Island of Fire (The Unwanteds) (35 page)

Alex placed each whale bone carefully into its socket, sometimes looking for hours to find the exact piece he needed next. It was a glorious puzzle with hundreds of pieces, and it took him months to finish it.

And when he finally did, he was sad to leave the whale, so he began to sculpt muscles and tendons and tissues over the bones out of materials he found in the sea during their sea breathing lessons. It was his own secret project, and it was amazing to watch the whale take shape as he layered it. One day maybe he’d try to give it a mosaic exterior like Jim’s.

Claire Morning, Henry Haluki, and Carina Holiday became the lead researchers and chemists, experimenting with all kinds of
serums made from plants they found in the jungle. Henry practiced his magical stitches on various fruits and vegetables that he found in the giant kitchen pantry, and Carina began to work hard on a concoction that would ease pain—and
not
cause a person to vomit incessantly. Sean became a willing volunteer for Carina, who administered the medicine whenever she thought she’d improved on it. They had varied results, including one rather explosive multicolored vomit rainbow that the team oohed and aahed over, and even Sean was impressed once it stopped. He decided to keep a vial of that version in case he ever needed it for a practical joke.

The interest in spell making began to bloom after Artiméans saw the success of the spells Alex, Meghan, Samheed, and Lani had created. After a while, Florence had to limit the number of presentations to one per week, per student. And then, after numerous crazy spells were presented that seemed unlikely to assist Artimé in battle, Florence had to establish a committee of students who would decide if a spell was useful, like the jabbing violin bow spell, or unnecessarily dangerous like the guillotine spell, or merely frivolous and fun, like the pink hair spell. There were definitely a few students who were gifted in this area of spell creation, while most
of the others found it to be a passing craze and soon went on to find something different that they could be fabulous at.

Quill’s national holiday, the day of the Purge, came again. A new crop of Unwanted thirteen-year-olds arrived at Artimé’s gates. Alex, the girrinos, and all the other Unwanteds welcomed them. And for the first time, but certainly not the last, Alex declared that Artimé would hold a masquerade ball the following week to celebrate.

All the seasoned Unwanteds spent the day of the masquerade in preparation, some opting to create magical masks that would change color and shape depending on the mood of the owner, and others choosing to fashion more elaborate, less flashy masks to be worn in a traditional manner. Mr. Appleblossom, of course, was the coordinator and producer of the event, and he was having a most delightful time planning the gala, which would be complete with musical numbers by his students—and of course, the lounge band.

The mood and timbre of Artimé was as high and rich as it had ever been, and the Unwanteds looked forward to a most amazing evening indeed.

A
lex opted for a simple pirate eye patch as his mask, which wouldn’t clash with his brightly colored robe. He sat at his dressing table combing his hair and trimming the ends of it with a magical finger scissors he created on the spot for such an occasion. He wanted his hair to look nice and fresh, as it had grown into long waves by now.

He shaved the soft dark fuzz above his upper lip because he thought it made his skin look like it was smudged with dirt, and then he checked his chin and found a few stiffer black hairs there to shave as well, which seemed like quite an accomplishment. “I wonder if I should keep these whiskers and give them to Simber in
case he ever learns how to use a seek spell,” he mused, straightening his tie and jacket underneath the robe. “It seems I grew them my very own self. Very creative of you, Stowe.” He grinned to himself in the mirror and patted his pocket, where Simber’s stone dewclaw remained. He was in a chipper mood tonight.

He had the benefit of spying on his side. He could look out the giant window at the end of the hall to watch the decorations go up, and when the time came to meet Sky on the balcony, he had the good fortune to be able to see her standing there without her seeing him until he emerged.

She stood in front of the secret hallway, one hand resting on the banister. She wore a burnt-orange gown covered in multicolored sequins. Attached to a stick in her other hand was her mask—a butterfly shape with plumes of orange and purple feathers. She looked in the direction of the staircase, not smiling or frowning, just gazing at the flurry of students as she waited for Alex. Her hair looked glossy and smoother than usual, somehow enhancing both the dark under layer of her hair and the bright natural highlights that had grown even more distinct after so much swimming and training. It jetted down to rest below her collarbone.

Alex liked that Sky didn’t try to cover up her scars around
her neck, and he admired her profile for a moment in secret. He watched her face light up as Samheed and Lani joined her at the railing.

“You look stunning,” Lani said. “What a great idea to match your eyes to your dress. I wish I’d thought of that.”

Samheed rested his hand on Lani’s shoulder and glanced down the secret hallway, startling only slightly when he saw Alex standing there. Sam grinned and Alex grinned back. “Busted,” he mouthed. Samheed nodded and turned his attention back to the girls as Alex came bustling out of the hallway, pretending to straighten his robe, as if he hadn’t been there all the time.

“Fabulous. Gorgeous. Divine,” Alex said, mimicking a voice that Mr. Appleblossom often used when playing the part of a wealthy nobleman. His eyes lingered on Sky. “You look amazing,” he said.

She grinned. “You look . . . like . . . some weird, psychedelic pirate. A cute one,” she added.

“Then my costume is a success,” Alex said grandly.

They fell into step together, picking up Meghan as she exited the girls’ hallway. Alex linked his other arm with hers, and the five descended the steps in elegant fashion. By the
door, Florence wore a cheetah mask and Simber wore a simple black warrior-looking mask.

