Island of Fire (The Unwanteds) (36 page)

Aaron’s eyes widened. “Yes. How did you know?”

Alex nodded secretively. “I have my ways.” It felt good to have the upper hand for once. He glanced at Sky again. He hesitated, debating about what he should do with Aaron. If he forced him back into the tube, Aaron could just come again later, and he could wreak a lot of havoc in Alex’s new office, which didn’t have a lock on the door. Plus there were the monitors. . . . He let a frustrated sigh escape, and then in a flash he shackled Aaron’s wrists with a spell and grabbed his arm. “Fine,” he said. “Sit here in the hallway until I come back. I’ll destroy that tube later.” He reached for the door to his private quarters and pulled it closed, putting its magical lock in place, and then he went down to the office door, closed it, and pretended to lock it so Aaron wouldn’t even try to get in.

Aaron, who had followed Alex’s gaze the second time he’d looked down the hallway, barely resisted the shackles and couldn’t turn his head away. He frowned. “Who is that?” he said in a quiet voice.

Alex glanced at Aaron and turned to see what he was staring at. All he could see was Sky, and he wondered if there was
some picture or artwork on this side of the opening like there was a mirror on the other side, though he didn’t know why there should be. He narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean?”

Aaron’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “That girl,” he said. “On the balcony.”

Alex’s heart jumped to his throat. “You can see her?”

O
f course I can see her,” Aaron said, snapping out of whatever trance he’d been in. “She’s standing right there.” And she was the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen. Not that he spent a lot of time thinking about girls, what with all the takeovers and falls from grace and rises to power. But he’d turned his head a time or two, just like anyone might expect.

Then he looked down at his hands and realized what Alex had done. “You shackled me? How dare you? Did you forget who I am?”

Alex just stared at him with a look of horror on his face.
Impossible,
he thought.

“What?” Aaron said.

“Describe her.”

“Honestly, Alex, don’t you think we should figure out this explosion thing? If the island is being attacked, maybe we ought to, you know . . . consider . . . ” His mouth went dry, hardly believing that he’d almost proposed working together. But right now Aaron wasn’t sure what kind of support he had, and he’d do anything to keep his place in the palace. Absolutely anything. Still . . . He jiggled his arms impatiently. “Take these things off my wrists.” It was annoying.

“No. I changed my mind. You’re coming with me.”

“This is ridiculous. I let you walk unshackled in Quill,” Aaron said.

“That’s because I’m not a stupid tyrant, you jerk. If I take the shackles off, I’m guessing there are at least a hundred people out there who would kill you as soon as look at you. With the shackles, and with me, you might live. Did you forget who
I
am?”

But Aaron wasn’t listening. He was looking at the girl again. “She looks . . . emotional.” He said the word with disdain, but it didn’t change the way his stomach flipped.

“Come on,” Alex said, tugging on his arm. “She’s anxious because I was supposed to meet her five minutes ago to see what the explosion was.”

“Ah, so you heard it? Did you see the fire?” Aaron’s eyes shifted nervously as Alex dragged him down the hallway.

They reached the balcony, and the girl’s face changed from anxious to relieved to surprised when she saw the nearly identical image next to Alex. Her eyes flew to Alex’s with a question, but all Aaron saw was the amazing color of her irises—he’d only seen color like that for the first time just recently, having watched—with a bit of fear—the sun disappear at night.

He frowned, remembering the explosion again, which wasn’t quite as frightening now as it was when he’d watched it all alone at the edge of the sea.

“Sky, I’m sorry,” Alex said, and he picked up his pace to a jog down the stairs to keep up with the girl. “I had an unexpected visitor.”

“You say that with such pleasure,” Aaron said.

“Ooh, sarcasm. You’ve allowed yourself to emote. What progress,” Alex replied.

Aaron watched the girl. “I’m the High Priest Aaron. Stowe,”
he added, and then felt heat rising from his shirt collar.

“I know who you are,” the perfectly named girl replied, not looking at him.

“Usually people bow,” Aaron explained, sure she would be impressed.

