Secrets of Valhalla (12 page)

B
uzz opened his eyes. He was caught in a swirling whirlpool, created by the two runes that continued to race through the water. They were glowing, one with a white, ethereal gleam and the other with a sparkling amber light that reminded Buzz of Sunna's eyes. He suddenly felt sorry he had let her down. Let everyone down. He was going to drown here in a sea far from home.

He surrendered to the pull of the runes and their guiding light—what else could he do? The pressure in his chest was almost unbearable now, and he knew that nearly all the oxygen in his lungs had been used up. Yet still they were being pulled downward by the runes' vortex, far from the surface. Far from air.

He was in a world of silence.

His consciousness shrank to a pinprick of amber and white light and his eyelids drooped.

He would sleep.

Buzz slammed against something solid and yet soft.

He was awake again, his sight shifting from the pinprick of light to a panoramic view. With his last scrap of oxygen, he registered some kind of undulating dome with two rune-size holes punched into it. Then the whirlpool that had brought him this far pulled him through one of the wounds in the bubblelike shield, and he was no longer in water but in air. The pressure in his lungs was gone. The water in his nose and mouth vanished.

The vortex dropped Buzz gently onto a sandy floor and then dissipated with a sigh.

Buzz doubled over and took in a gasping breath, the air a balm to his aching lungs.

He felt dizzy.

A little bit sick.

And so very pleased to be alive.

I'm alive.

But what about Mary?

He forced himself to stand up straight and look around. Relief kept him standing, even though he still felt dizzy. He could see Mary just a few feet away, and he waved over at her. She was holding Mani's rune in her hand and looking up at a building—a citadel encircled by seven pillars of white stone. Statues lay abandoned on the ground in front of it, still and watchful.

The light in this dome was dim, but bright enough to see by. He realized that it was coming from several giant, luminous pearls that were scattered about on the seabed. Next to one of them was Sunna's rune. It no longer shone with its amber light—it was just a smooth, gray stone with etched lines once more. He scooped it up.

“Where are we?” Mary called out to him. Her voice echoed around the dome.

“Atlantis,” a voice replied.

A woman in a breastplate made of shells and a skirt of silver and gold coins appeared from inside the citadel. Her eyes were an amazing aqua green, and pinned to her glistening, seaweed-colored hair was an iridescent train of blue netting.

“Now I have a question. Two, actually.” The woman's mouth curved downward, and Buzz imagined it would take a lot to change that expression. “Who are you and what do you want?”

Mary swiftly introduced them both. “And your name is?”

The woman just stared back at them stonily.

“We've not come to cause trouble,” Buzz rushed to assure her. “We just need to—”

He trailed off. The woman was not listening. She was staring over his shoulder, her greenish lips pursed so tightly that they were blanching of all color.

“Your kind are always trouble.” She sounded as bitter as burnt coffee and pointed with a webbed hand at the dome above. “And that's rather troublesome as well.”

Buzz turned and winced as he saw the two steady streams of water that were trickling in through the holes caused by the runes.

Two tracks of tears.
The thought popped into Buzz's head, and he wondered if it was because this woman seemed so sad.

She gave a high whistle, and a train of rather plump soldiers marched out of the citadel, led by an even chubbier general wearing a helmet fashioned of coral with a plume of sea anemones.

“We have been breached, General Neale,” the woman said. “The dome is compromised. Have it patched up for now, and we will get the Beast to breathe us a new shield at the next full moon.”

“Of course, Lady Pisces.” General Neale bowed so low that the plume of his helmet brushed the sandy floor. His back cracked loudly as he tried to stand straight once again.

“Go get the repair kit,” the general told one of the soldiers, wheezing as he finally straightened up completely.

Buzz couldn't help but notice how red in the face the general looked.
These soldiers are seriously out of shape,
he decided.

The general surreptitiously adjusted his helmet, which had fallen over one eye, shooting a glance at Lady Pisces as he did. But she paid him no attention. She was too busy pacing back and forth, looking up at the damage to the dome. Buzz tried to get her attention, but she just waved a hand at him dismissively. He was clearly going to have to wait until the dome was fixed before he could resume his conversation with Lady Pisces.

Eventually, the soldier who had waddled into the citadel to get the repair kit reappeared with a small chest tucked under his arm.

General Neale nodded at the soldiers who were lined up behind him, and they immediately began to climb onto one another's shoulders. The air was filled with yelping and squeals of annoyance, but after some time there were two swaying towers of soldiers just high enough to begin the process of fixing the holes. Wide sheets of sticky webbing from the repair kit were passed up the balancing soldiers.

