No, I think anyone would be delighted to enter this place.
To begin with, it’s illuminated by stones of many colors. Some glow softly in muted tones. Others sparkle like giant jewels lit from within. With its rainbow mix of colored light, her cave reminded me of our living room at Christmas when only the tree is shining.
Well, it was somewhat brighter than that. Or maybe not. With my newly discovered dark-vision, it was hard to tell exactly how bright it was.
One thing I could see quite clearly was that Nettie’s living room has a waterfall!
Seriously, a waterfall. It comes in over one high, rocky wall, tumbles down to a pool big enough to swim in, then runs across the floor and disappears through the far wall.
Nettie Thump, troll, has a waterfall, a pool, and a stream in her living room!
And it’s pure, clear water, as I found later when Nettie offered me a drink.
If I had a room like this, I don’t think I’d ever leave home!
However, the cave wasn’t the only surprise. She had come running to my aid so fast she hadn’t bothered to put on a hat. She had long hair that hung down past her shoulders!
“I’m sorry I don’t have chairs,” Nettie said. “But the only reason for chairs would be for visitors, and that is not something I ever planned on.”
She paused, looked down at the cave floor, then raised her head again. Taking a deep breath, she said, “What is this news you bring me?”
I braced myself, then replied, “Prince Gustav Fredrik is alive, which you already know. That’s the good news. The bad news, which I got from my grandfather yesterday, is that your father is seeking the prince’s coffin and wants to smash it.”
“But that is good, too,” she said. “Then Gustav Fredrik will be free!”
“No, it’s not good at all, Nettie! If the coffin isn’t opened properly, if it’s simply smashed, the prince will die an agonizing death.”
Nettie clenched her fists and unleashed a wail of grief that seemed to travel down my spine. Fearing she was going to mistake messenger for message and whomp me senseless, I barreled on. “Listen! If you want to save the prince, I think I have a way to get us to Troll Mountain.”
She fell to her knees so that she was looking directly into my face. Her enormous nose nearly touching mine, she said, “Tell me!”
So I did.
There’s no turning back now.
Tomorrow night, if all goes well, we fly to Troll Mountain.
PACKING LIST
Flashlight
Extra batteries
Snacks
Bottled water
Warm clothes
Boots
Cell phone (will it work in the Enchanted Realm?!?)
Cat food Knife Time peg
Hammer (for time peg)
Key to the cauldron!!
Dang! This won’t all fit in my backpack. I think I’m going to need my duffel bag instead.
Cody’s Life Log
10/29
It’s 10 p.m. on Saturday and I am in Granny Aino’s apartment, where I’m supposedly watching movies on her giant TV. Mom is out on a major gig. Dad has tickets to a big game. Grampa has his weekly poker night. So they were glad to let me come over here, and happy to use Norman the Doorman as a hands-off babysitter. (Norman doesn’t check on me, but he’s always there in case of emergency.)
Angus and Askeladden are with me. Angus is pacing and muttering, which I understand. Askeladden is sleeping as if nothing amazing is about to happen.
I think only a cat could do that.
Once Nettie gets here, we’ll start the evening’s real business…our journey to Troll Mountain! But she isn’t due until midnight, and I’m not sure how I’m going to get through the next couple of hours without exploding.
That’s actually why I’m writing this….I have to have something to do to distract myself or I’ll go nuts!
What if this doesn’t work? It seems insane that the cauldron can fly us to the Enchanted Realm. Of course, what’s even scarier than the question “What if the cauldron doesn’t work?” is the question “What if it DOES?”
If it does, I have to go. I mean, I can’t leave my grandfather a prisoner in Troll Mountain if I have a way to try to rescue him!
But what is the place going to be like?!?
Okay, calm down, Cody. Let’s discuss the plan.
It starts with a trip to Central Park. This is because we discussed all kinds of places to pound the time peg into the earth and that was the eventual choice.
I don’t particularly like it, but nothing else seemed to work.
