Keely hit the loch’s surface with a splash. She swallowed a mouthful of water before she caught her breath. As the coldness engulfed her, she was swept into the vortex and sent spinning around the rim.
“Loki!” Keely pleaded, swimming hard to escape the current and reach the receding boat. “Help me!”
But the two-headed twins worked in furious tandem, spurred on by Loki barking in their ear, and the boat quickly reached calm water.
Loki had planned this, planned for her to go overboard, but why bring her all this way just to drown her in the loch?
She desperately paddled for shore. She was a strong swimmer. The water was cold, but if she put everything she had into it, she might—Her pep talk was interrupted when something grabbed her ankle and yanked her under. She kicked hard, but the iron grip of her captor was relentless, dragging her deep underwater before releasing her.
Keely opened her eyes. In place of the green scaly sea monster, a beautiful girl with long white hair floated before her, staring back at her with wide-eyed curiosity.
Her pale blue eyes sparkled in the blackness. She wore a dress made of green algae intricately woven together. Small shells decorated the neckline. Delicate green fins ran across the tops of her arms and the backs of her legs. Along the side of her neck, four pairs of leech-like creatures pulsed, releasing little bubbles of air. Their bodies were yellow, but the tiny tendrils that covered them were tipped in red. Around her neck a pendant hung on a thick silver chain crusted with algae. The stone was blackened with age and tarnish. Something in the pendant called to Keely. An ancient power thrummed in Keely’s veins, warming her.
The girl waved her hand, smiling shyly, and beckoned Keely to follow her. Then she swam away, going deeper into the watery darkness.
Could this really be Nehalannia? The Eifalian princess from Loki’s story?
Keely didn’t know what to think, but something made her want to follow. Ignoring the danger, Keely swam after her. The pressure built up in her ears as she went deeper. She cleared her nose, expelling precious breath. The cold was making her numb. Black spots appeared behind her eyes as she grew lightheaded.
This was a mistake, she realized.
Suddenly desperate, she swam hard and grabbed Nehalannia by the hand, pulling the girl around to face her.
“I can’t breathe,” Keely mouthed.
The girl giggled like she found it funny. “I’m sorry. Here . . .”
Nehalannia peeled off two of the leeches from the side of her neck and placed them on Keely’s neck. There was a slight sting, and then bubbles rose up next to her and oxygen flooded Keely’s lungs.
“Better?” the girl asked.
Keely nodded. She reached up to touch the two yellow creatures. They tickled her throat. But she didn’t feel light-headed anymore. She tried her voice. “What are they?”
“They’re gillybugs,” Nehalannia explained. “They’ll help you breathe.” Then she swam away, the long tendrils of algae from her dress tailing behind. She turned with a smile, beckoning to Keely. “Come, Jeric is just over here, you must meet him.”
Surprised, Keely swam as fast as she could, gliding behind the girl.
This was an adventure!
The war between Surt and his terrible red army and Orkney was forgotten as she swam through the silvery blue water. She forgot about the cold as she took in the wonders of this watery underworld.
In the faint light, she made out long-nosed fish and splashes of color when a school of tiny green-and-blue-striped fish swam by. A forest of algae wafted up from the bottom, wrapping slimy tendrils around her legs.
“Wait up,” Keely called, stopping to untangle herself.
“Hurry,” Nehalannia said, “Jeric’s right over here.”
Keely swam and swam. Fish and seaweed were all she could see. She tired. Her brain needed more oxygen than the gillybugs were giving her. She remembered Loki’s story, how Nehalannia was forever searching for her lost love.
They were going nowhere.
“Stop, Nehalannia. Jeric’s not here,” Keely called.
That brought the girl to a sudden halt. She whirled on Keely and grabbed Keely’s shirt. Her face looked frightening, twisted into an angry mask.
“Don’t ever say that.” Her necklace glowed with a strange blue light.
But Keely had had enough of this underwater adventure. The cold was starting to seep into her bones. If she stayed much longer, she was worried she might never get out of this place.
“Jeric’s gone,” Keely stated firmly. “You’ve been looking for him for hundreds of years. He’s not here anymore, and I have to go.” She kicked her way up to the surface, determined to leave.
But Nehalannia had other ideas. “That’s a lie!” Bubbles sprayed from her mouth as she screamed the words at Keely.
Then the loch princess began to change.
Her algae dress spread across her skin, turning it into green shimmering scales. Her arms flattened as the delicate fins sprouted, growing in size as her entire body thickened and lengthened until she was the size of a small bus. Sharp teeth protruded from each corner of her mouth. A jagged fin ran along her back and ended in a tail.
She was once again the sea monster that had nearly cap-sized them.
“Jeric is here,” she roared at Keely, flicking her tail and swimming forward to butt Keely with her head. Keely cascaded through the water, tumbling head over heels.
She regained her balance, moving her arms back and forth to hold herself steady. “I’m not afraid of you,” Keely said, kicking her feet to swim back toward the creature. “You’re just angry because you miss him.”
“I must find Jeric,” the monster growled, snapping at Keely. Her teeth came dangerously close to biting off Keely’s hand. If it wanted to, it could swallow her whole.
“He’s not here. I miss somebody, too,” Keely said, swimming in place in front of the creature. “My friend Leo. It hurts. I hate it, but I have to accept that he’s gone to a better place.”
At her words, the loch monster stopped. Nehalannia began to shrink back to her normal size. Fangs still protruded, but they slowly receded.
