After my shower I read the city guidebook and stare out the windows at the ridiculously early setting sun and the beautiful white buildings that house the theater and the cultural center. My hands press against the glass, making marks. The glass chills against my skin, unlike the wood beneath my feet. I should make Betty install heated floors-it makes the cold much more bearable. Just the thought of Betty makes me feel more lonely. I close my eyes, wonder what she and Issie and Devyn are doing; Cassidy too. I wish I could call my mom and check up on her. It really wasn’t easy leaving Bedford. I made Astley dispatch extra pixies to watch over everyone because I was so nervous about it.
A knock comes from the door to Astley’s suite. I shuffle over and open it. He stares down at me, eyes focused and concerned.
“Are you sad?” he asks. “More than you usually are?”
I nod but say, “I’m okay.”
His hand reaches out like he is going to touch my face, but he pulls his arm back to his side again. “Get some sleep, Zara. You must be exhausted.”
Pulling my lips in toward my mouth, I swallow hard. He notices; I can tell. This time his hand lifts up and his fingers push some hair behind my ear.
“We shall find him very soon,” he whispers. “I promise you.”
Then his hand falls and he closes the door.
A frantic knocking wakes me up. I fall out of the bed, bump my shin on the end table, and stagger toward the door between our two suites.
Flinging open the door, I start to say, “What?”
But Astley motions for me to be silent, pointing at his phone, which is on speaker. An accented male voice echoes into our wide-open rooms, loud and easy to understand, though I can’t place the accent at all.
“It is me, your highness. Please meet me at the Blue Lagoon. Be there in one hour. In the pools.”
“Where?” Astley asks as my fingers clutch his naked forearm. “Where in the pools?”
“I shall find you near the entrance. Do not worry.”
“Fine,” Astley says as the line goes dead.
Astley clicks off the phone. We’re staring into each other’s eyes for a full second before I realize what’s happened. When I do, I end up shrieking and leaping into his arms, screaming about how awesome he is and how grateful I am, basically making all these noises that make no sense at all. He swings me around, and for a second everything is beautiful and hopeful even though the sun has already set outside and darkness covers the world.
The Blue Lagoon pools spread out before us, almost an acre of extraordinarily warm spa water. The lagoon is a gorgeous deep blue lit up by overhead lamps. Steam rises from it as it meets the cold air. People swim around, tiny dark silhouettes in all the steam and blue. We’ve both changed into swimsuits in the locker rooms and now we’re standing in the outside air, looking around like we’ll magically sense where to go and what to do.
Astley’s arm goes around my shoulders. “Your teeth are chattering, Zara. You need to get in the water.”
I don’t argue. Iceland air is colder than Maine air and I’m in a bathing suit. A bathing suit! That I had to rent . Just the fact of that alone kills me, it’s so skeevy.
We hurry down the steps. Warm, cozy water hits my body. It’s better than a bathtub. The water feels thicker. It’s easy to float. On the way over Astley told me that the lagoon was made from a natural geothermal spring, that two continents are pushing away from each other and right here is the crack. Old lava covered with delicate moss frames the pools, which seem to go on forever.
Astley sighs contentedly as he dips into water up to his neck. I bob around next to him. The bottom of the pool is all knobby, not smooth at all, but the water is amazing, like having a heated bathrobe wrapped around you.
“It is beautiful,” he says, looking at everything longingly.
“It is,” I agree, but I’m looking around like a crazy woman. “But where is this Vander person? Is this how we get to Valhalla? I mean, it almost makes sense if there’s this crack growing here.”
“That is not exactly how it works.” He floats on his back.
“Whatever.” I don’t care how it works. I just care about finding Nick. Still, I can’t resist floating on my back next to Astley, closing my eyes for a second and just letting the water hold me up. Sometimes it’s so hard to hold yourself up. This is a nice change.
“Sometimes I wish my life could always be like this,” he says.
I bob. “Like what?”
“Peaceful. Beautiful. No violence. No threats.” He turns his head to smile at me. His eyes are soft, mushy looking, but strong. I’m not sure what that look means.
“That would be so amazing.” I start to say something else, but Astley’s distracted. I follow his gaze, which is on a very pale man in a horrible black Speedo. Nobody except professional swimmers should wear those.
“That is him,” Astley says, waving.
The man enters the water and wades over. He bows at Astley, then takes my hand and kisses it. “Your highnesses.”
If I wasn’t so psyched about finding Nick, I’d freak out about being called that.
Vander smiles at me. “I am sorry to be so cryptic earlier, but the location of the home of the gods is not exactly something you want to go out on a cell phone line.”
Astley smiles. “We understand.”
“Thank you for being so kind, your highness.” The man breathes in deeply and meets our gaze, each in turn. He looks at Astley when he says, “The bridge is at Gullfoss.”
Gullfoss! I actually know where that is. It’s this huge waterfall that I read about in the guidebook. I squeal and do the best I can not to faint from happiness.
“The best time is the morning,” he says. “The pathway between the worlds is most accessible then. There will be a rock tied with gold ribbon that you must throw into the waterfall. I will leave instructions there as well.”
“Will you come with us?” Astley asks.
“If you wish it.”
Astley looks at me, but I shake my head no. I don’t mean to offend the pixie guy, but I want it to just be Astley and me saving Nick. Astley relays this and thanks him for his help.
“The gods be with you,” he says as he leaves.
“And also with you,” Astley answers. As soon as the pixie disappears into the mist, Astley turns to me and says, “How about that?”
I hug him as hard as I possibly can, feeling joyous, ecstatic, and so very, very grateful. “Thank you, Astley. Thank you.”
He laughs and kisses the top of my head.
@cierradumont Thinking of
@cierradumont Thinking of moving out of town. Suggestions? #Bedfordstinks
We eat dinner at the hotel later, a crazy-fancy restaurant with modern black tables, sleek lines, and food that looks pretty on the plates. But I have the hardest time concentrating on anything. I barely even saw the cute old buildings in the middle of the city that we drove by. Even now I barely see Astley across the table from me.
He passes me some pepper for my salad and asks, “Excited?”
“Just a little,” I kid. Our fingers touch on the pepper shaker. He lets go.
“You could use my phone and update your friends,” he suggests.
“It’s okay,” I say. “I found a computer with Internet access in the lobby and I e-mailed them all.”