My first suggestion was that we pound the thing into the soil around one of Granny Aino’s potted plants.
“I’m nae sure that would work, lad,” Angus said. “I suspect the peg needs to be driven into the world itself. More real that way.”
“I suppose you’re right,” I said.
“Even if he’s not, this isn’t something we want to take a chance on,” said Askeladden. “So I’m with the brownie. Drive it into real ground.”
“Okay, what about the garden behind the apartment?” I suggested. “That’s close by, and safe.”
“Safe from outsiders, yes,” said Askeladden. “But you know how fussy Marvin is. If he spots a peg in his precious petunias he’s likely to pluck it out and toss it in the trash.”
Marvin is the building’s gardener, and Askeladden was right. He would not put up with a stray peg in his domain! If he found it, which was likely, who knew what time we might end up returning to the human world?
“What about one of the trees outside the building?” I suggested.
Thousands of trees line the streets of New York City, mostly growing from square plots of earth surrounded by sidewalk. But here we faced the same problem: someone might pull the peg out because it didn’t belong. With hundreds of people passing by most trees every day, we couldn’t chance it.
“You wouldn’t think pounding a peg into the ground and having it stay there would be such a problem!” I said in frustration.
Finally, we decided on Central Park. The place is enormous—seriously, it’s so big it’s got seven lakes and ponds!—and there are plenty of wooded spots where people would be unlikely to notice the peg.
I know I said before that New York City is safe if you don’t go to the wrong place at the wrong time. But there’s no way in the world I would go to Central Park on my own late at night. Thankfully, I won’t be alone. I will have Nettie Thump with me. I can’t think of anyone safer to be with. No one in his right mind would attack someone as huge as she is!
Wait. My phone just buzzed.
It’s Nettie.
OMG. It’s happening!
Nettie, written afterward…date in human world uncertain
Going into the upper world is always difficult. Though the people of New York City accept a lot, I know I will be stared at, even if that staring is done on the sly.
I know I will be talked about, even if it is only once I am out of earshot.
I know I will be laughed at, even if it is hidden by the polite hand, or the turned-away face.
In the hope of attracting somewhat less attention, I changed out of my uniform and put on a “street outfit.” Still male, of course. It’s fairly hard to find clothes that fit me, though once I found the Big and Tall Shop this got easier. But I cannot imagine trying to buy a dress in my size.
I assembled a small bundle of things I would need, then made my way up to the terminal, being careful to avoid the other guards, which I could do because I know their routines. Then I used the subway (I have to duck to get on the train) to get to the neighborhood where I would meet Cody.
People are very good at averting their eyes on the subway. It’s a New York specialty. But when I reached the right stop and went to the streets of “up above,” I heard the usual gasps, noticed the usual staring. Still, nobody bothered me. And nobody laughed out loud, which I appreciated.
I had to walk seven bl
ocks to reach the building where Cody’s great-grandmother lives. Once I was there and staring up at it, I considered turning and heading back to my cave. But even though the idea of seeing my mother again filled me with anxiety (and the thought of possibly seeing my father filled me with terror), there was no turning back. Gustav Fredrik needed me, and I could never live with myself if I let my courage fail me now.
I did feel bad about dragging Cody into this. But he and the brownie had made it clear that the cauldron would not work without him. Besides, I knew Cody planned on trying to rescue his grandfather even if I didn’t join the expedition. Being aware of that, I felt I owed it to Cody’s father, who has been so good to me, to accompany the boy.
And, to confess the complete truth, I had begun to be fond of the sprat, annoying as he could be. The thought of him venturing into Troll Mountain on his own was not something I could accept.
Not knowing, then, what an astonishing part he would have to play in the events to come, I took out my cell phone and called his number.
Cody’s Life Log
10/30
It’s been a long time, and almost no time, since I have written here. That’s because it was just last night that I wrote the last entry. But so much (soooo much!) has happened since then.
