Message in the Sky

Astrid was unsure as to how Hiccup was going to lay the bait for Excellinor. However he did it would have to be out in the open, so Excellinor could see it from wherever she was hiding, but not so blatantly obvious that half of the Vikings in town showed up at the factory on Monday, the date they had planned. It was only on the Friday before the big event that Astrid got her answer.

"Hey, Milady." Camicazi was at her lunch break, so Hiccup sat down in the thief's office chair.

"Aren't you supposed to be at a therapy session?" Astrid asked, signing her name to a document and without looking up.

"Nice to see you, too," Hiccup drawled sarcastically.

"Sorry. But you know it's important." Astrid set her pen down. "Well, you didn't come over here to have a debate over etiquette. What do you want?"

Hiccup grinned. "Come outside for a sec."

Astrid stared at Hiccup suspiciously. "The twins didn't do anything bad, did they? I'm not about to go outside to clean up one of their messes, am I?"

"Nope. A one hundred percent guarantee that the twins had nothing to do with it."

"Snotlout?" Astrid was covering all of her bases.

"No! And if you don't hurry up, it'll be gone by the time you get there."

"Fine." Astrid shut her computer and capped her pen. She followed Hiccup outside to the parking lot. "What am I supposed to be looking at?" she asked, observing her surroundings. Everything was the same: the weeds in the sidewalk that were growing like...weeds, the parking lot in bad need of several new paint jobs (but never going to get them because of budget cuts), and the busy traffic that roared past like the New Berk City 500.

"You're looking in the wrong place," Hiccup told her. "Up."

"The movie?"

"No! Look up."

Astrid did. "What in Ran's nets?" Smack dab in the center of the sky was an airplane. It flew in a precise pattern, letting of exhaust in certain places. Eventually, the words "Møt meg på paraplyfabrikken mandag ved skumringen" were spelled out in the sky in clouds, and as they were completed, crowds gathered in the streets.

"What does 'Møt meg på paraplyfabrikken mandag ved skumringen' mean?" Astrid asked, totally botching the pronunciation. "Assuming that you're the culprit behind all of this." Already the words were fading and the plane was rewriting them.

"It means 'meet me at the umbrella factory on Monday at twilight' in old Norwegian." Hiccup shielded his eyes to get a better look at the airplane. "I hope Excellinor gets the message soon. I'm paying the pilot by the hour."

"You speak Norwegian?" Coincidentally, they were standing next to Snotlout's spray painted truck. Astrid leaned up against it to get more comfortable, even though she'd prop

Hiccup copied her. "Ja. I figured Excellinor is old, ergo she would know it. Most old timers who also know it wouldn't waste the time to go out to the factory, but she would, of course. She's also good with languages, evident from the message she left on my wall."

"Great idea. Wish I'd thought of it."

"You would have." Hiccup sighed, scratching a bit of the peeling paint off of Snotlout's fender. "I guess all we have to do now is wait until Monday."

"Nuh uh. We've still got to set up our snow cone stand," Astrid corrected.

"Our...snow cone stand?" Hiccup asked, puzzled.

"Yes, Hiccup. Our snow cone stand." Astrid winked at him repeatedly, hoping he would get the message. He did.

"Oh, yes, our snow cone stand." Hiccup rolled his eyes, but smiled, which was Astrid's goal.

Astrid seized the chance. "Since you're in a good mood..."

Hiccup groaned and slapped his palm to his forehead. "I knew you would think of something. What do you want? Not another party, is it?"

"Nope! You're going to help me buy a car!" Astrid snapped her fingers and pointed at him.

"My wallet is not up for grabs," Hiccup warned, backing away from her and waving his crutch in between them. "This Viking's out of money."

Astrid rolled her eyes. "Odin, you're such a skinflint. I'm checking out a possible ride on Berklist." Berklist was a website for people who wanted to sell, trade, or buy just about anything. Once, one guy had taken a paperclip and traded up to a house on it. The previous night, Astrid had stayed up until one in the morning, pouring over cars, reading reviews, and checking gas mileage until she thought she found the right one.

Hiccup frowned. "What's my part in it?" he asked.

"You're going to be there for protection." Astrid could defend herself, but it was an excuse to make Hiccup feel better.

"Where are you meeting them?"

"In front of the grocery store on Billiards street." The store was in a nice, crowded sector of town, too, for extra safety. You never could know when a wacko would post something on Berklist, wanting to murder you. Astrid had arrested her fair share.

"You should have told whomever it is to meet us here," Hiccup advised, a little late. "No deal can go wrong in front of a police station."

Astrid stuck her tongue out. "Rats. I should have thought of that. Well, I want you there for extra dragon protection. I'll be carrying a large sum of money." She dropped her voice to a low whisper so no one could hear her. Not that there were many people standing in the parking lot of the Berk Police Station. After all, it was lunchtime.

As if to remind Astrid of the last fact, her stomach gurgled.

Hiccup must of heard it. "I think the cafeteria bought spam on sale, because that's all they're been serving for the past week."

