by Lisa McMann
“Don’t be. All is well. The plan is solid.”
“And Aaron?”
“This is sooner than he’s expecting, but he’s as prepared as he can be.”
“Will you tell him about the gate?”
Eva Fathom looked at the young man warily, as if the question were some sort of test. She responded in turn, “Would you?”
The young man scowled.
They walked a few minutes in silence. The wavering heat hung low on the road in front of them, forming a mirage, from which a figure emerged.
“I should go,” the young man said.
Eva nodded. “Good luck,” she said.
“You too. I hope you know what you are doing.”
Annoyed, Eva responded, “I should say the same to you, Mr. Ranger.”
He turned off at a footpath, a shortcut to the housing quadrants. Eva kept walking toward Quill and the approaching figure.
» » « «
“Hello, Aaron,” Eva said brightly when the two met up. “What news?”
“Our army is growing, and we are all working feverishly to create adequate weapons.”
“Will you be ready for an attack tomorrow?”
Aaron hesitated. “So soon?”
“It was a split-second decision. I think we should take it. I’ll be leaving with Marcus in the morning.”
Aaron hid his alarm. He thought for a moment, and murmured, “Of course. Well done. We’re always ready.”
“Excellent.” The old woman pulled a handful of small clay hearts from her pocket and held them out to Aaron.
Aaron narrowed his eyes. “What about the thin metal clips’scatterclips, they call them? That’s what I wanted. What are these?” He picked one up and examined it. “They don’t look very fierce.”
“It’s the component for a spell called heart attack,” Eva said. “Your brother made them for my daughter at her request. She claims it’s the best spell Artimé has ever had. So I stole some.”
“Have you tried it?”
“No. I didn’t want to waste any.”
“Is it lethal?”
Eva Fathom hesitated. “Of course it is. It must be, if it’s the most powerful spell ever created.”
“Well, what’s their . . . what’s the little saying that goes with it?” Aaron’s annoyance grew. He had plainly instructed Eva to bring him scatterclips since he knew their power and how to use them. And he hated that he couldn’t think of the word the Artiméans used. It made him feel uncomfortable and ill-prepared. With this sudden opportunity, he wasn’t sure if he could pull everything together by tomorrow. But he’d have to.
“Heart attack,” she said. “Throw it at the person, it grows wings or some such thing and strikes your opponent in the chest. He then collapses. And . . . is dead.” She glanced over her shoulder and pressed her lips together.
“You kept one for yourself, I hope. The only way we’ll gain the power we need is by getting rid of all the key players, especially Mr. Today. He’ll never expect it from you.” Aaron smiled. “He’ll never know what hit him if you do it right.”
“That’s the plan,” Eva said. “I’ll take care of him, don’t worry. I’m more worried about you mucking things up.”
Aaron narrowed his eyes but said nothing. It was just the challenge he needed. He might be up working all night, but tomorrow . . . tomorrow he’d be turning Artimé into a disaster zone, causing Necessaries to flock back to Quill, and once again he’d climb his way up the ruling ranks when the Quillens saw how he saved them.
And, if all went well, he’d also rid the world of Alex, Mr. Today, and all of their stupid Unwanted friends, once and for all.
Meanwhile
The white boat flew over the waves, almost as if it were skimming the surface, giving Samheed, Meghan, and Lani a smooth and most enjoyable ride. It had been a cinch to start it’the instructions and spells were posted right next to the compass, practically begging them to take it for a ride.
“This is more fun than flying on Simber’s back,” Lani shouted from the helm. She turned the wheel slowly from one side to the other, leaving a lazy S wake behind them.
Meghan agreed. Her face, now rosy from the wind and sun, looked decidedly healthier than just hours before. She stood on the seat next to Lani, gripping the top edge of the windshield and letting the wind rush past her, trying not to smile too much in case there were bugs.
“It’s not bad,” Samheed said. He sat in a seat near the back of the boat, leaning forward and gripping his stomach. His face looked anything but healthy. “Can you stop going back and forth like that, though?”
