Idun and the Apples of Youth Read online

  “Just watching it fly,” Skade said.

  “Yeah, nothing’s going on. See you later,” hinted Idun. She was hoping the squirrel would leave. Sharing too much information with Ratatosk was never a good idea. Besides delivering message acorns, this busybody squirrel ran up and down between the worlds spreading gossip. Usually messed-up, scrambled gossip.

  Whoosh! Unfortunately, falcon-Freya chose the very next moment to land near Loki. Shrugging off her cloak, she returned to her goddess form.

  “Aha!” Ratatosk exclaimed, twitching his tail in delight. “I knew that bird was no ordinary falcon!” The squirrel scampered from the tree with his knapsack of acorn messengers. Lickety-split, he scooted down the path, leaving paw prints in the snow.

  “Uh-oh. Looks like your cloak secret is officially out,” Idun informed Freya, watching him go.

  Skade nodded. “By tomorrow all nine worlds will have heard about it.”

  “Who cares?” said Freya. Flying and impressing these boys seemed to have put her in a good mood. She arched an eyebrow at Loki as she folded her feather cloak over one arm. “Well?” she said with a grin. “What do you think of my shape-shifting cloak?”

  “It’s awesome,” Bragi blurted out before Loki could reply.

  Loki scowled at him. Then, looking at Freya, he shrugged. “It’s okay.”

  Freya sniffed. “Just okay?”

  “It works, obviously,” Loki said. “But… well…” He hesitated a moment, then silently shook his head. “Never mind. It’s not important.”

  Freya jutted out her chin. “What’s not important? Say it!”

  Loki gestured toward the cloak distastefully. “Fine. Aren’t feather clothes kind of weird? I mean, I don’t see other girls wearing feathers.”

  Freya’s face slowly crumpled. As the girlgoddess of love and beauty, her appearance was very important to her. “M-maybe you’re right,” she said uncertainly. “Maybe feathers aren’t my style. What was I thinking?”

  She stared at the cloak as if it were an old dishrag. Suddenly seeming strangely eager to be rid of it, she said brightly, “Want it, Loki? Because I don’t.” She held it out to him.

  Idun, Bragi, and Skade all stared at her, shocked that she would offer Loki her cloak even if it wasn’t her style.

  I’ll take it! Idun almost shouted out. But she stopped herself when she noticed a twinkle in Freya’s eye. That girlgoddess was up to something.

  Loki shrugged. Casually he said, “It’s not really my style either. But I suppose I could take it off your hands.” He reached for the cloak. However, before he could touch a single feather, Freya snatched it back, pressing it to her chest.

  “Ha!” she exclaimed. “You’re not nearly as clever as you think, Loki. Did you really believe you could trick me out of this amazing cloak by making me doubt how I look?”

  Playfully Bragi thumped Loki on the back. “Freya’s quick. She guessed your trick!”

  To his credit, Loki shook off any embarrassment and grinned. “Can’t blame me for trying.” To Freya he said, “It’s cool. You’re lucky you found it.

  “Gotta go,” he told everyone. “I’m meeting up with Honir at the dorm to go hiking down in Midgard. He wants to show me some mountain that he likes to climb in Thrymheim along the border between Midgard and Jotunheim.” He turned toward Bragi. “Want to come?”

  “Sure,” Bragi told him. As Loki started trotting in the direction of the dorms, Bragi jogged after him a ways and then turned back to the girls to wave. “See ya!” He shot Idun a smile and blushed again.

  “Wouldn’t wanna be ya!” Loki added to the girls, rhyming with a laugh.

  “Hope they take a map,” Freya said to Idun and Skade after the boys took off. “I wouldn’t trust Honir to know his way around an anthill. He’s kind of clueless.” Quickly she donned her red wool cloak again.

  “Yeah, I know he rooms with them and all, but I wouldn’t follow him anywhere,” Skade agreed. Taking Freya’s feather cloak from her, she stuffed it back in its bag.

  With that, the three of them headed for Vingolf Hall, the girls’ dorm. “Honir’s got superlong legs, so I bet he’s a good hiker, though,” Idun said. Maybe he wasn’t the brightest guy, but Freya and Skade were being kind of mean about him.

  “I hope so. Jotunheim is giant territory—not the safest place to go hiking. Not all giants are as nice as I am,” Skade noted matter-of-factly.

