Midwinterblood Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary
Midsummer Sun
The story opens in June of 2073. We’re standing on a little Scandinavian island with a guy named Eric Seven. He’s a journalist and he’s just arrived on assignment to a place called Blessed Island.
You could say it’s sort of an odd place. After all, it’s midnight and the sun is still shining, but that’s just because the island is so far north—there are other things making Eric feel weird. Things he’ll forget about. Later.
Suddenly, Eric thinks about a girl named Merle who makes him feel like everything will be all right after all. “Well, so it is,” he thinks to himself pleasantly.
Eric remembers how the weird vibes started when he was on the plane ride up to the island. There were loads of other people on the flight, but when Eric bumped his OneDegree app, he got nothing.
The OneDegree app is super popular in 2073. And useful. The idea is that most people are connected—not by six degree of separation, or even Kevin Bacon—but by only one. When you go someplace, you simply have to open the app and it will tell you who in the surrounding area is someone you might know. Or maybe they know someone you know. Or maybe they worked somewhere that you worked a long time ago. You get the idea.
But Eric didn’t get any results even though the flight was half-full. This has never happened before, so it’s a little unsettling.
Of course, the other guys on the flight looked like miners who were travelling for work—they were a tough-looking lot—so maybe Eric really didn’t have any connections up there.
It’s all very mysterious. In fact, that’s the point of this trip; it’s why Eric’s editor gave him this assignment.
Sure, there have been rumors and whispers about Blessed Island, but no concrete evidence or firsthand accounts—nothing on the Net at all. It’s very strange.
The only thing Eric knows is that some people seem to think that Blessed Island is a place where people can live forever. He’s about to find out.
Midwinterblood Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary
Eric doesn’t believe in love at first sight. Well, not until he sees Merle.
She and a small group of other people are waiting for Eric as his steamboat docks on Blessed Island. How on earth did they know he was coming? See? This place is totally weird.
Along with this beautiful lady that Eric feels so drawn to, there is an older man named Tor who has one bad eye. This guy gives Eric the creeps. But, maybe it’s just the eye. Sure. Maybe that’s it.
Tor asks Eric how he got his last name—Seven. Is he part of the True Modern Church?
Eric explains that his parents were. One of the Church’s teachings is that names are like shackles to history or weapons to be used against other people; members pick new names to free themselves from that. A number, like seven, doesn’t have any meaning attached to it, Eric explains.
Anyway, Eric isn’t religious now. He doesn’t talk to his parents and certainly doesn’t want to talk about them.
Tor remarks that they don’t get many visitors on Blessed Island, so he wonders why Eric has decided to visit.
Oh, it’s just for a newspaper story, Eric tells him.
When Tor wonders if Eric will be staying long, Eric says he isn’t sure. And then he catches another glimpse of Merle. Oh, he’s in deep.
Midwinterblood Part 1, Chapter 3 Summary
Later, Eric is sitting with Tor and the others folks from the welcoming party—two women and a man—at Tor’s house. But no Merle. Bummer.
Tor wants to know where Eric would like to stay. There are no hotels on Blessed Island. They don’t get many visitors, remember? So Tor offers to get a house situated for him, which is nice, though the guy still seems a little weird to Eric.
But everyone on the island seems to know Tor. As they walked up to his house, Eric noticed that everyone waved and smiled as Tor passed—he’s obviously the most popular guy in town. He also has the biggest house, which is right in the center of the island.
Tor offers Eric a mug of hot tea and introduces him to the other folks he’s with. The women are Maya and Jane and the man is Henrik. It’s tough to tell how old they are, though all three look younger than Tor, but older than Merle.
Eric wonders if it is true: Maybe these guys are living forever; maybe Tor is like one hundred and twenty years old or something like that. Weird.
Henrik offers to help Eric with his article if he needs it, then he lets slip that the four of them are the wards of Blessed Island.
He corrects himself after a quick look from Tor, though, saying actually Tor is the Ward of Blessed Island. But hey, being one of the wards is still pretty cool, right?