Astrid wrinkled her nose, pushing herself off the car. "I know. Bleh. You'd think they'd get the picture that no one likes disgusting meat!"

"You know, I read a book once-"

Astrid couldn't help herself. "What?! You read a book?! No way!"

"Ha, ha, very funny. I read a book where a kid started a meat pie stand in a town."

Astrid nodded, following along with the story.

"The thing is, the town's cats and dogs started going missing the day he started business."

Astrid whacked him in the arm. "That's awful! I thought you loved dogs!"

"I'm a book lover, too. And Toothless isn't around to hear it."

"It's still disgusting. For that, you owe me a lunch," Astrid demanded. "And not at McDonald's."

"But they're the cheapest! Burgers for ninety-nine cents!" Hiccup protested, not budging from the side of the truck.

Astrid rolled her eyes. "Such a skinflint," she said, emphasizing every word and poking him at every syllable. "I know your dad gave you a pay raise." It was a little hunch Astrid had been nursing, and it turned out to be true because Hiccup winced.

"Fine," Hiccup grumbled, "but you're paying for the gas to the restaurant."

Astrid stared at him, much like Toothless did at her when he wanted a treat or a tummy rub.

"No gas then," Hiccup was quick to amend. "Let's go."

"Thanks!" Astrid wrapped an arm around his shoulder and steered him in the right direction as they started walking towards the restaurant-filled part of town. "I knew I could count on you!"

"Knew you could extort me is more like it," Hiccup muttered, trying (and failing) to brush her off. But he allowed her to lead the way and didn't complain when it was time to pay the bill. That, Astrid decided, was true friendship.

…

"I love this car!" Astrid sang, spinning the wheel of her recently acquired car to make a sharp turn. "It has heated seats! And the air conditioning works!"

"I-I k-know!" Hiccup said from the passenger seat, teeth chattering. "C-can we m-maybe turn it o-off now t-that w-we know that i-it w-works? It's D-December for c-crying out l-loud!"

"I guess." Astrid was too busy checking out the digital sign on the dashboard that told her how many gallons of gas were left in her tank.

Hiccup reached over to press the button to turn the air conditioning off.

"WAIT!" Astrid swatted his hand away. "Watch this!" Putting her hands back on the steering wheel, she clicked a button. The air conditioning cut off. "You can control it from the wheel! How cool is that?"

"You forgot to turn left back there," Hiccup informed her, rubbing his arms to get rid of the goosebumps.

"No problemo!" Astrid chirped. "The trunk in this car is way bigger than the last one! And there are no rips in the seats!"

"I know! You've told me at least four times since you bought it." Hiccup wasn't as thrilled as she was, especially since he had to pitch in four hundred dollars for the vehicle since the previous owner unexpectedly jacked up the price on her. Why he carried around four hundred dollars on a regular basis was a mystery to Astrid.

"Turn right," Hiccup said.

"Quit being a backseat driver," Astrid complained, taking the turn he indicated. She went on talking about the car. "The mirrors on the visors have their own lights. You can even control how bright they are! This is amazing!"

"Are you paying attention to the road?" Hiccup asked. "The factory is right up ahead. You can see the smokestacks from here."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Did you know that the dashboard tells me how many miles per gallon I get? To one decimal place!"

"Does this car have anything wrong with it? Put on your turn signal."

Astrid thought for a second. "The gas cap is on the right side of the car instead of the left."

Hiccup face palmed and started counting to ten under his breath.

"This place has sure gone to pot," Astrid commented as she pulled into the first parking lot of the abandoned factory. The ruins from when N.E.S.T. had ambushed the Night Fury still had traces and wisps of ash and smoke swirling around, and the effect was downright spooky. Scorch marks littered everything. Astrid slowed her pace to a crawl as to not damage her new car on the cracked concrete. "Where do I go?"

"That iron gate," Hiccup said, pointing to the left of the factory ruins, "if you can even really call it that."

Astrid braked before passing through the remnants of the gate. "The rest of the place isn't like this, is it? I don't want to damage my new car."

"No." Astrid didn't see the eye roll, she sensed it. "You turn left after those propane tanks and the drums."

"Ah. I see where we're going now." Astrid put the car in forward and drove through the gates. Astrid followed Hiccup directions, and parked next to the rest of the gang's vehicles. The chutes blocked Astrid's view of the platform, but she assumed that they were all already up there.

"I hope the twins remembered to bring everything," Hiccup said, stepping out of the car and jamming his sunglasses on his face against the glare of the setting sun. "It should snow soon. This is Berk, for crying out loud."

"I know."

"HELLO, DOWN THERE!" Ruffnut appeared on the one of the rims of the chutes, dancing wildly and waving her arms.

"You're going to kill yourself!" Astrid shouted back.

Ruffnut didn't take heed of Astrid's warning. "COME AND JOIN US!" Astrid heard loud whoops and shouts coming from the platform.

"We'd better get up there before they knock the whole thing down." Astrid started running, temporarily forgetting Hiccup couldn't run yet. She pounded up the ramp to the platform, which was covered in tire tracks, and was met with a disastrous scene.