Emily Windsnap and the Land of the Midnight Sun by Liz Kessler Page A

shouldn’t call him right now,” Millie sighed. “Like he said, I’ll wait till I really need to.”
    With that, she kissed the shell and put it back in her bag.
    “Right,” I said. “I’ll see you later.”
    I left Millie to the rest of her unpacking and went to find Aaron. We’d only been apart for an hour, and already I had so much to talk to him about: the glacier trip; Archie giving Millie one of those shells; in fact, him sneaking her onto the trip in the first place. What exactly
was
Archie up to? The questions swam around in my head as I made my way to Aaron and Mr. Beeston’s cabin at the opposite end of the boat.
    I bumped into Aaron in the corridor.
    “I was just coming to see you!” we said in unison.
    Aaron grabbed my hand and pulled me over to a couple of seats in a recess of the lounge. “We need to talk,” he said. He had the excursions brochure on him. “Look,” he said, opening it on the page I’d just been looking at.
    “I’ve seen it,” I said.
    “That’s it, isn’t it?”
    I nodded. “I’m pretty sure it is.”
    Aaron pointed at the page. “Have you seen the date of the trip?”
    I followed his finger. My mouth fell open. “But that . . . but that’s . . .”
    “I know,” Aaron said. “It’s tomorrow. We’ve got one night to prepare ourselves.”

    “Listen to me.” Mr. Beeston was doing his best to talk quietly as the three of us huddled in a corner of the ship, waiting for the small boat that was coming to take us on the glacier trip.
    “We haven’t had a chance to talk properly yet, and we haven’t got much time now, but I need to tell you a few things.”
    We leaned in and listened.
    “I know this isn’t a vacation,” Mr. Beeston began. He looked searchingly at us both. What should we say? Admit he was right, or deny it? What if he was trying to trick us?
    “Why do you say that?” Aaron asked carefully.
    Mr. Beeston tutted. “Look, we don’t have time to play games, so I’ll tell you exactly what I know about my role. I’m not asking you for information. I’m here for you. All right?”
    I nodded. “All right.”
    “Neptune has sent you both here for a reason. What, exactly, that reason is, I don’t know. I am not privy to the details, and I am not asking you to tell me them. What I do know is that I am here to give you whatever support I can while you carry out your task to the best of your ability.”
    “OK,” I said guardedly. “Go on.”
    “I know that you have to leave the ship and that I may have to cover for you while you are gone. I know that if there’s anything you need from me, all you have to do is ask, and if I can provide it, I will.” He paused. “And I know that if Neptune believes that the two of you are worthy of his trust and are up to the challenge he has set you — then I believe it, too.”
    For a moment, I couldn’t speak. My throat had shriveled up, and I think I must have gotten something in my eyes, as they’d started watering.
    He lowered his voice even further. “And I know that it is here that you have to leave us.”
    “How do you know that?” I asked.
    “I didn’t get to the position I hold today without learning how to read subliminal signals,” he said mysteriously.
    Sub — what?
    When we both looked at him blankly, he went on. “Both of you look rigid with fear — and have since this morning. It isn’t rocket science.” He looked around at the tourists smiling and laughing as they waited for the boat to come and take them out for the afternoon. Then he lowered his voice. “You’re not only here for the afternoon’s glacier trip, are you?”
    Aaron and I exchanged a look.
    “OK, you’re right,” Aaron said. “We have to go to the glacier, but we’re not sure where we have to go next. We have to . . .” He stopped and looked at me, then, reddening a touch, turned back to Mr. Beeston. “I don’t know how much we can tell you,” he finished.
    Mr. Beeston waved a hand. “It doesn’t