Murder on the Lake, page 14
"This place," Tlalli leaned over to whisper to me, her voice full of awe. "This place is amazing. Just amazing."
"Really?" Andrew said, looking around as if seeing the place with new eyes. But it looked the same as it always did by day: dingy and drab, everything showing signs of careful repair after being broken a few too many times. Not impressive at all. He looked back at Tlalli as if trying to work out if she was being sarcastic or what.
Jesús, sitting on the other side of me, was also looking around the room and then at his sister. He asked her something in Spanish and she answered. It was just a few short sentences, but to my ear I thought there was something not quite Spanish about some of those words. Then he was looking around again, as if desperately trying to see something more than what was there.
I hopped up from my chair, setting my hot chocolate aside with reluctance before running to catch my grandmother before she could disappear behind her bar. But I was too late. By the time I was behind the bar, she was down in the cellar.
Had she just ditched me on purpose?
"Did you find a boat?" Loke asked, and I turned my attention back to the others around the space heater.
"We did," Michelle said.
"You'll never believe who," Jessica said.
"Simon," I said.
"How did you know?" Jessica asked.
Michelle gave her a friendly slug on the arm. "Who else would she never believe?"
"How big is the boat?" I asked. I remembered my drawing of it. It hadn't seemed that big. It usually went out with two men working on it, but was there room for many more? Would we have to ride in the fish hold?
"Not big," Jessica admitted.
Andrew set his mug aside and went back to the door to get his laptop out of his backpack. He set it on one of the tables and connected to the meeting hall's wifi.
"Simon says he can only take three of us out on the water," Michelle said. "Actually, what he said in the first place was that he wanted to go out alone, but I didn't think that was a very good idea."
"No," I said distractedly, but then looked up at her. "Why not, do you think?"
"He's so angry," Jessica said. "If we send him out alone, he's going to come back alone. If you know what I mean."
"The last thing we need is one more dead body," Michelle said, arching her eyebrow before taking a sip from her mug.
"Where is he now?" I asked.
I was asking about Simon, but it was Andrew who answered me, speaking about Adam. "He's nearly there."
"Can we reach him in time?" I asked.
"I have no idea," Andrew admitted. "The weather seems to be slowing him down. But it would slow us down too."
"Maybe this isn't worth the risk," Loke said.
"It is to me," Tlalli said. "I'm going."
"Me too," Jessica said.
"Wait," I said, holding up my hands. "There isn't enough room on the boat for all of us."
"So what, you want to draw straws or something?" Michelle asked.
"If you're going, I'm going," Andrew said, jutting out his chin in a way that dared me to argue with him.
"There isn't enough room on the boat," I said. "And no, I don't think drawing straws is the answer. This can't be random."
"Can't it?" Loke asked. I glared at him. I knew what he was thinking. To a Viking, there was nothing more worthy of trust than the luck of the draw. The gods favored the lucky because they were more worthy.
"Maybe we need a Plan B," I said. "Some of us can try to reach him in time on Simon's boat, but the rest of us need to find another way to tip off the police about Adam."
"I know what you're thinking," Tlalli said, crossing her arms. "I'm not staying behind."
"You know Adam better than any of us," I said. "You can tell them about the Rohypnol and his general character both."
"And I will, after we catch up to him," she said.
"This weather is getting worse by the minute," Jesús said as another blast of wind shook the walls of the meeting hall. "Is this really boating weather? Maybe Plan B is the only plan."
"Ichtaca-" Tlalli started to say. I blinked in surprise. Apparently she wasn't the only one with two names.
"No," he interrupted her. "Nothing is solved with you or anyone else at the bottom of this lake. But especially not you."
The two of them stared at each other in some sort of battle of wills I knew I was missing the context for.
But to my surprise, it was Tlalli who blinked first. "Fine. I won't go out on this little boat. I'll wait here."
"Ingrid."
