stopped humming. The light calmed to a soft-white glow. We couldn’t swim any farther; a bubble was in our way.
We approached it and placed our hands on it. Immediately, the bubble fizzled away to reveal a Technicolor scene. It was me — with some sort of sea creature.
“The narwhal,” I breathed.
Aaron turned to me. “The what?”
“I-I don’t know where that came from,” I said. I didn’t know where the lump in my throat came from either, or the tears that were suddenly threatening to b
urst out of my eyes.
We waited for the scene to unfold, like the others had done, but nothing happened. Nothing much, anyway. There was just me and the sea creature. I had my arms around its neck. We were both crying.
And then, I don’t know why I did it, but something made me let go of Aaron’s hand and swim toward the scene, into the image itself. Still holding on to the crystal, I swam toward myself.
I held the crystal out in front of me. One of the sea creature’s tears fell on it. So did one of mine. As they mingled together, the crystal burst into light in my hand. It was as if someone had poured gasoline onto it and set it ablaze.
The three of us watched as the lights exploded like a box of fireworks.
“I remember,” Aaron whispered when the lights finally calmed.
Shona looked at me, an expression of horror and recognition on her face. “Neptune,” she said.
“He’s in trouble,” I added. “Or he was. Is he safe now?”
All three of us were suddenly armed with fresh memories — but I still didn’t know what we should do with them. Luckily, it seemed as if the crystal did. It was glowing and bouncing in the water, spreading light ahead of us and straining to get away. It was like a dog on its leash, begging us to hurry.
Follow me.
The crystal led us to the tiniest crack in a rock, way down at the lowest point of the lake. We’d never have seen it on our own. It was only because of the crystal’s light that we spotted it.
“Will we fit through there?” Aaron asked.
“Only one way to find out,” I said as I slipped inside the crack and slithered along, into the darkness.
“Where on earth are we?” Shona breathed. The crystal had led us to a clearing full of shining, glistening bubbles. They were different from the others. They didn’t bounce and float. They just hovered, gently humming in tune with the crystal’s own vibrations.
You have found my own memories. I left them for you in my tears. I hope they help.
The voice seemed to be coming from the crystal. It was a voice I’d heard before.
“It’s the narwhal’s memories!” I said.
Aaron held out his hand. “Ready?”
I nodded. We chose the biggest bubble of them all. It was bigger than any of us. As I held Aaron’s hand, all three of us placed a palm on the bubble. Within moments, the shiny surface dissolved against our skin.
I held my breath, gripped tightly on to Aaron’s hand, and waited nervously to see what kind of scene was about to unfold.
Two 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!”