They look like two huge, swaying jellies on a plate,
Buzz thought. He was sure they'd get the holes fixed, but it was going to take a long time, as clumsy hands kept dropping the webbing, which would float to the floor before being passed back up the tower again.

Lady Pisces muttered something rather rude under her breath, but she stopped pacing and barking instructions at the soldiers and came to stand in front of Buzz and Mary once more.

“We're really sorry about your dome.” Mary nodded her head at the two towers of soldiers. “But they're doing a great job.”

The lie hung in the air between them like a bad smell.

“What do you want?” Lady Pisces snapped.

“The Runes of Valhalla.” Buzz thought it best to get right to the point. They'd already wasted enough time watching the inept soldiers not fix the holes in the dome, and if what
Saturn said was true, and Buzz's world was in danger of dissolving because Saturday was on a loop, then time was of the essence.

“Saturn told us that Neptune has two of the runes, Tyr's and Odin's,” Mary explained. “He was given them for safekeeping until the time they were needed. That time is now.”

The woman's sea-green skin paled, but she gave a toss of her head. “Dear Grandpapa,” she trilled. “He's ever so old now, isn't he? I'm not sure you can trust what he says. He gets so confused.”

Buzz frowned. Lady Pisces was doing her best to cover it up, but her whole body thrummed with worry. “Jupiter didn't say any different.” He crossed his arms. “He's already given us the runes he had. Now we need the ones Neptune has been keeping safe.”

“Right, I see. So you've already been to see Uncle Jupe, have you?” Lady Pisces fiddled with the netting that draped over her hair.

“He was the person who sent us here.” Mary sniffed. “In his own unique way.”

“Well, you have been busy. How very endeavoring of you.” She smiled at them, and Buzz was struck by how pretty she was when she didn't look sad.

He smiled back, relieved that she had cheered up. He'd thought for a moment that there was going to be a problem.

“I'll take you to see my father.” Lady Pisces strode forward. “If you'll just follow me.”

General Neale appeared at her side. “My lady, I should accompany you.”

“Oh, there's no need to do that,” Lady Pisces assured him. “I'm completely capable of dealing with our guests.”

“As you wish, my lady.”

Buzz noticed that the general was looking at Lady Pisces with a mixture of concern and full-blown lovesickness, but Neptune's daughter did not seem to notice.

Mary grinned as they followed behind Lady Pisces. “Poor General Neale. He's got the biggest crush I've ever seen.”

Buzz was about to reply, but Lady Pisces's shrill voice cut him off.

“Do keep up,” she said. “It is quite a distance to my father's quarters.”

They walked past beautiful lagoons and ruined temples rubbed smooth by the sea.

“I assume you can swim,” Lady Pisces said, coming to a narrow, inky-blue pool that looked a little bit like a well sunk into the ground.

She dropped into the water, and as she did, her legs fused and became a tail.

Buzz and Mary tried not to stare, but it was difficult. The tail was ridged with beautiful iridescent scales that glinted in the low light of the pearls all around them.

Lady Pisces looked up at them, her aqua eyes stormy. “Are you sure you need these runes?” she asked as Buzz and Mary stepped to the edge of the water. “All I know of the runes is
that they are more trouble than they're worth, and my father hates to be disturbed.” Her palms glided across the water and little bubbles came to rest on her hands, sparkling like diamonds. “Turn back now, and I will offer you a companion who will see you back to your home realm safely.”

“The runes are the only things that can save our realm,” Buzz replied. “You might see them as trouble, but they're our only hope.”

He bent his legs and dived into the pool. He had expected it to be cold, but it was as warm as bathwater. He began to tread water.

Lady Pisces swallowed hard and then inclined her head. “So be it. You'll need to follow me downward.”

Mary stood nervously on the edge of the pool. “Um, just a tiny question. How are we supposed to breathe? I mean, I assume you have gills or something, but we don't. We need air to live.”

“Gills?” Lady Pisces sounded outraged. “I am not a fish.” Her tail thrashed in the water, submerging Buzz in a wave. He emerged from it spluttering. “I am daughter of Neptune, one of the greatest gods to have ever existed and guardian to all merpeople.” She tilted her chin. “When my father saw that humankind were hunting merpeople instead of revering them—that humans no longer prayed to the great Neptune before sea journeys—he took steps to protect himself and his kin. He took Atlantis and made the merpeople a new realm in the deepest part of the ocean. He made sure that they were
safe and had a dome and a supply of air whenever they needed it. Neptune's subjects would never need to surface from the sea again.”

“Right, I see now,” Mary said. “Actually, I don't. How am I supposed to breathe if we go down that well thing?”

“Just get in,” Lady Pisces said. “All will become clear.”

