Narwhal on a Sunny Night

by Mary Pope Osborne

  “I know,” said Annie. “But when narwhals are captured and put in aquariums, they don’t live long. They need to be free.”

  She and Jack watched the narwhals dive deeper into the water. Their large heart-shaped tails flashed above the surface. Then the creatures disappeared from sight. Jack read more:

  Like most whales, narwhals communicate underwater by using a variety of sounds, such as clicks, whistles, and squeaks.

  “Scientists put recorders in the sea,” said Annie, “and they hear all these weird sounds. But they can’t figure out what narwhals are saying, or how they can hear at such long distances.”

  “Look, they’re back,” said Jack.

  The narwhals had popped to the surface. Several were swimming upside down. Some were pushing each other around. Others waved their tusks and tapped them together.

  “Why are they tapping their tusks?” said Jack.

  “They’re having a chat,” said Annie.

  Jack laughed.

  “Actually, scientists say they might use their tusks to attract mates or gather information,” said Annie.

  As Jack watched the narwhals bob up and down in the water, he tried to count them. “One, two, three, four…”

  In the middle of his count, seabirds began to screech overhead. The narwhals made loud whooshing sounds. They thrashed around in the water.

  “What’s wrong?” said Annie.

  “That!” said Jack.

  A tall fin was gliding across the bay. It looked like a black flag.

  “A shark?” cried Annie.

  “No, that’s way bigger than a shark fin!” said Jack.

  Suddenly a giant whale burst out of the waves. It had a black back and a white belly. It was as big as a school bus! The whale crashed down into the water.

  “An orca—a killer whale!” cried Annie.

  “And there’s more than one!” said Jack.

  At least four other giant black fins appeared in the bay. The killer whales were headed straight for the herd of narwhals.

  “Go, guys, go!” Annie shouted to the narwhals. She raced to the shoreline.

  Jack ran with her. “GO! GO! GO!” he yelled as loudly as he could.

  The narwhals dove under the surface of the water again.

  The orcas took off after them. But one of the huge predators swam toward Jack and Annie.

  “Whoa!” said Jack, pulling Annie back from the edge of the sea.

  Suddenly there was a flurry of splashes and whooshing sounds.

  “What’s happening?” said Jack.

  “That orca’s chasing a narwhal!” cried Annie.

  A small narwhal had separated from his herd. He was swimming toward a row of icebergs about thirty feet offshore.

  “The orca’s still coming!” said Annie.

  The giant orca kept chasing the narwhal.

  “Hurry!” cried Jack.

  The narwhal escaped through a passage in the row of icebergs. He swam into a pool of shallow water.

  The orca was too big to swim through the opening. It crashed against the huge mounds of ice. Some of the ice splintered and broke off in chunks.

  The orca tried to swim under the icebergs. But the water was too shallow. It smashed against the barrier again. But the passage was still too narrow.

  Finally, the killer whale swam away.

  “Yay!” said Annie. Jack sighed with relief.

  The narwhal was alone in the pool of water.

  “They’re gone!” Jack called to him. “You can go now! Go!”

  “Hurry! Before they come back!” yelled Annie.

  “Find your friends!” shouted Jack.

  As they spoke, more ice shifted and fell. A chunk of fallen ice now completely blocked the passage that led back out to deep water.

  The narwhal circled inside the shallow pool. Surrounded by packed ice, he was trapped.

  “Oh, no, he can’t get out!” said Annie.

  “Stand back!” someone shouted behind them. “Move away!”

  Jack and Annie whirled around.

  A boy with shoulder-length red hair stood on some rocks above them. He looked as young as Annie, but he was holding a huge spear.

  “Whoa, hi!” said Jack. “Who are you?”

  The boy scowled. He wore a red tunic with a rope around his waist, leather pants, and boots. His spear was made of wood and had a sharp metal blade.

  Maybe his parents work at a research station, thought Jack. Maybe he likes to dress in costumes and play with ancient weapons.

  “Move away! He is mine!” the boy said.

  “What do you mean, yours?” said Jack.

  “He’s not anybody’s!” said Annie.

  The boy strode down the slope toward the water. He raised his spear, aiming it at the narwhal.

  “No! Stop! What are you doing?” said Jack. He charged at the boy and tried to take his spear away. The boy lost his grip and dropped it.

  Jack grabbed the spear. It was so heavy, he could barely lift it. What kind of kid carries around something like this? he wondered.

  “Give it back!” the boy said. He reached for his spear. But Annie jumped between him and Jack.

  “Stop!” she said. “Why do you want to hurt that narwhal? What’s wrong with you?”

  “His horn is worth a fortune. Everyone knows that,” said the boy.

  “That’s a terrible reason!” said Annie.

  “You can’t kill him for his horn!” said Jack.

  “Why not?” said the boy. He stared at Jack with fierce blue eyes.

  “Because narwhals are special!” said Annie. “They’re mysteries of nature. They know secrets we’ll never know. They hear things in ways we’ll never hear! They talk in a language we’ll never understand! Get it?”

  The boy looked from Jack to Annie. He took a deep breath and stepped to the water’s edge. He stared at the narwhal as if seeing the creature for the first time.

