Emily Windsnap and the Land of the Midnight Sun (4 page)

“But we gave the rings
and
the magic back to you,” I insisted.

“Hear me out!” Neptune barked, reminding us who he was, and why it wasn’t generally wise to argue with him. “At our wedding ceremony, we sealed the magic with a kiss. That kiss bound the magic firmly into the rings. The kiss was part of the magic. Powerful enough on its own, even without the rings.”

Aaron frowned. “So when we kissed, it brought back
our
powers?”

“Precisely. I didn’t know it would happen. But then I didn’t know
any
of it would happen. The vows we made that day were for us and only us. They were never designed to be used by anyone else.”

“We didn’t exactly do it on purpose,” I mumbled.

“No. You didn’t — which is why you are not being punished.”

I looked around the cave, remembering the way I had arrived here. “Really?” I asked.

“Yes,
really
!” Neptune snapped. “In fact, it is quite the opposite. I realize that my method of bringing you here was perhaps not the best way of inspiring your loyalty and your trust.”

You think?

“But it guaranteed the one thing that I need above all else. Secrecy. No one is to know where you have gone, or why you have been brought here.”

I swallowed. I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear any more. Not that I had a choice in the matter.

“I need you to do something for me,” he went on. “It involves traveling a long distance. It involves risk, danger, and many unknown factors. The only thing about it that I can guarantee for sure is that if you do not do it . . .”

He stopped and shook his head.

“If we don’t do it, what?” Aaron asked.

Neptune met Aaron’s eyes. “There is a threat ahead of us. It is coming closer,” he said. “If you do not remove this threat, I don’t think any of us will survive.”

“None of us?” Aaron asked in a shaky voice. “Even you?”

“
Especially
me.”

“I . . . I don’t understand,” I said.

Neptune leaned back against his chariot and curled his tail up beneath him. “I can’t tell you much, but I shall tell you what I know. You must understand something, though. You are the first and only ones I have told this to, and it must stay that way. Understand?”

Neptune was trusting
us
with a secret that no one else knew. Were we up to it? I flicked my tail and held myself straighter in the water. I glanced at Aaron and he nodded back at me.

“We understand,” we said together.

“Every morning for the last two weeks, I have woken drenched in sweat and writhing in the agony of terrors I can barely describe,” Neptune began. “I cannot see the exact nature of the terrors — I can merely feel them.”

“You
feel
them?” I asked. “You mean like someone’s hurting you?”

“No one is there. No one is near. There is only myself,” Neptune replied. “And my mind.”

“Your mind? You mean you’re
imagining
the terrors?” Aaron asked.

Neptune’s eyes darkened. For a moment he looked more like his usual self.
“Imagining?”
he said angrily. “You think the king of all the oceans IMAGINES terrors?”

Aaron gulped. “N-no, Your Majesty,” Aaron stammered. “I’m sorry. I thought you said —”

Neptune ignored him and carried on. “Every night in my sleep, I have been plagued by terrors, by images, feelings,” he said, almost to himself. “It happens just before the dawn breaks, and it appears as the most terrifying series of images — scenes that have aroused such emotion in me I’ve been unable to hide it. You must have noticed.”

“Noticed? We haven’t seen you,” Aaron said.

“What happens when I’m angry or upset?” Neptune asked impatiently.

And then I got it! The weather. It was Neptune! His moods could create violent storms. The small, devastating storms we’d been having in the mornings were all because of Neptune’s nightmares!

“You made the storms!”

He nodded. “I can’t help it. And they will get worse if this isn’t stopped.”

“And that’s why it’s such a threat?” I asked.

“No. That is bad enough, for sure. But the threat is what I’m
seeing
in the dreams. I don’t know what it is, but there’s something out there, something that . . .” His voice trailed off.

“Something that scares you,” I said. He turned away and nodded.

“I don’t understand,” Aaron said. “You’re
Neptune
! How can you be so scared of dreams?”

Neptune turned his cold, hard eyes on him. “Because they aren’t just dreams,” he said.

“What do you mean? If they aren’t dreams, what are they?”

Neptune flicked his tail and bent down so he was almost at eye level with us. He was so close I could see the white hairs of his mustache as they crept up his nostrils, and smell the herring he’d had for his lunch.

And then, in a quivering voice that I would never normally have associated with Neptune, he said, “They are memories.”