I jumped at the sound of my name, not realizing that my grandmother had come back up from the cellar and was standing right behind me. "I wanted to talk to you," I whispered to her as I turned around.
"Take these," she said, pressing something into my hands. When I looked down my left hand was holding a small leather bag. On the palm of my right hand was a stack of gold disks. Not coins, though. They looked like little golden Viking shields.
"What's this?" I asked, closing my hands over the objects before anyone else could see them.
"Speed and protection," she told me.
"What are we protecting?" I asked. "Simon's boat?"
"Of course not, dear," she said to me. "That boat is much too small. But it's probably better that you're gone before he gets here. I can explain it to him better alone."
"Explain to Simon why we don't need his boat?" I asked, and she nodded. "I wished you'd explain it to me."
"You need a bigger boat," she said. "A ship, in fact. So you shall have one. This," she squeezed my left hand, "will fill the sails. You will reach the other boat in time, no worries there. And this," she squeezed my right hand, and the little disks pressed into my flesh, "will protect the ship from harm."
"But the spells of hiding," I said. "I don't know those. Aren't you coming with us?"
"Alas, no," she said. "I am, as always, chiefly needed here."
"But I can't do those spells without you," I said.
"The remnants of the spells I cast before remain. That faded magic plus this storm will hide you well enough," she said.
"It's big enough for all of us, that's true," I said. "But do even Loke or Roarr know how to sail it?"
"They know as well as any Villmarker," my grandmother said. "But they will answer to the captain, I'm sure."
"And who's the captain?" I asked. "Please don't say me."
Another gust of wind shook the hall, and the back door blew open with a bang.
Then the silhouette of a large man appeared in the doorway, and I knew the wind had only ripped the door out of his grip, not blown it open entirely.
"Are we ready?" he asked as he stepped into the light. It was Thorbjorn. An unarmed Thorbjorn, dressed like a Runde fisherman, head to toe prepared for all the wet a storm on Lake Superior could throw his way.
"I regret I won't be going," my grandmother said.
"That is a shame, but I suppose duty calls," Thorbjorn said, and she nodded. "Fine. How many of these others?"
"That's up to Ingrid, I believe," my grandmother said.
"Up to me?" I repeated. I could feel the eyes of the others on us, although we were too far away for them to hear what we were saying. There were a few whispers I took to be someone explaining who Thorbjorn was to Tlalli and Jesús.
"Of course," my grandmother said. Her chipper tone was starting to really puzzle me.
"We're talking about the Viking ship here, right?" I asked, and they both nodded. "This was dilemma enough when I thought we were going out in a modern boat. But the Viking ship? Doesn't that mean it has to just be Loke and Roarr? I mean, the rules."
My grandmother said nothing, just smiled at me as if she was waiting for me to figure something out on my own.
Thorbjorn just said, "needs must."
"What does that mean?" I demanded.
"Andrew, Michelle and Jessica are already very close to figuring things out," my grandmother told me. "And they wouldn't be the first."
"So I should just tell them now? To, what, get ahead of it? Spin the story?"
"Something like that," my grandmother said.
"What will the council say?" I asked.
She fluttered a hand dismissively. "They always say something. I generally leave worrying about my response until they actually say whatever it is they want to say. It's seldom as dire as you're thinking."
I looked at Thorbjorn.
"These are your friends?" he said, and I nodded. "You trust them?" I nodded again. "Then I trust them," he said. "Is there more to discuss?"
"I suppose not," I said, all too aware that time was precious. "But what about the others?"
"What others?" Thorbjorn asked.
"My friends from back home, Tlalli and Jesús," I said. He looked past me to pick them out of the small crowd behind me.
"Oh, those two?" my grandmother said with another little wave of her hand. "They already know."
"They already know? How is that possible? They've only been here maybe ten minutes," I said.
"Yes, they've only been here for a few minutes, but they've been to other places," she said. Then she gave me a more serious look. "They can keep secrets. Even this one. Perhaps especially this one."