“Don’t get your hopes up, Jerkface,” Sky said. She ran ahead.

“Get Sean, will you?” Alex called after her.

“I’m already on it.”

Alex grinned.

Aaron looked at Alex as they reached the bottom of the steps. “What? What is that? Jerkface? Is that good?”

Alex snorted. “Yeah, Aaron. It’s really good. I think it means she likes you.” Seconds later they pushed through the door to the lawn, where a bevy of Unwanteds were gathering with spell components drawn and fury in their eyes.

“Look who I found,” Alex said. He spied Sean and shoved Aaron in his direction, knowing the rest of Artimé would pounce if Aaron tried to do anything.

He ran after Sky and they mounted Simber’s back. Simber took a few steps and leaped out over the water, reaching top speed so fast that Alex and Sky could barely hang on.

“Sorry about the delay,” he called out to Simber. “Aaron saw the explosion and got in through the tube.” He rubbed his jaw where Aaron had punched him.

“That’s trrroubling.”

“I meant to do something about that tube.”

Sky’s face was concerned. “But how did you get him through the wall? Did you find a spell for that after all?”

“No,” Alex said. “That’s even more troubling. He can see it. The opening, I mean.”

Simber turned his head sharply. “He can?”

“Yes. I almost fell over. It’s not good.”

Sky looked at Alex. “What does it mean?”

Alex considered all the dreadful possibilities. “It means he’s a lot more powerful magically than we ever imagined.” A swirl of fear dove through him. “If he ever finds out . . . ” He shook his head and didn’t finish.

They reached the wreckage of whatever had exploded. Simber hovered above it. Alex lit a spotlight spell component and pointed it at the water.

The light reflected on a clear panel, like a window, which was held in place by a massive rounded white structure. It was
a vessel—sort of. But it was obviously not seaworthy, at least not anymore. It had already begun to sink.

“What is it?” Alex asked. “Do you see anyone in there? How do we get inside it?”

Simber stared down at the vessel, only the point of it showing above the water now. “Two, maybe thrrree humans, he said after a minute. “I can’t see verrry farrr with the sea bottom all stirrred up. But they’rrre all dead.”

Sky and Alex looked at each other in alarm.

Simber sampled the air, his eyes closing halfway as he concentrated. “Definitely thrrree of them.” He rose in height. “I don’t think this is a good time to go down therrre. Therrre’s nothing we can do. Let’s wait until daylight.” The statue looked back at Alex. “But it’s yourrr call.”

Alex hesitated, thinking about going down into the dark water to see dead bodies. “No, you’re right. We’ll send a team out in the morning.”

Simber marked the location mentally, then turned back toward Artimé, and all three were silent until they landed.

The people of Artimé gathered around. Sean and another man whom Alex didn’t know were standing on either side of
Aaron, gripping his upper arms tightly. “What is it?” Sean asked, followed by echoes from the crowd.

“We don’t know, exactly,” Alex said. “It’s some kind of vessel with humans inside. It’s sinking. And they’re dead.”

Some of the Unwanteds gasped. Aaron looked relieved.

“But it came from the sky,” Meghan said.

Alex shrugged. “Maybe it’s an air vessel, not a water vessel,” he said, musing. “Don’t we have a book about such things in the library?” He looked at Lani and Mr. Appleblossom.

“I don’t know.” Lani’s voice was a mystery.

Mr. Appleblossom looked troubled, and not just because his party had been ruined. “This thing has surely happened once before,” he said. “The craft had fans that kept it in the air. But by the time it washed upon the shore, no humans lived to tell about their scare.”

Ms. Morning nodded. “I remember that. Father kept the pieces he found, Alex. They’re up in the museum.”

Alex remembered seeing something up there with a fan attached. “But where did it come from?”

“We don’t know,” Simber said. He bared his teeth at Aaron.

Aaron narrowed his eyes and shifted uncomfortably. “Well, then. Now that the intruders are dead and everything is fine and I find no reason to, ah, attack you, I’ll just be going now,” he said. “Can someone uncuff my wrists? I’ll show myself out.” He flashed a patronizing smile as if he expected the Unwanteds to do what he asked.

