Page 13 of Meet Me Under the Northern Lights

Chloe was lost for words, eyes on the sky, wrapped up in the wonder of the light show above her.

It was indescribable and just couldn’t be picked up accurately on a photograph.

She’d tried to capture it, after Gunnar had been radioed to go to the upper deck, but all that had come out was grainy grey pixelated nothingness.

OK, it was only a camera phone, but to get nothing at all was horrendously disappointing.

In the end she had given up, decided to look with only her eyes and just indulge and enjoy this precious possibly-once-in-a-lifetime occurrence.

‘Have you taken photos?’

It was Gunnar, back at her side again.

‘No.’

‘No?’ he queried, looking at her like her answer made her immediately suspicious. ‘That is all anyone is doing on the upper deck.’

‘Well, I tried but you can’t really capture how beautiful it is.’

‘Give me your phone,’ Gunnar said, taking off his gloves and holding out his hand.

‘I did try. Nothing worked.’

‘I heard you. So, give your phone to me.’

‘You think you can make it work?’

‘Shall I say it again for your voice notes?’

He was still holding out his hand, so she unlocked her mobile and passed it to him.

‘OK, so you have to turn your light settings right the way down.’ He pressed on the screen of her phone then held it up to the sky.

‘But that looks too dark,’ Chloe said. ‘Nothing will come out.’

‘Do you not trust me? This very capable main character crewing the boat?’

She laughed. ‘OK.’

He snapped a few pictures then turned the screen to show her. What she saw was a vast difference to anything she had captured.

‘They are not perfect. They would be better with a good quality camera but?—’

‘No!’ Chloe said straight off. ‘No, these are great!’ She swiped to view the others. ‘So good.’

‘But, now you have something to show with your notes, you should just look. Because the lights, they change quickly.’

He was absolutely right about that. In the time she had been observing the sky she had seen so many different colours – green, white and even the brightest fiery red. The direction of the light show varied also – parts horizontal, others vertical, strips like a rainbow waterfall.

‘It is said that if you make a wish on the lights, it will come true,’ Gunnar told her.

Chloe laughed. ‘I am sure they say that at every single tourist site the whole world over.’

‘You do not believe that parts of the world can be more enchanted than others?’

‘Enchanted? I don’t think I’ve heard that word since I got read a bedtime story.’

‘Ah, that is because you do not believe,’ Gunnar said, leaning his back against the railing as the boat continued to sail gently forward. ‘And if you do not believe then there is no point making a wish.’

‘Wait,’ Chloe said. ‘I didn’t say I didn’t believe.’

‘You do not need to say. I have been told.’

‘What?’

‘Yes,’ he said, nodding. He cupped his ear. ‘What is that you say? Ah, yes, yes I agree.’

Chloe shook her head. ‘I don’t know why I am even going to ask this because if there’s one thing I don’t believe then it’s this but… who are you talking to?’

He was still cupping his ear like he was listening to the universe. ‘Yes, I agree with that also. Maybe, because she does not believe in enchantment she must never know.’

‘OK, that’s OK, you can keep your voices in your head to yourself. I’ll get a psych ward on standby.’

Gunnar gasped. ‘Voices in my head! You insult the huldufólk !’

‘The what?’

He took her arm and led her further along the walkway until they were poised over the water at the very centre of the boat.

‘We must whisper,’ he whispered. ‘So they do not hear.’

‘O-K.’

‘More quiet.’

‘OK,’ she whispered.

‘So, here in Iceland there is the… huldufólk .’ He looked over his shoulder like someone or something was about to rise out of the sea and take him.

‘And that means?’ Chloe asked.

‘Do not tell the government, but it is the huldufólk who are really in charge of things around here. They are supernatural beings that live in nature.’

‘Like… ghosts?’ Chloe queried.

‘More like… elves.’

She laughed out loud. ‘Elves aren’t supernatural beings. They’re… well… OK, I don’t know what they are, possibly because they only exist in fairy tales and?—’

Suddenly a gloved finger was pressed to her lips and she was eye to eye with Gunnar. Those blue eyes. Bright, clear blue eyes. She went to open her mouth, resist the material resting against her lips but then:

‘Sshh. You think the huldufólk are a joke?’ he asked. ‘In Iceland we take them very seriously and it is not right to insult them while we are on the sea and under the Northern Lights; both of these things they have deep connections to.’

Chloe said nothing, just kept their gaze fixed together somewhat in challenge.

‘So, if I take my finger away will you pledge to suspend your disbelief until we get back to dry land? It would not be good for me if how you feel about the huldufólk made them angry and endangered all the other passengers and crew and?—’

‘Alright!’ Chloe said, the word muffled against his finger.

He took away his finger. ‘So, now, we will both make a wish on the lights.’

‘Do we have to link hands and close our eyes too?’

The second the words were out of Chloe’s mouth she wanted to retract them. Why had she said that?

‘Yes,’ Gunnar answered. ‘That is exactly what we must do. And before the lights begin to fade.’

Before she could say or do anything more, Gunnar had taken her hand in his and interlinked their fingers.

Even with gloves preventing skin-on-skin contact the connection felt as achingly familiar as it felt alien.

She closed her eyes. Wishes. She had wanted to believe in those many moons ago, but it was all fiction.

Her wish had been to have a baby. Have a baby with Michael.

She’d been ready to settle down, start a family.

Her genetics – inarguable science not anything mystical – had ended that dream and then ended that relationship.

Her life was taking a different path now – a career one – and she only had one thing to wish for.

That partnership opportunity with the business.

Gunnar spoke some words in Icelandic and Chloe opened her eyes.

‘What did you say? Because you shouldn’t speak your wish, everyone knows that.’

‘I thought you did not believe in wishes,’ Gunnar answered.

‘Aren’t you meant to be whispering that, so the elves don’t hear?’

He smiled. ‘I was not revealing my wish. I was giving thanks. Keeping the elves happy.’

‘And are they?’

‘Are they what?’

‘Happy.’

‘Did you make your wish?’ he asked her.

‘Yes,’ she answered.

‘Then they are happy.’

‘What about your wish?’ she asked him.

For some reason her sentence seemed to hang in the air between them like it was part of the light show, heavy yet somehow illuminated. Then static noise broke the air, Icelandic coming from Gunnar’s radio, startling them both.

‘I have to go,’ Gunnar said. ‘I am needed.’

‘Yes, OK. Very good.’

Very good? Where had that come from?

‘OK,’ Gunnar said. ‘Enjoy the rest of the lights.’

It was only when he went to walk away that Chloe realised they were still holding hands.

‘Oh, sorry, I don’t know—’ She stopped her awkward sentence as they broke apart and, for some reason, put her gloved hand under her armpit.

‘My fault,’ Gunnar answered. ‘Bye.’

And then he was gone.