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

From the pieces we’d overheard Neptune shouting in his sleep, and from what he told us when he woke up, this was what we
had
figured out so far . . .
    Wherever we were going, it was cold,
really
cold.
    There was something to do with water.
    And possibly mountains.
    And that was about it.
    It was the same thing the next day: Neptune screaming out in his sleep, a brief but very violent storm, and an extremely limited amount of helpful information.
    By the third morning, I was starting to feel exhausted from waking up so early every day. On top of which, it felt as if we weren’t getting anywhere.
    That afternoon, Aaron and I were hanging out on
Fortuna,
going over the things Neptune had told us and trying to find some way to piece it all together. It felt as though he’d given us a bag full of jigsaw pieces and told us to make a picture — except the pieces didn’t fit together. They didn’t even seem to be part of the same puzzle!
    Mom was getting ready to go to her Pilates class when she burst into my bedroom, leggings on, sweatband around her head, tracksuit jacket around her waist. “Emily, darling, would you go over to Millie’s for me? I’ve torn a hole in my gym socks and can’t find the needle and thread anywhere. I’m sure she’ll have some. I’d go myself but I have to stay and finish my book before tonight’s book group.”
    I didn’t bother to make any comment on Mom’s ridiculously packed social life — or equally ridiculous outfit.
    “Of course,” I said, and Aaron and I headed over to
King,
Millie’s boat.
    I climbed aboard and pushed the door open. “Millie!”
    No reply. We were about to leave when I heard something. She must have been down on the lower level. She’d had the boat adapted so that her boyfriend, Archie, could visit. He’s one of Neptune’s closest advisers, and a merman. The lower section of the boat had trapdoors like ours, so you could get to it from above or below.
    I opened up the trapdoor and was about to shout down, when I saw who had made the sound. Archie.
    “Oh,” I said.
    He turned around. “Oh, hi, Emily!” he said, with a big smile, which seemed false to me. Not that Archie doesn’t smile much — just, well, he doesn’t usually show
all
his teeth when he does. He looked like a dog flashing its fangs at an intruder.
    “I was just, er, just leaving,” Archie said. “Just stopped by to see if Millie was here. I was going to surprise her. Take her on a date. You know, being spontaneous and all that. But — well. She’s not here, so, bye, then. I’ll tell her you came over.”
    And before I had a chance to reply, he was gone. I stood there, holding the trapdoor open, staring down at the empty deck for a few moments, wondering if it was my imagination or if that had been a little weird.
    “Is she there?” Aaron called from the door.
    I went back to join him. “Nope. Just Archie. He’d come to take Millie on a surprise date,” I said.
    “Aww, they’re so romantic, those two.”
    Aaron was right. Archie probably wasn’t being weird. He was always doing sweet things like that. All this scheming and secrecy with Neptune was making me paranoid.
    “My mom will have some thread, I’m sure. Let’s go over to my place,” Aaron said.
    We left
King
and headed over to Aaron’s house.

    It was on the fourth morning that we finally had a breakthrough.
    The storms hit us on the way to the palace. “Are we late?” I asked as we battled against the swell.
    Aaron shook his head. “He must be waking early.” We were spun around and washed against rocks all the way. By the time we arrived, we were both a bedraggled mess. The dolphins picked us up at the gates, as usual, and sped to Neptune’s quarters.
    Neptune was reclining on the lobster-shaped chaise longue. He beckoned us into the room and we nervously swam toward him.
    “Sorry we’re late,” I began. “We got caught in —”
    “It doesn’t matter,” Neptune said. “You’re here now.” He