Leif, Hilda, and the cousins left the longhouse. So did a few of the men and women. As the Norse Christians walked toward their homes, they bid Leif and Hilda good night.
Beth breathed in the fresh air of the village courtyard. She looked up at the sky.
Wispy green lights danced like smoke in the wind.
“What is that?” Patrick asked.
“I’ve seen it on TV. It’s called the Northern Lights,” Beth whispered to Patrick. It was the fourth amazing thing she had seen in Greenland.
The moon was full. It cast a white glow over the village.
The moon reminded her of the note from inside the Imagination Station.
I need a Viking Sunstone before the new moon.
Beth pulled on Leif’s sleeve.
“When is the new moon?” she asked.
Leif stroked his blond beard. “What manner of girl are you?” he said. “You know chess. But you don’t know the new moon is in fourteen days. Come. I will show you the Sunstone. It will teach you about the sky.”
Patrick and Beth both gasped.
Patrick put a hand on the hilt of the sword. “Isn’t this yellow jewel the Sunstone?”
Leif laughed.
“No,” he said. “What made you think it was?”
“Just a guess,” Patrick said sadly. “So, where is the real Sunstone?”
Leif led them to a huge rock in the center of the village. The Sunstone was taller than Beth. It had symbols, holes, and lines carved all over it.
“We use the Sunstone to mark the seasons,” Leif said. “It also points us southward.”
Leif knelt down by the rock. He took Patrick’s hand and placed it on the Sunstone.
“Feel that arrow mark?” Leif asked.
Patrick nodded.
“At noon the sun passes over at that mark,” Leif said. “Then the Sunstone casts a shadow. We mark where the shadow falls here.”
Leif dragged his finger across the ground.
Beth and Patrick followed his motion.
Several flat rocks surrounded the Sunstone. Symbols and holes were carved into the rocks as well.
“When the noon sun reaches these slash marks,” Leif said, “we know it is spring. We can sail.”
“Can the Sunstone be moved away from Greenland?” Beth asked.
Leif looked at Beth.
“Of course not,” he said. “This stone will only work in this place. My people rely on it.”
Beth turned to Patrick. She whispered, “Now what are we supposed to do?”