Our journey to Troll Mountain is the first thing I need to write about, because…well, because it’s where things start. Also because it was amazing.
When Nettie called my cell to tell me she had arrived, I told her I would be right out. I put on my winter coat—totally wrong for the weather in New York City, but we were heading for a mountain in Finland!—and hoisted my duffel bag. (Angus had climbed into it when he heard me talking to Nettie.) With Askeladden trotting at my side, I left the apartment and headed for the service elevator. There was no way I could get past Norman the Doorman at this time of night, so we had to go out the back way.
I met Nettie at the corner and we headed for the park. I suspect we looked like a homeless guy and his kid out to find a place to sleep for the night.
It was seventeen blocks to the spot where we had decided to enter the park, which is officially open until 1 a.m. (We got there about twelve-thirty.) We went straight to a cluster of trees I had scouted out earlier and made our way to the center of it.
When we felt we were well hidden from prying eyes, I took the cauldron out of my duffel bag. The moon was only a quarter full, but with my newly discovered night vision I could see pretty well. As Nettie, Angus, and Askeladden looked on, I took out the knife I had packed and cut my finger.
Man, that was hard. I flinched and pulled back the first three times I tried. When I finally did manage to make the cut, it hurt like holy heckenlooper!
I rubbed my bloody fingertip against the cauldron’s rim, hoping it would grow warm, terrified that it would become cold and all this would have been for nothing….Not to mention I might get frostbite, or even have my finger fall off!
The cauldron did not grow warm, but it didn’t get cold, either.
It just sat there.
“It’s a fake!” I said angrily.
Nettie moaned in despair.
“Don’t give up yet,” advised Askeladden. “You are three generations down. It might be that the cauldron is confused, trying to decide whether to accept you.”
I rubbed my finger over the rim again. Doing that hurt, because of the cut.
Nothing happened.
“Try again,” said Askeladden. “They say third time’s the charm…and sometimes it really is.”
Not really comforted by that “sometimes,” I did as the cat suggested and rubbed my finger over the rim one more time. As I did, I felt a burst of warmth.
A deep hum rose from inside the cauldron.
“It’s working!” I whispered.
The others cheered—but very quietly.
Following the directions, which I had read so many times I knew them by heart, I grasped the rim and said, “Cauldron, I wish to travel.”
It began to grow! It was slow at first, but the bigger it got the faster it expanded.
“Stand next to it, Nettie!” I said. “Tell me when you think it will hold you comfortably.”
It wasn’t until the cauldron was almost up to my shoulders—which made it only waist-high on Nettie—that she said, “Enough.”
I let go of the rim.
Instantly the cauldron stopped growing.
“I’ll get in first,” said Nettie. “You stay out so you can pound in the time peg.”
I nodded and pulled the peg and the hammer out of my pack.
Once Nettie had climbed in, I lifted first Angus and then Askeladden to her so she could lower them into the cauldron.
That done, I pounded the time peg into the ground beside a tree I had chosen (and carefully memorized!) earlier.
“I hope you work,” I muttered to it.
Back at the cauldron, I wondered how I was going to get in. I had put my hands on the rim and started to haul myself up when Nettie said, “Let me lift you.”
I was a little annoyed. I mean, I’m kind of old to be picked up. On the other hand, next to Nettie I was like a little kid, so I said, “I guess you might as well.”
She plucked me off the ground, lifted me over the rim, then looked down into the cauldron and said, “Watch out, here he comes!”
Once I was in place, Angus tugged on my pant leg and said, “Put me on your shoulder.”
I reached down to get him, thinking that now I knew how he felt.
“I want to watch, too,” said Askeladden. “Pick me up, Nettie.”
“Actually, I think it would be better if I crouched down,” she replied. That made sense. There was plenty of room for her now, and it seemed perilous to fly with so much of her above the cauldron’s rim. What if she fell out?
“Ready,” she said.
“Me too,” said Askeladden, who had climbed to her shoulder.