Lani glanced over her shoulder and straightened out the wheel immediately. “Sorry’hey, you’re not about to glug up your lunch, are you?” She slowed the speed a hair as well. “Because if you do, try going for anywhere except inside the boat, right?”
Samheed scowled. “I’m fine. Just stop the spinning already.”
The girls exchanged smirks but kindly left poor Samheed to suffer the queasies in private.
After a quarter of an hour or so, Meghan scanned the horizon and turned to Lani in surprise. “Are you aiming for the island?”
Lani shrugged. “I thought we could get near it. See what’s there.”
Meghan squinted. “What if people are there? That would be so weird.” They’d never seen people from other lands before the two visitors landed on the shores of Artimé. They’d never even known there were other lands, or other people, until recently.
“Yeah,” Lani said. “This is where Mr. Today came from. He said it was beautiful and the people were nice.” She stared ahead at the looming island, every now and then looking back over her shoulder so she would know how to get back to Artimé. She watched the compass too, having learned a little bit about sailing in her vast amounts of reading.
After a while, Samheed got up and walked to where the girls were. He stood behind Lani, taking mental notes on how she was driving.
“Feeling better?” Lani asked kindly.
“Yes, now that we’ve stopped rocking side to side,” he said. “Thanks.” He looked around at the vast ocean, then ahead at the island. “It’s so strange to see it getting bigger,” he said.
Lani nodded. She didn’t quite understand the feelings that were swirling around inside her stomach. She was nervous and excited. And scared, too. But most of all she was intrigued to learn more, as was often the case with her. She couldn’t get enough stories of other worlds, like the ones they’d read in her literature class and Actors’ Studio, and the ones that she’d made up and told to friends and neighbors back in Quill, which got her sent away. Now she was determined to see another new world for herself, rather than just read about it, or make it up in her head. It was a lofty goal, and it was happening right now.
By midafternoon they drew close enough to see that there were few visible rocks along the shore and lots of sand. There was no lawn, no mansion, no people or creatures walking about as far as they could tell. Just a length of beach and a grove of palm trees behind, and then the land built up toward the middle of the island, where enormous rocks rose grandly into the air. Water tumbled from the rocks and rich green vegetation grew thick and tall all around.
Lani slowed the boat and they drifted toward the island. It was so quiet that they couldn’t even hear the calm lap of the waves on the beach. The three began to whisper without realizing it as they grew near, perhaps feeling the sacredness of their discovery, realizing this truly was the same paradise that Mr. Today had talked about. It was pure beauty to look at.
There was no thought now of Mr. Today or Claire Morning perhaps being upset that they’d borrowed the boat without asking. No imagination of what might be happening back in Artimé at this very moment. And only a little trepidation from these adventurers regarding the unknown. There was just this one beautiful cove they were in, blissful and quiet, warm sun and light breeze, rocking gently on waves.
It was exactly what Meghan needed. She closed h
er eyes and breathed in the tropical scent. It was almost like Artimé, but after a few hours at sea it felt fresh and new. And splendidly free of Sean and her mean, stupid parents, and all the stresses that hung on her back in Artimé. She felt like a new, energized Meghan. A bold, invigorated Meghan without a care here in this new place.
“Let’s go ashore,” she whispered.
Lani and Samheed stared at her.
“What?” Lani asked, incredulous.
“I mean it,” Meghan said. “Let’s go. Let’s do it.”
Lani and Samheed caught glances and stared for a moment, trying to get a sense of how the other was feeling. Was it a reckless move? Samheed worked his jaw, his eyes intense, reading hers. Lani couldn’t look away. She knew there were risks. What if it wasn’t as nice as Mr. Today remembered it?
“Well?” Meghan said, breaking the stare-off.
Lani and Samheed looked at Meghan, then back at each other. Lani started laughing lightly, trying to get Samheed to soften the intensity around his eyes that they all knew so well. “I’m game,” she said. She reached out her hand and brushed his elbow, trying to communicate without saying blatantly, I think this would be good for Meghan. “Sam? Are you in?”