Eric’s thoughts drift to Merle again. Sure, she’s pretty, but that’s not the thing that’s catching his eye—it’s like he knows her from somewhere, like he just spotted an old friend again.
Suddenly, Eric wants some fresh air. He takes a short walk and surveys the island and thinks more about what he’s seen.
Why did Tor ask him about his parents? And why does that guy bug him so much? Tor’s been nothing but super nice and helpful since Eric got off the steamboat, but something about the dude just makes him feel wary.
And why does he feel like he recognizes Merle? This isn’t possible. Eric takes out his OneDegree just to be sure, though—maybe he’ll get a connection with her. Wouldn’t that be nice?
But there’s no reception. His device is useless here… yet weirdly enough, he kind of feels like he’s come home. So strange.
Suddenly Merle appears behind him. She explains that the device doesn’t work because they don’t use them here. They also don’t have cars. They get by just fine walking or riding bikes—it’s a small, weird island, after all.
She shows him the pink flower moon and they talk for a while. Eric is mesmerized by her, but also really tired, so Merle shows him to his house and lets him know that the tea will help him sleep even though it’s still light outside.
As he drifts off to sleep, Eric has one final, creepy thought—he hasn’t seen any children since he arrived at Blessed Island. Yeah. Super creepy.
Midwinterblood Part 1, Chapter 4 Summary
Once he’s slept, Eric feels much better. He gets up and looks out his bedroom window and sees how amazingly beautiful the island is.
There are flowers and adorable houses everywhere; people stop and chat in the lanes; someone is singing.
Eric is hungry, and when he goes downstairs he discovers that someone has prepared him a huge and delicious-looking breakfast—but no one is in the house.
In the middle of the table, Eric sees a vase of freshly-picked flowers which reminds him of something. Hmmm… something about flowers. He can’t recollect though.
So he finishes his delicious breakfast instead. Yum.
Midwinterblood Part 1, Chapter 5 Summary
It’s noon, so Eric goes out for a little stroll around the island. People wave as they tend their gardens and Eric walks past lovely, idyllic sights on his way to the coast.
Suddenly, Eric just feels the need to take a swim, so he finds a little cove along the sea and strips naked and dives into the cold salty water.
Wait a second, Eric thinks. What am I doing? He jumps out of the sea and rushes back to his clothes, which he finds in a different position than when he left them—again, though, he finds that no one is around. Could this place get any weirder?
Eric’s mind feels fuzzy, but he remembers he’s supposed to be working. He heads back to the house and goes over everything he knows about Blessed Island.
It’s obscure and self-governed, and it’s so far north that the sun doesn’t set this time of year. He has no clue how big the population is or how they support themselves, though. It’s not tourism, that’s for sure.
He checks his device and sees some notes he made about a rare orchid—the blessed dragon orchid—which people believe only survives on Blessed Island. Rumors say that the flower has healing powers or can make you live forever, and the folks on the island may be selling it untested to people around the world, which is dangerous and illegal.
Ah, finally Eric remembers why he came here: to investigate.
He’s saved a map of the island on his device, but the battery gives out before he can find it. Then, he can’t find his charger. Anywhere.
Then something terrible occurs to him, something really frightening: Someone has come into his bedroom and stolen his charger. Dun dun dun…
Midwinterblood Part 1, Chapter 6 Summary
The next time Eric sees Tor, he’s still super friendly—but Eric decides not to mention that his charger has been abducted.
He asks to borrow a bike and a map of the island and Tor agrees (after hesitating for a split second).
Tor also offers Eric some more of that good sleepy-time tea. Because, really, isn’t Eric felling tired? Very, very tired…
Huh. Now that he thinks about it, Eric is feeing a bit sluggish. So he drinks his tea. Ah, that’s better.
Midwinterblood Part 1, Chapter 7 Summary
Eric’s pretty glad to get out of there. Why does Tor bother him so much? Eric still can’t figure it out.