  “Still, they do seem to be in awe of that mighty hammer Thor got. Ever since he started patrolling the wall around Asgard, they haven’t been coming around causing trouble like they used to,” said Idun.

  Up ahead, she watched Bragi and Loki catch hold of the vine swing that would take them to a round door that went directly to Breidablik Hall, the boys’ dorm. Just before they were lifted away, Idun saw Loki glance over his shoulder at the bag containing Freya’s cloak. There was a certain glint in his eyes, full of emotion. Having felt that emotion herself, she was pretty sure she recognized what it was.

  Jealousy.

  5 The Golden Apples

  I THINK BRAGI LIKES YOU,” FREYA announced to Idun as they and Skade headed for vine swings too.

  “You d-do?” Idun sputtered. She felt a flush spread over her cheeks.

  “What?” said Skade, sounding surprised. She cocked her head at Idun, studying her speculatively. “So Bragi’s crushing on you?”

  “No way! I barely even know him,” Idun protested, even though she’d been wondering the very same thing. Although she and Bragi hadn’t spoken to each other much before today, it did seem like they were starting to be friends. But more than just friends? No, she decided firmly. That was a silly idea.

  Just then Sif came along, carrying her library books. “So? How was the flight?”

  “Fantastic!” said Freya.

  “Yeah! Wait till you hear,” said Skade. “Loki and Bragi were super impressed. Tell her, Freya.”

  Deciding this was a good time to make a getaway, Idun snapped her fingers as if a thought had just come to her. “Hey! Just remembered I’m late for picking my apples to take to the V kitchen. See you all later back at Vingolf!” she called to her friends. Then she scurried over to a nearby branch ladder. Normally, she picked her apples in the early mornings so they’d be fresh and available for meals all day. So what she’d said was true. But she also wanted to avoid further questions about crushes!

  With a farewell wave to Sif and the others, Idun climbed down the branch ladder. Once she reached the bottom, she disappeared into a familiar vine tunnel. One that led to the small grove of golden apples that were hers alone to tend.

  There was a total of nine trees in the pretty grove, same as the number of worlds protected beneath Yggdrasil’s branches. She walked among the trees, relaxed by the whispering sound their leaves made in greeting. She lifted her fingers to brush against those leaves, her way of greeting them back.

  Every day, each of these trees produced nine perfect, magical golden apples. Eighty-one apples in all. Plucking them from the trees was a task that only she could do. Because if anyone else—even Odin himself—were to so much as just touch one of the apples while it still clung to a tree, the apple would shrivel and disappear in a puff of smoke. Poof! However, when Idun picked an apple, it would remain firm and juicy and sweet for days or even years—until it was eaten.

  Stopping to stand at the center of her apple grove, Idun pulled a tiny wooden box called an eski from the pocket of her hangerock. When she gave her eski a shake and set it on the ground, it quickly expanded from the size of a single ice cube into a box large enough to hold today’s crop of apples. This magical wooden box made of ash wood went with her everywhere. Though it was now as tall as her knees and wide enough that she could’ve sat inside it, it could be folded to pocket-size again (much like the ship Skidbladnir) when not in use.

  “Okay, time to get to work,” Idun murmured to her trees. She reached up for an apple, gave it a twist, and pulled at an angle. This was the proper way to
pluck an apple. Snap! It broke free of the tree. She set the apple gently into her eski. Some of the apples grew so high that they were out of reach. No problem. As she approached each tree, its branches gracefully bent lower to allow her to pick its apples without need of a ladder.

  Tug, twist, toss. Tug, twist, toss. In no time the eski was full. As always, Idun thanked her trees for their apples and uttered a chant that would keep the trees healthy, strong, and productive even during the long Nordic winters.

  “Despite cold and snow,

  May you prosper and grow.

  Despite ice and sleet,

  May your apples be sweet.”

  Ready to leave now, she gave her apple-heavy eski a tap. Instantly sled runners dropped from the bottom of it so it could easily glide over snow and ice. When she bent to push the eski from behind, the trees sighed and swayed, waving goodbye. Idun waved back. Then she was off to deliver the apples to the V kitchen staff.

  She was halfway to the Valhallateria when her apples gave her an idea. An idea for a good deed she and Loki could do together. If she could get him to agree, he would be helping others. And, fingers crossed, his helpful act would improve his reputation and also make him feel good!