  Then he turned back to Jack and Annie.

  “I will help you free him,” he said.

  “Thank you!” said Annie.

  “Here, you can have this back,” said Jack. He gave the boy his spear.

  “How can we free him?” asked Annie.

  “We will go to him together,” said the boy. “Come with me.”

  Jack and Annie followed the boy up the rocky slope and down the other side.

  There was a wooden rowboat on the shore. It looked like it had been made by hand. Two oars were inside.

  The boy put his spear into the boat, then pushed it halfway into the water. “Sit at this end,” he said.

  “Thanks,” said Annie. She and Jack climbed into the rowboat. They sat together on a wooden seat.

  The boy pushed the boat farther into the water. Then he jumped aboard and sat in the center, facing Jack and Annie.

  He grasped the oars. He looked over his shoulder to see where to go. Then he pulled the oars through the water, and the rowboat began moving away from shore.

  The wind had picked up, and the water was choppy. The rowboat rocked from side to side.

  “Hold on tightly,” the boy said. “If we fall in, we freeze to death.”

  Jack gripped the side of the boat as it bumped through the waves.

  The boy rowed around a bend in the bay. Then he headed toward the ice barrier trapping the narwhal. He rowed close to a wide, flat chunk of ice.

  “Hey, you!” Annie called to the whale. “Don’t be afraid!”

  The narwhal was still swimming in circles. He had a cone-shaped body and short front flippers. His long ivory tusk looked like twisted rope.

  “We’ve come to help you!” said Annie.

  “We need to break up that piece of the ice,” the boy said to Jack. He pointed to the chunk that was blocking the nar
whal’s escape.

  “Right,” said Jack. “How do we do that?”

  “Sit here. Hold the boat steady,” said the boy. He made room for Jack to sit next to him on the center seat. Then he handed Jack the oars.

  Jack grasped the wooden handles and tried to keep the boat from tipping over.

  The boy carefully stood up. He stepped out onto the flat ice surface. The boat rocked, but Jack used the oars to keep it close to the ice.

  The boy started kicking the ice chunks. He kicked and kicked.

  Suddenly he slipped and fell hard onto the icy surface. He clutched his right knee and groaned.

  “Are you okay?” said Annie.

  “Yes,” said the boy. He tried to stand up, but he groaned again and sat back on the ice.

  “Wait! I can help!” said Annie.

  Jack held the boat steady as Annie climbed out. She kicked the fallen ice chunk, but it didn’t move.

  “Use the spear!” said Jack. He let go of the oars long enough to pick up the boy’s spear.

  “Use it how?” said Annie.

  “Just take it.” Jack held the spear out to her. “Careful, it’s super heavy.”

  Annie took the spear with both hands.

  “Slide it between the chunk of ice and the big iceberg,” said Jack.

  Annie wedged the spear between the two solid blocks of ice.

  “Got it?” said Jack. “Now pull back.”

  Annie pulled hard on the spear.

  “I can help,” said the boy. Even though he was injured, he stood up. He gripped the spear with Annie, and they pulled together.

  Bit by bit, the ice began to splinter against the steel blade of the spear.

  Annie and the boy kept pushing and pulling—until the fallen chunk of ice finally popped free, like a cork popping out of a bottle.

  The narwhal kept circling the shallow pool.

  “This way!” Annie called to him. She pointed to the gap in the ice. “Swim through there!”

  The narwhal seemed to understand. He looked at Annie, then turned and shot out through the passage.

  Jack and Annie raised their arms above their heads and shook their fists. “Yay!” they shouted.

  The boy looked at them. Then he raised his arms, too, and shook his fists. “Yay!” he said.

  Jack and Annie laughed, and the boy laughed with them. For the first time, he seemed like a regular kid, Jack thought.

  The three of them watched the narwhal swim away and disappear into deep water.

  The boy smiled at Jack and Annie. “You both are strong and smart,” he said.

  “Thanks,” they said together.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” said Jack.

  “Yes,” said the boy.

  “What’s your name?” said Annie.

  “Erikson,” said the boy. “My father is Erik.”

  “Oh, I get it—your dad is Erik, so you are called Erik-son!” said Annie.

  “Yes,” said Erikson.

  “My name is Jack,” said Jack. “And she’s my sister, Annie.”

  “Where do you live?” asked Erikson.

  “Far away. We’re just visiting Greenland for the day,” said Annie. “Do you live around here?”

  “Yes,” said the boy. “Would you like to meet my family?”

  “Sure!” said Annie.

  “Absolutely,” said Jack.

  Annie climbed back into the rowboat. The boy limped to the edge of the ice.

  “Do you need help rowing?” asked Jack.

  “No, thank you. I can still do it,” the boy said.

  Jack carefully stood up. He gave Erikson his hand and helped him into the boat. Then Jack took his seat next to Annie.

  Erikson picked up the oars. He looked over his shoulder and began rowing through the ice-cold seawater.

  As Erikson rowed across the bay, the waves were rough. But his oar strokes were strong and steady.

