Idun and the Apples of Youth Read online

  Freya nodded glumly. “Yeah, that cat—er, cloak—is already out of the bag.”

  “Loki would have found out sooner or later anyway,” Sif pointed out. When a plump strawberry lobbed from a frieze dropped into her lap, she picked it up and popped it into her mouth. “Mm-mm.”

  “Yeah. Impossible to keep a cloak that cool a secret for long. Unless you never wear it,” Idun commented to Freya.

  “But whah wuh be the fun of that?” protested Skade, talking around another bite of sandwich.

  “True,” Freya said. “It’s going to get lots of flying time with me—” Her words broke off as a hail of hazelnuts rained down onto the girls’ table.

  “This is nuts!” Idun heard the cloak murmur. Freya reached under her chair and into her bag to stroke its feathers.

  Just then, some girlgiants walked by with apple juice refills, smirking as they passed Idun and her friends. Although these students could transform to become giant-size whenever they wanted, right now they were regular girl–size.

  Suddenly the girlgiants pretended to sneeze. But instead of going Achoo! Achoo! they went, Vanir! Vanir! Their leader, Angerboda, giggled meanly. “Sorry. We’re allergic.”

  “To politeness?” quipped Skade. Since Skade was a half-giant, Angerboda didn’t target her for teasing most of the time. So Skade could risk making a snarky comment back. But Angerboda was always picking on the other girls, especially Freya.

  “Ha-ha, so funny I forgot to laugh,” Freya said to the girlgiants. Thing was, somehow Angerboda had gotten the idea that Freya was crushing on Loki. (Which was not true.) Angerboda was so weird that she actually had a crush on that troublemaking boygod herself! The fact that he was a half-giant too might have had something to do with her feelings toward him.

  Plop! Idun pushed back from the table as an ammo-herring fell short of its target and dropped into her soup instead, splattering her. “Ymir’s nose!” she exclaimed.

  The girlgiants glared at her. “What did you say?” Angerboda demanded.

  Idun just rolled her eyes. Argh! Unfortunately, many giants had never gotten over having Ymir (one of their own kind) used by the gods of Asgard as some sort of giant seed from which to grow the nine worlds. Their annoyance was kind of understandable. Unfortunately, it caused them to make trouble for Asgard.

  “Hey! Watch out for that… oops.” Before Idun could finish issuing a warning, a wedge of frieze cheese smacked Angerboda on the forehead.

  As her name suggested, Angerboda was quick to get angry over just about everything. Instantly she and her buds all shape-shifted into their ginormous giant-size selves.

  “Who did that?” Angerboda demanded to know. Her head nearly touched the ceiling now as she glared around the room. When the offending warrior froze in fright, the girlgiants bounded off toward his frieze. Luckily this caused the food fight to shift away from Idun’s and her friends’ table for a while. Unluckily for Idun, however, it caused Freya’s attention to focus on her.

  “So I heard Loki teasing you after we all landed in the snow. What was that about?” Freya asked suddenly.

  “Huh?” Idun blinked at the change in topic. Sure, she remembered how Loki had suggested that she was the apple of Bragi’s eye. Meaning that Bragi was crushing on her. It had been a crazy thing to say, of course. And Loki had even admitted he’d been joking. But then, why had Bragi blushed and suddenly become tongue-tied?

  Without thinking, Idun slid her dark brown eyes to the table where Bragi and Loki sat with Thor and some other boygods. At the exact same moment she glanced Bragi’s way, his eyes landed on her. They both looked away—fast.

  Too late. Idun realized from her friends’ raised eyebrows that they had seen her and Bragi’s accidental eye-lock. Freya sent her a knowing look as she opened her mouth, probably to ask what that was all about. She was the girlgoddess of love and beauty and sometimes acted like a romance detective!

  Not wanting to talk about Bragi’s maybe-or-maybe-not crush on her (not yet, anyway), Idun shrugged casually. “You know Loki. He’s always teasing.” Quickly she steered the conversation in another direction. “That make-believe troll incident was typical him, right?”

  Sif took the bait. “Isn’t that the truth. Wish there were some way we could take a vacation from his constant teasing.”

  “We did get a vacation,” Skade reminded her. “Remember? When his lips got sealed for a whole day?”

