by Alane Adams
“Lost my head but not my brains,” Mimir giggled, then raised his skinny arms, grabbed his ears, and tugged upward. A wet, popping sound rang out, and then he was holding his own head.
Keely’s stomach rolled at the grotesque image. Howie made retching noises. Even Leo coughed to cover his discomfort.
The eyebrows on the decapitated head waggled as Mimir kept talking. “The Vanir did not like my advice. But then listening and hearing are two different skills. The Vanir listened, but they did not heed my words.” With a forceful grunt, Mimir pulled his head back on his neck.
Keely trailed a hand along the stone wall. “If you’re really Mimir, this must be your Well of Wisdom,” she said, peering over the ledge. The inside walls were bearded with dappled moss. Two stories below, the water glimmered faintly. And then she saw something mysterious; a swirl of light on the surface that beckoned her closer.
Howie elbowed in next to her. “What is that?” The odd glow reflected on Howie’s glasses.
“Magic,” Leo answered, sounding awestruck.
A sharp clapping made them turn around. “Sit, children.” Mimir waved them down as he sat himself on a rock. “Join an old man.”
They left the well and sat in a half-circle before him.
“His head’s on crooked,” Howie whispered in Keely’s ear. “Should we say something?”
Keely elbowed him to be quiet. “So are you the one that sent for us?”
Mimir puffed his cheeks out. “Maybe yes, maybe just a guess.”
Keely gritted her teeth over his evasive answer. “We’re looking for a friend, Sam Baron. Do you know where he is?”
Up on the well, the crow cawed harshly as if it understood the name. “You mean the worthless rat who stole this?” Mimir drew a battered horn from the folds of his tunic and waved it at her.
The Horn of Gjall. Keely recognized the runic symbols carved on it. Sam had stolen it from Odin to try to barter for Howie’s life, but in the end he had chosen to return it rather than betray the god.
“I thought the horn belonged to Odin,” she challenged, folding her arms. “You know it can summon an army of the dead.”
“Ooh, are you planning on calling up some skeletons?” Howie asked, clapping his hands excitedly. “I’d like to see that.”
Mimir poked Howie in the chest with one gnarled finger. “Careful what you wish for, boy, or you’ll see firsthand what an army of the dead can do. This horn has many powerful purposes. Odin lets me borrow it to conjure the wisdom he seeks. Your Sam almost handed it over to the witches.”
“Sam helped save this realm,” Leo reminded him.
Mimir snorted. “The witch-boy is reckless.”
Leo’s eyes flashed in defense. “He is a Son of Odin and—”
“—And because his father’s father’s father descended from Odin you think he deserves my respect?” Mimir was so upset, spittle flew from his lips. His face reddened as he ranted on. “He is also a Son of Rubicus, the evilest he-witch to ever walk the land. The boy’s future is clouded. Every day I drink from the well, but I cannot see which path he will choose.”
Keely leaned forward eagerly. “Then let us try. We can help.”
Mimir folded his arms. “There is a price to pay to drink from my well. Odin sacrificed his eye.” He shoved his face an inch from hers. “You have beautiful eyes.”
She reared back. “I’m not letting you take one of my eyes. There has to be something else we can offer.”
“It is not the price, but the sacrifice you make,” he said craftily. “What do you value more than anything?”
“Besides my father, my friends,” she said simply. Howie and Leo nodded. “But we’re not sacrificing one of us,” she added hastily.
“Then we have nothing to discuss.” Mimir levered himself to his feet with his crooked stick. He packed his bowl and shoved the horn into a worn satchel he slung over his shoulder. “I told Odin it was a waste of time bringing you here, that you were nothing but earth children.” He made the last part sound like the worst sort of insult. “And as usual, I was right.” He spun on one knobby knee and began to trundle into the woods. The crow hopped down from the well, flying over to his shoulder, shaking its head at them accusingly, as if even it were disgusted with them.
“We don’t need him,” Leo said. “We’ll figure it out on our own.”
But Keely needed answers. “Wait!”
Mimir paused, cocking his head to the side.
“There has to be something we can give that doesn’t include an eye or one of us,” Keely pleaded.
