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Dressed in all black.
His smile depraved.
His hair red.
“You must be my sister,” the man says. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”
Chapter 22
Hanna
The Passage
“Maybe we’re not in the right spot?” I say, trying to find hope in the situation. “Maybe there’s another frozen waterfall with a portal underneath it?”
My father puts his head in his hands and shakes it. “No. This was the main portal.”
“Something must have happened here,” Tuoni says, looking around at the dirt mound piled outside of the tunnel. “An earthquake? Do those happen here?”
“Sabotage,” my father grumbles. He looks up at us with fire in his eyes. “This was the work of Noora and Eero. They wanted to make sure I could never come back.”
“But that doesn’t make sense,” I say. “Wouldn’t they want or need to use the portal at some point? There has to be another one, maybe nearby.”
My father sighs. “Yes, there is, but…”
“But what?” Tuoni says gruffly. “If there’s one near, you must take us there immediately.”
“It opens up at the bottom of the Great Inland Sea,” he says, and I’m suddenly remembering something. In the grotto, thelittle mermaid, Bell, had told me about a portal at the bottom of the sea. It must be the same one.
“What’s the problem?” Tuoni asks tiredly.
“The problem is, not only will we get wet, but I’m not a god like you. Hanna might be half-goddess, but I don’t know if that means she can breathe underwater.”
“She’s done it before. All it takes is a bit of magic,” Tuoni says with a wave of his hand. “I can bestow the same magic on you. Besides, you’re a Shaman. Surely, you know a spell or two. You probably know far more than I do. I can learn spells, but I can’t create them. That’s something you do.”
“I don’t know of any spells to help me grow gills,” my father says. “Which means I’ll have to trust that you won’t let me drown at the bottom of the sea.”
“Are you still coming with us?” I ask him. “Wouldn’t it be better for you to remain on this side, where it’s safe?”
He raises his chin in determination. “If you think I’m going to let you waltz off with Tuoni to the Underworld alone, you need to get your brain examined. Of course I’m coming with you.”
“Papa, I can’t lose you again.”
“You won’t.” He eyes Tuoni. “So as long as the God of Death is as noble as you seem to think he is.”
I look at Tuoni, and he nods. “I will protect you both. You have my word. Now please, show us to the other portal. The clock on this side is ticking.”
My father sighs heavily, his shoulders dropping. “Alright, but I’ll have you know that it’s a much longer, narrower, darker tunnel. Sometimes, there are strange creatures in there that bite your ankles. It’s really not preferable, but if we don’t have a choice...”
“We don’t have a choice,” Tuoni says gravely.
“Alright, follow me,” my father says, squeezing past me under the waterfall and out into the open.
“Aren’t you going to call back the reindeer?” I ask, following in his footsteps, Tuoni behind me.
“There’s no real point,” he says. “It’s not that far, another hour walk from here. Hopefully, I won’t get lost along the way.” He brings out a compass from his coat pocket and squints at it under the lights from the aurora borealis.
I’m even more cold and tired than I was before, and Tuoni rummages through his duffel bag and takes out some protein bars we got from the service station and the three of us chew them down, followed by Finnish chocolate and a bottle of cola. It gives me just enough energy to continue on.