  That had happened not long ago when that wily boygod had lost a bet to an angry dwarf. The prize had been Loki’s head! Lucky for Loki, the dwarf had eventually settled for temporarily zipping Loki’s lips.

  Freya sighed happily at the memory. “Yeah, good times. Too bad we don’t have the power to stop his tricks and troublemaking like that whenever we want.”

  “Hey, I know!” Skade exclaimed with a mischievous grin. “What if every time Loki tries one of his mean tricks, we bury him in the earth for a while, sort of like what happened to Ymir?”

  “Or cut off his hair,” Sif said with relish. “Although I guess that wouldn’t be much of a punishment for him since his hair isn’t magical, and he could just grow it back. Unlike me.” She was the girlgoddess of bountiful harvests, and her hair’s magic protected the golden fields of wheat that humans grew down in Midgard. When Loki had snipped off her hair (yet another one of his awful tricks), Midgard’s wheat had wilted and almost died!

  “Good thing he got those dwarfs to spin you some new hair,” Freya commented as Sif dug into her food. “Otherwise we’d be eating sandwiches without the bread. Which wouldn’t really count as sandwiches!”

  Her mouth full now, Sif only smiled and nodded in reply.

  “Could you talk your tabby cats into scratching him anytime he tricks someone?” Skade suggested to Freya.

  Her friends’ talk of revenge was beginning to make Idun feel uncomfortable, no matter how much Loki deserved it. “Hello? Am I the only one at this table who remembers the whole reason Odin created this academy?” she said at last. “Wasn’t it for us to learn to get along? To set a good example for all those who dwell in the nine worlds?”

  “Yes, but that’s not going to work unless a certain yellow-shoe-wearing boygod meets us halfway,” said Skade.

  “Certain girlgiants, too,” added Freya, her eyes flicking to Angerboda.

  Suddenly those girlgiants exited the Valhallateria, and Idun and her friends found themselves in the middle of the food fight again. As they were bombarded by overripe, juicy cherries, Freya snatched up her bag. “Yikes, let’s get out of here before our clothes are completely ruined!”

  Leaving their almost-empty plates on the table for the Valkyrie cleanup crew, the girls jumped from their chairs and headed for the dining hall door. While they were fleeing the building, Idun thought about what her friends had said. They weren’t always this grumpy and interested in getting even with Loki, but his troll stunt earlier had reminded them of all his other, even worse, stunts.

  Thing was, a lot hung in the balance if Odin’s social experiment didn’t succeed. If the academy’s students weren’t able to prove that they could get along, more wars would probably break out. Like the one between the Aesir and the Vanir that had led Odin to establish the academy in the first place. And that might hasten Ragnarok, a horrific doomsday event involving fire, fighting, and famine. That event would lead to the end of the nine worlds!

  If she was right and there really was some goodness in Loki’s heart, maybe she could help him become a better person somehow, Idun thought as she and her friends came to a stop outside the V. She recalled all the lectures Odin had given in the weeks since the academy opened—lectures encouraging students to form new friendships outside their usual groups. Maybe she should try to befriend Loki. Odin would surely want her to! But was it really possible to guide Loki toward better behavior?

  Again, that Glad Rags sweater’s prophecy came to mind: “Do a good deed, and you’ll get what you need.” Hmm. She eyed Freya’s bag. In her humble opinion, wh
at she really needed was that cloak! If she could come up with a good deed that would somehow get Loki to stop making trouble, maybe everyone, her included, would get what they needed.

  “Worth a shot,” she murmured under her breath.

  4 Into the Forest

  NOT SO FAST!” A VOICE called to Idun, Freya, Sif, and Skade outside the Valhallateria. It was Loki. Apparently he and Bragi had followed them out the door. “You weren’t going to sneak off without showing me your shape-shifting cloak, were you?” Loki demanded of Freya.

  “ ’Course not,” Freya shot back. “Unlike you, when I make a promise, I don’t try to trick my way out of it!”

  Grinning at Loki, Bragi said, “I’ve no wish to offend, but she got you, my friend.”

  Loki scowled at him. “People claim you’re a poet, but I’d never know it!”

  “Good one!” Bragi declared, slapping him on the back good-naturedly. “Maybe being around me will turn you into a poet too, one of these days.”

