Page 10 of North Is the Night
“Go upstairs.” Father brushes a hand over her wispy, white-blonde braids.
Liisa grips the sides of her stool in defiance. “No. Why is Siiri bleeding?” She lets out a squeal, and the cat scampers away, as Onni grabs her from behind, shaking her loose from her stool. It clatters to the floor, and she kicks her skinny legs and cries as he carries her over to the ladder leading to the sleeping loft.
“Go to bed,” he barks, hoisting her over his head nearly to the top rung.
Liisa climbs up the ladder with a huff.
Mummi presses a wet rag to my face, gently wiping away the blood. She gestures to my soiled outer dress. “If you take this off, I’ll wash it for you.”
I stand on shaky legs, untying the braided belt that holds the simple wool garment together. My fingers tremble as I pull the shell over my head. Mummi dabs at my wound again. When she nears my eye, I flinch away from her touch.
“This eye will probably blacken.” She looks to Father and the boys as they all make their way to the table and sit down. “What happened?”
Father frowns. “Do you have the strength to tell it again? Your mummi has a right to know.”
I nod. Mummi listens, not interrupting as I start my story on the beach and end with, “And then they brought me back home.”
Mummi looks from me to my brothers. “You saw this too?”
“We saw her, Mummi,” Aksel replies. “We saw her even before Siiri did.”
Mummi returns her attention to me, tucking a loose strand of my hair behind my ear. “Siiri, my brave girl, I believe that tonight you met a goddess. From what you describe, it can only be Kalma.”
A chill seeps through me. Kalma, goddess of death. She haunts graveyards with her malevolent guard dog, the evil Surma, guardian of Tuonela.
Gods, if she’s right, what am I to do? How am I to save Aina?
It’s clear Onni isn’t ready to believe, even knowing what he saw. He spends too much time with the Christian priests. Aksel looks uncertain too. He leans forward. “Mummi, you said nothing can leave the realm of the dead. You said that when Mother died. You said she can’t come back.”
“Thedeadcannot come back,” she replies gently. “But Kalma and her sisters have the ability to cross realms. They are powerful witches, my boy. Their magic is deep and ancient, as old as the hills on which this forest stands. Older.”
I fight a shiver, meeting her gaze for the first time this night. “But what would Kalma want with Aina?”
“And don’t forget the others,” Aksel adds. “The disappearances this summer are all the work of Kalma, yes?”
“Undoubtedly,” Mummi replies.
Aksel glances around at each of us. “Where would she take them?”
Next to him, Onni shrugs. “Maybe a graveyard.”
“But why?” Aksel replies.
“Maybe she eats them... or Surma does—”
“Onni, don’t be crass,” Father warns.
Mummi ignores them all, clearly lost in thought as she watches the fire. My father and brothers continue to argue, but I watch Mummi. I watch and I wait. Of all of us, she knows the most about the old gods and their ways.
“Tuonela,” she whispers at last.
“What?” I say, dread coiling in my chest. Did I not think my own path would lead me there this very night? Did I not wish for it?
My father and brothers go quiet.
Mummi glances from my father to me. “I believe Aina is in Tuonela. All the girls. They’ve surely crossed the river into the land of the dead. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
My heart stops. “Wait—you think Aina’s dead?”