Mimir slowly turned, folding his scrawny arms across his chest. “I’m listening.”
She nervously twisted her hair around her fingers. It was long and thick and blonde. Her mother used to braid it every night before bed. Keeping it long made Keely feel close to her. “My hair. I’ll cut off my hair. I haven’t cut it since my mom died. It’s the best I can do.”
Mimir hesitated, scratching one hand over his chin as he thought it over.
“It’s not much of a sacrifice,” he finally wheezed, “but I can see that it pains you to lose it. It will do.” He turned back to the clearing and dumped the contents of his satchel on the ground.
“What about us?” Leo asked, but Mimir waved him away.
“One is enough.” The old sage fished inside his tunic and pulled out a knife. The handle was made of polished bone. The blade looked sharp, curved with a wicked point. He set the knife before Keely.
“What do I do?” Keely asked.
“You must make the sacrifice, and then you may drink from my well,” he answered.
Keely’s fingers trembled slightly. What if it didn’t work? Or if Mimir was lying? She lifted a swath of her hair, hesitating.
Was she crazy for trying this?
No, she told herself, Sam faced sneevils and biters and a pack of witches to rescue me. She closed her eyes and began to saw back and forth.
Swack. A thick lock of hair dropped to the grass. She stared at it in shock, hardly believing she had just done this to herself.
“It’s okay, Keely,” Leo said, his hand warm on her arm.
“Yeah,” Howie added. “We’re right here.”
Grimly, she lifted another hunk, gripping it tightly, and cut it off. She cut again and again, letting the clumps of hair fall in a heap around her.
When she was done, she ran her fingers through her shorn hair, torn by regret. It felt like she had lost a piece of her mother. She silently passed the knife back to Mimir.
The sage appeared satisfied. He tipped some water from the bucket into the bowl, then threw a handful of tresses in. The blonde wisps sizzled and turned into smoke as they hit the surface. He stirred the water with one dirty finger, then took the horn and scooped up some of the liquid. He held it out to Keely.
“Drink.”
Keely took the ancient object. She looked down at the filmy surface and saw a reflection of her eye. Then something else, a spark of light that grew. Her reflection disappeared and the water glistened with promise.
Before she could change her mind, she lifted the horn to her lips. The water was cool and tasted sweet. She tilted it back, drinking deeply, and then closed her eyes, focusing on the answers she sought.
How do I help Sam?
But before the thought was fully formed, a vision slammed into her head.
Chapter Six
Keely was jolted by an image of ice and blizzarding snow. It was like she was there in the freezing hail. North. Sam’s salvation lay in the northern part of Orkney. She saw a shield bearing a symbol with two bears. One bit the end of the other so they formed a circle.
Her body shuddered as images hit her in waves. There was a cave guarded by a strange eight-legged creature. The cave was filled with blue light from a full moon. It shone down on a shimmering pool in the center. In the bottom of the pool, a small white object glimmered like a fat pearl.
She needed to go to this place. The feeling was an overwh
elming urge. Another, more violent shudder gripped her.
You are Chosen. The words echoed in her head, and she saw the journey she was to take. The Seeker. She was alone. Howie and Leo were not going with her. Fear turned her arms to rubber, and the horn slipped from her hands.
I’m not going without Leo and Howie. No way.
But the visions kept coming, one after another, flooding her brain like a movie stuck on fast-forward. Howie dressed in a soldier’s uniform. Orkney’s Protector. And Leo. The Sacrifice. She saw a golden cuff on the leg of a monster. It had the head of a giant lizard and the body of an armadillo. Darkness swirled around Leo, and in the darkness, she sensed a malignant evil like nothing she had ever felt before. A man’s eyes glittered with mirth.
Arrows of pain pierced her heart as she saw Sam, writhing in agony in a dark cell, his only company a swarm of scorpions the size of lobsters. Then she glimpsed Mavery, her favorite little witch, with her head on a chopping block. A giant man stood over her cloaked in a black hood as he hefted an axe high over his head.