Everyone ignored him.

The speculation began about the thing that had exploded in the air. Did it come from the stars? The moon?

“Please understand that things don’t work that way,” Mr. Appleblossom began, waving his hands and trying to raise his voice above the crowd. “It flies from side to side, not up to down.” He drew a finger across the sky. “It uses wings—like Simber, but no flap—and isn’t meant to crash to sea or ground.” He cringed at the imperfect rhyme.

Samheed patted the man’s shoulder sympathetically.

Alex, Sky, Samheed, Meghan, and Lani gathered in a group to try to figure out where the thing could have come from. And then Lani blurted out, “Sometimes don’t you just wonder how
we
all got here? I mean our ancestors, before Mr. Today and Justine started Quill.”

That left them all silent and thoughtful. Aaron stared at Lani. “What do you mean, before them?”

Lani startled. Most of them had forgotten that he was still standing nearby, waiting to be let free. But Lani didn’t have time to answer him, not that she would have anyway, because Simber rose quickly and stared out over the sea to the west. Alex followed his gaze, and then he sucked in a breath.

“Oh, crud,” he said. He raced to Simber, made sure he wasn’t imagining things, and said quietly, “Is that—?”

Simber growled long and low. “It is.”

Alex tried not to panic. He stood by Simber’s side collecting his wits and gathering courage through a few mostly painless deep breaths. Florence moved over to them as well. Alex turned to face the partygoers, his face stricken, as hundreds of tiny lights appeared, dotting the surface of the sea between Warbler and Artimé.

The time for merriment and discussion about flying objects was over.

“Everybody,” Alex said in as calm a voice as he could muster. “It appears we are under attack. I need you to go inside and get dressed for battle.”

The hundred or so Unwanteds that remained stood stunned, and then several of them gasped and jumped up, trying to see what was happening. The lights slowly grew stronger.

Alex called for attention once again, but the panic was palpable. “Warriors, you’ll find instructions on your blackboards in a few minutes. As soon as you have them, return to the lawn. Go quickly now!” There was a split second’s hesitation before the alarmed Artiméans stampeded to the mansion door.

Alex looked around, anxious, scanning the crowd for his closest friends, and he saw Sky at a run, dragging Crow by the hand and rushing up to Sam and Lani.

“They’re coming for
us
!” Sky screamed. “Lani, Sam, Crow—we have to go back with them or they’ll attack Artimé!”

“No!” Alex shouted. “No one is going back there. Artimé fights to protect its people.”

Sky’s eyes blazed. “I won’t be responsible for anyone’s death!” she yelled back at him, her voice ragged.

Crow started crying as people pushed past him.

“Sky—” Alex said, but Lani caught Alex’s eye. She grabbed Sky’s arm and pulled her and Crow inside.

Alex turned to Florence. Outwardly he was calm and
collected, but inwardly he felt like he was bordering on hysterical. He pulled his little notebook from his pocket to sketch out their plan of defense, knowing that Artimé was the most prepared it had ever been yet feeling like they were about to be overwhelmed.

He focused, turning away from the flurry and chaos at the mansion door, while the High Priest Aaron Stowe, more afraid than all the rest, wrenched his arms free from his guards and lost himself in the crowd, still shackled. He tripped up the stairs, and before anyone cared enough to stop him, he careened down the secret hallway and into the kitchenette, and stumbled into the tube.

Faced with an array of buttons this time, Aaron panicked. “Which one?” he whispered like a man possessed. “Which one!” He hesitated, and then he slammed his shackled fists into all of them.

No more than an instant later, the high priest of Quill faded away.

Mr. Today’s Clue:

F
OLLOW THE DOTS AS THE TRAVELING SUN
,

M
AGNIFY, FOCUS, EVERY ONE
.

S
TAND ENROBED WHERE YOU FIRST SAW ME
,

U
TTER IN ORDER; REPEAT TIMES THREE.