Emily Windsnap and the Land of the Midnight Sun Read Online Free PDF Page A

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.

    Aaron and I hovered in the murky water for a little while without speaking. It was hard to know what to say.
    Below us, thick green tubes of seaweed brushed against dusty-pink coral as it swayed in the current. Fish of all shapes and sizes swam toward us, around us, away from us, taking a peek before deciding we weren’t all that interesting and darting away again.
    We started swimming in the direction Neptune had told us. We swam in silence most of the way. I was busy going over everything that had happened and trying to make some sort of sense of it all. I guessed Aaron was doing the same.
    Finally, when we were still quite a way from Brightport, Aaron slowed down and turned to me.
    “You OK?” he asked.
    “I don’t know,” I replied honestly. “You?”
    Aaron tried a wonky smile. “I think so,” he said. “I’m glad we’ve got each other at least.”
    I smiled back. “Me, too.”
    “What are we going to say to our families?” I asked.
    “We could say we’re meeting up to swim to Rainbow Rocks and watch the sunrise together?”
    “Good idea. That way they won’t ask too many questions.”
    But as we approached Brightport, I couldn’t stop my mind from asking its own questions. What if we couldn’t fulfill Neptune’s mission? What if we got hurt — or worse?
    “Hey, slowpoke. Race you to the Brightport pier!” Aaron called from ahead of me, breaking into my thoughts before they spiraled out of control.
    “You’re on!” I pushed the questions to the back of my mind, flicked my tail as hard as I could, and sped through the dark water.

    The next morning, when my alarm clock went off at half past five, I leaped out of bed thinking there was a fire. Then I remembered — it was worse then a fire. It was a date with Neptune and his nightmares.
    Aaron was outside the boat as soon as I closed the door behind me. “Ready?” he asked.
    I laughed drily. That was about the best I could manage as a reply.
    We set off for the open ocean.
    About half an hour later, we reached the palace. The dolphins were waiting for us outside the doors, just as Neptune had said they would be. We climbed aboard the chariot and they took us inside.
    Twenty twists and turns and fifty chandeliers later, we arrived at an arched door with a golden doorknob and a sparkling trident on the front, built into a rocky wall. The dolphins pulled to a halt.
    “I guess this is our stop,” I said.
    We clambered down from the chariot and the dolphins turned and swam away. We were alone, outside Neptune’s room.
    Aaron decided to be the brave one. Gently turning the knob, he pushed against the door. It opened. We swam inside.
    It was the biggest room I had ever seen, anywhere. It was perhaps the size of a big