The Viking Claw by Michael Dahl

Author:Michael Dahl
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Published: 2001-01-22T05:00:00+00:00

11

Staring at Thor’s Navel

“A dead body?” I said.Uncle Stoppard adjusted his gloves on the line for a better grip.“A living, Finnish, pit-bull body,” he said in a low voice. “Shhh. Don’t say anything.” The others were walking over to join us.

Edo hiding in the equipment sack? It was the only logical, nongoblin explanation possible. That’s why Uncle Stoppard was mumbling about dead air.Dead Airwas the name of that new mystery he was working on. The one with the dead body stuffed into a carry-on bag in an airplane. Uncle Stop figured Edo was hiding and playing a joke on us. Some joke. I didn’t think Ruben or Kate Roobick would laugh.

All six of us had grabbed on to the supply ropes like teams playing tug-of-war. A few minutes later, one of the hammocks rose into sight, and rolled over the edge followed by the equipment sack. Uncle Stoppard grabbed on to the sack and pulled it farther up onto the ledge.

“I’ll just get this out of the way,” he said. Hrór gave us a funny look.

Uncle Stop and I dragged the sack along the snow. While the others were tugging up the rest of the tents and hammocks, I nervously unzipped the long bluenylon sack. Coils of nylon rope, clips of pitons, a firstaid kit, flashlights, shovels, packets of dried food. More archeological tools rested in a small case at the foot of the bag. Everything was there except a joking Jokkipunki.

Uncle Stoppard frowned. “Hmm, no Finn in the bag.”

“What did you say?” asked Teemu. He stood behind us.

“Uh, no, Finn,” said Uncle Stoppard. “In the bag . . . um, is where we’ll keep the flashlight. Oh, hey, Teemu, didn’t see you there. Sorry. Are you guys already finished with the other gear? Thanks. We, uh, we were looking for something.”

“Did you find it?” Teemu asked. The cold air had frosted his goatee again.

“Yes, yes, thank you,” said Uncle Stoppard. “But we’ll, uh, leave it in the bag for now.”

“In the bag,” I said.

We crunched across the snow toward the Thorsnafli. “Does this mean you’re going to rewriteDead Air?”I asked.

“Shhh!”

“And if you thought Edo was in the bag, why didn’t Hrór see him?”

“Maybe Hrór was in on the joke.”

“Hrór wouldn’t do that,” I said.“Not for just a joke”

“How about for extra cash?” said Uncle Stoppard. “The slashed tires bought the Jokkipunkis another day’s worth of guiding. You saw how Roobick offered more money to climb up here.”

“Two thousand more.”

“Extra money for the same amount of work,” said Uncle Stoppard.

That’s just what Ruben Roobick had said the first day we met him at the airport. But for some reason, I still couldn’t see Hrór lying like that.

“So where’s Edo?” I said.

“There has to be a rational reason—”

“A hang glider!” I cried.

“What?”

“In the middle of the night Edo assembled a portable hang glider,” I said. “There was a full moon, right? You saw it.”

“And Edo flew down the Thorsfell?”

“You don’t think that’s possible?”

“Possible, yes, but not likely,” said Uncle Stoppard. “For one thing, it’s dangerous.

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