Mary, still looking mistrustful, took in a gulp of air and leaped into the water.

Lady Pisces dove downward, and Buzz and Mary followed. Clusters of bubbles streamed their way, attaching themselves to their skin, and Buzz found that he could breathe easily.

He felt like he was surrounded by bubble wrap—the world around him segmented into hundreds of infinitely reflective mirrors. He imagined this was a bit like how a fly might see the world.

Down and down they swam, until they spilled out into a wide and still lagoon. Lady Pisces continued to swim, her powerful tail propelling her through the clear waters, but Buzz found the lagoon too shallow and began to wade through it instead. The water came up to his waist and almost up to Mary's chest. In front of them, set into a wall at the edge of the lagoon, was an enormous wooden door encrusted with sea barnacles.

Swimming up to it, Lady Pisces took a key that hung from the wall, slipped it into the lock, and turned it. The door swung open by itself.

“Why is your father locked up?” Buzz asked.

“Goodness me, don't you think it is rather rude to question our customs?” Neptune's daughter huffed. “If you want the runes, then here they are. Hurry up and get in.” She swam out of the way so that the doorway stood empty.

Buzz hesitated on the threshold. Something was very wrong here, he could feel it. “Come on, Buzz,” Mary said. “We don't have time to waste.” She waded through the entranceway.

“Mary, wait!” He leaned forward and grabbed for her arm, but she was already through the door.

“Off you go, then,” Lady Pisces said, and Buzz turned to her just in time to see the flick of her powerful tail and to feel himself being thrown forward. As he went splashing into the water that covered the seabed, he heard the door slam shut behind him and the key turn in the lock.

“H
ey!” Buzz banged on the huge door. “What are you doing? Let us out.” The barnacles that studded the wood stabbed at his hand, but he didn't care. “Let us out,” he bellowed again.

“Buzz!” Mary's voice wafted from deeper in the cavern. “You've got to come and see this.”

“Mary, you might not have noticed, but we're prisoners,” he snapped.

“Then you've got time to come and look at this.”

Buzz's fists unclenched. If Lady Pisces was still there behind that door, she wasn't saying, and she certainly wasn't opening it.

He swam forward, the water in the prison coming up well past his shoulders. The cavern was gloomy but as Buzz swam
farther into the interior he could see it was neither tall nor wide. Mary was treading water a few feet away, staring at one of the stony walls. As he got closer, he saw that the entire surface was covered in the most amazing art. Hundreds upon thousands of shells and fragments of gleaming sea glass had been stuck to the wall to form intricate, complicated patterns. A single image was woven throughout the pattern—a winding snake that stretched across the whole wall.

“It's amazing,” Buzz breathed.

“Thank you.” A softly spoken male voice floated over to them.

Buzz and Mary whirled around. A giant beast with a beak for a mouth was gliding toward them. But its progress was slow as the space was so cramped. The creature was round, with many tentacles that seemed to have gnarly looking hooks sticking out from them.

Is this thing really Neptune?
Buzz wondered.
He doesn't look much like his brother, or father, for that matter, but maybe gods can take whatever form they want. . . .

The squidlike beast came to a stop just a few feet away from them and tried to rise to his full, impressive height, but hit his head on the ceiling of the cavern.

“Ouch,” he exclaimed, but Buzz realized that the creature's beak did not move. The word came to him like a strong fragrance on the air.

“Are you okay?” Buzz asked.

The creature nodded. “What's your favorite part of the
wall?” he asked them shyly.

“The snake, definitely,” Mary replied. “It looks really lifelike, and you've got so much expression in its face.”

The beast's skin had been a peachy brown color, but it got rosier and rosier as Mary spoke.

“I worked really hard on that bit, actually,” he said. “I wanted to try and remember Jörmungandr's face—every part. It's been such a long time since I've seen it.” The creature's skin changed color suddenly and became a muddy brown.

Buzz felt the
click clack
of his mind riffling through information. The knowledge given to him by the worm told him that squid communicated by changing the color of their skin and releasing chemicals into the water. That had to explain why the creature's words came to him like a scent on the air rather than as sounds that were uttered.

“Are you Neptune?” Buzz asked hesitantly, sure of the answer even as he asked the question.

The creature's skin instantly became a stormy gray color, and he raised two of his tentacles as if to smash them down on Mary and Buzz.

“Wait, I'm sor—” Buzz broke off as he realized that the squid was using his tentacles to scrub away tears that had sprung up at the corners of his strange yellow eyes.

“I'm not Neptune. My name is the Kraken, but you can call me Kay.” The squid's tentacles dropped to his sides, and he seemed to slump downward, sending a wave their way. Buzz and Mary put their backs against the shell wall to stop from
being washed away, and at the same time managed to introduce themselves.