“Guys, I don’t know. We don’t know anything about this place. What if the strangers came from here?”
“Mr. Today said this was a good place. It’s exactly as he described it to me and Alex’the rock formation in the middle, the waterfall, the beauty of it all . . .” Lani bit her lip.
Samheed closed his eyes and sighed, shaking his head the smallest bit. “Okay,” he said finally.
Meghan’s grin was payment enough to make everyone feel like they’d just made the best decision of their lives.
Speeding Up
There were a baker’s dozen thoughts whipping through Alex’s head when Mr. Today asked him and Ms. Morning if they were ready to take over Artimé. His first thought: NO! His second: Well, it’s only for a short time. His third: NO, NO, NO! His fourth: At least he’s putting the gate up. His fifth: Absolutely NO WAY! And so on and so forth, all the way to thirteen.
The good news was that Alex was obviously maturing to the point where he didn’t have to say all of these things out loud in order to process them. That was a relief for all involved, and, in a strange little way, it gave him some confidence in himself.
The bad news was that Alex’s stomach churned, and he very nearly felt light-headed at the thought of something going horribly wrong, so much that he had to resist the urge to stand and leave the room.
“We’re in good shape, Father. Aren’t we, Alex?” Ms. Morning gave Alex a look that told him exactly what to say.
“Fine shape,” Alex said, his voice cracking under the pressure of her stare.
“Good!” said Mr. Today, practically giddy. “Simber, Florence, Octavia, and all of your friends will of course be on hand for whatever you may need. I expect things will go on quite as they do when I am present. You truly won’t even notice I’m gone. Artimé is a well-oiled machine. And if anything should happen, you know how to fight . . . and how to read. I’ve given you every command I can think of, and both the library and Museum of Large hold additional clues that I’m sure will help you, should you be attacked while I’m away. But,” he said triumphantly, “that won’t happen, because of the gate.” He very nearly hummed with excitement.
“That sounds lovely, Father.”
Alex gulped and nodded.
“I’ll gather up some students and we’ll make you a takeaway lunch for tomorrow’how exotic!” Ms. Morning said. “We’ll pack up the boat tonight with every supply you could possibly need so you’ll be all ready in the morning.”
Mr. Today beamed with happiness. “Delightful. Simply a dream.” His eyes grew moist for a moment. “While we will be out exploring on serious business, I must tell you, Alex’getting away is something I’ve longed to do since the walls went up. I’ve never felt more confident than I do now that Artimé will be in the best hands with you and Claire.” He reached out and took Alex’s hand, shaking it solemnly. “Thank you.”
Alex wanted to say, “But I don’t know half of how to run this place!” He wanted to say, “There’s so much you haven’t explained!” He wanted to say, “Please don’t go. Please don’t go!”
Instead, he did his best to smile confidently. He reached out and hugged the old man, patting his back quite hard a few times in the embrace. Mr. Today chuckled, the laugh rattling soundly in his chest. Finally Alex came up with what he thought were the perfectly grown-up words to say. He released the embrace and looked at the mage. “I hope you find everything you are looking for, sir. Thank you for believing in me.” He smiled, and some of his jitters went away.
Mr. Today nodded solemnly. “Never forget, my boy. I chose you for this. There will always be times we struggle, make bad decisions, even fail. What’s important is not that we fail, but that we learn and grow. And that we know that there is always someone out there who believes in us.”
Alex nodded.
Mr. Today continued. “Whatever problems you may face, you must know this: I do believe in you.”
Alex nodded, eyes shining, not trusting his voice to speak. He looked down at the ground, a smile forcing its way to his lips, feeling proud and sheepish at the same time. He stepped back as if to escape from the strong circle of emotion that surrounded Mr. Today. And as his leader continued to gaze proudly at him, Alex finally said, “Okay, okay. It’s just a few days. Sheesh.”