  “So where do you live?” Jack asked, rocking from side to side.

  “Erik’s Inlet.” The boy nodded to a place between the steep hills where the sea flowed in.

  “Did people name it for your father?” said Annie.

  “No,” said Erikson. “My father named it for himself.”

  “Does he work at one of the research stations?” Jack asked.

  Erikson looked puzzled.

  “I mean, is he a scientist?” asked Jack.

  The boy shook his head. “He is a sailor,” he said.

  “Oh. Cool,” said Jack.

  “I am a seafarer, too,” said Erikson. “Soon I will sail away on my own.”

  Annie laughed, as if she thought he was kidding.

  Jack didn’t know what to think. He liked Erikson, but he couldn’t figure him out. The boy’s manner, his spear, and his outfit were really odd. And who says seafarer anymore? Jack wondered.

  Erikson rowed through the choppy waters and into Erik’s Inlet. The hills on either side of the narrow water passage sparkled with ice and snow.

  As the boat moved along the inlet, clouds covered the sky. The air grew foggy. Soon it was hard to see where they were. Jack could hear seabirds cawing, but he couldn’t see them. Icebergs drifted close to the rowboat. They looked like ghost ships.

  “Spooky,” said Jack.

  “Yeah,” Annie whispered. “But we’re doing what our rhyme says to do.”

  On a day that seems endless,

  With no dark of night,

  Travel through fog.

  Travel through light.

  “Right, we are,” said Jack. “But I still don’t know what no dark of night means.”

  Before Annie could answer, a bellowing noise came from up ahead.

  “What’s that?” said Jack.

  The rowboat moved past a flat iceberg. Through the fog, a huge animal loomed into view. The creature was as big as a polar bear. It had two long tusks.

  “A walrus!” said Jack.

  The walrus had bushy whiskers, a broad head, and flippers. Its wrinkled skin was the color of cinnamon.

  “Hi, mister!” said Annie with a laugh. “I didn’t know walruses were so big!”

  Erikson rowed on. He steered the boat between sheets of floating ice. Two ringed seals rested on one sheet. Seagulls were perched on another.

  “Look, a reindeer!” said Annie.

  Through the fog, Jack saw a delicate-looking deer on the shore. Its antlers looked like tall tree branches.

  “You’re beautiful!” called Annie.

  The reindeer dipped its head shyly.

  “She said thanks,” said Annie. “Did you know reindeer are also called caribou?”

  “Cool,” said Jack.

  “And their noses warm the cold air before it goes to their lungs,” said Annie.

  “Like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” said Jack with a laugh. “Did you write a report on reindeer, too?”

  “No,” said Annie. “I just really love learning stuff like that.”

  Jack smiled. Annie knew more about animals than anyone. She could talk to them and hear them in special ways.

  As Erikson rowed down the river of seawater, the fog cleared. The clouds drifted off. The cliffs and the waves sparkled with sunlight again.

  Soon they passed low hills and greenish-brown fields. There was less ice and snow. A few trees dotted the land. Sheep were scattered across the hillsides.

  “Oh, this is so beautiful!” Annie said. “Has your family lived in Greenland for a long time?”

  “Eight years,” said Erikson. “We began the voyage from Iceland with twenty-five ships. But eleven ships did not make it.”

  “Are you serious?” said Jack.

  “Yes,” said Erikson.

  “That’s so sad!” said Annie.

/>   Jack was confused. What year was this?

  “Everyone knew the journey would be hard,” said the boy. He looked over his shoulder as he rowed around a curve.

  “This is where we live,” he said as the boat glided into a sheltered cove.

  “Wow,” breathed Annie.

  Anchored along the water’s edge were fourteen ships. They were long, slender sailing ships made of wood. Dragon heads were carved into their prows.

  Jack gasped. He’d seen ships just like these before—they were Viking ships.

  Suddenly Jack understood what had happened. He and Annie had come to Greenland in the time of Vikings—about a thousand years ago!

  Lots of things made sense to Jack now—Erikson’s clothes, his spear, calling himself a seafarer, and his story of eleven ships lost while sailing from Iceland to Greenland.

  Erikson rowed toward a small wooden pier near the Viking ships. When the boat reached the shore, he jumped out.

  “We are here!” he said.

  Jack and Annie climbed carefully out of the boat. As Erikson tied it to the pier, Jack turned to Annie.

  “Those are Viking ships!” he whispered. “We saw ships like that on our mission to Ireland. Remember? Viking raiders were invading the coast!”

  “Yikes!” said Annie, her eyes wide.

  “We should escape now while we can,” said Jack.

  “Wait, wait, let’s look at the rhyme,” said Annie.

  Jack slipped the rhyme out of his bag.

  Annie pointed to the last verse. They read silently:

  Explore different worlds.

  Show friends where to go.

  Unite all these worlds

  With a word that will glow.

  “I think we’re doing what Morgan wants,” Annie said. “We explored the world of seals and orcas and narwhals…and now this world, the Viking world.”

  “But what about—” Jack started.

  “Shh!” said Annie.

  Erikson had finished tying up the boat. Jack put the rhyme back into his bag.