  “No chance, poet pants!” Loki exclaimed. Then, realizing he’d rhymed by accident again, he sputtered, “I’d rather fight the flames of Ragnarok than spout goofy rhymes!”

  He turned toward Freya. “C’mon. Let’s go find a clearing.” With that, he, Freya, and the others set off together down a fern-lined snowy path. It wandered through a forest of trees that grew under Yggdrasil’s sheltering branches.

  When Idun found herself walking next to Bragi, she seized the opportunity to question him. She was hoping to learn something about Loki that would inspire a good deed she could do to keep him out of trouble. “You know Loki pretty well, right?” she said to the curly haired boy.

  “Sure,” said Bragi. “We’ve been friends since preschool. Plus, we’re in the same dorm room here at AA.”

  Idun nodded. “So then maybe you know why he is the way he is? Always tricking and teasing?”

  “Interesting question.” Bragi’s forehead wrinkled in thought. “Loki has always rubbed people the wrong way. Even when we were little kids,” he said after a moment. “Once someone gets a certain reputation, it can be hard to lose it, right? So maybe Loki just keeps on acting rotten because he knows that’s what everyone expects.” He paused briefly before adding, “I know he can be hard to like sometimes. Probably the reason we’re still friends is because I see something in him that others don’t.”

  “What’s that?” Idun asked, really curious to know.

  Before Bragi could reply, they came even with the academy’s Heartwood Library, located in the very heart of Yggdrasil’s enormous trunk. From inside the trunk, Gullveig, the librarian’s assistant (also formerly Freya’s nanny in Vanaheim), waved to the group through an open window. “Hellooo, everyone! Sif, Mimir got those books about wheat farming that you asked for,” she called out.

  “Thanks!” Sif called back. “Can I come get them later? I’m kind of busy right now.”

  “One must never be too busy for books!” rumbled another voice from inside Yggdrasil’s trunk. It was Mimir, the head librarian. Through the window Idun caught a glimpse of him beyond Gullveig. He was bobbing up and down atop his water slide. Mimir had become detached from his body sometime in the past. But he—or rather, his head—had been magically brought back to life by Odin. And now that’s all he was—a head. One with lots of knowledge inside, which made him a perfect librarian.

  “Okay,” Sif replied. She peeled off from the group, saying, “I’ll catch up later. And I’ll want details of how the flight went if I miss out. Good luck, Freya!” Returning Sif’s farewell wave, Idun watched her go toward the library. Gullveig and Mimir were so helpful, Idun thought as she and Bragi followed Skade, Freya, and Loki through the forest. Helping others seemed to make them feel as happy as it made her feel.

  Suddenly an idea popped into her head. What if her good deed could be to get Loki to do something to help others too? Which could improve his reputation. And maybe that would make him feel good about himself as well. Which might make him less likely to behave rottenly to everyone.

  Before Idun could mull this idea over more, Bragi spoke again, pulling her attention. “You really want to know what I see in Loki that no one else sees?” he asked.

  “Uh-huh,” she replied as they walked along. Darting a look ahead, she saw that Skade, Freya, and Loki were busily chatting. Good. Loki wouldn’t hear whatever she and Bragi said about him.

  “Here’s the thing about Loki. He’s smart and funny and fun to hang out with. And he can be nice, unless he’s showing off. Even though he acts selfish—mean, too, occasionally—deep, deep, deep down I think he wants to be a good guy. He just acts without thinking sometimes. It’s like he doesn’t stop to consider the consequences.”

  “Really? That’s what I sort of guessed,” Idun exclaimed excitedly. She was glad she and Bragi thought alike on the topic of Loki.

  Bragi nodded. “Remember how proud he was of himself after he got the dwarfs to make those gifts a while back?” The gifts had included Sif’s replacement hair, Thor’s hammer, and a cunning ship made of many small parts that fit together like a puzzle. The ship, whose name was Skidbladnir, could grow big enough to hold an entire army when unfolded and set in the sea!

  Becoming uncharacteristically quiet, Bragi looked down at his boots and kicked at the snowy ground. Finally, he spoke again. “Loki says a lot of things that aren’t true. But some things he says are truer than he realizes.”