“Neptune has had me here for centuries,” Kay went on to explain, his skin becoming duller and duller by the moment. “He keeps me here and forces me to blow giant air bubbles so that his subjects can breathe underwater and remain undetected from humans.”

“You created the dome!” Mary exclaimed.

The Kraken nodded mournfully. “And all the other bubbles that flow in the tributaries of Atlantis. I've become a glorified bubble machine, but I used to be so much more than that. I was one of Odin's most trusted ambassadors.”

“So you're not here because you want to be?” Buzz questioned.

“Absolutely not,” Kay replied. “I'm Neptune's prisoner and his people see me as some kind of mindless monster.” Kay looked wistful. “I was free once, sharing my life with Jörmungandr.”

“As in Jörmungandr, Loki's child?” Mary asked in surprise. “Myths say he was a giant snake that was cast into the sea by the gods because he was getting too big.”

“Jörmungandr is big, but not that big.” Kay sounded defensive. “And he'd made peace with living in the water. I was the one to relocate him on Odin's behalf—that's how we met. After that, I left Odin's employment, and Jörmungandr and I were happy living in a loch in Scotland—troubling no one—but then I was kidnapped by Neptune.” The squid's beak took
on a sneering expression. “Neptune saw his chance when Loki was taken and Odin put himself into the deep sleep. He knew there was no one left to stop him. That he'd get away with it.”

“But what about Loki's other children?” Mary asked.

The Kraken waved a tentacle. “They're dead, banished, or simply gone.” Kay peered down at them. “Will anyone notice that you're gone? That you're here in a prison with me?”

Buzz and Mary shared a look. Their world was on the edge of total collapse. If they didn't gather all the Runes of Valhalla, the human realm as they knew it would surely be gone forever.

Kay shook his great head. “You know, the person who put you in here probably thinks I'm going to eat you or something. It's ridiculous. I'm vegetarian. I eat seaweed!”

“Listen, Kay. We don't know if anyone will notice that we're gone,” Buzz said softly. “Things are a bit off-kilter in our realm, but we left our home to look for the Runes of Valhalla. Neptune has them and we need to find him.”

“You're wrong,” a familiar-sounding but significantly out-of-breath voice interrupted. “Neptune doesn't have the runes. Not anymore. You need to leave Atlantis. I'll help you.”

General Neale stood there, a spear in his hand, and Buzz realized that he must have swum the length of the chamber underwater to appear unnoticed.

Faster than Buzz could even blink, Kay thrust out a tentacle and lifted the general clean out of the water. He squeezed until the general gave a yelp of pain.

“Wait,” Buzz called out. “He came to release us. He can't be all bad. Put him down, Kay.”

“Yes, that's right.” General Neale gasped. “I guessed what Lady Pisces would do and I've come to undo it. Forgive her. She was just scared.”

“You are the one who should be scared.” Kay was bright red now. “I'm going to crush you. Crush you like Neptune crushed me into this prison.”

“No, stop, please. If you crush anyone, it should be me.” Lady Pisces emerged from the water. An imposing-looking merman was at her side, a trident tattooed into the greenish skin of his chest. “This is all my fault,” she insisted.

“No, daughter,” the merman said. “The creature will have to crush me first.” He curled his lip. “If he can, that is.”

“Neptune,” Kay snarled, and General Neale cried out as the beast's grip tightened. “What are you doing here?”

“My daughter asked me to come,” Neptune said simply. “She said she'd made a mistake, and she didn't think she could remedy it herself.”

Lady Pisces fixed her gaze on Mary and Buzz. “The two Runes of Valhalla that you seek are not here in Atlantis. They were stolen by a human, but I helped make it happen.” Her composure began to slip. “A few months ago I swam to the surface, even though it is strictly forbidden. I met a man on a beach. He was kind and listened to me, and we continued to meet for many weeks. For a long time, he never asked where I came from, and I never told. Then, he noticed the jewels that
I wore in my crown, and I told him that my home was filled with such treasures.” A tear trickled down her cheek. “He said he would love to see them—that it would be his way of really understanding my homeland. I brought him our most precious possessions, and he asked me to leave them with him. Just for one night so that he could have the evening to gaze at the treasures and really appreciate their beauty. I agreed. But the next morning, he was not there to meet me. He never came back, and Atlantis's treasures were gone.” Her face crumpled as more tears began to fall. “I could not find the words to tell the truth to my father.” She took another sobbing breath. “So when you turned up saying you needed the runes, I panicked. I didn't want Father to find out. To be disappointed in me.”