Ms. Morning and Mr. Today’s voices pealed in laughter through the office and down the mostly secret hallway. The man wiped the mist from his eyes. “Well said, indeed.” With a mischievous glance, he said, “Come, let’s go create a gate and tell Artimé of our plans. We’ll put a big crown on your head so the Necessaries know whom to bother with their trifles while I’m gone.”
This time it was Alex who laughed.
» » « «
When Mr. Today called all of Artimé to a meeting on the lawn to explain the reason for the newly reinstalled gate and his impending absence, Alex gazed out at the crowd of people. Such good people here in Artimé’even the former Necessaries, who were struggling to fit in and help out. He looked around from face to face, unable to tell a difference between the groups.
As he looked he began to search for his friends, wishing he’d had a chance to give them the scoop before the rest of Artimé heard. But he grew troubled when he noticed from his place next to Mr. Today that his three closest friends were nowhere to be found. It was strange. He scanned the audience more carefully, and realized there were a few others missing too, like Sean Ranger. And Eva Fathom.
Suddenly something seemed terribly . . . off.
Making Preparations
There really wasn’t time to wait until darkness fell in Quill’Aaron needed to get busy right away. Still, he didn’t want to bring any attention to himself or to any of the homes of the others who’d recently joined the Restorers’some of the Quillens were nervous enough as it was, and many of them were doing this without the knowledge or support of their families. So their options were limited.
Aaron managed to round up everybody and split them into groups to be less obvious, sending a few from each group first to Gondoleery Rattrapp’s house to get supplies and weapons, then having them disperse as unobtrusively as possible to their respective meeting spots. If the Quillitary saw too many people gathering together or walking together, they’d certainly be suspicious. Aaron didn’t need that.
So he had no choice but to use the Halukis’ home as a meeting spot, as much as he didn’t want to. But there were so few residents roaming the streets in the governors’ row most days that he hoped for the best. At the very worst, if he were caught outside the home, he’d claim to be on a delivery and no one would likely know the difference.
He, along with Eva Fathom, Liam Healy, a woman named Bethesda dia Gloria, and Crawledge Prize, one by one snuck into the back door of the Haluki house and spre
ad out their goods, including half of the magical items that Eva Fathom had been confiscating for him for the past few weeks. Aaron agreed with Eva that it made sense to use magic if they had the ability, though he despised the creativity behind it. Still, they were powerful weapons, which had been easy enough to see when Aaron brought Alex down.
Gondoleery Rattrapp, who in recent days often sat at her kitchen table alone, staring at her fingers and pondering over her childhood and the magic of her youth, had the other half of the magical weapons’and Aaron discovered that she seemed to be even better than Eva at picking up on magical spells. Gondoleery’s plan had been to spend some time teaching her team how to use the magical components to see if any of them were at all competent. But the older Quillens had a significant disadvantage, they’d found. Their creativity was virtually nonexistent, and that translated into a big fat zero in the magical ability department. It hadn’t taken long for Eva to give up entirely on anybody over the age of twenty-five, and the more impatient Gondoleery threw the towel in on the entire lot of them and went back to her kitchen table to brood over the components. Which was quite fine with Aaron. He didn’t want too many people knowing how to do it, anyway.
Inside the Haluki house, no one had time to gawk at the size and amenities that came with the governorship, though they each noticed. Instead they began to assess and clean their weapons, and create new sharp weapons from the odds and ends of metal pieces they’d found or stolen over the past weeks. All the while Aaron paced and muttered to himself, trying to figure out the perfect plan.
It’s too soon, a voice in his head kept telling him. It’s a perfect situation but we’re not ready yet. Be smart! Aaron tried to ignore it, but the more he tried, the louder it got. He began to doubt himself.
“Eva,” he said sharply. “I need a word with you.”
Eva Fathom narrowed her eyes at the way he ordered her around. She finished what she was doing, and then when she was good and ready to do so, she set her weapon down and slowly walked over to Aaron. He swiped the back of his hand impatiently across his forehead, wiping the sweat from it.