He decides to canvas the island. If the folks on Blessed Island are mass-producing some kind of immortality potion with the dragon orchids, then Eric’s got to be able to find a huge field of those creepy flowers somewhere. He’s on the case.
Eric starts off on the bike and laughs when he thinks about how his work as a journalist has taken him to dangerous places all over the world, but now he’s somewhere lovely and beautiful.
Back home, he doesn’t have any really close friends—if he died, it would be weeks before anyone knew. Such a cheery thought.
He cruises around the island and hardly ever has to peddle. What a pleasant little adventure this is. When Eric stops at the quay by the sea, Merle is waiting for him. Things are just getting better and better.
They talk for a moment and Eric wonders why he’s so ineloquent around her; Merle touches his arm and tells him, “I found you.” When Eric mentions Tor, though, dude suddenly appears.
“Forthwith the devil did appear,” Merle says, “for name him and he’s always near,” which is basically the same as saying speak of the devil. Harsh words for Tor.
Tor asks to speak with Merle and Eric peddles off wondering what Merle meant about finding him. Maybe there’s something in the water on Blessed Island that make you cryptic.
Midwinterblood Part 1, Chapter 8 Summary
Eric explores the island for hours, but doesn’t find anything. No field of flowers or lab or bottling plant. Nothing.
But he keeps looking. He’ll know what he needs to find when he sees it, just like when he first saw Merle. Aw.
It’s getting late, but the sun isn’t going down (as usual). Eric pulls out the map again and realizes that it only covers the eastern half of the island; the western half isn’t on there anywhere. Why would anyone print a map with only half an island on it? Why indeed.
Then he remembers a path that he saw the night before. It looked like it went nowhere, but now he realizes it didn’t.
Eric peddles off to sleuth out some answers. Where’s Sherlock Holmes when you need him?
Midwinterblood Part 1, Chapter 9 Summary
Biking to this path is taking forever; it’s all uphill, and the hills are mega steep.
A weird thought occurs to Eric: All day he’s been biking around the eastern half of the island and hardly had to peddle at all, but now he can barely get up the hill. He must be onto something.
When he gets to the path, he sees thick shrubs and bushes blocking the way; he fights his way through them to a little clearing.
There he sees rocks with animal faces painted on them, one of which looks a bit like a dragon. More weirdness.
Eric suddenly hears voices back on the path. There are two or three people crowded around his bike and they’re talking, but he can’t make out what they’re saying.
When they step away for a second, Eric pushes his way back through the bushes, grabs his bike, and peddles out of there.
He eventually finds himself at Tor’s house. Inside, he hears Tor arguing with Henrik and Merle.
Henrik is doubtful about what they’re planning to do, but Tor insists that they need to follow the same path their ancestors did; Merle isn’t feeling that great about things either.
Tor mentions that Merle has a special place in their hearts since she’s youngest person on the island, but, that being said, she doesn’t actually know what the heck she’s talking about.
Merle wonders if Tor has a clue either.
Tor is annoyed. He’s the Ward of Blessed Island and he’s the one who gets to decide, that’s final—they all need to play their parts and shut up.
Everyone starts arguing again and Eric rushes into the house. Tor meets him in the hallway and they all assure Eric they’re just fine. No biggie.
Merle and the others head home and Tor offers Eric some more of that delicious tea. Soon, he’s feeling tired again… So very tired.
Midwinterblood Part 1, Chapter 10 Summary
Back home, Eric sleeps for a long time.
When he wakes up, breakfast is ready and he sees a note suggesting he take a swim on the south pier.
Now, that’s a lovely idea.
Eric can’t remember if he’s ever been this far south on the island. He also doesn’t remember that’s he’s completely lost track of time even though he’s only been on Blessed Island for a few days. Eh, that’s just a little thing.
Once he makes it to the pier, he undresses and slips into the sea
He swims for a while and then notices that Merle is with him in the water. She swims over to him, touches his hand, and whispers, “I followed you.”
They laugh and swim out further and dive under the waves together.
