“I’m sure you can hear me now,” she said, tossing it a plastic tiara. “So…how about that pearl?”
Currents from the Qanikkaaq were swirling around her now, tossing her hair, plucking at her clothing.
“I would oblige you, mermaid, but your request comes too late.”
No! Astrid thought, her hopes crushed. Were Vallerio and Portia right? Did the mysterious he really have the black pearl?
“What do you mean, Qanikkaaq?” she asked, leaning in closer.
“I had such a pearl once. A mermaid threw it to me.”
Merrow, Astrid thought.
“But I swallowed a large school of tuna later,” the maelstrom continued, “and one of the fish survived inside me. It ate the pearl. Then this tuna, a clever fish, found a way to escape. It swam up my gullet and bit the inside of my mouth. I yelled, of course—tuna have sharp teeth—and stopped swirling, and as I did, the tuna jumped out and swam away. However, that fish wasn’t quite as clever as it thought it was. A nearby fisherman caught it in his net. And when he cut the tuna open to clean it, he found the pearl.”
Astrid, riveted by the Qanikkaaq’s story, moved closer. She wanted to find out every detail about the pearl, so she could tell Sera and the others. Des called out another warning, but she barely heard him.
“What happened next?” she asked.
“From what I’ve been told, a young Viking warrior who had heard of the pearl’s beauty bought it from the fisherman.”
Astrid’s fins began to prickle.
“The pearl must have been magical,” the Qanikkaaq said. “From the day the young warrior acquired it, his power grew. He became a ruthless chieftain, feared by all. He conquered Greenland, Iceland, and Scandinavia—plundering those lands, and their waters, for treasure. His changed his name to Feimor Fa Eaemor—Feimor, son of Chaos.”
“What did he look like?” Astrid asked, dreading the answer.
“Like many of the Norsemen. Blond. Bronzed by the sun, weathered by the sea.”
A chill ran through Astrid. Like the man in the mirror, she thought—the one who she was still trying to convince herself was only a dream.
“They say that his eyes held evil in them and none dared to look into them,” the Qanikkaaq said.
Astrid remembered that the man in the mirror wore dark sunglasses—even though it wasn’t sunny in Vadus. And he had a black pearl strung on his neck.
Could they be one and the same person? she wondered. Could his pearl be the one I’m trying to find? How, though? It’s impossible. Feimor has been dead for probably eight hundred years. And his pearl would have been buried with him.
The Vikings had been a seafaring people, and they and the mer had been friends. Ondalinians were familiar with the Viking sagas and Astrid knew that chieftains were buried with their valuables.
Distracted by her thoughts, she didn’t realize that the Qanikkaaq’s currents had pulled her a good deal closer. Nor did Desiderio, who’d turned his attention to an agitated Elskan.
The Qanikkaaq realized, though. It smacked its lips and then it struck, surging toward Astrid with its hungry maw wide open.
Astrid screamed and tried to swim away, but the maelstrom pulled her closer.
Desiderio turned around and saw what was happening. “Grab the rope, Astrid!” he shouted.
Astrid did so and Des slapped Elskan’s flank. The orca shot off, and the rope tightened with a twang. It jerked Astrid forward with a wrenching force. And yet, as strong as Elskan’s pull was, it wasn’t powerful enough to break Astrid free of the maelstrom.
She could feel herself being sucked backward, and she could see the fear on Desiderio’s face. She knew it mirrored her own.
“Cast a songspell, Astrid!” he shouted. “Try a commoveo! A stilo!”
“I can’t sing, Des!” Astrid yelled back.
Des swore. He slapped Elskan’s flank again. “Get up, Elskan!” he ordered. “Get up, girl!”
The orca pulled with all her might, but still she couldn’t yank Astrid free. Astrid, terrified, felt her tail fins disappearing into the Qanikkaaq’s mouth. It would take her. And Elskan, too. It would whirl them around inside itself and break them into bits.
Desiderio left the orca and sped to Astrid. He grabbed her hands and heaved, but it was no use. She was slipping further into the maelstrom.
“Cut the line, Des!” she yelled. “Cut me loose before it takes you and Elskan!”
Desiderio shook his head. Still gripping her hands, he cast a commoveo songspell and used it to push against the maelstrom. To no avail. Half of Astrid’s tail was now inside it.
He cast again, this time using a stilo to call up spiked balls of water. He launched one after the other, hitting the maelstrom in its face.
And then he launched one straight into its mouth.
The Qanikkaaq gagged. It stopped spinning and started coughing.