“Panicked?” Mary repeated incredulously. “You locked us up!”

“I know. It was a stupid, evil thing to do.” Lady Pisces dabbed at her eyes. “I'm just so pleased that this foul, ravenous beast hasn't eaten you and your little human friend.”

“Hey,” Kay said. “How many times do I need to say it—I'm ve—”

“Vengeful,” Buzz interrupted. A plan was forming in his head, and this was not the time for Kay to remind everyone that he was vegetarian. “The Kraken's vengeful and hasn't eaten us yet, but that doesn't mean he won't.”

“What?” Mary and the Kraken said as one.

“You'll eat us, right?” Buzz said, winking at Kay.

“What's wrong with your eye?” the Kraken asked, concern
written all over his gray, blobby face. “Have you got something in it? I hate when that happens. Maybe I could blow it out. Do you want me to try?” Kay puckered his beaklike mouth.

Buzz groaned. His plan was not going . . . well . . . to plan. “Don't you remember?” he ground out. “You'll eat us unless they promise to release you.”

“Oh right, yeah,” Mary said, finally catching on. “You'll crush our bones and roll us up like a pair of burritos. That's what you said.”

“I did?” Kay questioned. Then understanding dawned. “Oh, yeah, I did.” He paused. “Grr,” he added for good measure.

Lady Pisces looked at her father imploringly. “Papa, I'm so sorry about the treasures and the Runes of Valhalla, but you have to let the Kraken go before it hurts these two pathetic children.”

“Hey, we're not pathet—” Mary began.

“All right,” Neptune interrupted. “I'll let him go.”

“You will?” everyone—including Kay—said at once.

Neptune's expression was resigned. “I kidnapped the Kraken a long time ago,” he explained. “I did it because I knew there was no one left to stop me.” The sea god's sharp teeth worried his bottom lip. “But Ragnarok is almost upon us. If Odin wins, he's not going to be pleased with my treatment of the Kraken. And if Loki wins, he's not going to be pleased that I stole Jörmungandr's true love. Either way, I think it is time my kingdom and the Kraken part ways. We'll just have to find a way to cope without the creature's protection.” Neptune
cracked his knuckles. “Besides, my men have become lazy because of the creature's bubbles. With no threat of being seen by humans, there has been no impetus to train.”

General Neale bristled, but he did not argue, and Kay dropped him back into the water with a splash.

Neptune stroked his long, green beard. “As for the runes, if you want them, you will have to find the human who so callously stole them from my daughter, or at least work out where the runes have ended up.” Neptune peered at them, his aquamarine eyes as bright as sea glass. “I don't think such a task is beyond you. This quest chose you for a reason.”

“Good luck,” Lady Pisces added. “I'm sorry I have made your mission that much more difficult.” She looked up at Kay. “And I'm sorry for our treatment of you, but somehow I don't think words are enough.”

“They are not,” Kay replied, staring stonily at Lady Pisces and then at Neptune. “Maybe one day there will be a reckoning, but today I will go in peace.”

Lady Pisces turned to General Neale. “And thank you for coming to release them. I can see now you always have my best interests at heart. That means a lot.” She gave him a small smile, and the general beamed back in response.

“Wow, I'm actually going to be free.” Kay was bright pink with delight now. “I didn't think the day would ever come.” He gathered up Buzz and Mary, holding them gently in his tentacles. “Thank you so much, little humans.”

“Glad we could help,” Buzz replied.

“And I hope I can help you in return,” Kay said. “You may not know it, but Odin made the runes from the stones that surround the World Tree in Tangley Woods. If the runes are in the human realm, they will try to find their way back to the tree, or at least get as close as they can.”

“Ratatosk said a similar thing about the runes and the gods always being drawn back to the tree,” Buzz added eagerly.

“So Tyr's and Odin's runes might have been back in Crowmarsh this whole time!” Mary exclaimed.

Kay nodded. “I'll take you back to Tangley Woods, if you like?”

“Yes, please,” Buzz said.

“Hang on. How will we get to Pluto's realm to get the last two runes when the time comes?” Mary asked.

“The World Tree will show you the way,” Neptune assured her. “Say hello to my brother when you get to the underworld, won't you?”

Buzz nodded.

The Kraken began to blow and blow until a skinlike bubble surrounded Buzz and Mary. Then, holding the orb carefully, Kay hurtled out the door and up from Atlantis, smashing through the dome and leaving the white-stoned city far below them.

“You mentioned Ratatosk,” Kay said as they flew through the water. “He was an ambassador of Odin's at the same time I was. Tell me how he is. There is no more honorable creature in all the realms.”