“The time has come, lad,” said Angus. “Put in the key!”
I pulled the metal rod from my pocket and inserted it into the hole in the rim. It began to glow, exactly as the directions had promised! Grasping the rim on either side of the key, I said, “Cauldron, take us to Troll Mountain!”
Then I spit over the edge three times.
A moment passed.
Another.
Then the cauldron trembled and lifted slowly into the air.
I knew that was what was supposed to happen. Even so, I gasped in astonishment as the cauldron rose above the trees. Suddenly we shot forward. A flash of light nearly blinded me. At the same time, a weird tingle swept across my body.
“You did it, lad!” cried Angus. “We’re in the Enchanted Realm!”
Still seeing spots from that flash of light, I looked over the edge of the cauldron. The city had vanished. Below us stretched a mix of forest and open land, with some occasional cottages. In only moments we had passed over that and were flying above water.
I looked up. The sky was clear, velvety black and spattered with the brightest stars I have ever seen. I don’t know if that’s because we were in the Enchanted Realm, or simply because we were away from the “light pollution” of the city. The moon was full—it hadn’t been in the human world—and seemed enormous.
I had expected it to be colder, but the cauldron kept us warm.
I had no way of knowing how fast we were traveling. It’s not like the cauldron had a speedometer. Even if it had, I didn’t have any idea how far we had to go. Korkaya had said, and Angus had confirmed, that the Shadow Sea is smaller than the human world’s Atlantic Ocean. But how much smaller, neither of them seemed to know.
I took out my cell phone, wondering if it could tell me what time it was in the Enchanted Realm.
The screen was blank, as I had pretty much expected. I slipped it back into my pocket. Then for a long time I stood clutching the rim of the cauldron and gazing ahead, around, and down.
At one point I was pretty sure I saw a sea serpent.
A f
ew minutes after that, Angus tugged my ear and said, “Look over there!”
I turned and gasped when I spotted a trio of dragons winging their way across the sky. Their bodies showed dark red as they passed in front of the moon. I would have loved to see them up close but was also relieved that they didn’t appear to notice us.
We flew on.
Sometime later we saw three ships. Their sails glowed silver in the moonlight.
“Elves,” whispered Angus.
Then for a long time there was nothing but water.
Lots and lots of water.
It was late and I was tired, with no idea of how much longer the trip would take. Since I wasn’t steering and had nothing to do now that the cauldron was locked on our route, eventually I slid down until I was resting against its side. I wanted to stay awake but knew I should sleep. I needed to be ready for whatever happened when we landed.
Askeladden crawled into my lap. “You did a good job getting us started, Cody,” he said softly.
Given how sarcastic the cat could be, this made me happy.
I had a snack, then drifted off to sleep, thinking about the fact that I was flying through the Enchanted Realm in a magical cauldron, accompanied by a talking cat, a Scottish brownie, and a troll.
I don’t know how long I’d been asleep when Askeladden nipped my ear and said, “Better wake up. Nettie says we’re close.”
I yawned and stretched, then realized Angus was sleeping against my side. Looking up, I saw it was now daytime. Nettie was standing, her hands gripping the cauldron’s rim as she stared straight ahead. She had put on sunglasses and a big floppy hat that shaded her face.
I hauled myself to my feet and gazed out.
The Shadow Sea was gone. Below us now were snow-topped mountains, thick with pine trees on their lower slopes.
The cauldron began to slow.
“It’s hard to tell which of these is Troll Mountain,” fretted Nettie. “I’ve never seen it from above.”
“That’s all right,” I said. “The cauldron will know.”
“Yes, I trust that,” she said in her deep voice. “But where will we touch down? Troll Mountain is big, and it will be cold once we leave the cauldron. We don’t want to land in a place where we will have to walk for hours to find an entrance. And we want to avoid most entrances, anyway, since they may be in use.” She paused, then said, “I do know of a secret entrance that would be good if we can find it.”