Suddenly, Eric realizes that this is all kind of ridiculous… but familiar. Have they done this before? A long time ago maybe?
When they climb out of the water, they dry in the sun and hold hands. Eric wonders if he would love Merle if she were someone else and decides that of course he would—she would still be Merle.
Isn’t this all a little weird? Eric wonders.
Sure, but is it any weirder than anything else that happens? Merle asks him. It’s a fair point.
Then Merle glances at her watch and realizes she has to leave. Eric stays on the rocks after she leaves and just thinks about her and the way she makes him feel. He’s got it bad.
As he heads home, Eric can’t help but feeling that there’s something he’s supposed to be doing. When he arrives in his kitchen, there’s a jar of tea sitting on the table and he decides to brew himself a nice pot. Good idea.
Yeah, that will help him remember.
Midwinterblood Part 1, Chapter 11 Summary
Days pass and Eric sleeps and wakes and drinks the tea—it’s so tasty.
He walks around the island and waves to the people; he stops to smell the flowers.
Merle comes to visit him, but he doesn’t feel the same way about her. He vaguely remembers that she was once really important to him… but why? He can’t quite figure that out.
These days, Merle seems annoyed with him at times. He hasn’t done anything, though, and Eric thinks she needs to relax, to chill out like him.
The only other visitor he ever has is a hare. One morning, it blocks the path to his door. The hare stares at him so intensely, though, that Eric decides not to mess with it.
He goes for a walk instead.
And days and days pass by just like this. And Eric forgets everything.
Midwinterblood Part 1, Chapter 12 Summary
In the middle of the night, Eric wakes up: He’s just had a nightmare in which he was drowning.
But why is there actually water in his mouth?
He spits out the liquid he’s been choking on as he faintly hears the footsteps leaving his bedroom. When he goes downstairs the front door is wide open, but he doesn’t see anyone in the street.
Back in his bedroom, he finds a note telling him to wake up and remember what he was doing before. The mysterious note says that he was right about looking on that path for the answers to his questions.
He crawls back into bed, but throws up before he can drift off to sleep, and for the rest of the night he starts to remember some old dreams. Well, nightmares actually.
Eric has had these dreams his whole life. In them, he sees himself in another time and another place. And there’s always blood—lots and lots of blood. This is not looking good.
Midwinterblood Part 1, Chapter 13 Summary
The next day, Eric gets out of bed and takes a long, cold shower. He’s starting to feel a little more clear-headed, to remember some things.
He was here to investigate Blessed Island and find out about the dragon orchids. And then he thinks of Merle and remembers falling in love with her.
Eric darts out of the house and rides the bike up the hill to the pathway, where he forces his way through the bushes and past the rocks with animal faces on them.
When he can stand up, he sees that he’s on a causeway that will take him to the western side of Blessed Island.
Once he gets onto the western side, he starts to see the dragon orchids; there are thousands of them in fields, and they look like dragons with dark-purple black petals. Eric wants to touch one but decides against it—they’re kind of freaky and might not be kosher.
He travels a little further west and comes across a little church. It’s abandoned and looks like an old ruin, so he goes inside to check it out.
Inside, he finds a cloth draped over a gigantic painting. When Eric pulls back the cloth, he sees a terrifying and bloody scene painted there. Not good.
Suddenly, a lock clicks behind him and Tor is in the doorway along with the other four wards of Blessed Island.
Tor says he’s glad that Eric saw the painting because mow he knows why the gods brought him to Blessed Island: Eric is there to help them. Cryptic much?
Tor gives an order to seize Eric and people start to fill the church. They grab Eric and drag him to another room in the church where there is stone table.
Eric is terrified, but Tor’s followers are holding him so tight that he can’t get away. He struggles and screams, but he can’t make a break for it.
They tear off his shirt and force him onto the stone table. There, he sees Tor pull out a massive, curved knife and hand it to Henrik.
Merle is there, too. She looks down at him and whispers, “I followed you.”
Eric screams, but in his terror he has one last incredible thought: All this has happened to him before.