  Excited about her idea, Idun pushed her eski faster and faster over the snowy ground. She couldn’t wait to suggest it to Loki. But then she remembered that he had gone hiking with Bragi and Honir. Drat. All fired up about her good deed idea, she wished she could share it with Loki right now. But it would keep.

  When she came upon a downward sloping hill, she stepped to stand on the back end of the eski ’s runners. The cold air made her gasp as the eski whipped down the slope, with her perched behind it. Wondering how the boys’ mountain trek was going, she zoomed toward the V with her apples. Whee!

  6 The Regal Eagle

  BRAGI STARED UP AT THE few snowflakes that were drifting lazily down from the mostly clear sky. While Idun was delivering her precious apples of youth to the Valhallateria kitchen, he’d gone hiking with Honir and Loki. Well, hiking and skiing. Hiking on the bare patches of ground here and there and then skiing in places where the snow became too thick for walking.

  “Hurry up, slowpokes!” Honir called out. Standing halfway up a snowcapped craggy mountainside, he waited for Loki and Bragi to catch up.

  After taking the Bifrost Bridge to Midgard, the three boygods had put on their cross-country skis before crossing a snowy valley to the mountainside they were now climbing. Unlike the downhill kind, these skis attached to their boots at the toe, not the heel. This allowed them to use more of a skating motion while moving across flat ground and up and down short slopes.

  “It’s slow going in these steep mountains,” said Loki, huffing and puffing his way up the trail they were following.

  “Not if you have long legs like me,” Honir said with a chuckle.

  “The views from up here are phenomenal,” Bragi enthused, gazing down at the Midgard farms and villages below.

  There had been brief snow showers as the boys went along, but then the skies would turn clear, like now. “The more we travel higher, the more I wish I’d brought my lyre,” Bragi rhymed. Creating lyrics was always easier when he strummed it.

  “Yeah, I wish you had it too. I could use it for a sled,” said Loki. It was kind of a lame joke, but Bragi cracked up anyway. Loki really could be funny.

  After the boys caught up to Honir, he pushed off again. Bragi kept a short distance behind Loki as they all zigzagged their way farther up the mountain. The long-legged Honir was soon ahead of them again by at least thirty strides and widening the distance. He was a little (Okay, a lot!) forgetful and didn’t have the sharpest mind, but he was probably one of the top skiers at the academy.

  “Honir, wait up!” Bragi shouted.

  “ ’Kay!” Honir stopped in the middle of the trail to let them catch up once more.

  “Ymir’s knees! I’m starving!” Loki said as soon as he and Bragi drew even with Honir again.

  “Me too,” said Bragi. He pointed to Honir’s backpack. “Why don’t you break out the snacks you brought?”

  “Snacks?” Honir echoed blankly.

  Loki frowned at him. “You volunteered to get food from the V before we left. Don’t tell me you forgot!”

  “No, I didn’t forget,” Honir said defensively. But there was a look of worry and confusion in his brown eyes.

  “Here, let me check your backpack,” Bragi told him.

  “Sure. Okay,” Honir said agreeably, smiling again.

  Bragi stepped his skis sideways until he stood directly behind Honir. After he undid the pack’s straps and lifted the top flap to look inside, his stomach sank. “Empty,” he reported to Loki.

  “Like Honir’s head! And my stomach!” Loki frowned at the long-legged boygod. “This is great, just great,” he said sarcastically. “So you did forget to bring snacks.”

  “Or maybe you forgot you were supposed to share them and ate everything already?” Bragi asked.

  Honir scrunched up his eyebrows and tapped his chin with a gloved finger as if thinking hard. “No,” he said at last. “I’m hungry too, so I can’t have eaten any snacks.” Then his eyes lit up. “I remember now! I went to the V to get snacks, but there were too many things to choose from, like apple turnovers, bread, cheese, porridge, and hard-boiled eggs. I couldn’t decide.” He paused. “I went to ask you guys what to choose, but then when I saw you, you were ready to go. So I went with you.” He smiled at them. “And here we are.”

  “Yeah, without snacks. Thanks a lot,” Loki said, rolling his eyes.

  Honir just shrugged good-naturedly. “Sorry.”

  His reply seemed to anger Loki even more. “Yeah, well, you should be, loser!”