Keely saw armies advancing across snowy fields, giant men battling against Eifalian archers, bodies falling everywhere. And then a phalanx of witches arriving to wipe out the survivors. Tears ran down her cheeks as she saw army after army fall to the unstoppable forces of the witches, and at the front of them, standing by Catriona’s side, was a dark-haired he-witch with a burning yellow gaze.
Sam.
It was like watching a horror movie, only she couldn’t close her eyes and escape the bloodshed. Then something even more frightening made her gasp. Catriona and Sam thrust their hands in the sky. There was an explosion of bright light, blinding, like an atomic bomb had gone off. A jagged tear zigzagged across the sky, like the universe itself was splitting in half. As the light reached the ground at their feet, Catriona stepped through it, followed by Sam and her army of witches. Keely choked at the sight waiting on the other side.
Pilot Rock Junior High. Catriona stood outside the cafeteria, whirling in delight.
With a gasp, Keely opened her eyes. Mimir stared at her intently, his bony arms wrapped around his knees.
“Tell me what you saw. Tell me all.”
Keely’s throat clogged with emotion. “Sam’s in trouble. The witches . . . they’re tormenting him.” She wiped the tears from her eyes as she relived the images of the scorpions swarming over him.
“Can he be brought back to the light?” Mimir asked, pinching her arm in a tight grasp. “Or is he is already lost to the witches?”
“Back off, old man,” Leo warned.
Keely bit her tongue. No way she was going to tell Mimir she saw Sam tearing Orkney to pieces alongside Catriona. Because it wasn’t going to happen, not if she and Leo and Howie did their part. She glared at the wise man. “Sam will never be one of them. My friends and I are Chosen Ones. I am the Seeker. I have to go north and find a pearl that can help Sam. Howie is Orkney’s Protector. He has to guard Skara Brae until I return. And Leo . . .” Her voice dropped. “Leo is the Sacrifice.”
She tried to stand, but Mimir’s grip tightened, and his lips curved into an odd smile.
“Chosen, you say? Then our deal is not done . . .” He released her arm and plucked a feather from the raven, eliciting a sharp squawk from it. He moistened the tip with his tongue. Then he grabbed her hand, turning it over in his own. With the sharp tip of the feather’s shaft, he poked her palm once, making it sting. She snatched her hand back as a drop of blood welled up. The crazy coot just laughed and handed Howie the Horn of Gjall.
“Here, boy. You said you wanted to see an army of the dead. As Orkney’s Protector, you might need to before this is over.”
“Suhweet!” Howie’s eyes were wide with excitement.
“What about me?” Leo asked.
Mimir spat on the blade Keely had used to cut her hair, wiping it clean on his tunic before passing it to Leo. “Doubt you’ll survive the beast that guards that cuff, but a blade comes in handy.” He sniffed the air, looking suddenly wary. “Be gone now. These woods are full of dangers.”
Leo tucked the blade in his belt and tugged Keely to her feet. “Come on. Let’s go.”
They headed back into the woods. Howie played with the horn, bringing it to his lips like he wanted to blow on it, but Keely slapped his hand. “Don’t you dare. Put it away.”
He tucked it in his waistband under his shirt, muttering that she was no fun.
“You said we were chosen,” Leo asked. “That I’m the Sacrifice. What does that mean?”
Keely filled him in as best she could. “I saw a golden cuff on the leg of a monster. It had the head of a giant lizard and the body of an armadillo.”
“Oooh, an iguanadillo,” Howie supplied from her other side.
Keely elbowed him. “No jokes, Howie, this is serious. Leo has to defeat that . . . iguanadillo to claim the cuff, and if he survives . . . then the cuff will take him someplace dark, that’s all I saw.”
There was silence. The wind rustled the leaves in the trees.
Leo’s eyes were wide, but he nodded, as if he were trying to reassure himself it was going to be okay.
“What about me?” Howie asked nonchalantly. “You said something about Orkney’s Protector? That was a joke, right?”
But Keely wasn’t listening. “Why’s it so cold?” she asked, teeth chattering.
While they had been walking, a bank of fog had rolled in, spreading through the forest, casting a chill to the air and blocking the sun’s warmth. A rustling of leaves made Keely’s hair stand up. Then something cold and icy passed over her face.