A
aron and I stared at Neptune.

“Memories?” I asked.

Neptune nodded. “I think so. Earlier this year, I undid the memory drug on this whole area, remember?”

Of course we remembered. We’d been part of why he’d done it! Ever since then, people had recalled all sorts of mermaid memories that they’d forgotten about for years.

“Even
I
was not immune,” Neptune went on. “It seems that there are now memories knocking on the door of my mind. There is something there, something that somebody has tried to hide from me, but it is returning — and it is wrapped in a dark threat.” He glared at both of us. “Your job is to find the threat and remove it — and find the culprit who tried to steal my memories in the first place.”

Oh, was that
all
?

“Your Majesty, forgive me for asking, but if this is so important and so dangerous, why aren’t you doing it yourself?” Aaron asked.

“There is great danger ahead,” Neptune said. “To us all — and to the seas and the land. From my dreams — from my memories — I have a great sense that my presence on this mission would be a terrible mistake, and I cannot afford to make a mistake or to do the wrong thing. There is too much at stake.”

He stopped speaking, but he wouldn’t look at us.

“You’re scared!” I said.

Neptune raised his chin. He paused for a long time. Then, finally, he lowered his head and uttered one quiet word. “Yes.”

That small word was almost more frightening than anything else he’d said. The fact that there was something out there that scared
Neptune
meant that it should scare us all.

I swallowed hard and tried to stop my tail from shaking.

“I shall not say any more until I have your word,” Neptune said.

“Our word about what?” asked Aaron.

“Two things. One, that you are in this with me. And two, that everything you have heard today and anything you hear from me in the coming days will be between us, and only us.”

He looked from me to Aaron, inviting us and challenging us at the same time. I didn’t look at Aaron. I didn’t need to. By now, I knew how his mind worked. It worked the same way mine did — was driven by the same things: excitement, danger, adventure. Even though it made me quake with so many nerves my scales were standing on end, I knew what my answer would be — and I knew Aaron’s would be the same. I’d have to think of a way to get Mom and Dad to agree — but we’d deal with that when the time came.

Without even a glance in each other’s direction, Aaron and I replied in unison.

“We’re in.”

It all happened really quickly after that.

Neptune flicked his trident and called out to his dolphins. A moment later, they returned to the cave.

“Come,” he said, beckoning us to join him in his chariot.

The dolphins sped us out of the cave, through all the winding tunnels we’d been brought down blindfolded earlier, and up into an area so grand it couldn’t have been mistaken for anything other than one of Neptune’s palaces. Giant pillars that seemed to be made of solid gold stood in each corner. Jewels filled the rocky ceiling. Light bounced around, dazzling my eyes as much as the chariot ride had dazzled my mind.

Even the fish that weaved around us seemed to swim with an air of importance. A lionfish that looked as if it had put on its grandest outfit glided across the atrium looking as regal as a duchess. Jet-black fish with serious faces and sharp beady eyes swam by without glancing our way, aloof and superior.

We wound our way through the grand entrance hall to an enormous pair of doors. With a flick of his trident, Neptune called, “OPEN!” and the doors drew apart.

A moment later, we were back out in the open sea. The water was dark and murky after Neptune’s palace, and I rubbed my eyes. Neptune indicated for us to leave the chariot. We slid over the side and flicked our tails, treading water as he explained where we were and how to find our way home.

Then he said, “Come to the palace gates at six o’clock tomorrow morning.”

Six o’clock in the
morning
?

“You must be there when I awake. I need to tell you my dreams as soon as my eyes open. I don’t want you to miss anything. Do you understand me?”

We nodded.

“Good. Then I shall see you in the morning.”

“What will we tell our parents?” I asked.

Neptune turned his dark eyes on me. “You’ll think of something.”

Aaron cleared his throat. “How will we —”

“The dolphins will bring you,” Neptune said impatiently. “Come to this point here, and they will meet you — at six precisely. The dolphins know where to find me. They will bring you to my side. I wake at half past six. You will be there. No one else must know where you are, or why you are there. I repeat — no one. We are clear on this?”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” I said.

“Totally clear,” Aaron added.

“Very well,” Neptune said, turning away from us and flicking his trident to give the dolphins their orders. “Until tomorrow.”

A second later, we were dismissed and Neptune, the dolphins, and the chariot were gone.