“Who do you suppose they are?” Meghan asked.

“Wow, I just can’t tell,” said Lani.

Florence opened the door for them and they swept out onto the lawn, which was glowing with light and color. Ms. Morning played in the band with the fox (and the kitten, who played a tiny triangle), and there was an enormous spread of food and drinks.

The five mingled together and apart, laughing and chatting with people they hadn’t had a chance to chat with in a while, and everyone made a point to be kind to the newest batch of Unwanteds, who wore looks ranging from shock to pure fright on their faces.

Alex said a few words of welcome to everyone but kept it short, which is what Meghan told him to do. After that the party continued late into the evening with dancing, everyone changing partners and having a blast.

And so it happened that when an enormous boom echoed in the sky, only those on the outskirts of the party and the very best music students could distinguish the fracturing noise from the kettledrum in the song the band was playing. But
when flashes of fire lit up the air, it was hard to miss.

The music stopped immediately as a gasp rose up from the crowd.

“What was that?” Meghan asked. She grabbed Alex and Sky and they ran to the shore, straining their eyes to see in the darkness. There, amid a cloud of smoke, they saw a large piece of something falling from the sky. It whistled as it fell, and hit the water with a smack that rang out. Soon there was the raining sound of the splash coming back down before all was quiet again.

Half the Unwanteds ran into the mansion in fear, and the other half lined the shore as Alex ran to Simber to see if he could see or smell anything.

“Whateverrr it is, it’s floating on the waterrr,” Simber said, eyes narrowed. “It’s big. And I smell . . . something.”

“What do you smell?” Alex said, craning his neck uselessly, for it was too dark to see anything.

“It’s . . . ” The cheetah sampled the air once more as if he wanted to be sure. “It’s death.” He rose up on his haunches.

Alex glanced at Sky. “I need to take a look,” he said, an apology in his eyes.

Simber glanced at them. “May as well have two of you.”

Alex looked at Sky, and then at himself. “We might have to go in,” he said. “Sim, we’re going to do a quick change of clothes and grab some lights, and we’ll be back in a flash. Less than a minute. Right, Sky?”

Sky nodded, excited, and the two of them raced into the mansion, Sky pulling her dress up a little so she could take the steps two at a time. “Unzip me!” she cried.

Alex fumbled with her zipper and yanked it down her back while running. “Meet back on the balcony!” he shouted, and they split at the top of the stairs and went down their respective hallways, stripping the formal clothes off as they flew into their rooms. Alex tossed his robe, jacket, tie, and mask on the bed, kicked his shoes at the wall, and slid into his normal day clothing. He fumbled with his sandals for several agonizing seconds, and then decided just to go barefoot. He whirled the robe over his shoulders once again, patting the inner pockets to make sure they were full, shuffled around trying find a component that would shed light, and then raced to his door and flung it open.

What he saw on the other side of the door stopped him cold.

W
hat—how the—” Alex exploded. “How did you get in here?”

Without a second thought, the High Priest Aaron Stowe threw a punch, hitting his brother square in the jaw. Alex reeled back into his room and caught himself on the bed, then scrambled back and charged at Aaron, slamming into him and knocking him flat in the hallway.

The two scrabbled on the floor until Alex gained the upper hand, thanks to his recent strenuous workouts, and pinned Aaron to the floor.

“What the world is wrong with you?” Alex shouted, breathing hard.

Aaron, who looked like he was in a state of shock, whimpered, “Don’t hit me.”

Alex stared at his brother through narrowed eyes. “Why not? I should kill you.”

“I didn’t mean to punch you,” Aaron said, regaining his composure. “It was a reaction. You practically exploded out of there. I wasn’t expecting it.”

Alex’s mouth hung open. “Why don’t you tell me just what you were expecting?”

Aaron struggled. “Will you let me up?”

“No!”

“All right,” Aaron said, his voice straining to remain calm.

“How did you get in here? Don’t make me ask you again,” Alex warned. “I could kill you approximately a hundred and fifty times with a flick of my finger if I wanted to.” It was a lie, but it was a good one.

Aaron tried to melt into the floor. His breathing grew ragged. “I came through that glass thing. From Haluki’s house.”

Alex’s expression didn’t change, but inside he was kicking
himself. He’d meant to do something about that after he rescued Ms. Morning, knowing that the guards had probably figured out what the tube did. But there had been so much happening back then that it had slipped to the bottom of his list of things to do. And after his injury, the entire list had all but disappeared.

“Well, what do you want? Last time I tried to get you to come in here, you didn’t want to have anything to do with it. So get out. Here, I’ll help you.” He let Aaron up, not letting go of his brother’s shirt, and shoved him toward the kitchenette’s tube.

Aaron stumbled, throwing his arms out to catch himself. “Alex, I came here because I saw something, and this was the quickest way. There was an explosion in the sky over in this direction, and I . . . I just know it’s got to be one of the enemies attacking us.” His face was rather pale.

Alex was starting to believe Aaron really
was
scared, and he wasn’t sure what to make of it. He glanced down the hallway to the balcony, where Sky paced anxiously. “How could you see anything at all from Quill? Oh, wait,” Alex said, remembering something he’d seen when he was slung over the pirate ship railing on the way home from Warbler. “You made a hole in your wall, didn’t you?”