"They were looking around before," I said to her. "They can see the mead hall, can't they? Even though we haven't done the spell work yet."
"She can," my grandmother said. "He... almost."
"I have so many questions," I said.
"But so little time," Thorbjorn said.
"You're right," I said. "Fine. We're all going. It doesn't feel like enough to man the ship, though."
"Hence the bag of winds," my grandmother said, tapping my left hand again. Then she crossed the room to the others. "Finish up those chocolates and run to the bathroom now if you need to. Who knows when you'll get the chance next. Then everyone gather up at the back door. I have oilskins for all of you."
"We're all going?" Jessica asked.
"Yes," I said. "Thorbjorn here has a ship that will fit all of us."
"And it's here, in Runde?" Jessica asked. "How come I've never seen a ship that size here before?"
"Who cares?" Michelle said before I could come up with an answer. "We're going to catch the bad guy. That's all that matters."
How I wished that were true. But while it was the most important thing, the highest priority thing, once we had the bad guy, everything else was going to start mattering again.
And whatever my grandmother said, I couldn't help worrying about what the Villmark council was going to say.
Chapter 19
After we all suited up in oilskin bib overalls and knee-length jackets and then headed out the backdoor, I admit I started to get a little less anxious and a lot more excited. I mean, I remembered just how blown away I had been the first time I had laid eyes on the Viking ship, and I had already known there was a village of descendants from the Viking Age living a stone's throw away from Runde. I could only imagine the looks that would be on my friends' faces in about ten minutes.
But that excitement didn't make it much past the end of the meeting hall's back patio before dying away again. Because the trail beyond was steep and treacherous in the best of weather. And the strengthening storm was far from the best of weather. Even I, who knew the trail well, was having some trouble climbing up it. The oilskins were blocking the wind and keeping me dry, but they were a bulky fit on me and made moving awkward.
Worst of all, the soles of my sea boots were designed for a boat's slippery deck, not a rocky trail. Aside from feeling every rock through the thin sole of my boot despite the thickness of my wool socks, I slipped and stumbled more than once on the wet path. Thorbjorn had to catch my elbow to keep me from spilling to the ground.
I looked back to see the others also employing the buddy system to get up the slope. Roarr had a steadying hand on Michelle's back, but was also looking behind them constantly to be sure that Andrew and Jessica were doing okay. Jesús and Tlalli trailed a bit behind them, going more slowly but being more sure of their steps before they took them. Loke walked alone behind all the others. Loke was wearing oilskins like the rest of us, only he had a way of making his outfit just present differently. I mean, it looked like he had his hands in his pockets as he walked, but our bibs didn't have pockets.
It was a relief to finally reach the cave behind the waterfall, ironically because despite the ever-present dampness of the air, it was drier than outside. I pushed back my sou'wester now that the rain had stopped lashing at my eyes, then stepped to one side to wait for the others to gather in the cave before continuing on down to the harbor.
"Well met, brother," Thoralv said from where he was leaning against the cave wall, the light from the bonfire around the corner dancing all around him. The leggings and tunic he wore might pass as normal modern clothes. The cloak around his shoulders would be more of a stretch. But it was too long past Halloween to explain away the assortment of weapons he was carrying.
"We're going below, to take the ship out," Thorbjorn told him as Michelle and Roarr stomped their way into the cavern. Roarr guided her to a deeper part of the cave as she too pushed back her sou'wester.
But once her hat was out of her eyes and she saw Thoralv standing there dressed like a very committed LARPer, her jaw dropped open.
"Wait a minute," she said, leaving Roarr's side to grab at my arm. "That big guy who has the ship. He's that Viking you saw your first night here!"
"Yes," I admitted. "Thorbjorn. And Thoralv here is his brother."
"I feel like I've met your fellow before, but it's like it was in a dream," she said, frowning. "But no. It was in the meeting hall, wasn't it? No, that's not what I'm remembering."