“Wraiths!” Leo shouted.
His warning sent a chill through Keely. She had pages of notes on wraiths in her Orkney notebook after grilling Sam’s mom about them. Undead beauties cursed to walk the land in eternity by the goddess Freya as punishment for their vanity. If you looked directly at them, they would pierce you with icy bolts shot from their eye sockets that sapped your life force. Sam bore a ragged scar on his shoulder from one he had encountered in the woods with Mavery.
“Don’t look at them!” Keely called out. “They can’t hurt you if you don’t answer their call.” They sat down in a circle, their backs pressed against each other. She pressed her fists into her eyes as Howie and Leo did the same.
The air grew thick and cold, sapping her of warmth. The whispering sounds of ghostly creatures flying through the mist made her suddenly wish she was back home in Pilot Rock safe in bed. Only Leo’s presence next to her, and Howie’s chattering teeth on the other side, kept her from running screaming into the woods.
Then it got worse; she began to hear them, murmuring to her, talking in her ear, telling her to lower her hands and open her eyes.
An irresistible craving came over her. A curiosity so deep, so intense, she had no will power to fight it. She wanted to look at them. The urge was overwhelming, a siren song playing in her head.
“See the wonders of the night. See the dead come back to life.”
The dead come back to life? Keely had a sudden longing to see her mother. Cutting her hair off had brought her grief right to the top. Abigail’s dire warnings not to look flew out of her head, replaced with a sudden need. What harm could it do to take a quick peek? What if she saw her mom? Just a glimpse would be amazing. Slowly, Keely lowered her hands. Her right eye fluttered open, and then her left.
Ghostlike creatures trailed around their group, wrapping themselves like gauze over each of them. They looked female, long wispy tresses curling behind them. Their faces were surprisingly beautiful, an ethereal image of what was once alive. She searched eagerly, seeking the familiar face, and then one of the wraiths locked in on her open gaze.
An arrow of awareness shot through Keely as if she and the creature were mentally joined. In that moment, Keely saw through its ghostly exterior into the heart of the creature, sensing a tiny spark that contained the wraith’s humanity and compassion. And then the spark was crushed out. Keely gasped, re
alizing the danger too late as the wraith made straight for her. As it drew near, its face hollowed out, revealing a ghastly vision. Bony cheekbones and skeletal lips pulled back into a snarl. Keely threw her arm over her face, but the wraith shot a bolt of ice from its glittering eye sockets.
Keely shrank back, expecting to be impaled, but a blur of movement knocked her over. Leo jumped in front of her, taking the blow to his side. The wraiths circled over them, furiously thrashing and screeching as they prepared to unleash more of their deadly ice bolts. Desperate to save Leo, Keely flung her body over his.
“Stop it!” she cried. “He is a Chosen One.” Her words echoed in the chill air.
Unexpectedly, the wraiths drew back and became still, floating in place as if her words held some kind of magical power. Then they screeched in unison, a piercing sound so loud it made Keely’s ears hurt. They whirled furiously, lashing the kids with a chill wind, before joining into a single chain and disappearing into the murky fog.
Guilty horror filled Keely as a crimson stain spread across Leo’s shirt. “This is all my fault.” Her teeth chattered with shock. She wished she could go back in time and make everything better.
“It’s okay, Keely.” Leo’s face was gray. “I’ll be fine.”
“No, it’s not.” Keely scanned her memory for every detail Abigail had told her about the undead maidens. “I need to pull it out. Their ice is filled with poison.” She grasped the icy bolt and slid it free. It turned into vapor in her hands. Howie gathered some moist leaves and packed them in around Leo’s waist.
“Hey, my wolf-brother, don’t die on me,” Howie joked, but he looked worried, his eyes big behind his glasses.
Keely pressed her hand on Leo’s arm. “We’re not going to let anything happen to you, are we, Howie?” She looked at Howie, needing reassurance.
Howie scoffed. “No way my wolf-brother is going down. Not without a gnarly fight. Soooo . . . about my path?” Howie asked nervously. “You didn’t mean that part about being Protector and all, right? I mean, Odin probably picked me as Chief Nerd.”