“Where is this better place?” she asked. “I have to go there and tell him I’m sorry. You see, it was all my fault.”
“What do you mean?”
“Everyone thinks my father was to blame, but it’s not true. I lied to my father about what happened. I told him Jeric attacked me because he was so mad.” Her face twisted in pain. “I couldn’t bear to see him so angry. But then he wouldn’t listen when I tried to stop him.” She gripped Keely. “Don’t you see? I have to find Jeric so I can apologize. Do you think he’ll forgive me?”
“I think if he really loved you, he would forgive anything,” Keely said.
At her words, a channel of blinding light cut through the water. Keely squinted her eyes. Nehalannia’s face took on a mask of wonder as a ghostly image appeared next to her in the water.
Jeric.
He was handsome, with a square chin, thick brown hair, and golden eyes. His image wavered in the current as he held out his hand. “Nehalannia. I’ve been waiting forever. Come, it’s time to go.”
“Jeric. Is it really you?” She held a hand up to his face.
He smiled. “You found me after all this time.”
Nehalannia turned to Keely and threw cold arms around her, squeezing her tight. “Thank you,” she whispered. “You have been a good friend. Please, let me give you a gift. Where I am going, I will not need this.”
She lifted the pendant from around her neck and put it over Keely’s head.
“This is the Pendant of Helina. It was gifted to me by my mother. It holds an ancient magic. In your time of greatest need, call on it, and you will find the strength to do what must be done.”
Then Nehalannia took Jeric’s hand. She flickered and shimmered as her earthly flesh disappeared and she became transparent as he. She smiled at Keely one more time, waving goodbye over her shoulder, and then the light winked out.
Keely floated helplessly in the cold darkness. She had no idea which way was up or down. She wrapped her fingers around the pendant, wishing, hoping with all her might that something might guide her. Energy vibrated under her palm. She could see a light glow from the stone under the algae and age.
And then a hard snout butted into her, pushing her upward. A sleek gray body appeared next to her, its long bottlenose shoving her. It nudged her, giving a playful push. A giant wave swelled, pulling her along with it, sending her rushing through the water.
A pair of hands grabbed her and roughly hauled her onto shore. Keely lay on her back not breathing, just staring at the sun through a haze of clouds. She was alive. Her fingers were still wrapped around the pendant, but it had stopped vibrating.
A two-headed apparition came into view. Something pressed on her chest. Water was forced out of her. She vomited onto the ground. A great tearing breath drew into her lungs.
Keely looked around. They were on the far shore.
“What happened?” she asked, coughing up the rest of the water.
The redhead, Snorri, answered gently, “We thought you were a goner. We saw the giant fins of that monster when she broke the surface.”
“I don’t think Nehalannia will bother you anymore,” Keely said between chattering teeth. “She’s gone.”
“Gone?”
The pair of dwarf heads looked at each other in horror. “What do you mean, gone?” they said in unison.
“Gone. She’s moved on. She found what she was looking for.”
Norri groaned. “Ach, that’s terrible.”
“A fine mess you got us into,” Snorri added, as if Keely had just ruined their day.
“What? I thought you’d be happy,” she said, cradling the cup of tea they poured her. It kept spilling. Her hands shook like a washing machine on spin cycle.
“That lovely monster was the key to our business,” Norri said. “You’ve put us out of a job.”
“We should kill her. Before she tells anyone that Nehalannia’s gone,” Snorri said.
“That’s horrible,” Norri answered, slapping his twin in the face. “She’s just a girl.”
“Fine, we won’t kill her. We’ll just cut out her tongue.”
“I’ll cut your tongue out,” Norri said, grabbing a knife and reaching for his twin’s head. They wrestled each other to the ground.
Keely didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She had just faced an underwater sea monster and met a ghost, and now this two-headed dwarf was talking about cutting her tongue out of her head. It was all so absurd.
“Where’s Loki?” she asked once she had stopped laughing. She had a few choice words for him.
“Right here, deary.”
Keely looked up. Loki sat over her head in the low branches of a tree.
“You threw me overboard,” she accused him.
“And you survived.” He leapt down lithely and knelt next to her, studying the piece around her neck. “Looks a bit tarnished, but it will have to do.”
Keely wrapped a hand around the ancient piece. Every bone in her body warned her not to give it to him. “You can’t have it. Nehalannia gave it to me.”
He gave a shrug. “Go ahead and wear it if it makes you happy. I’ll take it when I’m good and ready. Now up you go; we need to be moving.”
“I’m t-t-too cold,” she stuttered. “And I have no desire to help you find your wife.”
“Too bad. I thought you might want to see your friend again.” He glanced down at his nails like they were suddenly interesting.
Keely frowned. “My friend?”
“You know, the dark-haired one that fancies you.”
“Leo?” Just saying his name hurt. “But he’s dead. You said—”
Loki waved a hand. “I might have exaggerated.”
Shock made Keely breathless. “Leo’s alive?”
Loki shrugged. “I’m counting on it. I left a very important piece of my knife in his back as a calling card for my beloved wife. With it, she will find him, and everyone will get what they want.”
Keely punched him on the arm. “You let me believe he was dead!” she shouted. “That is the most horrible, cruel thing you could do.”
He didn’t look the slightest bit chagrined. He pointed a finger at her. “And dead he will be if we aren’t there in time.” Loki turned and began striding off through the trees, whistling that aimless tune.
Joy made Keely want to dance in the air. She closed her eyes in relief as tears pressed against them. Leo was alive. Loki might be lying again, but she had no choice but to follow and find out.