  Huh? Idun stared at him in confusion. She opened her mouth to ask what he meant, but then she recalled again how Loki had teased Bragi with his “apple of your eye” remark. Her face grew warm. Was Bragi hinting that Loki’s comment about him being interested in her was truer than Loki realized?

  As far as she knew, no boy had ever crushed on her before. The idea that Bragi might like-like her sent a jumble of emotions surging through her—shyness and panic, but also a little thrill of excitement. Unsure what to say in response, she desperately tried to think of a change of topic. Luckily, just then they arrived at the clearing Freya had been heading for, an area that served as a hub of sorts for travel to and from classes.

  “Oh good, we’re here,” Idun said to Bragi. Saved!

  All around the clearing, doors sort of like the golden ones Heimdall had sent them through earlier hovered in midair at various heights with no visible means of support. These were magical portals used to transport students to their Asgard Academy classrooms.

  Eyeing her and Bragi, Loki said impatiently, “Took you guys long enough!” He was leaning against a sign that indicated which of the hovering doors led to which class halls. It had always delighted Idun that not all the doors were boring rectangles. Some were shaped like circles or triangles or trapezoids, or even objects and animals.

  Besides the various doors, numerous small rainbow bridges could be seen among the trees that bordered the clearing. The doors and bridges, as well as a series of branch ladders, vine tunnels, vine swings, and vine slides, allowed students to travel up, down, and around Yggdrasil’s branches to get from place to place. Since it was Sunday, there were no classes, but there were other students hanging out in the clearing, including a few girls playing Spydkast.

  Asgard Academy was way more beautiful and interesting than the school Idun had gone to before coming here. She liked AA’s classes, the other kids, and the whole magical feeling of the academy much better than her old school. It was another reason she hoped Odin’s getting-along experiment would succeed. Because if AA failed, they’d all have to return home!

  Now that Bragi and Idun had arrived, Loki glanced over at Freya and yelled, “Let’s get this shape-shifting show on the road!”

  Freya rolled her eyes. “Hang on, Mr. Impatient!” she scolded Loki. She and Skade had been chatting together, probably about the upcoming flight. However, now Freya did what Loki asked and withdrew her falcon feather cloak from her bag.

  “Fly away with me!” the cloak said at once.

  The boys’ eyes bugged out when they saw and hear
d the cloak. “I don’t mean to gawk, but did that thing just talk?” Bragi asked.

  “Mm-hmm,” Freya said.

  “Who cares if it’s a chatterbox,” Loki said with a frown. “I want to see what else it can do!”

  Freya glanced at Idun and Skade. From the look on her face, Idun guessed that she was feeling reluctant about going on with the demonstration. But Freya had promised that Loki could see her cloak in action. Idun knew that she wouldn’t go back on that promise.

  Noting Freya’s hesitation, Skade said, “Might as well show them. They’ll find out sooner or later.”

  Nodding, Freya shrugged off her red wool cloak at last. She handed it and her empty bag to Skade. Then she draped the feathered cloak over her shoulders. As before, it tightened around her instantly, clinging to her like a feathered skin. Whoosh! Two wings opened grandly from its sides. Freya’s legs and feet became claws. Her head transformed into that of a sharp-beaked falcon. With a high-pitched cry, she rose into the sky above the clearing and began to circle overhead.

  The boys’ jaws dropped. Idun could see that they were impressed. “Whoa! Wow!” they exclaimed. Others in the clearing saw Freya rise too. They pointed, shouting and clapping.

  That could’ve been me, thought Idun. If only she were the one wowing them instead! She squashed down the jealous feeling and tried to feel happy for Freya.

  Chuk, chuk! Just then, a big nosy squirrel named Ratatosk appeared on the limb of one of the trees at the edge of the clearing. A knapsack of message acorns was slung over his back. His adorable little acorns, with their cute faces and hats and babyish voices, were a little nutty. But they were also fun and helpful. They delivered news all over the nine worlds, wherever Ratatosk dropped them off.

  Noticing that everyone was looking up, the squirrel hopped over to the branch of a tree closer to the action for a better view. As he watched falcon-Freya wheeling around in the sky, he rubbed his front paws together and eagerly called out to the students. “That’s some big bird! What’s going on?”