"It's all going to make more sense in a little bit," I promised her. I sensed that the more I showed my friends, the weaker the forgetting spell's hold on them became. "I think your memories will sort of click into place."
"How?" she asked.
But Jessica and Andrew were inside now, and Jessica's boots slapped loudly as she ran over to us. "This place is amazing!" she said. "I had no idea this was back here! How did I have no idea this was back here? I mean, the trail started right behind the meeting hall. We kids used to play by the river all the time when our parents were having meetings or playing bingo or whatever. We must have seen it."
"How far does it go?" Andrew asked, trying to look down the length of the cave behind Thoralv. But of course that cave took a turn, the bonfire beyond nothing more than a pattern of light on the stone walls here.
"You're not going this way, my friend," Thoralv told him. He was smiling both with his eyes and with his mouth, but that didn't disguise the fact that his words were a warning.
"There's another path we're going down," I said to Andrew. He was still trying to see what was behind Thoralv, but when I spoke he turned his gaze to me.
"You knew this was here?" he asked.
"Yes," I said.
"That's your Viking friend," he said, pointing at Thorbjorn. "I had forgotten him. How did I forget him?"
"You were supposed to," I said. "But not anymore. Bringing you all here, even though I'm not showing you everything, it changes things."
"What are you talking about?" he asked. But then Tlalli and Jesús were inside the cavern, and Tlalli's eyes were wide and wet with tears. She kept speaking something over and over, not in English but not in Spanish either.
"I see it," Jesús said to her. He started to walk towards the bonfire, but Thoralv stepped in front of him, holding a palm out in a gentle suggestion that he stop.
"Ingrid," Tlalli said, catching hold of my arm and looking imploringly into my eyes. "I have so many questions for you. I had no idea you could do this. But then, I suppose you had no idea about me either."
"No," I said, not entirely sure what she was referring to, but I could make a pretty good guess. She had seen the spells in the meeting hall, and I could see on her face that she knew from the firelight reflecting off the cave walls that the bonfire just out of her line of sight was no ordinary fire. She knew something about magic, some kind of magic, but was it anything like the magic I knew?
"We're going below now," Thorbjorn said, waving us all over to the far side of the cave, closer to the waterfall. Loke brushed past the others to lead the way, and the Runde natives adjusted their sou-westers before one by one following Loke down the path that had to be taken step by step, walking sideways, the waterfall mere inches from our noses.
"If asked, I will have to answer," Thoralv told his brother, mostly ignoring Jesús who was lifting Thoralv's cloak to get a closer look at his weapons.
"I understand," Thorbjorn said. "Nora said she will answer for all, but I would rather for now you put all the responsibility on me."
"And me," I piped in.
"No," Thorbjorn said. "Just me."
"That doesn't make any sense. I brought all these people here," I said.
"She has you there, brother," Thoralv said.
"We'll argue about later," Thorbjorn grumbled, although whether he intended to argue with his brother or with me I wasn't sure. "Time is short, and the storm is worsening."
"I will be here when you return," Thoralv said with a little bow.
Thorbjorn had to catch Jesús by the shoulder and steer him away. Tlalli lingered for a moment as if basking in the reflected light from the fire, but when I brushed my hand against her arm, she moved to follow me on her own.
"It's been so long," she said. "How large of a place have you pocketed off? Of course, I mean that your family pocketed off. Your ancestors. I gather you didn't know this place existed until you moved up here, since you never visited as a child."
"I was here when I was very young," I said. "But I didn't come back even to visit, and I forgot all about it. Wait a minute, just where did you and Jesús used to go when you were kids? He said Mexico City. To visit your mother and your grandmother."
"That is true," Tlalli said. We had to stop talking for a moment as the path reached its narrowest point, just as it bent around an outcropping of rock. But then the path widened once more, diving deep into the hill before curving down to the harbor below, and we were able to walk side by side again.