  “Insults aren’t going to help,” Bragi said quickly. When Loki got hungry (and he was almost always hungry), he could get hangry. Hungry plus angry, that is. Bragi looked back the way they’d come. “If we turn around now, we can probably reach Asgard in two hours. Maybe even sooner since it’s mostly downhill.”

  Honir pointed to the top of the mountain they were on. “Or if we keep going, we could eat at the café up there,” he suggested. “It’s only maybe a half hour away.”

  “Café?” Bragi and Loki echoed at the same time.

  “You mean there’s a restaurant at the top?” Bragi asked. He squinted, but the cloud cover was so thick higher up that he couldn’t see if there was a building there or not.

  “Yeah.” Honir nodded. “It’s called the Regal Eagle Café.”

  “Catchy name,” said Bragi.

  Honir grinned and elbowed him. “You like anything that rhymes.”

  “Okay. Let’s go!” Loki grunted. “Before I waste away to bones.” He skied off fast and the other two followed, continuing their upward trek. Sure enough, when some clouds shifted a few minutes later, they caught sight of a building with a steeply pitched, snow-covered roof at the top of the mountain.

  A half hour later, completely famished by now, the three boys stood outside the small wooden-sided café. They quickly slipped off their skis and stood them near the door, then clomped into the café in their boots. As they stepped inside, a delicious smell greeted them.

  “Mm-mm,” said Loki. Inhaling deeply, he smiled in delight. “Now that’s what I’m talking about!” Since there were no other customers in the café, they took seats at the nearest of the four empty tables.

  Across the room, a six-foot-tall eagle wearing a gold crown stood with its back to them. It had a huge soup ladle clutched in one claw and was using it to stir a gigantic pot of soup over a large firepit. Smoke from the fire drifted upward to escape through a large hole at the top of the ceiling.

  “The owner,” Honir whispered.

  “Explains the café’s name,” Bragi murmured.

  “Hello?” Loki yelled toward the eagle.

  “Scree-ee! Scree-ee!” it exclaimed, ruffling its feathers in surprise. It hadn’t noticed them until Loki had called out. Now the
large eagle bustled over to the boys’ table. “Theaks reakt. Neak wheak’ll eak beak?” it said. (At least that’s what it sounded like to Bragi.)

  “Huh?” all three boys responded at once.

  “Oh, sorry. You’re boygods, right?” said the eagle. “Of course you wouldn’t understand eaglespeak.”

  “Beakspeak?” Loki echoed, mangling the word. On purpose, no doubt, Bragi guessed.

  The eagle clicked his hooked yellow beak, making a tsk sound. Bragi eyed the beak nervously, thinking it looked rather lethal. “Eaglespeak. My language,” corrected the eagle. “Anyway, welcome to the Regal Eagle. What can I get you, beaks? I mean, boys?”

  “What’ve you got?” Loki asked, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

  The eagle cocked his head toward the firepit. “How about some tasty oxtail soup?”

  “And what else?” Loki asked expectantly. “We worked up huge appetites skiing up this mountain.”

  The eagle shrugged and then used its beak to preen the feathers at its neck. “Oxtail soup. That’s it. The whole menu.”

  “That’s why I love this place,” Honir told the other two boys. “No decisions to make about what to order.”

  “Fine,” huffed Loki. “I’m going to need a gallon of that soup, though. Maybe two gallons.”

  The eagle nodded. “Sure. There’s just one thing, though. Whatever you order, I get to eat my fill of it first before I serve you. House rule.”

  Honir scrunched up his eyebrows like he was thinking hard again. “Yup,” he said at last. “I remember that from the last time I was here.”

  “Okay, whatever,” Loki said reluctantly.

  “Yeah, whatever! We’ll be happy if service is snappy!” Bragi rhymed.

  “Right, then.” The eagle hopped back to the firepit. It grabbed the edge of the soup pot with both claws, lifted it high, and tipped the top edge of it down toward its open beak. Then it proceeded to guzzle down the soup in huge gulps. Glug, glug, glug.

  Guessing that the eagle meant to finish all the soup in the pot, Loki jumped up from the table. “Stop!” he yelled. But the eagle just fixed him with a beady eye and kept on gulping. As the eagle tipped the pot, the ladle fell from it. Grabbing it up, Loki swung it at the big bird like a sword. “Drop that pot, eagle! Or else!”