Chapter 20

Freyja’s team was worried that Borghild might be planning an ambush for Crystal, so they waited while she changed into her bathing suit and walked with her to the swimming competition. Four ravens circled above them while they walked.

Evidently Lucky bragged to everyone that Borghild had been practicing and was virtually guaranteed to win. When the girls got to the beach, they saw that almost the entire camp, both adults and campers, were already there. The counselors were hovering around Valfoor at the starting line, Helga the cook had a prime location right on the beach, the campers were milling around chatting, and even Eiti was there. About the only ones who weren’t there were Lucky and her campers.

Then there was the sound of a horn from up the slope. Not the deep tone of Eiti’s Viking horn, but a pretty impressive sound, nonetheless. Everyone looked up towards the cabins, and there was Lucky, marching her team down to the fjord. Five of the girls were wearing the red helmets and shields from their dodge-ball gear. The sixth, Borghild, wore a red wetsuit.

If they were trying to intimidate Crystal, it didn’t work. She thought it was sort of neat that they decided to wear Viking armor, but she didn’t feel any real power radiating from them. To her they were just little girls playing dress-up. The wetsuit might help Borghild some, but only if she had worn one several times and was used to it.

Valfoor took his time getting the competition started; evidently, he had decided to be a little more formal than the last race. He had Freyja stand behind Crystal and Lucky stand behind Borghild while he explained the rules. Then he made Crystal and Borghild shake hands. Crystal noticed the smell of mint in the air.

As she walked away, Freyja whispered to Crystal, “I’m sorry, but this time the girls and I can’t be out in canoes. Lucky convinced Valfoor that was unfair and intimidating to Borghild.”

“That’s okay,” said Crystal. “I don’t think you’d catch anything today.”

Freyja placed her hand gently on Crystal’s shoulder and spoke in her ‘strange’ voice. “You’re mistaken, but I can’t tell you what’s going to happen in the race. Just be strong and brave. But most of all, be smart. Know your limits.”

Crystal smiled back at her but thought Freyja had a lot to learn about giving pep talks.

Borghild and Crystal got into position at the start line. The ravens circled directly above them. The scent of mint drifted by her again. Then Valfoor rang the bell.

Crystal let Borghild start running before she did; this was a distance competition and not a race. She was afraid that Borghild would use the trick from the canoe contest, running over and bumping into her, just to be mean. But instead, Borghild veered away from Crystal, putting extra space between them.

Both campers dove in head-first. Crystal had only swum five or six strokes when something that felt like seaweed wrapped around her arm. She thought she must be swimming through a seaweed patch because next her leg got tangled. Then she found herself struggling just to swim. She knew she would have to stop swimming and clear her arm and leg, or she would have no chance of winning.

Crystal couldn’t remember if the competition was judged by how far she went before she took a breath or how far she went while remaining under water. She decided to play it safe and swim a little deeper, to give herself time to pull off the seaweed before she floated up to the surface.

As soon as she grabbed at the seaweed, she realized it wasn’t seaweed after all. It was alive, and it was slimy, and it began to cut into her skin. She opened her eyes underwater right as another squid wrapped its tentacles around her other leg.

Now Crystal saw that she was surrounded by a school of squid, and they were all moving towards her. She wanted to keep swimming, but she knew that was impossible with squid attacking her. She wanted to panic, but she knew that would be fatal. Instead, she curled into a ball and played dead.

One of the first lessons her brother taught her in water safety was that she would always float if she was relaxed and had air in her lungs. He told her it was called the ‘Dead Man Float’, and she should use it if she were ever going to be stranded in the water for a long time. You just relax and let your natural buoyancy carry you to the surface, then lift your head up occasionally for a breath of air. She knew that the air in her lungs was one reason she had to wear a weight belt when she went scuba diving, otherwise she would keep bobbing up to the surface.

Curled into a ball like this, fewer squid were able to grab onto her and pull her down. But the ones already attached to her began to cut into her skin, and it hurt as bad as anything she had ever experienced. She knew that she would just have to tough it out.

The squid slowed down her rise to the surface, but since she wasn’t struggling, she used up less air and could stay under longer. When she finally reached the surface of the fjord, she raised her head up and screamed for help. A squid tried to wrap around her throat, so she took a quick breath and tucked her chin down. Another squid tried to wrap around her head right over her mouth, but she was able to chase it off by biting down hard on one of its tentacles. It tasted worse than snail.

Bobbing in the water like a cork, she could hear voices on the shore calling out. Freyja and Eiti were shouting commands. Some of the campers were screaming and crying. Her teammates were calling for her to hold on until help got there.

She knew she was running out of time. Squids were crawling all over her, pulling her down. She was no longer bobbing on the surface, but there wasn’t much she could do about it. If she tried to swim, she would be immediately wrapped up by tentacles.

Her chest began to burn; her ears began to ring, and the top of her bathing suit began to stretch as a hand grabbed it and hauled her up to the surface. Crystal didn’t realize just how strong her counselor was until Freyja lifted her out of the water with only one hand and dropped her in the bottom of the canoe. When she was sure that she was safe, Crystal uncurled and began helping Freyja get the horrible creatures off her. Some of the squid were latched on tight, and they required a delicate touch when they were pulled off to keep from cutting Crystal’s skin even worse.

When the last squid was tossed back into the fjord, Freyja gave Crystal a blanket. “Everything is okay, Crystal. You’re safe now.”

Crystal felt tears streaming out of her eyes, but she didn’t feel like she was crying. She couldn’t cry the whole time her head was under water, so all the emotional parts of crying must have just gone away leaving only the tears behind.

“Does this sort of thing happen very often?” Crystal asked, her teeth chattering.

“No, never before,” Freyja said firmly. Then she looked at Crystal, carefully. “Tell me why you thought there wouldn’t be any squid today.”

“Lucky was down here last night ringing a bell under the water. I thought the sound would chase off all of the fish.”